this is bbc news. i'm simon pusey, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president trump sets out his plan to re—open the american economy. our team of experts now agrees we can begin the next front in our war, which we're calling ‘0pening up america again'. the lockdown in the uk is extended by at least three more weeks, but we're told there is light at the end of the tunnel. in brazil, president bolsonaro fires his health minister over calls for a national anti—virus lockdown. plus, the 99—year—old british army veteran who's completed a charity walk in his garden — raising millions for health service workers.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. president trump has outlined his plans to lift the coronavirus restrictions across the united states, allowing the country to get back to work. he made the announcement hours after it emerged that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in america had risen by another 5.2 million. he told the news conference that he wanted the economy to get back to normal as soon as possible. based on the latest data, our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war, which we are calling ‘0pening up america again'. and that's what we doing, we're opening up our country. and we have to do that. america wants to be open

and americans want to be open. as i have said for some time now, a national shut—down is not a sustainable long—term solution. to preserve the health of our citizens we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. over the long haul you can't do one without the other. it cannot be done. to keep vital supply chains running these chains have to be taken care of so delicately. they're delicate. the balance is delicate. we want to deliver food and medical supply, we must have a working economy and we want to get it back very, very quickly. and that's what's going to happen. i believe it will boom. our north america correspondent david willis has been examining how this opening up

could come into effect. president trump said the onus, as he put it, would be on the state governors. it would be up to them to decide how, when, and where they relax the current guidelines on social distancing. it's more of a phased and gradual reopening that the president talked about today, rather than the sort of dramatic big bang that he had hoped for. he said that some states were in very good shape, as he put it, and would be able to reopen if necessary tomorrow. indeed, he said 29 states were in sufficiently good shape, as he put it, to begin reopening soon. now, this is a much more cautious approach from president trump than what he'd been hoping for, i think, just a matter of days ago. he did talk at one point about a big bang reopening. and it's a change, a shift in direction, if you like, for a president who has shown a lot of frustration over having to close down the largest economy in the world just at a time when he was looking to revamp or to ramp up his bid for re—election in november, of course, simon.

and, david, what is the public mood like in america at the moment surrounding this topic? do people think opening of the country now is a good idea? well, there are those who have come out in protest at what they see as overly strict stay—at—home orders. in about five states we have seen protests, which appear to be orchestrated by conservative or right—wing groups. the president, asked about that today, didn't condemn those people for their actions, despite the fact they are not adhering to social distancing regulations. but there are, what, 22 million americans who are now out of work. a lot of people wondering, of course, as they are

elsewhere in the world, when all this would end. but business leaders and even the president's own health advisors have been urging the need for greater testing to be done before this country can safely reopen and the economy can get back to where it was before, simon. yeah, you mentioned a huge unemployment figures there. how will that affect donald trump's approval ratings, because, obviously, he was elected partly on the economy. absolutely. that's why he has been in such a rush, if you like, to see the world's largest economy reopen as soon as possible. that's why he's been pushing for it all along, because it was booming, the stock market, unemployment was at record lows, and all of a sudden that has completely gone pear—shaped.

so the president is looking to rebuild this economy in time that was david willis speaking to me earlier. he was talking about the american economy. let us move over about the american economy. let us move over to china and the economy yet there. the gdp figures have been announced and it is not looking great. authorities in authorities have announced a 6.8% drop in the gross domestic product for the first quarter, compared with last year. the figures indicate the chinese economy has entered its first decline since at least 1992. we will bring you more information on those figures in the coming hours. the uk has announced its lockdown will continue for at least another three weeks. standing in for borisjohnson, dominic rabb set out five conditions that need to be met before it can be eased, including falls in both deaths and infections, and ensuring the nhs can cope. in the past 2a hours, the uk recorded another 861 coronavirus deaths in hospital, taking the total to 13,729. our political editor laura

kuenssberg has this report. the start of another day... come on, then, kids. ..where looking out the window is the only way to see the world outside. more time for fun for roco and bonnie. but for their parents in wolverhampton, another 2a hours of working, playing, caring and cooking, all within the same four walls. chocolate everywhere. we've already done more than three weeks. and i guess, in some ways, that's been like an extended holiday. we've had the weather, we've just played a lot in the garden. but my fears about more time are more for the children. so i guess there's a danger that you could become quite worried about them missing out on things. as the foreign secretary, in the prime minister's place, confirmed today, that time at home will be longer. the government has decided

that the current measures must remain in place for at least the next three weeks. we've just come too far, we've lost too many loved ones, we've already sacrificed far too much to ease up now. but we are now at both a delicate and a dangerous stage in this pandemic. if we rush to relax the measures that we have in place, we would risk wasting all the sacrifices and all the progress that has been made. and that would risk a quick return to another lockdown, with all the threat to life that a second peak of the virus would bring, and all the economic damage that a second lockdown would carry. you've been very clear about why in your view, and sage's view, now is not the time. as you said yourself, in other countries, people have been told when and what to expect. from what you know now, is it more likely that we're looking at another three weeks, or maybe another three months? we can't give a definitive timeframe. that would be to prejudge the evidence, that wouldn't be a responsible thing to do. but our message to the british public is there is light at the tunnel.

