this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the united kingdom becomes the first country in europe to record more than 30,000 deaths linked to coronavirus. president trump says the coronavirus pandemic is the worst attack ever on the united states, and points the finger at china. germany announces the way out of lockdown — more shops will reopen and children will begin returning to school. brazil's president comes under pressure as the outbreak threatens to spread through neighborhoods plagued by poverty and violence. a public sign of appreciation for hospital staff from the world's most private artist.

hello to you. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first, britain's prime minister has faced tough questioning in parliament, over his government's handling of the pandemic. the uk is the first country in europe to record more than 30,000 deaths related to covid—19. borisjohnson also said he "bitterly regrets" the coronavirus crisis in uk care homes, figures show death rates there are still rising. angela merkel has declared an end to the first phase of the outbreak in germany. schools and shops are to re—open, and top level football matches will resume, behind closed doors. president trump has described the effect of coronavirus on the us as worse than, the attacks on pearl harbour. he again criticised china for failing to warn the world about the virus in time to prevent a global catastrophe. beijing says the us wants to distract from its own

handling of the pandemic. those are the main developments, but first laura kuenssberg reports. small clusters of commuters. westminster quiet, masks sometimes. but not lonely any more. one new normal has begun. starmer: good morning. reporter: good morning. weeks after keir starmer became the labour leader, the first of his weekly chance to put the prime minister under pressure. oh, i'm looking forward to it, and i'm glad to see he's back in parliament. reporter: how are you going to handle the new labour leader, prime minister? with boris johnson back at work, back at the despatch box, too. i would like to welcome the prime minister back to his rightful place in the chamber. but no hiding place from the rising coronavirus toll, now tipping 30,000. that's now the highest number in europe. it's the second highest in the world. that's not success or apparent success,

so can the prime minister tell us how on earth did it come to this? he's right to draw attention to the appalling statistics not just in this country, but of course around the world. at this stage, i don't think that international comparisons and the data is yet there to draw all the conclusions that we want. comparing different countries' statistics is difficult, but it's not irrelevant. and every number is another heartbreak. just nine members of ron beard's family bade farewell to him at a tiny funeral this afternoon. he passed away in hospital last week after contracting the virus in his care home, where his family had been told there was no infection and they say staff had no protective kit. my mum, sadly, had to go to the car park and say goodbye to her dad through the window, which was pretty heartbreaking for her after having been by his bedside for so long. i think that's been one of the hardest things for the family to deal with,

not being able to hold his hand in times when he needed it, and i know especially from my mum and her sisters, knowing that he died alone after they had been at his side for so long was the particularly heartbreaking thing to come to terms with. the priest did an amazing job and it was a wonderful send—off, albeit slightly strange. his last song as the curtains closed was you'll never walk alone. what was happening behind closed doors in care homes now very much in public and political view. deaths in care homes continue to go up. 12 weeks after the health secretary declared that we're in a health crisis, i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes which is something i bitterly regret, and we've been working very hard for weeks to get it down. in the last few days, there has been

a palpable improvement. there's no consistent evidence that situation is improving, but the prime minister suggested some lockdown measures could ease from monday. we will want, if we possibly can, to get going with some of these measures on monday. in a sparse chamber, mrjohnson sometimes looked around for cheerleaders who were not there. in this new contest of opposites, in the end, it's one—on—one. president trump has described the coronavirus pandemic as the worst attack ever on the united states, saying the global outbreak would not have happened if china had acted quicker. mr trump said the fallout from the pandemic had hit the country harder than the japanese bombing of pearl harbour in world war ii, or the september the eleventh attacks two decades ago. he added that it should have been stopped at source in china, but wasn't. for more on this, i spoke to anita kumar. she's a white house correspondent and associate editor of politico.

obviously the big news is the president's announcement that his coronavirus taskforce was going to be disbanded, but, as you indicated, it is back on. today he said it is back on because he heard from a lot of people around the country, public—health officials around the country that were very alarmed by that and really urged him to reconsider. where do you see the president's strategy going here? these right, the economy was doing really well, now it's been trashed. he's clearly very keen to point the finger at china, is that cutting it with the voters? those people are trying to figure out whether they can go back out or not, and here in the us, there are a patchwork of different laws and rules for them. despite everyone paying attention to what president trump does, it's actually the governors of each state that has been making that determination. so people are trying to work out if they can be back out again. about 15 states have been opening things up and we're watching to see

