moon bears being killed so their parts can be used for medicine. hello. it'll get worse before it gets better, president trump has acknowledged, as he gave his first coronavirus briefing in weeks — although without any member of the white house virus taskforce. tens of thousands of new cases are being identified every day in the us. at least 140 , 000 americans have died. at the white house, mr trump urged people to wear face coverings when they could not socially distance. he has, many times previously, been reluctant to recommend masks, or wear one himself. joining me now is our correspondent peter bowes. peter, a change of tack here from the president, but also the very fact he is holding the briefing again acknowledgement it will be an election issue how he has handled this pandemic. yes. this seems certainly to be an acknowledgement of what a lot of people have been saying in the country over last few weeks and that is that the president doesn't command the majority support of americans for what he has been doing over the past few months in terms of dealing with this pandemic and, as you implied, the election is upon us, less than four months ago, and those opinion polls are not looking good for president trump. soa looking good for president trump. so a different tone in a different tactic, i think, from the white house. it was the only person at this coronavirus briefing. none of his medical experts were on the platform. in the main message from president trump did seem to be on the issue of masks. he has been reluctant to be seen in self in public wearing a mask. onjust one self in public wearing a mask. on just one occasion have we seen president trump with a face covering. this is what he had to say about masks. everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. whether you like the mask or not they have an impact, they have an effect. and we need everything we can get. the president gave some figures, peter, as well. some question marks there? yes. the president has actually been questioned a lot of the last few days over the figures he has been giving. he gave an interview at the weekend and he was talking about the mortality rate, the number of fatalities in this country compared to other countries around the world. he was suggesting the us is doing much better than some of the official statistics suggest. from the johns of the official statistics suggest. from thejohns hopkins university, they have been collating the data from around the world until a rather different story to the president. as far as this news conference is concerned, this is what he had to say. fatalities nationwide have falle n fatalities nationwide have fallen at 75% since mid april. that's a great number. as cases and modalities rise in certain hard—hit states, which you are looking at right now, we are surging personnel, supplies, and therapeutics. we again have tremendous amounts of supplies. we are in very good shape and can move them quickly. and he was saying, peter, some doubts over those figures. just looking at the figures overall, 3 million americans have been infected, 140,000 have died at least, tens of millions of lost agile —— jobs, least, tens of millions of lost agile ——jobs, and least, tens of millions of lost agile —— jobs, and curiously the only people mr trump ex presses the only people mr trump expresses explicit sympathy for other governor of florida and ghislaine maxwell. well, ghislaine maxwell. well, ghislaine maxwell. well, ghislaine maxwell was a surprise. and that was, actually the result of a question that was put to the president at the end of the news conference. one of the reporters asked him whether he thought glenn maxwell would, essentially, say anything that could bring other powerful people to justice and prince andrew's name was mentioned and former president clinton's name was mentioned. and this is how the president responded. was mentioned. and this is how the president respondedlj don't the president responded.” don't know. they haven't really been following it too much. just wish her well, frankly i've met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach and i guess they lived in palm beach. but i wish her well. whatever it is. i don't know the situation with prince andrew. don't know. just not aware of it. there will be more on this to come. the moment, peter, thank you very much. after months of delay the uk parliament has finally been able to publish its report into allegations of russian interference in british public life. it described russian influence in the uk as ‘the new normal‘ and said successive governments had welcomed rich oligarchs with open arms, without asking too many questions about the source of their wealth. our security correspondent gordon corera has more details. the uk is one of russia's top intelligence targets, today's report said, but it questions whether the country is equipped to respond. the report details russia's aggressive use of spying, especially in cyberspace, stealing information. it points to its use of assassination, going after russians abroad like sergei skripal, poisoned with nerve agent in salisbury in 2018. and most significantly, it points to a long—running campaign of political interference, meddling in events around the world. this russian campaign is the new normal, we were told today. but the report also says the uk has been slow to respond. it is tough on britain's spies, saying they treated the task of defending the democratic system like a hot potato, with no—one wanting to take charge amid competing demands like stopping terrorist attacks. but the real criticism is for the government forfailing to give the spies clear direction. and as well as not investigating recent events like the brexit referendum, the report also says there was a longer term problem of not seeing the challenge from moscow. the killing of alexander litvinenko in london using radioactive polonium 14 years ago was a clear indication of the danger, the committee said, but it was a warning that went unheeded, his widow told me. do you feel that britain failed to learn the lesson of what happened to your husband in 2006? unfortunately, i would like to say yes. and because there was no strong reaction after that, we received salisbury. now we are discussing