to attend the funeral of his wife. heartbreaking, just heartbreaking. many people have been making big personal sacrifices to abide by the current rules, and yet hundreds of people are continuing to gather here in large crowds for some funerals? clearly, they shouldn't be gathering, only up to ten people should be attending those funerals, and files will be sent to the public prosecution service. there's no space for that. we need everybody to abide by the rules. there's not different sets of rules for different people. police in northern ireland say they'll continue trying to engage with families before large gatherings take place. but for some communities, in grief, it may be unlikely to have much effect. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. china's parliament has backed a new security bill for hong kong, which would make it a crime

to undermine beijing's authority in the territory. the law — which had sparked demonstrations in recent days — will allow beijing's intelligence agencies to set up in the territory for the first time. critics say it will limit freedom in hong kong. the premier league season is set to restart in three weeks' time, with aston villa vs sheffield united and manchester city vs arsenal. our sports editor dan roan is at the etihad stadium. two fixtures to start with. what happens after that? manchester city's match against arsenal on march 11 three months ago was the first postponed because of this crisis and today we learnt it will mark the return of the league, all being well, on june 17, mark the return of the league, all being well, onjune 17, alongside that match being well, onjune17, alongside that match between aston villa and sheffield united. the other outstanding fixture. in the six weeks that followed there will be 90 other fixtures packed in weeks that followed there will be 90 otherfixtures packed in to weeks that followed there will be 90 other fixtures packed in to the schedule. it is very much subject to

government approval and any spike in cases could do read it but project momentum has accelerated, contact training has been approved and there has been just 12 positive tests among the 1700 or so that have been conducted. we also learnt today that for the first time since the league's inception the bbc would show for live matches on television. in fact all 92 will be shown live by the league's broadcast partners and thatis the league's broadcast partners and that is because all the matches will be staged behind closed doors but for the first time today, we have a firm resumption date ofjune 17. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. today was the warmest day of the year so far today was the warmest day of the yearso far in today was the warmest day of the year so far in scotland and northern ireland. temperatures reached 25 celsius. already it is the sunniest may on record across england and for some parts of the country, it is likely to be the driest may on record as well. there has been little or no rain for example in the

south—east of england and central england. it could be a record breaker in the north west. in contrast we have had above average rainfall in highland scotland. this evening should be dry for four carries an overnight no rain at all. more cloud was the northern aisles. a comfortable enough night tonight. generally temperatures will remain about in double figures. tomorrow if there is any cloud across eastern england it will not amount to much. we should see more sunshine pushing northwards across the northern isles and tomorrow, like today, it will be and tomorrow, like today, it will be a dry, warm and sunny day. noticeable east or south easterly breeze. it will be cool around some coastal areas. widely temperatures will be into the low to mid 20s and we could get 27 or 28 degrees around murray and highland scotland as well. 0ver murray and highland scotland as well. over the weekend we still have this area of high pressure in

charge. centred over scandinavia. that weather front is kept at bay and we are drawing in the warmth from the southeast asia breeze. there is no rain in the forecast for this weekend. it will be warm and sunny. the sunshine will be strong. high or very high uv levels. city forecasts show temperatures will drop over the weekend across scotla nd drop over the weekend across scotland with the higher temperatures properly across western parts of england and wales. again in the sunshine. that's all from the bbc news at six.

hello and welcome to sportsday. football's back! the premier league is set to restart on the 17thjune — with aston villa v sheffield united and manchester city against arsenal. no date for the return of rugby union — but could fewer scrums and shorter rucks help stop the spread of coronavirus when the sport restarts? and, fighting the odds. boxer dan azeez tells us how coronavirus nearly claimed his mother's life. she isjust she is just and she isjust and bad, could not breathe, she was struggling to

breathe, she was struggling to breathe, could hardly talk. shejust looked really fatigued. —— she was just in bed. good evening, its the news fans across the world have been waiting for — the premier league is set to return. at a meeting today, clubs agreed that the 17th ofjune will see aston villa take on sheffield united and manchester city face arsenal with a full fixture list taking place the following weekend. it all depends on the spread of coronavirus, and government approval of course. let's speak to our sports editor dan roan. there is that caveat but this feels like a big moment for sport in this country amid this pandemic.

