a very warm welcome to bbc news, if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. my names mike embley. our top stories: we return to wuhan, the chinese city where the pandemic started, to see what lessons have been learned. china is determined that this place will not be remembered for a cover—up that put global health at risk, but rather as the cornerstone of a great national victory. a breakthrough for patients seriously ill with covid—19 — a steroid drug which is cheap and already widely available. the trump administration has taken legal action to prevent the publication of a memoir by the president's former national security advisor, john bolton. clashes high in the himalayas, on the india—china border, leave 20 indian soldiers dead.

after weeks of rising tension, both sides have deployed thousands of extra troops. and english top—flight football makes a return on wednesday, but what will it be like without the fans? beijing is re—imposing restrictions in many parts of the city, in response to a new cluster of covid cases. questions are still being asked about china's early handling of the outbreak. beijing airport have cancelled many flights. the first case was in the city of wuhan, probably at the beginning of december last year. in total, there were nearly 4,000 deaths, at least 50,000 infections there. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth has just returned from wuhan.

for two months, time stood still in this city, as it endured one of the world's harshest lockdowns. now it seems a distant memory. interrupted lives have resumed again. but beneath the appearance of normality, the authorities are on edge. people we arranged to meet are followed by plain—clothes police... ..who block our car. why are they doing this? we're stopped from filming. we can't leave? and at this apartment block a group of officials keeps a careful eye on us. are we being detained? during the lockdown, anger erupted here over how it was managed, with a national vice minister heckled on an official visit. "it's all fake," they shout.

it was a sign of how the crisis shook the foundations of a system, one now firmly back in control. "no interviews," she's told. "people may say something they don't mean," this official says, explaining his concern about ourfilming. injanuary, wuhan‘s health service was the first to experience the onslaught. but despite evidence the disease was spreading, the public was given little warning. doctors were silenced by the police, and one of them, li wenliang, later died. at a small shrine, an offering is made to a dead brother.

ms wong, who doesn't want to use her full name, has been told by the police not to talk to the foreign media, but has chosen to ignore that warning. 44—year—old wong fai died in early february in the same hospital as dr li wenliang. "they should have warned the public in time," his sister tells me. "if they hadn't covered it up, my brother might be alive now." anyone asking similar questions too publicly is quickly silenced. for china there is now only one narrative that matters in wuhan — the undoubted success in eventually bringing the virus under control. china is determined that this place will not be remembered for a cover—up that put global health at risk but rather

as the cornerstone of a great national victory, one that demonstrates not the weaknesses of tight political control but its strengths. in wuhan‘s night market, business is still slow but, by the crayfish stores, there is only patriotism and praise. "chinese people united to control the epidemic," this man tells me, "but you foreigners do not know how to protect yourselves." that guy in the black top. here is another difference. 0utside one of the hospitals, a nurse we havejust interviewed, is intercepted by the police and questioned. they are pulling her over.

of course, if it brings you trouble, we will not use your interview. she calls later and asks us to delete the interview. it is harder to fight a virus in the face of public criticism and democratic debate. but without them, might china miss the signs of the next public health crisis as well? john sudworth in wuhan. in his next report he'll explore how the virus may have originated. for the first time, a drug has been shown to reduce the risk of dying from covid—i9. a cheap and widely available steroid, dexamethasone, has been found to help some of the most seriously ill patients. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. for those laid low by covid—i9, for the very sickest hospital patients, at last a drug that can tip the odds in their favour. 6,000 nhs covid patients were part of the trial and the results were so overwhelmingly positive, they were rushed out days

after the study was completed. it found that dexamethasone saves one life for every eight patients on a ventilator and one life saved for every 25 patients on oxygen. if it had been used from the outset of the pandemic it's thought it could have saved 4,000—5,000 lives in the uk. catherine milbank from buckinghamshire spent 12 days on a ventilator with covid—i9. she received dexamethasone after her husband, paul, gave consent over the phone for her to take part in the trial. when someone tells you that your wife's hanging on the edge of something that could go either way, and you know that there is current, proven drugs that are already in the medical industry, already that are prescribed to people, when you know that they are around and there's a chance it

might help, you grab it. without trying these things... the researchers, us, no—one's going to get anywhere in finding out the right drugs to help the pandemic that's happening and still going on. as we're coming through it, i'm eternally grateful and will be for the rest of my life. dexamethasone has been around for decades. a steroid, it's widely used for arthritis, asthma, and other conditions. this is a genuine breakthrough in the treatment of covid—i9. dexamethasone, either in tablet or injectable form, is available in every hospital pharmacy. the treatment costs around £5 on the nhs, and will be even cheaper in developing countries. so this drug has the potential to save lives across the world. we've been on a huge search for treatments that actually will improve survival for patients with covid. this is the first drug. not only is this the first drug that improves survival but it is available worldwide immediately and is affordable. that's fantastic news for patients.

