this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. america's top general apologises for appearing alongside president trump at the height of the anti—racism protests. as many of you saw, the results of the photograph of me at lafayette square last week, it sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. i should not have been there. us stock markets suffer their deepest one—day falls since equity markets crashed in march. the uk abandons plans to introduce full border checks with the european union in january. british rapper stormzy pledges millions of dollars to tackle prejudice. we talk to those who've suffered racism.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. we start in the united states, where statues of confederate leaders and the explorer christopher columbus have been torn down. pressure is growing on authorities to remove monuments connected to slavery and colonialism. meanwhile, america's top military officer now says he was wrong to have joined president trump during his controversial walk to a damaged church near the white house after a peaceful protest at the death of the african american george floyd. aleem maqbool reports. it's arguably the most controversial moment of the demonstrations. this is bbc news, the headlines:

the white house told security forces to clear peaceful america's top general says protesters from an area, accompanying the president which they did, violently. to a church and appearing so the president could walk out in a photo—op near the white house was a mistake. with an entourage that included mark milley, the chairman america's top of thejoint chiefs of staff, military official, general mark milley, said the event created a perception seen here on the right of the military being involved in domestic politics. in uniform, to go and pose briefly outside a church, to show he was in control, something general milley us stock markets have fallen sharply now says he regrets. i should not have been there. as investors became less optimistic about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the american economy. my presence in that moment, the dow jones index and in that environment, closed down by almost 7%. created a perception wosses in other indices of the military involvement were almost as great. in domestic politics. stocks suffered their as a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that i learned from. worst day since march. and the president is setting activists in rio's copacabana himself on another collision beach have dug 100 course with military leaders. graves as a protest he says it's out of against the government's handling of the pandemic. brazil has the second highest number the question the us rename bases that currently of coronavirus cases in the world. commemorate confederate it's also expected to overtake the uk to have the second generals, but there are growing calls from present and former highest death rate. military leadership to do just that. and it's time we name us army bases after a us army leaders

or soldiers who didn't take up here in the uk, the arms against the united states government says its new to support slavery. this is the right time and this is the right moment to get this done. across the country, activists are taking matters into their own hands, bringing down statues that glorify white supremacy and of violent colonisers. they deny it's vandalism. our entire lives have been vandalised by the state since these laws were created. probably one of the most exciting times of my life was running next to people dragging christopher columbus on the ground to the lake. well, it feels like a completely different landscape to a couple of weeks ago. we've got generals criticising the way the military‘s name was besmirched during the protest, the discussion about the renaming of military bases, and the bringing down of confederate statues. the president may not be on board with these things, but they're happening at pace in any case. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington.

the bbc‘s katty kay has been speaking to democratic congresswoman karen bass, who's also the chair of the congressional black caucus. ms bass criticised president trump use of the us military and welcomed general milley‘s apology. well, i'm glad he apologised. i think what we have seen over the last few years is president trump's inappropriate use of the military. the only thing that has been surprising to me is the fact that the military has gone along with so many things that the president has asked them to do, that they very well know is inappropriate. congresswoman, you have spent years working on the issue of police brutality and trying to bring about reform. during the rodney king riots in los angeles in the early 1990s, you were living there at the time. do you feel that this time is different? do you feel more optimistic there can be change in the country? i absolutely do. i still live there and i was

working on this issue for a good 20 years before rodney king. i do. i think we're at a different moment in our country and i have been so inspired by the protests. the protests that have even taken place in your country. in solidarity over what is happening here in the united states. there have been protests in every single state, and the character of the protests are very different and in some instances, you can look at the tv screen and you see an absolute rainbow and in some instances it is majority white. so i think it has raised the level of a discussion that finally the american people believe what african—america ns have been saying, and i hate to say this, but literally african—americans have been protesting about this issue for over 100 years. and finally because of cell phones and because of such a tragic death that the world saw, a slow murder of an individual, on video, and i think that has moved

the country to act, and i'm very proud to be carrying the legislation that i hope will bring about significant change to policing in the united states. you've been leading that legislative process up on capitol hill with the democratic bill. you've had tojuggle from one end of the spectrum, people on the streets calling for police forces in america to be defunded entirely, and from your more moderate democratic colleagues, who are in perhaps more moderate even trump—voting districts, how have you managed to balance those two and keep the coalition together? it actually hasn't been difficult and i will tell you first of all i do not support defunding police departments. but really what is at the heart of that cry is the fact that the police officers, and they will tell you this every day of the week, they don't