it dies. simply for this reason, it is the first time since the season was suspended three months or so ago and we have actually had a firm date officially announced i'll be at a provisional one, june 17, when everything being well here manchester city will host arsenal. it was first postponed on march the 11th and alongside sheffield united against aston villa. those matches will play on june 17 against aston villa. those matches will play onjune 17 and all matches will play onjune 17 and all matches will play onjune 17 and all matches will play 29 game so it will make it a cleaner and neater state of play and if the waste was to occur in terms of the season and it had to be cancelled, at least eight points per game approach would be necessary because all matches what have been played an equal number. it is not 100% certain but it does depend on government approval and no spike in

cases. and has been an acceleration and momentum and behind project we start. the chief executive told me on friday he felt increasingly confident, as confident as he could be that the season would resume next month. then yesterday we had contact training approved and some teams writing and for the first time today and most importantly of all of the three batches of tests, there have been 12 positive cases around 1700 01’ so been 12 positive cases around 1700 or so actual tests and it will go some way to addressing some of the concerns players have had. we have seen notice that no fans in the stadium at all and how will people get there for both fixed if it sta rts get there for both fixed if it starts on the 17th ofjune? get there for both fixed if it starts on the 17th ofjune? it will bea starts on the 17th ofjune? it will be a busy period because those two

matches once they are out of the way that remaining matches in six weeks and all of them will be shown on television and the vast majority of course via sky and bt but we learned this evening for the first time since the league's inception and the bbc will be showing life premier league matches on television, four of them and amazon will have some as well and they are the fourth broadcast partner of the premier league. and of course as you say there will be no fans and stadium. cell with the government was to get behind this project to resume this season behind this project to resume this season they want to see as many games as possible free to air for fa ns to games as possible free to air for fans to enjoy a. and one of the reason is that they do not have the encouragement to linger outside of venues 01’ encouragement to linger outside of venues or grounds so it will be some

games deemed high or high—risk and perhaps safety authorities will be at certain venues. there may be a few and then use and we do not know which matches will fall into that category but in terms of the overall fan experience it will be unique and never before and never before it will alter 90 to be available to fa ns will alter 90 to be available to fans on television. here's a round—up of some of the day's other football stories. manchester city women have announced gareth taylor as their new head coach. he played for city's men's side during his career and has recently been coaching in the club's academy. he replaces nick cushing who left city earlier this year to join new york city in america's mls. championship side luton have reappointed nathan jones just 16 months after he left the club for stoke. he replaces graemejones — and led the club to promotion from league two in 2018, before departing injanuary last year when they were second in the league one table.

the son of former liverpool owner george gillett has made a formal approach to buy hearts. foster gillett, who once sat on the board at anfield, is looking to purchase a controlling interest in the edinburgh club. 0wner ann budge says now is not the right time to sell. so premier league football has set a date for its return but how do you go about playing a full contact sport like rugby and keep players safe? world rugby have approved a number of rule changes, on a trial basis, and recommended a number of hygiene measures in an attempt to lower the risk of coronavirus transmission in the game. the changes are not mandatory and will be at the discretion of the individual unions. though as austin halewood reports, not everyone is keen on the changes. and he is and and scotland have a third try. one of the most competitive title races in recent

premiership history, the rugby season was heading to a fascinating christian don't when the fight ground to a halt so how can the game return? world rugby are considering some changes to lower the risk of face to face contact like reducing the amount of and stricter enforcement around tackles but some believe these measures amendments will do more harm than good. we will move the ball from rocks clicker so a lot more tackles and collations. with nine fixture still to go along with playoffs semifinal, they targeted a resumption in earlyjuly but the extensive list of measures may any restart more and more unlikely and that is without taking into account just unlikely and that is without taking into accountjust how long squads need to prepare. the physicality and

that, eight, ten weeks minimum and they go back to early i think. professional teams are back in training in new zealand i had of a domestic tournament next month but some players in the uk think it is too soon to return. harlequin scrum says if there is any risk to your family, players will think twice. there has to be proof that you will not bring the disease home otherwise i think the lee fairly stupid to go back. i have a large number of players that they would do virtually anything to get back to training and get back to try to finish the season but i have one or two players i would not dream of asking to come and because of the scenarios they are in with family situations. they say they are committed to have a rigorous testing programme but this could cost the organisation up to £20,000 a week and with e—sport facing the biggest financial crisis

and its history, the timing of the return in the uk has to be right. golf on the pga tour in america is set to return next month — now the european tour has announced its own plans to restart injuly. the tour will resume with a six—week uk swing tournament, and will run through til december. 0ur golf correspondent iain carter joins me now for more on this. a much larger chunk of the european season will be spent in the uk, iain — not that fans will lining the fairways. now, they will not. there will be turning played behind closed doors but six tournaments and a row in the uk starting on july but six tournaments and a row in the uk starting onjuly the 22nd with the british masters at close house near newcastle and the fact of the matter is it gives players the opportunity to play and gives television viewers the opportunity to see them play. it is much needed for the european tour and they have

