this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: one month after the death of george floyd in police detention, the us house of representatives passes a police reform bill. his brother tells us what he would have made of the cultural changes now under way in the country. he would be humbled. he would be, you know, sad that he is not here to be in a world that is making change like this. the us faces a coronavirus spike as social distancing is relaxed. more than 35,000 new cases are identified in a single day. thousands flock to the beach in england, despite warnings coronavirus cases will rise again if people abandon social distancing.

cheering and chanting. liverpool claim the premier league title, ending a 30—year wait to be crowned english football champions again. hello and welcome to the programme. let's start in the us, because in the past couple of hours, the house of representatives has approved legislation to reform the police. it's named in honour of george floyd, whose death in police custody a month ago lead to calls to address police misconduct. the reforms aim to ban chokeholds, stop racial profiling and end qualified immunity for law enforcement officers. the legislation is opposed by president donald trump and it's unlikely to pass in its current form in the senate, where the republicans have a majority.

it's been a month since the death of george floyd in police custody in minneapolis and so much has changed. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant reports. in this month of ceaseless protest, a new generation has been fighting an age—old american struggle, here converging on the steps of the lincoln memorial, the sacred spot where martin luther king delivered his most celebrated speech. cheering and applause. in these united states, black people do not have freedom, justice or equality... but his dream of true racial equality has continually been deferred and we've been reminded that the wounds of slavery and segregation have never truly healed. black lives matter! all: black lives matter! it was police brutality that brought protesters out onto the streets, but it's a deeper sense of racial injustice that has kept them marching every day for the past month. a multiracial and

multigenerational mobilisation that's claiming tangible progress. this is a merging of the past and the future. we all understand that we're standing on the shoulders of civil rights. this is our civil rights now. this is our civil rights movement. this will change the world. and it's already changing america. confederate statues memorialising the champions of slavery have been brought down and new landmarks have emerged. in washington, the mantra "black lives matter" has been painted on the doorstep of the white house. as for policing... tear gas canister is fired. ..polls now suggest that an overwhelming majority want clearly defined standards for when officers can use force, and consequences for those who do so excessively. stop choking him, bro! some cities have banned the controversial chokehold. this has been a time of fury and frustration,

of greater understanding of heightened recognition, but it would be a mistake to see this as a moment of national reconciliation. racial problems have been laid bare but remedies are still a long way off. it's hard to see a consensus emerging around defunding the police — the demand from demonstrators to reduce policing budgets and reallocate the money to social programmes. but protest leader nelini stamp does sense an important attitudinal shift — whites finally acknowledging their privilege. there's this theory about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and privilege is just something that we can't talk about, but white folks are realising that they got a better set of boots than the black community ever did. and they are realising that, you know what? maybe my boots helped me to get where i am quicker and better, because of the history. that is a sea change. it's a sea change, it's a huge sea change. it is — a tide is turning in this country and we are a force to be reckoned with. in a nation born of protest,

many have seen american beauty in what is largely been a peaceful movement, but history teaches us that when african—americans achieve progress, it's often followed by a white backlash. this is a moment that has pricked the conscience of a rising number of sympathetic americans but it could easily harden the prejudice of others. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. now we have a powerful insight into what george floyd's family has been going through since his death. philonise floyd is george's brother. in an interview with bbc news, he told us how hard it'd been to lay his brother to rest. my colleague katty kay spoke to him and the family's lawyer, ben crump. she asked philonise what his brother was going through in the moments leading up to his death. he is a just mild—mannered person. he is not the type of guy that is going to just try to muscle you and do wrong. he's more of a comforting guy, he's always saying things

to bring you up. so i know he was going to listen to whatever they said and on the video. as you can see, he did everything the right way. it is just the officers, theyjust had a lot of hatred in them at that time, because you have to put to your knee on someone's neck for that time, that time limit. and it is just constantly, he kept hollering, "please, sir, please. please, i can't breathe. i can't breathe. " it just hurt a lot watching the video and it hurt me even more when i watched him scream out for our deceased mom. it's just — that was painful, and kids had to look at that. there's just a lot of pain right now. there is a lot of pain. attorney crump, you are representing too many families like the floyd family who have lost loved ones. i know that you said you feel

like you are running out of time. how hard is it to getjustice for black people in america? historically, black people who have been killed by police were denied accountability, they were denied any kind ofjustice — this has been the history of america since slavery. but, i believe, just as philonise, who has articulated so passionately, that this is the time to see systematic reforms when it comes to the culture and behaviour of policing in america, especially as it relates to black america. philonise, what would your big brother have made of everything that has happened since his death? if my big brother would have seen everything like this going on right now, he'd appreciate it a lot.

