welcome to bbc news — my name is mike embley. our top stories: the entire senior police leadership for a city in new york state resigns — over the death of a black man in custody. wildfires in washington state wipe out an entire town — as strong winds fan out of control flames. one of the leading opposition activists in belarus rips up her passport to avoid being expelled from the country as the president insists he's not stepping down. as fears rise of another global spike in covid cases — the uk announces it will ban gatherings of more than six people. south african athlete

caster semenya loses her court appeal against the restriction of testosterone levels in female runners. hello and welcome to bbc news. the entire senior police leadership for the city of rochester in new york state has resigned, in the aftermath of the death of a black man in police custody. rochester‘s police chief and other senior commanders have been under intense scrutiny since news of the death of daniel prude became public last week, sparking protests. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, explains the circumstances surrounding his death. this happened back in march. daniel prude was known to have mental health issues. he was arrested by police, he was naked in the street at the time. during the course of the arrest the police used what is known as a spit hood, a device, a hood put over a suspect‘s head to protect police officers from the saliva of a suspect.

this was put into place and his head was then forced onto the ground and shortly after that point he lost consciousness. he died in hospital one week later and according to the autopsy report he died of complications of asphyxia. as i say, this happened in march but has onlyjust come to light over the past week after members of the family got body camera footage from police officers and made that public. and that has led to the allegation that the police were in some way trying to cover up what happened and that is the central allegation which the now—resigned police chief strongly objects to. such a strong consequence of a death in custody and there have been so many deaths in police custody. it is always tempting to draw lessons from the particular and it is not always appropriate. does this have meaning for the rest of the country? there is still a long way to go on this.

there is still an investigation under way. the seven police officers who were involved in this were suspended, and their future is pending an investigation which is ongoing. protesters have gathered, several nights in a row since that footage was released and they have been demanding, they have been demanding justice for daniel prude and changes in the way that police operate and deal with people with mental health issues. of course those are some of the issues that on a national basis are of concern for many people, how police interact with suspect and this was an african—american man and this happened before the george floyd arrest which was quite similar circumstances. strong winds have fanned wildfires burning out of control on the west coast of the united states. firefighters in california are battling to bring 25 blazes under control. in washington state,

the small town of malden has been almost completely destroyed. mark lobel reports. the charred remains of the post office. for malden‘s 300 residents in rural whitman county, the local sheriff says the community has been changed for a lifetime. across the state of washington, an estimated 330,000 acres burned in just 2a hours, described by the state's governor as an unprecedented and heartbreaking event. 0n the west coast, a wildfire emergency has been declared in oregon where falling trees knocked powerlines and ignited fires, strong winds swept far and wide. with the growing impacts of climate change, it is likely that this once in a generation wind event in areas not typically at high risk for wildfire will become more common. meanwhile, the largest

of the wildfires, california's creek fire, remains dangerously uncontained. there is no doubt the state is in the grip of a crisis. in wildfires last year, officials say 118,000 acres were burnt. so far this year it is 2.3 million, with no end in sight. but with thousands of firefighters working all hours, there are moments of hope. the coastguard rescued these hikers after they were stranded for several days in hard to reach areas. most operations have occurred at night. the pilots describe the scenes so with the night vision they can see the embers and the silhouette of the terrain so they can safely land at an evacuation site and get the evacuees and get them out. people are remarkable in these moments and selfless in these moments and these weather conditions are challenging and these wind conditions, in particular, will make

the next few days most challenging, perhaps. that we have had so far this year. after a heat wave in santa monica with los angeles county reporting its highest ever temperature of 121 fahrenheit, temperatures have dropped. but high winds are expected to fan the flames as the west coast remains on high alert. governments in europe and asia are grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections, and struggling to gain control. in the last few hours the british government has announced new rules on social gatherings in england — to take effect from monday. only six people will be allowed to meet indoors or outside. the full details will be outlined by the prime minister borisjohnson on wednesday but here's our political correspondent nick eardley i think it reflects a real concern in government and amongst the scientific experts who advise ministers at the number of cases we have seen in recent days, that rise in the number of

positive tests for coronavirus that we have been talking so much about. clearly part of the concern is that we are meeting too many people, that there are too many social interactions, some of which are leading to transmission of the virus. it is not designed to stop people going to work. it is not designed to stop kids going to school orfor universities to stop opening. it is designed to stop us meeting at each others‘ houses or meeting outdoors. so there is a big headline figure will be that the indoors or outdoors, the limit will be six. that changes the rules onto households meetings for example. at the moment, two households can meet, no matter what the size. the guidelines at the moment say that if you are meeting up outdoors, it can be six people from as many households if you want but that limit is six. that is now been brought into law and that is partly because police were concerned and they relayed these concerns to downing street that the rules were not simple