been hit hard by the recession that has kicked and as a result of the pandemic and i've been speaking to the european tour‘s executive and he revealed a ground—breaking man is —— move is in the offer with players wearing television microphones while they are competing. covid—19 allows you to have permission to try things a little bit different. and with the fact that our categories are frozen so no one is going to lose their card this year, that reduces the pressure which once again allows people to do it and once they have done it, once you have actually wore a wireless mic on in competition and once you have done that and it has not affected you and any such way, technology has come so far that it is really small and will not disturb your swing and such, then it becomes commonplace in the way of life. any

indication which players will be taking up the opportunity to play on the restarted tour and what that they are popular move wearing a mike? do players like it? he is convinced they will do so and it worked very well for tiger woods and phil mikell sent last weekend in the charity match and that went down very well but that was not in the eat of competition level. —— tiger woods and phil mickelson. as who base their career on the pga tour, they will base themselves in america but for the rest of the leading european players this is their opportunity to get playing again and we do not know if they will be playing for a ryder cup qualifying points but the european tour refusing to be drawn on speculation that it will be delayed by a year. thank you once again forjoining us on sports day. time to round up some

of the other sports stories. the england and wales cricket board has extended the shutdown on domestic cricket until at least the 1st of august. the season was due to start in the middle of april, but was postponed until the 28th of may and then the 1st ofjuly because of the coronavirus pandemic. the dutch grand prix has become the latest formula one race to be cancelled. it was set to return for the first time since 1985 and had initially been postponed. all 300,000 tickets sold will be valid for 2021. f1 organisers hope to start the season in austria injuly. the 2021 special olympics gb national summer games, due to take place in liverpool next year, have been postponed. and rugby league has returned today in australia. the parramatta eels beat the brisbane broncos 3a points to six. no supporters were allowed inside the stadium although there were cardboard cutouts of fans and sound effects of the crowd. finally this evening... when boxer dan azeez‘s mother was rushed to hospital after contracting covid 19, doctors told his family to expect the worst. but now, after weeks in intensive

care on a ventilator, the family are preparing to welcome her home. the english champion has been speaking to our reporter adam wild about his gratitude to those who looked after her. he is one of britain's most promising fighters but like so many other things his boxing career is on hold and like so many others he has been left watching someone else fight. i been left watching someone else fight. i had not seen my mum for a while so she was just in bed and struggling to breathe and could hardly talk and at one point and i see you they told me she has gotten worse and it is not looking good and she is not likely to make a recovery so obviously i am like all my gosh, the doctors just told me that we are in the last kind of stage and help that we could get for her if she does get better which would be really a surprise, be her own body

or how she fights the infection. that was a month ago and things now perhaps incredibly look much brighter. over weeks and weeks she has it very slowly gotten better and she is up and walking and she can talk and i remember one time i called up and i said please doctor did not give up on her and they said do not worry we will try our best and now she is better so i know they actually really dead and did not give up on her and helped her out. so it is really good. boxing will have to wait. it will be a while before dan is back here in the den and resume his burgeoning career. before dan is back here in the den and resume his burgeoning careerlj am and resume his burgeoning career.” am not in a rush and i know that everyone's safety is way more important than bashing our heads and andi important than bashing our heads and and i amjust important than bashing our heads and and i am just great. it life is too precious and way more important and thatis precious and way more important and that is out of my head. ijust want eve ryo ne that is out of my head. ijust want everyone to be safe. what is your

message to those looking after your mum? i cannot thank them enough. to me that is really getting on the front line and i cannot thank them enough. his thoughts are now of a bright future, both in the ring and with his family. adam wilde, bbc news. a happy and to sports day this evening. that is all, goodbye. you are watching bbc news. let's re—cap some of the announcments made by the prime minister at today's daily brefing in downing street. the prime minister said a further 377 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in all uk settings in the past day. the overall uk death toll from the coronavirus

has risen to 37,837. borisjohnson went on to say that he was confident that government's five tests for the easing of lockdown restrictions were being met. these include a sustained fall in daily hospital admissions, a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rates. and the rate of infection decreasing to manageable levels. and the prime minister said people in england can now travel to see loved ones in private gardens and parks. up to six people will be allowed to gather as long as they are social distancing. mrjohnson said that england was now at the stage to start easing lockdown restricions in a limited way. some retail outlets like car showrooms and outdoor markets will be able to open onjune 1. and other non—essential retail outlets such as clothes shops are to open from june 15th let's listen again to one of the key points in the prime minister boris johnson's briefing — he outlined steps for easing the lockdown in england — including allowing groups of up to six people to meet in a park or garden as long as they are 2 metres apart.

