this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ministers pledge to put cycling and walking at the heart of plans in england to get people back to work. with public transport reverting to a full service, once you take into account the social distancing rule, they will only be effective capacity for one in ten passengers in many parts of our network. navigating a way out of lockdown — how denmark seems to be finding a balance.

russia marks the 75th anniversary of the end of world war 2 — but without the planned red square parade of soldiers and veterans. but, belarus holds a full victory parade with huge crowds — and no regard for social distancing. # tutti fruity #. and the pioneer of rock ‘n‘ roll, little richard dies aged 87. good evening. the number of people who have died in the uk with coronavirus has passed 31,000.

it comes as the government in the uk prepares to outline it's roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions. first — uk airlines have been told that passengers flying into the country will be expected to quarantine for m days from the end of this month. looking at ways to get the public back to work in england — and the government has announced that they are investing £2 billion into making cycling and walking safer in england. this isn't new money — it's part of a package of £5 billion that was announced back in febuary. around the world — the 75th anniversary of the end of world war 2 was marked in russia — but without the planned red square parade of soldiers and veterans. that was in contrast to belarus — where there was full victory parade with huge crowds — and no regard for social distancing. meanwhile in china — a senior official there has said the coronavirus outbreak has exposed weakness in the country's health system. we'll have more on that shortly — but first let's get more on the aviation plans with this report from our business reporter — katy austin.

when passengers return to the uk's near—empty airports, how different will travel be? some other countries have already introduced quarantine procedures. sophie and her family went to australia in march for a wedding. on arrival, they had to self—isolate for m days. while she understands the reasons, sophie would be reluctant to repeat the process. if it was just for a holiday, i wouldn't because two weeks is a long time to be unable to leave your house, especially with kids. the uk aviation industry is reeling from a huge drop in travel. the group representing uk—based airlines says quarantine measures here would be a further blow. if this is the scientific advice, then we will accept that. the health and safety of our passengers is paramount.

but this will have a significant impact on our sector and nobody will want to travel if they have to go into quarantine for m days. a conference call between the aviation minister and airline and airport representatives is expected to take place tomorrow to discuss more detail. key questions remain unanswered. for example, how long would restrictions last? would they apply to passengers arriving by sea as well, for example on cruises? what about the details of where people would need to stay while they isolated, and why would the uk introduce quarantine now and not before? at today's downing street briefing, the transport secretary said people from specific areas or countries only had been quarantined earlier this year. but now we have a situation where as we get the r number, the reproduction number, down in the uk and we begin to get things under control and we now have the capacity, as we just discussed, in testing as well, it makes sense to look at what happens at the borders. i can't confirm, you'll have to wait for the prime minister tomorrow night.

meanwhile, businesses including those in aviation, hope to hear in coming days whether the popular but expensive furlough scheme could be extended beyond june in some form, some help on a long path back to normality. katy austin, bbc news. path back to normality. grant shapps, has called on people to walk and cycle to work once the lockdown restrictions are eased in england — describing the lockdown as a "once—in—a—generation opportunity" to transform the way people get around. mr shapps pledged £2 billion from a fund announced in february that could see new bike lanes in england within weeks. 0ur chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt reports. travel as lockdown is lifted is a big challenge for the government. the social distancing rules mean buses and trains can carry far fewer passengers. if people take to their cars instead, the roads will be choked with traffic. that's why transport secretary grant shapps today announced

£250 million for english local authorities to widen pavements and install pop—up bike lanes as quickly as possible. let me give you an idea of how our streets might look if these changes become permanent. i'm in waltham forest. they've invested a lot in this kind of thing. look at the way the pavement merges into the road. the idea is, it gives pedestrians and cyclists a sense of freedom to move around the space. you see new kinds of street furniture, i think it's called, so benches like this, you see the planter here with trees and a bike park. the idea is that we can all move more freely through the space because there aren't as many cars and lorries coming through. but what about motorists? they have rights too, and many people will feel more secure from the virus in their vehicles. so what does britain's biggest motoring association have to say about this? contrary to what people say, all our polls actually show that