about hacking attacks to try to get a vaccine from british scientists. why has there not been a tougher line? the committee says russian money has been allowed to seep into public life, what it calls the london laundromat, recycling illicit cash while powerful oligarchs aid the kremlin. all of this buys moscow influence, according to one witness who gave evidence to the committee. there's a lot of russian money sloshing around london, and it creates an enormous conflict of interest, and a conflict of interest creates political pressure. and i think the reason why things haven't been done is because there's too many people who are feeding at the trough. there had been speculation that one former russian official, now a british citizen who's given more than £1 million to conservatives, might be named in the report. but he was not, and he told me there was a russian threat, but it's about more than money. it's not a report about me, it's a report about us, because they are really a threat, the russian threat exists, absolutely. my point is that there is a more serious threat of cyber attack. existing laws may be out of date and new powers needed to counter russian spies and influence, the committee said. but today's report also raises questions as to whether the british state has notjust the tools, but the desire to confront moscow. gordon corera, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has encouraged every nation to push back against the chinese communist party, following talks with borisjohnson and dominic raab in london. mr pompeo congratulated the uk for banning huawei from its 5g networks and welcomed the government's response to china's new security law in hong kong. he also said he hoped britain and america could conclude a trade deal "as soon as possible". saudi arabia's 84—year—old ruler, king salman bin abdulaziz is in hospital in the capital riyadh. state media says he is holding a virtual cabinet meeting from there. it also reports he is undergoing medical checks for a gall bladder infection. over 2,000 israelis have gathered outside prime minister benjamin netanyahu's home before marching to the knesset over his handling of a worsening coronavirus crisis and alleged corruption. protests turned violent and a number of people were arrested. reimposed coronavirus curbs, after a spike in new covid—19 cases, have prompted israelis to demand better state aid. the us secretary of homeland security, chad wolf, has defended the actions of federal law enforcement officers who have been protecting government buildings against demonstrators in the city of portland, oregon. mr wolf denied claims that the security officers had no identification and insisted they were wearing insignia showing they were police. but how did we get here? here is the bbc‘s laura trevelyan. after george floyd was killed in police custody in minneapolis on may 25, the first protest over police brutality began in the city the next day. by may 29, protest over george floyd's that had erupted in cities across the us and before too long, the world. in portland, oregon, the demonstrations against police brutality turned violent and there was looting downtown. the city's police chief resigned after criticism of how the protests were being handled. meanwhile, washington, dc was dealing with protests of its own against george floyd's death. outside the white house. diesel protesters were cleared away by the police and national guard troops using tear—gas so the resident could hold a photo opportunity with a bible outside stjohn‘s church. over the course ofjune, while protests in many cities are subsided, pollen‘s did not. after president trump signed an executive order asking the department for homeland security unit to protect federal buildings. by the end ofjune federal law enforcement officer started appearing pollen, confronting entertaining protesters. and that brings us to now. oregon officials called the extraordinary use of federal force on the streets of portland a blatant abuse of power and an attack on democracy. the protests continue. president trump is threatening to send federal law enforcement officers to other us cities. these are not protesters. preparations are under way to send agents to chicago. laura trevelyan there. congressman earl blumenauer of portland has introduced a bill that would limit police action by federal agents in america's cities. he says the tactics used by the trump administration in portland are gestapo—like. having people who are rounded up, taken into custody by people who are, it's not clear actually who they are, put in unmarked cars, taken to some detention facility, questions. you have people who are taking peaceful protesters, firing munitions on them. one gentleman had very serious facial injuries that required surgery. facial injuries that required surgery. one of my constituents, two nights ago, who came up to one of these people, trying to understand how they could possibly squared this with their oath of office, he did not get answers, he got pepper spray dan had his hand broken with a baton —— and had. this is basically outrageous. we have people who were unwanted, unqualified, and unwelcome who are making the situation worse. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: they're kept to be used in medicine, but now a collapse in mcalls for a sanctuary for south korea's moon bears, after a collapse in demand. nasa: can see you coming down the ladder now. one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five, four... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump uses his first coronavirus briefing in weeks to change tack and urge americans to wear masks when they can't socially distance. british lawmakers have criticised the government here for not doing enough to tackle the threat from russia, as their report reveals the uk's one of moscow's top targets. let's get more on our top story. we can now speak to dr leana wen. she's an emergency physician and public health professor at the george washington university and she previously served as baltimore's health commissioner. thank you very much for talking to us. first of all, when the president says this will get worse before it gets better, you think is right, and how much worse do you think it is likely to get? it is absolutely going to get worse, because it is getting worse every single day. we are seeing a spike in infections followed by spikes in hospitalisations, our icus are getting overwhelmed in parts of the south and west, and we are now seeing increases in mortality again. and there is no peak inside. we were seeing this type of trend back in march and april in the york region, but i was also at the time we started implementing a national shutdown. we don't have such a shutdown right now, and that is why we have not even seen and that is why we have not even seen the peak of this epidemic and though the president is right, that it is going to get much worse. what did you make of the president's apparent change of tack on face mask and some of the other figures he gave? i'm glad he's coming around to what public health act spreads have been saying for months, which is universal mass wearing is one simple step we can all be taking that makes a big difference. it will reduce the risk of transmission, of spreading the virus by up to five times, it is something thatis five times, it is something that is a public health and also an economic imperative. there have been studies by goldman sachs, showing universal mass wearing could prevent gdp by dropping 5%. i also hope much more consistent messaging will come from all of our political officials that should be in line with what the scientists and public health experts are saying, too. the president has also said it again the cases are only up in the united states because testing is up. that isjust not true. i mean, we don't say that about any other illness. cancer, let's not have cancer screenings and then we won't have cancer anymore, it just doesn't make sense. when you have sufficient testing, you will see a degreasing the number of overall infections, because testing is critical to reining in the infections. we also know this isjust reining in the infections. we also know this is just not true because our own centers for disease control and prevention, the cdc, say only one in ten coronavirus cases in the united states are being tested, in pa rt states are being tested, in part because of insufficient testing. and briefly if possible, for the press conference, the president tweeted, by comparison to most other countries that are suffering greatly, we are doing very well. but what measures is the us doing very well?” very well. but what measures is the us doing very well? i have no idea what the president means by this. when you look at death rates, when you look at hospital capacity, when you also look at the amount of testing that we need because the infection rates are so high, we are not doing well at all. and other countries, we should be learning from and seeing what european countries and so many others have done in order to curb this pandemic. doctor leana order to curb this pandemic. doctor lea na wen, order to curb this pandemic. doctor leana wen, professor leana wen. thank you very much. thank you. now to a bizarre story. 13 hostages have been freed after they were taken captive on board a bus in western ukraine. but a strange intervention from the country's president brought the situation to an end, with one man now under arrest. it all happened in the city of lutsk, as alanna petroff reports. a hostage situation on a buzz in the city of lutsk. a stand—off for hours with people trapped onboard. stand—off for hours with people trapped onboa rd. the stand—off for hours with people trapped onboard. the suspect, a 44—year—old with previous convictions that who has already spent ten years in prison. he posed a real threat. he fired shots and through explosives, but they didn't detonate. city residents were told not to leave their homes after it was warned he had put an explosive device in a public place. the hostage taker had a number of demands and he got on a goal with the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky. don't they set if we can do anything without launching an assault, if we can avoid putting at least one person was like life at risk, these are principles i live with, have lived with, and will live with. the president complied with one particular demand by posting a facebook video where he says... "everybody should watch the 2005 film, earthlings. " it is not known specifically why the man wanted to promote an old animal—rights documentary. within hours of this post, all passengers were walking free. everyone came out was unharmed. the suspect was on the ground arrested and ta ken the suspect was on the ground arrested and taken away. the president's video was taken down. the situation is over an hour, and the investigation begins. people in the city can breathe a sigh of relief that in the end no—one was hurt. alanna petroff, bbc news. an animal rights campaigners are asking the south korean president for help. that's to save hundreds of the country's caged moon bears. over 400 bears are being kept on farms across the country. they're waiting to be killed for their parts which some people use as medicine. our seoul correspondent, laura bicker, has this report. you may find some of the scenes upsetting. distressed, she rocks from side to side. she's not known life beyond these rusty bars. over 120 moon bears are crammed in filthy cages on this farm. some are missing limbs and fur. all are just waiting to die. translation: i started the farm to sell bear bile. back then, the bile used to sell so well, but now no—one wants to buy it. this distressing footage shows a bear being killed for its bile. it's legal in south korea, as long as the bear is over ten years old. the fluid is used for a number of health problems from hangovers to heart disease. but demand has collapsed and farmers have no funds to feed the bears. these ones are fed leftover doughnuts from the krispy kreme factory. translation: this farm has the most bears out of any farms in korea. so we anticipated it would be in poor condition, but it's actually a lot worse than what we expected. campaigners are pushing the government to provide a sanctuary for over 400 of korea's forgotten moon bears and close down these farms. translation: we need to stop this wrong farming culture, especially in this time of coronavirus when it's important to put distance between wildlife