the drug helps stop the immune system from overreacting to covid. it's not a cure, but it will help more of the sickest patients to overcome this disease. fergus walsh, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news: brazil has reported a record number of new coronavirus cases over the past 2a hours — nearly 35,000. brazil is second only to the us in the number of infections, it's on course for a million cases by the end of the week. at least 16,000 people have died from covid—i9. president trump has signed an executive order he says is aimed at reforming policing in the wake of widespread anger at the killing of george floyd, last month. the measures include financial incentives to change police procedures and a database to trace abuse by officers. the head of the us central bank has warned that economic recovery still looks uncertain, because of the pandemic.

jerome powell said low—income households had seen the sharpest rise in unemployment. us retail spending figures show a record monthly increase of nearly 18% in may as shoppers returned to stores. the trump administration is suing the president's former national security advisor john bolton to block the release of a book about his time in office. in its complaint to the court, the justice department says the memoir of the veteran republican contains classified information, which if disclosed could cause "serious or expectionally grave damage" to national security. despite that allegation, the department's case is actually based on civil employment law, accusing john bolton of breach of contract. it says he has failed to wait for a mandatory clea ra nce process intended to screen the memoirs of former officials for sensitive information. ina turning in a turning specialising in security lot represented the whistleblower which triggered

the impeachment against president trump. i asked him about this. he claims in his book the congress committed malpractice by too narrowly focusing on ukraine when they we re focusing on ukraine when they were tons of other infractions that could have impeached him on. he was waiting to publish his book and i guess make a lot of money but this lawsuit the government has failed because bolton has, i will say allegedly this point, but he has violated his nondisclosure agreement and he willjust about right at large check to

the administration and never make a the administration and never makea dime. the administration and never make a dime. this is not an injunction and it has no likelihood whatsoever of stopping the book which is scheduled to come out next week. in fact, scheduled to come out next week. infact, because scheduled to come out next week. in fact, because it is a civil case and if there is no attempt by the government to get a restraining order against alton, in fact the publisher has control of the book and if they are not even a defendant, this lawsuit will not be heard by the court for several months and maybe the fall. the could be criminal charges but from the administration's point of view, it could backfire because it gives much more publicity to the book. yes, the complaint doesn't say it has classified information in the book and that means the us government could prosecute him under the espionage act that dates back to world war i but i have some difficulty understanding some of the strategy of the government because it is a double—edged sword. 0ne, government because it is a double—edged sword. one, i think they were right and filing the civil said. no—one

should make that type of decision. 0n the other hand, they are about to give great publicity to bolton, far more than he would have had. 0bviously than he would have had. obviously this is a high profile book no matter what. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: the view from out west — how voters in montana feel about protests, politics and whether donald trump deserves another term in office. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for 40 years, forcibly classified each citizen according to race. just a day old, and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home.

early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night, but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. the real focus of attention today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. welcome back. very good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: a cheap and widely available drug has been shown to cut the risk of dying from coronavirus for severely ill patients. the trump administration has taken legal action to prevent the publication of a memoir by the president's former national security advisorjohn bolton.

it's the first deadly clash on the disputed himalayan border area in at least 45 years, between two nuclear—armed neighbours. the indian army is saying 20 of its soldiers have been killed by chinese troops in ladakh, in the kashmir region. china has not confirmed any casualties. this report from the bbc‘s freya cole. in the region of ladakh, indian military vehicles make their presence known. the territory has long—running tensions with neighbouring china and, in recent weeks, the fragile diplomatic ties have broken down, resulting in bloodshed. we have reached a situation where we were standing eyeball to eyeball and it has resulted in a scuffle where we have lost our brave guards. the clash between indian and chinese soldiers occurred in the galwan valley, a treacherous and remote location in the disputed border between indian—administered kashmir and the chinese ruled region of aksai chin.

according to the indian army, three of its soldiers were killed on impact but, in a later statement it confirmed a further 17 indian troops were critically injured... china has not confirmed fatalities and both countries have blamed each other for the confrontation. translation: we solemnly request that india follows the relevant attitude and restrains its front—line troops. do not cross the border, do not provoke trouble, do not take any unilateral action that would complicate the border situation. it is reported no bullets were fired but the soldiers came to blows using rocks and clubs. the last war was in 1962.

