hello this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: the return of competitive sport is announced for the uk from monday — starting with horse racing. other sports given the go ahead to resume behind closed doors include football, rugby and cricket. the uk government insists that it continues to be led by science over the next stages of the easing of lockdown measures after concerns were raised we need to proceed in by some leading scientists. a very cautious way. we need to proceed in so we have set out a road map, a very cautious way. so we have set out a road map, but at each stage we are saying but at each stage we are saying we are not going to proceed with that unless we are confident we are not going to proceed with that unless we are confident that we can do so in a safe way. that we can do so in a safe way. appeals for calm after a fourth night of violence in the us city of minneapolis —

following the death of george floyd — an african—american appeals for calm after a fourth night of violence in the us city in police custody. of minneapolis following the death a former police officer is charged of george floyd — an african—american in police custody. with murder and the pentagon puts a former police officer is charged with murder and the pentagon puts the us military on high alert. the us military on high alert. you are disgracing our city! you are disgracing our city! you are disgracing the life of george floyd. you are disgracing and every other person who has been the life of george floyd. killed in this country! and every other person who has been india's daily total of new coronavirus cases hit another record high today, killed in this country! with nearly 8,000 new infections. india's daily total and nasa astronauts prepare of new coronavirus cases hit to launch into space from the us another record high today — for the first time in nearly with nearly eight—thousand new infections. and nasa astronauts prepare a decade — we countdown to launch into space from the us to the launch. for the first time in nearly a decade — we countdown to the launch that launch hello and welcome if you're watching

in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the uk government insists that it continues to be led by science, over the next stages of the easing of lockdown measures, after concerns were raised by some leading scientists. the deputy chief medical officer for england warned today that the uk is at a dangerous moment, but he said that officials are confident the new measures won't lead to a surge of infections. it comes after several members of the sage advisory group spoke out against the pace at which changes to the lockdown are coming into effect. from monday in england, up to six people from different households can meet outside, including in private gardens. 215 deaths have been recorded in the uk in the last 2a hours. it brings the total number of deaths to 38,376. our political correspondent,

chris mason, has this report. york in the sunshine. as always proved popular. a socially distant queue. a spot of refreshments. in scotland and northern ireland, groups are already allowed to gather outside. england and wales will follow on monday but the number of coronavirus cases falling, ministers say the time is right. but some of those advising the government have concerns. if we make multiple releases of the lockdown at the same time, we won't know what is causing the inevitablejump in cases. and we don't have an established test, track and isolate process to follow these people up. so we're at a very risky point where we could take the lid off of a pot that is still bubbling in places and it risks overflowing in places. he's one of several members

of the scientific advisory group for emergencies to speak out. the labour mayors of london and greater manchester are also worried this loosening of the rules has come to soon. so at this afternoons government news conference, i asked... what you say to those scientists and others who say that your easing the lockdown in england to quickly. we haven't got that much headroom. that's why the prime minister has been clear we need to proceed in a very cautious way. so we set out a road map that at each stage we are saying we will not proceed with that unless we are confident that we can do so in a safe way. i believe and you will recall i was at the podium when the disease activity was very high in the uk, and i said it's a very dangerous moment. i believe this is also a very dangerous moment. we have to get this right. the public in general to actually follow the guidance. don't tear the pants out of it and don't go further than the guidance actually says.

professor van tam knows how to turn a phrase and make a point. he was also asked directly about dominic cummings. the prime minister's most senior adviser who among other things drove 50 miles to test his eyesight during the lockdown. the rules are clear and they have always been clear. in my opinion, they are for the benefit of all. and in my opinion, they apply to all. questions about mr cummings keep coming. questions about easing the lockdown will too. there have been more clashes between police and protesters, the most important statement that was made was about the sport, the return of sport to the uk which begins on monday with some horse racing and of course in time for the

first key event of the horse racing calendar which will be next weekend. iam i am delighted to announce today the government has published guidance which will allow sports to resume from behind closed doors crucially when it is safe to do so. it's up to each individual sport to decide exactly when to resume competition. they know they are sports best but football, tennis, horse racing, formula i, football, tennis, horse racing, formula 1, cricket, golf, rugby, snooker and others are all set to return to our screens shortly with horse racing first out of the gate in the north east next week. it has been a huge challenge to get to this point. we've taken forensic clinician led approach working with

the department of health every step of the way with dozens of meetings, published dozens of detailed guidance outlining how to get athletes back into socially distant training and then back into close contact in training. throughout all this we've put the safety of the athletes, coaches and support staff first and foremost. by working so closely with the sports themselves we have made sure it has been a collaborative consensual effort to create the safest possible environment for everyone involved. the guidance outlines various measures that need to be in place when an event goes ahead and keep eve ryo ne when an event goes ahead and keep everyone involved safe. that includes a screening process for coronavirus symptoms at the venue, a one—way system for people in vehicles, minimise use of dressing rooms and maintain social—distancing wherever possible.

