this is bbc news. welcome if you are watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: as coronavirus cases rise again in china, we visit the wet markets blamed by some as the original source, and consider the latest theories. 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. in exclusive analysis, we reveal the real global death toll from coronavirus is now over 500,000. a bombshell allegation from president trump's former national security adviser.

he claims the president asked china's leader to help him win re—election. we start with a special report from the chinese city of wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic originally took hold, to look at how it all began. so far, nearly 500,000 deaths have been officially recorded around the world, but experts believe the reality is far worse. the pandemic is thought to have originated on 1 december last year when a man in wuhan was taken ill and later categorised as a victim of covid—19. it was widely reported that the virus had originated in a market where a range of live animals are sold for human consumption. but rational debate about the virus has been made

more difficult by a propaganda war between the us and china, with both countries accusing each other of being the source. as the number of new cases starts to rise again in china, our correspondentjohn sudworth looks at the origins of coronavirus, and what comes 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.

while 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 of the 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 no—one'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." liu 0uqing, a former communist party official,

died of coronavirus injanuary. 0n the banks of wuhan‘s east lake, i meet his son, liu pei'en. 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 higher 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 parents say he died because of it. he had leukaemia. when his 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 a 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. 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 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 than expected. one of them was luca's mother. luciana 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, as the cancer hadn't 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 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, that they are not counting. it's scary, it's scary.

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 restaurant in atlanta, 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. alright, 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, 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 0fficer 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, ‘cause i don't know what i would have done if i would 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. tomika miller, on her husband's death. you may have picked up on that remark, in the press conference from the district attorney, that 0fficer rolfe's behaviour didn't reflect fear, but other emotions. i asked richard rose, president of the atlanta branch of the national association for the advancement of colored people, how he interprets that statement. well, clearly there's 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 kind 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 mayor of atlanta ? well, the president — of course, that's another issue — is always on the 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's 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.

if it had have been a white man, 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 chokeholds, yet there seems still to be a loophole for police to use chokeholds, and as i understand it, the data is already available. true, the data is available. police leadership knows it. a chokehold really has no business as a technique for subduing a suspect, at all. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: distracted,

overloaded, stressed out. we will take a look at how covid is affecting our grey matter. 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 world news, the latest headlines: as a new outbreak sweeps through beijing, china's capital is being placed under another lockdown. a white police officer who fatally shot african—american man, rayshard brooks, in the state of georgia has been charged with murder. donald trump tried to get china's leader xi jinping to help him secure re—election, according to the president's former national security adviserjohn bolton, in a new book. john bolton says mr trump "pleaded" with the chinese leader to buy more agricultural produce from american farmers. the trump administration is trying to prevent publication of the book, saying it contains "classified information" which will threaten national security.

i spoke to amanda sloat, foreign policy analyst from the brookings institution, and asked her about the likely impact of all this. whether there is a kind of fatigue, these days, that greets new revelations about president trump. it certainly has been a long 3.5 years here in washington, and every day seems to be filled with new surprises. certainly for people that have been longtime opponents of the president, the group of never trump republicans, i don't think these surprises are anything new, and in many ways, they end up confirming people's worst fears. i think the biggest challenge politically is going to be to the president's campaign message that he is tougher on china than vice president joe biden has been, as these revelations show that that simply is not the case. john bolton does suggest that the president was pleading with the chinese leader. it does, it does, and the allegations are very similar to the types of things that we saw in the ukraine case, which is the president

seeking to manipulate foreign leaders to do things for his own domestic political benefit. and in fact, there is also information in the book about ukraine that essentially validates the charges that were brought against the president during the impeachment hearing on ukraine. and yet it isn't surely that unusual, is it, and yet it isn't surely not that unusual, is it, for the united states president or any national leader to take foreign policy decisions that might help them get re—elected. i think this was pretty unprecedented. trump certainly was negotiating with the chinese to reach some sort of trade agreement, so wanting to negotiate for an agreement that would benefit the entire country is one thing. but in these cases, we've seen the president seek to encourage foreign leaders to take very specific actions that would benefit him politically. in the ukrainian case, it was investigating dirt on his democratic rivals, and in china, it's making purchases in farm states that would benefit his re—election campaign. so i think that is a very

