this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk government insists england's schools are safe to open to more children at the beginning of next month. it is the case that it is extremely unlikely that any school is likely to be the source of a covid—19 outbreak and if, for any reason, there are risks, then we can take steps to mitigate them. a deal to produce doses of a potential vaccine by september, as the uk's daily figure for coronavirus deaths drops to 170, the lowest since lockdown began. spain records fewer than 100 deaths in the past 2a hours, for the first time since its lockdown began. barack 0bama launches a second scathing attack on the trump administration's response to the coronavirus crisis.

more than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they are doing. a lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge. people are still being urged to stay away from tourist destinations and follow the lockdown rules for each part of the uk. 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. uk cabinet minister michael gove has rejected criticism of the government's plans to get some children back to school in england. he's insisted having a limited number back, with social distancing, will be safe. the number of daily deaths in the uk

dropped to 170 in the last day — the lowest since the day after the lockdown began. it comes as the government pledges £81; million to help accelerate the work of vaccine programmes. for a second time, the former us president, barack 0bama, has criticised donald trump's administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis. in an online address to graduating college students, he said it had revealed that many in the us administration "aren't even pretending to be in charge". the italian prime minister, giuseppe conte, has admitted that his country is taking a "calculated risk" by rolling back lockdown measures from next week. and, in spain, a further 87 deaths have been reported in the past day — that's the first time that number has been below 100 since the lockdown began there. we'll have more on all those latest development in a moment. but first, this report from our political correspondent, vicki young, on the political row in england over the planned reopening of schools. could this be what primary schools

in england look like in a fortnight? in denmark, pupils are put into small groups with one teacher and kept apart. it is a model the government is suggesting here but many teachers and parents want to know whether it is safe. none of us, none of us can guarantee that anyone will be entirely free unless effectively they're perpetually imprisoned in their own home. therefore what we need to do is make sure that people are as safe as possible and in any widespread understanding of the word, schooling for a limited number of children with social distancing is a safe environment. but some councils like liverpool and hartlepool say early june is too soon to reopen the gates. labour wants more information. what gavin needs to do, the education secretary, is publish the science to why they're making the decision now

and ensure there is a testing and tracing which he promised yesterday would be available. but they don't have the staff in place they said they needed to have the tracing so testing and tracing and isolation is really important to tracking the virus. schools in wales will not reopen on the 1st ofjune and may not restart at or before the summer in scotland or northern ireland. some parents think england should take the same approach. valerie brooker lives in surrey and has to daughters and she thinks it's too soon to go back to school. my youngest has asthma. she is on two inhalers. charlotte has full on learning difficulties and she has had pneumonia when she was five years old. i don't want her getting a second bout of pneumonia. it's just not viable, i don't want bronwen unknowingly coming home and passing the virus. she might be a carrier. children rarely become seriously ill from coronavirus, less is known about how

they might transmit it. teaching unions have quizzed government scientists and some are reassured. critically, are teachers and other staff in schools at greater risk than if they were returning to other professions? that was the key information, they are not at greater risk as teachers and other people in school and that was a very significant moment for me in allowing us to be able to say, let's start planning even more carefully to open our schools, which were already open, to more pupils and students. the government is promising a cautious approach based on scientific advice. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. who has the final say on primary schools reopening in england, government, head teachers, councils? the government has said, if parents are not happy about their children going back, they will not be fined for not doing so, so it could end up with some areas not going ahead with

it. some academy chains say they will force up the government wants to ta ke will force up the government wants to take everyone along with them on this. don't forget, this is two weeks away so, by then, the picture might be different. there has been some concern in england about different rates of transmission so, in some areas, there is concern it is higher than maybe it is in london, for example. but it's going to be for every school everywhere, whether it is now or in september, there will be huge logistical challenges. if you are saying you need smaller classes, therefore you need smaller classes, therefore you need more teachers and space and classrooms, that is all incredibly difficult. the government is emphasising this will be a phase response. at the moment, just a few yea rs response. at the moment, just a few years going back in primary school, had no plans anywhere in the uk for senior schools to go back before september, but i think, given that scientists are saying we will be living with this virus potentially for a long time, everybody is going to have to adapt, and you heard the

