this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: paying their respects. thousands of mourners file past the casket of george floyd in his hometown of houston. his brother makes an emotional plea for justice. thank plea for justice. y'all. thank plea forjustice. y'all. we will get justice. thank y'all. we will get justice. we will get it. we will not let this door close. the us economy has officially gone into recession, but stocks are surging, with the nasdaq hitting a record high. prince andrew is embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with us prosecutors investigating his friend, the latejeffrey epstein.

and hong kong marks one year since protests began against a controversial extradition bill. we'll look at what, if anything, has changed. in texas, thousands of people have been paying their last respects to george floyd, whose killing by police has sparked demonstrations around the world, calling forjustice. the memorial is being held in houston, 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 the funeral, which will be held privately 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. george floyd's younger brother, philonise, was overcome with emotion as he spoke at the memorial. thank y'all so much for coming i thank y'all so much for coming out to support us. and all the families that heal me today, michael brown, eric garner... sobs. breonna taylor,

everybody. thank y'all. we will getjustice. we will get it. we will not let this door close. a confederate of —— a statue of a confederate soldier has been removed by council workers in kentucky. it was removed from louisville's historic cherokee triangle neighbourhood. it is the latest confederate margaret —— monument to come down since the george floyd process began nearly two weeks ago. —— protests. the economic downturn in the united states, triggered by the pandemic, has been officially declared a recession. the body that monitors economic cycles said production, employment and consumption had collapsed since february. but on the same day, the nasdaq index exceeded its previous record high. it's seen the largest three

month rise since the dot—com boom in 2001. the s&p 500 index has also risen by 1.2% to regain most of the losses of the past three months. let's discuss this further. ryan patel is a global business analyst and senior fellow at drucker school of management and hejoins me now from los angeles. good to talk to you, thank you for your time. what is going on here? it seems counterintuitive. yes, it is. at least one thing we can agree on is that there has been a recession starting in february. i don't think anybody disputes that. typically when a recession occu i’s, that. typically when a recession occurs, that means back—to—back quarters, there is a decrease. in the us, quarter one is about a 5% drop in gdp and the second quarter numbers we will see will be on the same lines. bp kit in december. they we re lines. bp kit in december. they were asking me what is going on, we have seen over the last week the nasdaq has pretty much erased all the losses for everyone, thinking that investors are bullish, but they are over with the economy opening up again, and that there is this resistance of, you know, for the year, the gdp

is going to be down for the us close to 6%. so right now it is a hedge bed. what you are seeing is optimism from investors thinking that everything is going to be ok. what does it tell you about the likely shape and duration of this recession? well, if you look at, it is always a bad sign when you compare recessions and you realise the loss under was the great depression in the us. typically recessions, since the 1800s, only lasted six months. so if you take that as a barometer, you take that as a barometer, you can kind of feel a little bit great behind that, but, you know, what is different this time is that there is a pandemic stop and so for the united states, and what we have seen united states, and what we have seenin united states, and what we have seen in parts of the rest of the world, there is a second wave of infections. well but force us businesses to close ain? force us businesses to close again? that is the biggest question, is that going to post that pushed the recession further down the road? is it going to stop? that is the unknown here. really, for businesses, it is really... i

don't want to say taking a gas, but when you have optimism in the market that is great, but the market that is great, but the market that is great, but the market is also not seeing the market is also not seeing the data you are seeing with unemployment being at an all—time high. unemployment being at an all-time high. what do you think is the answer to that question? for me, i am aggressively cautious. i think at this point, you are cautious right now to see how things are opening. i don't think we want, you know, on different boards of companies you are going fully fledged on everything being back to normal, i don't even know what normal means right now, when things are opening, half open, and the second pieces, you saw the world bank coming out and say, the gdp for the world economy is down 5.2%. so don't underestimate the effect of how intertwined the economy is with the, the us economy is with the rest of the world. i know china is out in front. they are going to be upi% is out in front. they are going to be up i% for the year, 6.2%. i think supply chains are disrupted. i don't think we are going to see the gain back by

the end of the year. the hope is that everybody thinks we will be back in full force next year. but there is still a lot of uncertainty for the rest of the year to get back to even a fighting chance to get the economy back into full mode, andi economy back into full mode, and i don't see the full mode of the us economy happening, at best, until the fall, of the us economy happening, at best, untilthe fall, maybe october or november if we are lucky. thank you for talking to us. 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come... # living in a ghost town. raising the plight of artists struggling through the pandemic. the royal ballet dancers make a special video. 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. the us economy has officially gone into recession — but stocks are surging, with the nasdaq hitting a record high. monday was a key day

for the further lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in parts of europe. 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 in this brussels church as worshippers sit on individual chairs spaced i.5m apart, masks on as they attend mass. religious services have finally resumed in belgium nearly three months after the coronavirus lockdown began. the country, home to eu and nato headquarters, has one of the worst per—capita death tolls. but cafes and restaurants have now thrown their doors open, socially distancing customers and keeping people to small groups. for ireland, it was a key moment too. the country is seen as a success story in tackling covid—i9, 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 lockdown.