drivers are going to drive less after lockd own. 36% are going to cycle, walk or run more. so we do need radical measures to stop gridlock, because public transport will not be able to cope. there will be a voucher scheme so people can have their bikes repaired and in the longer term, a national cycling commissioner will be appointed. campaigners hope these changes will be locked in for good. it's a bigger thing of reallocating space in the longer term and creating cities and towns and roads and streets around the country that really do make walking and cycling a safe, attractive and welcome opportunity. there have been huge improvements in air quality in britain's towns and cities during lockdown. mr shapps says he hopes we'll use the opportunity it has provided to find cleaner, greener and healthier ways to get around. justin rowlatt, bbc news, waltham forest. joining me now is 0lympic goldmedallist and the cycling and walking commissioner

for greater manchester chris boa rdman. thank you for being with us. your reaction to this, we know the big pot of money was announced back in february, but it is the actual implementation over the next few months which will be so important as we ease ourselves out of lockdown. yes, andi we ease ourselves out of lockdown. yes, and i think it is important to say that money was only ever a secondary problem. it's political will to change. it is a scary thing when you reallocate. and in the situation we find ourselves in now, that means not only do we need to do this. where i work in greater manchester, a third of households don't have a car, they rely on public transport, we don't want them to use it, what will they do? so we've seen lots of people switching to bikes to get around. we want to make sure they can stay safe and have the distance. the poorest in oui’ have the distance. the poorest in our society, people who cannot get into a our society, people who cannot get intoa car, our society, people who cannot get into a car, we need to make space. while that happens we are trying out

a different way of using space. we are having consultation. let people try it. after a few months we will have cones, planters, and if it works we will keep it, and that is how it should be. a lot of the work that has been involved is relatively low—tech and relatively cheap to do, and a lot of it will be determined by the fact that people will have to do this because there isn't going to be any other way of physically getting to their place of work. it's ha rd getting to their place of work. it's hard for you to imagine. ifind it impossible to imagine what manchester piccadilly station will be like if instead of the crowds who usually discord during rush out and get back onto trains to get back out of manchester because they work in manchester but live elsewhere, suddenly only one tenth of them will be able to use the trains. yes, but you will be interested to know that the average commute, the average journey in greater manchester, the whole city region, is five kilometres. across the country, the

average journey is five miles. we should say that this is not a solution for everyone but it is a solution for everyone but it is a solution for everyone but it is a solution for lots of people. we shouldn't penalised people who drive. what we need to do now is give people who can and want to a viable choice to not have to drive. we are seeing at the moment that people are taking that choice. it's an easy option. and with the weather, they've been enjoying it.|j suppose if you are in 0ldham it might be different if you live in urban manchester and you make that point very clearly. what about the talk of possibly advancing the process for licensing the use of electric scooters? could that be useful for people who are a bit nervous? i might be happy at my age ifi nervous? i might be happy at my age if i could keep both of my feet on the ground or near to the ground. they are certainly popular. there is a reason why we need to do a trial. there are consequences we need to

overcome. a scooter on the pavement, for example, there might be conflict with pedestrians. at the moment, without bike lanes everywhere, we need to find out what to do about them. we know they are popular. it tends to be people who are walking and cycling already who tend to use them rather than a car. where it might be useful, certainly in the short term, is as an alternative to using public transport because we don't want people to do that. i think the trials are necessary and it'll be interesting to see what they throw up. chris, the cycling commissionerfor they throw up. chris, the cycling commissioner for greater manchester, thank you very much for being with us on thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. we will be hearing from the labour party a little later on the subject. a senior chinese official has made a rare admission of shortcomings over the government's handling of coronavirus pandemic. the deputy director of china's national health commission, li bin, told reporters that the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in china's public health system. his comment comes after sustained criticism on china over its early response.

