this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm samantha simmonds. our top stories: italy's prime minister admits coronavirus cases could rise as the country is set to ease travel restrictions from early june. the uk education secretary warns the longer england's schools are closed, the more children will miss out as the government presses on with plans to re—open them. it's game on: germany's bundesliga becomes the first major european football league to restart — playing to an empty stadium. # waterloo, couldn't

escape if i wanted to...# and abba's waterloo has been named as the greatest eurovision song of all time by bbc viewers. hello and welcome to the programme, i'm samantha simmonds. we start with the latest developments on the coronavirus outbreak in the uk and globally. more than 310,000 people have died as a result of covid—19 around the world. people in germany have been protesting against lockdown restrictions. the biggest gathering was in stuttgart, where 5,000 demonstrators turned out. in wuhan, where the first cases were detected, authorities say they've tested three million people, but residents are worried that the very act of being tested could expose them to the virus. in india, a court has detained

nearly 70 members of an islamic missionary movement for allegedly spreading coronavirus in the city of bhopal. and in the us, the national high school graduation ceremony is taking place online. barack 0bama and a number of celebrities are taking part. the former us president delivered a scathing attack on the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. he told thousands of students that america's inequalities were on show, as the virus has a disproportionate impact on black communities. here's our north america correspondent david willis. well, samantha, in the three years plus since he left office, barack 0bama has shied away from directly criticising his successor, donald trump, but now the gloves have come off. although he didn't mention donald trump by name, it was pretty clear what he was getting at when he said that the coronavirus pandemic had, as he put it, "torn down the curtain on the idea that the country's leaders knew what they were doing," and he said,

"a lot of them weren't even pretending to be in charge". now, this comes after days increasingly withering attacks on him from president trump, who is blaming barack 0bama for, amongst other things, the russia investigation, and with barack 0bama's former deputy, the former vice president, joe biden, the presumptive democratic presidential nominee, it's clear that barack 0bama feels that the time has come for him to weigh into the fight. now, the former president also urged students today to be bold and to fill the "leadership vacuum", as he put it, and in his commencement address to millions of students, mr 0bama also was joined by a list of celebrities, including the basketball star, lebronjames, and the actor, timothee chalamet, amongst others.

you're going to have to grow up faster than some generations. this pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country's deep—seated problems — from massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic healthcare for people that need it. it's woken a lot of young people up to the fact that the old ways of doing thingsjust don't work, that it doesn't matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick, and that our society and our democracy only work when we think not just about ourselves but about each other. it's also pulled the curtain back on another hard truth, something that we all have to eventually accept once our childhood comes to an end. you know all those adults who you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing? turns out they don't have all the answers. a lot of them aren't even

asking the right questions. so, if the world's going to get better, it's got to be up to you. david, what kind of reaction has there been to barack 0bama's comments? it's interesting, because these kinds of high school graduations are a right of passage for many american youngsters, and they've been cancelled across the country because of the coronavirus, and president donald trump also made mention of that and how the landscape for those graduating has changed the cause of this crisis. he said those who were looking to go on to university would find a very different landscape. he also said those who were going to be looking for work would find the situation had been radically changed. there are, what, 36 million people currently out of work here in the united states and the president said the class of 2020 would have to "grow up faster", as he put it, than previous

generations, samantha. the italian prime minister, giuseppe conte, says his country is taking a calculated risk by rolling back lockdown measures from next week. the country's daily death toll from covid—i9 has now fallen to its lowest since 9 march. mr conte admits there could be another rise, but says the country cannot afford to wait any longer. freya cole reports. italy's wait is almost over. from monday, day—to—day liberties will slowly resume and byjune 3, there will be even greater freedoms, like domestic and international travel. but the process comes with a warning. translation: we are facing a calculated risk. to put it frankly, we know the contagion curve may rise again. preparations are taking place

across the entire country to get ready for this new phase of life. beauty salons and shops can resume trade on monday. gyms and swimming pools will open on may 25th. cinemas and theatres will follow in mid—june. but measures must be taken to make sure people are kept as safe as possible. translation: we must accept the risk otherwise we will never be able to start again. we should wait until a vaccine is discovered and distributed, but we can't afford this. italy has suffered immensely during the coronavirus andemic. more than 31,000 lives have been lost — the third highest in the world. the rate of new infections has now dropped, providing a pathway to start opening up the country. the world's largest church is also opening on monday after a weekend of deep cleaning. a diluted chlorine solution was used to protect the i6th—century marble

floors and buildings. worshippers will be welcome back to st peter's basilica but numbers will be reduced as the church finds new ways in this new way of life. freya cole, bbc news. 0fficials figures from brazil suggest that the country now has the fourth largest number of confirmed coronovirus cases in the world behind the us, russia and britain. brazil recorded over 14,000 new cases in 2a hours. more than 15,000 brazilians have died. police in the polish capital, warsaw, have used tear gas against demonstrators protesting about the restrictions imposed there.

