this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in the last few minutes, sir keir starmer has been elected as the new leader of the uk labour party — the main opposition party to the british government. with good weather expected both here in the uk and europe, police are urging people to stick to the strict lockdown restrictions. in the uk, police say they will only use their authority if they have to. when we came to enforcement, that really is the last resort, because if we come to enforcement, then everybody has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour. the authorities in france say they will crack down on any holiday—makers attempting to travel.

emotional tributes are paid to two nhs nurses in england who died after contracting coronavirus, each leaving behind three children. china remembers — klaxons sound across the country for the thousands to have died from covid—19. the us government issues clear advice — cover your faces in public to stop the spread of the coronavirus. president trump says he has no intention of doing so.

as coronavirus continues to spread across the uk, a new main opposition party leader has been elected. in the past half hour, sir keir starmer has been announced as the new labour party leader. it comes as the prime minister, borisjohnson, has written to all opposition party leaders inviting them to work together in a moment of national emergency. our chief political correspondent vicki young is at westminster. a big moment for the labour party after five years ofjeremy corbyn‘s leadership and election defeats, with that fourth one in december, which meant that the labour party has a mountain to climb to get back toa has a mountain to climb to get back to a position where they can get back to power. sir keir starmer has been elected as the new leader of the opposition. he has previously been the director of public prosecutions, a human rights lawyer and will be absolutely intriguing to see what approach he takes. particularly, coronavirus and the

fighting for that epidemic is centre stage. it has changed the political landscape. how will he approach that because that is going to be the main issue in the first few months of his leadership. he has said the government has a huge responsibility, but the labour party does as well. he says even if you have not voted for this government, you need this government to succeed in order to get through this crisis. he said they need to engage constructively with the government and not be an opposition for opposition sake. not to score political points or make impossible demands, but he says he will point out if he thinks there are areas where the government is not acting quickly enough or doing the right thing. he also talks about their vision of a better society, particularly the role of key public sector workers. he talks about carers, cleaners, nhs staff, all of those people who he says have been taken for granted for too long. they have been poorly paid, he said. they

have been poorly paid, he said. they have been poorly paid, he said. they have been last and they should be first and he wants that to change. another key message is about anti—semitism, something that has been a huge problem under the leadership ofjeremy corbyn. lots of jewish communities deserting the labour party and sir keir starmer saying it has been a stain on the party and he is going to do something about that and willjudge his success byjewish people coming back to the labour party. he faces potentially a similar challenge to jeremy corbyn but also a reverse one. jeremy corbyn did not have a lot of the parliamentary labour party behind him, their politics we re very party behind him, their politics were very different. he had been a long—standing, since 1983, left wing and a bit of a thorn in their side, but he had a lot of support among people new to the party, but sir keir starmer, becausejeremy corbyn has been in place for quite a few yea rs, has been in place for quite a few

years, quite a few people elected as labour mps years, quite a few people elected as labourmps might years, quite a few people elected as labour mps might philosophically be a bit closer tojeremy corbyn. how do you think he is going to play that? i think it is whether the labour party has now got to a place where it knows that unity is so important. i think that infighting, as we have known over decades of politics, people don't want to vote for a party they think is fighting amongst itself. they have got to try and present a united front and i think a lot of mps, even if they don't totally agree with sir keir starmer, they do feel they have to do that, and he will have to try and bring them together, form a new team of course. we know thatjeremy corbyn, shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell and other key figures are going to stand down, so there will be space to create a new team, but i think the direction he goes on in terms of policy will be fascinating. he hasn't given an awful lot away during this leadership campaign. that is partly because of the

membership, who are very much most of them behind jeremy corbyn, he had to win them over in order to get to this position, so what he now does with that power is going to be very interesting in terms of nationalising key industries. will he go down that route in terms of rail? in terms of public utilities? a lot of challenges ahead for him. but the immediate one will be how he engages with the prime minister and the conservative government in their fight against the coronavirus. here in the uk,the association of police and crime commissioners has warned that forces are facing a "big challenge" this weekend. there is also expected to be a much heavier police presence on the streets of switzerland over the next couple of days. and france has stepped up checks to stop people leaving their homes at the start of spring school holidays. more than 8,000 officers have been deployed in paris to discourage

residents from leaving for the provinces. more developments around the world shortly but first back to the warm temperatures forecast and the message from police to stay at home. simonjones has this report from the uk. these were the scenes in snowdonia two weeks ago when many people ignored government advice. crowds flock to the coast and parks were busy too. now, with even more stringent curbs on our movements in place, the health secretary says staying at home and saving lives is not a request but an instruction. we are set for a woman killed in some parts of the country but the disease is still spreading —— weekend in some parts of the country. and we absolutely cannot afford to relax the social distancing measures that we have in place. we cannot relax oui’ we have in place. we cannot relax our discipline now. if we do, people will die. government regulations state everyone must stay at home but you can leave under the following circumstances. for one form of exercise a day, the advice is to

