welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: india's covid catastrophe — it is here the official death count is underestimated. you told me there _ count is underestimated. you told me there was _ count is underestimated. you told me there was a - count is underestimated. 7m, told me there was a bed. in brazil, president bolsonaro is now under formal investigation for his handling of the pandemic. 400,000 brazilians have died with covid. the damage could be very serious and it could recommend impeachment and even criminal charges against the president.

music plays. and a look at the future of large public gatherings. spanish event organisers say they have held a succesfful test concert in barcelona. hello and welcome to our viewers on pbs america and around the world. india is seeing record number of infections and deaths in the second wave of the covid pandemic. there is widespread anger as the healthcare system struggles to cope and people lose lives without oxygen supplies, icu beds and ventilators. the bbc�*s divya arya has spoken to two families who are united in grief. one from a humble background in the countryside, the other from a wealthy family in the capital delhi.

a warning, you may find some of the details distressing it was the worst, worst night of my life that i was not able to save her — no money, no contacts, nothing helped me out. translation: this - disease can be dangerous but our system is even more dangerous — it has scared us. nishi and sachin are living india's nightmare. screaming. this is sachin, moments after he got a call — his pregnant wife, angelie, had died due to covid. desperately looking for a doctor and some answers. translation: at that time i had so much pain inside. _

it was like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest. i lost my unborn child and wife on the same day. i knew i needed to raise my voice against the system. sachin says the system failed him. for three days his wife was shunted between covid and non—covid hospitals. precious time lost in multiple tests, instead of saving her. he shows me angelie's picture over a patchy video call, from his village. and it is notjust here, in one of india's poorest states, uttar pradesh, the healthcare system is struggling in big cities too. believe me i never had a thought... nishi sharma also has a picture, of her mother—in—law, bina, who struggled for oxygen and died when she could not get a ventilator in the country's capital, delhi.

we were not able to savour because of such mismanagement all around delhi. nishi went from one hospital to another, to another and then another. and what a doctor showed her was terrifying. he showed me bodies lying around, bagged and lying around. i begged him, i literally started crying in front of him, that, please, ijust need one bed for her. you told me that there is a bed. you told me a number. that is why i came here. but there was no bed there and when they found one, it was too late. she was asking help from me. i was not able to do that. now everyone in herfamily has tested positive for covid but nishi still has some fight left. she is trying to help others

as a tribute to bina. for sachin, his two children are his hope. i ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. "police," she says. and sachin wants his son to become a civil servant. together, he hopes, they will fix this system. divya arya, bbc news, india. so thats the situation in delhi but how are they coping in rest of this huge country? over the coming hours, we'll bring you the situation across the country from the bbc�*s indian language services correspondents.

here in this state of west bengal, elections remained the main focus up until now. i am outside this covid hospital here in kolkata. the health care system is under severe pressure. people are now worried as 15—16,000 new cases are being reported every day in the state. during the past one month, people have been voting here for the state elections and huge campaign rallies were organised. most of them didn't wear any masks or didn't maintain physical distancing. the rallies were attended by the prime minister and the home minister, who flew down from delhi almost every other day. but people are now frightened that cases may explode. gujarat has refused to enforce lockdown, even though the cases and deaths are rising. this as you can see, this is a busy crossroads, and the lives of many people here have remained unchanged. we talked to a few people over here and found that they were out on the streets to purchase nonessential commodities. gujarat is governed by prime minister modi's

bharatiya janata party — it says there is no scientific basis which says lockdown stops the spread of the virus. it also says that lockdown harms the economy. some trade unions have imposed self—restrictions in many parts of the state. the government says that everyone should follow norms to control covid — something which is not seen here. nikhil inamdar, joined us live from miraj, in the state of maharashtra. honestly, i think this continues to be an unrelenting crisis with no let up in sight. in the last 2a hours we have seen now 360,000 plus new fresh infections being reported, over 3200 people losing their lives. this is the seventh straight day of record numbers that

india has posted and, like i said, this crisis very often turning into scenes of pandemonium, even violence. yesterday we saw, in the capital, delhi, medical workers were attacked by the family of a patient who died of covid—i9 because there were no icu beds. desperate pleas and 505 calls for everything from oxygen, to ventilators, to medical supplies continue. people are buying them at a high premium in the black market and all of this, even as the government has now been running trains to supply oxygen, we've seen a huge amount of international aid pour in, but clearly there's a big demand—supply mismatch, with demand far outstripping supply of many of these essentials. and, david, all of this playing out as india hits yet another grim milestone of over 200,000 covid deaths. many say that number has been hugely underreported,

