a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: president trump walks away from negotiations over a multi—trillion dollar covid relief deal to support the us economy. white house adviser stephen miller becomes the latest of over a dozen members of donald trump's inner circle to test positive for coronvirus. with coronavirus keeping trump off the campaign trail, his rivalfor the presidency, joe biden, tells voters that the country is in a dangerous place. police in bangladesh arrest four men accused of sexually assaulting a young woman, a month after footage of the attack was posted on social media.

and eddie van halen, one of rock music's greatest guitar players, dies of cancer. president trump says he's putting on hold negotiations over a stimulus package to help the us economy recover from the pandemic. earlier, he said he's prepared to go ahead next week with the second televised debate against his democratic rival, joe biden, despite his treatment for covid and ongoing questions about his health. and in the last hour it's been confirmed that one of president trump's senior advisors stephen miller has tested positive for coronavirus. he released a statement saying that he has been self—isolating and working from home over the last five days and had tested negative every day until today.

more on this in a moment, but first our north america editorjon sopel has this report. dramatic music plays. when donald trump left the white house last friday, he appeared dejected, fearful. but, wow, his return last night couldn't have been more different. the former reality tv star knows how to make an entrance, and so had the white house turn it into a made—for—television spectacular — all deliberately timed so it could be taken live by the network news teams who were on air at the time. and, after striding off of marine one, he walked up to the south portico, and there, what was the first thing he did? he very deliberately removed his mask, even though he is still infectious. covid — what's there to be frightened of? don't let it dominate you. don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. we have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines — all developed recently. and you're going to beat it. i went, i didn't feel so good. and two days ago —

i could've left two days ago — two days ago, i felt great, like, better than i have in a long time. i said just recently, better than 20 years ago. although 210,000 americans have died and over 7 million have been infected, this was donald trump presenting himself as the warrior president, who had seen off the hidden enemy. i stood out front, i led. nobody that's a leader would not do what i did. and i know there's a risk, there is a danger, but that's ok. and now i'm better — and maybe i'm immune, i don't know. there were numerous takes as the president, all the time without a mask, interacted with staff. and in swing state pennsylvania, there are some pretty entrenched views. president trump has not taken covid seriously from day one and, if he did take it seriously, as i said, we would not be in this situation if, as a country, we addressed it. i think he tried not to scare the people, that's what it was, that's why he did what he did. ijust don't understand how he could have contracted covid and then get released

and come right out, and get right on stage and take his mask right off, and start talking to people — that's crazy. his democratic rival, meanwhile, was campaigning in florida. he said he was glad to see the president back, but added this... anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying "masks don't matter, "social distancing doesn't matter," i think is responsible for what happens to them. the latest medical bulletin issued by the president's physicians says that he had a restful night, was reporting no symptoms, and his vitals were stable. but yesterday evening, after climbing the stairs, he was clearly gasping for breath. it may be there's a gap between the image he wants to project and a more fragile reality. 0ur correspondent lebo diseko is in washington.

stephen miller the latest in a series of high profile names? yesterday i counted more than a dozen. even more today. as you said, stephen miller announcing he tested positive, also today several senior members of the pentagon have had to work at home because someone tested positive there. it seems we have more cases at the top levels of government and the republican party and i am not sure when it is going to stop. i'm sure donald trump was hoping it would have done by now. some shock that he cancelled talks over the stimulus package. he has always pushed the economy as is strongest suit. the stock market really reacted to it, as we saw, and the interesting thing is it came hours after the chair of the federal reserve, john powell, said we

need more stimulus. donald trump has accused nancy pelosi and the democrats of playing games, saying they are not in it to help ordinary workers. nancy pelosi accuses donald trump and the republicans not wa nted trump and the republicans not wanted to help poor children. it shows how divided and how farapart it shows how divided and how far apart they seem. donald trump also said he plans to push through his stimulus deal when he has won the election. president trump at pains to present himself as ready for absolutely anything, including the next presidential debate. i know we had a joe biden just talking about that. today, we are engaged once again in a battle for the sole of the nation, the forces of darkness, the forces of division, the forces of yesterday are pulling us forces of yesterday are pulling us apart, holding us down and

holding us back. we must free ourselves of all of it. talking about the state of the country as he sees it but a lot of uncertainty about the next debate and i know he has suggested perhaps it should not go ahead if the president is still ill. it is a difficult one for a politician because it is easy to present that sort of call as looking weak. that was breaking just as i came in at the studio to speak to you. i saw that pop up in the associated press wires. it puts joe biden in a difficult position. first of all, how are they going to assess if he still has coronavirus? if we count the days until the debate, it is not within that 14 day window but ifjoe biden says he's not going to do debate, it allows trump to say,

