welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughanjones. our top stories: a health system on the verge of collapse — india suffers a second wave of covid, with record numbers of daily deaths and infections. once the first wave subsided, the government almost declared victory over covid—19. the country has been caught unprepared. as america reflects on the conviction of derek chauvin, the us justice department announces an investigation into the minneapolis police force. thousands of supporters of russia's jailed opposition leader, alexei navalny, take to the streets — hundreds are arrested. vladimir putin always says that everything is ok, every single word he says is a lie and i am not ok with that. that is why i am here.

and, message in a bottle — the letter written on board the titanic that drifted in the ocean for more than a century. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start in india which is being devastated by a second wave of covid. the prime minister is calling it a coronavirus storm. in the past 2a hours more than 2,000 people have died. but the true figure is thought to be higher. hospitals in many parts of india, including the capital delhi, are already overwhelmed. 0ur correspondent yogita limaye is there. some may find her report upsetting. a capital on its knees. to the limit of human endurance.

"my husband's in a very bad state, let me get through", this woman says. she's been carrying him around for ten hours. many of these people won't survive the night. "sir, for one minute, come and look at my mother," a man pleads. a doctor follows him to the ambulance and prepares to say the words he's had to say over and over again in the past day alone. (cries) "she's no more." herfamily among hundreds in india denied even the chance of saving a loved one. covid—i9 has hit this country with a ferocity not seen before, but not

unexpected either. balaji! hey! this woman tries to revive her brother, who was losing consciousness. balaji! balaji thirupathi, the father of two children, died minutes later. his family wanted their story to be heard. there is an acute shortage of oxygen, too. sima died because the ambulance ran out of it. some hospitals have just a few hours of supply left. and this is delhi, which has among the best health care facilities in the country. it's what's been feared would happen since the pandemic began. but, once the first wave subsided, the government almost declared victory over covid—i9. the country has been caught unprepared. and now it's stunned by fear and grief. at this crematorium, new funeral platforms have had to be built overnight because of numbers they've never had to handle before.

in a protective suit, rohit sharma builds a pyre for his mother, deepika, with crematorium workers. it's a ritual normally performed together by families. we were not prepared. as a country, we were not prepared. and it's really sad to see my mother go away, because she was just 59. and she recently retired. she wanted to spend some quality time with us, but all i could see was her lying down on the... that's all i... holding on to his mother's bangles, a broken man. so many more will lose as the virus rips through india. yogita limaye, bbc news, delhi.

desperate images there in india. there's a rather different picture in the us. president biden says more than 200 million shots of a coronavirus vaccine have now been given out, meaning he's hit his target of achieving the number within the first 100 days of his administration. speaking on his 92nd day in the job, he said everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible for a vaccine from monday and announced funding to reimburse businesses who give their staff paid time off to get the jab. i'm calling on every employer, large and small, in every state, to give employees the time off they need with pay to get vaccinated. and anytime they need with pay to recover if they are feeling under the weather after the shot. no working americans should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they chose to fulfil their patriotic duty

of getting vaccinated. argentina's health minister says the country is going through the worst period of the pandemic since the first cases were reported there just over a year ago. she said the public health system was facing the prospect of collapse because of a sharp rise in infections in the past two months. more than 60,000 people have died of covid—i9 in argentina. two vets in chile have been fined around 10,000 dollars each for using a vaccine meant for dogs on humans, in a bid to protect them from covid—i9. dozens of people were given the eight in one jab which is designed to prevent various dog diseases including some coronavirus infections. there've been no reports of adverse reactions. the usjustice department has announced a civil investigation into the minneapolis police department. this is in the wake of the guilty verdicts in the trial

into the murder of george floyd, the government's top lawyer, the attorney—general merrick garland says the investigation will look at a variety of things to see if there is a pattern or practice of using excessive force. the investigation i am announcing today will assess whether the minneapolis police department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, including during protests. the investigation will also assess whether the police force engages in discriminatory conduct and whether its treatment of those with behavioural health disabilities is unlawful. it will include a comprehensive review of the minneapolis police department's policies, training, supervision and use of force investigations. it will assess the effectiveness of the mpd�*s current systems of accountability and whether