he always talked to the youth and explained to them different things, the trials they would go through if this is going to happen, and things like that, but just by what he would see, he would be humbled, he would be, you know, sad that he's here to be in a world that is making change like this, but he would be happy that i am advocating for him and the world is trying to get united and we are trying to kick a door down that has never been kicked down before and, basically, he would be very excited, very excited. when he was looking after you when you were little, what kind of a big brother was he? he would make you laugh a lot. he would help us with our schoolwork. the sports stuff we did not really care too much about, because we knew we was going to get a chance to play basketball and stuff like that with him, but a lot of my friends, they did

not have big brothers and they would use my brother to make them better. he would help them with their homework, he would even cut their hair for them, just different things. you know, it made a lot of people happy because he was loved by so many people. thanks to owners floyd there. —— thanks to philonise floyd there. in the us, more than 35,000 new coronavirus infections were identified on wednesday. it was the highest number reported in a single day since late april. florida, texas, oklahoma and south carolina all reported their highest single—day totals. eve wittenberg is a senior research scientist at harvard university. she hasn't been impressed by the lockdown measures in the us. many parts of the country in the us have not actually imposed particularly stringent restrictions, even from the outset, so we're seeing cases that are migrating around the country from the parts that have had the earlier and more

severe outbreaks to the rest of the country, because people are moving around more — and we know this from cellphone data that shows where people are moving and what sort of travel is happening. so not only did some of these parts of the country not impose particularly stringent restrictions in the beginning. —— particularly stringent restrictions in the beginning, but they are also loosening what they had imposed at any level. people are congregating and cases are rising. cases are rising. does this constitute a second wave? are we about to see one, is that your fear? i believe that what our officials have designated this as is a first wave. this is still the first wave. we have not really come down from the beginning. so we're still looking at the first round of this virus in the united states. and of course, the restrictions and the lockdown, as it was, you know, politics and politicians always have a balance to make here.

they do need to protect the economy, and the economy, fundamentally, is people's lives, it's people being able to affording healthcare, it's kids going hungry, so there is a difficult balance here, but do you think that the politicians have got it wrong? there is always balance, of course, there's a balance. we cannot permit a mass spread of deaths across this country and, at a certain point, we do have to trade off how much we "open up our economy" and how much we allow people to die, and what we are seeing is deaths are rising as infection are rising and we have not even seen yet what kind of deaths are going to come from these spikes in infections now. so if we're going to open up the economy, so to speak, more than we have already, we are going to have more people dead and our governor in new york state said it quite eloquently — "the alternative that we are facing now is death".

eve wittenberg. here in the uk, the government's chief medical adviser has issued a warning about large public gatherings after around 500,000 people flocked to the beach in bournemouth on the hottest day of the year. chris whitty said coronavirus cases would rise again if people didn't continue to respect social distancing. here's duncan kennedy. these were the unprecedented scenes on bournemouth beach today. the council says around 500,000 people turned up to use the beach. the opportunity for social distancing was almost entirely gone, even though many did try to find a space. this afternoon, the council said it could no longer cope and declared a major incident. right now, the restaurants are closed, the bars are closed, the attractions are closed — you can't play crazy golf, you can't go in the arcade, you can't do any of the fabulous things we've got available. so after the 4th ofjuly,

those people can be spread around those various activities. also, hotels will be open, so hotel car parks are open, so there's other places for people to park. right now, it's there's just not enough facilities here and so it's kettling everybody to the beach and that's causing a lot of problems. with many facilities closed, the beach was the only space to go. declaring it a major incident enabled official agencies to come together to pool their resources amidst scenes of chaos and overcrowding. if people get too close, they'll probably say "can you move over a little bit?" it is not good, though, is it? it's probably going to cause a second wave. everyone isjust doing what they want. the beaches here have witnessed these huge gatherings at other times during the covid crisis. the weather and the golden sands attract people from as far afield as the midlands. the local mp says you can't shut the beaches when it gets overcrowded, but government help is now needed. it is very important that the government understands

that it has got to be flexible as well. it's got to be dynamic in recognising, just as if there is a big demonstration in the centre of london and police come in to help, that if dorset requests extra help from a policing perspective, that we are quick there to support them. the council here has sent out a message urging people to go home, but the experience of this and other days is that when the weather is this good, few want to give it up, despite the dangers. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in bournemouth. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: celebrations on merseyside as liverpool claim the premier league title and end a 30—year wait to be crowned english football champions again. 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. this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: one month after the death of george floyd in police detention, the us house of represenatives passes a police reform bill. next, it goes to the senate. the us faces a coronavirus spike as social distancing is relaxed. more than 35,000 new cases are identified in a single day. a huge dust cloud whipped up from the sahara desert will move from the caribbean and mexico to hover over the southeast america this weekend. it's raising more health concerns in states where the coronavirus crisis is worsening. aruna iyengar has this report. a huge, thick brown wall of dust sweeps into mexico, but this is no ordinary dust, it is a standard cloud coming all the way from the sahara desert in africa, summed of our 5000