message from the government, we can make schools safe as we possibly can but, in the end, you're not going to eliminate risk completely unless you keep lockdown in place for everybody, and that is not an option for the government at the moment. for technical reasons, journalists we re for technical reasons, journalists were not able this afternoon to put questions to the government you had to e—mailare questions to the government you had to e—mail are there some facts you need to clear up? i asked a question which was read out about whether there will be proper testing regimes in place, testing and tracking for teachers and pupils and their families by the 1st ofjune. that is crucial, the whole idea of a bubble where 15 children are in a group and they don't mix with both and they have one teacher, if one get symptoms, they can be tested and you can immediately start to track their contacts, and it is easier if they have only been with 15 people, but that also includes their families. there was no answer to that from the business secretary, so we'll have to follow it up. it was a technical

fault, the first time it's happened, so we hope to be back in full technical mode tomorrow. and the governor defended the uk wide approach, despite some regions, particularly the north, suggesting they might need to do things differently, region by region? it's a difficult position, with differences already with scotland, northern ireland and wales taking different approaches because they feel that is best. that is what devolution was all about, i suppose, to make sure people can make decisions which are best for their particular area, but i think they feel it is simpler if people go along with these changes together because we are in a position at the moment where, in england, you can travel to the beach or for your exercise, you can't stay overnight but can stay quite a long way you certainly can't close the border from england to one of those other countries, which makes it more confusing, but ideally they are

saying, as this goes on, there could be regional differences within england and other countries to reflect what is going on in one area or another. a deal has been stuck with the drugs firm astrazeneca to mass—produce a coronavirus vaccine being developed by oxford university — if it's proved to work. the uk business secretary, alok sharma, praised the work being done by scientists in britain to try to find a successful vaccine, at today's downing street briefing. the speed at which 0xford the speed at which oxford university has designed and organised complex trials is unprecedented. imperial couege trials is unprecedented. imperial college are also looking good progress, and we will be looking to move into clinical trials by mid june with larger scale trial planned to begin in october. so far, the government has invested £47 million in the oxford and imperial vaccine programmes, but today i can announce an additional £84 million of new

government funding to help accelerate their work. this new money will help mass—produce the 0xford vaccine so that, if current trials are successful, we have dosages to start vaccinating the uk population straightaway. the funding will also allow imperial to launch phase three clinical trials of a vaccine later this year. i can also confirm that, with government support, 0xford confirm that, with government support, oxford university has finalised a global licensing agreement with astrazeneca for the commercialisation and manufacturing of the oxford vaccine. this means that, if the vaccine is successful, astrazeneca will work to make 30 million doses available by september for the uk as part of an agreement of over 100 million doses in total. the uk will be first to get access. we can also ensure that, in addition

to supporting people in the uk, we are able to make the vaccine available to developing countries at the lowest possible cost. the daily death toll from coronavirus in spain has dropped below 100 for the first time in two months. according to the health ministry 87 people died on sunday. that brings the total number of deaths in the country to 27,650 people. guy hedgcoe is our madrid correspondent. prime minister pedro sanchez has said he wants to extend the state of emergency which is the legal framework which allows him to keep the lockdown in place. he wants to extend that at least another month and he's going to go to parliament this coming week, on wednesday we're expecting a vote in parliament and we will find out whether he'll be able to extend that state of emergency for another month. the feeling is, at the moment, it is likely but there has been increasing opposition to the prime minister's handling of this crisis. it has been increasingly difficult for him to get these extensions to the state of emergency.