other mechanisms are needed to ensure constitutional and lawful policing. diane goldstein is a retired lieutenant and the executive director of the law enforcement action partnership — she says change requires a national approach. what we know about the chauvin trail, which is so critically important, is that accountability is just a small part of attaining justice. criminal responsibility is just one piece to reform that really needs to be a national movement that shifts both policy and more. ——law. and i welcome the consent decree investigation into the mpd because every agency can learn from that. but we have to focus on many different things, both at the local, state and national level relative to transforming the criminal

justice system, and policing in particular completely. we have to look at, what do we want our police to do? for so many years in america, we have used the police to confornt issues of socio—economic poverty and mental health issues and substance use disorder issues. issues, with the only tool of criminalisation and that does not work. we need to look at the inequities and the structural racism that in many aspects has been built in because we over police people in the united states. that phrase overpolicing is interesting. we've been hearing from people on the ground and activists in minneapolis, one of the phrases that comes up is this idea of warrior policing. this idea that during police training, you are taught

effectively that you will go into enemy territory and that culture and mindset is something that needs to be to be changed. what do you make of that? i would agree. there are times, please don't get me wrong, there are in fact times when law enforcement requires the use of force. if somebody is about to get assaulted or murdered, but it needs to be reasonable and necessary. but when we start looking at cultural shifts in policing, we have to start at who we recruit, who we retain, the systems of supervision and accountability in place that at the very ground level, we have to go back and emphasise that policing is by consent. we serve our constituents and if they don't approve of how we are policing them, then we need to change. and i think that's where we are at right now. we have to go back to being peace officers and not simply looking at policing people as the solution to our problems.

i see that. we hear that loud and clear. let's get on the specifics, one of the other ideas is this national database so that if you get police officers that are facing disciplinary action, it makes it harder for them to move to another police force and not be held accountable in the right way. do you think we are likely to see measures like actually come in? i know at the state level, our organisation is working with many legislators and staffers right now level decertification processes but the federal government needs to step in and take a role that includes the development of a database that has every police officer that has been decertified or who has lost their license to be a police officer. if you look at it, if you are a lawyer or a medical doctor and you practise in a way that is harmful to people,

you can lose your license to be a police — to be a professional. we don't necessarily have that in policing and if we want to be treated as true professionals, we need to be held to those same types of standards which includes being held accountable if we are incompetent. our thanks to diane goldstein there. an explosion in the pakistani city of quetta has killed three people and injured 11 others. the blast took place in the car park of the serena luxury hotel, which is often visited by officials. the chinese ambassador was believed to be the target and the pakistani taliban say they are behind the attack but are not believed to be behind it. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: righting a historical wrong in illinois — how one city has pledged millions to address racial housing discrimination

dating back decades. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would actually go through with it. choir singing one of the most successful singer—song writers of all time, the american pop star prince has died at the age of 57. i was — it's hard to believe it. i didn't believe it. we just — he was just here saturday. for millions of americans, j the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has i meant conflicting emotions. a national day of— mourning next wednesday, sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding - memories of the shame of watergate. _ and lift off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: scenes of desperation repeated across india as it grapples with a ferocious second wave of covid—i9. the country has again reported it's highest numbers of daily cases and deaths. the us attorney—general has announced a new investigation into the minneapolis police department after a white former police officer is found guilty of the murder of george floyd. to moscow now. president putin is warning any attempts to contain russia will be met with a "tough" and "asymmetrical" response. in his annual state of the nation address, he said anyone who crossed a red line would seriously regret it.

at the same time there have been demonstrations across the country. supporters of the jailed kremlin critic, alexei navalny, demanding he be released. hundreds of protesters have been arrested. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has the latest. a touch of pomp. then, cue the president. this was vladimir putin's 17th state of the nation address. he used it to portray his country is a besieged fortress, threatened by the west. and he warned, "don't mess with russia." translation: i hope no-one will cross russia's red line, i but in each case, we are the ones who will decide organisers of any provocation threatening our security will regret it like they haven't regretted anything for a long time.

