this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm james reynolds. north korean state media say kim jong—un has attended an official event— but don't provide pictures. american authorities authorise the anti—viral drug remdesivir as a possible treatment for covid—19. tens of thousands ofjob cuts are looming —in what's been called ‘the worst crisis in the history of aviation‘. and — britain's farmers fear the consequences of a labour shortage — as european labourers stay away and not enough britons step in. 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. but we bring you some breaking news first but it is not about the coronavirus pandemic. the north korean leader kim jong—un is reported to have appeared in public for the first time in nearly three weeks. the country's official news agency said he had opened a fertiliser plant near the capital, pyongyang. the report can't be independently verified, but it's been carried by south korean media. with me is our reporter rich preston. we do know that getting any kind of news out of north korea is extremely difficult but what do we know? we have had very little verified, this was printed by south korean media but it was quoting state radio, we have not seen pictures and all we have is the north korean line via south korea so we have to treat it with a huge amount of caution and it is with the underlying for the past 20 days

there has been nothing but wild speculation about what has happened to kim jung—un, speculation about what has happened to kimjung—un, he was 19 for 20 days and there were rare graham rice he had heart surgery rare graham rice he had heart surgery that went well and then there were rumours that it went badly. the ideas that were bouncing around, there were satellite images showing his train and some said that the train and some said that the train isa train and some said that the train is a formal way to travel said there is it something serious that happened but that is one speculation but now we have had these reports from south korea that he opened a fertiliser factory and may have but to bad that kim jung—un fertiliser factory and may have but to bad that kimjung—un has died. but to stress there are no pictures released by north korea . any pictures he may have seen our archive pictures so we have to wait and see what comes out in the coming hours. now to the coronavirus pandemic

and in the united states president trump has confirmed that the food and drug administration has authorised the emergency use of an experimental anti—viral drug, remdesivir, as a treatment for coronavirus. the measure is not the same as final approval, but the regulator said it believed the benefits outweighed the risks. a recent clinical trial suggested that the drug shortened recovery time for people who fall seriously ill with the virus. president trump, who is keen on getting the us economy started again, insists the drug will make a difference. iam i am pleased to announce that gary had now has an eua from the fda for remdesivir. you know what that is because that has been the hot thing also in the paper and has been the hot thing also in the paperand in has been the hot thing also in the paper and in the media for the paper and in the media for the last little while. important treatment for hospitalized coronavirus patients and it is something that i spoke with the doctors and deborah about it and it is

really a very promising situation. we have been doing work with the teams at the fda, nih and gilead for this public— private sponsorship to get under way. 0ur north america correspondent david willis joins us live. it is not a vaccine or a year, it seems to be a useful treatment? that is right, it is a antiviral drug and unlike antibiotic, it does not destroy the target pathogen but stops the target pathogen but stops the pathogen from spreading. in tests of 1000 patients and the us government revealed earlier this week that it had shown quite significant effects. of those 1000 patients, the virus and the spread of the virus was slowed and it seemed that

people recovered more quickly, the recovery time typically, 15 days ( back to 11 days and you are absolutely right, it is not are absolutely right, it is not a vaccine. —— 15 days pared back to 11 days. people are pinning their hopes to it because it is all we have so far. while you are with us we reported a couple hours ago, reports by reuters news agency that essentially one of the united states top health officials had been blocked from testifying before congress, blocked by the white house and you have anything for us on that? this with the house appropriations subcommittee that looks into health matters as far as the lower house is concerned and they sought to get dr fauci to testify before then next week. now the white house has blocked that and

confirmed it has done so in a statement tonight saying it was counterproductive to have dr fauci giving evidence at a time when everyone was involved in getting safety and in the united states, back to normal. by united states, back to normal. by democrats will take us very badly. a lot of leading democrats have been very critical of donald trump's response and wanting to pull him to task in various committees before the house and senate. let's get some of the day's other news... canada has banned 1500 types of assault rifle with immediate effect. prime ministerjustin trudeau said the weapons had one purpose, ‘to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time'. the move comes after the country's worst mass shooting in nova scotia last month, which left 22 people dead. police in sweden say they have found the body