he has pulled out. in terms of the speech thatjoe biden made earlier, it was really significant where he chose to make the speech, in gettysburg, pennsylvania, the site of a key battle in the civil war and also the site of one of lincoln's most famous addresses. he said there was no better place to make the speech, he talked about america being divided, told about it being divided, told about it being a dangerous place at the moment and really said he was the candidate to bring the country together. we heard him say this before and we heard in say this before and we heard in say this before and we heard in say this is a battle for the soul of the nation but all of that, along with the location, even drawing on some of lincoln's was, had a positive reaction to people watching it in washington today. thank you very much for that.

let's get some of the day's other news: facebook has cracked down on qanon conspiracy groups which lend their support to president trump. facebook has classified content linked to qanon as dangerous. it says it will remove posts from instagram as well. the moves steps up facebook‘s efforts to clamp down on misinformation campaigns, ahead of the us election. us secretary of state mike pompeo has lashed out at china at a meeting of us regional allies in tokyo. speaking at the start of talks with his japanese, australian and indian counterparts, he called on them to unite against what he called china's "exploitation, corruption and coercion". and he accused the chinese communist party of a cover—up over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. hurricane delta has strengthened to a category four storm, as it approaches the eastern coast of mexico. residents along the gulf coast are bracing themselves and the emergency authorities are making last—minute preparations before delta makes landfall in the coming hours. hotels in the popular cancun resort have been told to evacuate guests.

in an interview with the bbc, armenia's prime minister has said that ethnic armenians living in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh are facing genocide. the two countries are clashing over the enclave, which is officially part of azerbaijan, but is run by ethnic armenians. the fighting between the two former soviet republics is the worst seen in decades, and both countries blame each other for the violence. 0ur correspondentjonah fisher filed this report from yerevan. sirens ten days in, there is no sign of either armenia or azerbaijan easing up. in and around the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh, shells are falling on cities and on civilians. with people fleeing and having lost territory, armenia's prime minister is on the defensive. under international law, armenia has been illegally occupying nagorno—kara bakh and the adjacent

areas for more than 25 years. you can see why some people have very little sympathy for your plight... translation: that is not true. it is true. look at international law, look at the un general assembly resolutions. translation: there is no such international law that you are citing. everyone is citing the un general assembly resolutions but very few people, unfortunately, have read them. there isn't anything in it to say that armenia has occupied anything. that is not the case. explosion there is very little armenia can do to stop nagorno—karabakh being targeted from the air. this weekend we experienced first hand the terror of shells landing randomly nearby. translation: you have come back from stepa na ke rt, and it's because you have seen today that the armenians in nagorno—karabakh are facing

an existential threat. it is an existential threat, so the whole problem is, if the armed forces of azerbaijan succeed, it will mean a genocide of the armenians in nagorno—karabakh. azerbaijan is carrying out this offensive with turkey's full backing and today the turkish foreign minister met the azeri president. no social distancing here. both men stated their determination to reclaim nagorno—karabakh. armenia's best bet for support is russia, but for now moscow seems content to watch, as the fighting continues. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: one world's most revered guitarists, eddie van halen, has died at 65. the rock and roll hall of famer was known for his distinctive

guitar parts in hits including jump and panama. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be, before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the parade, and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor.

i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump walks away from negotiations over a multitrillion—dollar covid relief deal in congress to support the us economy. let's stay with that story now. and the health of the us president. and speak to dr peter chin—hong — professor of medicine at the univeristy of california, san francisco — and infectious disease expert. cani can i ask you a tricky question? knowing what you know about the president's treatment and his behaviour and appearance at the moment, what opinion are you forming about how long the disease has been

running with them? how long he may have been infectious, how long he might still be infectious? mike, that is a great question. what was really remarkable is president trump went from a positive test to having very mild to moderate symptoms, and that doesn't happen overnight. in fact, the average time before infection to development of symptoms is in the order of four or five days. so it does suggest he was infected at least several days before he had symptoms. and the white house has been very careful, it simply hasn't been saying when he last had a negative test. that doesn't suggest he may have been going, or instance, to a fundraiser with lots and lots of people while he was infectious? that is exactly my concern, mike. on last tuesday, with the presidential debate, the presidential debate, the president was accepted based on an honour system and not tested on that day. he did not give a

