this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: a change in tack as president trump brings his daily virus briefings back. he urges americans to socially distance and wear masks as deaths rise across the us. when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. whether you like the mask or not they have an impact, they'll have an effect, and we need everything we can get. british lawmakers criticise the government for not doing enough to tackle the threat from russia, as their report reveals the uk's one of moscow's top targets. around a dozen people are freed from an armed siege in the ukraine, after the president complies with a hostage taker‘s demand to promote an animal rights

film. demand collapses for bear bile in south korea. now instead of being killed they‘ re left captive and starving. campaigners say the government should set—up a sanctuary. hello. it'll get worse before it gets better, president trump has acknowledged, as he gave his first coronavirus briefing in weeks. tens of thousands of new cases are being identified every day in the us — the virus is killing more than a thousand americans each day. in total, at least 142,000 so far. mr trump is, finally, urging people to wear face coverings. but our correspondent peter bowes told me resuming the briefings is recognition by the president that his handling of the pandemic is now an election issue.

this seems certainly to be an acknowledgement of what a lot of people have been saying in the country over the last few weeks and that is that the president doesn't command a majority support of americans, for what he has been doing over the last few months in terms of dealing with this pandemic and as you implied, the election is upon us, just less than four months to go now and those opinion polls are not looking good for president trump, so a different tone and a different tactic, i think, from the white house. he was the only person at this coronavirus briefing, none of his medical experts were on the platform, and the main message from president trump did seem to be on the issue of masks. he has been reluctant to be seen himself in public wearing a mask, onjust one occasion have we seen president trump with a face covering, but this is what he had to say about masks. everybody that, when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they will have an effect and we need everything we can get.

the president gave some figures, peter, as well. some question marks there? yes, and the president has actually been questioned a lot over the last few days in terms of the figures that he has been given. he gave an interview at the weekend, he was talking about the mortality rate, the number of fatalities in this country compared with other countries around the world, and he was suggesting that the us is doing much better than some of the official statistics suggest, from thejohns hopkins university, they have been collating all the data from around the world and tell a rather different story to the president but as far as this news conference is concerned, this is what he had to say. fatalities nationwide have fallen 75% since mid—april, that's a great number. as cases and fatalities rise in certain hard—hit states which you are looking at right now, we're surging personnel, supplies and therapeutics. we, again, have tremendous of supplies.

we are in very good shape and we can move them quickly. as you were saying, peter, some doubts over those figures. just looking at the figures overall, 3 million americans have been infected, 140,000 have died at least, tens of millions have lost theirjobs and yet curiously, the only people that mr trump expresses explicit sympathy for are the governor of florida and ghislaine maxwell? well, ghislaine maxwell was a surprise, and that was actually the result of a question that was put to the president at the end of the news conference, one of the reporters asked him whether he thought ghislaine maxwell would essentially, say anything that could bring the powerful people tojustice, and prince andrew's name was mentioned and former president clinton's name was mentioned and this is how the president responded.

i don't know, i haven't really been following it too much, ijust wish her well, frankly. i have met her numerous times over the years especially since i lived in palm beach and i guess they lived in palm beach, but i wish her well, whatever it is. i don't know the situation with prince andrew. just don't know. not aware. bowes. after months of delay, the uk parliament has finally been able to publish its report into allegations of russian interference in british public life. it described russian influence in the uk as ‘the new normal‘ and said successive governments had welcomed rich oligarchs with open arms, without asking too many questions about the source of their wealth. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera has more details. the uk is one of russia's top intelligence targets, today's report said, but it questions whether the country is equipped to respond. the report details russia's aggressive use of spying, especially in cyberspace, stealing information. it points to its use of assassination, going

after russians abroad like sergei skripal, poisoned with nerve agent in salisbury in 2018. and most significantly, it points to a long—running campaign of political interference, meddling in events around the world. this russian campaign is the new normal, we were told today. but the report also says the uk has been slow to respond. it is tough on britain's spies, saying they treated the task of defending the democratic system like a hot potato, with no—one wanting to take charge amid competing demands like stopping terrorist attacks. but the real criticism is for the government forfailing to give the spies clear direction. and as well as not investigating recent events like the brexit referendum, the report also says there was a longer term problem of not seeing the challenge from moscow. the killing of alexander litvinenko in london using radioactive polonium1li years ago was a clear