of pakistani journalist, sajid hussain, two months after he went missing near the city of uppsala. mr hussain, the editor of an ethnic baloch news website, had fled pakistan after receiving death threats and was granted political asylum in sweden. the uk government says it has hit its target for 100,000 coronavirus tests per day. but the figure includes 40,000 tests delivered, including directly to people's homes, which may not yet have been taken. the target was set less than a month ago — when just ten thousand daily tests were being carried out and the government was facing criticism for failing to rapidly increase capacity. our health editor hugh pym reports. a very quiet stansted airport, especially for a friday, but there was activity in a car park, with virus testing continuing. one of the drive—through centres set up in the last month to greatly increase capacity, with an overall target of 100,000 tests per day by this week. how do you intend to further

develop and expand the testing network as part of moves to combat the virus? by testing, you can help to treat patients better. we have always been testing patients. it will help get people back to work, and there has been a big expansion of the eligibility to get a test to get back to work. and also for surveys, and very soon we should get the first results of the surveys that are out in the field at the moment. the scottish government says testing capacity, which is included in the overall total announced today, is set to rise from just over 8,000 to 12,000 per day in a few weeks' time. this mobile unit in elgin, staffed by military personnel, opened today. the daily uk total includes home testing kits sent to people who booked them online but not actually completed. government sources argue it is the only way they can be counted, as it is harder to track them when swabs are sent back to the labs. quite stressful. there's confusion about some aspects of the new system. the owner of this care home in cumbria said he was sent

a letter telling him only to book home testing kits if residents and staff had symptoms, whereas days before, the government had said tests could be booked online regardless of whether they were unwell. it's terrible, really. these people, they're are being treated as throwaway, i think. they are no longer productive, so they are not that important and it's an awful shame. 0ne nurse told us there was no nhs priority system and she was stuck in a long queue. after two hours of waiting a policeman told us they'd run out of tests and we should try again tomorrow. i think for me the frustrating thing was that i access the test as a prioritised key worker. testing is one thing but slowing the spread of the virus is tracing contact with anyone who has tested positive.

testing is one thing but contacts need tracing. public health officials will phone or contact people the patient has met recently. the government says it's recruiting 18,000 staff to use it. an app will be used alerting people someone they've been with has tested positive. they are then told to self—isolate and report any symptoms. make sure that we involve local public health and local authorities in doing this not just with an app but using people to contact people in order to put that system into place. that will be utterly crucial and trying to control the virus going forward. there were more things to the nhs today. in major cities including edinburgh they painted the postboxes blue close to hospitals in honour of the work done by front line staff. hugh pym, bbc news. ryanair, one of the world's largest budget carriers, has become the latest airline to announce job losses. the dublin—based company says

it may cut 3000 positions over the next few months, to help stem losses linked to the coronavirus outbreak. other airlines like lufthansa and british airways are also warning of big cuts to their workforces — as theo leggett reports. just a few weeks ago, the airline industry was booming. the future looked bright. but now ryanair has been the latest carrier to say it will make thousands of people redundant. we announced this morning we are going to have to cut 15% of staff. that is, we think, the minimum we need, just to survive the next 12 months. if a vaccine is found, then clearly the recovery will be stronger. if a vaccine isn't found, we may have to announce more cuts, and deeper cuts into the future. unions insist that all this is premature, and that there is no need to make such deep cuts so soon. ryanair is not in financial difficulty, it's one of the wealthiest airlines within europe. it should be be able to ride out the storm, and it should be be able to take a more measured view. some employees say airlines are taking advantage of the covid—19 crisis to drive through job and pay cuts and reduce costs in a way they