feels grand, getting back to a bit of normality, because you just feel so isolated, so trapped in the house on your own. we are really, really, really unsure, it's the first day, but this is kind of a hard thing. there's been more customers, to be honest, than i would 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 restaurants in madrid, malls of reopened and children can now finally play outside at any time of day. in the southern city of malaga guidelines were relaxed even further, with beaches open and shops allowed to fill to 50% capacity. and it's notjust humans anxious to get back to normal. animals in the paris zoo received visitors again after a 3—month closure due to covid—i9.

a warning, though, to france from the health minster 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 through 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 a little it used to. reged ahmad, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. 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. 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. in the past hour hong kong's leader carrie lam has warned the city can't tolerate any more of the "chaos" that has engulfed it over the past 12 months. her comments come on the anniversary of the largest pro—democracy protest hong kong had ever seen with an estimated million people taking part. our 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 ago, a summer of rebellion was triggered after hong kong protesters tried to stop a much—hated extradition bill. the longer it 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. fight forfreedom! the movement became broader, calling for a complete 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 her young customers overnight. hong kong is now a divided city, with businesses

colour—coded by activists as supporting one side or the other. i don't mind them having protests, just not in a violent way or not damaging hong kong and complies with the law, and it's peaceful and safe. winter and the coronavirus brought quiet, but not detente. beijing is again cracking down, with a patriotic education revamp, criminal 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 if i did say i have absolutely no concern, but right now, we're still fighting for democracy. i would say hong kong people are awakened to our powers, to our rights. we pushed back, we tried to fight back. sometimes we succeeded, sometimes it's not so

successful. this is the spirit of hong kongers. they defeated the extradition bill, but are no closer to universal suffrage. in just 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. carbon dioxide is at the heart of the world is changing climate ways it so crucial? as pa rt climate ways it so crucial? as part of our planet matters day, we unpack c02. you cannot see it, you cannot smell it and it is actually all around us and it is at the heart of our climate crisis. co2 is a gas made of three parts, or atoms. one carbon and two oxygen. its

full name is carbon dioxide. it occurs naturally in our atmosphere and is a vital part of life on earth. people and both animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. pla nts and breathe out carbon dioxide. plants use co2 to help them grow. but it has a bigger role to play as well. it helps to regulate the temperature of our planet because co2 is one of the main greenhouse gases. it is like a glass in a greenhouse by keeping some of the heat from the sun trapped inside the atmosphere of the earth. that is good because without it the planet would need to call for us planet would need to call for us to live on. but the natural world works on an incredibly delicate balance and human activity, especially over the last 50 years has increased the amount of co2 in the atmosphere. too much of the sun's heat is being trapped and our planet is getting hotter. so where is all the extra co2 coming from? from modern life. factories, cars, aeroplanes,

large—scale agriculture. they all use what we call fossil fuels. oil, coal and all use what we call fossil fuels. oil, coaland gas. over hundreds of millions of years, the remains of plants and animals which are full of carbon have been buried under the surface of the earth. some fossils eventually turn into fossils eventually turn into fossil fuels. so when we burn them, all the carbon that had installed over an incredibly long period of time is released quickly as c02. it is still only a tiny percentage of all the airaround us. only a tiny percentage of all the air around us. just over 0.04%. scientist measure that as the measure of parts per million in the air. in 2020 it was an average of a114 million in the air. in 2020 it was an average of 1113.4 ppm. but in 1970, the number was 325 full at the start of the industrial age it was 280. the increase has been huge. co2 levels have increased fast. they fluctuate naturally but they have not been as high as

this since well before modern humans like us even existed. in fa ct, humans like us even existed. in fact, experts reckon the last time there was this much co2 in the atmosphere was lovely more than a million years ago when sea than a million years ago when sea levels were 15—25 metres higher. so in order to sustain life on earth as we know it we need to limit the amount of co2 thatis need to limit the amount of co2 that is released. in that a change debate has become so urgent. dancers from britain's royal ballet have made a short video in london's deserted streets, peforming to the sounds of the rolling stones, to highlight the plight of the arts during the global pandemic. sodaba hairdare 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. a reminder of our main news, live to this scene now in portland, oregon right now, the latest protest from many people against the killing of george floyd. in texas, thousands of people have paid their last respects to him. his killing has sparked demonstrations around the world calling for justice. the police officer accused of murdering him is now sacked and charged with second—degree murder and has made his first court appearance via video link. derek chauvin's

bail was placed at $1 million. last month in minneapolis while mr floyd was facedown on the street with his hands cuffed behind his back, mr chauvin placed his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes. 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. 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 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. 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 more than $1 million. the us economy has officially gone into recession because of the coronavirus pandemic. analysts say the last period of growth ended in february. but shares at wall street closed higher following action taken by the us central bank to prop up the financial sector. lawyers representing prince andrew say 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. now on bbc news, hardtalk.