and humans. the smell of the bear dung that's piled up underneath these cages is really overwhelming. and we're told that sometimes these bears will fight one another, injure one another, and often, they‘ re just left to die. moon bears are not meant to be in cages together, they're solitary animals. this is what a happy moon bear looks like. he is a two—year—old in the mountains injirisan national park. bear bile was once so sought after that these bears were captured and killed to near extinction. but dozens have now been reintroduced to the wild — including this mother and her cubs spotted on hidden cameras. it's not possible to re—wild the over 400 bears in this country, but campaigners are trying to make some of them more comfortable — in the hope that one day they will have more freedom. laura bicker, bbc news, jirisan national park. a story we will be coming back to, of course. thousands of people have lined the streets of jack charlton's home town in northumberland to pay their respects to the world cup winner ahead of his funeral. to the theme tune from local hero, jack charlton's final journey started where it all began. he was incredibly proud of his home town of ashington, so his family wanted him to have one last tour of it. this, after all, is where he and his brother bobby paraded in 1966 after winning the world cup. it was part of england football's finest hour. and he went on to manage, too. fast—forwa rd several decades and the affection is undiminished. the people who lived here turned out in their droves. i saw him when he was about 16. he could play football but he wasn't good at dancing. everybody loves him in ashington. he's a big part of ashington and he's going to be missed. he worked hard, he got out of the pits as it were, and he became a professional. he's a great role model for young people. because of coronavirus, many of of jack charlton's own relatives are unable to attend the funeral today. in normal times, it would also have seen many famous faces from the world of football, but it is hoped they will algain some comfort from the number of people who have turned out on the streets of ashington today to pay their respects. there would be a fantastic honour to the man if once all of the covid restrictions are lifted there could be a memorial service that thousands of people could attend. three cheers forjack! in dublin, the irish honoured him in their own way. as a manager, jack charlton steered the republic to the world cup quarterfinals in 1990. but all that is in a past life, as his home town crowd and family reflected on today. there is now proposals to have a statue of jack charlton erected in ashington, such as his legacy and status. danny savage, bbc news, in northumberland. that is it for now. thank you for watching. hello. well, for some of us, the skies have remained clear but overall a very cloudy picture on the way, at least for the northern half of the uk during the course of wednesday, and on top of that, we've got some patchy rain as well. and you can see where the clouds coming from, off the atlantic as it often does. it's spreading across northern ireland and into scotland. eventually, it will engulf northern england, too. to the south of that, however, i think some sunshine in the morning and in fact, it will end up being a pretty decent day for the channel counties, certainly for london — perhaps east anglia, too. temperatures could get up into the mid—20s in one or two spots but for northern england, scotland, and northern ireland at times overcast, and there will be a little bit of rain, too. and temperatures will be mostly in the mid or the high teens. now, this is the following night, so early hours of thursday, and you can see that cloudy theme continues. if anything, further patchy rain streams in on a south—westerly breeze off the atlantic. and it's going to be mild early on thursday morning, around 13, 14, 15 degrees. now, this is thursday's weather map and quite a complicated structure of weather fronts sitting on top of the uk. that basically means a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. and you can see dumfries and galloway, the lake district, the north—west of england, certainly wales getting some rain, too. now later in the day on thursday, it does look as though it will brighten up across parts of scotland and northern ireland and there might even be some sunshine there across the south—east in the afternoon, too. that was thursday, this is friday. and on friday, we are actually in between weather systems. so, one moves away towards the east. another one waiting in the wings here and approaching ireland during the afternoon with the bulk of the uk during the course of friday actually enjoying a pretty bright if not in places sunny day with temperatures into the low 20s. now, here's the weekend. at this stage, it is looking unsettled. you can't miss that — low pressure with weather fronts moving across the uk, quite a few splodges of blue here moving across the uk and increasing breeze as well, so a pretty unsettled start to the weekend for many of us on saturday. and those temperatures a little lower than the average for the time of the year, especially in the south of the uk. now, there is a possibility things will brighten up at least a little bit by the time we get to sunday but on the whole, an unsettled weekend on the way. this is bbc news. the headlines: in his first coronavirus briefing for weeks, president trump has sought to defend his administration's handling of the pandemic and urged people to wear face masks if they can't maintain a safe social distance. he acknowledged that the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better. russian attempts to interfere in the uk have been described as ‘the new normal‘ in a long—awaited report by british lawmakers. mps on a key house of commons committee describe the uk as one of russia's top targets and criticise the government for "badly underestimating" the threat and the response it required. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has said washington wants to build a coalition of like—minded allies to counter, what he called, the threat from china. he was visiting london, meeting prime minister borisjohnson

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