but is it moscow that's the threat? the us and nato say they're concerned by russian troop movements and a military build—up near ukraine. there is concern too about alexei navalny. the jailed opposition leader is on hunger strike and in poor health. america has warned russia of consequences if he dies. today, police detained more than 1,000 supporters of mr navalny. there were protests across russia. this was the scene in moscow, close to the kremlin. people marched through the city, defying the authorities who'd called the protests illegal. "russia will be free," they chanted, and "we're the power here". vladimir putin always says that everything is ok. every single word, he says, is a lie. and i'm not ok with that, that's why i'm here. in his speech, vladimir putin

made no mention of alexei navalny or protests. but, in many ways, what's been happening to mr navalny is a reflection of the state of this nation. the kremlin�*s most ferocious critic first poisoned, and then put in prison. in one day, we saw two very different russias. to the kremlin, unsanctioned protest means chaos, disorder. president putin wants russians to believe that only he can guarantee them stability. steve rosenberg, bbc news moscow. well earlier i spoke to daniel treisman, who's ucla professor of political science, who's work focusses on russian politics. i asked him how much of a threat navalny posed to the russian leadership. well, of course he's injail now and he's on his last legs, potentially. it's a shocking situation in which his life hangs in the balance, so he's not in a position to threaten

putin directly, but the demonstrations today, which really crossed the whole of russia, all 11 time zones, demonstrates that the way he's being treated does strike a chord and does anger many russians, including many who don't necessarily support his political positions. there's just a huge sense among part of the population that the state deals with its opponents in a very uncivilised and inhumane way. well, if the worst were to happen, there have been warnings from the west, but what in actual fact is the west, is the united nations, the us, in a position to actually do with russia at the moment? well, of course, there's the possibility of even harsher sanctions including sanctions that would effectively cut off the russian economy from the western

financial system. i'm not saying that is a likely next step, if, god forbid, navalny doesn't recover. but that's one possibility. other possibilities are greater diplomatic isolation, un resolutions, condemning russian actions in the parliamentary assembly of the european union. european union sanctions in addition to american ones. so there's a range of possible steps that could be taken. it's not clear that putin will respond to those any more than he's responded the sanctions and condemnation in the past. that's interesting because we've been speaking to various different voices over the last couple of hours, and basically very pessimistic about any kind of reset or any kind of improving relations with russia, so long as there are still problems

with alexei navalny, with what's happening in ukraine. our last guestjust saying actually, apart from a couple of areas of corporations potentially around things like climate change, there is nothing else, there's no other real hope for optimism at all. are you similarly pessimistic? i'm pretty pessimistic about any major improvement in relations. there is likely to be some negotiation on nuclear arms reductions. they seem to be interested, both the us and the russian side, on that, but in terms of other aspects of political relations, i think it's going to be very pragmatic and very chilly. back to the us now. american history is rich in examples of historical wrongs that haven't been righted. the city of evanston in illinois is the first place in the country to pass government—funded reparations to black residents who experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969. the bbc�*s nada tawfik

has the story. at first glance, the city of evanston is picture—perfect, but decades of discrimination still marks the land. its black residents deliberately segregated to an area bound by the north shore channel on one side and by train tracks on the other. it's a wrong this community now plans to right. we're talking about housing discrimination that happened, that we can prove. dolores holmes grew up in the fifth ward and still lives here. she still recalls crossing into the white part of town for school as a little girl. she supports the local initiative to give eligible residents up to $25,000 to buy or repair a home. it's a community owning up and being able to say, "yes, there were mistakes made, and we need to correct them." to me, that is the

biggest piece of law. but she wants the money to go to the younger generation, like toly walker. this is about a 5—minute walk from where i grew up, just a little over four blocks. the money would help her pay down her mortgage. as a fourth—generation evanstonian whose grandfather was a victim of housing discrimination, she believes this isjust a first small step. i feel like not applying for reparations would be a slap in the face to what they experienced. you can't ever make it better, you can't reverse any of that. all you can do is hope. but hope is a powerful drug, so i'm hoping. the city's anti—black policies have created notjust a housing divide but a gap in income, achievement and life expectancy between black and white residents. the racial injustice, seen so plainly here in evanston, is in no way unique to this city. what sets it apart, though, is the nature of the debate. the community has largely moved on from the question of whether restitution is necessary and feasible. instead, the disagreement is whether

the programme goes far enough. this former coach doesn't think it will do much to level the playing field. he says what's been passed cannot be called true reparations. it's supposed to make it whole for everyone. look at past reparations for other people that have happened in america. those are the models that we should look after. they've had the ability to open businesses, to get money for whatever they wished to do with. other communities around the united states are now looking at evanston�*s model. ultimately, though, advocates do believe it's the federal government that needs to address the full debt of the original sin of slavery. nada tawfik, bbc news, evanston, illinois. while many people are turning to ancestry websites to find out more about their family history, for one french man, those answers came as a message

