emmanuel macron and the far—right‘s marine le pen. meanwhile, french authorities have warned against anyone spreading documents hacked from macron‘s campaign team. at least 80 schoolgirls who were kidnapped by boko haram in the nigerian town of chibok have been freed. a government official said they had been released following negotiations with the islamist militant group. they're still thought to be holding more than 100 girls captive. 6,000 migrants have been rescued in the mediterranean in just two days in dozens of operations by the italian coastguard. italy and libya have stepped up operations in recent months in a bid to cut the number of people risking their lives by attempting the dangerous crossing. the teenage racing driver who lost both legs in a horrific crash says he's "lost for words" after well wishers raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for him. billy monger was racing in the formula 4 championship last month when he was involved

in a high speed collision. richard lister reports. they call him billy whizz. one of the rising stars of british motorsport. he was supposed to be racing this weekend. instead, he's reading messages from driving legends like lewis hamilton and niki lauda after the injuries that changed his life. that's amazing. and as i turn over, there'd be signatures from many world champions. that really touched my heart. i was lost for words, and i still am now. three weeks ago he was racing at donington park at 120 miles an hour when he struck a stationary car. he was airlifted to the queens medical centre in nottingham, where they carried out partial amputations of both legs. today he was preparing to go home, grateful to the staff who saved his life. without them i wouldn't be here today, so a massive thanks to every single one of the staff

that have helped me. it's going to be emotional saying goodbye to them all. billy turned 18 yesterday and is contemplating a return to racing eventually. his team has already helped raise more than £800,000 towards his recovery and those who will be racing at thruxton this weekend are ensuring that although he won't be there, his nickname will at least still feature on the grid. itjust shows you that when a tragic event like this happens, how people pull together. i definitely want to take the positives out of this and make sure that i use it in a positive way for the rest of my life now. i've still got a few years left in me, for sure. watch this space. richard lister, bbc news. let's have a quick look at some of the front pages. the observer leads on labour's plans to increase income tax for people earning more than £80,000 ifjeremy corbyn becomes the next prime minister.

the sunday times says the move is a bid to shore up labour's core support as a new poll shows the party has fallen 19 points behind the tories. the paper, which is publishing its annual rich list, also says brexit has seen the combined wealth of the country's 1,000 richest individuals surge. the sunday express says theresa may is to unveil a set of manifesto pledges which, they claim, will serve as labour's death warrant. and the mail on sunday criticises a controversial drama to be aired on the bbc about the royal family. the bbc has defended the production as a ‘critically acclaimed and fictional play‘ which the mail has described as ‘astonishingly good'. now on bbc news, it's time for witness. hello, and welcome to witness, with me, tanya beckett,

back here at the british library in london. we have got another five witnesses who have shared their personal memories of history. this month on the programme, we'll meet the israeli lawyer who prosecuted the architect of the holocaust. we'll meet a chinese archaeologist who worked on the statues of the terracotta army. and the son of charlie chaplin invites us into his home. but first, we're going back to the 19805 and the beginning of the hiv/aids outbreak. at that time, stigma about the condition was rife. but, in 1987, princess diana agreed to make a highly symbolic visit to the first hiv/aids unit in britain. our first witness, john 0'reilly, was a nurse at the unit who welcomed one of the most famous women in the world. for everybody affected by hiv/aids around the world,

it was a major moment. it was amazing. officially, the princess was simply opening the first purpose—billed hiv/aids ward in britain. but more significantly, she demonstrated her confidence to staff and the public that aids cannot be taken in by casual contact. people were frightened, really frightened, because we didn't know what it was to begin with. there was a lot of aids phobia, a lot of homophobia. the media were unkind, particularly the tabloid press. i hated all of that kind of misinformation and hysteria. the headlines were scaremongering, ignorant, misleading the general public. as far as i'm concerned, the gay plague was the homophobia, not the virus. i didn't tell anybody what i did. i didn't even tell fellow nurses or doctors what i did. ijust said i was a nurse at the middlesex hospital. i didn't feel safe.

none of us felt safe. but we had very, very few staff. we didn't have medical or nursing staff. we couldn't attract staff because people were frightened. the unit had created other pressures in the hospital. staff treating people with aids are subject to extra strain. we have to be careful with blood and body fluids, obviously, because that is the way it is transmitted. obviously if we are dealing with those things, we will use gloves if necessary. but we're not going out of our way use spacesuits and the rest because it's totally unnecessary. my first impressions of princess diana was she was warm, sophisticated, elegant, and smart. i warmed to her instantly. she took our consultant down a peg or two, who'd really kind of condescendingly said, "do you know what this is?" he was holding up an x—ray of a chest.