stay as local as possible. you can go out to shop for basic necessities such as food and medicine, but as infrequently as possible. you are also allowed out of the house for any medical needs or to provide care oi’ any medical needs or to provide care or assistance to anyone vulnerable. and you can travel to work but only if you cannot work at home. an increasing number of councils are instructing dog owners to keep their pets on leads in parks, to avoid any risk of dog walkers coming into contact with each other. in the lake district, people are using social media to tell tourists to stay away. in some areas, officers have set up roadblocks to question where drivers are going. the police have been told to engage with people and encourage them to return home. enforcement will be a last resort with initial fines of £60. undoubtedly, this weekend is going to be one of the biggest challenging for police so farand we biggest challenging for police so far and we know we are working in an environment where it is quite fast moving, the legislation has only beenin moving, the legislation has only been in for a week or so. it is a

challenging time for families who have been cooped up for almost a fortnight. usually we go to the park and the kids run around and have fun. we can't do that now so we are going to stay at home and keep them busy at home. the death of this nurse, aimee o'rourke, and a second, areema nasreen, sends a clear message, according to the nhs. please, i ask you to remember them. please, i ask you to remember them. please stay at home for them. the government and the police are hoping this will be the norm this weekend in these least normal of times. simonjones, bbc in these least normal of times. simon jones, bbc news. in france, the number of dead from coronavirus continues to rise, with nearly 600 deaths recorded in just 2a hours. police are strictly enforcing the government's tough quarantine measures over the easter holidays. in paris, railway stations, airports and major roads will be monitored to prevent people leaving the city. lucy williamson reports.

it is not only nations that thrive on liberty. epidemics too. at stations across paris today, every journey began with a police check. freedom of movement, a new national threat. do you have your piece of paper? of course. johann made it through. he is on his way home to brittany after through. he is on his way home to britta ny after two through. he is on his way home to brittany after two years abroad, but even the smallest mistake means being turned away. i wrote the wrong date. not today's date. they told me i need to go back home to prepare another form. i have to go to work but i can't. france carried out almost 6 million cheques during the first fortnight of confinement. far more than neighbouring italy. and it hasissued more than neighbouring italy. and it has issued more than 400,000 fines. but questions over when the confinement will end are growing. france's tough approach runs the risk of losing public support if it becomes too harsh or too long. the

interior minister has advised sensitivity and applying the rules and says the police operate differently in the countryside compared to the big cities, in the poorer suburbs compared to the towns. but the paris police chief was forced to apologise today after taking a very different tone. the ones who are hospitalised today, the ones who are hospitalised today, the ones on life support now are the ones on life support now are the ones that didn't respect the quarantine when it began. this is not a video game, this is real. there are dead people. with few life—support beds left in the paris region, patients are being sent across the country for care. this is 110w across the country for care. this is now the worst hit region of france but is there light at the end of the tunnel? people ask me this question two days ago, i should say no, and there is a rejection in the inpatient who comes to the emergency

wards. he says there were no new admissions to intensive care in this hospital today, a first since the epidemic began. the first glimpse of hope here after weeks of fear and frustration. the first sign that confinement might have worked. in spain, the number of recorded deaths from coronavirus has fallen for a second successive day. they peaked on thursday with 950 deaths. their deaths overnight reported, friday and saturday, 809. the total number of deaths now is 11,744, just behind italy. the number of new cases in spain has also slowed slightly, with 7026 people testing positive, taking the number of

people with the infection to just over 124,500. china, where the coronavirus pandemic began, has come to a standstill for three minutes to remember those who've died of the illness. people across the country stopped and bowed their heads to mourn the victims as sirens and horns sounded. steve mcdonnel reports from beijing. siren. right across china, flags are at half mast. today is a special day for remembering those who have gone before us. but 2020's tomb sweeping day in china has taken on special

significance. it has been declared a national day of mourning to remember those who have died from the coronavirus. at ten o'clock local time, people stopped what they were doing, cars stopped driving and people were sounding their horns of their cars, sirens and other alarms also went off right across the country. this nation is where the global coronavirus emergency started and people here have been living it for months. officially, more than 3300 people in china have died from this highly contagious disease but we don't know really how many more may have died from it. some analysts say it is possible people have actually died from the virus but being instead recorded as having died from other causes. pneumonia and the like. either way, from the country's top leaders down to people who have been walking industry, it

was a time to pause and to remember those who have died from this disease. and also, i suppose, to be thankful that this emergency hasn't been even worse in a country where it all began. millions of americans have been told they should now wear a face mask in public, following new medical guidance we should be clear that here in the uk, the advice remains that people do not need to wear one. the us now has nearly 250,000 confirmed cases, as david willis reports. sitting in the oval office, behind that great resolute desk, i think wearing a face mask to greet presidents, kings, queens, idon‘t know, i don't see it for myself.