so, what are spaniards able to do at the moment and how much regional disparity is there? it depends where you are, as you suggest in the question there, and there is a huge disparity geographically because different parts of the country have been affected very differently by the coronavirus. madrid, here where i am, is very much the epicentre so the restrictions here in madrid are still pretty much in place. you can go out and do some exercise, children are allowed out once a day to do a bit of exercise, but madrid is behind many other parts of the country. around half the country moved into what the government called phase one of a 3—phase lifting of restrictions just a few days ago. so that means for example in those areas you can go and have a meal in a barand restaurant, you can only be served

at tables outside. you can meet in gatherings of up to ten people, for example. you can go to certain shops and businesses but still this is... a lot of the restrictions are still very much in place and the government is underlining this is a very gradual lifting of restrictions. israel has sworn in a new unity government, led by prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his former rival, benny gantz. it ends the longest political crisis in the nation's history. law—makers in the knesset formally approved the three—year coalition government. mr netanyahu vowed to push on with controversial plans to annex large parts of the occupied west bank. the afghan president, ashraf ghani, and his rival, abdullah abdullah, have signed a power—sharing deal, ending months of political uncertainty. the deal sees mr ghani remaining as president, while both men will choose an equal number of ministers. mr abdullah will lead peace negotiations with the taliban, should they get under way. india has extended its coronavirus

lockdown for another two weeks until the 31st of may. however, some restrictions have been eased. offices can work, with staggered business hours. and shops have been allowed to open, with a limit on customers. there have been more than 90,000 coronavirus cases and almost 2,900 deaths in india. the former us president, barack 0bama, has again strongly criticised donald trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying those in charge don't know what they are doing. he was speaking at a virtual graduation ceremony for high school students in the united states. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, has more. class of 2020, this is for you... in the age of the coronavirus, this is what it means to come of age. graduation ceremonies, a rite of passage for youngsters here, now virtual rather than actual experiences. the future for those graduating more uncertain than at any other time in modern history.

this star—studded televised event had as its keynote speaker the 44th president of the united states, and he was withering in his criticism of his successor‘s handling of the crisis. more than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they are doing. a lot of them are not even pretending to be in charge. since leaving office injanuary, 2017, barack 0bama has largely avoided criticism of his successor, although earlier this month, in remarks leaked to the media, he was heard describing the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as a "chaotic disaster". and trump has now gone after his predecessor, accusing him of acting improperly in the investigation that led to the prosecution of former national security adviser michael flynn. before 0bama spoke, the president posted a doctored clip from the film independence day, intended to show that he was

vanquishing not interplanetary invaders but the coronavirus. trump's presumptive democratic opponent in november, joe biden, says it is all part of an attempt to deflect criticism from the administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis. but to the man who was biden's boss back then, the graduating class of 2020 has the ideal opportunity to change the political status quo. and all those adults that 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 is going to get better, it is going to be up to you. barack 0bama says he intends to hit the 2020 campaign trail hard in the hope of unseating donald trump. the differences between them, both in substance and in style, could hardly be more stark. david willis, bbc news.

the italian prime minister, giuseppe conte, has admitted that his country is taking a calculated risk by rolling back lockdown measures from next week. the country's daily death toll from covid—19 has now fallen to its lowest since the 9th of march. mr conte said that there could be another rise, but the country could not afford to wait any longer. donna larsen reports. italy's wait is almost over. from monday, day—to—day freedoms will slowly resume, and by 3rd june, there will be even greater movement, such as 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. beauty salons and shops can resume trade on monday. gyms and swimming pools

will open on 25th may. 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 pandemic. more than 31,000 lives have been lost — the third—highest total 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 16th century marble. worshippers will be welcomed back to st peter's basilica,

but numbers will be reduced as the church adapts to a new way of life. donna larsen, bbc news. as we've been hearing, the former president obama has been speaking as part of a broadcast for the thousands of us high school and college students graduating under very different circumstances to what they might have expected. one of them is frances burton, who's the student body president for the graduating class at vanderbilt university in nashville, tennessee. first of all, congratulations on your graduation. normally, graduation is about possessing a long, being watched by your family, hugging yourfriends long, being watched by your family, hugging your friends and then those caps into the air. what was it like to graduate without those rituals? it was very word, a bit anti—climactic, like you described. those are the moments you wait for

