the development clears the way for former vice presidentjoe biden to become the party's nominee to face donald trump in november. at today's official news conference the chancellor announced a £750 million package to help charities during the pandemic. it follows concern that some are facing collapse because their high street shops have been forced to close. our correspondent fiona trott has been speaking to staff at a hospice in middlesbrough, which relies on its shops forfunding. preparing to treat critically ill patients, but this isn't a&e. it's a hospice, the place where people are looked after in the final days of their life. these nurses care for them, and their expertise is needed now more than ever. during the pandemic, all patients are treated as covid patients. staff are taking pressure off the

local nhs hospital, but it's hard. at the minute, it's particularly difficult. we are trying to keep our normality while changing all the time, constantly. it is not a weekly thing, it is a daily thing and sometimes an hourly thing. you know, people are passing away, and something that would be normal for us to embrace that family member or sit and hold hands, we can't do it. all this costs money. a third comes from the nhs, the rest from the public. and right now, that's impossible. during lockdown, all 11 of their charity shops are closed. that could cost them over £300,000. and fundraising events like these are cancelled. the hospice they supported faced closure, so for them, today's announcement does make a difference. this support from government is absolutely transformational. it will mean that we can spend our time concentrating on supporting those people that really need us now for the care and support that we can give them, and that worrying about the finances

of how we're going to pay the bills, how we're going to pay the wages, that now comes secondary. and during this pandemic, one man knows just how vital that care and support will be. ken's wife fiona spent her last days at teesside hospice. i think it took away a lot of the fear. we know everybody dies. we are afraid of how we die. so knowing that she was well looked after made a tremendous difference to that. i brought another donation along with me, for all i can afford, but it is so desperately needed, this kind of facility, that it has to carry on. today's announcement bridges a gap. over the coming months, at least, these specialist nurses, the unseen nurses in this crisis, can continue supporting the nhs. fiona trott, bbc news, middlesbrough. in russia — as in so many other

countries, including the uk, measures to prevent the spread of covid—19 have resulted in entertainment venues being shut. and for the dancers of one's of russia's oldest theatres — the mikhailovsky in st petersburg — the show has been going on regardless, as our correspondent steve rosenberg reports. music plays russians love ballet, and the mikhailovsky is one of the country's top troupes. they're in lockdown now, but the stars of this stage have found a creative way to keep performing. they're doing it at home and posting online. it's less classical, more kitchen, really. don quixote at dinner time. valeria normally uses a fan for this bit but, in quarantine, a plate will do.

ah, the emotion of it all! a scene from the ballet giselle, with a saucepan of russian dumplings. there's clearly an appetite for this bizarre ballet. in russia, the video has gone viral. "stay positive, that's the message", principal dancer ivan tells me. "life might be tough now, but a good mood and a sense of humour can save the world." a sense of humour... well, russians certainly have that. stuck at home, people across russia have been impersonating famous paintings and sharing online. very. . . creative! and they've penned a plethora of pop songs about this pandemic. as for the ballet dancers, in their homes and gardens, they're promising more uplifting performances to raise the spirits of the nation.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. that's it. emily is here on ioas pm on bbc two for newsnight. welcome to this edition of the front pages of the newspapers and news website. we are seeing here in the bbc news room. bringing the latest briefing from the white house as well, when that gets under way expecting president trump to talk any minute, i am joined now by kate andrews who is from the spectator to my first of all before we go to kate here's a flavour of some of the stories and angles leading at the moment. at the international and uk editions of the financial times lead with a warning from wall street banks to expect a new wave of decline in global markets. the daily mail leads on the

news that the locked out in the uk could continue until may as the british chancellor announced today that a reviewer to the restrictions will take place next week. the daily telegraph reports with uk prime ministers still in intensive care at the hospital reporting deaths rising to over 900 today and a decision on lifting restrictions is likely to be left as late as possible. but the end is lockdown in china leading the international edition of the new york times, wuhan of course the first city in the world to report cases of coronavirus and lockdown now for ten weeks. hundreds of young americans have died from coronavirus. according to the washington post. who spoke to the wife of a 39—year—old man with no underlying conditions who died from the virus. and they lead with the news that bernie sanders has ended his presidential campaign clearing the way forformer vice

his presidential campaign clearing the way for former vice president joe bite into become the democratic party nominee. we are joined joe bite into become the democratic party nominee. we arejoined by joe bite into become the democratic party nominee. we are joined by the author and broadcasterjohn and of course kate interest from the spectator, and that start with kate, suck with the front page of the daily telegraph. the decile rising by 938 in the uk. telegraph talking about parts of the understandably given the number of deaths still the fa ct given the number of deaths still the fact that we are no closer to knowing when this locked out is going to end. we are not for a myriad of reasons, we are hopefully approaching the peak of coronavirus deaths and admissions at the hospital and was to be don't have all the answers yet. it's thought the peak is going to be this week potentially next week in the near future. of course the government strategy for a while is pushing a peak as far back as they could into the spring months and summer months to fill capacity into the nhs. they