we'll have far more on the resumption of competitive sport in the uk in a little while in our sport bulletin at 6.15. there have been more clashes between police and protesters, in cities across the united states, following the death of an african—american man in minneapolis. local leaders have pleaded with protesters to end the violence. a police officer has been sacked and one charged with the murder of george floyd, but protestors are calling for three others who were also there to be arrested. our correspondent barbara plett usher is in minneapolis, and her report contains some distressing images. america is rising up in anger over the killing of another black man in police custody. in minneapolis, protesters defied a curfew taking over the streets for the fourth night in a row, turning them into a

smoky battle ground. security forces were overwhelmed. the governor has now announced the largest mobilisation of the national guard in the state's history. he blames outsiders for spearheading the virus. he blames outsiders for spearheading the violence. the situation in minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of george floyd. it is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great city. here in minneapolis, this is the damage after another night of chaos. authorities thought they had calmed things down after they moved swiftly to charge a police officer for the death of george floyd. and they were shocked when the virus escalated instead. i cannot breathe. a widely publicised video shows the officer kneeling on mr floyd's neck as he begged for air. in footage that emerged today, you can see two other policemen were also holding him down. ignoring his cries to let him stand. the graphic images have ignited protests across a country already

grappling with a deadly pandemic. and suffering its worst economic crisis since the great depression. in seattle, washington, demonstrators hurled a rock at an amazon store. they chanted "i can't breathe" and "black lives matter". in charlotte, north carolina, police fired tear gas. a city council member was among several people arrested. and in atlanta, georgia, protesters threw rocks and smoke grenades at police. trashed cars and smashed windows at cnn headquarters. the governor issued a state of emergency and the mayor pleaded for the riots to stop. you are disgracing our city. you are disgracing the life of george floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country. we are better than this. we are better than this as a city, we are better than this as a country.

i am duty—bound to be here to simply say that it is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. accountability is what the protesters are demanding. the lack of it so many times before has stoked the smouldering anger that is exploding now with such force. india has recorded its biggest single dayjump in coronavirus cases with nearly 8,000 new infections and 265 deaths. these latest figures bring the total these latest figures bring the total numbers to over 170 cases

of infection and close to 5000 deaths. more than a third of all cases are in maharashtra, one of india's richest states. but despite the rising number of covid—nineteen cases, the government has been easing restrictions. brazil has reported nearly 27,000 cases of covid—i9 in 2a hours — a new daily record. almost 28,000 coronavirus deaths have now been recorded there — the world's fifth highest figure. the us has seen the most deaths with more than 100,000. the chair of the senate health committee in the united states has warned that president trump's withdrawal from the world health 0rganization could interfere with clinical trials to develop a vaccine against covid—19. lamar alexander, who's a republican, also said it could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses reaching the us. on friday, president trump announced he was terminating america's relationship with the who. he's accused it of failing to hold beijing to account over the pandemic. spacex says it is pressing ahead with the launch of a rocket taking two nasa astronauts to the international space station.

the first attempt was called off on wednesday. nasa says there is a 50% chance of cancellation because of the weather in florida. it's the first manned us mission to space in nearly a decade. president trump is due to attend. nasa has relied on russian rockets to send astronauts into space since scrapping its shuttle programme in 2011. we are expecting it to go ahead at the moment. this is the scene live at cape canaveral, two astronauts are preparing to go into the actual rocket itself before the hatch is finally locked down although of course it was lockdown on wednesday and they still aborted the mission. it's possible that can happen. they are both former military test pilots, doing their bit for the middle—aged in space although older than the average astronaut has been

in recent years. it was curtailed after the shuttles, the shuttle programme came to an end and there had been a period in which nasa or at least the administrations did not seem at least the administrations did not seem that interested in space programme but nasa has enjoyed a bit of renewed influence under president trump's presidency. he seems very keen on man space flight and will give it his personal support by being there. spacex is a commercial project. it would not happening if there was not a commercial company, elon musk‘s company, willing it to finance this. making it clear that the responsibility of whatever happens rests with spacex, not with nasa. we will bring you the countdown to launch in the next few minutes. the headlines on bbc news... the return of competitive sport is announced for the uk from monday starting with horse racing. ather sports given the go ahead