kilometres away. it is known as a saharan airlayer, kilometres away. it is known as a saharan air layer, common in late spring to early autumn but no—one has seenjust like late spring to early autumn but no—one has seen just like this in halfa no—one has seen just like this in half a century. strong warm winds from the sahara desert whip up sand and carry it thousands of miles across the atla ntic thousands of miles across the atlantic ocean to the americas. satellite images from space show the monster cloud with the brown tinge moving across the atlantic. at the weekend, it was over the caribbean and by tuesday had smothered espanyol r,jamaica, tuesday had smothered espanyol r, jamaica, puerto rico and eastern cuba, continuing towards central america and the southern united states. according to nassar, the thickest part of the plume appeared to stretch around 3500 kilometres across the atlantic. in cuba, the normally blue skies have turned to a milky brown haze and the aryan porto rico heavy with fine, dangerous

particles. —— and the air in. a smog in the dominican republic. people are worried. the region is already struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic so with the coronavirus pandemic so another cause for chest infections is causing concern. translation: from the point of view of health, a dust cloud affects people with allergies and people over 65 years of age, and children underfour yea rs of age, and children underfour years of age, it could cause asthma attacks. people may have perished reduce symptoms, and itchy throat and eye irritation. the dust cloud is likely to linger over the region until the middle of next week, when it is that to moving to texas, florida and other dates that have recently seen a spike in covid—i9 cases. —— other states. aruna iyengar, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news: the european commission has given approvalfor a $9 billion euro government bailout for the lufthansa.

it will see the german state take a 20% stake in the business, but there are conditions, like lufthansa giving up some of its valuable take—off and landing slots. nearly 1.5 million americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. that's the 14th straight week that the total has topped a million. overall, more than 46 million people have lost theirjobs since shutdown measures took hold in mid—march. many of those have been in the hospitality and service sectors. unilever will rename a skin—lightening cream, which has been criticised for promoting negative stereotypes around dark skin tones. it will also remove references to ‘whitening' or ‘lightening' on the products which are sold across asia. two separate petitions urging unilever to stop the production of its fair and lovely range have been signed by more than 18,000 people in recent weeks. the leader of the

opposition labour party, sir keir starmer, has sacked rebecca long—bailey from the shadow cabinet for sharing an article on twitter which contained an anti—semitic conspiracy theory. ms long—bailey said her retweet was not an endorsement of every part of the article. liverpool supporters are celebrating after the football club clinched their first english premier league title in 30 years with a record seven games to spare. last season's champions, manchester city, had to win against chelsea to remain in contention but they lost 2—1. a little earlier i spoke tojenny kirkham, a reporter from the liverpool echo who's been soaking up the atmosphere in liverpool city centre. i'm sure, as you can hear behind me, the crowd in the city centre is still going very strong at this point, that they show no signs of slowing down at all. and the cheering and booing that you'll hear behind me over the next couple of minutes is because a football match

of their own has broke out in the crowd and they are all cheering them on. so they are in great spirits and the emotion that you can see in every single one of them just shows how long they have waited for this. we should explain, obviously, for viewers around the world, that there are social distancing coronavirus lockdown measures in place so the fans have not all been able to gather together in one huge place and watch the game in pubs and bars. people have been watching it at home, have they, and then come out onto the streets? what's been happening in the city? a lot of people did obviously watched it at home with their families and those in their social bubbles. we've had quite a few families who actually watch it on their phones and on tablets outside anfield and in the city centre, obviously wanting to celebrate with as many people as they can. it has been difficult for them but it is a positive night for them and i do not think that that will be tarnished for them at all with regards to social distancing. what does this mean for the city? for these fans, everything.