are thinking of it sooner than people would have liked. very difficult and near impossible to see how lockdown measures will be back next week to this review period in which they came in. very important government is going to review the lockdown measures may have been legislated to do so, that's not long and is very important in a free society that those measures are co nsta ntly society that those measures are constantly being reviewed and look at if you wanted to get some sense that they can understand what they all look like in the weeks and months ahead. understandably given that the prime minister is still in intensive care, for anyone to actually make a decision for now evenif actually make a decision for now even if they wanted to. boris johnson is in intensive care, dominic can't make decisions on his own you have to have a group of

cabinet certainty and consensus embarked portions or would want to be around for that decision. but as kate says it was not going to happen anyway, even if he had been able to be running the country again it would not have happened next week. it's interesting, if you look at the charts and look at the curves written as it always has been said is two or three weeks behind italy and spain and probably a week or so behind france, the rate of growth in this country is alarmingly high and it's higher now than in those other countries and in juxtaposition what is fascinating is those countries that really went for title lockdowns early in europe, notjust to speak of in asia, are already thinking about relaxation. austria is thinking about it, denmark already

announced it, easter and thinking about it, denmark already announced it, easterand a thinking about it, denmark already announced it, easter and a very tentative first step for nurseries and primary schools. you will see across the world step—by—step little incremental listenings as you go along but still not for a while here. in case, asjohn along but still not for a while here. in case, as john mentioned there are other countries like denmark and austria are starting to slowly talk about opening nurseries and schools, do you think that in some people argue we should have been a lot earlier with our movements with locking down because countries like denmark and austria started strict measures quite early on, didn't they? and now they're coming out of it. every country is different that i don't think it's fairto make different that i don't think it's fair to make those direct comparisons, and i think what was certainly calculated here in the uk was how long realistically you can ask people to do this. not trying to push the peak knowing that they did not want that number going into the nhs which is not was capacity and doctors and nurses were not ready for it. had to push it back in

arguably bring it down to soon asking them to stay locked up for months at a time going far past the time that denmark and austria had to do it would have been a really difficult task, and would have been a temptation more so for people to break the rules. these things are very delicate and have to become taken care very delicate and have to become ta ken care of very delicate and have to become taken care of carefully. a lot of analysis about what different countries did in what timeframe they did them, how the health service has reacted in that will come. far too soon to be making sweeping state m e nts soon to be making sweeping statements about whether or not the timeline was or was not correct as we don't have all the answers yet, with the big things that will be looking at in austria and denmark even when they start relaxing, denmark has been opening up after easter, is that resurfacing of the virus and if there's a second wave commit to pray that there isn't but if there is that would change again. we are all taking this one step at a time. let's look at the daily mail front page chair, flicked past the sprawling royals and dogs, get set

for weeks more lockdown, not anything anyone wants to read, but importantly here they have also written as daily death tolls sore nearly 1000 and at various batters the economy, that's one of the other aspects that need looking into is the toll this is taken on the economy and gdp in particular potentially. absolutely. here and everywhere the figures for predicting quarterly gdp growth contraction are startling and pretty much every country. it ranges from ten or 15% to about 30%, and i agree with kate that afterwards we will be the more appropriate time to look at everything, look at provision of equipment and everything was handled in every country. but i would differ with her in this regard that those countries that do impose stricter lockdowns earlier, it was not a

question of requiring that people to suffer being in confinement for longer term of the earlier you had required people to go into requirement the less amount of time they would end up being so, because as the man is pointing out in the front page today we are probably looking into may before the slightest relaxation in this country, and that will be large another basis. what do you say to that, kate? we can only hope that it places like austria and denmark they have had to do the lockdowns but there's just so much we don't know, and the virus resurfaces and if there's a second way that will mid longer periods of locked up in the future and we don't want people to get lockdown fatigue. the government is having to stress that people need to stay home to protect the health service, to make sure there's capacity and to save lives. and you do see why most report following the

rules as when it gets warmer and holidays like easter, there's going to be temptations to break those rules. you have to calculate fatigue and the fact that can only ask people to do this for so long before you commit it's really hard to calculate that and i think until we have seen whole process play out we would have to do this in the autumn or next winter we just somebody don't know yet. but there also flocking up is that it's impossible to make decisions about the lockdown while the prime minister is out of action, yes dominic is the de facto leader right now but this is not an american vice president, is not like other systems of they have sweeping power to make decisions. not only does he not have those powers, he does he not have those powers, he does not want to use them without the permission and the green light for the prime minister who is certainly not out of the woods yet but we are hearing relatively positive news that he setting up and talk is the meta— professionals, seems a little bit brighter than it

did two evenings ago. i think into the prime minister gets back into action it's possible to see the using above restrictions and simply because it says april or may does not mean we could be in full lockdown mode, surely it will be rolling back from this restriction slowly but surely. in some countries spain and italy have far stricter restrictions of their people and the weather is quite nice there as well. yes that's true. the uk has taken a relatively liberal approach, and some people have been condemning the government for it but personally and quite grateful we still are allowed out of her home for having to prove to place where we are going or what we are doing on any given day. it might bea we are doing on any given day. it might be a bit greener on the other side a lot of pushback against select officers last week with drones and trying to get easter eggs out of shops but the police were overstepping a