if will be new flareups in those states, and that will really tell whether those governors made a mistake, whether it was too early and what happens with the economy, which, you're exactly right, that is what president donald trump is focused on, he wants things to open up again, he's looking at his election in six months and he's really seeing that needs to rebound. if there is a flareup of deaths in those states where the president has been pushing for reopening, taking away the lockdown restrictions, and there are a lot of people in those states that vote for mr trump, politically that's a real problem for him, quite apart from a tragedy for them. sure, it's a risk on both parts, a health risk for sure but also a political risk, and that's why partly he decided to have... i mean really it's the law, the states got to decide their own way, the president was clear he wanted the states and governors to do that, he sort of pushed the responsibility to them. some people that are close to the president had said to me, and close to his campaign, said that was a smart thing for him to do

politically because then if something does happen, you can say these other people made that bad decision. yes, he would like into work obviously for health decisions but he also wants it to work for the economy, he wants to get the economy rebounding before the election. quickly, anita, how does this play for the election? the democrats have produced some significant campaign ads butjoe biden can't campaign. the president can't do rallies but he has a pulpit every day. you're right, it's a weird campaign because there no campaign events apart from those on the computer, the virtual events. the president is out, now he's starting to travel. he took his first trip this week. he will be travelling and doing events at the white house. so he does get to get the message out every single day, where joe biden doesn't as much. he's doing virtual events as well and he's trying to get that attention but it's been quite difficult for him.

germany has announced significant steps in easing its lockdown, shops and cafes and schools will begin to reopen and football will return behind closed doors. chancellor angela merkel, a scientist herself, seems cautiously optimistic, but has warned any spike in the virus will result in a return to strict measures. freya cole reports. the sun is shining, and in this city in central germany, cafes have reopened and people can sit and enjoy at a distance. translation: it's a nice feeling to see how happy people are, thejoy of living again. i'm really happy to go out again. the leaders of germany's i6 states have been eager to restart local economies, and now they can. translation: it is going forward. you have to see that our people want to work. shops, restaurants and hotels can open their doors, but residents are urged to wear a mask in public, and the i.5—metre distance rule should be maintained. germany has slowed the virus.

7,000 people have died, but that figure is much lower than other european countries. new infection rates are also consistently low, but if that increases to more than 50 cases per 100,000 patients, the lockdown will return, but it'd be isolated. translation: if the infection increases somewhere, we have an emergency mechanism, and then it not the whole country that has to be put in danger again. the national football league will also make a comeback, but stadiums will remain empty and players will be routinely tested. students will also return to class in stages, but as for cinemas, theatres and early childcare centres, that's still a grey area in the gradual steps towards normality. freya cole, bbc news.

brazil has recorded the highest daily number of covid—i9 deaths anywhere in the southern hemisphere, as president bolsonaro continues to play down the crisis. the government may now recommend the introduction of lockdown measures in some of the worst affected cities. 0ur correspondent, katy watson, reports from the east of sao paulo. in brazil's favelas, coronavirus is seen as a rich man's disease brought in from abroad. but they know that the poor will suffer the most. death is ever present in these often violent neighbourhoods. covid—i9 has become another killer, weaving its way into these narrow streets. aline used to earn $5 a day as a cleaner. now, both she and her husband are unemployed, bringing up three little girls on hand—outs and donations. social distancing isn't an option here, and authorities aren't around to enforce any rules. they're angry with how their president's dealing with this crisis.

translation: bolsonaro is wrong. he tells people to go to work, then people die. and then he'lljust say, "another one died. well, it's not my son." what he should say is, "stay at home." jair bolsonaro isn't dubbed the tropical trump for nothing. just like his american idol, he's been railing against lockdown. as crisis here escalates, so too does denial. yesterday, he said the worst was over. then came the biggestjump in the number of deaths so far. jair bolsonaro got the top job because he promised brazilians angry with corrupt politics a change for the better. but with families in the amazon burying their dead in mass graves and public health systems on the verge of collapse nationwide, many former supporters feel

they were fed a lie. state governors are ignoring the president, introducing quarantine and lockdown to protect the public. the man in charge of brazil's wealthiest state has become bolsonaro's biggest critic. when you have two viruses to combat, the coronavirus and bolsonaro virus, it's not time to discuss ideology, politics, campaigns or individual positions. it's wrong. this is the wrong way. the right way — to save lives, and to respect the science, to respect the medicine. but in sao paulo's eastern suburbs, quarantine offers little opportunity. poverty makes sure of that. the most vulnerable are waiting in line for government hand—outs and in doing so, they are the most exposed. brazilians are confused. do they listen to their local politicians saying stay at home? or to their president saying get back to work?