lot of people confidence. and we subsequently knew he ended up we subsequently knew he ended up being positive. if you were advising him and advising the white house, do you think the vice presidential debate in 2a hours or so and the next presidential debate should go ahead? well, my, ithink it presidential debate should go ahead? well, my, i think it can go ahead but only if people have the skin and the teeth and resolved in force for the guidelines. i know they wanted to use plexiglass, which adds another layer of protection to the speaker is, and if no—one wa nts to the speaker is, and if no—one wants to wear masks in the audience, they should be injected. not just say you are going to be injected, but do it —— they should be ejected, not just say it, but do it. not so much is known about the feeling of how ill you may be. a lot of

the presidential treatments would not apply to you or myself, mike, if we were hospitalised right now. he has an agent, regeneron, only in the context of a trial, usually. we do not have a lot of it, but it is probably not harmful. remdesivir, we have good evidence that was appropriate, and the use of steroids, dexamethasone was given earlier than regular clinical care. dexamethasone can make you feel euphoric, give you a sense of invincibility. i took some myself for a short time a while ago, andi myself for a short time a while ago, and i can tell you that you get a buzz with it. doctor, thank you very much indeed for your time. you are welcome, mike, thank you. police in bangladesh have arrested four men who are accused of being part of a gang who tortured and sexually assaulted a young woman.

the incident happened more than a month ago but only came to light this week after the men posted footage of their attack on social media, where it was widely shared and condemned. the case has sparked outrage. aru na iyengar reports. hundreds of bangladeshis took to the streets for a second day of protests. there is anger over the latest incidences of sexual violence towards women. video emerge this week of several men stripping and attacking a woman from a disadvantaged community in the southern district. before the video was taken down, it was said tens of thousands of times on facebook. ehrman street is marched on the office of prime minister shea casino, several people were injured. protesters chanted shame, and called for her to resign. anger had already been brewing of the treatment of women. lastly, members of the ruling party we re members of the ruling party were arrested and charged with gang raping a woman in the

north. amnesty international in bangladesh says the disturbing footage demonstrates the shocking violence that bangladeshi women are keenly being subjected to, and called for a thorough and impartial investigation. the process, come after a week of growing outrage in neighbouring india. there, federal investigators will look into the probe over a rape and murder of a dalit teenage woman. now in the past hour it's been announced thatjohnny nash, the american reggae and pop music singer—songwriter, best known in the us for the 1972 hit, i can see clearly now, has died at his home in los angeles according to cbs. he was 80. i can see clearly now was his biggest hit, which sold over one million copies, reached number one on the billboard hot 100 in november 1972 and remained top the chart for four weeks.

and eddie van halen, considered one of the greatest ever rock guitarists, has died aged 65. #jump!# the co—founder and lead guitarist of van halen had been suffering from throat cancer. the band was a huge commercial success in the 70s and 80s — selling more than 80 million records worldwide. its singlejump reached number one in the us charts. we can now speak to rock legend gene simmons, co—lead singer of heavy metal icons kiss. you are somewhere you are somewhere close to vancouver, in canada. they do very much. i know you have been waiting to talk to us. you must have so many amazing memories. can you retrieve some of them for us to help us remember eddie? i saw them in a club a long, long time ago. and i was

so awed. the class and grandeur. it difficult to talk in rock terms about a band that did not use tapes or backing tracks. that all came out of eddie's hands. i hadn't heard a player like that since hendrix. for me, it's heartbreaking today because i remember young innocent eddie van halen. you must have been 20 years old. eight of the band into the studio and we recorded 15 songs. that i had produced. but it isn't about me, i want to ta ke it isn't about me, i want to take a moment to tell you that it is very seldom you meet somebody who is a pure soul, who was a beautiful person. i never once eddie say anything bad about anybody, and especially other bands. and as you can well imagine in this

business, it's full of big egos, yours truly included. eddie was an aw shucks, kind of man. sorry, iam eddie was an aw shucks, kind of man. sorry, i am getting choked up. i'll tell you a sad story. i hadn't seen eddie years and i ran into him on sunset boulevard, and he had a cigarette in his hand and i didn't know what to say. how you doing? he said, yeah, got cancer. what are you going to do? iwas cancer. what are you going to do? i was just... cancer. what are you going to do? i wasjust... i was cancer. what are you going to do? i was just... i was struck by it. and then he did the strangest thing. he opened up his mouth and showed me what his mouth and showed me what his upper palate looked like. the ravages of cancer. i didn't know what to do. and he sort of brushed it off. it was kind of like, eh. and i live this you —