let's go live to george magnus who is a researcher on china and the authour of the book "red flags: why xi's china is in jeopardy". i suppose one reason is precisely because of the handling of the coronavirus outbreak and the immediate aftermath. what do you think the motive is behind li bin‘s comments? looking at his comments in the round, he did actually go on to say that, you know, china did have weaknesses, and what they were going to go on and do was to build a more centralised, efficient chain of command in the public health system using... making much better use of data and artificial intelligence, and so on. however, i think, as you pointed out really in your package, in the fiba royal atmosphere which exists now between much of the rest of the world, certainly in the west,

about the handling of public health and the pandemic, they still call it and the pandemic, they still call it an epidemic. —— in the febrile atmosphere. he said the epidemic is atmosphere. he said the epidemic is a big test of our country's governance and governing ability. and exposed weak links, etc. that's not something which you normally would expect in the current atmosphere, and the charges flying backwards and forwards. you normally wouldn't expect a senior health official to say that. it is a bit of a surprise, actually, not an unwelcome admission, i have to say, but we shall see whether this is an official government view or he was, basically, talking out on a limb. i'm not sure. which is a brave thing for any public official, presumably in china, unless they are clear about what the reaction is going to

be. let's say he has been licensed to say this. do you think this is anything to do with the international pressure coming from countries like australia and also from the trump administration for some kind of investigation into china's handling of this at the very start? i don't think i'd go that far, certainly not at this stage, i'm not saying it might never happen, but i think for china the idea of making concessions or certainly acknowledging the possibility of an enquiry, you know, actually is something which is just unacceptable. i mean, it fits into a narrative that is very close to the leadership‘s hearts, really, in china, of humiliation and being, you know, resisting instructions, as they might say, from foreign, in particular, western governments. i don't think it's that. it is

possible, though, that because of the febrile nature of the relationship at the moment that they come in their own interests, they might have thought that it is possible to dial back the rhetoric a little bit so that it looks a little bit more, a little bit less, you know, feisty? it is a possibility. and i think if that were the case that would be a good thing, but we will see what happens to this directive. intriguing. thanks for guiding us through that. let's get more coronavirus in the uk. joining us now is labour's green transport minister — kerry mccarthy. we knew about the overall figure, we knew about the money which was

announced back in february, and in those healthier days it was pre—locked down, nobody was really thinking about the dramatic change to lifestyle that we may now have to experience. yes, and that money, you are right to say that it isn't new money that was announced today, perhaps despite the government's attem pts perhaps despite the government's atte m pts to perhaps despite the government's attempts to make it look like it was. that was for a reasonably medium term strategy to try to increase the number of people walking and cycling. there will be a national cycling plan which will be published next month. it is all part and parcel of that longer term ambition. what is crucial right now is how we respond to the covid—i9 outbreak as we start to see the lockdown lifted, and of that money or we are talking about in terms of early intervention as a response to covid—i9 is this 250 million. that might sound like a good amount of money, but if you are spreading it across the country to already

cash—strapped councils, there will be this new strategy and the transport secretary said there is statutory advice that councils would have to accommodate active travel. well, we need to find out more about what that means. the obligation on the councils has got to be accompanied by the money to do it. we just heard from the transport commissionerfrom greater manchester, which is a huge metropolitan area. he said they will probably have change from the money they have got because a lot of it is about putting a few planters here, paint, bollards, things you can do without spending lots of money. it isn't a major infrastructural project, it is something which can be done relatively cheaply compared to other transport improvements others might envisage, certainly in others might envisage, certainly in other areas. some things can be done quickly like the pop up bike lanes, like the planters, and i very much hope we can see that happening as soon hope we can see that happening as soon as hope we can see that happening as soon as possible as you heard in manchester and quite a lot of other councils they are already starting to do that. but the question is,

once you start getting more to designing for long—term solutions, thatis designing for long—term solutions, that is when the money needs to come forward , that is when the money needs to come forward, and the concern is, yes, we need to see how it is divvied up between the councils, but it is good manchester feel they are in the financial position to be able to do all of this immediately, but lots of other councils aren't. thank you very much. navigating a country out of lockdown appears to pose more challenges than imposing one in the first place. but denmark seems to be making it work. it was one of the first countries to ease restrictions, after containing the virus early on. so far, they've recorded 522 deaths. jean mackenzie reports. go on, peer into the future. bank holiday beers, saturday mornings at the nail shop. this is life after lockdown. it's like normal life, almost! it's weird, such a little thing, getting your nails done. how does it feel? i'm so happy! ijust wash my hands

