this is bbc news. i'm mike embley, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. rayshard brooks, shot in the back as he fled police in atlanta, georgia. the officer who killed him is charged with murder and ten other offences. the possible sentences for a felony murder conviction would be life, life without parole, or the death penalty. as coronavirus cases rise again in china, we visit the wet markets blamed by some as the original source, and consider the latest theories. in exclusive analysis, we disclose the real global death toll from coronavirus. a bombshell allegation from john bolton. he claims president trump

asked china's leader to help him win re—election. and a leading theatre producer warns that some of the biggest productions won't reopen in london's west end this year. a former police officer in the us state of georgia has been charged with murdering rayshard brooks, the african—american man shot twice in the back as he fled two white officers in atlanta. garrett rolfe, who was sacked from the force shortly after the killing, could face the death penalty if found guilty. he also faces ten other charges. this report from our north america correspondent nick bryant. it started out as a routine call — an african—american reported asleep in his vehicle

in the car park of a fast food restau ra nt in atla nta, georgia. step out with me, please? yes, sir. rayshard brooks was asked by police to take a sobriety test. then he suggested he walk to his sister's home nearby. i canjust go home. i have my daughters there right now. my daughter's birthday was yesterday. blow, mr brooks. blow, blow, blow, blow, blow. but, after he failed a breath test, the police decided to take him into custody. that is when a fight broke out in which he seized and fired one of the officers‘ tasers. stop fighting, stop fighting! you're going to get tased! during a brief chase, he pointed the taser at the officer, who responded by fatally shooting him in the back. tonight, prosecutors revealed

shocking new details that garrett rolfe, the officer who killed rayshard brooks, had kicked him on the floor afterwards, and the other officer, devon brosnan, stood on his shoulders. neither offered any medical help for two minutes. in announcing a felony murder charge against officer rolfe, georgia's attorney—general showed a photograph of that kick, and stressed rayshard brooks did not pose a serious threat that justified the use of lethal force. the demeanour of the officers immediately after the shooting did not reflect any fear or danger of mr brooks, but their actions really reflected other kinds of emotions. faced with such massive and multiracial black lives matter protests, prosecutors are moving more swiftly to bring charges. what makes this case so especially alarming is that, even at a time of heightened racial tensions, a white police officer thought he could shoot an african—american in the back and then kick him on the ground afterwards. it will increase the already urgent demands for a major overhaul of american policing. nick bryant, bbc news, new york.

tomika miller, widow of rayshard brooks, has been speaking about how she felt hearing details of what happened to her husband. i was very hurt. i didn't imagine being there, because i don't know what i would have done if i had have seen that for myself, but i felt everything that he felt, just by hearing what he went through. and it hurt. it hurt really bad. richard rose is a veteran civil rights advocate and president of the atlanta branch of the the national association for the advancement of colored people. thank you very much for talking to us. very glad to talk to you. tell us first of all, would you, a district prosecutor says he thinks that mr rolfe's actions don't reflect fear, but other kinds of actions. what do you think he means? well, clearly there isa he means? well, clearly there is a history of white men in

america, whether police or not, being instantly outraged if a black person speaks to them, human to human. they expect subservience and, you know, it leads to these kinds of horrendous conclusions. how do you evaluate the response to what has happened, and what really keeps happening, from the president, but also from the president, but also from the mayor of atlanta 7 the president, but also from the mayor of atlanta? well, the president, of course, that's another issue, is always on the wrong side of humanity. but the mayor of atla nta wrong side of humanity. but the mayor of atlanta i think has acted appropriately. i mean, i think she understands how deep the culture of police brutality is, and that it must be restructured entirely. policing in america should be focused on public safety, and not necessarily on law enforcement. there is a need for law enforcement, but there are other times when other kinds of

skills could come into play. in this particular instance, even if mr brooks had been arrested, the charge wouldn't have been prosecuted, because he was not on the roadway. he was on private property in the car, so it was not a police issue in the first place. they would have had to observe him driving on the public street in order to arrest him for driving under the influence. yes, looking at all of this from the outside, it does seem that people are in effect being executed for quite minor matters. you know, it might be an allegation of shoplifting, of passing counterfeit money, of selling cigarettes that have not been properly taxed, or in this case being in charge of a stationary car while under the influence. you have to wonder why people with guns are even being called to this scene, and actually if police had walked away, if these kinds of offences went unpunished, would it matter that much? you are correct, and if the suspect or the defendant

had been white, that's exactly what would have happened. if they had have been white men, they had have been white men, they would have called lyft or uber or called family to come and pick them up, but this is only being recognised because of video cameras and surveillance cameras. in previous years, there was no witnesses, or if there was a witness, they would be intimidated not to testify. so this is the matter of modern technology that brings these things where all the world can see them now. just briefly, the president's executive order, to return to that, it does seem to allow for the collection of data. also it is presented as a ban on chokehold, yet there seems still to be a loophole for police to use chokehold, and asi for police to use chokehold, and as i understand it, the data is already available —— chokeholds. true, the data is available. police leadership knows it. a chokehold really has no business as a technique for subduing a suspect at all.