like the fact that when society doesn't take care of its problems, they are left to clean up a situation. in the united states, we have chosen not to invest in education, in health care, injobs, and so you have communities who have been disenfranchised. so why should a police officers, and they say this all the time, they're not social workers, why should they have to deal with problems like homelessness, substance abuse, mental health, a lot of what they do is they are catching the people that fall through the cracks of society. a wealthy country like the united states should reprioritize funding. and i agree with that. us stock markets have fallen sharply. the dow jones index of leading shares closed down by almost 7%. it seems investors are becoming much less optimistic about the coronavirus situation in america. the market sell—off was triggered, in part, by new data showing that cases of covid—i9 were rising again after five weeks of decline. that report was compiled by the covid tracking project,

a volu nteer—run effort sponsored by the atlantic magazine. the head of that project is alexis madrigal, whojoins me now from california. thanks very much folk coming on the programme. thanks for having me. what's behind these rising cases? it's really in the united states, the national story has changed. the initial outbreak really dominated the north—east — new york, new jersey — and now the real locus of the outbreak is in the south and the west. you have a case and the west. you have a case and —— in which the north—east successfully suppressed the outbreak but now it is spreading a new in other places and in places that don't have the strict lockdown measures that new york and newjersey went into, and people fear we're going to have

uncontrolled spread across many large american cities. let's pick up on that, those southern areas appear to be worse affected. is that because of more lax lockdowns or is it climate, heat, any other factors ? climate, heat, any other factors? it's really a couple of things. in late april, early may, a lot of southern and western states — arizona, north carolina, south carolina, florida — started to pull out of the moderate lockdowns they had gone into, so what we're seeing is the effects of those changes in social behaviour. there was a lad from when the government said you could do things to when people actually did, so it has lengthened out the time from when the lockdowns ended and when we started to see the rises in cases as well as in the positive rate of tests that are coming back. alexis, sorry, i'm jumping in because you were breaking upa jumping in because you were breaking up a little bit. hopefully the line is strong

enough. we will definitely carry on. i want to do ask you, are you surprised about the impact, i was talking about the impact, i was talking about the impact on the stock market, huge falls, are you surprised by the impact this data is having? it's difficult for the stock market to metabolise these kinds of medium—term risks. the stock—market is good at looking out long way, looking at day—to—day data, but the problem with the pandemic is it's a little bit random, it's not going away and there's a lwa ys it's not going away and there's always this ever present fear we might have to go back to lockdowns in the major american industrial centres. that's a big part of it and people wa nted big part of it and people wanted heat and the summer to make the virus go away, and if you look at where the outbreak is growing in the us, it is growing in the hot parts of the country. that has taken out this folk theory that a lot of people on wall street really wa nted people on wall street really wanted to believe. really

interesting data. thank you very much a0 talking us through it, alexis madrigal. -- thank you very much for watching us through it, alexis madrigal. -- talking. let's get some of the day's other news. africa is the continent least affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but there are concerns that its status could quickly change. the world health organization issued a stark warning on thursday that the pandemic is accelerating across the continent. earlier this week, the number of confirmed cases on the continent passed 200,000 and the death toll is approaching 6,000. the mayor of the city of norilsk in russia has been charged with criminal negligence over his response to an oil spill that dumped tens of thousands of diesel fuel into local waterways. environmentalist say the spill from a power station two weeks ago is the worst to hit the arctic and could take years to clean up. protestors in lebanon, reacting to a record plunge in the value of their currency, have blocked roads, set tyres

alight and thrown petrol—bombs to vent their anger. the lebanese pound has lost 70% of its value since october, throwing the country into its worst economic crisis in decades. many lebanese citizens who rely on hard currency savings have fallen into poverty, their plight worsened by the pandemic. us band lady antebellum is changing its name, going instead with lady a. that's because ‘antebellum' has ties to america's history with slavery. the nashville trio say their eyes have been opened to the injustices and inequality that black americans face, adding that they are deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused. let's get an update on brexit now. the british government is expected to apply much less rigorous checks to goods coming into the uk than it was initially planning to when the transition period finishes at the end of this year. the bbc‘s been told it's necessary due to the impact of coronavirus. it means agricultural goods and animal products will now no longer have to be checked. industrial goods