hundreds of protesters gathered in a central square in a demonstration that's illegal under the current lockdown rules, which ban large gatherings. it follows smaller protests by business owners, who say the authorities are not giving them enough support. religious services are resuming in parts of australia under strict conditions as lockdown measures are gradually being eased. but many churches, synagogues and mosques have decided to stay closed because of concerns for the older members of their congregation. the uk government has sought to reassure parents about reopening schools to some pupils in england from next month, saying the decision was based on the best scientific advice. teaching unions have expressed concern about whether schools can be made safe for staff and pupils in time for the target date of1june. here's our education editor, bra nwyn jeffreys. classrooms empty now in england, but in two weeks‘ time, a few children are due back. some teachers and parents remain fearful. today, the government said it was the right decision. there are some who would like to delay the wider opening of schools.

school governors will be involved in the plans, so i asked how they should weigh it up. they are going to be thinking about their legal responsibilities in terms of making each school safe. how are they meant to reconcile that conflicting advice they're getting from you and from local councils? what we would ask them to do is look at the guidance very carefully, and recognise the fact that we are there to provide the very best for every single child who goes to that school. and the best way of doing that, the best way of protecting children, the best way of giving them the best opportunities in life, is actually to have them coming back into school. schools are getting ready as best they can, changing classrooms, contacting families. parents will choose whether to send their children

and some think it is time to start going back. i'm not waving a flag and saying, "let's go back to school with 30 children in a class and have a normal school day." i think there needs to be some kind of schooling in terms of some kind of non—physical contact at school. ministers point to denmark, where children began their return a month ago, but today teachers‘ unions here raised concerns, too many cases, too little testing, among their five priorities. we really want to get schools back open again as soon as it's safe to do so. we've got five simple tests that the british medical association on friday told us they agreed with our tests, and we think the government hasn't yet met them, but they are not obstructive tests. they are tests to encourage the government to meet them so that we can get back to school. we're not there yet, though.

the gradual return to school remains a hope. the scientific evidence remains under review. a finaljudgment in england at the end of the month, as schools in the rest of the uk remain closed. this week, many towns and cities in the uk have implemented measures to encourage walking and cycling. the temporary changes are aimed at reducing use of public transport and cars. but as the country emerges from lockdown these changes could signal a permanent shift, as our environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, reports. deansgate, the main road through manchester, is changing. today, barriers and trees closed a key stretch to traffic. elsewhere, new walkways and pop—up bike lanes are appearing. we want to see change across the city, we want people to walk and cycle more, but we want to do that

in a safe way. and it isn'tjust manchester. this week, pop—up cycle lanes opened in glasgow, leicester, york and brighton, and dozens more towns and cities have similar plans. london is closing some of its busiest streets to create what it claims will be the largest car—free area in any city in the world. most of these measures are presented as temporary, providing social—distancing space. but often, the aim is to make them permanent, which is why some motorists are describing this as a one—off land grab, conducted under the cover of covid and designed to create new fights on the ground. what's worrying about this is that it feels anti—motorist, anti—cars, anti—lorries, anti—vans, and yet all those methods of transport are essential for economic recovery, and for the things we need in britain, so don't punish one group at the expense of the other. winning cyclist chris boardman says making these changes in our cities is about more than just finding new ways to get to work.

we've stopped talking about a climate crisis and stopped talking about pollution and dirty air, but all of those crises are still here, and if you really want to protect the nhs, as well as clapping for them, we can actually make ourselves a healthier nation. people certainly seem to be voting with their feet and their wheels. ken foster says his bike shop in manchester is the busiest it's been since his grandad opened it almost 70 years ago. ken, what about when it's raining? there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing! you won't be surprised to hear that ken thinks it's time we all should get on our bikes. justin rowlatt, bbc news, manchester. this is bbc news. the main headlines: barack 0bama has delivered another scathing attack on the trump administration's handling of the pandemic. in an online address to university graduates, mr 0bama said many officials didn't even pretend to be in charge.

