welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: paying their respects — thousands of mourners file past the casket of george floyd in his home town 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. prince andrew is embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with american prosecutors investigating his friend, the late jeffrey epstein. and hong kong marks one year since protests began against a controversial extradition bill. we'll look at what — if anything — has changed.

hello to you. 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 and 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. i asked our north america correspondent peter bowes how he would describe the political climate. but let's take you live to houston. thousands of people passing the casket of george floyd. his brother said i want to thank everybody who came to see my brother and share in his victory last lap. he said we should still be having fun in a house full of love. i asked peter bowes how he would describe the political climate around all of this.

well, 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 i think we are now moving into a new phase that is going to 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 on the city council approve of that. the local mayor, a democrat, disapproves but he cannot exercise veto because of the majority of the council. so there's going to be a lot of debating over the weeks and months ahead to figure out how it is to be possible. the council 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 chokeholds and restrictions on other forms of activities by the police that have been widely condemned over the last couple of weeks. but again, a political battle. these are democrats who may face opposition from republicans in the senate. and is any of this going to fly, peter, with president trump or indeed with joe biden? well, that's a key question, of course. they will be vying for the presidency over the next few months. donald trump has said that he disapproves of any disbanding of police forces and he framed himself as the law and order president. it poses a challenge as well forjoe biden, a democrat. he also opposes defunding police forces and he believes in police reform but not the radical proposals as some people see them that are being proposed in minneapolis.

just briefly, peter, what reactions to the appearance of derek chauvin in court? this was a little overdue in the eyes of some people, the first appearance should have been last week but the charges have been changed and upped to second—degree murder. and as we know now, the bail has been set at more than $1 million. there is no opposition to that from his defence team. that's what the prosecution wanted. and i think for all of 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, of course has led to protests in numerous countries grappling with a 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. protesters draped the statue in the drc flag and graffitied "assassin" on its base. protestors are also looking to expose police brutality in their own country.

here's a black lives matter organiser in nantes, in france. translation: what is happening is that we have a march, first of all in honour of the person who died, who was assassinated, let's say it clearly — at the hands of the police in the united states. but there is a connection, an analogy for people here in nantes in particular that we could suffer the same thing. economic news for a moment. the us economy reached two oposing milestones on monday — first it was officially declared to be in a recession. the body that monitors economic cycles in america says the last period of growth ended in february, just before fears of the coronavirus ended a sustained period of price rises. but on the same day, the nasdaq index of tech companies exceeded its previous record high. driven by surging technology and communications stocks, the nasdaq has seen the largest three—month rise since the dot com boom.

that was in 2001. the s&p 500 credit rating index has also risen by 1.2% to regain most of the losses of the past three months. despite the widespread economic devastation fueled by the pandemic — stocks have been rising slowly since the federal reserve pledged to support the economy with its "main street" lending program. this seems counterintuitive, what's going on, gregory daco? this was the longest economic expansion on record, that ended in february of 2020, and that started the global coronavirus recession. that recession is deep, pervasive across sectors and will persist, because even though we are starting to see some rebounds in economic activity, gdp is about to fall

about 10% need to drop, if not more, and a number of sectors across the economy are seeing significant losses, including the employment front, which has now lost when he millionjobs in the united states that the markets are driven by a number of factors, including the fact the federal reserve has signalled it stands ready to react to any increase in the tightening of financial conditions and it is also driven by the technology sector, as you just noted it also tells us someone will a lwa ys also tells us someone will always manage to make money out of whatever is going on. does any of this suggest the recession might be less severe than the worse predictions —— worst predictions question i go as think there will be a wide range of predictions in terms of the severity of any impending recession. we are looking at potentially the third worst recession of the century, only behind the great depression of the 1929, and

world war ii demobilisation recession. a contraction in gdp of about 13%, that is going to be extremely painful, and the losses in terms of income, employment, are also going to be traumatic. again, as a reminder, we are now down 19.5 millionjobs from when reminder, we are now down 19.5 million jobs from when we were in february, injust a matter ofa in february, injust a matter of a few months. we have lost nearly 20 millionjobs, and yes, the growth because i going to be quite strong because we are coming out of the gd poll, but it is going to take time, probably years before we recover “— probably years before we recover —— coming out of a deep hole, for we get to levels at the start of this year. gregory daco at oxford economics, very interesting to talk to you. thank you. thank you.

