this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name's mike embley. paying their respects. thousands of mourners file past the casket of george floyd in his hometown of houston. democrats in congress introduce a sweeping police reform bill and kneel for the time a police officer kept his knee on george floyd's neck. the latest demonstrations in the uk have been peaceful — the prime minister says the government can't ignore the anger and injustice felt by so many. you are right. we are all right to say that lack lives matter. and to all those who have chosen to protest peacefully and who have insisted on social

distancing, i say of course that i hear you and i understand. prince andrew is embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with us prosecutors investigating his friend — the latejeffrey epstein. song: # living in a ghost town #. and royal ballet dancers make a special video to raise funds for artists struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. thousands of people are queueing to pay their last respects to george floyd, whose killing by police has sparked demonstrations around the world, calling forjustice. the memorial is being held in texas, where he grew up. the democratic party candidate in this year's presidential election, joe biden, has met some of mr floyd's family ahead of a private funeral, to be held on tuesday.

barbara plett—usher has this report. they queued in the heat of the day to pay their last respects, to show solidarity with a hometown man who's become a global symbol of police brutality. some were grieving the loss of a friend and neighbour, but all were showing up to strengthen the movement for racialjustice that erupted as america watched george floyd stop breathing with a policeman‘s knee on his neck. we will do what we can to make this thing happen which is called change. hopefully, policies will begin to change, people will begin to get out and vote and effect change. as far as equality, people to learn who we are, why we do what we do, to kind of get in our world, to see where we are, and i think that's going to make a difference. in the nation's capital also, a solemn pause. we will have a moment's silence, actually eight minutes

and 46 seconds of silence, in honour of george floyd under so many others. congressional democrats fell silent for the exact period of time that mr floyd was pinned to the ground. they unveiled today sweeping legislation on police reform. calls to change the way policing is done are echoing across the country. already in minneapolis, where mr floyd died, a majority of city councillors has pledged to dismantle the police department and replace it with a community—led system. they say reform hasn't worked, as activists have long claimed. when people say they might file a complaint against the officer, the officers will just laugh, they know it's a joke. the system is a joke to them, because it never provides consequences, and they act with impunity. but maybe not this time. the officer charged with murder in mr floyd's case appeared in court for the first

time today. in washington, president trump weighed in on the debate by meeting police officers and dismissing the idea of any radical changes. there are not going to be any disbanding of our police, our police have been letting us live in peace, and we want to make sure we don't have any bad actors in there, and sometimes you'll see some horrible things, like we witnessed recently, but 99, i say 99.9, but let's go with 99% of them are great, great people. in houston, the democratic presidential contender joe biden met mr floyd's family privately for more than an hour. police reform has become part of the mix in a turbulent time. there's a quiet sense of confidence here that it's now firmly on the agenda in an election year. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, houston. let's get an update from our north america correspondent

peter bowes. how would you describe the political climate at the moment? police reform is firmly on the agenda but the big question is how is it going to be achieved. and for all of the campaigning, for all of the marching and all of the protesting over the next couple of weeks we are now moving into a new phase that is going to involve politicians taking a ha rd involve politicians taking a hard look at policy at a national level and as a local level as well. as we heard there is a move in minneapolis to essentially disband the local police force and introduce more of a community led body to do policing in that city and an overwhelming majority of the city council approve of that. the local mayor, a democrat, disapproves but he cannot exercise veto because of the majority of the council. there will be a lot of debating over the weeks and months ahead to figure out how it is to be possible. they are

asking for public input and on asking for public input and on a national stage as we have heard, the democrats have brought forward proposals to reform the police. a ban on chokehold and restrictions on other forms of activities by the police that have been widely condemned over the last couple of weeks. again, a political battle. they are democrats who may face opposition from republicans in the senate. is any of this going to fly with president trump or indeed withjoe biden? that is a key question, of course. they will be vying for the presidency over the next few months full donald trump has said that he disapproves of any disbanding of police forces and he framed himself as the law & order president. it poses a challenge as well forjoe biden, a democrat. he also opposes the funding police forces and he believes in police reform but not the radical proposals as some