she just very politely said, "i am patron of the british heart and lung foundation, of course i know what an x—ray is." i thought "good on her, i like that." anticipation always surrounds what the princess of wales wears for an engagement, but the observation has rarely been keener than yesterday. just one question dominated the whole day. would she or wouldn't she wear gloves? princess diana demonstrated that she cared because she took everyone's hand. this was diana, the princess of wales, coming in without gloves and shaking our patients' hands, as well as ours. it was moving. the ward can take 12 patients. today, though, the beds were empty. the patients were hiding from the media, unhappy with how the epidemic was portrayed in the past. finally, one agreed to a picture of the princess shaking his hand

to prove you cannot catch aids through casual contact. it did not take much convincing for him. he was dying. he thought, "well, so what?" "i will do it." and the night it aired, i got lots of notes pushed under my door. it was very, very moving. and i never got any negative reaction from the public at all. for a royal to shake a patient's hands, somebody at the bus stop or the supermarket could do the same. it educated people. i think princess diana's departure has done the world a lot of harm, john now works as a psychotherapist in london. next, to a story from world war two. but this is not about battles, it is about the many women who met and married foreign servicemen when they were serving in europe. in 1916, thousands of war brides sailed from britain to canada to be

reunited with their husbands and begin their new lives. betty hawkins was one of them. newsreel: since 1939, some 211,000 british girls have married canadians. 3,000 of them have already been sent to canada by the department of immigration. we left our families and our relatives, our friends, for this one man that we were in love with. it was a marvellous thing that the canadian government did. and, i mean, they moved 47,000 women and over 22,000 children. when the war started, we thought london was going to be blitzkrieged. if you don't know what blitzkrieging

is, it is having hundreds of bombers coming over and dropping bombs. b1 bombs were terrifying because you could hear them coming. and this one came down with the enginesjust roaring. and it hit the houses at the back of us. the canadians, of course, are part of the commonwealth. another big ship tying itself up at the british port. so the canadian troops started coming over. they talked to everybody. that's the canadian way. this canadian soldier that became my husband was a very nice looking guy.

i was 18 or 19 years old when i met him. it was a case of being young, being in love. he asked me to marry him. i asked my mother. she seemed to think it was a good idea. more wives and kiddies are off to their land of opportunity across the sea. it was a one—way trip! we didn't know these men very well when we agreed to marry them. on arrival at the port, everyone is safely stored aboard the ship which will take them on theirjourney. it took ten days to sail over. we wondered what it was going to be like, of course. 18,000 adopted daughters willing to learn about canadian life through classes.

we did not know thing except that canada was vast. all we could see was snow. when i first came to this house, there was no running water, there was no electricity, there was no bathroom. we didn't have a lot of money. ken had to work away quite a lot. i think that, i'll admit, that is probably why i had eight children. when husbands work away, you're glad to see them when they come back. there was a lot of us who were very brave, or else, very silly. it was, well, i would say an adventure. betty hawkins talking to witness from her home in canada. now to one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. in the spring of 1974,

a group of people in china accidentally uncovered the site of the vast terracotta army. our next witness is an archaeologist, li xiuzhen, who has devoted her career to these life—size warriors. newsreel: it's a vast terracotta army being unearthed from the tomb it has laid in for more than 2000 years. and li xiuzhen still works on the site of the terracotta army in china. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel and you can catch up on all of the films along with more than 1,000 radio programmes in our on line archive.

just go to bbc news. the nazi who planned the holocaust in 1951 was put on trial injerusalem. gabriel bach was a young israeli lawyer at the time and was chosen as one of the prosecutors in a trial attracting worldwide attention. newsreel: in a ninth week of this jerusalem trial for the murder of 6 millionjews, albert eichmann takes the stand in the bullet—proof dock. eichmann was the head of what is called the jewish department of the ss and the gestapo. in many german documents, it was called 0peration eichmann, the murder of the jews of europe. hitler and himmler and these people who made the order to kill all the jews in 1941, they, of course, were more guilty. but eichmann was in charge of the whole of the carrying out of the holocaust.

eichmann, in 1960, was caught by israeli agents in the argentine. and then he was brought to israel. two days after he arrived in israel, the minister ofjustice called me, and he said "mr bach, i imagine you will be one of the prosecutors in the trial." "but would you be prepared to be in charge of the investigation?" the whole world spoke about it, in all the newspapers. you could see that eichmann was proud about anything he did in order to prevent the saving of a single jew. translation: and then they took my mother, and she said, let us go before her. they called mother and shot her, too. there was a man in israel.

i put him on the stage as a witness, and then i asked "what happened to yourfamily?" he said he had no idea what auschwitz meant. and he said "my wife, when we came there, was sent to the left." "which we were told afterwards was the gas chambers." "and i had a little daughter, two—and—a—half years old, and of course, they also said to the left." "then they asked ‘what was your profession?‘ and i said i was an engineer in the army." "so sent to the right, they wanted me to do some work." "and i had a boy..." how old was he? hub]. "so the ss commander said he had to speak to the commander—in—chief." "so it took a few minutes, and then said the boy, ‘run after your mother‘." and i saw the witness, he was back there, with with tears in his eyes. and he said "i couldn‘t see my wife any more, she was swallowed up in the crowd."