india suffered a significant defeat. the painful memory runs deep. the latest clash has triggered another round of anti—chinese protests in india, in a dispute which has the potential to escalate with grave consequences. freya cole, bbc news. north korea says it will send soldiers back into border areas that were disarmed under a previous peace agreement with the south. the warning comes a day after pyongyang blew up a joint liaison office set up to facilitate talks. the bbc‘s laura bicker is in seoul. laura, how significant is all this, would you say? i think basically rolls back all the peace accords, all the progress made between north and south korea in 2018 and, in fact, within the last few minutes we have heard from the south

korean military, to have said that this rolls back 20 years of inter— korean agreements. what north korea is threatening to do is move into these border regions, re—establish, rebuild the guideposts, and start military exercises once again. now, all the communication hotlines between the two countries have been cut off, they have been severed. i think one of the fears here is a misunderstanding about what is a military exercise and what other kind of mishap might happen, which has happened in the past. there a reason why these communication networks we re these communication networks were set up in the first place. was the reason this inter— korean liaison office was set up korean liaison office was set up and coming yesterday, it was blown to bits by north korea. seoul is hitting back with a number of strong statements and have said that it is any military action by the north it is the north that will pay the price. laura, what is your best guess here, what are your contacts telling you, are these

gestures, is it posturing, some kind of negotiating tactic, or is there serious aggressive intent here? i think it's difficult to say. i think north korea is certainly trying to manufacture a crisis, for what reason? it could be for domestic reasons, it could be to give a quote battered, and probably state, especially with rumours of covid—19 spread throughout the country, still under international sanctions, remember that was the key thing that kim jong—un was looking to lift under all of these negotiations with donald trump and with seoul. so i think in that case north korea might feel it has nothing to lose. it has to push somewhere and it is pushing seoul, perhaps trying to get the attention of the united states. but what pyongyang does next is what we are all wondering. how far are they willing to put this and thatis they willing to put this and that is one of the reasons why this out as a stepped up with monitoring of the border, just in case there are any infractions. laura, thank you

very much for that. in the three weeks since the death of george floyd and the worldwide protests that followed, there's been much criticism of president trump's response and of the decision to deploy the national guard into american cities. what are people thinking in the rural heartland? 0ur west coast correspondent sophie long has been travelling around montana to find out what those who supported him in 2016 think of their president now. in big—sky country, support for the president is riding high. horns honking and this is the relatively liberal city of bozeman. happy birthday, president trump! love you! i love him, and he deserves a chance. democrats cut him off at every angle. women for trump. it's important, and this is the election that will make the difference. not everyone is happy to see this celebration. i think that he doesn't care about the american people

as a whole. people of colour, women. it's a little sad to see the things that he supports, and now there's this many people here that support the same thing. something he is, as they say here, all hat and no cattle. but as you get further from the cities and the famous montana skies grow, so too does support for donald trump. dark, economic clouds may loom, but he made much hay here while the sun was shining. for him to just know that we're out here and care, and again, like i say, he doesn't underestimate our intelligence. i think that's... i think they underestimated him because they don't realise that, as in rural america, that's who we were looking for, somebody that paid attention to us. anger with president trump's leadership has never been more visible on the streets of the capital and cities across the united states. but this? this is a whole different world, and when you come here and speak to people living in america's prairies and remote mountain ranges, you realise many still have faith. even in the industrial

heartland of colstrip, a city which grew around the now partially closed power station in the coal mine that feeds it, where the coal workers' jobs donald trump vowed to fight for will almost certainly be lost, support for the president remains strong. what do you think about the way that president trump has handled the protests? personally, i believe he could be a little more aggressive. i don't believe that any place in this country, people should be able to throw rocks or molotov cocktails. i hope we can keep them, but boy, they're working hard at getting rid of him. but i think they forget the old silent majority still sitting here, and i'm one of them. the president and his rival in november's election have yet to go head—to—head. happy birthday, president trump! but his supporters here say donald trump offers them what no democrat does, the hope of being heard.