declarations will be waived as will safety and security checks. the measures will last six months and are not expected to be reciprocated by the eu. 0ur political correspondent, chris mason, has this from westminster. we formally left the european union at the end of january. we are in this transition period where technically, yes, we are outside of the eu, but in pretty much all practical terms we are still in and we are in a transition period that runs until the end of this year. now, the government is likely to confirm formerly very soon that that transition period will not be extended, that's what they have been saying repeatedly for the last few months. but a report in the financial times tonight saying that they will change their approach to imports coming into the country immediately after the end of the transition period at the start of next year.

they will have a more flexible, pragmatic approach. and a source confirming that tonight saying to the bbc that is essential given the impact of the coronavirus as businesses adjust to the reality after the virus but also to being outside of the single market and the customs union — two of those big economic structures of the european union. you might have thought you'd heard the last brexit — you hadn't. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as grime artist stormzy pledges ten million pounds to help tackle racial inequality in the uk — we hear the experiences of four young black men. 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 see me, i'll get out there and kick ‘em down the hills. 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. i'm lewis vaughan jones. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: america's top military officer apologizes for accompanying president trump to a photo—op at a church during black lives matter protests. us stock markets suffer their deepest one—day falls

since equity markets crashed in march. while tackling the coronavirus has preoccupied most asian countries, myanmar‘s government is fighting another battle, against armed insurgents in rakhine state. you will probably remember the terrible scenes there three years ago when a military campaign killed thousands of muslim rohingyas and driving many more into bangladesh. now the central government's hold on the state is being challenged by the rival rakhine buddhist community. 0ur report from our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head, contains images of violence. for more than a year much of rakhine state has been at war. the myanmar military has been using a power and military against a relatively new and powerful insurgent group. entire communities have been uprooted, hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded. with most muslim rohingyas

expeued with most muslim rohingyas expelled or contained in caps, it is the rakhine buddhist at the heart of this struggle. framed against what they see as an occupation and the action of government forces. the group which is claiming to fight in the name is an army founded ii yea rs the name is an army founded ii years ago by migrant faraway along the border with china, funded by smuggling and other insurgent groups, they are now capable of challenging and at times defeating the myanmar armed forces back in their state of rakhine state. it is a much younger organisation than pretty much any other insurgent forces in burma. it is a tech savvy leadership. they use social media in a way that we simply have not seen in burma before and they have tapped into a very young following in

rakhine state. this taken only last month by army volunteers, it shows what appears to be the aftermath of an ambush of military vehicles close to the main road. they are well armed and confident. these incidents are now frequent in rakhine state. it took place just a few hundred metres from this village which satellite photos show it was burnt down. it side blames the other but human rights groups say this kind of distraction is a well—known military tactic against rebellious villages. the army's unpopularity was not helped this video emerged in april, showing soldiers kicking and beating suspected supporters on a boat. the battle for hearts

and minds is being lost by the government. the myanmar military is incapable of any sophisticated counter insurgency campaign. they simply do not have the training and they do not have the mentality so you see the same sort of pretty brutal responses that we saw writ large with the rohingyas expulsion in 2017. three years ago many communities supported the scorched earth campaign against that rohingyas neighbours but in this complex and tragic honour of southeast asia they 110w honour of southeast asia they now find themselves drawn into conflict with a burmese state still struggling to impose its authority on myanmar‘s vast border regions. jonathan head, bbc news.

