we're very much not a racist family. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first... president biden has signed into law his one point nine trillion dollar stimulus bill. the package provides a direct payment to most americans of $1,400, as well as $350 billion for state and local governments. mr biden wasn't taking any questions from the reporters gathered in the oval office but he is due to make a nationally televised address in the us in the next hour — we will, of course, bring you that here on bbc news. well, for more on what that address may hold, i'm joined by the bbc�*s laura trevelyan from washington. what can we expect? this is president biden is first prime time 0val president biden is first prime time oval office address to americans. and his aides have said in the last 15 minutes that they expect the president to set a goal of allowing americans to gather in small groups on thejuly four groups on the july four holiday. that's an american independence day. that's a major step forward after a devastating year in which more than half a million americans have died of covid. also currently, it's of a mess, the system is system is who is eligible to get a vaccine in the states. every single state and there are 50 of them, they draw up their own eligibility list. so president biden is going to direct states, we are told to make every adult american eligible to receive a vaccine by may the forest. a course that doesn't mean they will receive a vaccine but they will receive a vaccine but they will be eligible. but president biden has separately said that he expects everyone to be able to get a vaccine by the end of may. they are trying to speed up may. they are trying to speed up the process. and aides to the president say this is going to be an optimistic speech, a forward—looking want. he's going to also sell his coronavirus relief bill which republicans are already attacking as too large and potentially something that will drive inflation up in the economy. drive inflation up in the economy-— drive inflation up in the economy. drive inflation up in the econom. �*, ., ., ., ., economy. he's going to have to defend it- _ economy. he's going to have to defend it. what _ economy. he's going to have to defend it. what can _ economy. he's going to have to defend it. what can we - economy. he's going to have to defend it. what can we expect l defend it. what can we expect when it comes to him talking us through the detail of that? progressive democrats are saying this is the biggest piece of anti—pet did not possibly delete not poverty legislation in a decade. and president biden is determined to not repeat what many in the white house he is the mistake of president 0bama when he passed the stimulus bill in 2009 and america still in recession. it was hard for him to explain to americans what was in that bill and why it was good for them. this time president biden is going to speu president biden is going to spell out exactly the people get and how they can get it. for example, there was a child tax credit. if you have a child thatis tax credit. if you have a child that is under section will be eligible for a tax credit of $3600 per child. if your child is over six you get a credit of $3000. if you don't earn enough to be tax you get this is a refund. as well as that there are the $1400 stimulus checks are the $1400 stimulus checks are people earning $75,000 or hundred and 50,000 as a couple. restaurants are going to get $28 billion. there's a lot of detail in here. also these subsidies for 0bama care for health insurance are being reintroduced. that's another big boost to families.- reintroduced. that's another big boost to families. laura we are expecting _ big boost to families. laura we are expecting that _ big boost to families. laura we are expecting that address - big boost to families. laura we are expecting that address in l are expecting that address in just under an hour's time. i'm sure you will bring us up—to—date when that happens in the fallout as well. the astra seneca vaccine one of the most widely used in that world have been suspended in three european countries after reports that some people who had the shot have had blood clots. health authorities stress the move was precautionary. norway and iceland and announce their decisions after denmark estopped its roll out for 14 days. here's denmark's prime minister. here's translation: denmark will suspend the use - of the astrazeneca vaccine until authorities have made the risks clear. that is always a risk connected to vaccines, although things have gone well in denmark, there are links risk to astrazeneca that we need to investigate further and i think it's the right way to approach this. they are not the only countries where use of astrazeneca's vaccine has been temporarily suspended. estonia, lithuania, latvia and luxembourg have stopped using one particular batch of1 million doses of the vaccine. the alert was triggered when a woman in austria died from blood clots days after being vaccinated. italy, meanwhile, has banned doses from a different batch — after a soldier in sicily suffered a cardiac arrest following a jab. the italian regulator stressed the decision was a precaution, and there is no evidence that the vaccine was to blame. well, many millions of doses of the astrazeneca vaccine have been administered and the company says its safety has been studied extensively in clinical trials. meanwhile, the european medicines agency has said there's no indication that use of the vaccine caused the blood clots that have been reported and that it's still safe to use while further investigations are carried out. it pointed out that... "the number of thrombo—embolic events in vaccinated people is no higher than the number seen in the general population." i've been speaking to professor markjit from the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine to get his reaction to the suspensions. well, my initial response was that these countries are being very cautious. there have been a few people unfortunately, having these events of blood clots after receiving the vaccine. now we have not seen any safety signal in the trial. the vaccine is been given to millions of people. so because millions of people have got it, just by chance many of them will have had different conditions happening soon after they got the vaccine, unfortunately. so this does not mean the vaccine caused it. but because these events happened several times so quickly after these countries