people see them that are being proposed in minneapolis. briefly, what reactions to the periods of debris one back in court? —— derek chauvin in court? —— derek chauvin in court? this was overdue in the eyes of some people, the first appearance should have been last week but the charges have been changed and raised to second—degree murder. the bail has been set at more than $1 million. there is no opposition to that from his defence team. that is what the prosecution wa nted that is what the prosecution wanted and for all those people up wanted and for all those people up and down the country who have been protesting, the legal process is taking its course as well as it can at this early stage. the death of george floyd has led to protests in numerous countries grappling with their colonial past. this is a statue of king leopold ii — he was in power as belgium committed atrocities in what's now the democratic

republic of congo. protestors draped the statue in the drc flag and graffitied ‘assassin' on its base. protestors in some countries are also looking to expose police brutality in their country. here's a black lives matter organiser in nantes, in france today. translation: what is happening is that we have a march, first of all in honour of the person who died who was assassinated. in the hands of the police in the united states. but there is a connection, an analogy for people here in particular that we could suffer the same thing. today the family of george floyd have attempted to shine even more international scrutiny on the death of their son and the violence that has followed. they alongside other families of the victims of police violence in the us, have called on the united nations council on human rights to covene a special session to examine abuses by police. in a letter to the council, cosigned by 600 international human rights groups, they accuse the us authorities of violating three international conventions, including the covenant on civil and political rights.

the convention against torture and the convention for the elimination of racial discrimination. professor gay mcdougall served as the first un independent expert on minority issues. she also co—drafted the letter sent to the un human rights council on behalf of the floyd family and others. what do the family hope to achieve here and what think are the chances of achieving it? the family what to bring international public attention and the international community through the un to examine this situation that i think clearly violate the us obligations under international law. i think also the families are speaking to international civil society around the world and i think they are being heard by

international civil society as these protests have erupted all around the world. so i think that we do want to have the un human rights council meeting in a special session. we will have to get the support of at least one third of the members in order to make that happen. and if it does not then there are some fallback positions but the most important is to hold that special session and through that we are asking that the council appoint a commission of enquiry that would look into the death of george floyd, the conduct of policing in the united states, the endemic

racism that is constantly alive in the country, which has infected every institution that controls the lives of black and brown people. tessa forgive me, i don't mean to interrupt but i must ask you, you know that president trump has shown little or no commitment or interest in international treaties or obligations and i don't think the us is any more a part of the council on human rights and the un. what chance of meaningful change throughout that can be put on the state. it is not the government obligated under these national instruments, it is the state. so we look not only to this

government's of donald trump, we look to a larger array of his advisers who will be putting pressure on him, even now, and we will also be speaking to the administration thatis speaking to the administration that is seeded after the upcoming elections. one possibility floated is the effective elimination of police forces in the us and to be replaced by something more community—based. what are the chances? it is hard to say what the chances are. there are no chances if there are no demands and these demands are being articulated in great detail. so i think there is absolutely going to be some changes. i hope the changes are

not just reforms but changes. i hope the changes are notjust reforms but given the nature of the protest and the wider participation of all sorts of sectors of civil society, the global outpouring of concern and interest and resonance, i think there will be some changes. thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: song: # living in a ghost town #. royal ballet dancers make a special video to raise funds for artists struggling through the coronoavirus pandemic. the day the british liberated the falklands. and by tonight, british troops had begun the task

of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorby—mania at its height. the crowd packed to see the man who for them has raised great hopes for an end to the division of europe. it happened as the queen moved towards horse guards parade for the start of trooping the colour. gunshots the queen looks worried but recovers quickly. as long as they'll pay to go and see me, i'll get out there and kick 'em down the hill. what does it feel like to be the first man to go across the channel by your own power? it feels pretty neat. it feels marvellous, really. this is bbc world news — the latest headlines: thousands of mourners have filed past the casket of george floyd in his hometown of houston. democrats in the us congress

have set out a series of proposals on police reform, following the killing of mr floyd. britain's prime minister has warned that the fight against racism could be undermined by a minority resorting to violence. he strongly condemned the demonstrators who attacked police in london and toppled a statue of a slave trader in bristol — warning they would face "the full force of the law". our political, editor laura kuenssberg reports. black listen. black is beautiful. black is excellent, black is love. a 7—year—old on the stage. a protest in the park in cheltenham this afternoon. ripples still after waves of anger came from across the atlantic after the death of george floyd. tonight, in a video and article for the black newspaper the voice, borisjohnson broke his relative silence. we simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that is being triggered by that spectacle of a black man