indication of the danger, the committee said, but it was a warning that went unheeded, his widow told me. do you feel that britain failed to learn the lesson of what happened to your husband in 2006? unfortunately, i would like to say yes. and because there was no strong reaction after that, we received salisbury. now we are discussing about hacking attacks to try to get a vaccine from british scientists. why has there not been a tougher line? the committee says russian money has been allowed to seep into public life, what it calls the london laundromat, recycling illicit cash while powerful oligarchs aid the kremlin. all of this buys moscow influence, according to one witness who gave evidence to the committee. there's a lot of russian money sloshing around london, and it creates an enormous conflict of interest, and a conflict of interest

creates political pressure. and i think the reason why things haven't been done is because there's too many people who are feeding at the trough. there had been speculation that one former russian official, now a british citizen who's given more than £1 million to conservatives, might be named in the report. but he was not, and he told me there was a russian threat, but it's about more than money. it's not a report about me, it's a report about us, because they are really a threat, the russian threat exists, absolutely. my point is that there is a more serious threat of cyber attack. existing laws may be out of date and new powers needed to counter russian spies and influence, the committee said. but today's report also raises questions as to whether the british state has notjust the tools, but the desire to confront moscow. gordon corera, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the us secretary of state,

mike pompeo, has encouraged every nation to push back against the chinese communist party following talks with borisjohnson and dominic raab in london. mr pompeo congratulated the uk for banning huawei from its 56 networks and welcomed the government's response to china's new security law in hong kong. he also said he hoped britain and america could conclude a trade deal "as soon as possible". saudi arabia's 84—year—old ruler, king salman bin abdulaziz is in hospital in the capital riyadh. state media says he is holding a virtual cabinet meeting from there. it also reports he is undergoing medical checks for a gall bladder infection. at least 2,000 israelis have gathered outside prime minister benjamin netanyahu's home before marching to the knesset over his handling of a worsening coronavirus crisis and alleged corruption. protests turned violent and a number of people were arrested. reimposed coronavirus curbs, after a spike in new covid—19 cases, have prompted israelis

to demand better state aid. the pan american health organization has warned the coronavirus pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down in the region, with close to 8 million confirmed cases. it comes as human trials of a potential chinese vaccine get under way in brazil, where the death toll has surpassed 80,000. tanya dendrinos reports. around the globe, the wish may be for a return to normality, but reality is anything but. fresh graves a harrowing reminder of the grim toll of covid—19 the americas still firmly in the firing line. during the last week there were almost 900,000 new cases and nearly 22,000 deaths reported in our region. most of this within brazil, mexico, and the

united states of america. and the numbers continue to rise. there have been surges in parts of bolivia, ecuador, peru, and colombia. pan american health 0rganisation wants there is no sign of coronavirus slowing down in the region, with some central american countries reporting the highest weekly increases in confirmed cases since the pandemic began. in mexico, the death toll has climbed above 40,000. health officials are now making their way through hotspots in the capital under red alert for coronavirus infections, tracing the contacts of those who have tested positive. translation: health personnel, medics, nurses are carrying out home visits to take samples from patients who have been in contact with someone that has been confirmed with covid—19 01’, been confirmed with covid—19 or, if it's a suspected case. another situation exists with locals is that they don't open up locals is that they don't open up or they reject having a test

done. in brazil, the death toll is above 80000 and rising, which is why it's been chosen asa which is why it's been chosen as a location to trial potential vaccines, including this chinese candidate with 9000 volunteers to be involved. translation: once we have the first piece of evidence on the efficiency of this vaccine, it may allow us to bring it to the brazilian population in a way thatis brazilian population in a way that is very timely, with the chance of being the first country in the world to use this vaccine on a large—scale. the race is on, with two dozen potential covid—19 vaccines currently in clinical trials worldwide stop it's still unclear if and when there will bea unclear if and when there will be a viable option to tackle the ever—growing toll. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. maria ressa, ceo of grapple has appeared in court to face charges of tax evasion that

base back to 2015. supporters say the legal action is politically motivated, a response to the hard—hitting coverage of the present‘s drug coverage of the present‘s drug coverage which has seen the thousands killed. it's just weeks since maria ressa was found guilty by another court of cyber—libel. she faces up to up six years in prison for the libel verdict but is currently free on bail. if found guilty of today's charges she faces up to three years injail. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: they're kept to be used in medicine, but a collapse in demand's led to calls for a sanctuary for south korea's moon bears. nasa: can see you coming down the ladder now. one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only

supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five, four... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president trump uses his first coronavirus briefing in weeks to change tack and urge americans to wear masks when they can't

socially distance. british lawmakers have criticised successive governments for not doing enough to tackle the threat from russia, as their report reveals the uk's one of moscow's top targets. let's get more on the situation of coronavirus in the us and president trump's remarks. dr leana wen is an emergency physician and public health professor at the george washington university. it is absolutely going to get worse, because it is getting worse every single day. we are seeing a spike in infections followed by spikes in hospitalisations. our icus are getting overwhelmed in parts of the south and the west, and we're now seeing increases in mortality again. and there is no peak in sight. we were seeing this type of trend back in march and april in the new york region, but that was also at the time we started implementing a national shutdown. we don't have such a shutdown

