good afternoon. sir keir starmer has been elected as the new leader of the labour party. the former director of public prosecutions — who's only been an mp forfive years — took 56% of the vote — defeating rebercca long—bailey and lisa nandy. a spokesman said sir keir has already talked to the prime minister and accepted the offer to meet next week for coronavirus briefings — adding that sir keir offered to work constructively with the government in a time of national emergency. here's our political correspondent, helen catt.

keir starmer had been widely expected to which this contest, but few could have predicted the circumstances in which he would become labour's new leader, in a sign of the extraordinary times his victory was announced by e—mail, his speech a prerecorded video. his first challenge, how to lead the opposition when party politicians is pretty much set aside. under my leadership we will engage constructively with the government, not opposition for opposition‘s sake, not scoring party political points, or making impossible demands. but with the courage to support where that is the right thing to do. but we will test the arguments that are put forward, we will shine a torch on critical issues, and where we see mistakes, orfaltering government, or things not happening as quick has they should, we will challenge that. that. as party lead he will face plenty of challenge u labour is still dealing with the fall out of

its worst election result for decades. the task is huge, but that is why so much was vested in this selection contest, and i am so pleased that keir starmer has now got the huge mandate of labour members, across the country. tensions over anti—semitism have dogged the party in recent year, for many member, how keir starmer deals with that issue will be a key test. on behalf of the labour party, i am sorry. and i will tear out this poison by its roots, and judge success poison by its roots, and judge success by the return of ourjewish members. keir starmer's background asa human members. keir starmer's background as a human rights lawyer is well—known, he defended environmental activists against mcdonald, later was director of public prosecutions but to many his politics are less well—known. he has pledged to keep some of the labour's

cent policies on issues like public ownership and fighting authority but said it is vital labour speaks for the whole country. where that requires change, we will change. where that requires us to rethink we will rethink. our mission has to be restore trust, in our party, as a force for good. keir starmer will have little time to settle in though, within hours of his election he had agreed to meet borisjohnson to work together on tackling the coronavirus pandemic. to work together on tackling the coronavirus pandemic. one of the government's most senior advisors on the coronavirus pandemic has warned that the uk could see high rates of infection for "weeks and weeks", if the lockdown rules are flouted this weekend. professor neil ferguson said that while the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to ten days, people's behaviour was critical to determining how soon restrictions could be lifted beyond that. katherine da costa reports.

with warm, sunny weather, marking the start of what should have been the two—week easter getaway there is a risk crowds may be tempted to head to beauty spots and beaches, but the government says stay at home, save lives is an instruction not a request. police forces are on standby for what could be one of their biggest challenge this weekend. they are being encouraged to engage with people and advise them to return home. when we come to enforcement, that really is the last resort, because in a way if we come to enforcement then everybody has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour. government guidelines 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 shop for basic essentials like food and medicine. you are also allowed to go out for any medical need to provide care and

assistance to someone vulnerable and you can travel to work but only if you cannot work from home. one senior government adviser says people's behaviour this weekend is critical. professor niall ferguson says he expects the epidemic will plateau over the next week to ten days, but flouting the guidelines could see the infection remain high for weeks. clearly we want to move to a situation where at least by the end of may we are able to substitute some less intensive measures and more based on technology and testing for the complete lockdown we have fiow. the government says it is doing all it can. field hospitals are opening across the country with the first at london's excel centre expected to start taking patients from next week. on the ground, hospitals like luton and dunstable have the beds to cope with current numbers but if we see a surge in cases, and numbers of

critically ill patients staff here are fearful. there is no cure for this disease. this is not a virus that we can give medicines to to make it go away, we can keep you alive, using the technology and the equipment, until your body gets over it but which can't fix the virus, but the general public, you can fix it, you can stay at home and don't spread it. if nothing else, do not spread it. if nothing else, do not spread it. the warning couldn't be more stark. the warning couldn't be more stark. the peak has yet to come, and how we behave in the coming weeks will thirteen residents of a care home in north lanarkshire in scotland have died over the past seven days, leading to concerns about a possible link to conavirius. none of the residents at burlington court in stepps was tested for the virus, because they weren't admitted to hospital. our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie is in glasgow. what is the latest? this is