could never normally manage. it's not simply as binary as that, that airlines are just taking advantage of a bleak situation. reality is, there are hardly any planes flying and therefore airlines now are waking up to this new reality and they are making long—term decisions now, it is like a pre—emptive strike. this is clearly an unprecedented situation, and you can see that from where i am standing. the skies behind me are normally full of planes — that's one of the major routes into heathrow airport, the busiest airport in the country. yet at the moment, nothing. no planes, no contrails, and it has been like that for several weeks. globally, 80% of flights have been grounded. 17,000 aircraft are sitting unused on the tarmac, and the cost to airlines is expected to reach £250 billion this year. once the outbreak is over, things certainly won't be getting back to normal quickly.

although you can currently fly if you want to, restrictions are expected to increase. it's been suggested that passengers could be forced to wear protective gear, as already happens in certain countries, or practise social distancing on aircraft. the head of heathrow thinks such measures would be wholly impractical. if you can imagine going on your last summer holiday, if you were flying somewhere, can you imagine social distancing in that kind of circumstances? we are not designed for that. and that is why we need to have a way of making sure that only people who are very low—risk are allowed into the airport and can travel through the journey. yet airlines remain determined to get back in the skies as soon as possible. today, hungarian carrier wizz air did just that, starting to fly a small number of services in and out of luton. theo leggett, bbc news. joe biden has flatly denied sexually assaulting a former staff member nearly 30 years ago. in a tv interview,

the presumptive democratic nominee for president said the incident ‘never happened'. tara reade claims mr biden then a senator from delaware assaulted her in the halls of congress in 1993. the bbc‘s jane 0'brien has more. presidential nominee... after weeks of silence about an allegation of sexual assault that has dogged his campaign, former vice president joe biden went on national television in an effort to clear his name and reassure voters. did you sexually assault tara reade? no, it is not true, i am saying unequivocally, never, never happened and it did not, it never happened. tara reade worked his senate office in the early 1990s when she said she filed a complaint against him. mr biden has asked the national archives to release any such documents. if there is a complaint that's where it would be, that's where it would be filed. and if it's there, put it out but i've never seen it, no one has that i'm aware of. there have been other

concerns about mr biden's behaviour to women. the 77—year—old has apologised for making some feel uncomfortable with his embraces and other physical contact. and he's being criticised for his treatment of anita hill who made allegations of sexual misconduct against clarence thomas during his supreme court confirmation hearings in 1991. but speaker of the house nancy pelosi says that she continues to supports mr biden for the democratic nomination. i want to remove all doubt in anyone's mind, i have great comfort level with the situation as i see it with all the respect in the world for any woman who comes forward with all the highest regard forjoe biden. republicans are already accusing democrats of double standards. the question is whether mr biden has done enough to quell unease among the democratic voters he'll need to win the first presidential

election in the me too era. jane 0'brien, bbc news. stay with us on news, still to come... (singing). we will not give up — as india's lockdown continues, the country's most famous composer — ar rahman — launches a charity single and he's been speaking to the bbc. nothing it seems was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally there have already been protests, sweet and says it received no warning of the accident. indeed the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong and only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside of

russia where they forced to admit the accident. the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12 year war for them, they had taken the capital which they were fighting for for so long. it was 7am on the day when power passed from the minority to the majority went to africa after 300 years reclaimed its last white colony. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the north korean leader, kim jong—un, is reported to have made his first public appearance in almost a month — but no pictures have been released. us health authorities have given emergency authorization for use of the experimental anti—viral drug remdesivir as a treatment for covid 19. australia has been touted as one of the success stories in the coronavirus pandemic. it's going so well —

the country's prime minister says he will bring forward a review of its lockdown guidelines. some australian states are already easing their restrictions — but authorities are warning that care needs to be taken to avoid a second outbreak. reged ahmad has the story. australians cheerfully returning to one of sydney's main beaches as it officially reopens. new south wales, the country's most popular state has accounted for nearly half the country's case number but health officials say australia has now managed to flatten the curve when measuring new cases. today the national cabinet agreed to bring forward our consideration of the decision on relaxing restrictions to next friday. australians have earned an early mark through the work they have done and that decision will now be made on next friday.