enough and that it wasn't easy enough to intervene where large groups under 30, which had been the legal limit, to intervene when those groups were meeting up in various places. but as i said, itjust shows that ministers are increasingly worried about transmission of the virus. new zealand's largest city, auckland, has recently emerged from its second lockdown. the spread of covid seems to be back under control and the city looks on track to eliminate the virus, again. so what can the rest of the world learn from new zealand? let's ask professor rod jackson, epidemiologist, at the university of auckland. good to talk to you. what lessons would you say the rest of the world should take from new zealand? i think the first one is that elimination is possible to that we did it for 100 days, we have now got another ltd out rake in auckland but that seems to be

under control so we are well on the way to another elimination. so that is a key message and i think many more countries could do elimination then currently believe they can. you know what people will say, i know new zealand well and i am half kiwi myself people say that new zealand has factors in its favour, it is a special case. zealand has factors in its favour, it is a special caselj think that is untrue. australia, outside of victoria and new south wales were basically eliminated, aside from those two states, the rest of australia is in the same situation as us. taiwan, 20 plus million people is at or close to elimination. cambodia... there are a number of countries that have done so i think it is incorrect to say that new zealand is a special case. it is interesting. i know there was clear leadership that and clear messaging but it is not necessarily a given that

the population gets behind that and people get on board. no. that is true and i think we have been incredibly fortunate to have excellent leadership. they have taken the public with them and they have communicated well. a very clear strategy, right from early on, that elimination was our goal to did there has also been incredible respect for the science from politicians. they listened to the epidemiologists and, indeed, every experienced epidemiologist in the country is on board with the elimination strategy to so we have had one clear message from both the scientists and from the politicians. the vast majority of the population are behind it. how would you sell the elimination and lockdown message to countries already in recession? the worst thing for

the economy, and i am not an economist, let's be clear about that, is lack of business confidence. if you go out on the street and you are worried about an infection that will kill one in 100 people in less than a month, i can't see that that will be doing much for business confidence whereas in new zealand, between our outbreaks you have the confidence to go out and not risk the chance of catching a disease that will kill one in a hundred people within a month. i think elimination is the way to get business confidence. interesting to talk to you and thank you so much. a major trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by oxford university and astrazeneca has been put on hold worldwide because of a suspected serious adverse reaction in a volunteer in the uk. an independent investigation will review the safety data before regulators decide whether the trial can restart.

our medical editor, fergus walsh, reports. more than 10,000 volunteers in the uk, many of them elderly, have been immunised with the 0xford rotavirus fact seemed to thousands more have received the jab thousands more have received thejab in thousands more have received the jab in south africa, brazil and the united states. this is actually the second time the trial has been put on hold since it began in april. such pauses are triggered anytime a volunteer is admitted to hospital and because of their illness is not immediately apparent. an 0xford illness is not immediately apparent. an oxford university spokesperson said in large trials, illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed. the final decision on restarting the trial rest with the medical regulator, the nhra and that could happen within days. until then, no more volunteers will be immunised at any of the international sites. the oxford

university team leave this process illustrates that they are committed to the safety of their volunteers and the high standards of conduct in their studies. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: rolling into retail — the rock gods who've opened a store — where you can get what you need. george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice "enough of blood and tears. enough!" translation: the difficult decision we reached together

was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc news — the latest headlines: the entire senior police leadership for a city in new york state resigns — following the death of a black man in custody. wildfires in washington state wipe out an entire town — as strong winds fan out of control flames. it's reported that one of the leading opposition figures in belarus, maria kolesnikova, has prevented officials deporting her to neighbouring

ukraine by ripping up her passport, on the border, and throwing it out the window of an official car. colleagues say she then jumped out the back of the car. it's not clear where she is now. one of these colleagues is ivan kraftsov , who spoke to the bbc‘sjonah fisher in the ukrainian capital kyiv. at that moment maria was forcefully put into the car. she literally tore her passport into small pieces. so as they were giving her back her passport to travel in ukraine? exactly. it was in the car and she immediately took it and tore it up and then she climbed out through the rear window because the doors were blocked and walked into belarusian territory. so this was on no—man‘s land? this was in no man's land and it was heroic what she did. she was very very clear with them that she did not want to be forced into the ukraine? she tore her passport up, so she might want to seem absolutely clear