"i couldn‘t see my son anymore, he was swallowed in the crowd." "but my little daughter, she had a red coat, and that little red dot, getting smaller and smaller — this is how my family disappeared from my life." at that time, my little daughter was exactly 2—and—a—half—years old, and i had bought her a red coat, two weeks before that. and so when the witness said that about the red coat, it suddenly cut off my voice completely. i suddenly couldn‘t utter a sound. until this very day, i can be in a restaurant, i can be in the street, and suddenly feel my heart beating, and i turn around and i see a little boy or a little girl in red coat. the former isreali prosecutor, gabriel bach, speaking to us in jerusalem. in april 1872, the silent movie

star, charlie chaplin, returned to america after two decades in exile in switzerland. for our final film this month, witness has been to the comedian‘s former home on lake geneva, to meet his son, eugene. charlie chaplin, my father, he was a pioneer in silent movies. he understood, he saw the potential of filmmaking. he made about 80 films while he was in america. by the age of 23, he was world famous. this is the house where i grew up — but it‘s a museum now. i was born here, in switzerland. i‘m the number five of the eight kids my father had with 0ona.

in the 19505, there was a witch—hunt against the liberals in america, and my father, he was accused of being a sympathiser to communists. plus had problems with his private life. so when he went to europe, he received a telegram, saying that they revoked his visa, and that he had to go in front of a moral committee, if you want to re—enter america. he was very hurt by that. he said, "if they‘re going to treat me like that, i‘m not going back." switzerland is the last part of his life, where he didn‘t do as many films, but he really had the normal life he always wanted. we lived in a bubble. my parents were really in love with each other. he was funny at home.

but he was very strict on education. he wanted us to do well at school, and he wanted us to be well—behaved at home. we would have dinner every night. if you wanted to get up to go to the toilet you would have to ask permission. we all had our turns to be able to speak. with me, he always said, you know, you can do whatever you want — but whatever you‘re going to do, do it well. in the 19705 he was invited to go to america to receive an oscar. he was surprised and bothered about it. i think he had very mixed feelings because of all the bad memories he had there. my mother‘s view, she thought it would be a great opportunity

for my father and america to kind of forgive each other, and she was right. the reception in the united states was great. obviously it was much warmer than he expected. he was very touched by that, especially at the oscars, where he had a 20—minute standing ovation. all his friends were there. afterwards, he was in a better mood. i could feel that the pressure of having to go over there was over. i‘ve learned one thing. he‘5 mine emotionally, but he‘s not mine any more, because he‘s such a public figure. he‘5 everyone‘5, and everyone has their theories about him.

before, i got a very mad about that. but now i accept it. five years after his return to the us charlie chaplin died on christmas day, 1977. his son eugene still lives near the family mansion. that is all from us this month. from me, tanya beckett, and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. hello, good morning. so near, yet so far away. we had some rain around during the first half of the weekend. it came in with this cloud front, ju5t clipped the south—west

of england, running through the english channel. that cloud is moving southward into the near continent. across the far north—east of scotland we have got some low cloud that will bring drizzle as we head into sunday. quite low cloud for northern and eastern scotland, perha p5 filtering through the central lowlands, perhap5 argyll and bute seeing more in the way of sunshine. sunny start after a chilly start acro55 northern ireland, likewise north—west england. 0n the other side of the pennine5 there will be more cloud. wale5, midland and southern england, temperatures start at 10 or 11 because of the cloud, but we should see things improving. you‘ll notice that if you are watching the cricket at lord‘s, england against ireland. skies brightening through the day. we will get some sunshine and it should feel quite warm in the afternoon despite the northerly breeze. the breeze 5tronger acro55 north—east scotland and england, all the way down to the wash, but further south the cloud should tend to break up and we should get more 5un5hine for southern part5 of england and wales. mild temperatures along the coast,

but in northern ireland who could be sitting at 21 in the afternoon, possibly 20 in south—east wale5. not quite as warm as that at anfield, but not far off. mo5t temperatures will climb in the afternoon in the sunshine, and eventually we will have 5un5hine in london as well. looking good as we head into the end of the afternoon. 0vernight we will see more cloud coming in off the north sea, and a good part of scotland. in the west we will have clearer skies and it could turn chilly in the countryside. generally, as we head into monday, it‘s an east/west split for many. eastern areas with that onshore chilly breeze, but even here it will break up at times. further west across the uk after a chilly start perhap5 we will get more sunshine, boosting the temperatures into the mid teens, possibly higher than that towards the south—west. quite chilly for eastern scotland and north—east england once again. high pressure keeping it dry, at least into tuesday and wednesday. the centre of a high pressure ridge coming all the way from southern greenland, extending a nose into the uk. on tuesday, the onshore breeze will cause more cloud

for the eastern part of the uk. we will have more 5un5hine by the middle part of the week, boosting temperatures. but generally, the further west you go will see higher temperatures. and that is where we have the best of sunshine. hello, this is breakfast, with ben thompson and katherine downes. income tax, mental health and pensions — the political parties make major policy pledge5 ahead of the general election. labour says it won‘t rai5e income tax for 95% of taxpayers, while there5a may is promising to tear up what she says is outdated mental health legislation. good morning, it‘5 sunday may 8. al5o ahead:

choo5ing their new president — french voter5 go to the polls this morning. 82 of the kidnapped nigerian schoolgirls have been freed more than three years after they were captured by islamist militant5.