losing his life at the hands of the police. we who lead and who govern simply cannot ignore those feelings because in too many cases, i am afraid, they will be founded on a cold reality. so i say, yes, you are right, we're all right to say black lives matter. but there was an attempt to reach out to those demanding equality, stern words for those breaking the public health rules or breaking the law. no, i will not support those who flout the rules on social distancing, and no, i will not support or indulge those who break the law or attack the police or desecrate public monuments. many of the 200 demonstrations over the weekend were peaceful. many made the effort to keep their distance to protect everyone's health. but often, those rules may not have existed. some police officers were attacked, and statues damaged,

even graffiti on winston churchill, claimed by this man. tagged up, churchill was a racist. people will be angry, but at the end of the day i am angry that for many years i have been oppressed. it's notjust classic views of history or unrest in america at root here. there is plenty of evidence the uk's black population, around 3% in the last census, is too often left behind. gaps illustrated in a major official audit for the government that showed black people are most likely to be in a low—income household, in a lower—skilled job, or unemployed. 9% of that community are out of work. that's more than twice the rate among the white community and higher than 6% among asians. 39% of black pupils got good passes in english and maths gcse. 43% of white pupils and 50% of asian pupils. but 35 black people out of every thousand were arrested in 2017-18. 10 white and 12 from the asian community. successive governments have

made successive promises to close those gaps, and there has been progress. but not enough to avoid frustration on all sides. does the home secretary recognise there is structural inequality, discrimination and racism in our country? does the home secretary recognise that people want to see action from this government? but the home secretary detailed the racially offensive language she faced in her past. i'm really saddened the honourable lady has said this government doesn't understand racial inequality. on that basis, madame deputy speaker, it must have been very different home secretary who as a child was frequently called a 'paki' in the playground. a very different home secretary who was racially abused in the streets, or even advised to drop her surname and use has her husban's in order

to advance her career. recent days have been neither the beginning of the end of the country's conversation about race. history features pain and pride, the placards of the future not yet in ink. let's get some of the day's other news. stock markets in new york have closed higher as investors bet that the american economy will recover quickly from the pandemic. the nasdaq index of tech stocks closed at a record high, even though new research confirms that the economy is in recession. north korea has said it will sever inter—korean hotlines with south korea as the first step toward completely shutting down all means of contact with seoul. north korea had been threatening to do so for seveal days if the south refused to stop defectors sending leaflets and other material into the north. russia says it has agreed to collaborate with turkey in an effort to end the war in libya. moscow says the two partners would aim to create the conditions for a peace process. turkey supports libya's un—backed government,

which has in recent days inflicted a series of defeats on the warlord, general khalifa haftar — who's supported by russia. as of today, travellers arriving in the uk will have to quarantine themselves for two weeks. those who don't face fines. officials say it is necessary to protect public health, as the country tries to limit further coronavirus infections and the risk of a second wave. airlines have warned of dire consequences for the transport and tourism industries. lawyers for prince andrew have rejected claims from prosecutors in the united states that he failed to co—operate with the inquiry into the sex offenderjeffrey epstein. officials in new york said the duke of york had repeatedly declined to be interviewed about his links to the billionaire. but prince andrew's legal team said he had offered to help on at least three occasions. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. it's more than six months now since andrew withdrew from royal duties. at the time, he undertook to answer

questions from any appropriate us law—enforcement agency about his friendship with the convicted us sex offenderjeffrey epstein. and yet, these months later, andrew has evidently still not agreed how or when he will answer those questions. us investigators are frustrated. injanuary, one of them stood outside epstein's new york home and complained about andrew's continued silence. the southern district of new york and the fbi have contacted prince andrew's attorneys and requested to interview prince andrew, and, to date prince andrew has provided zero cooperation. today, andrew's lawyers issued a statement, complaining about the way in which the americans are going about things. it's all much too public for the prince's liking. the statement said:

to that, us attorney geoffrey berman has responded, saying: andrew was asked in last november's newsnight interview whether he would cooperate with us investigators. at that point, he appeared a little unsure. um...um...i'm... and i would have to take all the legal advice

um, that there was, before i was to...to do that sort of thing, but if push came to shove and the... of thing, but if push came to shove and the...leg... ..and the legal advice was to do so, then i would be duty bound to do so. seven months later, andrew and his lawyers are still arguing about the process, rather than actually answering questions. nicholas witchell, bbc news. dancers from britain's royal ballet have made a short film in which they perform in london's deserted streets to the sounds of the rolling stones, a project designed to highlight the plight of the arts during the global coronavirus pandemic. sodaba haiydari reports. no spotlight, no stage and no audience but that's not stopping these dancers from showing off their moves on deserted streets of london. living in a ghost town. in trainers and ballet shoes, they dance on sunlit pavements and cobblestones outside the shuttered entrances of some of