and keep my mask on, i feel super comfortable, actually. denmark locked down early, before they'd had a single death, and started reopening after a month. what gave you the confidence to start reopening? we didn't reach the max capacity of our health sector. we had a virus spreading that was slowing down, so this gave us the room for reopening business. though since these rules were relaxed, the infection rate has risen slightly, but not enough to pose a serious threat. the number of people who are infected is falling and so the reopenings continue, four restaurants in a week. —— and so the reopenings continue, restaurants in a week. so much of this has been built around trust. the government trusts the people, so it's given them more freedom, and people completely trust the government and its strategy, so they're not afraid to get back on with their lives again. i was surprised, actually, by how much people streamed out

and wanted to go out, and as you can see, are out and about, i thought they would be more scared. but people are actually very compliant. as far as we can see, it seems to work. so this here is the antidote, really, to all this. one of 16 new testing centres which are checking people without symptoms so they can return to work. you need to know, essentially, how many are infected and therefore, how well the measures that you introduce in the society, how well do they work and what can we do in the next step? this new normal feels surprisingly like the old normal. denmark has walked a tightrope to get here. can the uk and others make it across? jean mackenzie, bbc news, copenhagen.

president putin has been leading russia's commemorations for the seventy—fifth anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany in the second world war. ceremonies have been happening around the country in honour of russia's war heroes — but public events have been significantly pared back because of coronavirus. in a national address, mr putin paid tribute to the millions who died and said russia was invincible when its citizens stood together. he promised that russia's victory parade — which had to be postponed because of the virus — would be held on red square at a later date. belarus has also marked the end of the second world war in europe — holding a large military parade in minsk with hundreds of onlookers, and no regard for social distancing. the anniversay is hugely symbolic in belarus, which along with other former soviet countries, helped topple nazi germany in 1945. the country's president alexander lu kashenko has consistently downplayed the threat posed by the coronavirus, despite belarus being of the worst affected countries in europe with more than 21,000 people infected. the self—proclaimed "architect of rock ‘n' roll" richard penniman,

better known as little richard, has died. he was 87. david sillito looks back at his life. # wop—bop—a—loo—mop alop—bom—bom.# little richard was a wild, fizzing ball of rock and roll energy and he wasn't shy about telling the world about his place in history. one of 12 children, richard penniman grew up in a house overlooking the railway tracks in macon, georgia. he was badly behaved, a show—off, and began to perform in clubs and strip joints. i wanted to sound different. me and the young kids, we were tired of that slow music. we wanted to boogie! # tutti frutti, oh rutti.# the clothes, make—up. no one looked or sounded like a little richard. like little richard. sex, drugs, rock and roll,

he embraced it all and then... ..rejected it to become the reverend richard penniman. # lucile # but he was lured back. he played on the same bill as the beatles, even taught paul mccartney the little richard scream. # oh, baby # his life a seesaw between god and the devil's music. james brown, jimi hendrix, mick jagger, paul mccartney, elvis, all of them owe a debt to the quasar of rock and roll, little richard. little richard — richard penniman — who has died at the age of 87. well, let's talk to our north american correspondent peter bowes who joins us from los angleles. the superlatives come thick and fast

for little richard, can you try and give us a sense of why he was so important in the history of rock and roll. he was a pioneer for his generation. he was the wild man of rock and roll and really did lead the way for some of the biggest names in the business from the rolling stones to the beatles to eltonjohn, prince, rolling stones to the beatles to elton john, prince, to rolling stones to the beatles to eltonjohn, prince, to michael jackson, and there is a little bit of little richard in all of those artists if you think about how they perform or performed on stage, there is something of little richard, his extravagance, his exuberance, the fa ct extravagance, his exuberance, the fact that he would play the piano with one foot on the keyboard. and wouldn't be afraid to be different. and i think that is a big part of how people will remember him. his persona. as a little boy he was bullied at school. he was slight in stature. he did not get on well with his dad. but as an adult and a performer he made up for all of that