for many years. i think people got pretty creative with virtual graduations across the country. you have mentioned that we got 0bama graduations across the country. you have mentioned that we got obama as our commencement speaker, and we got the jonas brothers, our commencement speaker, and we got thejonas brothers, and i don't think many graduating classes will get that. and you got lebron james. did you listen to former president 0bama? yes, and i appreciated it, and that entire sendoff, it wasn't the same as throwing our caps, but it was unique and special. are you and your friends are planning eventually to have a proper in—person ceremony, even it it is a year down the line, is that it?|j think we are all doing it definitely. vanderbilt is planning to have a celebration in may 2021,

given that that's possible at that point, so we don't know what that will look at look like yet, but we will look at look like yet, but we will all be returning to campus to get some version of a graduation celebration. what are your immediate plans for the future? i'm going to work on different projects towards sustainable development. is what is your advice to the next set of stu d e nts your advice to the next set of students who might be enrolling in september, you might find they have to learn everything virtually and might not get to meet their fellow stu d e nts might not get to meet their fellow students on campus? definitely. what i really took away from the commencement address from president 0bama commencement address from president obama was that there isn't really a right way to be doing things right now, so it's much more up to us, rather than looking at how things are done. to take this time to

decide our own value inside, and the trajectory for the world we live in to get in shape, so that's kind of cool to get in shape, so that's kind of cool, because we have an opportunity. we all had a set of expectations of what our college experience would look like and what the world would look like, but right now it looks very different, and in that difference we have power to appreciate those experiences differently. thank you. this has been the first weekend of eased lockdown restrictions in england, and staff at the lake district national park in cumbria say they found some people trying to camp overnight and others returning to their second homes, neither of which is allowed. but people in england are now permitted to drive out to take their daily exercise. our correspondent, claire marshall, reports from the dorset coast. the chalk cliffs of the dorset coast and its most cherished landmarks, lulworth cove and the limestone arch at durdle door. what a place to come after a lockdown.

around 2,500 people have made the trip here today. way up on yesterday and later in the week the weather is only going to get better. the owner, who has had to furlough 140 workers, says, even before the lockdown was relaxed, people were trying to come here. of course now they can come, the police don't have any power to stop them. if we hadn't opened, they would be on the roads walking around anyway. they are doing what they can to keep people safe but you cannot get around geography. this perfectly shows the problems that lie ahead, hundreds of thousands of people normally come to this beach but this is the only route in and out. look how hard it is to social distance. people are doing their best to stay away from each other. it is such a release after so many weeks cooped up. they have handled it really well, you know, having the one—way system here and there is obviously a lot of people here, the sun is shining

but i feel really safe and just happy to see families having fun. still, some are worried by what they see. the peacock family drove an hour and a half to get here. we spoke to daughter ellie and mum jane. it's nice to get out of quarantine but i think, yeah, it's going to peak again because of everyone isjust going to go mad and go anywhere they can. it's lovely to get out but i'm quite shocked as to how many people are here and how they are not paying attention to the social distancing. i find that quite annoying, to be honest. it is like being in tesco's. in other parts of england, people were back on the beach in southend in essex. and up in the peak district, car parks were full for the second day. local authorities are still asking people to stay away. in scotland, wales and northern ireland, the lockdown rules have not been changed but people in england are making the most of the relaxation. claire marshall, bbc news, dorset. the scottish government has