different situation. it is a claim raising a lot of eyebrows, as well, that allegedly the president said to the chinese leader it was the right thing to do to detain abouti million uighur muslims and other minorities in these detention camps for indoctrination, re—education and punishment. morally and in human rights terms, that seems very questionable. absolutely, i think that revelation has been devastating here in washington, and ironically, is coming on the same day that the president signed into law legislation coming out of congress to deal with some of these uighur and human rights issues. secretary of state pompeo had been out calling this situation a stain on the conscience, using very strong language, and so the fact the president was saying that is not only despicable in this particular case, but also significantly undermines the voice of the united states on human rights issues. let's get some of

the day's other news: angela merkel has announced that germany will extend a ban on large scale events until at least the end of october. the move is part of efforts to try to avoid a new wave of coronavirus infections. ms merkel urged people to remain cautious and maintain social distancing. australia's national airline, qantas, says it will cancel most of its international flights until at least 0ctober because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. the development comes after the australian government indicated that its border closure may extend into next year. one of brazil's most outspoken indigenous leaders, paulinho payakan, has died of coronavirus. he was a chief of the kayapo people. he died in a hospital in the northern state of para where the pandemic is hitting indigenous communities hard and is killing tribal elders. living during a pandemic is not easy. there's the fear of getting covid—i9 of course, but also the isolation, the economic collapse, the sudden overhaul of our daily lives and there's no clear end in sight. so how are our brains responding to this covid craziness?

the bbc‘s angelica casas takes a look inside our heads. we a look inside our heads. are processing this in fits and we are processing this in fits and starts, i would say. in pa rt and starts, i would say. in part we are processing things very well and we are adapting and people are coming up with all sorts of creative solutions to the many challenges of daily life and in part we are just running really scared. we're looking over a cliff that we cannot see the bottom of. and the uncertainty surrounding job losses, the economy, isolation and fear of getting the virus oi’ and fear of getting the virus or lead to stress. when it is a stress that is ongoing, you are co nsta ntly stress that is ongoing, you are constantly aroused. your nervous system is going with the fight or flight syndrome

but there is no flight and you end up with your blood pressure higher than normal. it is much more difficult to process, cognitively even, and you find yourself distracted and worried and preoccupied so all of these reactions are existing simultaneously in your body and in your mind and you do not know and are trying to figure out how to sort all this out. and then there is of the social isolation. we have never had to self isolate like we have had today and i do not think anybody alive has experienced something like this. prolonged self isolation is definitely detrimental. we need people, we need human contact and, in the world where we do not have that, there is a risk for a numberof that, there is a risk for a number of disorders to become exacerbated. mood disorders, anxiety, depression and worry are alla

anxiety, depression and worry are all a function of prolonged social isolation. we can look at other pandemics and other epidemics and we can make predictions about how we'll be to do. the pandemic of 1918, eventually people started hugging again, holding rallies and shaking hands. 0ur memory of this will fade as the risks fade. angelica casas, bbc news. a writer lytton by both van gogh and his friend paul go again has sold at auction. it outlines visits to the city's brussels, all apparently in the interests of art. the letter goes on display at the van gogh museum later this year in amsterdam. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter —

i'm @bbc mike embley. thank you very much 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 some north sea coasts. 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 northwards, 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's 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's going to be another warm and muggy day for most. temperatures reaching highs of 21 or 22 degrees, but always cooler along some north sea coasts. 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 to parts of scotland and northern ireland by the end of the night, and we'll 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. 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. that will spark off some heavy, thundery downpours. this time central northern and eastern areas perhaps look more favoured. again, it's 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'll also be some sunshine too.

this is bbc news, the headlines: after nearly two months with no coronavirus infections, the chinese capital is under another lockdown. restrictions on movements have been re—introduced in beijing to try to contain a new outbreak which emerged a week ago. 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 has been sacked from the force. he faces 10 other charges. in a new book, donald trump's former national security adviser claims the president tried to get china's leader to help secure his re—election. john bolton also claims mr trump told xi jinping it was the "right thing to do" for china to detain about a million uighur muslims and other minorities in camps in xinjiang, for punishment and indoctrination. the white house is trying to stop publication of the book.