in the sparsely populated northern territory, cleaners disinfect plane equipment. officials there at the first suit lift restrictions and lifting limits on gatherings. the easing of strict social rules still comes comes with a warning. the message today is very much, these restrictions have been modified but see them for the privilege they are and also keep consciousness about what you need to do to mitigate the spread of covid—19. the australian government has set a number of conditions for easing national guidelines and the main one being increased use of its new contact tracing apt. contact tracing app. civil liberties groups expressed privacy concerns but authorities say safeguards are and pray to my place and that safeguards are a key to the coronavirus free future. if we allow them back out

into a more open economy and open environment without the protection of the covid—19 safe app to protect us to know who has been in contact and how we can constrain and constrict the virus from getting to other people, we need that tool so we can open up the economy. reviving the economy like in many countries around the world is one of the australian government's main concerns. the pandemic has hitjobs and livelihoods hard. australia now is at a pivotal moment as a chance to open the country back up while avoiding a secondary rave of infections putting it back into lock down. the rest of the world is watching to see how it may be done. reged ahmad, bbc news. in the uk, a shortage of seasonal workers to help pick crops has led to a boost in british workers applying for thosejobs. usually european

labourers are hired. but the coronavirus outbreak has cut off the flow of those coming to do the hard, physical work needed to deliver the season's harvest. the bbc‘s sarah corker reports. they answered the call from farmers for a modern—day land army. laid—off and furloughed staff up at dawn picking vegetables near thirsk in north yorkshire. in this group, there is a cleaner, a landscape gardener, an outdoor sports teacher, and nathan, a ski instructor, all out of work. it is physical, it hurts your back. i think you get used to it the more you do it. i mean, i definitely recommend it to anyone sitting at home watching netflix. this is nathanjust six weeks ago in the alps. when the ski resorts closed, his income disappeared. he was forced to swap his skis for this. if someone had told you that you'd be in a field in yorkshire picking asparagus, what would you have said to them? iwould have said, no, thanks. he laughs. but no, honestly, it's fine.

it's probably one of the best things going right now. coronavirus restrictions have almost cut off the supply of workers from eastern europe, and most brits haven't previously wanted to do this tough work. but, for sixth—former charles, this is his firstjob. it's a huge difference — to gojust from having easy school life, straight into this sort of work. it's definitely a lot more difficult. i prefer this to working in a shop or something, because it's more active, obviously. across the uk, there is an acute shortage of more than 70,000 farm workers, and some of those who are packing asparagus here in north yorkshire responded to a post on social media. i quite enjoy it, coming out of the house to a different place, a different environment that is not with my brothers and sisters and just at home fighting. so far, recruiters say the appeal for workers has only resulted in hundreds ofjobs rather than the thousands needed later in the season.

many more must sign up to stop the crops rotting in the field. sarah corker, bbc news, north yorkshire. the music of oscar winner ar rahman has been the backdrop to hundreds of films including slumdog millionaire. with lockdown in india causing economic hardship india's most famous composer has gathered some of the country's biggest musicians for a charity single. take a listen. singing. that is hum har nahin mengay — it translates to we will not give up. it's composed by ar rahman with lyrics by prasoonjoshi. proceeds will go to charity. ar rahman told us more about what lockdown in india was like.

