this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: white house adviser stephen miller becomes the latest of over a dozen members of donald trump's inner circle to test positive for coronavirus. president trump walks away from negotiations over a multitrillion—dollar covid relief deal to support the us economy. intro t0 jump by van halen plays. and eddie van halen, one of rock's greatest guitarists, dies of cancer. long—time friend fellow music legend gene simmonds pays his own tribute. you grab the nearest generation x or z or whatever the hell they're calling

themselves, or a millennium, themselves, or a millennal, grab them by the ear and take them away from the stuff that is being played and let them hear van halen hello. covid—19 is spreading further among those close to president trump with white house advisor stephen miller and a senior military official the latest infected. mr miller, who has been self—isolating for the past five days, confirmed he had contracted coronavirus on tuesday. top us general mark milley and other military leaders are also quarantining after an admiral, a senior official in the coast guard tested positive. other officials are also self—isolating.( —— other officials are

also self—isolating. our north america correspondent peter bowesjoins me now. we have hot spots in the white house and pentagon? yes, the halls of the white house are very quiet the moment with many people working at home and quarantining themselves people working at home and quara ntining themselves and people working at home and quarantining themselves and as you say, stephen miller is the latest to test positive, having tested negative several days and having been working from home and this just adds to the long list, kellyanne conway, chris christie the former governor of newjersey, all of these people very close to president trump in his inner circle, they were all involved in preparing donald trump for the debate that he had last week with joe biden the debate that he had last week withjoe biden and also, as you say, senior officials in the pentagon after a senior official from the coastguard tested positive stop so there isa tested positive stop so there is a military concerned and perspective to this as well with so many senior people within the administration, it seems, either coming down with a virus or at least quarantining themselves just a virus or at least quara ntining themselves just in

case they have come into contact with someone. on that point, i'll be clear how much damage this is doing and what impact it is having? are we talking people being unable to function, feeling too ill, but functioning but being more careful these days? functioning but being more carefulthese days? i functioning but being more careful these days? i think probably all of that. we can imagine all of us who have had to adapt over the last few months to working from home or in different circumstances and still trying to get the job done so it is not beyond the imagination that people in the white house i doing exactly the same thing, working on their la pto ps same thing, working on their laptops at home, surrounded by theirfamily laptops at home, surrounded by their family and trying to get their family and trying to get thejob done their family and trying to get the job done and their family and trying to get thejob done and of their family and trying to get the job done and of course they are at the centre of american government with less than one month until the next election which makes their situation rather different to everyone else and the pressures that are currently on the administration, not least of course the president being positive himself. so clearly it will be causing logistical issues and perhaps more serious issues and perhaps more serious issues than that in terms of getting stuff done, the

everyday running of government and dealing with congress but looking ahead to the election as well. and all of this because the president is still plainly infectious but still up for anything, ready for anything, but possibly with this virus facing some difficulties to come? yeah, a very difficult —— very difficult days potentially, he is apparently not showing any symptoms, his doctors are still upbeat but are saying he is not out of the woods yet and the next seven days at least up until next monday or tuesday will be crucial. the next debate is next thursday and joe biden has already said he does not think it should go ahead, if the president is still infectious. and we may not know the answer to that question until a couple of days before so until a couple of days before so it is clearly putting a lot of pressure both onjoe biden in terms of politically how to deal with this because he could give the president an opportunity to sayjoe biden is running scared of another debate, but on the other hand

democrats would accuse the president of being reckless if he insists on going ahead and he insists on going ahead and he is still positive with the virus. peter, thank you very much for that. joe biden continues on the campaign trail. in a speech at gettysburg, where president lincoln delivered his famous address during the american civil war, he warned of the divisions once again pulling the country apart. today, we are engaged once again in a battle for the soul of the nation. the forces of darkness, the forces of division, the forces of yesterday are pulling us apart, holding us down and holding us back. we must free ourselves of all of them. joe biden, of course. let's get some of the day's other news. a report by the us house of representatives has accused the four giant american tech companies of anti—competitive practices abuse of power. the report says amazon, apple, facebook google have dominated online activities businesses by buying up potential rivals,

forcing competitors to use their technology. facebook has cracked down on qanon conspiracy groups who lend their support to president trump. facebook has classified content linked to qanon as "dangerous" and says it will remove posts from instagram as well. followers of qanon believe mr trump is secretly leading a fight against a worldwide conspiracy of paedophiles. facebook says it is clamping down more 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". he accused the chinese communist party of a cover—up over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. the prime minister of

kyrgyzstan kubatbek boronov has resigned as opposition groups have taken control of key buildings offices in the capital bishkek. opposition protestors occupied the parliament building early on tuesday following disputed elections on sunday. the election commission has now annulled the election results. 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. both countries blame each other for the violence. our correspondentjonah fisher filed this report from yerevan. sirens wail. explosions. 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. i apologise, 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: because you have come back from stepanakert, yes? 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 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. jonah fisher, bbc news.

