welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: imposing new restrictions: new york and two other states clamp down on travellers from the us where infection rates are surging. inside the race for a vaccine: we are with the team at imperial college, london, using a revolutionary new approach to combat covid—i9. it means that we can make the equivalent of 2 million doses in the volume of a litre. imagine a litre bottle of lemonade — that would have 2 million doses in it. three suspects arrested after the killing of black jogger ahmaud arbery are indicted on murder charges. in moscow, a show of military power on victory day with president putin about to ask the nation for a further term in office.

hello to you. new york and the neighbouring states of newjersey and connecticut are introducing a 14—day quarantine period for visitors from nine other us states with high rates of coronavirus infection. across the us, there have been more than 2.3 million cases this is bbc news, the headlines: since the start of the pandemic, scientists at imperial college the highest figures for any nation. in london have begun human trials in the past 2a hours, for a vaccine against the coronavirus. more than 36,000 new infections they're using an approach that's never been tried before — were reported by the if it works, a vaccine could be national health department — cheaper and easier to manufacture the biggest single, in mass quantities. there are more than a dozen trials daily figure of the pandemic. three states — under way around the world. california, texas and florida — have reported record highs new york and the neighbouring states of coronavirus cases, of newjersey and connecticut with all three reporting more are introducing a 14—day quarantine for visitors from nine other than 5,000 new cases apiece. american states with high despite the fresh surge, president trump's rates of infection. administration has announced plans to cut federal funding new cases of covid—19 in the us have risen to their highest for covid—i9 testing

sites, in five states — level since april. colorado, texas, illinois, pennsylvania and new jersey. a grand jury in georgia has indicted three men in the killing 0ur north america editor of ahmaud arbery, the unarmed black jon sopel has more. man who was shot and killed in february while out for a jog. there are now 26 states the accused men were arrested in may in america where they have seen and now face nine counts including more covid cases this week murder, aggravated assault than they did last week. and false imprisonment. a handful of the biggest states — florida, texas, california, arizona — are seeing massive spikes with thousands of new cases being reported each day. a hospital in houston, they've got 97% occupancy of intensive care beds. now, donald trump says this is all because of increased testing. his public health experts say it's far more serious than that. and if you compare the us to the european union, the difference is really stark. it's something like per 100,000 of population, six or seven times worse in america than europe, and that's leading the eu to consider introducing a travel ban on passengers coming from america into europe, and that would be a damning verdict on donald trump's handling of coronavirus.

it would also be a very bold move by the eu, because it's bound to infuriate the president. this is much more than a simple public health issue. a little earlier, i spoke to dr peter hotez, who's dean of the national school of tropical medicine at the baylor college of medicine. what we are seeing now is a very steep acceleration in the number of covid—i9 cases across many parts of the southern united states. as you mentioned, florida, california, but also texas, oklahoma, arizona, nevada, and here in texas, things are looking quite dire. we're in houston, the home of the texas medical centre, the world's largest medical centre, it's a medical centre, 60 institutions, everything big here in texas, and we are unfortunately seeing this big acceleration, this exponential

rise, almost vertical rise with now 1,000 cases a day and houston with projections of 4,000 cases per day by the july 4 weekend, and it's notjust cases, it's numbers mounting in terms of hospitalisations and intensive care admissions. and, finally, we think a lot of that is among the low—income neighbourhoods, so african—americans, hispanic, latinx, minority populations. so, in my opinion, it's a humanitarian tragedy that's starting to unfold and i've been pushing very hard for us to be more aggressive in beginning to dial things back and close things back down. doctor, what is this acceleration, this tragedy in these particular states as you call it tell it about how the pandemic has been handled until now? we all know the story about new york. the virus probably entered in the new york area from europe in the middle of february

and went undetected for quite awhile and that led to probably the worst part of the epidemic so far in new york city and the surrounding states. we then implemented lockdowns in a number of states, including texas, and did quite well with it for a while, but then we lifted those bands prematurely ahead of the time when our epidemiological modellers said it was safe to do so, so we are paying the consequences of that right now. is this spike just because of increased testing, as president trump says? no, absolutely not, because it's paralleled with a spike in hospital and intensive care unit admissions. you mentioned we are about to be overwhelmed in our icus. i think we have a little bit more room because we are now opening up some of our speciality hospitals to adult patients, so our mdms

and cancers centre, and the texas children's hospital to accommodate covid—i9 patients, so we still have a bit of wriggle room for that, but who wants to get there? we need to do is halt community transmissions now. thank you so much for talking to us. there are many vaccines being trialled around the world, all with hopes of ending the pandemic. producing a vaccine is a slow, complicated and secretive process. the bbc‘s medical correspondent, fergus walsh, has had exclusive access to the first human trials of a vaccine being developed by imperial college in london. they're using an approach that's never been tried before. coronavirus has transformed all our lives, and although restrictions are easing, there's only one certain way out of the pandemic, one way to protect us all from the virus, to return society to normal, and that's a vaccine. never has science responded so fast to a global health threat. what usually takes years has been done in months.