right now, and that is why we have not even seen the peak of this epidemic and so the president is right, that it is going to get much worse. what did you make of the president's apparent change of tack on face masks and also some of the other figures that he gave? i'm glad he's coming around to what public health experts have been saying for months, which is universal mask wearing is one simple step we can all be taking that makes a big difference. it will reduce the risk of transmission, of spreading the virus by up to five times, it is something that is a public health and also an economic imperative. there have been studies by goldman sachs, showing that universal mass wearing would prevent a drop in gdp by 5%. i also hope much more consistent messaging will come from all of our political officials that should be in line with what the scientists and public health

experts are saying, too. the president has also said yet again the cases are only up in the united states because testing is up. that's just not true. i mean, we don't say that about any other illness. cancer, let's just not have cancer screenings and then we won't have cancer anymore, itjust doesn't make sense. actually, when you have sufficient testing, you will see a degreasing the number of overall infections, because testing is critical to reining in the infections. we also know this is just not true because our own centers for disease control and prevention, the cdc, estimate that only one in ten coronavirus cases in the united states are being tested, in part because of insufficient testing. and just to take that point further, briefly if possible, for the press conference, the president tweeted, by comparison to most other countries that are suffering greatly, we are doing very well. by what measures is the us doing very well? i have no idea what the president means by this. because when you look at death

rates, when you look at hospital capacities, when you also look at the amount of testing that we need because the infection rates are so high, we are not doing well at all. and other countries, we should be learning from and seeing what european countries and so many others have done in order to curb this epidemic. doctor leana wen there. the us justice department has accused china of sponsoring hackers targeting labs developing covid—19 vaccines. officials have charged two chinese men with ho allegedly spied on us companies doing coronavirus research and got help from state agents for other thefts. the accusations against former electrical engineering students who've been released, include charges of trade secret theft and wire fraud conspiracy. prosecutors say the men sometimes acted in their own self—interest — but at other times "were stealing information of obvious interest" to the chinese government. here's what the us justice

department had to say. in this manner, china has joined that shameful group of nations that provide a haven for cyber criminals. here, to feed the chinese communist pa rty‘s feed the chinese communist party's appetite for feed the chinese communist pa rty‘s appetite for american and other non— chinese companies hard earned intellectual property, including covid—19 research. the official line from the justice department. thirteen hostages have been freed after they were taken captive on board a bus in western ukraine. but a strange intervention from the country's president brought the situation to an end, with one man now under arrest. it all happened in the city of lutsk, as alanna petroff reports. a hostage situation on a bus in the city of lutsk. a stand—off for hours with people trapped onboard. the suspect, a 44—year—old with previous convictions who's already spent ten years in prison. he posed a real threat — he fired shots and threw explosives, but they

didn't detonate. city residents were told not to leave their homes after the suspect warned he had put an explosive device in a public place. the hostage taker had a number of demands and he got on a call with the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky. translation: if we can do anything without launching an assault, if we can avoid putting at least one person's life at risk — these are principles i live with, have lived with, and will live with. the president complied with one particular demand by posting a facebook video where he says... "everybody should watch the 2005 film, earthlings." it's not known specifically why the suspected specifically wanted to promote an old animal rights documentary. within an hour of this post, all passengers were walking free. everyone who came out was unharmed. the suspect was on the ground,

arrested, and taken away. the president's video was taken down. the situation is over now, and the investigation begins. people in the city can breathe a sigh of relief that in the end, no—one was hurt. alanna petroff, bbc news. police in costa rica have seized over 3,000 kilos of cocaine in two separate operations in the caribbean over the weekend. officials said they've arrested seven colombians and one honduran after intercepting two boats in different locations. central america's become an important transit point for drug trafficking cartels. the illegal shipment, it's thought, was heading across the border into mexico and eventually towards the united states. animal rights campaigners are asking the south korean president for help to

save hundreds of caged moon bears. over 400 bears are being kept on farms across the country. they're waiting to be killed for their parts which some people use as medicine. our seoul correspondent, laura bicker, has this report — you may find some of the scenes upsetting. distressed, she rocks from side to side. she's not known life beyond these rusty bars. over 120 moon bears are crammed in filthy cages on this farm. some are missing limbs and fur. all are just waiting to die. translation: i started the farm to sell bear bile. back then, the bile used to sell so well, but now no—one wants to buy it. this distressing footage shows a bear being killed for its bile. it's legal in south korea, as long as the bear is over ten years old.