given that there is simply no match in the tally between the overwhelmed crematoriums and the official data that we're getting from hospitals. i sounds as if things are actually still getting worse. it is not as if it's beginning to taper off yet. you mentioned the international aid and i know it has not been arriving for long but are there signs that it is enough to make a difference? i do not think so. it is still a drop in the ocean given the massive scale of the crisis that we are facing here in india. we have seen literally everybody from the us to the uk, japan, germany, france, the gulf states, since as the uae, saudi arabia, even countries with whom india has historically had a standoff, like pakistan, come forward and offering aid but what is really staring us in the face right now is the systemic neglect of a system for many, many years and that is not going to be fixed overnight either from international aid or any of the quick—fix measures that the government

takes right now. the government message has remained, be sensible but do not panic about this, keep it in perspective. the more we hear, the worst the perspective becomes and ijust wonder to what extent things are tilting ever further against the way the government has managed or many would say mismanaged all this? i think there is a great deal of anger and a great deal of helplessness. helplessness of course because of the crumbling public health infrastructure. but anger, exactly the kind of comments you just mentioned from the government, state ministers telling us that india is better prepared this time, both physically and mentally, to deal with this — of course, we are not. there's also a great deal of anger about the fact that yet another state minister said that there is actually no oxygen shortages — a denial of that. we have also seen anger

spilling out on social media, for instance, over the government's decision to still continue to spend in the makeover essential vista in dehli. spending over $2.5 billion and also very uncharacteristically we have heard from a vice president of india's medical association actually calling the prime minister modi a super spreader because he allowed rallies and political campaigns to carry on, and also for religious festivities carry on unabated. in fact, a court in india yesterday has said that perhaps officials from the election commission should actually being brought up for murder given they allowed some of these big congregations to take place. certainly a great deal of anger spilling on. it isa it is a desperate situation. 0ur international viewers will be seeing a focus on india and its coronavirus crisis throughout the coming day, and there will be a special programme on the surge in cases,

which will include first—hand reporting from our teams of correspondents. that's on bbc world news at 1500 gmt. let's get some of the day's other news: somalia's president, mohamed abdullahi farmajo, has backed down from his attempt to extend his tenure for two years and instead called for new presidential elections. civilians have been fleeing the capital, mogadishu, as violence between soldiers supporting and opposing him increased. there've have also been fears that al—shabaab islamist militants would exploit the security vacuum the bbc understands that at least three—quarters of the democratic unionists' members of the northern ireland assembly and half of their eight mps have signed a motion of no—confidence in their party leader, arlene foster. mrs foster has led the dup and been northern ireland's first ministerfor more than five years. hong kong's public broadcaster says the territory's chief executive, carrie lam, will present her own programme about recent changes to the electoral system.

there are expected to be forty episodes of the chinese language show that will feature ms lam speaking to guests about the controversial changes imposed by china. the upper house of the brazillian congress has opened an inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic — a move that could prove politically damaging for presidentjair bolsonaro as he seeks re—election next year. brazil has recorded the world's second—highest number of deaths fom the pandemic. from the pandemic. but the president has attempted to stop state governors from imposing lockdowns and mandating the use of masks. 0ur correspondent mark lowen is in sao paulo well, president bolsonaro was sounding very bullish about this commission of inquiry when he spoke to reporters, saying that he had nothing to fear and that he owed nothing to the commission of inquiry. but when you read the list of the issues that they are looking at,

it is really a damning indictment of president bolsonaro's handling — or, indeed, mishandling — of the pandemic. they will be asking whether he minimised the severity of the virus, why he was consistently anti—lockdown, and anti—any kind of restrictions, whether he promoted scientifically unproven cures like hydroxychloroquine, why there was a critical shortage of medical equipment and beds and syringes, why vaccines were too slow to be bought, especially when he received offers of vaccine procurement and turned them down, whether he allowed the virus to spread to try to achieve herd immunity and, indeed, whether the government is guilty of genocide against indigenous communities in the amazon — where the manaus variant, the pi variant that is very much more transmissible, was allowed to rip through that region at the end of last year uncontrolled and unchecked. now, the commission will continue for some weeks and months,