the north—east coast of mexico is bracing itself for the arrival of hurricane delta. the category 4 storm is expected to be the biggest to hit the country since hurricane wilma in 2005. it's then forecast to move across the gulf of mexico before hitting the united states. paul hawkins has more. boarding up and stocking up. cancun city, on the yucatan peninsula, is on high alert for hurricane delta — the 26th major storm of an unusually active hurricane season. —— the 26th named storm of an unusually active hurricane season. locals who have been told to have enough food and water for three days. any way the wind blows, it's guaranteed to be powerful, with rain and winds of 225km/h on the way. translation: instructions have been given to mobilise 5000 officials to the peninsula,

to yucatan and quintana roo, with all the necessary equipment to protect the population. we will be on alert and hopefully the hurricane will lose strength or change its path. cancun is famed for its nightlife and beach resorts. tourism is its lifeblood. and the pandemic has hit the economy hard. 40,000 tourists, a fraction of the usual number, are being evacuated from the coast. translation: the measures being taken in the hotel is to evacuate everyone as a precaution. those who did not make manage to make changes to their flights all have to go directly to the shelter to protect themselves. with our first hurricane. we're scared. although we have been living in cancun for five years, it's our first hurricane

and the truth is that we are very nervous. the storm surge of two to three metres in places forecast, boats have been secured, or even better, pulled from the water. the storm is strengthening over the caribbean sea by 137km/h injust 2a hours — the fastest rate of intensification since hurricane wilma in 2005, the last major storm to hit the mexican coast. back then it took the economy six months to recover, which is why this time, the officials here are taking it so seriously. after mexico, delta will strengthen over the gulf of mexico, its warm waters feeding the winds before it weakens a little and then slams into louisiana on friday. paul hawkins, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: one of the world's most exuberant, influential and revered guitarists, eddie van halen, has died, aged 65. we hear from another rock legend, one of his long—time friends.

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 world news. the latest headlines: white house adviser stephen miller becomes the latest of over a dozen members of donald trump's inner circle to test positive for coronvirus. us president donald trump has said he is ending negotiations with democrats in congress over a covid—i9 relief bill that could have provided up to $2 trillion to help struggling businesses and people across the country. president trump says he will only pass a stimulus package after he wins the election, next month. his democratic party opponent, joe biden slammed the president for "turning his back" on the american people.

president trump made this pretty surprising announcement after he got off the phone with senate republican leader mitch mcconnell stock he said you can't have both, you can't have a stimulus deal and get the supreme court nominee, justice amy coney barrett through. we only have 28 days to go, you have to choose one of the other. mcconnell urged him to choose the supreme court, and trump tweeted shortly thereafter stimulus talks were on hold until after the election. he said, he would focus full—time on the supreme court nominee. what is likely to be the impact of the decision? it is a pretty serious thing for the us economy. obviously the stock market dropped pretty rapidly as soon that tweet came out. the reality is the us has only half recovered from this devastating economic blow and a

lot of small businesses, big and small businesses in the united states, were really counting on more money coming through from this government aid. a number of airlines through from this government aid. a number ofairlines in the united states have just announced massive lay—offs, disney, a i in the president was economists in the president was macomb party have been urging the president to pull the trigger and dispense more aid was that they were pretty close. house speaker nancy pelosi and treasurer steve mnuchin were within $500 billion of each other, which is a lot of money, but. a pretty a lot of money, but is a pretty close gap to bridge at this point. and the president often talks about the stock market as if it were the us economy, but

there are real world economic impacts on what you are talking about. and quite plainly, whoever wins the election has an economic nightmare to deal with. it definitely will be. both candidates have committed to doing more stimulus after the election, but of course they have to make a deal, and it seemed obvious since august the united states needs more money. we have 26 million americans who are still receiving unemployment insurance, and of course, more major lay—offs being announced as we speak. the revered rock guitarist eddie van halen, an exuberant inspiration to so many other guitarists, has died at the age of 65. van halen plays jump #jump!# the co—founder and lead guitarist of van halen had been suffering from throat cancer. the band had huge commercial success in the ‘70s and ‘80s — selling more than 80 million records worldwide. a little earlier, i spoke

to rock legend gene simmons, co—lead singer of heavy metal icons kiss. he they he - they had been ‘ 1&5 he - they had been ‘65 years. i saw them in a club a long, long time ago. and i was so awed by the class and the grandeur. it's difficult to talk in rock terms with a band that didn't use tapes, didn't use backing tracks. nothing like that. all that music came out of eddie's hands. i hadn't heard a player like that, certainly since hendrix. for me, it's heartbreaking today because i remember young, innocent eddie van halen who must have been 20 years old. i took the band into the studio and we recorded 15 songs that i produced. but it ain't about me,

i want to take a moment and tell you that it's very seldom you meet somebody who's a pure soul, who is a beautiful person. i never once heard eddie ever say anything bad about anybody, and especially other bands. and as you can well imagine, this business is full of big egos, yours truly included. eddie was an aw—shucks kind of matter—of—fact guy. and i will tell you... 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?" and he said, "yeah, man, i got cancer. what are you gonna do?" i wasjust... i was struck by it. and then he did the strangest thing. he opened up his mouth and showed me what his upper palate looked like.