there are now more than 120 coronavirus vaccines in early development. 13 have begun human trials — five in china, three in the united states, two in the uk and one each in australia, germany and russia. we'll need several to work if there's to be enough doses to protect 7 billion people on the planet. after oxford university, now, imperial college london is the latest to begin trials. kathy, who's 39, is one of 300 volunteers who will receive the imperial vaccine. she'll get a second booster dose in four weeks. why did you volunteer? i think it came from not really knowing what i could do to help, and this turned out to be something that i could do, and understanding that it's not likely that things will get back to normal until there is a vaccine, so wanting to be part of that progress as well. if the safety trial goes well, a further 6,000 volunteers will be immunised in the autumn.

trials might also need to happen overseas, in virus hot spots, because that's the only way researchers will know for sure if it offers protection. i wouldn't be working on this trial if i didn't feel cautiously optimistic that we will see great immune responses in our participants, but there's still a long way to go to evaluate this vaccine. this is a really unusual vaccine. the synthetic genetic code it contains should instruct muscle cells to produce the spike protein found on the surface of coronavirus. that should prompt the creation of antibodies, and that army of antibodies should remain on guard in case of future exposure to coronavirus and, if it works, prevent infection. because it's all created artificially, with no need to grow any virus, the vaccine could be manufactured on a huge and concentrated scale. it means that we can make the equivalent

of 2 million doses in the volume of a litre. so, if you imagine a litre bottle of lemonade — that would have 2 million doses in it. so, when you want to start making vaccines for the world if this is successful — and that's still a big if — it makes it so much more tractable because you don't have to build a factory the size of several warehouses. imperial college say they could have enough doses ready to immunise a0 million people in the uk by next summer, but trials must first show the vaccine is safe and effective. fergus walsh, bbc news. more on this now from dr larisa labzin, who researches the immune system at the institute for molecular bioscience at the university of queensland. thank you very much for your time. we have been saying that generally producing a vaccine

isa generally producing a vaccine is a very slow and complicated process. it is almost unheard of for so many teams to move so fast, isn't it? absolutely. we have never seen this before and hopefully we won't have to see it again. it is really inspiring to see how people are moving. does it have lessons for the search for other vaccines? the fact that it can be done at this kind of speed. absolutely, and the other exciting is that the vaccine is being tested against is virus u ntested being tested against is virus untested platforms. you just mentioned the imperial college vaccine. that has not successfully been used as a vaccine before. if it works on this virus, it can be used for other vaccines and viruses. we will see a lot of new technology against a lot of other diseases just because of what we will learn out of this epidemic. other risks and dangers in this kind of speed? absolutely. i think we are all

aware of that. the last thing we wa nt aware of that. the last thing we want is to make the vaccine make illness worse. the first clinical studies under way at this stage, it is basically to test the safety of getting the vaccine. and some of those trials have started already and are under way. the phase one study. the next step is to see if the vaccine actually works and whether it protects people getting sick with the disease, whether it prevents people from getting sick with the disease and whether it protects people from getting more sick with the disease. we won't know until the trials have started. how long the protection will last and how the protection actually works. we don't know much about the coronavirus still and we will learn a lot from these vaccine trials. what is your best bet on when a vaccine

might actually be available? that is the toughest question. we are hoping within the next 12 months, but again, how long it will take enough doses of that vaccine is hard to say. it is really promising, some of the vaccines are already in phase two and phase three clinical trials. it means we will see if people have been given a vaccine actually don't get sick. that is the key thing we need to know. thank you very much. you are welcome. thank you. let's get some of the day's other coronavirus news. the international monetary fund has said the pandemic is damaging the world economy even more than it previously forecast. the imf now predicts global output this year will shrink by nearly 5% and wipe $12 trillion off global output over two years. china is the only large economy forecast to grow at all this

year byjust1%. the australian airline qantas is to cut 6,000 jobs as a result of the pandemic. it says another 15,000 employees will remain stood down until it resumes international flights. its ceo has said its airbus a380 aircraft will not be used for the next three years. only 68 people in france have used the government's new coronavirus contact tracing app to record an infection, even though it was launched more than three weeks ago. the stopcovid app has alerted just 1a people that they've been in close contact with an infected person. scientists are predicting that the death toll from coronavirus in latin america is expected to soar by october with brazil and mexico being the worst affected. the leaders of both countries have been criticised for not taking the virus seriously enough and pushing for a reopening of their economies before the virus has been tamed. wednesday's earthquake in southern mexico has hampered treatment of people with covid—19. aru na iyengar reports.