to resume behind closed doors include football, rugby and cricket. the uk government insists that it continues to be led by science over the next stages of the easing of lockdown measures, after concerns were raised by some leading scientists appeals for calm after a fourth night of violence in the us city of minneapolis, following the death of george floyd, a black american in police custody. a former police officer is charged with murder and the pentagon puts the us military on high alert. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn watson. so nice to be of the talk about action coming up. we have speculated about this for a number of weeks, when we can potentially see a return of sport and we know the return of the premier league feels as if it's

dominated can catchment conversation so far but a significant announcement coming today. elite sport in england can resume from monday after the government confirmed a further relaxation of lockdown restrictions. events will be staged behind closed doors as long as a number of guidelines are met. where social distancing is possible it must be adhered to, on the field of play and support staff on the bench aswell. where social distancing cannot be maintained as is the case inc ontact sports then a rigorous testing regime to monitorfor symptoms must be in place. other restrictions applying to the general population must be adhered to outside of competition venues, so no fans will be allowed to gather outside of grounds.

it's very clear that playing elite sport in those very limited circumstances with carefully controlled measures about how you get those sportsmen, ports women to the pitch, that is not going to have any meaningful impact. it would be potentially completely different. if there were lots of full stadium. and all of the activities going so after almost three months without competive sport it's set to resume, with the premier league still pushing ahead with a restart date of 17thjune but racing will be front and centre on monday. 0ur reporter laura scott has the details. front and centre on monday. and they're off and racing... from monday, after nearly three months of no live action, elite sport has been given the green light to return in england behind closed doors. horse racing will be

first out of the stalls, starting at newcastle. training yards have been full of fit horses with nowhere to go so the move has brought a sense of relief. it will be a funny year but we look like we're going to have royal ascot and the guineas, it's so important for careers and livelihoods and stallions, pedigrees, and we can't do without them, so thank god we're back. the premier league plans to return on the 17th ofjune but some sports like rugby are taking longer. snooker‘sjoe perry, who will be back in action next week, is reassured by the safety measures that have been put in place. we won't know it's the right time until we go back and hopefully there's no repercussions from it. i'm on a commission committee for snooker and i know a lot of work has gone on behind—the—scenes and i'm pretty confident that they've done everything they can. getting live sport back on screens will give the country a lift, a much—needed one. the stands will remain empty

for some time and jockeys in masks a reminder that this is far from what sports fans are used to, but with the return of sporting action to our screens, saturday afternoons may soon feel a little bit normal. laura scott, bbc news. a number of those events will be on free to air television. we will see a full effect horse racing will be the first sport to return in england on monday with a full fixture list at newcastle. ten races will be staged in the afternoon with 12 horses and jockeys in each. lee mottershead from the racing post says getting racing going again is vital but far from straightforward. provisions are very strict to the extent that if a horse box arrives and the driver or anyone else in that horsebox has a temperature reading above the norm, they will have to leave and the horse cannot race, a really, really strict set of protocols and they are essential.

the ones who have been hardest hit at the moment are jockeys and racehorses who had no income so they will be extremely pleased. from monday, newcastle, we can get going again. the german bundesliga has been held as the example having already returned to action this month. bayern munich are in action, a win would take them ten points clear and keep them on course for an eighth successive title. it's half time and they are 3—0 up at home to fortuna dusseldorf. and that's all the sport for now. from monday many primary schools in england will welcome back pupils from some year groups. teaching unions and some local authorities have been concerned about the risks of spreading coronavirus but the government says it is safe for children to go to school. it's used denmark as an example as the first country in europe to reopen schools and day care centres. elaine dunkley reports. can schools in england mirror

what has happened in denmark? six—year—old hanna has been back in her class in the danish capital, copenhagen, since mid—april. hanna now learns and plays with just a small group of children. nearly all of her classmates have returned, and the infection rate for coronavirus in denmark is currently falling. meet hanna's parents, jens—christen and louise. and, in england... hello, i'm kate. i'm in liverpool. i have two boys. hi, my name is marvin harrison. i'm based in london and i have two children. can the danish experience convince these parents who are sceptical about schools in england partially reopening from monday? so, every monday, they start the working by reminding them, 0k, remember distancing, remember washing your hands, and even the six—year—olds are pretty good at quote unquote self—policing these things, because they also want to do the right thing. if the death rate was higher in your country, would that have changed your approach and how you felt about going back to school at that time? i think we had the sense that a lot of the efforts that were made had an effect, although they sound really,