we are making progress. if i start giving you artificial and arbitrary timeframes, it would be the irresponsible thing to do and i can't do that. come on, play! life under lockdown certainly is a juggle. the rooks think they fortunate, sharing child care and a home office. but the situation's intensely tough for millions of people, and dire for the economy. 0k, darling, let mejust send this quick e—mail. on the eighth floor of this tower block in birmingham, tamika gill lives with her two kids. my kids bicker a lot. they're here together come in a confined situation. it's stressful. i almost fainted yesterday, to be honest. it's like all that stress, because i'm indoors and not being out, like i used to be. so it's kind of made me feel a bit down. so, labour is pushing the government for a timetable of sorts. while i support the extension of the lockdown, i do think the government needs to bring forward the exit strategy to tell us the principles on which things are going to change in a few weeks' time. they need to do that, because they need the trust

of the public. we're asking a lot of them, another three weeks, possibly more of lockdown. but decisions haven't been taken about how and when restrictions will go. and there are nerves about giving the public the wrong impression. likely to ease eventually, step—by—step. when we do, incrementally, ease any of these restrictions, we must consider what we need to do instead to keep the virus under control. for example, testing and surveillance, contact tracing and isolation of people with symptoms. with the progress of the disease flattening, moves towards lessening the limits on our lives are starting to be discussed. but the pandemic will have an impact on all our lives, beyond next week, next month, and perhaps next year. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the brazilian president, jair bolsonaro, has fired his health minister following disagreements about how to handle the coronavirus pandemic. for weeks they have been at odds over the country's response. luiz henrique mandetta has been

a keen advocate of social distancing — a measure bolsonaro has rejected, calling for brazilians to get back to work. the president has now appointed oncologist nelson teich as the new health minister. the country has recorded over 1,900 deaths from the coronavirus and more than 30,000 brazilians have tested positive. let's get more on this with journalist gustavo ribeiro. he's the co—founder of the english—language news site the brazilian report. thanks for coming on. how has the news of this been received in brazil? thanks for having me. well, overwhelmingly it has been a negative reaction. jair bolsonaro now trusts his political future into the hands of his new health minister, because, really, luiz henrique mandetta was the member of the government with the highest

approval ratings. he had twice as much support as the president himself. and now because of disagreements on how to deal with the pandemic, because jair bolsonaro wants to jumpstart because jair bolsonaro wants to jumpsta rt the economy because jair bolsonaro wants to jumpstart the economy right away, he needs to hope that this strategy will pan out well, because all experts point out that brazil will see cases and deaths related to covid—19 skyrocketing in the next few weeks and the months of may and june will be their worst 60 days we are going to face in this pandemic. and he isjust changing the top health official at the worst possible moment. nelson teich has no experience in the public sector and brazil's healthca re experience in the public sector and brazil's healthcare system is highly decentralised, is extremely complex to manage. he will have to learn the ropes on thejob and in will have to learn the ropes on the job and in the worst possible moment. yeah, was it a case that the pair were just so farapart on case that the pair were just so far apart on this issue it was

pretty impossible for them to work together? because bolsonaro has frequently played down the impact and the importance of the virus, whereas his minister has obviously been crying out for him to do the opposite. yes. tensions had been growing and, at one point, the health minister just couldn't at one point, the health ministerjust couldn't bear at one point, the health minister just couldn't bear any more and he started taking jabs at bolsonaro via the press. in several interviews he just poked at bolsonaro with indirect remarks about the president's conduct and at one point he lost the support of jair bolsonaro's military counsellors... last week bolsonaro already wanted to sack him. and generals around the presidentjust convinced him otherwise. and once the minister started defying bolsonaro publicly, the support went down, and the situation was just untenable. went down, and the situation wasjust untenable. do you think now we will see a shift in policy even more towards

bolsonaro's main focus which is the economy? is not clear right now. because nelson teich in his first address as the health minister said there would be no drastic shift in the brazilian healthcare policy. but at the same time he said he is com pletely same time he said he is completely aligned with the president. as you mentioned, the president does not want social isolation. he wants brazilians to go back to work. so we will just brazilians to go back to work. so we willjust have to wait and see the first remarks by the new health minister did not tell us much, because he said some obvious things, we need more testing, we need more data on the path of the virus, but he offered no concrete solutions to getting more tests, because brazil has a shortage of medical supplies. he showed no policy that he is going to put forward right away. gustavo ribeiro, live there in sao paulo, thank you