activists in rio de janeiro's copacabana beach have dug 100 graves in the sand as a protest against the government's handling of the pandemic. brazil has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. it's also expected to overtake the uk to become the country with the second highest number of deaths. meanwhile one of brazil's leading biomedical research centres has announced an agreement with a chinese company to produce a vaccine against coronavirus. sao paulo's governor says it's an historic day for brazil, and for science. translation: this vaccine is one of the most advanced against coronavirus. studies indicate it will be available in the first semester of 2021, thatis in the first semester of 2021, that is byjune. we will be able to immunise millions of brazilians. the british rapper stormzy has pledged £10 million

to organisations and charities tackling racial inequality in the uk. he said the uk continuously fails to admit that black people have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life. ashley john—ba ptiste has been hearing some of their experiences. four black men from different walks of life, but there's one thing they all have in common — experiences of racism. guys, as black men, what's been your experience of racism in the uk? so this time last year, i was racially profiled by the police. i was coming home from football with a mate of mine and we drove up to my house. a couple of officers, i think six or seven of them, arrested me on suspicion of arson, and i was so confused. i was locked up for 2a hours and didn't have a phone call for the first, like, ten hours. the case went on forfive months and then it was dropped. the ptsd and the trauma that comes with that situation, i still go through it until today.

dayo didn't make a formal complaint about his arrest, but in the last financial year over 1,200 black people in england and wales made complaints about the police, and according to the home office, black men are three times more likely to get arrested in england and wales compared to white men. adam, from birmingham, first experienced what he calls racism at school. it was a teacher asking you if you speak english, that kind of stuff. it was going to play the cello and having cello lessons and being told that basically your face doesn't fit. will says racism is a regular occurrence, but was especially impacted in the workplace. i run a successful business now, but before that i was working in the city as a recruitment consultant. one of my managers comes up to me one day because i was really hard working and was like, "oh, you're hungry for money just like our nigerian contractors, aren't you?" i'm actually looking with my wife and daughter to completely leave the country. i'm looking to move to ghana in west africa, where my parents are from,

because i think the problem is so deep rooted in society that you can't escape it. ric's first encounter of discrimination was as a foster child in bournemouth. when i was seven and i was privately fostered with white parents, they called me the n word behind closed doors. yeah, it was a crazy period. do you think things will change as a result of the black lives matter protests? i think people are more aware, more enlightened than before. i think a lot of people are. i'm still seeing pockets of society that are refusing to acknowledge it's even a thing, it's even a problem. while many welcome the current spotlight that's been put on racism, for dayo, it's uncertain whether real change will take place. i feel things can definitely change. will it change? i'm not completely sure. like the guys have said, it's literally just like it's ingrained into the dna of the uk. ashleyjohn—baptiste, bbc news.

scientists in israel say they've managed to produce hydrogen from plants, in what's hoped could be a breakthrough in using vegetation to produce electricity. rich preston explains. the discovery was made using microscopic algae, plant naturally absorb energy from the sun and photosynthesise it for their needs but when these researchers planted and enzyme into the algae they were able to harvest the energy of the plant were producing in the form of hydrogen. translation: the purpose of our research is to find a point inside the nano panels existing in every leaf in algae and redirect the electrical flow. the researchers say the upward men's plants could be the power source of the future. translation: for 20,000 years, agriculture was outsourced for food. now we can expand its purposes and agriculture could serve some of oui’

purposes and agriculture could serve some of our daily energy, chemical, heavy industry and non—food needs. chemical, heavy industry and non-food needs. hydrogen is a ready used to fuel some cars and drones. britain even has a hydrogen train. whereas a burning fossil fuels produces dirty, smelly carbon dioxide, of hydrogen power is of this colourless, odourless, water. producing hydrogen is normally an energy intensive industrial process , an energy intensive industrial process, this research gives hope of making the process much more natural the scientist board, while the findings signified significant development, it could be another 20 years before the world benefits from plant power. rich preston, bbc news. finally, a story about a baby deer being adopted by a goat. of course. this is silver hoof, a roe deer cub that was found alone in a forest in the crimea. the animal was brought to this wildlife park, and is now being looked after by a goat called roza, who feeds silver hoof

every three hours. this is bbc news. hello. a lot going on with our weather the next few days, and it's all being driven by an area of low pressure — this beautiful swirl of cloud here on the satellite picture. and rather than moving through quickly, this area of low pressure is just going to sit around, it's going to spin areas of rain up in our direction. brisk winds for a time, as well. and with the flow of air around this area of low pressure, we're going to tap into something rather warm and potentially quite humid. so, to sum up the next few days, there will be some heavy, thundery downpours, 00:26:47,550 --> 2147483051:50:08,489 with some sunny 2147483051:50:08,489 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 spells in between,