it is extraordinary, when it ended up happening. you see, even the idea of seeing so many millions of poor people suffering. and people who can eat tomorrow. the rich are privileged because you are getting your food and your rest and you don't have the attention of the work. i have been living out life with family andi been living out life with family and i have been seeing people suffering, like migrant workers. everyone is doing their bed, the front—line workers and health officials. i do not want to belittle anyone. i have composed songs for many occasions and here we are dealing with human emotions, mental health and also concerned about humanity. and because the mind is the main thing, the mind decides we can

do anything and that has been kept well. said there is a focus on bringing back hope. a reminder of our breaking news this hour. for the first time in nearly three weeks, north korea's official news agency has reported a public appearance by the country's leader, kim jong—un. these are filed pictures we are looking at. it said he visited a newly—completed fertiliser plant near the capital, pyongyang. the report can't be independently verified, but it's been carried by south korean media. seoul has played down speculation that mr kim was ill after he missed an important anniversary in mid—april. president trump declined to comment on the report — saying he would have something to say about mr kim at the appropriate time. we of course will be following the developments on that story throughout the next few hours. a reminder you can get any

information you want on our website. i am on twitter as well. hello there, you probably noticed over the last couple of days there has been a bit u nsettled days there has been a bit unsettled weather with lots of showers. you can see the extent of all those showers moving across the uk and they brought with it some dramatic skies and double rainbow spotted and around the subsea area and for southin around the subsea area and for south in sussex we have this dramatic bolt of lightning with some hail may extend as well. 0ver some hail may extend as well. over the next few hours, showers moving eastwards across england and only slowly clearing here. showers will then be confined to the northeast of scotland where it will stay cloudy all night. temperatures 3—7dc and now as

far as the weekend goes, we are going to see improvements in the weather. smells of sunshine for quite a few of us. showers around particularly across the north and east but with lighter wins, we will feel a little bit warmer. the area of low pressure has been bringing and it tends to move its way further eastwards but we start off with an area of cloud and a little bit of rain and a little week low. as we go into the afternoon we start to see some cloud developed and the cloud will tend to develop where we see northwesterly winds bashed together with northerly winds. this is a convergent sound and across eastern areas of scotla nd across eastern areas of scotland and england, that is the area you are most likely to see showers popping up to the afternoon but elsewhere it is a largely dry picture. with more sunshine to go around, it will feel warmer. temperature is for most of us around 1a and 18 celsius. sunday it looks like a

similar kind of day. perhaps cloudier towards the southwest and in the afternoon we start to see some showers developing and if they do pop up they can be slow—moving in nature and some can be on the heavy side as well. temperatures between 14 as well. temperatures between 1a and 18 celsius. heading into next week, high pressure is to ta ke next week, high pressure is to take up residence northeast of the british isles but the low pressure lyrics and we will have a northeast southwest split of whether. cloud increasing probably rain as well. but the further it northeast to get the dryer the weather stays.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the north korean leader kimjong—un is reported to have appeared in public for the first time in nearly three weeks. the report can't be independently verified. president trump declined to comment, but said he would have something to say about mr kim at the appropriate time. the united states government has authorised the emergency use of an experimental anti—viral drug, remdesivir, as a treatment for the coronavirus. the food and drug administration said it was reasonable to believe that the benefits of the treatment outweighed the risks for patients hospitalised with severe covid—19. ryanair, one of the world's largest budget airlines, has become the latest carrier to announce job losses. the ireland—based company says it may cut three—thousand positions, to help stem losses linked to the coronavirus outbreak. lufthansa and british airways

are also warning of big cuts to their workforces. now on bbc news, adam fleming, laura kuenssberg and fergus walsh discuss the latest on the coronavirus crisis. we're going to start tonight with an e—mail you got tonight, laura, from mo, who's been part of the brock park as family for years. listens to us all the time. —— part of the podcast family for yea rs. she got in touch with us to tell us about her mum eileen who died a couple of days ago of covid—19 in the care home, and mo has given us permission to read some of the e—mails. she has. it starts, "my mum was 93 on the 15th of april. we couldn't celebrate with her due to lockdown. the fantastic care home staff made a cake and gave her a party. we hadn't seen her for six weeks. 0n the 17th of april, we had a call to say she had a temperature and was a bit pearly.