for bringing us up—to—date on a massive story there in brazil. not stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we meet captain tom, the 99—year old war veteran who's raised millions of pounds for british healthcare workers. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked, and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her

new world—best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news — the latest headlines: president trump has been setting out his plans for lifting coronavirus restrictions in the united states — in conjunction with state governors. let's get more on how the us is handling the pandemic. dr dena grayson is an infectious disease expert and viral pandemic doctor, shejoins us now from florida.

it's to assess because fortu nately, it's to assess because fortunately, in the united states, we still have not ramped up testing anywhere close to where we need to be so although across the country, it does appear the number of new cases appears to be flattening, it's just we are really is still flying blind in a lot of places so it's possible that certain states like north da kota certain states like north dakota and montana may possibly be close to opening up testing but one of the key things that is needed before you could start reopening is you have to have massive testing in place and that's not in place an error in the country. that's mirrored in other countries across the world. there have been protests in several states. is there a danger that public opinion and political pressure may force governors hands more so than the sides and the health warnings?”

really don't so, simon. public polling in the united states indicates that more than 80% of americans support lockdowns. people don't want to die. death is not a partisan issue. they see how this virus is going to nursing homes decimating our elderly population. seeing what is happening in new york and elsewhere around the country and people don't really want that in their own communities so overall, people have been rather compliant with the stay—at—home directives and in general, pretty supportive about the lockdown.” general, pretty supportive about the lockdown. i guess the issueisif about the lockdown. i guess the issue is if you don't have enough testing, you don't get the full picture and don't know what is going on and if you open to early, you risk a second peak later down the line. that is exactly right. we're sort of just line. that is exactly right. we're sort ofjust hitting the peak. we haven't started to decrease the number of new cases per day. that's an important point. you have to

have of course a substantial decrease in the number of cases. china, the earliest experience, they would say you would have to see no cases for 30 days in a community before you can think about reopening because this is such a highly contagious virus, as soon as you let the foot of the break, you let the foot of the break, you will see flareups happen so you will see flareups happen so you will see flareups happen so you will also need to have, in addition, testing, testing and retesti ng addition, testing, testing and retesting and we are nowhere close to that. we don't even have a path to get there because unfortunately, esther trump has not ramped up production of tests and rea g e nts production of tests and reagents as well as the simple cotton reagents as well as the simple cotto n swa bs reagents as well as the simple cotton swabs to get the samples. you have good news? cities like new york a few days or weeks ago were looking horrendous, the number of new cases seems to be going down albeit marginally. any positive news on the horizon for cities like that? i think that's right. a new york where they've

made more of a measure to test but the governor has said, they don't have the amount of testing capacity they need but it does appear that not only new cases but new hospitalisations and new icu admissions are decreasing in new york. it will take a little bit more time before we see that death toll, the daily death toll start to come down significantly. probably at least 2— three more weeks because people who are sick with this virus, they tend to linger and be sick for quite some time before even getting better or unfortunately succumbing to the virus. thank you for bringing us up—to—date. let's take a quick look at the latest on how europe is handling the coronavirus crisis now. rich preston has this report. for the second day in a row, france said on thursday it had seen another fall in the number of coronavirus patients in hospital, but the country's death toll remains high, with nearly 18,000 fatalities and a strict state of lockdown

remains in force, raising concerns about the economy. president macron says the future of the european union itself is in danger if the bloc can't work together through the coming months. a sentiment which feels all too realfor some countries. yes, it is true that no—one was really ready for this. it is also true that too many were not there on time when italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning. and, yes, for that it is right that europe, as a whole, offers a heartfelt apology. italy remains europe's worst hit country, with over 22,000 deaths. across europe, countries are slowly, cautiously easing restrictions on movement. germany allowing small shops

to open as of next week and for children to return to school. poland says it'll reopen parks and forests and let more people into shops and churches. slovenia says as people will be able to play noncontact sports and to visit holiday homes. but europe's creature stretches beyond the continent itself. britain, france, and the netherlands all have overseas territories. they say they'll work together — their armies, navies, and air forces, living vital supplies, food, and medical equipment. french officials say the territories of guadeloupe, martinique, and mayotte have seen 19 coronavirus deaths between them. while many in europe feel the worst has passed, thousands are still dying every day. fear of the virus and its long—term consequences are still very real. he's been an inspiration to people around the world — and today british world war ii veteran, tom moore