in a bottle which had been foating in the atlantic ocean for more than 100 years. inside, was a letter written on board the titanic, the day before it sank in 1912. courtney bembridge has the story. a simple letter written by 13—year—old girl, undiscovered for more than 100 years. translation: "i throw this bottle into the seal in the middle of the atlantic. we are due to arrive in new york in a few days. if anyone finds it, let the lefebvre family in lievin know." it is signed by mathilde lefebvre, and dated the 13th of april, 1912. but mathilde never made it to new york. the following day, disaster struck. she was killed along with her mother, three siblings and more than 1,500 others. the ship sunk in the atlantic ocean. the wreckage lies about 600 kilometres south of canada's newfoundland. for more than a century, the little bottle drifted in the ocean until it eventually washed up on a beach

in the bay of fundy. translation: it was a canadian family who discovered this - bottle while walking around. intrigued by two small rolls inside, the family broke the bottle and found the letter. when the discover was reported in canadian media, it was the final piece of the puzzle forjacques lefebvre and his wife helena, who had been looking into his family's past. translation: one day | i found that five members of the lefebvre family had died at the same time in 1912, so i called my husband and told him that a catastrophe must have occurred around that time. i immediately thought about the titanic. now he knows for sure, but he's yet to see the letter penned by his great aunt with his own eyes. it's still in the hands of researchers at the university of quebec. jacques hopes one day it will be on display in a museum. courtney bembridge, bbc news. that it from me. i will be back with the headlines shortly. plenty more online of course, do don't allow the bbc news app

and get me on social media. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ l vaughanjones. hello. after slightly cloudy conditions across england and wales on wednesday, the clear blue skies and strong sunshine experienced in scotland, northern ireland, akin to what we can see here from one of our weather watchers during the day, well, they will become a bit more abundant. but those clear skies by day also mean colder nights are back, and a widespread frosty start to the day, temperatures as low as —5—6 through some parts of eastern scotland and northeast england, very few immune to a frost. and that's because we've got high pressure in charge. it's keeping those skies clear. high pressure generally means dry weather as well, stops the rain clouds from going up. and around the centre of it, which is right over us, there will be light winds. a little bit more breeze, most notable across the far south of england. and while most will see sunshine from dawn to dusk, they will be a bit more clout in northern scotland through thursday compared with wednesday, and the sunshine in central parts of scotland that little bit hazier. but with much more sunshine around on thursday, pollen

levels are back up again high in most parts, limited a little bit around this southeast corner and through the english channel because we've got more of a breeze here. that breeze, coming in from an east or northeasterly direction, will also limit the rise in temperatures here to between 10—13 celsius. but with lighter winds further north and west, because the ground is so dry at the moment, it means the air above it warms quite quickly and that's why we could get to around 16—17 celsius in some western areas through the afternoon. but what will follow, again, will be there skies for most away from northern scotland into thursday night, so another frost is likely. notice how that area of high pressure has barely changed. the lines on the chart, the isobars, where we see the windy conditions will be out to the south and the west, so more of a breeze potentially for northern ireland, but still that breeze blowing through the english channel and through southern parts of wales. the cloud in the far northeast of scotland mayjust produce the odd isolated shower, but for most, again, it's another day of sunshine from dawn to dusk. and with each day being sunny,

the ground warms up a bit more. temperatures could reach 19—20 celsius, particularly across parts of north wales, northwest england and southwest scotland. still cooler with that onshore breeze, though, to east anglia and the southeast. now, if you're expecting any change into this weekend, they'll only be subtle ones. dry, sunny sums it up for most, the nights still chilly with a risk of a frost. there will be a bit more cloud developing through saturday and sunday, and by sunday, temperatures dropping just a little bit. bye for now.

this is bbc news — the headlines: india is being devastated by a second wave of covid — a coronavirus storm — as the country's prime minister called it. cases are accelerating faster than anywhere else in the world. in the past 2a hours there have been more than 2,000 deaths — and nearly 300,000 new cases. the attorney general of the united states has announced an investigation into the minneapolis police department — to see whether there has been a pattern of unconstitutional policing. it follows the conviction of a former officer for the murder of george floyd. russian police are reported to have arrested almost 1,500 supporters of the jailed opposition activist, alexei navalny, on a day of protests across the country. independent monitors say more than a third of them were detained in st petersburg. they want mr navalny to be released.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.