and, you know, it's the ravages of cancer. and i wanted to reach out — i didn't know what to do. and he sort of brushed it off. it was kind of like, ‘eh‘. and i — 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 for the money and the chicks and all that stuff, never once. it was always about the music. and if you ever saw van halen live — and if you haven't, shame on you — if you ever saw that band live, when eddie played guitar, he'd be smiling from ear to ear. iwasjust looking back, gene, and that gig that you saw at a small los angeles club must have been ‘76 or so. and you helped them make their first demo. you've known him for a long time. he did always look like he was having such a great time, but he really did have

a great time, didn't he? he pushed it. just — 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 morello and flea as well saying how influential he was. he could shred with the best of them, and he was melodic. he had a fantastic sense of dynamics. there is a lot of space in those songs. eric clapton said that it is not what you put into a song, it is what you bring out. but eddie van halen could do it all. he could amaze you with the speed, he could slow it down, give you the melody you always remember.

so here's a piece of advice to all of you who are no longer 20 years old: you grab the nearest generation x or the or whatever the hell they call themselves or millennial, grab them by the ear and take them away from the stuff that is being played, and sit their asses down and let them hear van halen, so they understand what greatness is. we just have a very short amount of time. 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 image that struck me was his smile. uh... what an amazing guy. it's really striking that 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.

and, yes, of the great music is available. —— other. hundreds of freelance musicians performed in westminster in central london to demand more targeted state support for self—employed artists. while the government has pledged financial help for struggling music venues, but many in the industry say they have been left to fend for themselves throughout the pandemic. our arts editor will gompertz was at the event. classical music plays as makeshift orchestras go, this one would take some beating. 400 of the country's leading professional musicians tuning up in parliament square. they've come to make their case to the politicians gathered in the building behind them. it's difficult to overestimate the impact that the pandemic has had on britain's live performance sector. musicians specifically have been hit really, really ha rd, having loads of gigs before and almost none afterwards. something like 30% of musicians are talking about leaving the profession altogether. 70% are earning a fraction of what they were earning this time last year.

the players performed a brief passage of mars from gustav holst‘s the planets. the musicians' union said that around 85% of their 32,000 members are freelance, many of whom have been unable to claim adequate income support. there needs to be more concerted effort, whether that be through philanthropy or government funding or a combination of the two, that actually targets money towards the freelance community, because it's enormous, we rely on it, and they are being left out. when times are good and when it all comes back, actually, a huge amount of money is generated by music and entertainment. we are the destination, really. when you go to see a show in the west end, perhaps you don't think about the people in the pit, but that's the freelancers. the musicians fell silent, both in london and in a corresponding event in birmingham, to make their point. the department for digital, culture, media and sport said it was working

flat—out across the government to help the arts through covid. will gompertz, bbc news. three scientists have been awarded the 2020 nobel prize in export their work on understanding black holes. the winners were announced at the televised ceremony of the imprisoned event was cancelled. you the prize was awarded to sir roger penrose committee 89—year—old roger and our mathematical physicist —— physicist found it was a production of the general theory of relativity. andre temp —— andrea ghez is the fourth woman ever to win the prize.

a reminder of our top story. the senior white house adviser, stephen miller is the latest of more than a dozen members of president trump's inner circle to test positive for coronavirus — since the president announced he has covid— i9. several senior military officials are also quarantining since one of their colleagues, coast guard official admiral charles ray, tested positive. hello there. many of us saw some rain at some point during the day on tuesday. and there were 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 north—west england, where in rochdale, and 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. now, we've still got 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 north—west 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 north—west 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 south—west late in the day, gusts of about 40—45 miles an hourorso 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 north—western areas. temperature about nine degrees in stornoway, ii 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—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. so, 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 —— the senior white house adviser stephen miller is the latest of more than a dozen members of donald trump's inner circle to test positive for coronavirus since the president announced he has covid—i9. several senior military officials are also quarantining since one of their colleagues, coast guard official admiral charles ray, tested positive. president trump has ended negotiations with congress over a multitrillion—dollar stimulus package intended to help the american economy recover from the pandemic. he says he will only resume talks after the election. us stock markets fell on that announcement. one of the worlds most revered guitarists, eddie van halen, has died at 65. the rock and roll hall of famer was known for his distinctive