really basic, but some of the simple guidance in terms of washing hands and keeping distance and so on has really worked. my 11—year—old is shielding, so he is in the extremely vulnerable category, so he will not be returning to school, but then i have my other little boy, who is in year one, he's nearly six, and i have a real concern that, unless the school can guarantee us that he could maintain strict social distancing, he places his brother at risk by bringing something into the house. have you heard anything from denmark that would reassure you, or is there anything that you think we could learn from denmark? my personal concerns are that we have seen more black people die from covid—19. at this point, the risks are way too great, and so we're just going to have to take a view stronger than what's being said and reallyjust protect our families. schools in wales will not reopen on the 1st ofjune, and schools in scotland and northern ireland are due to start in august.

the tourism industry has been badly hit by the pandemic. zoos around the world have been unable to open but have still had to pay all the usual costs to keep the animals safe. now, zoos in europe are slowly starting to open again. kevin connolly reports. it is roll call before the morning meeting in the elephant enclosure. the herd is preparing for the first human visitors in months. they've been missing the attention. i'm not sure we're really keeping social distance rules here the way. lockdown has been tough on zoos which have to feed their animals and pay their staff and care for them even when they are closed. it has been tough on the elephants too, says their manager. his job as a labour of love.

they are up in their paddocks, day in day out, especially mala because she is our main elephant we use to introduce to the public and she gets a lot of carrots. she gets a lot of carrots and interaction with people when they were here so i think she has noticed she's not getting as much carrots as she was before. in the wild, the asian elephant is endangered. its habitat dwindling under the pressure of human population growth. but here it is protected. pampered even. the return of the crowds is a step back towards normality. but with so much about covid—19 still unknown, the authorities are cautious. in a place which is full of life, life is now returning. we wear the masks because it is the right thing to do any strange times. but also because here there is just a chance that the disease that came from the animal world might be

transmitted from us back into it. this is still a time of social—distancing of course. and that limits visitor numbers. but for the park, that means the financial crisis is at least beginning to ease. life goes on. life goes on inside the zoo. it costs a lot of money if there is no visitors coming around to pay for it. for the whole year of 2020 we are hoping to limit our losses to 30 million euros which would be our best case scenario. and for visitors after long weeks in lockdown, it's just good to be out. at least my point of view we need to adapt ourselves to our new life. it's really nice. i am surprised we can come here with social—distance and everything. elephants trumpet. and lockdown has been long for everyone. elephants trumpet. it's notjust the visitors who are excited to be back.

there's more on bbc news dot—com. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. whether across the uk has construct repeat mode so if you have outdoor plans that exactly what i can offer you this weekend. 0n that exactly what i can offer you this weekend. on sunday it is the final day of may which probably comes as no surprise to hear this spring will be confirmed as the sunniest on record. quite a dramatic turnaround considering the beginning of spring was pretty wet, do you remember? for the rest of the afternoon, hardly a cloud in the sky. cloud in the north—west, some coastal flood perhaps in sky. cloud in the north—west, some coastalflood perhaps in the northern isles. here disappointing

bit across parts of north—west scotland, highest of 20 degrees. cooler the east coast, chilly breeze of the north sea and tonight we keep the clear skies but temperatures will fall away two relatively co mforta ble will fall away two relatively comfortable values for getting a good night sleep, 7—11d. we do it all again for the start of the weekend. saturday morning, plenty of sunshine on offer. the area of high pressure just shifting a little bit further east and that means there will be as subtle change in wind direction, perhaps not quite as warm in our scotland. still looking into the mid 20s. plenty of sunshine, more of a breeze developing through the afternoon, always a little bit cooler along was not sea coasts, further west and inland we could see highs of 25. whatever your thermometer is saying it's worth bearing in mind that uv levels at this time of year are high petty much across the country. we start

off on sunday morning with a bit of coastal mist and that low cloud. that will disappear again, dry and settled and with later wind you could see highest values of 27 degrees. as we move into next week i wa nt to degrees. as we move into next week i want to point out this weather front could introduce some showers into the north—west but else is interesting, the wind direction well change and we see a northerly change, it will stay predominantly dry with a slim chance of some showers. look at the difference 00:28:40,681 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 through next week. take care.