and it is likely to come down to intense politicking and horse—trading between bolsonaro, between the commission, to try to minimise the damage, but the damage could be very serious. it could potentially recommend impeachment, it could recommend criminal charges, even, against the president. his political future very much hangs in the balance, and so do his chances of reelection next year. that's mark lowen. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: superstar britney spears is to address a us court about her father's control over her finances and other aspects of her life. we have all the latest from celebrity commentator perez hilton. nothing, it seemed, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls

for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they have taken the capital which they have been fighting for for so long. it was 7 o'clock in _ the morning when power began to pass from the minority- to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. - this is bbc world news,

the latest headlines: there's mounting evidence india has been under—reporting the number of deaths from covid—i9, with some sources suggesting that the death toll in delhi may be double the official figures. in brazil, president bolsonaro is now underformal investigation for his handling of the pandemic. 400,000 brazilians have died of covid. here in britain the opposition labor party has demanded full details of the way prime minister borisjohnson funded expensive renovations on his downing street flar. —— on his downing street flat. it has also gone a step further by accusing mrjohnson of lying about the matter. mrjohnson�*s former adviser, dominic cummings, has claimed that the prime minister planned to get secret donations to pay for the work. but number ten said that the refurbishment costs have been met by the prime minister personally. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young reports.

leading the country and setting the tone for the rest of government. the decisions that prime ministers make every day in this room have far—reaching consequences for us all. they will not always be right, but criticism of borisjohnson is notjust about his judgement, it is fast becoming about his integrity. everywhere they go, ministers are being asked similar questions about the behaviour of their boss. did he break the rules? that refers to the expensive refurbishment of the flat that mrjohnson shares with his fiancee. the prime minister's former adviser says that the tory leader tried to get party donors to secretly pay for the renovations. labour says it's time to come clean. who's given the loan, who's given the money? we need to know who the prime minister, who borisjohnson is beholden to. who paid for his furniture, the sofa, the bed that he sleeps in and we have not had that explanation from the prime minister so far. he lied yesterday and that is not good enough. downing street says mrjohnson

personally met the cost of wider refurbishment this year but has not denied that someone else originally picked up the bill. if they did, the rules say that must be made public. the reason why we have these rules around transparency is so that the public know who decision—makers up to and including the prime minister, what their interests are and to be clear that they are acting on behalf of the people and behalf of citizens and taxpayers and that they are not overly influenced by donations or loans or private interests. number 10 insists that mrjohnson acted in accordance with codes of conduct and electoral rules. many conservative mps i spoke to were keen to downplay the significance of all of this. 0ne minister said that borisjohnson has a knack of getting away with things that others would not. but there is concern that many individual unrelated accusations could combine together and erode trust and the prime minister.

one of the most damaging accusations that mrjohnson faces is about his views on shutting down the country because of covid. he denies saying he would rather see bodies pile higher then approve a third lockdown. but sources told the bbc and other media organisations that he did make that remark. it is another question being fired at cabinet ministers. i don't need to worry about who may have or did not say what and when. the prime minister says he didn't say it and that is good enough for me because saving lives is where it matters and that is what the prime minister has done. mrjohnson would rather focus on campaigning ahead of the elections next week. there are bucketloads of questions still to be answered. now, some good news out of spain for the future of large public gatherings. the organisers of a test concert held in barcelona last month say there's been no sign of an increase in covid—i9 infections as a result. courtney bembridge reports.

music plays. if it weren't for the masks, you would be forgiven for thinking these pictures were from 2019. an indoor concert with 5,000 people and no social distancing. it was one of the largest gatherings in europe since the pandemic began, and the significance was not lost on the performers. translation: welcome to one of the most exciting concerts i of our lives. cheering and applause. the gig was a test to monitor the impact of large—scale events on coronavirus case numbers. ticket holders had to take a rapid test the day of the event and show they were negative. they also had to wear masks. now, the results are in — in the two weeks that followed six people tested positive for covid—i9. health authorities say that is a lower incidence than is seen in the general population. we can be sure that this has not been a super spreading event so this is very reassuring data that we believe

will be helpful in opening the cultural activities everywhere in the world. a similar event was held in the netherlands last month, with different rules for different groups within the venue. those results are still being analysed. the european music industry will be watching closely. it lost three quarters of its income in 2020. and it is notjust music events pushing ahead. in the uk 8,000 supporters were back in a stadium at the weekend as part of a pilot programme to pave the way the bigger audiences at sporting events. i was like a kid on christmas morning today. woke up all excited. football for the first time for 13 months so really looking forward to it. 0h, d'you know what? i am absolutely — i'm just so — i'm giddy. another test event will be held in england later this week. an indoor nightclub in liverpool will host 6000 people across two nights. courtney bembridge, bbc news.