are being cautious in investigating to make sure that there is no link and suspending the vaccine programme for the time being. we've been talking about how quickly these vaccines have been rolled out. had the trial period bit longer, would something like this have been picked up in that? the events that occurred in these peoples happen soon after they got the vaccine. so it's nothing to do how long a period after the child ——trial was was up the trials were thoroughly conducted. it happened very quickly because a lot of money was invested in them. many people could be recruited very quickly in the trials many stages of the trial happen at the same time. but they went through the same rigorous safety and efficacy checks that vaccine trials go through. we would have detected if there were any safety events during the trials. in terms of anybody who is reading this, watching this and is concerned, what do you say? i would say it's really very, very unlikely that there is any issue with the vaccine itself. i think some of these countries are investigating whether there is a problem with the batch. the way may be that particular batch was manufactured or in the process from which i got from the factory to the clinics and to the people. i think even this is quite unlikely but these countries are investigating just to be sure. i think it's possible it was just a coincidence, very sad for the people involved indeed. but reassuring for us these countries are checking. so until the investigations are done, i think then we will find out for sure. right now i think the risk benefit, the benefit of having the coronavirus vaccine far outweighs whatever risks they are. there are thousands of people dying of coronavirus every day. we have not seen a single person die from getting the vaccine. so the vaccine is what will prevent people from dying from coronavirus. the chinese communist party has approved a resolution to overhaul hong kong's electoral system, the latest move tightening it's control of the city. it was passed at the national people's congress and will allow a pro—beijing panel to vet and elect candidates for hong kong's parliament. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth reports. the electronic buttons were pressed and the unanimity said it all. just one abstention, as china's compliant parliament voted to remake hong kong's political system in its own image. the decision is clear. the country's premier, li keqiang, told the assembled media afterwards, "we should always have patriots ruling hong kong." after british rule ended in 1997, china promised hong kong's freedoms would be preserved by a one country, two systems formula. some believe that's now been broken. if they are going to impose a system on hong kong whereby my party — or other pro—democracy people — will not be free to take part in elections, and to be elected, and to carry out their duties with dignity, independently and freely, then, i mean, that one country, two systems is over. but the harder hong kong's pro—democracy movement has fought, the more china has tightened its grip. under a new national security law, dozens of politicians and activists were rounded up in dawn raids injanuary and now face sentences of up to life in prison. the latest measures attempt to tame hong kong's sometimes unruly parliament. already stacked heavily in favour of beijing, in future, a committee will be able to disqualify any cabinet deemed not patriotic enough. there's been plenty of moments in recent years when observers have proclaimed the death of hong kong, but few can doubt the symbolism of what's just happened here in beijing, with delegates dutifully rubber—stamping a decision to insist that hong kong's politicians show the same loyalty — and notjust to flag or country, but some senior officials have suggested to the communist party too. in the end, it's the massive popular backing for democratic reform that's probably spooked beijing more than any violence. even hong kongers supportive of china appear to admit the ideal of democracy has now been dropped. the democratic system has no intrinsic value unless it can deliver good outcomes, and we have had 23 years of experiments with democracy. the outcomes are far from satisfactory. we are underperforming. with the voting over, china's parliament drew to a close. short on dissent, long on applause, it offers a vision of hong kong's political future. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the fallout from harry and meghan�*s interview with 0pray winfrey continues, and prince william has responded to the allegation of racism. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this, the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours, the soviet union lost an elderly, sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years hisjunior. we heard these gunshots . from the gym, then he came out and started firing at our hearts. - god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41 — sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90 — travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what'll you do now? will it change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really, i've never married before. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... president biden signs into law his $1.9 trillion relief package to help lift the us economy out of the coronavirus crisis. three european countries suspend use of the astrazeneca vaccine after reports that some people developed blood clots. the british—iranian woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is in urgent need of psychiatric treatment after her prison ordeal in iran. that's according to a medical report shared with the bbc and sent to the british foreign office. ms zaghari—ratcliffe was released from house arrest earlier this week, but is due back in court on sunday. caroline hawley reports. show your nice hair. love your hair! what a beautiful... my favourite part is when you brush your hair. a facetime call with tehran, a precious morning ritual. nazanin longs to be able to brush gabriella's hair herself. the last five years have been a psychological torment, but with her daughter especially, she puts on a brave face. there she is! there she is. last weekend, her ankle tag was removed, at the end of her sentence. but relief is now turning to nerves, as sunday's court hearing approaches. her biggest terror is returning to solitary confinement. it's a really horrific experience, and it's cumulative and it builds