richard rose, thank you for talking to us. you are quite welcome. thank you for inviting me. at least 8 million people around the world have now been infected with coronavirus. almost 500,000 have died. millions in beijing are now living under renewed restrictions because of a spike in virus cases. 0ur correpondentjohn sudworth looks at the latest origin theories, and what is next for the authorities in beijing. wuhan — ground zero. a city of 11 million people, through the streets of which an unseen, silent killer took its first steps late last year, and where the cemeteries hold the first to fall victim to its deadly effects. but, six months on, the origin of this virus is still unclear. most scientists believe china's wet markets should be the focus. the virus, known to come

initially from bats, was likely passed to humans, they say, via another species. do people in wuhan eat wildlife? "we don't have customs like that", he says. across town though, this market, connected to some of the first virus cases, has been closed. wild animals were traded here, but the testing of samples has now ruled it out as the source. but there is another theory. for more than a decade, wuhan has been at the forefront of a major project to collect bat viruses from remote chinese caves. as a result, there are few buildings in the world surrounded by as much controversy as this one right now, at the centre of the us president's accusation that the virus leaked from a lab. inside, researchers have been

studying coronaviruses, and sometimes genetically altering them, to better understand, they say, how pandemics might arise. well, the lab leak theory is dismissed by the chinese government and by some scientists as an outlandish conspiracy. we are told to stop filming. 0n state tv, the lab has dismissed the allegations of a leak. translation: this is pure fabrication. we first received the sample on 30 december. before that, we didn't even know it existed. how could it have leaked from our lab, when we never had it? scientists have looked at the structure of the virus itself, in particular its protein spikes, which are unusually good for a coronavirus of this type at binding to human cells.

this analysis by five experts in the field finds that it was not purposefully manipulated. we do not believe that any type of laboratory—based scenario is plausible, it says — a conclusion now widely accepted. to deny a possibility, when a scientist should always keep an open mind... but some scientists say it is flawed, and based in part on accepting the labs denials. one of those possibilities has to be that this came out ofa lab. you know, it's a possibility. we can't say it's not. and for my colleagues to say it's not, i'm a bit astounded, because you can't say a negative, and certainly nobody‘s proved a negative here. china has been developing an origin theory of its own, with state media and officials suggesting it may have come from elsewhere. it is an idea gaining traction in wuhan.

"it came from the us", this man says. "they've tested the sequences. the us had it first." leo 0chieng, a former communist party official, died of coronavirus injanuary. 0n the banks of wuhan's east lake, i meet his son. he is angry at china's handling of the outbreak, but says calls for an international inquiry offer little hope. translation: if china or the us investigate, the final result will come from a group of politicians. it will be a report infected by politics. the origin of the virus is now meaningless to me. with wu han's lockdown receding into memory, the limits of science and the demands of politics may mean the biggest question is never answered — where did the virus come from?

john sudworth, bbc news, wuhan. official figures show more than 400,000 people have died because of coronavirus, but what is the real number? how many people died because they couldn't get treatment for other illnesses? a bbc investigation has looked at 27 different countries and has found that the total number of deaths caused by the virus, both directly and indirectly, is much worse than has been reported. this report by sofia bettiza starts in indonesia. a father buries his youngest son. a mother distraught. three—year—old rafa did not have coronavirus, but his pa rents say have coronavirus, but his parents say he died because of it. he had leukaemia. when his condition got worse, his pa rents condition got worse, his parents raced to hospital. translation: it was around midnight. the hospital said he would need to be tested for covid—i9 before he could be

admitted anywhere. another hospital told us there wasn't the children's doctor on duty, and the quick covid tests they had were only being used for pregnant women. rafa's parents drove him to three more hospitals that night, with no success. hospitals that night, with no success. the next day, they eventually found a hospital that would accept him, but he died before doctors could see him. translation: i still believe that, if my son was given prompt treatment, he would still be alive, but he was turned away and tossed from one hospital to another. i could do nothing. rafa is one of tens of thousands of people whose deaths are not officially counted as being caused by coronavirus, but are still victims of this pandemic. since the outbreak of the virus, lots of countries are recording more