undoubtedly a very challenging time for care homes across the country, they are dealing with the elderly, they are dealing with the elderly, the frail, those with underlying health conditions, now, the burlington court care home on the outskirts of glasgow, it usually has 90 beds for residents and 13 of their residents have died in the last week. as you said, that has not been confirmed for covid—19, as all of those patients were treated by gps within the care home and were not taken to hospital, but two employees from the care home have tested positive, and they are being treated in hospital. now, the families have been informed, of a possible connection with covid—19. now ina possible connection with covid—19. now in a statement from the home, they have said this is an absolutely devastating time for everyone involved. thank you very much. around 4,000 prisoners in england

and wales are being released early because of the virus. people with less than two months left on their sentences will be let out, subject to strict conditions. sex offenders and those convicted of violent crimes won't be eligible. millions of americans have been told they should now wear a face mask in public, following new medical guidance on coronavirus. here in the uk, the advice remains that people do not need to wear one. the us now has nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases, as david willis reports. president trump has long down played the severity of the coronavirus, and once again made plain he doesn't always take the recommendations of his medical staff seriously. the cdc is advising the use of non—medical cloth face coverings as an additional voluntary public health measure. so it is voluntary, you don't have to do it. i don't think i'm going to be doing it.

the advice to americans to cover theirfaces in public comes in the light of new evidence that suggests the virus can be transmitted notjust by people who are coughing and sneezing, but by those who have it but don't know they have it. why, then, is the president rejecting the recommendations of his owned advisors? i don't know. somehow, i don't see it for myself, ijust don't. of the more than a quarter of a million americans currently affected, many are in new york where the death toll from the coronavirus has now exceeded that of the terrorist attacks of september 11th. morgues and hospitals are already inundated, and there is a shortage of masks, gowns and ventilators, with the anticipated surge in coronavirus cases still weeks away. things could turn out to be even worse in new orleans where the mardi gras celebrations of late february helped spread the virus before social distancing measures were introduced. the death rate there is more than double that of new york, and the big easy is just a week away

from running out of hospital beds. the administration's own advisors say close to a quarter of a million people here could die of the coronavirus, conceding the surge in cases could be considerable. the death rate there is more than double that of new york, and the big easy is just a week away from running out of hospital beds. the administrations owned a vicars say close to a quarter of a million people here could die of the coronavirus. conceding the surge in cases could be considerable, president trump told reporters, "i hope they are wrong." david willis, bbc news, los angeles. climbing mount everest is the dream for many explorers, and will remain so duirting the lockdown. 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. 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, forfour days, but coming down... ..doesn‘t count towards the total. just 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. yeah! john summited last night, to his waiting wife niri, daughter daisy and his 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. that's all for — the next news on bbc one is at quarter past five, goodbye. hello. you're watching bbc news with me shaun ley. in 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. sirens. car horns sound. right across china, flags are at half mast. today is a special day for remembering those who have gone before us — a traditional festival. 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 the 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 3,300 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's possible people have actually died from the virus but been 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 in the street, 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 the country where it all began. hundreds of stranded britons 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 is a series of sweeper flight next tuesday, april 7th, 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 £1,000,

that is inclusive of the sweeper flights, and also we have heard that if people can't afford those tickets, there will be a credit scheme available so that they can pay back the money at a later date. the tickets are only for uk tourists who are stranded here and there 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 the 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. you've been contacting us in your thousands with questions about covid—19. we're going to do our best now to answer some of them surrounding your money now on the bbc‘s your questions answered.