liberty! sophie long, bbc news, montana. the english premier league makes a return on wednesday. aston villa will take on sheffield united and manchester city will play arsenal in the first matches since the beginning of march. but there'll be no spectators in the grounds, as our sports editor dan roan reports. it's the same competition but with a new look. banners and seat coverings in place of supporters and the only fans inside, projected onto giant screens. we were granted exclusive access to villa park as it prepares to host the premier league's eagerly awaited return and the man in charge here told me how much it meant. we do have the eyes of the world on us tomorrow night. the level of planning and preparation that's gone in makes me extremely confident. we've been starved of sport of all descriptions but particularly our national sport, football, and so i think there is going to be a huge level of interest. relegation threatened aston villa featured in the last match before the season was suspended. and were one of the clubs most uneasy about a resumption

but have now got behind it. we need the premier league to protect its revenues. they're struggling hugely below. that is why i felt getting the premier league back up and running was the important for the whole of english football. arguably the greatest challenge the premier league's ever faced, there's been times when project restart has been in doubt but it's happening and it will be notable for other reasons, too. clu bs clubs have already paid tribute to the black lives matter movement during training. in your goal celebrations have been dedicated to it. and now the fraser black lives matter will feature on the players' shirts, rather than their names. from top to bottom things need to change. we need to change the mindset of people. we just need to keep pushing it now. we are in a

situation now where we have actually, for the first time, really got a voice but there are other changes too. players must keep their distance after goals and will have a special camera for celebrations stop with social distancing in mind they cannot crowd around much officials. and broadcast innovations will give fans a virtual presence in the ground. listen on the radio, watch tv, if you can. and by turning up to the game you are potentially putting it at jeopardy. something we have worked really ha rd something we have worked really hard for, to play those matches home and away. liverpool, meanwhile, could be crowned premier league champions for the first time as soon as sunday if results go their way. for some, the return can't come soon enough. dan roan, bbc news. just briefly, news from new zealand. the prime minister, jesinta i don't, has for the military in charge of quarantine facilities. two foreign visitors who were allowed out early later tested positive for coronavirus. the cases involving british women we re cases involving british women were the first in new zealand for more than three weeks. more than 300 people who came into

contact with them are going to be tested. that is it for now. take you so much for watching. —— thank you. hello there. expect a stormy spell of weather over the next few days. not just for the uk, across much of central and eastern europe. we've seen some sharp, thundery downpours. we start off quite promising but then showers are likely to develop in the uk as we go through the day. after a sunny start, afternoon thunderstorms could be an issue and because we have light winds, it could be slow—moving. so localised flooding not out of the question. we could start off with low cloud, mist, and fog. that burns its way back to the east coast where it may well linger, but elsewhere, lovely spells of sunshine but as the heat builds, the showers will arrive. they should be few and far between across scotland and northern ireland. the most frequent ones through wednesday will be across england and wales. so through the afternoon — this is a snapshot — you can see just a brighter colour denoting the intensity of those showers. slow—moving, a lot of heavy rain and some hail and thunder and lightning.

it will be quite warm and humid out there. temperatures likely 22 degrees, 72 fahrenheit. the showers will continue for a while through the early evening, hopefully starting to ease away before during the night, we could see more persistent rain pushing in through east anglia and moving through northern england. as we go through the day on thursday, rain to the north of england, then that's going to be replaced by some pretty intense thundery downpours across england and wales. in the space of two or three hours, we could see a couple of inches of rain. so, weather warnings have been issued by the met office, certainly worth bearing in mind if you're going out and about. a slightly quieter day in scotland 17—22 degrees the high. as we go into friday, england and wales will see the quietest of the weather. fewer showers around, but more frequent showers are likely through northern ireland and scotland. again, some of these will be heavy and thundery. 17—23 degrees as the high. we could do with some slightly quieter weather. we may well get it between england and wales for the start of the weekend as high—pressure builds, but this area of low pressure could spoil the story a little bit further north and west. so there's a chance this

weekend of more rain to come across scotland and northern ireland, but it's drier elsewhere with the heat set to build across england and wales as we go into next week. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the world health organisation has hailed as a life—saving breakthrough the discovery by scientists in the uk that a steroid, already widely available, can dramatically lower the risk of death for the most seriously ill covid—19 patients. dexamethasone is well—tried and relatively cheap. the trump administration is suing the president's former national security advisorjohn bolton, trying to block the release of a book about his time in office. thejustice department claims the memoir contains classified information which threatens national security. mr bolton argues the president committed several impeachable offences. chinese and indian troops have clashed along their disputed himalayan border, in ladakh — it's the most serious incident between the two nuclear—armed neighbours in four decades. the indian army says 20 of its soldiers were killed. beijing has acknowledged casualties, but officials haven't said how many.