the headlines on bbc news: in britain — sir keir starmer has been elected as the new leader of the opposition labour party with good weather expected both here in the uk and europe —police are urging people to stick to the strict lockdown restrictions the us government issues clear advice — cover your faces in public to stop the spread of the coronavirus. president trump says he has no intention of doing so. hundreds of stranded brits in the philippines will be able to get one of two flights back to the uk after plans were announced to repatriate them. sweeper flights will pick up passengers from four different areas on tuesday and travel to the capital manila, where two philippine airline planes will be waiting to take people home. the bbc‘s howard johnson is in manila and has the details. the british ambassador to the philippines says many hundreds of uk nationals remain stranded here so

today what he has announced in partnership with philippine airlines isa partnership with philippine airlines is a series of sweeper flight next tuesday, april seven, to pick up stranded uk nationals. what will happen is those flights will then come up to manila, to the main international airport, and two flights will then take them back to london heathrow. the cost per flight will be £1000, that is inclusive of the sweeper flights, and also we have heard that if people can't afford those tickets, there will be afford those tickets, there will be a credit scheme available so that they can pay back the many at a later date. the tickets are only for uk tourists who are stranded here and they will be priority to the venerable, the elderly or people in need of medical assistance. what we are also hearing on social media is that many people are not in these parts of their country and they are concerned they won't be picked up by these flights. no doubt the british embassy will have to look at other

ways to go around the rest of the country to pick up other uk nationals to get them back to the uk. let's return to the breaking news 110w. let's return to the breaking news now. sir keir starmer has been elected leader of the labour party in the uk. he succeeds atjeremy corbyn as a leader of her majesties opposition. he said his task is to lead this great party to a new era with confidence and hope. it is the owner and the privilege of my life to be elected as leader of the labour party. it comes at a moment like none other in our lifetime. coronavirus has brought normal life to a halt. i was cities, oui’ normal life to a halt. i was cities, our towns and our villages are silent, our roads deserted, public life has all but come to a standstill. and we are missing each

other. people are frightened by this strangeness, anxious about what will happen next, and we have to remember that every number is a family shaken to its foundation, unable even to carry out their most poignant of ceremonies, a funeral, in the way they would like. it reminds us of how precious life is but also how fragile. it reminds us of what really matters. our family, fragile. it reminds us of what really matters. ourfamily, our friends, our relationships, the level we have for one another, our health, our connections with those that we don't know, a greeting from a stranger, a kind word from a neighbour. these make up society, they remind us that we share our lives together. we have to trust one

another and look after one another. and i can't see this happening. people coming together to help the isolated and the venerable, checking on their neighbours. so many volunteering for the nhs. millions of people doing their bit to stop this virus and to save lives. our willingness to come together like this as a nation has been lying dormant for too long. when millions of us stepped out onto our doorsteps to applaud the carers, visibly moved, there was hope of a better future. a video statement from sir keir starmer, the newly elected leader of the labour party in the uk. a new hospital has opened in east london dedicated to treating coronavirus patients. it was built in just nine days

in what was previously known as the london excel centre. the nightingale hospital will start treating patients next week. we thought we'd take a look at who the hospital was named after and talk to the director of the florence nightingale museum who says her message about nurses' handwashing is as relevant now as it was 100 of years ago. welcome to you david green. thank you very much for speaking to bbc news, and areas across the uk and the world, just remind us what she is best known for. nightingale is certainly best known as the mother of modern nursing but she was also a fantastic statistician and she really used evidence for the first time to look at how nursing can cure people, and so it really comes together at times like this that we see how she was so instrumental in how to find cures and bring back and better patients.