finished his challenge to walk laps of his garden to raise money for nhs charities. 99 year old captain tom has raised more than £16 million — that's an incredible $19 million. you can't start halfway, you start at the beginning. captain tom moore was keen to do things properly on the final leg of a journey that had begun as a family challenge and turned into something extraordinary. i think it's an absolutelyl fantastic sum of money, we never would have imagined that sum of money, it's unbelievable that people have been so kind. it began just over a week ago. the target, 100 laps to mark captain tom's 100th birthday at the end of the month. a world war ii veteran born in keighley, he had served in burma in the west yorkshire regiment. the family hoped they might be able to raise some money for nhs charities and set what they thought was

a bold target, £1000. within a day or so, we had reached a couple of thousands and we thought, are we dreaming of the dizzying heights of £5,000 by the end of the month? we just couldn't believe it — were floored at the thought of 5,000. a week later, it had slipped past a million. steady, determined, optimistic, captain tom was proving inspirational. as he began today's final lap, the total stood at more than £12 million. he stepped towards the finish line to a chorus of congratulations. hi, tom — ben stokes here. what you have managed to achieve is absolutely fantastic. the funds you have raised for the real heroes today is simply sensational. i want to say thank you very much indeed for everything you have done, it's amazing. congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th birthday.

on behalf of the whole yorkshire regiment family, i'd like to say thank you to you, captain tom moore, for your amazing fundraising efforts on behalf of the nhs. all: thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! and then the moment. 100 laps completed. the millions raised honouring both the nhs and captain tom's determination and eternal optimism. at the end of the day, we shall be all 0k again and for all of those people who are finding it difficult at the moment, the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. however, it's not over yet. if people keep giving, captain tom will keep walking. david sillito, bbc news. and before we go — let's look at the celebration of a mother and her newborn. hospital staff on new york's long island cheered as a woman met her baby boy for the first time, 10 days after giving birth. yanira soriano underwent an emergency c—section while on a ventilator. she had been diagnosed with covid—19 and pneumonia. mother and son are now resting at home and doing well.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @sipusey. thanks for watching, do stay tuned to bbc news. hello once again. while some areas saw a really glorious end to thursday, the cloud began to fill in across some parts of the british isles, especially in the south. signs of a change, to the extent that there is in the forecast a little bit of rain on the way for some areas. and, for many of you, that will be really quite welcome after a really dry start to april. now, a waft of cloud was all that we really got from this major area of low pressure, throwing belts of weather ever further towards the north. but this is the direction that we're looking in over the next

few days to see these areas of cloud, bringing perhaps a little bit more in the way of significant rainfall to some as we get through friday, and indeed on into the weekend. first signs of that change really getting into the south—western counties of england quite early on friday morning. elsewhere, it's a dry enough and a fine enough start. you'll see that this rain around about lunchtime and the early afternoon gets into the south and central parts of wales, but it struggles to get north of the m4 corridor. and elsewhere, away from the north—eastern shores of england, where again there's a fair amount of cloud and an onshore breeze, and still that onshore breeze into the eastern side of scotland, well, there's dry and bright weather to be had to western scotland, northern ireland and the north—west of england. and here, we'll see the temperatures come into the teens. 0n the east coast, though, eight or nine degrees only. through the course of friday evening, that rain again begins to make a little bit of progress into the northern parts of wales. there are odd heavier, thundery bursts perhaps just trying to get across the channel into the southern counties of england. saturday not a great deal of difference, just that we'll see further pulses of showery rain just trying to work their way that little bit further north. so it's saturday where we may well see the odd showery burst of rain just trying to get

into the north of england, maybe flirting with northern ireland, but the bulk will be found across the midlands and towards wales as well. not a great deal changing in the overall setup, so again the temperatures on the east coast around about eight or nine degrees. but inland, we'll be looking at somewhere comfortably into the teens. come sunday, it looks as though we're in for essentially a dry day. perhaps more cloud just coming up through the irish sea into northern ireland, with the chance of a burst of rain here, but elsewhere it's dry and fine. and by this stage, at last, at last, we can talk about double—figure temperatures on the east coast.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: president trump has set out his plans for lifting coronavirus restrictions in the us. he said state governors would be allowed to tailor their approach to meet their local conditions. the process would be carried out in three phases, which would be reached sooner in some states than others. the authorities in beijing have announced a 6.8% drop in china's gross domestic product for the first quarter, compared with last year. the figures indicate the chinese economy has entered its first decline since 1992. and the british government has extended its national lockdown for at least three more weeks. the foreign secretary dominic raab said any relaxation at this point would risk undoing the progress already made. the announcement came on a day when the uk recorded another 861 coronavirus deaths. there's concern about a sharp fall

in the number of people attending