italy's prime minister has said coronavirus cases could rise, as travel restrictions are set to ease from earlyjune — but that the country couldn't afford to wait for a vaccine. a committee of the us house of representatives has launched an investigation into the sacking, late friday night, of the state department's inspector—general, steve linick. the white house has said the removal was recommended by secretary of state mike pompeo and president trump agreed. democrat members of the house foreign relations committee say the sacking was politically motivated. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, explains. this is the inspector general in the state department, essentially an independent government watchdog, and he was ina very government watchdog, and he was in a very late—night announcement on friday night, dismissed by the president, who said he no longer had confidence in him, and that he

would be out of the job within a month. this is the fourth time now in a matter of weeks but the president has dismissed people in similar positions, whose job it is to essentially investigate those members of the government where complaints exist, and in this case, reportedly, and there has been some reporting over the past few weeks about this that this was instigated by mike pompeo, the secretary of state, because he was being investigated himself over alleged irregularities, the allegation being that he used some members of his staff, government members of staff, to carry out personal errands for him and his wife, things like picking up his wife, things like picking up takeaway food and picking up his dog from the groomers. well, this inspector general is now out of a job. he has been replaced by someone who worked as an aide to the vice

president, and is very likely, therefore, to be within president trump's camp. the question is, what will happen to that investigation with mike pompeo going forward? chile has tightened a lockdown in the capital, santiago, after a spike in the number of coronavirus cases. since saturday, people are only allowed to leave their homes five times a week, and on the first day of the strict lockdown, normal activity in the capital was down 85%. earlier, journalist jane chambers told me what the reaction has been in santiago to this total lockdown. well, i think people think this is necessary if we're going to the surge in figures down. so, as you say, people have stayed at home, and 7 million people are living here in santiago and this is the first time we've had a total lockdown like this one. there have different lockdowns in different districts before now. but it is hard, you can only go out five times a week to do things like your shopping, or if you need to go to the pharmacy or walk your

dogs, i know there's debate at the moment amongst the dog owners living in apartments and how that's going to work and why they can't be allowed out a bit more, but the infection rates are going up at an alarming rate, and there's been deaths as well, so we are currently at around 41,000 people who have been infected and 420 people who've died. jane, chile had been praised for its approach to combating the virus, what's gone wrong? i think it's a number of things. i think we're going into the winter months now, so it's cold and smoggy here in santiago, and that means infections spread faster. also, to begin with, this was very much in the rich areas of santiago, it arrived at the beginning of march with people who'd been on holidays in europe or business trips, and now it's now taken hold in the poorer areas, and that's a lot harder. 0ften different families have to share a bathroom or they're living in a lot smaller spaces, so it's really got out of control because of that. also there's this idea

that there was a certain amount of complacency from president sebastian pinera. at the beginning of april, there was talk about getting back to work and easing the lockdown, and because of that, people say people started easing up and going out a lot more than they should, and perhaps that's also a reason why these numbers of infections have gone up so much. jane, briefly, what's the picture in the rest of the country as far as restrictions go? well, we've got a curfew from 10pm to 5am everywhere, and certain cities in the north of chile are also in quarantine as well. the german football league has become the first major competition in europe to resume, since coronavirus lockdowns brought the sport to a halt in march. six bundesliga matches took place without spectators.

with near empty stadiums, and some social distancing protocols in place, it was anything but an ordinary saturday of match action, as jenny hill reports. # and you'll never walk alone...# theirs is a passion that endures. fans who'd follow their team anywhere must make do now with watching from a distance. "two hearts beat inside me", sabina tells us. "of course, as a dortmund supporter, i'm glad it's back, but it doesn't feel right like this." they call them ghost games. no crowd to roar victory, lament defeat. an odd prospect for the players, who quarantined for a week before the match. 0ff pitch, strict social distancing. it's two months since they last played.

that doesn't seem to have thrown dortmund off their stride. dortmund just scored, and you could hear a pin drop out here. it's hard to believe a top—flight game of football is going on inside that stadium. the german football league admit this is largely about money. they feared smaller clubs would go out of business if they didn't resume matches. for this footballing nation, a strange day. polls suggest the majority of germans think it's too soon to play again. some league players and staff have already tested positive. even as dortmund celebrated in the new style today, there is no guarantee that this season will run its course. jenny hill, bbc news, dortmund. the american nascar racing season gets underway on sunday after a 3—month delay caused by coronavirus. the event at darlington raceway in south carolina normally attracts thousands of race fans but will be held behind closed doors. each team has been limited to just 16 personnel including the driver and strict social distancing measures have been put in place. the teams are set for a busy period to make up for lost time

with 7 races in 11 days. abba's waterloo has been named the greatest eurovision song of all time by bbc viewers. eurovision: come together saw the uk public vote for their favourites, on the night that this year's song contest was due to take place. the competition was cancelled in march amid the coronavirus pandemic. speaking later on a europe—wide broadcast, bjorn ulvaeus from the band, made a special appearance from his home. and it still remains one of the most genuinelyjoyous events of the tv year. and it is so disarmingly european, it allows you to escape and be happy, even forget about the coronavirus for a little while. alasdair rendall is president of the world's biggest eurovision fanclub, 0gae uk. he gave us his reaction to the show. the shine a light programme, where the bbcjoined up

with other broadcasters across europe, was an amazing show. i wasn't the only fan who was sitting there watching the tv tonight with a tear or two in the eye. it was a really well put together programme. do you think it was the right thing to do something in place of the actual competition? because there were some people taking part tonight who should have been performing — others not. absolutely. 0ver a0 songs were selected to represent their country at eurovision, and it was absolutely the right thing to do to celebrate those songs. yes, they will never be eurovision songs in the sense of the the cancellation of the contest this year, but it was right for the broadcasting union, all the broadcasters, including the bbc, to celebrate those songs and to note them. as you said, only a0 contestants chosen to take part.