this is the moment the earthquake struck a mexico city hospital some 700km away from the epicentre in oaxaca on the pacific coast. patients and medical staff braced themselves as the earthquake, measuring 7.4 on the richter scale, rocks the building. here in the beach town of huatulco in oaxaca, locals are surveying the damage. 2,000 properties in the area are destroyed. nine people have lost their lives. but it's not the only shock mexicans are having to deal with. the country is already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. it has suffered more than 211,000 covid—19 deaths, the second most in latin america behind brazil, and reported over 196,000 cases. within these cases, newborn triplets were tested positive for covid—19 at three days old.

virus cases like this with multiple births have not previously been seen anywhere in the world. and adding to the shaky picture, the international monetary fund says it expects mexico's gross domestic product to fall by double digits in the coming year. many are desperate for work, but the government's handling of the virus leaves them with little hope. translation: in the situation we're in right now, without work, because of the pandemic, and now with the earthquake, i don't know what's going to happen. god willing, everything will get resolved quickly. even before the virus arrived, experts warned that the region's densely packed cities, millions of casual workers and healthcare systems starved of resources could undermine even the best attempts to curb the pandemic. now, an earthquake hasjust added to their woes. aruna iyengar, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: in moscow,

honouring the heroes of world war ii. a traditional show of military power on victory day. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade center armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a rightful claim on certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council have now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco.

it was closing time for checkpoint charlie, which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city. welcome back. good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: the governors of new york and two other states impose new restrictions on travellers from the us where infection rates are surging. scientists at imperial college in london have begun human trials of a revolutionary vaccine against the coronavirus. a grand jury in the united states has formally indicted the three men arrested over the death of ahmaud arbery, the young blackjogger killed as he ran through a residential area of brunswick, georgia. local police only made arrests, more than two months

after the killing, when video of it went viral at the beginning of may. now a retired police officer gregory mcmichael — his son travis, and the man who shot the video, william bryan, have been indicted on counts including murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. tiffany williams roberts is a civil rights attorney for the southern centre for human rights, which campaigns for criminaljustice reform. good to talk to you, tiffany. my good to talk to you, tiffany. my guess we have to say here, of course, there will be a trial and we don't want to prejudge it. it doesn't seem very odd, this delay, doesn't it, clearly grand juries have not been meeting as often as they might do because of the pandemic, but also local law enforcement seemed reluctant to act until there was video which increased the pressure to act. absolutely. ahmaud arbery was killed on february 23, this was before the united states was locked down because of the over 19 pandemic. what we know in georgia, which is the state with the most people under correctional control in the entire nation, is that if

ahmaud arbery had been white and mcmichael ‘s had been black, they would have been arrested swiftly and charge quickly. is the case that george has a particularly punitive criminaljustice system ? punitive criminaljustice system? absolutely. despite many years of reform is what we are seeing in georgia is a significant role back in the criminal justice significant role back in the criminaljustice reforms and the remnants of chattel slavery andjim crow are the remnants of chattel slavery and jim crow are alive the remnants of chattel slavery andjim crow are alive and the remnants of chattel slavery and jim crow are alive and well in georgia. we are seeing that in our legislative session right now and we see that with the increase in criminalisation of black people in georgia especially. because trespass is just a misdemeanour, isn't it? i don't think it even justifies a citizens' arrest. that's absolutely right. even under the current citizens arrest law, which are organised and is arguing for it to be revealed, criminal trespass is not a felony in georgia and it would not have justified a citizens' arrest. and we know the video

surveillance of that bacon home depict white through that home, but for some reason mcmichael is found a big problem with ahmaud arbery walking through that home. that's the issue we wa nt to that home. that's the issue we want to tackle when we deal with the movement around this issue. so apart from justice in this particular case, however it resolves itself, you will be looking for systemic change. what would that involve? shall, absolutely. systemic change, transformational change. we are asking that georgia's citizens arrest be repealed and to evaluate use of force that is rarely afforded, which the benefits of that law is rarely afforded to black folks. we are also asking that georgia holds enacting laws that criminalise race and repeal laws that criminalise race right now. we have a gang bill before the legislature that we think would create more like ahmaud arbery because it criminalises black men and brown men especially.