deaths than usual. you can see a bump in the graph here. these are called a bump in the graph here. these a re called excess a bump in the graph here. these are called excess deaths. now, many of these have officially been linked to coronavirus, as you can see here in red, but that still leaves a huge number of lives lost which are not accounted for in the covid statistics. the italian region of lombardy saw more than double the number of deaths expected. 0ne double the number of deaths expected. one of them was luca's mother. she had pancreatic cancer. when she tested positive for covid—i9, her chemotherapy was stopped immediately. but when she got better, her treatment was never resumed. translation: yes, i believe so,

because her doctors said everything was under control, if the cancer had spread to her liver. my mum was optimistic. we made plans for the future. but the virus accelerated her death. she could have been with me for many more months, or even me for many more months, or eve n years . me for many more months, or even years. in brazil, a similar story of grief. translation: my mother was a warrior who fought for her children all her life. andreia says that after her mum had a stroke, the hospital discharged her too soon, because they needed to free up beds for covid patients. a few days after she came back home, her heart suddenly stopped beating. translation: my sister tried to beat her chest, but it didn't work. at the hospital, she would have been revived. she did not die from the disease,

but she died because of the disease. and so many other people are dying in brazil and in the world, but they are not counting. it is scary, it is scary. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a warning from a leading theatre producer that some of the biggest productions won't reopen in london's west end this year. 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. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: a white police officer who fatally shot an african—american man in the state of georgia has been charged with murder. and ten other offences. as a new outbreak sweeps through beijing, china's capital is being placed under another lockdown. president donald trump tried

to get china's leader xijinping to help him secure re—election, that's according to former national security adviser, john bolton, in a new book. mr bolton says mr trump wanted china to buy more agricultural produce from us farmers. the trump administration is trying to prevent publication of the book, saying it contains "classified information". and that it might damage national security. we can now speak to thejournlist max kutner who has been following the controversy surrounding is there a fatigue among the american public concerning revelations about the president and will it have much impact? where we will see the impact is in the election. while a president can be impeached more than once, i highly doubt, given the last impeachment trial and how it turned out, that they will go through that again in congress. already we are hearing from trump's

presumptive appointing, joe biden, who was tweeting about this. we are hearing from other democratic leaders and are ready and anti— trump republican group, called the lincoln project, has put out an attack on this so i do think we will be hearing about this as the 2020 campaign was forward and even when foreign policy comes up and even when foreign policy comes up in the presidential debates. it is raising quite a few eyebrows internationally. a p pa re ntly few eyebrows internationally. apparently mr trump told xi jinping it was the right thing to do to detained a million uighurs and either minorities for punishment and indoctrination. from a human rights point of view and moral point of view that seems incredibly questionable. and the other comment had to do with buying agricultural products in exchange for different promises and donald trump telling xi jinping different promises and donald trump telling xijinping it would help him win the election and that is taken people draw

comparisons with what happened with ukraine, that was again a discussion with a foreign leader, conversation about a foreign policy and donald trump appearing to direct the foreign policy in a way that would help him anything 2020 election so john bolton is writing this was not just ukraine and john bolton is writing this was notjust ukraine and china, this was actually happening all the time in the donald trump white house and john bolton also writes that he would be hard—pressed also writes that he would be ha rd—pressed to also writes that he would be hard—pressed to think of a time when it did not happen, that donald trump was not directing a matter without the election in mind. alton also says he kind of takes at the democrats by saying, had they not focused s0 by saying, had they not focused so narrowly on ukraine and focus on some of these other things, maybe the impeachment would have been more successful, the conviction would have been more successful. even if these things did happen, john bolton did nothing about it. is it unusualfor a president did nothing about it. is it unusual for a president to take

foreign policy decisions to helping get re—elected, many presents have done it, haven't they? attorney general bill barlow who believes in executive power and have the power of the president has said before that the president has authority over foreign policy and so it would not matter the reasoning as long as the president is doing it, he is in the clear for this and for that reason also, the democrats would not seek any sort of investigation because they know how the justice department feels about this. thank you for talking to us. thank you. one of the world's most successful figures in theatre, sir cameron mackintosh, the producer behind les miserables, mary poppins and hamilton, has said productions will not return to the london west end this year. sir cameron said the decision was taken because of uncertainty about when the government would withdraw social distancing measures. 0ur arts correspondent david sillito considers what this means for theatres across the uk.