what happens next year? will it be the same contestants? does it depend on each country? the broadcasters announced at the end of the show tonight that rotterdam will be hosting the contest next year. in terms of who is going to be taking part, a number of countries have already said the act they've selected for this year will represent them automatically next year. it won't be is of the same song, because all the songs that have been chosen for this year's contest, the cancelled 2020 contest, won't be eligible next year, but many of the singers that were going to represent their country this year will hopefully be onstage in rotterdam next year. the bbc had a vote asking viewers to choose their best eurovision song for all time, and abba's waterloo was chosen. did you vote for that song? if i'm honest, no. controversial, i know — it's not my favourite of all time. where did your vote go? of the ones on show tonight, i voted for rise like a phoenix, a fantastic song that lifted

eurovision other gear a few years ago, but realistically there was no surprise for abba's waterloo to win, but to be honest, not my personal favourite. there was a rare appearance from abba's bjorn, though. yes, he appeared on shine a light and he gave an emotional message is really about how the contest will survive — long live eurovision. it was just what people wanted to hear — the fans that have been preparing for months. i think the words he spoke really resonated with people across europe. really good to have you with us. glad you enjoyed the show, even though you didn't vote for waterloo — we'll let you off! and you can keep up to date with all the latest news about covid—19 on the bbc website. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @samanthatvnews.

hello. temperatures are set to climb over the next few days, peaking around the middle of the week with highs of 26 or 27 degrees in the south. a lot of dry weather as well, but the further north and west you are across the uk, the greater the chance of seeing some outbreaks of rain. that's certainly the case on sunday — this frontal system passing across the northern half of the country, but that front running up against this area of high pressure, which will be keeping things dry down to the south, and the squeeze between that high pressure area and the frontal systems pushing in from the west will drive the air up from the south — an increasingly warm feel over the coming days.

so, for sunday, we see some rain across the northern half of the uk. parts of north wales, northern england, just the odd spot of drizzle, which should tend to peter out during the day, and the rain across northern ireland and northern scotland will tend to fizzle around lunchtime but we expect more wet weather from the west into the late afternoon. further south, we'll see some spells of hazy sunshine, light winds here, more of a breeze further north you are and those temperatures, well, 17 degrees in aberdeen, 20, maybe 21 towards the south—east of england. just nine degrees there in lerwick, but shetland will spend much of the day under sunny skies. now, as we head through sunday night, we'll see these outbreaks of rain once again pushing across northern areas. further south, it stays predominantly dry with some clear spells, and certainly not a cold night — actually quite a mild one, nine to 11 degrees as we begin monday morning. and monday's weather setup is a similar one. high pressure to the south, frontal systems to the north. notice, though, there is a bit of a gap between these two

frontal systems, so even across northern areas, there will be a fair amount of dry weather. we see these outbreaks of rain drifting away from mainland scotland and up across the northern isles, then something a little bit drier, still with a fair amount of cloud. similar story for northern ireland, northern england — the odd spot of rain. further south, it's dry with some spells of sunshine and slightly warmer. again, 23 degrees in london. as we go into tuesday, it's another fine, dry, largely sunny day for much of england and wales, but for northern ireland and scotland, again we see cloud, we see some splashes of rain at times but not all the time. temperatures here, well, between about 1k and 18 degrees, but the further south and east you are, highs of 25 or 26. and we could touch 27 in the south on wednesday. by thursday, the increasing chance that we'll see rain spreading from the west, and it will start to turn a bit cooler.

barack 0bama has delivered another attack on the trump administration's handling of the pandemic. in an online address to graduating students from historically black colleges and universities, mr 0bama said many officials didn't even pretend to be in charge. italy's prime minister has said coronavirus cases could rise as travel restrictions are set to ease from the beginning ofjune. guiseppe conte said italy must accept the risk otherwise the country will never be able to start again. the uk government has defended its plan to reopen schools in england and warned that the longer they're closed, the more children will miss out. teaching unions say they're not convinced that it's safe for more pupils to return byjune. the uk education secretary has insisted