so in addition to lobbying for justice for the family enjoyed we're hoping we can take some significant steps away from the criminal is asian of race and posit —— poverty that plague estate at the moment. tiffany williams roberts. thank you. thank you so much for having me. president trump has said the us will be sending troops to poland to boost the country's defence capabilities and bolster nato's eastern flank against potential russian aggression. his meeting today with the polish president andrzej duda marked the first visit of a foreign leader to washington since coronavirus travel restrictions were put in place. mr duda welcomed the prospect of greater american presence in poland. translation: if anyone wants to attack poland, it won't be a soft landing for that entity, it won't pay off to such an aggressor because the strongest army in the world is present and they would help polish soldiers defend our borders. poland is one of the few countries that are fulfilling their obligations under nato, in particular, their monetary obligations, and they asked

us if we would send some additional troops. they are going to pay for that, they will be paying for the sending of additional troops, and we will probably be moving them from germany to poland. let's get some of the other main stories. a us appeals court has directed a federaljudge to drop the criminal case against president trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn. mr flynn was fired afterjust 22 days for lying about his contacts with russians, and pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. he later asked to withdraw his plea and the case was handed to a districtjudge. this overruling effectively ends the politically—charged case. gabon‘s lower house of parliament has voted to decriminalise homosexuality. if the proposal is approved it could be one of the few countries in sub—saharan africa to decriminalise same sex relationships. it's still punishable by death in mauritania, sudan, northern nigeria

and southern somalia. makers of the segway electric scooter in the united states are discontinuing it from the middle of next month. it was launched with much fanfare two decades ago with claims that would revolutionise personal transport. but the pricetag was pretty prohibitive and there we re pretty prohibitive and there were concerns over safety pretty prohibitive and there were concerns over safety and it never really took off widely. russia has been holding its biggest public holiday, the victory parade that marks the 75th anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany in world war ii. this despite a growing number of coronavirus infections. the parade is usually held on 9 may. it was delayed because of the pandemic. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg was in red square. if there was plenty of pomp... ..well, think of the circumstance. russia is marking 75 years since the defeat of nazi germany. military might in abundance.

no social distancing, though. the kremlin claims coronavirus is in retreat, but it's not beaten. the city of moscow is recording hundreds of new covid cases every day. and while red square was heaving with hardware, a dozen russian cities cancelled their parades due to the pandemic. so, why did vladimir putin decide his military show must go on? this parade isn'tjust about the past — it's very much about the present. vladimir putin wants to be seen as the father of the nation, the protector of russia and, crucially, he hopes that all of this will boost his popularity ahead of a referendum on extending his rule. away from the square, muscovites ignored calls by the city's mayor to stay safe by staying home and watching the parade on tv.

fearing a spike in infections, politician leonid gozman has called on investigators to open a criminal case against president putin over the parade. we are on the very high level of the pandemic still. so, i think it's dangerous and i think that he and his people understand that it's dangerous, so i think it's a crime. it's a crime. it's murdering. but this war veteran doesn't agree. translation: virus or no virus, nothing would stop me from being here to celebrate our victory and just like we defeated the nazis, russia will defeat the coronavirus. just the kind of optimism and patriotism vladimir putin would approve of as he looks to extend his rule over russia. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.

as of now. more for you on the bbc website on an —— and on our twitter feeds. hello. wednesday was officially the hottest day of 2020 so far — 32.6 celsius at london heathrow airport. ithink, though, today may top that further. we're likely to see 33, again, i think somewhere towards the west of london or on into parts of the midlands. make no mistake, it will be hot and humid day across the board. we're pulling our air in across western europe, originally from northern africa, and you can see the amber makes it all the way to the north of the uk for thursday. so, areas that have lagged behind a little with the temperatures, scotland and northern ireland, will move into the warmer air through the day. notice some thunderstorms there towards the north—west — we'll see more of those a little later — but generally, not much happens on that chart through thursday. that's because basically it's a day of blue skies and sunshine, and up go those temperatures. 30 degrees possible in central scotland, mid—20s for northern ireland, and as i said, possibly 33 somewhere further south. however, when it gets that hot, you know what's coming — thunderstorms. thursday evening, pretty quiet,

very muggy, a lot of late sunshine, but then on into the small hours of friday, the thunderstorm start to break out, initially towards the west of the uk. it will take a while for them to ease the heat. so thursday night into friday, rather uncomfortable, some spots down no lower than 18 or 19 degrees celsius. through friday daytime, though, those storms are going to come increasingly widespread. some eastern areas will still see a lot of sunshine, feeling very muggy here indeed, whereas when the showers start to break out, we will feel the heat beginning to ease. so, a west—east split in our temperatures on friday. cooler, fresher with temperatures in the low—20s in the west, still possibly up to 30 in the east. but through friday and on into the weekend, this area of low pressure really does start to take hold from the atlantic. it moves away the high that's locked in, though hot air, as it moves, it brings in clear atlantic air. gone the amber, in comes the fresher yellow. notjust fresher conditions, though, but much more unsettled conditions thanks to that area of low pressure. so you can see spots a 10—degree drop in temperature at the start of the weekend, we're also going to see quite 00:27:52,668 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 a few showers i think.