katie is a consumer finance specialist at the moneysavingexpert website. good afternoon. thank you for taking on this challenge. good afternoon. let's start with the first question. some of these questions don't have names with them. should i sell my stocks and shares? i am not a market specialist and i'm also not a crystal ball. if anyone told me we could predict the markets, frankly, it is not the truth. to give you a little bit of context, if it is our brea ks little bit of context, if it is our breaks turns out to be a short—term thing and the market bounces back quickly, taking money out right now would probably be a bad idea. that is what long—term investments are

for. if it is a longer term thing and the economic impact is a lot longer lasting, maybe it would be a goodidea longer lasting, maybe it would be a good idea to take money out now, but we just good idea to take money out now, but wejust don't good idea to take money out now, but we just don't know. if you are worried about it, always go and seek advice from a regulated financial advisor or your broker. advice from a regulated financial advisor or your brokerlj advice from a regulated financial advisor or your broker. i am sure they are still working even without offices, contactable online and by phone. this is an interesting one, i have a text message saying i have to pay a fine for going outside. what should i do? this is awful and so upsetting but there are so many scams at the moment, lots of criminals coming out of the shadows to prey on us at this awful time, and they are really clever as well. there are texts going around that seem to be from the government that are seem to be from the government that a re really seem to be from the government that are really convincing looking and they are there to steal your bank details. they are so clever that they are sometimes in line with the actual text that comes from the

government. there are scams all over in various formats. there are people who knock on your door with fake testing kits, people who knock on your door offering to go shopping and never come back. it isjust all com plete and never come back. it isjust all complete lies. about £1 million already lost and that was the data a few weeks ago, so you can imagine how much more it is now. be extra vigilant, question anything you have not asked for, any rush tactics, only criminals will rush you into making a financial decision quickly. look out for any small mistakes like spelling errors, look at the website address and that will probably reveal it is less official than what it looks like on the page. be extra careful. i suppose, specifically with that, the answer would be to ring up their police and find out

because ultimately they are the only people in a position to be prosecuting people. (all your bank, let them know and make sure you cancel any recurring payments. and if you are not sure and you want some more advice, citizens advice has scams help. this is one that will help audiences from around the world and you sort of touched on it talking about scams, but is it true that the world health organisation will send you an e—mail with details of infected people in your area?|j did of infected people in your area?” did touch on that and unfortunately it isa did touch on that and unfortunately it is a known scam. don't click on any links in those e—mails, don't pay, there are even good call scams out there asking for your investment for things like development of a coronavirus cure or vaccine. don't believe it. it's a lie. callum from

scotla nd believe it. it's a lie. callum from scotland says, i am a coach driver andi scotland says, i am a coach driver and i have a question about the 80% government wage. will it be 100%—20% tax and insurance or will it be 80%-20%, so tax and insurance or will it be 80%—20%, so only 60% of the wages i would normally have got? people do deem —— seem to be a little bit confused. this is the government scheme where your employer can pay 80% of your wage funded by the government. in short, what you were getting before, it would be 80% of that, 80% of what you had in your pay packet before. they can choose to top that up to 100% but they don't have to. dennis from harrow writes, why should i be means tested when i claim for universal credit because i have saved more than £16,000. i have saved my money for my pension rather than blowing it on alcohol, cigarettes and fast cars,

unlike others, whose savings are below the threshold. if you apply for universal credit, your savings are counted in your benefit assessment. if you have combined savings with your partner of £16,000 01’ savings with your partner of £16,000 or more, it starts to be tapered down, and if you have more, you get nothing. it sounds like he has got his savings in a normal savings product and that is where the problem lies. if it is accessible, it counts. if it is in a pension, it doesn't count. whether you are employed or self—employed, putting money into a pension product is really important, and there are tax advantages to that as well. if you put in £100 and you are a basic rate taxpayer, the government will top it up. it sounds like right now dennis will not qualify for universal credit, but should be looking at how he wants to save a pension in the future. thank you. this is from clay