you get speechless when you meet somebody who really enjoyed life. i never saw him hang out at the usual clubs where rock stars go, the money and the checks and all of that stuff, never once. it was all about the music. and if you ever saw van haylen live, and if you haven't, shame on you, if you haven't, shame on you, if you haven't, shame on you, if you ever saw that band live, eddie would be smiling from year—to—year. eddie would be smiling from year-to-year. i was just looking back, gene, and a figure that did you saw at a small angeles club must have been 76 or so. you help them make their first demo. you've known him for a long time. he did look like he was having such a great time, but he really did have a great time, he pushed it. he really lived life the way you should, just enjoy it. you only get one time around. and my prayers and condolences to his family and his friends and certainly to

the fans, greatness has passed. and there will never be another like him. sorry, i'm getting choked up over here. so many people, gene, saying wonderful things about him. tom murillo and flea as well. he could shed with the best of them and was melodic. he had a fantastic sense of dynamics. there is a lot of space in those songs. eric clapton is that it is not what you put into a song, it is what you put into a song, it is what you put into a song, it is what you bring out. but eddie van halen could do it all. he can amaze you with his beard, he could slow it down, give you the melody you always remember. so here is a piece of advice to all of you who are no longer 20 yea rs all of you who are no longer 20 years old, you grab the nearest generation x or the or whatever they call themselves or millennial, grab them by the year and take them away from the stuff that is being played, and sit their asses down and let them here than haylen, so they understand what greatness

is. -- they understand what greatness is. —— hearvan halen. they understand what greatness is. -- hear van halen. what is the one thing you would want people to remember? it's funny. when i heard eddie passed from cancer of all things, the first thing that struck me was his smile. uh... what an amazing quy- smile. uh... what an amazing guy. it's really striking, so many of the images we have of him are of him smiling. gene simmons, thank you so much for talking to us at such a difficult time. all the best. and to you. briefly, president trump has walked away from negotiations of $1 trillion covid—19 relief bill, we will have more on that scum, of course. —— ofa

multitrillion covid—19 relief bill. we will have more on that to come. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello there. many of us saw some rain at some point during the day on tuesday. there was some big puddles out and about on the roads. for example, in the highlands of scotland with the wet weather here, and it wasn't just in scotland, the rain was pretty extensive and at its heaviest across northwest england, where in rochdale, in the greater manchester area, we picked up 42mm of rain. that was the wettest place in the country. it did bring one or two localised issues. still a few showers at the moment, then a clearer slice of weather, but further out in the atlantic, the next lump of cloud is developing, and this will bring rain late in the day on wednesday across many areas. right now, we've got some rain across the northwest of scotland. that rain will be with us well until wednesday to be honest. southwards,

a few showers coming down through the irish sea, one or two of those might be picked up in northwest england, particularly around cumbria and north lancashire for a time. otherwise, a slice of sunny weather for northern ireland, wales, and western england. those sunny skies pushing eastwards as we go through the day. some reasonable weather and much more in the way of sunshine compared with tuesday. later in the day, we will see rain returning to northern ireland, wales and south west england, and along with the rain, it will turn increasingly windy from the southwest late in the day, gusts of about 40, 45 miles an hour or so around the coast and hills. that rain extends northwards, probably reaching southernmost areas of scotland for a time. certainly we're looking at a wet night wednesday night, and then the rain slowly clears away from eastern areas of england. a mixture of sunshine and showers follow from the north and west. it will begin to turn cooler across northwestern areas. temperature about 9 degrees in stornoway, 11 in glasgow. but perhaps around 17 degrees or so for a time in london. that rain band should clear well to the south, but there is a small chance it could ripple its way back. either way, on friday, it looks like we will see a mixture of showers or some lengthier outbreaks of rain,

so it is staying on the unsettled side, the air getting cooler for most of us, with temperatures dropping. highs 10 to 15 celsius. into the weekend, we will be greeted with a northerly blast coming down, and that will make you feel quite chilly if you're out and about. it will also bring showers down to some of our eastern coasts and into the north of scotland as well. not entirely dry. it will feel quite cool in those strong winds in the east.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has ended negotiations with congress, over a multi—trillion dollar stimulus package to help the us economy recover from the pandemic. he says he will only resume talks after the election. a leading democrat says mr trump is putting himself first, at the expense of the country. the senior white house adviser, stephen miller, has becomes the latest of over a dozen members of donald trump's inner circle to test positive for coronvirus, since the president announced he had covid 19. since the president announced he had covid—19. miller's wife, katie, who's a spokeswoman for vice president mike pence, tested positive for the virus in may. out on the campaign trail, joe biden has offered a stark assessment of americas place in the world, telling voters that the nation is in a "dangerous place" and that "the forces of darkness" are pulling the country down.

now it's time for the virus that killed the jumbo jet.