what about this question about personal hygiene. in the hospitals she was treating, never mind the battlefield conditions she endured in crimea, hygiene would have been quite low on the list of priorities. when she arrived at the hospital in turkey where she was treating victims from crimea, ultimately it was a mess. it was disease ridden, they were rats, there was even a horse. the first thing she set about doing was actually a mass clean—up, partly because of the doctors did not want her day because she was a woman, but also because cleanliness was going to be a way forward. she had learned in herfirstjob at harley street that hot water was really important and so she began the clean—up and immediately, once you start making the environment cleaner, you certainly start having a big impact on patients, the same as the fresh air, so that is very much the with which her nursing

started from. obviously the museum is closed at the moment, as institutions are around the world, but when you do have an opportunity to reopen again, remind people where you are and what kind of things they can see there. we are based within saint thomas is hospital, where the format nightingale nursing school was actually based. a great historic link for us there and they are ultimately fantastic landlords to us. but we are here, we look after her lap, she is known as the lady with the lamp, you can come and see it here. just over my shoulder, you might catch a glimpse of her american —— medicine chest. might catch a glimpse of her american -- medicine chest. you have a fantastic collection. thank you very much. climbing mount everest is the dream for many explorers, even those sensibly staying at home. john griffin traded compass and crampons for a staircase

and bannister, as he climbed the equivalent of the world's largest mountain in his own house. duncan kennedy has more. wish me luck! here we go! bye. in these times of great uncertainty, life really does have its peaks and troughs. ooh! that hurts! right. butjohn griffin has peaked higher than most. the total height is 8850 metres. by climbing the equivalent of mount everest using just the stairs in his house. it's just — it was an offhand remark to my wife, literally, a week ago today in the morning. i'd walked upstairs to the bedroom for the fifth time and i said to her "by the time this lockdown is over, i will have climbed everest". so he did it for real. 29,000 feet or 41,000 steps. i've got to get to 75% minimum today. six hours a day for four days. but coming down doesn't count towards the total. i've got to sit down for a minute.

by day three, it was peas on knees for this stairway to hell. my lovely wife suggested sticking frozen peas on it. daisy! even stair climbers have sherpas. during what's also a sponsored effort byjohn to raise money to help people who use food banks. alexa, play move any mountain. he joins a growing list of highly inventive covid—19 isolation feats, from home olympics to full marathons on balconies and gardens. a kind of social long distancing. at the end of this, will you be moving to a bungalow? no, wejust moved from a bungalow, so. laughter. through the door. yes! cheering and applause. john summited last night his waiting wife neri, daughter daisy, and neighbours. ending the kind of uplifting achievement he hopes will soon put everyone back on top of the world.

thank you! duncan kennedy, bbc news. now it's time for the weather with louise lear. the weather across the uk pretty quiet at the moment. we have been encouraging our weather watchers to sendin encouraging our weather watchers to send in shots from their windows to show just what is send in shots from their windows to showjust what is happening outside. you can see sunshine across north tyneside, a beautiful morning here. not looking too bad in midlothian as well. there are one or two showers in scotland and northern ireland today but for many we are still under the influence of high pressure. a southerly wind is starting to develop, particularly on sunday. a strong wind that will drive some mild air across the uk and that means temperatures are likely to peak above the average. for the rest of saturday, it is a

case of sunny spells across much of england and wales. thick cloud across scotland and northern ireland but even here, as we saw from midlothian, we will see some breaks in the cloud. not quite as warm. highest values further south of 16. that southerly breeze will continue to drive further north and overnight thatis to drive further north and overnight that is going to clear the cloud away. we will keep simply a skies by temperatures holding up at about four to 7 degrees. we start off on sunday with sunshine pretty much from the word go. an area of high pressure merging in from the west. the cloud increasing with showery rainfor the cloud increasing with showery rain for northern ireland and scotland. gusts of wind in excess of 40 mph. it is going to be blustery elsewhere by temperatures are likely to respond by sunday afternoon. we are going to see widespread mid to

high teens, may be as high as 20 degrees in the south—east. that does mean, however, that the pollen count will be pretty high in some places. moderate to low elsewhere. as we move out of sunday into monday, we are going to see that low—pressure starting to influence the story and this front will bring some outbreaks of rain. not particularly heavy but it will bring a change of wind direction. we will see some rain for a time on monday and a slightly fresher field before sunshine and warmth are set to return in the middle part of the week.

hello, and welcome to the programme which brings together some of the uk's leading specialist journalists with the foreign correspondents based here who file their stories with the dateline, london. joining us from home: stefanie bolzen is uk and ireland correspondent for germany's die welt. michael goldfarb presents the frdh podcast — that's the "first rough draft of history." and, boy, what history is he reporting on now. and with me again — at a safe distance — the bbc‘s chief international cvorrespondent, lyse doucet. grounded she may be by covid—19, but her curiosity about the world remains undiminished. we will begin here in the uk. it's week two of the "great stay at home," and the statistics suggest it's working — dramatic falls injourneys on public transport, little activity at airports, quieter roads. this, though, is the calm before the storm. because of the time lag between becoming infected and showing signs, those who are dying now were infected before the lockdown.