increasingly, rules are being bent here and ignored, and it couldn't come at a worse time for the country. even rio's most famous landmark has been enlisted in the fight against coronavirus. if christ the redeemer can't persuade devout jair bolsonaro to finally don a mask, nobody can. katy watson, bbc news, in sao paulo. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: venzuela's government releases footage it claims shows a us private security contractor confessing to being part of a planned coup against the country's president. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays,

the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in underfour minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the uk becomes the first country in europe to record

more than 30,000 coronavirus deaths. president trump says the coronavirus pandemic is the "worst attack" ever on the united states, and points the finger at china. i've been speaking to rachel esplin 0dell, a research fellow at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. she told me the united states could pay a penalty if it pursues china for what the trump administration says is a cover—up. this fits in a pattern of the trump administration to deflect blame. in this situation the problem is our enemy is a virus, not another country and while china mishandled early aspects, retaliating against china will worsen the crisis and make it harder to access the medical supplies we need and deepen the economic crisis. it will also make it harderfor

the chinese to investigate properly or accept an international investigation? absolutely, the more the trump investigator insinuates conspiracy about this leaking from a chinese laboratory or attacks the chinese for how they handle this outbreak, the less likely the chinese government is to co—operate with an external investigation because they will believe the deckis because they will believe the deck is stacked against them from the beginning. it is almost an existential issue for the chinese party. so much of its stand with the people is on how it handles the pandemic. to understand the origin of the virus, to work through international institutions, fruit multi— literalism. to include china and other countries around the world and involve scientific collaboration and collaboration with public health experts and an effort instead to turn this

into the opening of a new cold war will only undermine that effort. this is self defeating by the trump administration. what is your analysis from the president and the secretary of state that the virus originated ina state that the virus originated in a laboratory in wuhan. dr faucihas in a laboratory in wuhan. dr fauci has rubbished it. even if true, the virus would have had to be in the wild beforehand anyway. absolutely, there is absolutely no evidence of this was a manufactured virus. however, even a virus that may have led from the lavatory, that theory has been thoroughly debunked. the us intelligence community have said that. uk and australian officials have said there is no evidence. while donald trump and mike pompeo have said this is true, they have not provided evidence and what they be doing is what the george w bush

administration did with the iraq war, in order tojustify their rush to war in iraq and in this case the trump administration is trying to insinuate china may have had this leak as a way to justify pursuing this new cold war which would actuallyjust endanger the us and the rest of the world. the venezuelan government has released footage it claims shows an american private security contractor confessing to helping organise a coup against president nicholas maduro. thirteen people, including two american citizens, have been arrested, accused of entering the country illegally from colombia last week. venezuela has described them as mercenaries hired by the opposition, with the support of the us, to kill mr maduro. the footage released by caracas appears to show american, luke denham, describe his mission. securing the sector. establishing our resistance. cross talk

bringing in planes, one of which includes one to put maduro on and take him back to the united states. the footage also shows denham hold up what caracas claims is a contract between silvercorp, a private american security firm, and venezuelan opposition leader, juan guido. caracas hasnt released the alleged contract in its entirety, but tweets from a since—deleted twitter account named silvercorps us were posted at the time stating strikeforce incursion into venezuela. 60 venezuelan, 2 american ex green beret. and earlier this week, video emerged of silvercorp owner jordan goudreau describing a "daring and amphibious raid" against caracas. the us has denied any involvement, and secretary of state mike pompeo has said the us will act to return any american citizens imprisoned abroad.

we will start the process of trying to figure a way, if in fact these are americans that are there, that we can figure a path forward. we want to get every americans back. if the mr maduro regime decides to hold them, we will use every tool that we have available to try and get them back. a little earlier i spoke to giancarlo fiorella, a venezuelan researcherer for the online investigative journalism outlet, bellingcat. i asked him to layout what information has been confirmed so far. what we know is real as far as we can tell is that this is an operation that took place over the weekend. we know that there were two boats that, according to jordan goudreau, and one of his cohorts, left colombia. aboard those boats were two groups of men who were sent to the country to attempt to arrest president maduro and other high—ranking government officials in venezuela, to take them out of the country and insite a rebellion that would eventually topple the current government there.

beyond that, there's a lot of back and forth between the opposition and the maduro government. we have seen those videos, like the one from luke denham, where he is talking about what his mission was going to be in venezuela, and so there's a lot of information that is not quite yet confirmed, but we do know that this is something that — it was an operation that was carried out and the intention was to attempt to topple the maduro government. if it was for real, that would be quite an operation, given that the army, as we understand it, and the security forces are still backing mr maduro? yes, and we also know that the venezuelan government was aware that this was under way, possibly as early as late march, but certainly by may ist, when there were media reports that goudreau was in colombia, that he had been there, that he was trying to organise his rebel force, so we know that certainly by may ist, the venezuelan authorities were fully aware that this is a plan

that was under way and so to launch this operation under maximum visibility, obviously, was a really foolish enterprise. what do you make of the tweets, since deleted, of course — they are so explicit, so much of a smoking gun, they seem almost too good to be true. yeah, and a lot of work at bellingcat is based yeah, in a lot of work at bellingcat is based on people making mistakes and sharing too much information on social media, and i think this is one of those examples. i mean, i went to sleep on sunday night, having read the tweet from goudreau saying there was another strike force under way, not quite believing that it could be true that they would be basically admitting to an ongoing operation live on twitter, but sure enough, the next morning it turned out to be true — there was a second boat that was intercepted and aboard it were two us citizens, as we saw, luke and aaron, and it has just been just a really surreal, absurd at times, story since it bagan to take place, starting on sunday.