britney spears is to address a us court directly about the legal arrangement that gives her father control over her finances and other aspects of her life. the 39—year—old pop singer has been under a so—called conservatorship since 2008, but rarely takes part in court hearings and has not publicly commented on the legal arrangement. now following a request from her lawyer a judge has given her permission to speak at an upcoming hearing onjune 23. there are so many possible things that britney could say. her lawyer, today in court, did not specify exactly what britney wants to speak with a judge about but i would caution everybody to temper theirfeelings because i think most folks are assuming that britney is going to tell the judge that she does no longer wish to be a part of this conservatorship, but it could actually be the opposite. she could say, "i want to

remain in this conservatorship but i want to make changes". she may personally want to plead with the judge that thejudge remove her father as her conservator, which she no longer wants him in that role. she could also request for the judge to give her the ability to hire different lawyers, which she has requested that in the past and has been denied that request, which i also think is ridiculous. if britney wants to change lawyers she should be able to do that, but it is especially noteworthy because, as you mentioned, britney has not shown up in court for years over this, and there are multiple hearings that go on every year with relation to the conservatorship. it is such an extraordinary state of affairs, isn't it? she's nearly a0 and she's got her dad running her life.

and her parents are also fighting right now as well, complicating matters even more. her father is adamant that he remain as a conservator over his daughter and the mother is now upset and filed paperwork in court claiming that the dad has been wasting britney's money. the father has countered claiming that the mother has exploited their daughter and it's all a mess. and what i think is especially complicated is, no matter what britney says, there are still going to be people who question her motives. "0h, she was forced to say that, i don't believe this". i think i'm excited to hear what she says and i just wish her the best. i think that's what is most important, is that britney is happy. and it was great to see her

this past weekend attend a wedding with her boyfriend of several years and doing something normal, and dancing and smiling. you are up—to—date, you are watching bbc news. hello. april 2021 is now officially the frostiest april on record. that is since records began in 1960 and it is based on the number of frosty nights we've seen. every night so far this april, temperatures have fallen below freezing and we've had an air frost. it may well be the case though that as we make our way into the early hours of wednesday, we escape and there's a lot of cloud sitting across the uk at the moment thanks to an area of low pressure sinking its way south. quite a strong wind

across scotland and where skies clear, the chance of frost will be pretty limited. here's the centre of that low as we get wednesday underway to the south of the uk. to the north, the skies are clearer but there will be some chilly air around, those isobars are close together and that means a stiff north easterly wind. the heaviest of the shower on wednesday would be close to the low centre for wales, the midlands and the southwest of england. certainly for the first part of the day, some of the wind will drift further eastwards later in the afternoon. some isolated showers across the scotland and northern ireland but more in the way of sunny spells here. but generally quite a chilly feel to proceedings across the north across the uk as we pick up the northwesterly, northeasterly, i should say, wind. the low pulls away towards the continent on thursday, as it does so, the northeasterly wind drags arctic air right away across the uk. the isobars open up as well. without the strength of the wind, that leaves us open to seeing quite a wider spread of frost as we move into the early hours on thursday. perhaps the southeast still close enough to the low to escape. through the day, there will be a lot of sunshine across the uk,

but it will feel chilly and particularly on the north sea coast. just light breezes in contrast to wednesday, but with lighter breezes, where we do see some showers developing and we are seeing some that will be quite slow—moving. locally some heavy downpours but disappointing temperatures with ten to 12 as highs. things look very similar for friday and indeed it looks like we will hold on to a cooler air and light winds and like we will hold on to a cooler air and light winds and some decent spells of sunshine, but isolated showers as we move into the bank holiday weekend. but what will be a talking point for us is the overnight frost.

this is bbc news, the headlines: there is growing evidence that the official death toll in india's covid crisis is a massive under—estimate. the number of reported deaths is nearly 200,000, but crematorium figures show that number could be twice as high. some experts suggest the number of infections could be twenty times as high as officially recorded figures. brazil's presidentjair bolsonaro is now under formal investigation for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. the president has attempted to stop state governors from imposing lockdowns and mandating the use of masks. 400,000 brazilians have died from coronavirus, the world's second—highest pandemic death toll. us health authorities say americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus are no longer obliged to wear face masks outdoors, except at crowded events such as concerts.