announced it will begin testing contact tracing technology in nhs fife, lanarkshire and highland from tomorrow. it's the first step towards an extended test, trace and isolate approach to be rolled out across scotland by the end of the month. it will involve anyone testing positive being asked to isolate and a system to identify and contact people they have been close to. the demolition of the national theatre in albania's capital, tirana, has led to ugly clashes between protesters and police. activists and actors staging a sit—in were dragged away by police before the 81—year—old building was flattened. the controversial works are part of plans to redevelop the city. albania's prime minister, edi rama, said no one will stop the transformation of tirana. nature lovers in the finnish capital, helsinki, have had a rare treat. a family of white—tailed eagles has established its nest there. it's a unique occurrence, as there are no records of the birds

ever nesting in such an urban environment in europe. just a few decades ago, the species was on the brink of extinction. more on all those stories on our website. leaders of some of the largest councils in england have appealed to the government for emergency financial support, to prevent them becoming insolvent during the pandemic. the county councils network says that, without a £5 billion income guarantee, services will have to be cut, including some aimed at combating the virus. our political corrrespondent, alex forsyth, has more. emergency food parcels for the vulnerable, prepared and packed by staffordshire county council. i don't know how many thousands we have done. across the country, councils are providing a range of extra support, often adding pressure to budgets. for those on the receiving end, these are essential services. like chris, self—isolating for his health and grateful for the help. i would have had to starve, literally, because i got nobody. who can you call on to just magically appear with food? for councils in staffordshire,

like elsewhere, the increasing costs of this crisis are coupled with a drop in income. parking charges often suspended, leisure centres and tourist attractions closed, and there is fear about a fall in business rates and council tax if people cannot afford to pay. the county council here welcomes extra government funding but says it has still left a gap. the cost to the county council is probably about £50 million at the moment and the government have given us £38 million. our council finances will be stretched. they are manageable at the moment and we have had additional costs the government should fund. so far the government has given an extra £3.2 billion to councils in england and last week a further £600 million for councils to give care providers but there is demand for more. at the start of the crisis, councils were told by the government to spend what it takes but there is growing concern they will be left out of pocket put it many want the government to guarantee it will cover the cost of their lost income because of some

fear they will simply run out of money and that could have a real impact on some crucial services. take social care, already under strain, exacerbated by this pandemic. private providers who rely on income from councils say budgets are tight and extra government money is not getting through to them. there was not nearly enough money. we have seen one home close already but i think there will be others that are teetering on the edge now. this is a result of underinvestment by successive governments for a period of nearly two decades. the government says as well as extra funding during the crisis, councils have had more money overall to spend in the past year and a spokesman said they continue to work closely with councils and any concerned about their future financial position should contact the ministry for local government. those running the service as many rely on, though, say as well as a short—term fix, there has to be a long—term solution for a sector under strain.

now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good evening. some warm weather on the way for many of us over the next few days. for some of us, some wet weather as well. most of that will be found across the north of the uk. it will become very warm around the middle of the week before cooler, windier weather arrives later on. but, for the time being, it is a pretty mild night to come. minimum temperatures eight, nine, ten, 11 degrees, some rain moving across the northern half of the uk. that rain will be clearing out of the north—east of mainland scotland as we go into tomorrow morning. northern scotland will brighten up, but for the far south of scotland, north—west england, northern ireland, we are likely to keep a lot of cloud and some spots of drizzle. to the south of that, it's fine with some spells of hazy sunshine. quite a breezy day, quite a windy day actually across the far north, and as far as the temperatures go, a little bit higher than they have been today. 24 degrees in the south—east, 17 there for belfast, 18 perhaps in aberdeen. as we look further ahead into tuesday and wednesday, we will see increasing amounts of sunshine. those temperatures

continue to climb. 27 is likely in the south. hello this is bbc news. the headlines... the uk government insists england's schools are safe to open to more children at the beginning of next month. it is the case that extremely unlikely any and school is to be the source of our covid—19 outbreak and if for any reason there are risks then we can take steps to mitigate them. a pledge to help accelerate the work of vaccine programmes, as the uk's daily figure for coronavirus deaths drops to 170. and spain records fewer than 100 death in the past 24 hours — for the first time since the lockdown began. with a round—up of all the sport here's olly foster.