i have never seen a group of people so emotional and so elated about something like this in the entire time that i have been in liverpool and covering the fans that have been going to the matches. this is a once in a lifetime thing for a lot of them. you know, some of the people that i work with were children the last time this happened, and it is something that hopefully they will see it over and over again in years to come but this may be their only chance and that is why they are celebrating the way that they are. i bet, and because we have had this strange season whereby it was kind of stopped and then i'm sure liverpool fans were nervous that actually oh, i think we might not get a season finish at all, this title may be taken away from them — there must be a bit of relief there as well that actually they have now won? there was a lot of conversation about whether the fans would prefer the win tonight or whether they would prefer next week against man city but that is all been thrown out at this point, you know, they wanted it so bad and they have it now and that's all that matters to them

so i would say they are definitely relieved at this point. the celebration haven't been limited to mersyside. liverpool fc is one of the most widely supported clubs in the world. we've been hearing some of their reactions. it is amazing, we're so delighted. it has been 30 years. we have been down the pub all the time. we have had to take a break for this covid stuff but we're doing our best, we're being responsible, we're having few beers and we're loving it — up the reds! laughter. we are looking forward to a dynasty. we want to come out and celebrate and we realise it is much earlier here than in the uk so we have many hours to drink. jurgen klopp has demonstrated that he is very good at what he does and just looking forward to it. we will continue to support our group. we will go to matches whenever we can and we will continue to come to the games here,

watch, drink, celebrate support. we are so excited right now. there are so many people here it is incredible. obviously, jurgen klopp is the key to that. a great manager and has been with us for four years. he has slowly built the team up to what he wants but it is not just him. those years of history before him and the great managers and the great players we have had. we have gotten very close a couple of times butjurgen klopp makes the difference. great team selection, strengthen the defence and he has built a great squad, a squad that combines and plays well together. the premier league soccer, the atmosphere around the fan and the culture is so different to what we have in american football. it isjust as passionate but it is passionate in a different way and english premier league soccer and soccer in general i find to be a lot more

welcoming, a lot easier for people to get into and when you have a supporters' group like the one we have, you come in singing and chanting and it is easy. people want to be a part of it so it is easy to get more people on board and it has been amazing to see, for example, how this group has grown in the seven years we have been a supporters' group so it is really infectious. you'll never walk alone. cheering. we are the champions! they are quite pleased. that is it from me. back with the headlines injust a it from me. back with the headlines in just a few minutes. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones.

hello. thursday brought us, for the third consecutive day, the hottest day of the year so far in the uk. temperatures at heathrow in london reached 33.1; celsius, but if you are not a fan of the heat and the humidity, you will probably be pleased to hear that things are now turning fresher. through friday, it will be a cooler day, the chance of some heavy showers and some thunderstorms around too. still quite a mild, muggy start to the morning. first thing friday, those temperatures quite widely in the mid to high teens, could be not shy of 20 degrees for central london first thing friday morning. now, we start with this band of fairly heavy showers and thunderstorms. this is nine o'clock in the morning. it will be drier down towards the south—west of england and wales. the south—east of england, through the midlands, up towards north and north—west

of england into northern ireland as well, that's where we are likely to see some of those heavy downpours. and for the western isles, some of them are going to be really heavy and thundery once again. northern and eastern scotland, probably avoiding quite a good deal of those heavy showers. now, across england and wales, they push their way northwards and eastward through the course of the day. so, it's much of northern england, north wales into scotland that is going to be seeing some of the heavy showers and thunderstorms. northern ireland seeing fewer, i think, during the afternoon, but they will be hit and miss. it will still feel warm in the east with temperatures around 28, possibly up to around 30 degrees, but for many of us, it is turning cooler. into the weekend, fresher conditions moving across the whole of the uk — with some rainfall in the forecast as well. down to the fact that we've got this area of low pressure moving its way in from the west, quite a lot of isobars on the map, as well as those heavy showers rattling around that area of low pressure. so this is how saturday is shaping up then, sunny spells but frequent heavy showers. again with some hail in some lightning mixed in with some of those heavy thunderstorms. quite blustery winds as well,

particularly where you do see the heavy showers, the thunderstorms, with hail as well, that's where you could see some squally and gusty winds at times too. temperatures quite a bit cooler than recent days, somewhere between about 18—21 celsius for many of us. still a bit of sunshine in between the showers. by the time we get to sunday, the heaviest of the showery rain will be in the north and north—west. a little bit drier further south with a little bit more sunshine on offer, but the winds will be picking up. a blustery fresher feeling day with highs of 15—21 degrees. bye— bye.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: one month after the death of george floyd in police custody, in minneapolis, the us house of representatives has passed a police reform bill. however, the legislation, which bans chokeholds and racial profiling, is expected to face opposition in the republican—dominated senate. the us is facing a new coronavirus spike after lockdown restrictions were relaxed. texas has now suspended plans to further reopen the economy because of a significant rise in covid—i9 cases. across the country, a record 35,000 new cases were identified in a single day. there are fears a lack of social distancing could see a spike in uk covid—i9 cases after around 500,000 people flocked to a south coast beach on the hottest day of the year. the government's chief medical adviser issued a stark warning about large public gatherings.