in tonbridge in kent. she says, i have worked as a self—employed mobile hairdresser. am i entitled to any financial help from the government? the government has income support in place for self—employed people better qualify you need to have filed a 2018—19 tax return. that means you have to have been self employed before the 6th of april 2019 or you will fall through the gap. however, there is a couple of things you can do. you can look at whether you can get a business interruption loan. that means that the government will cover your interest payments for at least 12 months so you only have to pay back what you borrow. see if you qualify for that. secondly, if what you borrow. see if you qualify forthat. secondly, if you what you borrow. see if you qualify for that. secondly, if you pay your tax injuly in your self assessment, you can defer that to january. if you can defer that to january. if you are doing good practice, you will have been putting your tax

aside, you can use that as a bit of aside, you can use that as a bit of a cash buffer but you will have to pay again injanuary next a cash buffer but you will have to pay again in january next year. a cash buffer but you will have to pay again injanuary next year. and the third thing you can do is look at universal credit. the government has looked at quite a lot of freezes. right now it would be a little bit more than what you would have got before the crisis. they have got before the crisis. they have removed something called the minimum income floor, which is how they calculate what self—employed people are due. see what you can get. the last question is from tracy in hertfordshire. we booked a trip to paris injune. will we be able to get our money back or will the hotel be able to rearrange the date? for anyone who has booked a trip that they have not yet claimed for, your first port of call is the travel company, the airline, a lot of them are offering rescheduled dates and some are even offering refunds if you are lucky. if it is paris, that

might also mean eurostar. we know eu rostar might also mean eurostar. we know eurostar is taking either voucher claims for trips that were planned for the 1st ofjune, so you may need to wait a little bit longer. if that isn't satisfying, you can go to your travel insurer. if you already had travel insurer. if you already had travel insurer. if you already had travel insurer in place, normally the trigger to get a pay—out is if the trigger to get a pay—out is if the foreign office tells you not to go anywhere. right now, that is anywhere that is non—essential. so you should get essential if your terms apply to it. but if you don't have travel insurance like now, i'm afraid it's too late. we don't know of any travel insurers that are offering pay out for coronavirus related disruption. thank you so much forjoining us.

that is where viewers around the world leave us from the bbc news channel. you have been watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willets. good afternoon. it is likely for most to stay warm, dry and increasingly sunny throughout the day. this photo was taken towards the welsh mountains earlier on and we have had some cloud around with this weather front in the north and we will see cloud approaching from the west as we go through tomorrow as well but most notable ahead of this is the southerly wind drawn up from africa. we will see temperatures well above what they should be for this time of year. in the north, they are above where they we re the north, they are above where they were yesterday by two or three degrees and elsewhere will notice that as well with increasing amounts of sunshine. as we go through the

night time period, we will bring that drier air, strengthening winds, pushing the rain away towards the north, and although we will have clear skies for many, actually, because of the wind, we should largely escape a frost. that should hold our temperatures above freezing and prevent pockets of mist and fog that were around in southern areas this morning. more sunshine to start for scotland and northern ireland but things turn hazy through the morning with the arrival of some rain into the mid afternoon onwards across northern ireland. perhaps dumfries, galloway, pembrokeshire as well. the strengthening wind notable tomorrow. that will temper the field, but otherwise temperatures will be again two, three, 4 degrees above today, well above average, but also with high levels of pollen. it is true level —— pollen if you suffer at this time of year and in england and wales it is predicted to

be high across the board tomorrow. through sunday night, this weather front pushes eastwards. it may well stall across parts of south—east england and east anglia before it clears away, so it could be quite wet for the morning, the start of the afternoon. even once it clears, we have got the showers following behind so temperatures will fall away into the afternoon. then we are into the westerly atlantic flow for a few days before the high pressure builds up, but most of the rain will be in the far north and west. die —— that high pressure then builds as the week goes on and the temperature rises once more. there is more on the website.

hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: 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 come to enforcement, that really is at the last resort, because in a way, if we come to enforcement, than everything has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour. in the midst of the outbreak, sir keir starmer is elected the new leader of the uk labour party, the main opposition party to the british government. emotional tributes are paid to two nhs nurses in england who died after contracting coronavirus, each leaving behind three children. china remembers. klaxon sounded across the country for the thousands who 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.