the capital's biggest theatres. # i have to go underground. the soundtrack, living in a ghost town, released by the rolling stones in april this year, in line with the lockdown mood. the video's is cocreated by a ballet dancer and partner to mickjagger. she says it's a call to support their to actors and workers whose professions are being threatened by the pandemic. i was definitely inspired by mick's movements. sympathy for the devil, he loves to dance, so i try to incorporate that field ofjust the love of dance. arts venues at this time of the year are normally crowded with you to growers but in the uk, they will be amongst the last cases to reopen after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. actors and crews make up lockdown is lifted. actors and crews make up some lockdown is lifted. actors and

crews make up some of the 290,000 workers in the industry. they are living in fearfor industry. they are living in fear for their futures. projects like these are one way to help those affected with financial and emotional support. sodaba haidare, bbc news. and in one final sign of life returning to normal: the paris zoo reopened today after a three—month closure with social distancing. at least for the humans. it seems the animals ignored the 2—metre rule — there's been a baby boom at the zoo. during lockdown, 62 new babies were born, including baboons, penguins and flamingos. the latest addition to the zoo's family were twin lemurs. which is our excuse to show you cute animal pictures. thousands of people in texas have been paying their last respects to george floyd, who is killing by police as sparked protest for justice around is killing by police as sparked protest forjustice around the world. the memorial was held at the fountain of praise church in houston where he grew up and

there will be a funeral service on tuesday. that's it for now, thank you so much for watching. hello again. for many of us, monday was a dry day with variable cloud, some spells of sunshine, and the skies looked like this for quite a few of us. however, we did see some heavy downpours across southwest england. looking at the forecast over the next few hours, we do still have quite a lot of cloud in the sky across the uk. there are a few clear spells for the majority. it's dry at the moment, so those temperatures ought to account for all the cloud — not too low, we're looking at 8—10 celsius as we start off tuesday morning. so i suppose a fresh start to the day, but we will see some further changes in our weather as we go through tuesday. although we start off on a dry note, we do have this weather system moving into the northwest,

which will be bringing outbreaks of rain particularly to scotland and northern ireland. but it's the rain here which should arrive quite late in the day for england and wales, and it is a dry start, but we might see showers developing particularly across parts of northeast england, running down the pennines and perhaps into parts of the midlands and southern and central england. don't be too surprised if you see an odd shower formed here as we head into the afternoon. our temperatures similar to what we had, really, on monday, with highs between 15—18 celsius for the majority of us. now for wednesday, the area of low pressure starts to move right over the uk,

so we are looking at a cloudy day with some fairly prolonged outbreaks of rain. still, the rain is useful for a number of us — it was very dry last month, so the rain is welcomed by gardeners, i'm sure. but there is more of that rain to come, and it is kind of yo—yo rain, if you like it, because as this los pressure deepens and moves to the south, outbreaks of rain moves southwards, as well. but the rain will then return back northwards, so we get two dollops of rain from this particular system. thursday we are looking at some rain around, across parts of the south. northwards, there's heavier rain set to move in across the swathe of northern england, particularly northeast england, perhaps even a bit of thunder mixed in with some of that. it will start to turn quite windy as we go through the course of thursday, and that continues into friday, turning increasingly humid as well. now it stays on the unsettled side friday and even into the weekend, still bursts of heavy rain around claps of thunder across england and wales. further north, quieter weather so dry in inverness in glasgow this weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines: thousands of people in the us have paid their last respects to george floyd, the man whose killing sparked protests for racialjustice. the police officer accused of his murder has appeared in court for the first time via a video link. the judge set derek chauvin's bail at over $1 million. democrats in the us congress have set out a series of proposals on police reform, following the killing of mr floyd. senior leaders also knelt in silence for nearly nine minutes — the length of time a police officer put his knee on mr floyd's neck before he died. lawyers representing prince andrew say he has repeatedly offered to speak to american police investigating his former friend, jeffrey epstein, a sex offender who killed himself injail. a spokesman said he was disappointed that a formal request had been made to interview the prince.