with that, yeah. another important development comes from the president of belarus alexander lukashenko — he's insisted he won't step down despite the weeks of protests. that you could probably have predicted, but according to russian media he hasn't ruled out an early election. this is what he said in a russian television interview. earlier i spoke to michael carpenter, manager of the penn biden centre for diplomacy and global engagement. he was former director for russia at the us national security council. i asked him what he made of the recent developments. i think lukashenko and the kremlin are clearly afraid of this protest movement, and they are trying to put all of the leaders into exile from where they will pose less of a threat to lu kashenko's power, but i also think we are seeing a larger set of developments

here take place with russia's relationship with belarus. the kremlin has long wanted to create some sort of creeping annexation policy in belarus, starting with the economy, perhaps a single currency, moving to a common foreign and defence policy, and ultimately resulting in a union state, the de facto absorption of belarus by russia. aand now they see a moment to be able to do that, so you see co—ordinated talk from both minsk and moscow talking about new elections and constitutional changes, and both of those are likely to be dressed up as giving more power to the people, perhaps, in a stronger belarusian, perhaps term limits, but in fact, they will give the kremlin the upper hand put in place kremlin puppet parties in the parliament, and also to field a slate of kremlin—vetted candidates for new elections. i think moscow realises that lukashenko has no more legitimacy, and he's got to go, so they're trying to create this plan to make sure they control all the levers.

that in is something lukashenko himself has resisted, and presumably the outcome wouldn't be more welcome to the protesters, the people at large. in a sense, it would be substituting one brutal dictatorship from lukashenko with another run by the kremlin. but this is something that lukashenko has avoided for years, in terms of kremlin encroachment on his domain, but he is so weakened now, i've come across one internal covert poll done by an ngo inside belarus that shows lukashenko with only about 8.5% so his legitimacy is shot. i think he knows it, and this is the deal he must do to save his skin. and do you think it is likely to happen like that? well, i think it's going to be made up along the way. certainly there will be adjustments depending on the reaction from the protest movement in belarus and also from western nations. western nations can determine to a certain degree the course

of this, but putin is looking for an opportunity to create a sort of staged dialogue between lu kashenko and select kremlin—vetted candidates, belarusian political figures, whom they can be counted on to maintain friendly ties with moscow, and also these new elections which i think are essentially an attempt to buy time so that, as i said earlier, a kremlin—friendly slate of candidates can be put forward at the next election, the british prime minister's new bill to change the uk's brexit deal with the eu will break international law, one cabinet minister has told parliament. the northern ireland secretary brandon lewis admitted the new legislation would go against the treaty in a specific and limited way. former prime minister theresa may has warned the changes could damage international trust in the uk overfuture trade deals. the latest round of trade negotiations between britain and the eu have just started

the south african runner caster semenya has lost her appeal at switzerland's federal supreme court against the restriction of testosterone levels in female runners. this means that unless the olympic eight—hundred metres champion complies with the ruling and takes hormone—suppressing drugs, she will not be able to defend her title in tokyo next year. semenya has said she was disappointed with the decision. morgan carpenter is the co—executive director of intersex human rights australia and is an intersex man assigned male at birth. caster semenya was observed as female at birth and all she is asking for is the right to be accepted, as that woman assigned female at birth and she is a asking to be to compete on the basis of her natural gifts. and what do you make of the decision? it was always a long shot.

i think the swiss federal court has only a very narrow remit and it's not able to assess many of the implications of the previousjudgement, and i think they are that need to be contested. so the swiss court has not been able to give proper attention to very serious human rights issues that are at stake and i think we can see that in its statement, that a considerable interference with physical integrity is somehow acceptable. i think that's very dangerous for many people. if you were speaking directly, say, to athletes who have to compete against her, how would you defend those human rights issues, how would you define them? well, caster semenya is a woman, she was observed as female at birth, i don't believe she should be forced to undergo medical intervention to be treated as the woman

that she has always been. and you know, i respect that every olympic athlete, every elite athlete wants to win, they want to take every legal avenue possible to maximise their chances of winning and i respect that drive, but all elite athletes are exceptional, they all have natural gifts, and different athletes have different biological traits that are exceptional. if you put a basketballer in a shotput event or an archer in a basketball event, you will find they‘ re not interchangeable. they each have specific strengths and talents, and people in some ways self—selected for the events they are most suited for and i don't see caster semenya is in any way different to that. you could argue, though, couldn't you, that competitive sport is an artificial construct in itself, we dictate all kinds of things about who can compete and how they can compete, what rules

they have to be under. if you go for that, you submit to those rules. i think that's fair. dog barks. sorry about the dog. your dog has another opinion on this. my dog, i hope, agrees with me, that, you know, sport is an artificial construct, but as we are saying here, as the court has done, that if caster semenya competes in some events, she has to undergo medical intervention but in other events, she doesn't but that kind of illustrates just how artificial these constructs are, and i think that we should be far more concerned about opening the gate to permit considerable interference with physical integrity. i think that's far more significant here than the other issues that have been raised.