a new painting by the street artist, banksy, has been revealed at a hospital in southern england. it's called game changer, and the work will be auctioned later with the money going to the nhs. 0ur arts editor, will gompertz, has been to see it. could this be a rare sighting of the elusive street artist, banksy? undercover, making a special delivery to university hospital southampton. wow. it's certainly his handiwork. it was hung late last night and unveiled this morning. it depicts a young boy kneeling down, wearing dungarees and a white t—shirt. the waste—paper basket in front of him has two discarded old superheroes. instead, he's playing with his new model figure, a new superhero, an nhs nurse with a flying cape and arm pointing forwards like superman. she is on a mission. the idea of the hospital's management and banksy was to thank the staff of the nhs generally for everything they are doing. so, did it go down well?

just the proudness of it. the actual realising that we are thought of and respected. for years now, we've not, but now, with everything that's going on in this current climate, people are seeing us where we should be. we're superheroes. it's such a nice reward for all the staff that have been working really hard throughout this. we've had members of staff be unwell themselves, and obviously all our patients, and we've just pulled together and got on with our work. why, then, did the hospital want to work with banksy? he's really captured the emotion behind the way that the country's recognising the nhs at the moment. certainly since we've been talking about it this morning, people recognise him, they understand where he's coming from, and they're really appreciative that he's made southampton the place to recognise the nhs. the plan is to sell the artwork at an auction after the lockdown, with the proceeds going to the nhs, some of which will come to this hospital. it could fetch over £1 million. will gompertz, bbc

news, southampton. stay as well as you can. thank you very much for watching. hello there. over the next few days, it looks like the temperatures are going to creep upwards. we could be looking at the mid—20s celsius across some southern parts of the uk, but we'll also have building humidity as well and that could increase the chance of some showers, some of which will be heavy and thundery. now, the pressure chart for thursday shows high—pressure largely dominating the scene, particularly towards the eastern half of the uk. further west, we'll have these weather fronts, but it will introduce more cloud and outbreaks of rain. so it could be fairly wet in one or two places during thursday morning, the patchy rain spreading northwards into scotland. and then further south, we should see some sunshine developing but a few heavy showers on into the afternoon. central—eastern parts of the country seeing the best of the drier and the sunnier weather. we could see highs reaching 23 degrees in the south, but up to 19 or 20

in the north too. now, there could be some evening showers or thunderstorms across england and wales — into the midlands, certainly. these will tend to die off through the night. most places will be dry, but it will stay rather cloudy and damp across the north and the west of scotland. and a milder night to come as well, temperatures in double figures across central and southern areas. so, for friday, it starts off milder. so it's going to be a warmer day. bit more cloud around generally. certainly across the north and the west, we'll have further outbreaks of rain. certainly for northern scotland. elsewhere, some thundershowers will develop into the afternoon once again, particularly northern ireland, england and wales. look at those temperatures — up to 25 degrees across the south. now into the weekend, as we start to see some changes. for saturday, a cold front begins to push southwards across scotland. much colder air behind it, as the name suggests. some rain on it too. further south, it'll be another warm day with sunny spells but increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms. those temperatures, again, reaching the low to mid 20s in the south. much colder in the north,

as that cold front begins to slip southwards. and then during saturday night, it'll advance its way southwards right across the country, so by sunday, it's going to feel very different. unusually cold air for the time of year will make it feel very chilly indeed and we'll see some wintry showers across northern and eastern parts of the country, maybe even some settling snow across the north in scotland, even down to lower levels. that said, apart from a few showers, there will be some sunshine around. but look at these temperatures compared to what they expect for the next few days — ranging from 6 to 12 degrees.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the number of deaths related to coronavirus here in the uk has passed 30,000. under questioning in parliament, his first appearance opposite the new labour leader, sir keir starmer, the prime minister said he "bitterly regrets" the crisis in care homes, where death rates are still rising. he said he intends to outline plans for coming out of lockdown this weekend. president trump has said the pandemic has hit the united states harder than the japanese bombing of pearl harbor or the attacks of 9—11. his secretary of state, mike pompeo, has again criticised china for failing to warn the world about the virus in time to prevent a global catastrophe. the german chancellor has come to an agreement with regional leaders on relaxing the lockdown. shops, hotels, and restaurants will reopen with social distancing and football will restart behind closed doors. restrictions could be reimposed if there are new outbreaks.