i know the toll of the lockdown has taken on families and friends you have been unable to see each other. so for monday, we will allow up to six people to meet outside provided those from different households continue strictly to observe social distancing rules by staying two metres apart. at the moment as you know, people can meet in parks but not in private gardens and this was a cautious first step. we know there is no difference in the health risk. so we will now allow people to meet and gardens and other private outdoor spaces. these changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once or

perhaps both grandparents at once. and i know from many people this will be a long—awaited and joyful moment. but i must stress that to control the virus, everyone needs to stay alert and responsibly, strictly observe social distancing rules and stay two metres apart from those you do not live with. minimising contact with others is still the best way to prevent transmission. you should also try to avoid seeing people from too many households in quick succession so we can avoid the risk of great transmission borisjohnson's top adviser dominic cummings "might" have broken lockdown rules when he made a trip from durham to barnard castle. durham constabulary say it would have been a "minor" breach.labour‘s leader sir keir starmer says borisjohnson has been "weak"

in his handling of the issue: we will speak to in blackford, thanks for being with us and we will get onto the easing of the lockdown scotla nd get onto the easing of the lockdown scotland and a few minutes or so but let's start with dominic cummings, the suggestion from police that he may have contravened some of the lockdown rules. we know if police apprehended him on the way to the castle he would have been told to go back to where he was staying and dram. the prime minister having an meeting today with opposition leaders and express that we want to see an improvement and public confidence and that everyone had to observe the rules yet there is real anger right through the united kingdom that it is one rule for all of us and another roll for dominic cummings working for the prime minister. he drew up the rules and

he knew he should not have travelled to durham and the prime minister ignored the anger and they were questioning why they should follow the advice. i think it is important that they follow the advice. this is not about the premise of‘s judgement or lack ofjudgement, he ought to know get rid of dominic cummings because a day longer that he stays as his chief adviser, he is undermining the confidence. the police made it clear it would have been a minor infringement and boris johnson and the government and indeed the leader of the opposition had said it is a distraction and now is the time to move on & has been wasted discussing all of this. sam wood see this as to play party politics. why not get on and sort

out what needs to be done as far as the lockdown is concerned. this is not about party politics, and i can say i have seen more than a thousand e—mails from those across the uk, those who had made large sacrifices do not be with their loved ones and sometimes in distressing circumstances and what they see on the basis of privilege that this man who has broken the rules which would have attracted the interest of police if caught past and allowed to get away with it. we have to move on having confidence in the government and we can only have confidence in the government that borisjohnson does the right thing because it is about hisjudgement does the right thing because it is about his judgement and his leadership, his recognising that there is no edits or buds in that dominic cummings is in a position and it is not going away and there are dozens of conservative mps

expressing the same view. the person who should be resigning as dominic cummings in the prime minister is showing a lack ofjudgement and not getting rid of him and if i may say so when we watch the broadcast this afternoon and the prime minister is stopping his chief medical officer and scientific officer from asking questions, we have to wonder what kind of democracy we aren't living and. date must take a close look at that. two households will be permitted to meet up while obeying social distancing rules and. there will be no legal limit on the numbers involved, however. not concern you? know, and i want to congratulate the people in scotland for the way they have observed the rules that have been in place and we recognise that sacrifices people are

making and what the government and edinburgh is doing is making sure we are maintaining the trust and the confidence of the public by making what i think are realistic first steps to come out of lockdown but we will do this in a way that trust the people of scotland and get the economy moving and get people back to work but at the same time recognising the absolute priority of keeping the reinfection rate down and keeping it below the number of one, to make sure we can protect the health of the public. that is a priority. it is treating people and a respectful manner. we will leave it there, leader of the snp at westminster, thank you forjoining us. that is it for a while. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello, there. another warm sunny day,

for most of us completely dry again. 0vernight tonight, it remains dry for the most part and still affecting the northern aisles and often the north sea and the coastal counties. temperatures will remain in double figures. tomorrow any cloud that will form in eastern england will see more sunshine pushing to the northern aisles and another dry, sunny and warm day. wind blowing from the southeast so cooler around coastal areas and coastal areas around low or mid 20s. a bit of patchy cloud on wednesday and mostly fair weather cloud with plenty of sunshine around and still a bit ofa plenty of sunshine around and still a bit of a breeze blowing with higher temperatures towards more western parts of england and wales and it will scott to cool off.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. another step in easing the lockdown in england — new rules allow groups of up to six people to meet outside from monday. these changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once, or both grandparents at once. and i know that for many people, this will be a long—awaited and joyful moment. uk police say the prime minister's adviser dominic cummings may have broken the rules when he travelled to barnard castle —

they call it a minor breach