let's get some of the day's other news: royal ballet dancers make a special video highlighting the plight of struggling artists. 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 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. monday was a key day for the further lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in parts of religious services were allowed to resume in belgium for the first time in months, and ireland relaxed its rules too after accelerating plans to open up the country. reged ahmad reports. the pews are gone and this brussels church as worshippers

sit on chairs spaced 1.5 metres apart, masks on as they attend mass. religious services up finally resuming in belgium nearly three months after the coronavirus lockdown began. the country, home to eu and nato headquarters, as one of the worst per capita death tolls. but these expert companies and restau ra nts but these expert companies and restaurants are now offering their doors open, socially distancing customers and keeping people to small groups. for ireland, it was a key moment as well. the country is seeing is a success story and tackling the pandemic, with a relatively low death rate. shops have sprung back to life as many restrictions were eased ahead of schedule and some finally emerged from a strict block down. getting back to a bit of normality, it's... you just feel so isolated, in the house on your own. we are really, really, really unsure,

it's the first time, more customers to be honest i would have expected. restrictions we re have expected. restrictions were eased even further across spain although here, parts of the country are opening up at different paces. people are now allowed inside bars and restau ra nts allowed inside bars and restaurants in madrid, malls of reopened and children can now finally play outside at any time of day. in the southern city of milagro, guidelines we re city of milagro, guidelines were relaxed even further, with beaches open and shops allowed to fill 50% capacity. —— malaga. and it's notjust humans anxious to get back to normal. animals in the paris sue received visitors again after a 3— month closure due to covid—19. a warning though to france from the help minister against a second wave of infections. translation: we are assessing the situation on daily basis according to the indicators. let us not go too

fast. we managed to win a battle to everyone's efforts, a battle to everyone's efforts, a battle that was very difficult to win. we haven't won the war yet so let's remain vigilant. they are words that will no doubt echo across europe but for now, there is relief as life more and more starts to look at it like it used to. reged ahmad, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news: 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.

on this day a year ago the largest protest hong kong had ever seen filled the harbor city with an estimated million people marching to opposing an unpopular move allowing for extradition to mainland chinese courts controlled by the communist party. it would be followed in the weeks ahead by an ever bigger demonstration then an entire summer of rebellion calling for broader democratic reforms. the extradition bill was defeated but, 12 months on, hong kong is no closer to universal suffrage. in fact — the chinese government now seems to be cracking down even harder on dissent there. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonell — who spent months covering hong kong's protests — takes a look at where the movement has left the city. a year ayearago, a a year ago, a summer a year ago, a summer of rebellion was triggered after hong kong protesters tried to stop a much hated extradition bill. the longer took the

government to back down on a proposal to allow for people to go before courts in mainland china, the more the crisis escalated. both activists and police turned to increasingly violent and drastic methods. you can see how serious things are becoming. now we have to move because the police are coming. the movement became broader, calling for a complete aquatic overall —— overhaul. —— democratic overhaul. the violence has increased here every week in hong kong. oh, yeah, it really surprised me that the level of violence is increasing rapidly and they think it's ok. annie kwok runs a small restaurant. after she offered support to the police, she lost most of the young customers overnight. hong kong

is now divided with business as colour—coded by activists as to which side they support. colour—coded by activists as to which side they supportlj don't which side they support.” don't mind protest, just not in a violent way or not damaging hong kong and complying with the law and its peaceful and safe. winter and the coronavirus brought quiet but not detente. beijing is again cracking down, with a patriotic education revamp. criminal appellant —— penalties for anyone abusing the national anthem and security legislation potentially making certain speech or protest action punishable by decades in prison. i would be lying to you ifi prison. i would be lying to you if i did say i have absolutely no concern but right now, we're still fighting democracy. i would say hong kong people are awakened to our powers, to our rights. we pushed back, sometimes we succeeded,

sometimes we succeeded, sometimes not so successful. this is the spirit of hong kong is. they defeated the extradition bill but no close or to universal suffrage. in a few decades, hong kong is due to become a chinese city like all others. the central government seems determined to hasten the process, making more, not less tension most likely in the years to come. steven mcdonnell, bbc news, beijing. 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...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 haidare 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 danced on sunlit pavements and cobblestones outside the shuttered entrances of some of the capital's biggest theatres. # search for me, i have

to go underground #. the soundtrack, living in a ghost town, released by the rolling stones in april this year, echoing the lockdown mood. the video is cocreated by melanie hamrick, a ballet dancer and partner to mickjagger. she says it's a call to support theatre 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 feel ofjust the love of dance. arts venues at this time of the year are normally crowded with theatregoers, but in the uk, they will be amongst the last places to reopen after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. actors and crews make up some of the 290,000 workers in the 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. let's just take you back to houston texas, where thousands of mourners have passed the casket of george floyd in his hometown. his killing of course by police sparked protests for justice around the world. his body was in an open gold coloured casket. people wearing masks. the church just near where he grew up. his brother paying tribute, saying he wa nted paying tribute, saying he wanted to thank everybody who came out to see his brother and cheer him on after his last lap. he said, we grow up together eating banana mayonnaise sandwiches, having fun ina mayonnaise sandwiches, having fun in a house full of love. that is it for now. thank you

very much for being with us. there is more on the news, national and international, on the bbc news website. 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 south—west 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 north—west, 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 north—east 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. 0ur 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 low 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 north—east 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, with still some bursts of heavy rain around accompanied by claps of thunder across england and wales. but generally further north, the quieter the weather gets, so it may stay dry in inverness in glasgow this weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

thousands of people have paid their last respects to george floyd, the man whose killing in the us has sparked protests for racial justice around the world. the police officer accused of his murder has appeared in court for the first time via video link. the judge set derek chauvin's bail at more than $1 million. democrats in the us congress have set out a series of proposals on police reform. 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 claim he has repeatedly offered to speak to us authorities 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.