up. and, of course, most of it has been hidden away. she didn't talk about it when she came out. i don't talk to the media about some other stuff. she didn't talk about it with her mum and dad. we all have that instinct to protect our families from the things we've been through. the report contains distressing new details of interrogations that lasted eight or nine hours, of threats, of pressure to cooperate, and claims she'd been abandoned by her husband and would lose access to her daughter. it says she's suffering from serious and chronic post—traumatic stress disorder, major depression and obsessive—compulsive disorder. the continuous uncertainty about her fate contributed to this, and that without reunification with her family in the uk and effective treatment, hersymptoms and disorders won't resolve, and will become chronic and potentially worsen. in order to recover, it says, she needs to be in a safe environment. the examination was carried out online, over several hours, while nazanin was under house arrest. psychological torture is even more difficult to heal and more long—lasting than physical torture, and it leaves invisible scars. worrying about richard and gabriella is a source of great guilt for nazanin. she knows how much richard is carrying on his shoulders, as he campaigns ceaselessly to get her home. nazanin used to love coming to this exact spot when gabriella was a baby but, at six, she's not so interested in feeding ducks any more. she's growing up fast, and her mother is missing it. all the time, time is passing. and all the time, her baby's getting bigger and she's not there. she's not there to protect her, she's not there to enjoy the good bits, not there for any of it. and even when she is back with them, this report makes clear that for the whole family, it's likely to be a long path to recovery. caroline hawley, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the former minneapolis police officer accused of killing george floyd now faces an additional murder charge after a judge reinstated a charge of third—degree murder. derek chauvin is already charged with second—degree murder and second—degree manslaughter. the third—degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. the family of uk woman sarah everard, who went missing in south london, have paid tribute to her, saying, "she brought so much joy to our lives." a serving officer in the metropolitan police was arrested on suspicion of her murder and remains in custody. for the second day in a row brazil has recorded over 2,000 coronavirus deaths — with 2,233 fatalities in the last 24 hours, and 75,412 new cases registered. it comes as health officials there warn that hospitals are reaching capacity. now, a significant development in efforts to contain global warming. banking giant hsbc has bowed to investor pressure and promised to scale back its lending to fossil fuel industries, with plans for a shareholder vote on the proposals. a $2.4 trillion coalition of 15 investment group and pension funds is behind the move. it persuaded hsbc to align loans with the the paris agreement goals to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. the charity �*share action�*, which led the group, said hsbc had put $15bn into coal developers since 2018. the new resolution requires that by 2030 the bank phases out financing for coal—fired power stations and thermal coal—mining, in the eu and in 0ecd countries. daniel s growald is co—chair of campaign group bankfwd. it was founded by members of the rockefeller family to persuade banks to align their lending with the 1.5 target of the paris climate agreement. speaking to me from seattle he explained why his family's foundation supports disinvestment from coal. 150 years ago we didn't know about the relationship between fossil fuels and climate change. but when we know more we do more. and so the fact today as members of the rockefeller family and also cross the banking sector today we recognise there is a direct relationship between investment and in expansion in the fossil fuel industry and the catastrophic impact on climate change across the world. especially on the most vulnerable populations like myanmar, as he was speaking about. we formed the effort called bank forward. as an initiative to organise significant bank account holders to engage with their banks and essentially influence them to move away from financing fossil fuels just as hsbc has made a significant commitment and a commendable commitment to do today. just put that into context for us. of course it is, it's got a lot of exposure to coal. talk us through how significant this move is. i think there are a few things that are worth highlighting as to the significance of hsbc�*s announcement today. the first is hsbc is an significant player in the asian coal market. so much of the ongoing development of the coal industry both in coal power and thermal coal mining is happening in asia. so by choosing to make this commitment to end financing for coal extraction and coal power by 2040 or in the eu and 0ecd country but not countries by 2030. hsbc is sending a signal to the market that the days of coal industry are truly limited. and that is something while commendable as an announcement we'll be looking to see what's the follow on. do the release of specific and methodical plans for how they will meet that commitment? and the next thing to look for is what shock waves will this and through the banking industry as a whole? because hsbc is only one of numerous major global banks that have yet to put in place comprehensive policies to restrict their coal finance. i wonder if the banks won't be loaning money is the state not just going to step in? you look at the relief programmes, the national governments are creating under coronavirus, under the emergency relief budgets, they've been bailing out the fossil fuel industry for the is itjust naturalfor them to step in if the banks are doing a? the key thing to understand here is the concept of the green premium. the idea that as we develop more and more sustainable energy technologies that a zero carbon there is a gap between the current cost of fossil —based energy sources and renewable energy sources that we have to bring down essentially to zero and even below zero. so the role that banks can play in pivoting away from fossil fuels is they send a signal to the market. as the pool of available capital dries up, become smaller, fossil fuels companies must work harder to raise the capital that they need