not content with being one of the world's most legendary rock and roll bands — the rolling stones are now trying their hands at shopkeeping. they've opened their first store in london's carnaby street. you'll be able to buy records, clothing and souvenirs. lead singer mick jagger hopes it'll be a nice place to hang out. tim allman reports. while it's true that you can't a lwa ys while it's true that you can't always get what you want, if you're a fan of the rolling stones, while it's true that you can't noise get what you want, if you're a fan of the rolling stones, this is where you can get what you need. although opening its doors in the midst of a global health crisis does beg one question. why would you open a shop during a pandemic? well, eternal optimism. you could put it off until next year, but there will be a little bit of pick—up, i think, there will be a little bit of pick—up, ithink, and people will be curious, people are out

and about a bit more than they were. it's a new kind of boutique in baker street, catering for specialised tastes. of course, the stones on the first rock gods to open a shop. the fab four got our first with the apple boutique which opened in 1967 and prom ptly which opened in 1967 and promptly closed its doors in 1968. everyone is confident it will be different this time. it's only commercial retail but they like it. lots of people within the retail world have spoken to be saying, what a great it is to do at the moment and givea great it is to do at the moment and give a real boost to carnaby street, to the retail landscape, by taking the greatest rock ‘n‘ roll band in the market base. it's perhaps not a coincidence the new opens the same week the stones are releasing one of our old albums. you can buy that he had to. after all, the rolling stones know plenty about satisfaction. tim allman, bbc

news. so many jokes satisfaction. tim allman, bbc news. so manyjokes suggest themselves but tim has covered most of them. thank you very much for watching. hello. it'll be a fairly mild start to wednesday across most parts of the british isles but some of you will have to wait before we get skies like that, particularly in england and wales where you are close by this weather front, won't have an awful lot of rain on it but there will be a fair amount of cloud. that takes the time to pull its way a little bit further towards the south. from the word go, scotland and northern ireland and the far north of england drier and brighter perhaps, some showers is coming through on a breeze. elsewhere, we're in for a pretty dry day. eventually, we break up the cloud in the south and the rain really dies away. while the humid is still across the south—eastern quarter, elsewhere, temperatures mid—teens to about 20 degrees. through the evening, we drag the last of that cloud away towards the near continent, and it's that time of the year where the nights

are a wee bit longer and the skies are clear. somewhere on the eastern side of both scotland and england it'll get down to 3 or 4 degrees. a cool start to thursday, but it's shaping up to be a decent day for many parts of the british isles, certainly to start with a ridge of high pressure just nosing in from the atlantic. but no disguising the fact that a little bit further to the north and west, and closing on the northwest of the british isles, eventually there will be enough cloud to rob you of your sunshine in northern ireland, maybe a passing shower, and more on the way of wet weather into the northern and north—western parts of scotland. and the temperatures are not just as high after that chilly start as they will have been in the first part of the week. that weather front gradually works its way in across the northern part of the british isles in the first part of friday, and then staggers its way a wee bit further south, weakening all the while but before it does that, it will deliver a good bit of rain into scotland and northern ireland and eventually it gets across the border. so further south, a dry enough day, a top temperature of about 20, 21, things turning a wee bit more showery and breezy across the

north—west of scotland to finish out the day. that is the way you start the weekend in that neck of the woods. notice the number of isobars. so really quite windy through the north and western isles, the north of scotland too. high pressure trying to dominate many areas but it doesn't keep the fronts at bay from the north and west of scotland, hence the forecast for oban, but elsewhere, a lot of dry and fine weather with some sunshine.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the entire senior police leadership for the city of rochester in new york state has resigned in the aftermath of the death of a black man in custody. they've been under intense scrutiny since news of the death of daniel prude became public last week, sparking protests. strong winds have fanned wildfires burning out of control across the west coast of the united states. in washington state, emergency services are combing through the small town of malden which has been almost completely destroyed by the flames. in california, about 111,000 firefighters are battling 25 blazes. it's reported that one of the leading opposition figures in belarus, maria kolesnikova, has prevented officials

deporting her to neighbouring ukraine by ripping up her passport, on the border, and throwing it out the window of an official car. colleagues say she then jumped out the back of the car. it's not clear where she is now. now on bbc news, panorama. are you excited to go to school? yay! for any parent, making sure their child gets a good education can be a real worry. it's probably one of the most stressful things i've ever been through. sofia cries sofia screams when a child has special educational needs and disabilities, the anxiety can be draining. unless you actually experience it, nobody understands. we need help. in the six months since schools closed to the majority of pupils, children with some of the most complex needs have been struggling. no!