and became this larger than life character. tutti frutti started out with far suggestive lyrics than what was released. and his personal life, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but he ended up a man with a strong religious faith and he officiated at the weddings of a number of celebrities! chuckles that's right, he certainly changed course midway through his life. he did eventually return to performing. but there was this divide, really, between the shocking and the outrageous and the more religious lifestyle. the born—again christian that he became. and i think if we look back at the life of the man that's the whole person. he had so many different aspects to his life. but it is mainly as a musician and i think as a performer that people will remember him for. that has been reflected in many of the tributes

that we are hearing over the last couple of hours from his fellow musicians. peter bowes, thanks very much. more tributes to little richard on the website. you are watching bbc world news. 0ne richard on the website. you are watching bbc world news. one of those tributes has come today from mickjaggerfrom the those tributes has come today from mick jagger from the rolling those tributes has come today from mickjaggerfrom the rolling stones. there will be loads of tributes over the next few hours. there have been quite a few already in the states as they've just woken up to this news. mickjagger says i'm they've just woken up to this news. mick jagger says i'm so they've just woken up to this news. mickjagger says i'm so sad to hear about the passing of little richard, he was the biggest inspiration of my early teens. i would watch his moves every night and learn from him how to entertain and involve the audience. i will miss you, richard, god bless. it is hard to overstate his influence on the generations and the musicians who followed him, isn't it? yes, and i think that tributes just sums it up. it

epitomises, in many senses, the kind of character that he was on stage and clearly influenced so many other artists. and as you rightly say, so many of the tributes. brian wilson from the beach boys said he was sorry to hear about his passing, he said he was there in the beginning and showed us all how to rock and roll. that sums it all up nicely. he said he was such a great talent and he will miss his music and that it will last forever. tim rice said he was indisputably a unique entertainer, which is almost an understatement, looking back at the video we are seeing about him performing on stage. he was certainly unique. the fact he did it in the 50s, a very different time in the us, he was born in the south, he was born in georgia, a very religious community, and he burst out of his shell. in that respect he led the way. one of the reasons he started wearing make up as a stage

performer meant he could go into white clubs and he wouldn't get beaten up by the white men because they would not see him as a potential rival for the affections of the white girls! he was very savvy like a lot of black performers had to be in those days to ride this line between entertaining white audiences and being abused by white audiences. yes. it's very difficult. here we are talking about what it must have been like for a performer in the 1950s and 60s of his type. the fact he had within him this personality which, as you implied, he was very conscious of the difficulties. and it is to his credit that he eventually emerged as a real crossover artist, as they say, an african—american musician who was liked by black and white audiences. at the time, that was quite unusual. and in that respect it paved the way for so many artists, people like michael jackson, of course. if you think

james brown's funeral was theatre, you ain't seen nothing yet! peter bowes, in los angeles, thank you very much. little richard has died at the age of 87 this saturday. now, time for the weather. a change, much colder weather was on the way tomorrow. the cold accentuated by a strengthening wind. it's already windy over northern scotland with some rain. now, overnight that's going to move its way south across scotland. seeing a bit of snow to relatively low levels in northern scotland, turning frosty and icy here. some thundery downpours to end the day through parts of wales, pushing into parts of the midlands, maybe a few downpours for parts of yorkshire and lincolnshire as we start the day tomorrow. it'll feel mild for many in the south, but again it's the last night of those sort of overnight temperatures. tomorrow, clouds, patchy rain pushing south across england and wales, brightening up for northern england. northern ireland and scotland seeing some sunny spells and some wintry showers. in northern scotland, the old heavy shower the odd heavy shower

towards the south coast of england, may be thundery towards cornwall and the channel islands. along with that colder air moving south, the wind is picking up, gusts of 30, a0 mph, stronger than that on the north sea coast and into the english channel later, and that'll make a ten to 15 degree temperature drop feel even colder than that.