the fluid is used for a number of health problems from hangovers to heart disease. but demand has collapsed and farmers have no funds to feed the bears. these ones are fed leftover doughnuts from the krispy kreme factory. translation: this farm has the most bears out of any farms in korea. so we anticipated it would be in poor condition, but it's actually a lot worse than what we expected. campaigners are pushing the government to provide a sanctuary for over 400 of korea's forgotten moon bears and close down these farms. translation: we need to stop this wrong farming culture, especially in this time of coronavirus when it's important to put distance between wildlife and humans. the smell of the bear dung that's piled up underneath these cages is really overwhelming.

and we're told that sometimes these bears will fight one another, injure one another, and often, they‘ re just left to die. moon bears are not meant to be in cages together, they're solitary animals. this is what a happy moon bear looks like. he is a two—year—old in the mountains injirisan national park. bear bile was once so sought after that these bears were captured and killed to near extinction. but dozens have now been reintroduced to the wild — including this mother and her cubs spotted on hidden cameras. it's not possible to re—wild the over 400 bears in this country, but campaigners are trying to make some of them more comfortable — in the hope that one day they will have more freedom. laura bicker, bbc news.

a story we will be back to, of course, in the hope that it will go somewhere. thousands of people have lined the streets of jack charlton's hometown in northumberland, in north—east england, to pay their respects to the football legend ahead of his funeral. many applauded, cheered or waved flags and banners, as the cortege passed through the streets of ashington. his grandchildren paid tribute to "a proud englishman" who was famously a member of england's 1966 world cup winning side, "a proud northerner and a proud honorary irishman." he went on to manage the republic of ireland. because of pandemic restrictions, many of his family cannot be there for that ceremony so there will be a memorial service later on. and president trump has said the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better was not ina change before it gets better was not in a change of tack, he urged people to use a mask when

unable to socially distance. that's it for now. thank you for watching. —— said the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better. hello. well, for some of us, the skies have remained clear but overall a very cloudy picture on the way, at least for the northern half of the uk during the course of wednesday, and on top of that, we've got some patchy rain as well. and you can see where the clouds coming from, off the atlantic as it often does. it's spreading across northern ireland and into scotland. eventually, it will engulf northern england, too. to the south of that, however, i think some sunshine in the morning and in fact, it will end up being a pretty decent day for the channel counties, certainly for london — perhaps east anglia, too. temperatures could get up into the mid—20s in one or two spots but for northern england, scotland, and northern ireland at times overcast, and there will be a little bit of rain, too. and temperatures will be mostly in the mid or the high teens. now, this is the following night, so early hours

of thursday, and you can see that cloudy theme continues. if anything, further patchy rain streams in on a south—westerly breeze off the atlantic. and it's going to be mild early on thursday morning, around 13, 14, 15 degrees. now, this is thursday's weather map and quite a complicated structure of weather fronts sitting on top of the uk. that basically means a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. and you can see dumfries and galloway, the lake district, the north—west of england, certainly wales getting some rain, too. now later in the day on thursday, it does look as though it will brighten up across parts of scotland and northern ireland and there might even be some sunshine there across the south—east in the afternoon, too. that was thursday, this is friday. and on friday, we are actually in between weather systems. so, one moves away towards the east. another one waiting in the wings here and approaching ireland during the afternoon with the bulk of the uk during the course of friday actually enjoying a pretty bright if not in places sunny day with temperatures into the low 20s. now, here's the weekend. at this stage, it is looking unsettled. you can't miss that — low pressure with weather fronts moving across the uk, quite a few splodges of blue here moving across the uk and increasing breeze as well, so a pretty unsettled start to the weekend

for many of us on saturday. and those temperatures a little lower than the average for the time of the year, especially in the south of the uk. now, there is a possibility things will brighten up at least a little bit by the time we get to sunday but on the whole, an unsettled weekend on the way.

this is bbc news. the headlines: in his first coronavirus briefing for weeks, president trump has sought to defend his administration's handling of the pandemic, and urged people to wear face masks if they can't maintain a safe social distance. he acknowledged that the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better. russian attempts to interfere in the uk have been described as "the new normal" in a long—awaited report by british lawmakers. mps on a key house of commons committee describe the uk as one of russia's top targets and criticise the government for "badly underestimating" the threat and the response it required. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has said washington wants to build a coalition of like—minded allies to counter, what he called, the threat from china. he was visiting london, meeting prime minister borisjohnson and foreign secretary dominic raab. now on bbc news, time for hardtalk.