# i love him but when the night is over...# the lockdown may be lifting in some areas, but theatres are staying closed. so, too, the pubs and restaurants that depend on them. theatreland is a ghost town and tough decisions are being made. les miserables, mary poppins, hamilton, phantom of the opera, cameron mackintosh is the biggest name in british theatre, and he is considering laying off all his employees. and you can be certain that others will follow. the issue — thejob retention scheme that's kept these venues afloat is due to end in october, and the theatres will still be closed. what happens between the moment it winds down or disappears and the moment that we can perform with revenue? and that is not possible while social distancing is in place. we don't think that will be possible until spring next year, very possibly. it will be a while before we see this again live. tamara rojo is part of the creative industries federation, which is today warning that

400,000 jobs in the cultural and creative sector are at risk. and some of the most vulnerable are here, the smaller venues in places like east anglia. if social distancing remains in place and we're not able to, as a collective of venues, regain our full—scale operation, 50% of those venues currently say they will have to close permanently beyond april the 1st. and at the sharp end are people like anna. everything has stopped. we can't plan. we are just sitting tight. and there's something about the solidarity of us all being in it together which means that perhaps we're not panicking in quite the way that we should. yeah. theatreland — it's only a part of our creative economy but it's a vital part, and it's going dark. david sillito, bbc news.

staying with things of the arts, a written written by both vince yvonne garg and go again —— van gogh. a reminder of the main news. a white police officer, garrett rolfe has been charged over the killing of rays ha rd charged over the killing of rayshard brooks in the city of atla nta rayshard brooks in the city of atlanta last friday. it could face the penalty if found guilty. the district attorneys ata guilty. the district attorneys at a second officer involved had decided to become a state witness but we should tell you

that mr bressman's lawyer has denied that point. much more on the bbc website and on twitter. thank you for watching. hello there. it's been a very thundery week so far across the country, thanks to the warmth and the humidity. and the next few days also looks like we'll see more downpours. now, wednesday we saw some pretty intense thunderstorms across parts of england. this lightning strike was captured on one of our weather watchers in leicestershire there. we also had some slow—moving downpours which gave rise to lots of rainfall fall in a short space of time, giving rise to some surface water flooding. some subtle changes to thursday morning. we've got an area of more persistent rain which has been moving out to the near continent, and will push in to the midlands and south east england to start thursday morning. it will be a muggy start for most, and we'll have further low cloud, mist and murk across the north sea coast.

now, as we move through the course of today, it looks like that area of rain, some heavy bursts in it, will tend to move its way into north, into northern england, parts of wales. much of scotland and northern ireland should see a fine day with some sunshine, bar the odd heavy shower towards the south. but it is southern wales and into central and southern england into the afternoon where we could see these further slow—moving, thundery downpours developing. these could be really heavy, again, give rise to some flash flooding, and a lot of rainfall in a short space of time. now, it is going to be another warm and muggy day for most. temperatures reaching highs of 21 or 22 degrees, but always cooler along the north sea coast. so these thunderstorms across the south of the country, through the afternoon, could cause some issues — stay tuned to your local radio, and to the latest weather forecast. as we move through thursday night, it looks like the thunderstorms will ease across the south. that rain will push its way westwards, into parts of scotland and northern ireland, by the end of the night, and they will have quite a bit of low cloud, mist and murk

across the northern and eastern areas, so another muggy night to come. friday, quite a messy picture. it looks like we'll start off with that rain across the west, a lot of cloud around, but sunshine will break through into the afternoon and that will spark off some heavy thundery downpours, this time central northern and eastern areas perhaps look more favoured. again, it is going to be another warm and muggy day for most. then we see some big changes into the weekend. we lose the humidity and the thunderstorms into the continent, and this area of low pressure will sweep in to bring stronger winds across the board, also a band of rain which will move through saturday night into sunday. so, windier, fresher conditions this weekend, with some rain at times. there will also be some sunshine too.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a former police officer in the us state of georgia has been charged with the murder of rayshard brooks. the unarmed african—american was shot twice in the back as he fled from two white officers in atlanta. garrett rolfe was sacked from the police force shortly after the shooting. after nearly two months with no coronavirus infections, the chinese capital, beijing, is being placed under another lockdown. restrictions on movements have been reintroduced to try to contain a new outbreak, which emerged a week ago. president trump's former national security adviserjohn bolton claims the president tried to get china's leader to help him secure his re—election. mr bolton also claims that mr trump said china should go ahead with building detention camps to hold uighur muslims. the white house is trying to prevent the book's publication.

the killing of george floyd, the african—american who died