to expand. and that then obviously drives up the cost of their operations. that helps to reduce the green premium and incentivize the development of sustainable technologies. which governments around the world as well as the us here with the biden administrations major development of renewable that tackles climate change, that's a direction we all need to be headed in. prince william has said the british royal family is not racist — in his first public response to allegations made in an interview by his brother, prince harry, and his wife meghan. this report from our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. it is an allegation which strikes at the very core of an institution, the purpose of which is to unify. the suggestion by the sussexes in the oprah winfrey interview of a racist attitude within the royal family has stung deeply. concerns and conversations about — concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when — about how dark his skin might be when he is born. and so on a visit by the cambridges to a school in east london, prince william took the opportunity gently to push back. sir, have you spoken to your brother since the interview? | i haven't spoken to him yet, but i will do. and is the royal family a racist family, sir? - we're very much not a racist family. like the queen's statement on tuesday, william's comments were short and to the point — "we are not a racist family". that is the message the family wants and needs to be heard. and the evidence across decades of work by the queen in the context of the commonwealth, and by in particular the prince of wales here in britain, supports the proposition that equality and diversity are important to the royal family. even those with reservations about their recent performance accept that good work has been done. in terms of the prince of wales' previous work, that can't be denied. we acknowledge that he's done some excellent work with communities. but how damaging for the family is the loss of the duchess of sussex? i think it's a hugely, hugely missed opportunity. i know from my own personal perspective as a mixed—race woman, when meghan markle joined the royal family, i was so happy, so pleased. there was an opportunity for diverse communities to see themselves reflected in the royal family. the queen believes this is a matterfor the family to sort out. logically, she will take the lead to try to heal the family rifts. but there's another big challenge for them — to underline to the watching world that, as william said today, this is not a racist family. the fact that william has yet to speak to his brother is perhaps a measure of the hurt thatis perhaps a measure of the hurt that is felt within the family hair. restoring family equilibrium is one priority, repairing the reputational damage is another. thanks for watching good night. hello. thursday felt like one of those days where someone up there was just playing with the taps — raining one minute, then dry, then rain, then dry. it was like that pretty much all day. and some of the storms, pretty impressive. we brought some hail to the streets of carlisle. some of the storms dropped temperatures by up to five degrees celsius as they went through, and we had some of this spectacular mammatus cloud on the underside of some of the cumulonimbus thunderclouds, a sign of really vigorous storm clouds building. and more recently, well, some of those showers have started to turn to snow across parts of northern scotland, particularly in the high ground. so, we've had a bit of everything really, and we've got more of the same to come, as well, on through the course of friday. a risk of icy stretches, then, where they have this snow and those lower temperatures, particularly across the high ground in scotland. but there could be a bit of sleet or a bit of hail mixed in with the showers just about anywhere over the next few hours. and it's going to be a blustery start to the day on friday. heavy rain for a time across wales and south west england, slowly pushing eastwards with some thunder mixed in with that. then we'll probably have a more generally showery kind of spell of weather for most areas of the uk. some sunshine, some hail mixed in with the showers, temperatures dropping sharply when those clouds go through. and then late in the day, another spell of more general rain is set to move in as the winds start to crank up again. yes, it's going to be a particularly blustery friday night and early part of saturday morning. now, temperatures, by the time we get to the first part of saturday morning, well, low enough to give us some frost. and, again, there will be some snow mixed in with those showers over higher parts of scotland, so, for some, a chilly start to the weekend. and the weekend, well, it's dominated by low pressure. we're going to continue to see strong winds, showers or even a few lengthier outbreaks of rain diving across the uk. so, on saturday, it is a day of sunshine and showers again. some of the showers will have hail mixed in with them, still a bit of snow over some of the higher ground. cos, yes, it is going to be just about cold enough for that. and, again, when those showers come through, the temperatures will drop sharply by several degrees celsius, but these are the kind of maximum temperatures that you might expect to see, highs of about 7—10 degrees celsius. but perhaps feeling cooler given the strength of the winds. for sunday, another weather system dives south—eastwards across the uk, bringing more general rain with it. probably driest, brightest weather across northern scotland, and those temperatures coming up just an odd degrees or so. and that's your latest weather. this is bbc news. the headlines — the us presidentjoe biden signs off a huge financial relief bill to help americans struggling to the coronavirus pandemic. the measure is worth nearly $2 trillion and includes one—off payments directly into bank accounts as early as this weekend. norway, iceland and denmark suspend use of the astrazeneca vaccine after reports that some people who were given it went on to develop blood clots. around half a dozen other countries have stopped using doses from specific batches, but the eu's medicine's regulator says it's safe and it's found no link. hsbc unveils plans to phase out financing of the coal industry over the next two decades, bowing to shareholder pressure to do more to tackle global warming. the lender's proposals will be put to a vote at its annual general meeting in may.