this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 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. we need to proceed in a very cautious way. so we have set out a road map, but at each stage we are saying we are not going to proceed with that unless we are confident that we can do so in a safe way. 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. appeals for calm after a fourth night of violence in the us city of minneapolis, following the death of george floyd, an african—american in police custody.

a former police officer is charged with murder and the pentagon puts the us military on high alert. you are disgracing our city! you are disgracing the life of george floyd. and every other person who has been killed in this country! india's daily total of new coronavirus cases hit another record high today — with nearly eight—thousand new infections. and nasa astronauts prepare to launch into space from the us for the first time in nearly a decade. we countdown to the 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 is "at a dangerous

moment" and the easing of lockdown "has to go slowly" england's deputy chief medical officer has said. professor jonathan van—tam said the consensus among scientists was that new easing measures being introduced were not expected to push the rate of infection above 1.0. 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. several members of the sage advisory group have spoken out against the pace of change. 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 has 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 what you say to those scientists and others who say that you're easing the lockdown in england too 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. the government has published new guidelines to allow the return of competitive sport from monday. athletes will still have to maintain social distancing where possible. the announcement was made by the minister for culture, media and sport oliver dowden. i'm delighted to announce today that the government has published guidance which allows competitive sport to resume behind closed doors from monday at the earliest. and crucially only when it is safe to do so. crucially only 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, sports best. but football, tennis, horse racing, formula 1, cricket, golf, rugby, snicker and others are all set to return to our screens shortly with horse racing first out the gate in the north—east next week. —— snicker. our political correspondent,chris mason is here. the lifting in the uk of the restrictions, country by country within the united kingdom. the difficulty of that being felt by countries around the world and how to proceed with the right caution. yes, because there is no unimpeachable that of wisdom we're just waiting for the right person to open to see this as the plan, necessarily should be done and this is how you will ensure you can return to some sense of normality whilst keeping the reproduction rate of the virus down because clearly and we know this, the governments around the world, scientists around

the world are learning week by week, their datasets are growing week by week and governments can compare their own with those with others moving at a different pace or at a different stage of the endemic to try and work out what to do. what we have seen in the uk today illustrates the dilemma is that are faced around the world and also highlight the question that we are going to come back to over and over again over the coming months and they will effectively be summed up by our we going to quickly, are we going to slowly? but that will be the central dynamic that drives all of the scrutiny that governments face for as long as the virus remains alive issue. in the past, scientists have ducked the politics over a lot of coronavirus approach in the uk. but not so for professor jonathan professor jonathan van in the uk. but not so for professor jonathan professorjonathan van tam who took a question about the senior adviser to the prime minister head

on. wham bam van tan. i should have practised that in the matter shouldn't i. the other day when professor chris whitty and patrick valla nce professor chris whitty and patrick vallance were asked directly about dominic cummings, the uk prime minister's chief adviser on his jaunt to durham and round—trip to barnard castle about his eyesight we re barnard castle about his eyesight were first shielded by the prime minister said it's not for them and when they were asked explicitly said we don't go anywhere near politics so we don't go anywhere near politics so they sought refuge in ducking the question because they can argue they are not political figures so why should they be drawn into it? professor van—tam could have sought the same refuge but now he was straight out there. it was explicit and effort very striking. he was expressed that he wanted to answer the question. you did not fair to mr cummings by name but the question was expressly about dominic cummings. —— he did not name mr

cummings. —— he did not name mr cummings. he made it clear he was speaking on his own behalf but i'm not sure i am allowed to say it but it was a kick in the goolies for mr cummings insofar the ninth day in a road the prime minister's adviser is. that word is not in the style guide. it might be the last chat we have. it has been nice knowing you! 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 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 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. and disrupting our great cities. 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.

please! 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. donald trump has again condemned the violence that erupted in minnesota on friday night. boarding an aircraft to travel to cape canaveral, mr trump urged the authorities there to be tough on those he said were bent on violence and added that federal reinforcements could be despatched if necessary. they've got to be tough, they've got to be smart. we have our military ready,

willing and able today if they ever want to call our military. but we can have troops on the ground very quickly if they ever want our military. they're using their national guard right now, as you know, they have their national guard out. we can have our military there very quickly. they've got to be tough, they've got to be strong, they've got to be respected. because these people, it's antifa, it's a lot of radical left, bad people. and they've got to be taught that you can't do this. so i'm going now to watch a great launch and we'll see how we do. thank you very much. in baltimore, maryland for us now is professor kaye whitehead, an educator, author, and media host, who is known as the #blackmommyactivist. she teaches african and african american studies at loyola university. professor, welcome to bbc news.

these protests that are spreading across the united states now, grief and anger for sure, over george floyd's death. but how much more is packed into these demonstrations? thank you so much for inviting me on. i think it's important to recognise that the murder of george floyd co m es recognise that the murder of george floyd comes on top of so much injustice and so many unarmed black men, women and children who have been killed ever since we have been protesting black lives matter. we can go back and look at the modern civil rights movement, the history of how we got here but if we just focus on black lives matter i can easily go through a litany of names of black men, when and black men women and children and he recently had a black woman shot and keld in her own home in kentucky. a man shot

and killed in georgia and now george floyd, the latest incident is so disturbing because you can watch in real time and you can hear him struggling, yelling out that he cannot breathe, calling for his mother, it is the injustice that we are dealing with as black and brown people in this country when we see this happening to people that could be part of our families and then we don't see people being held accountable so there is a lot of pent—up frustration that got us to this moment. you can change policy but that does not necessarily change attitude, not least within the police. so how do you bring about meaningful change? it's interesting that we have been wrestling with this question around change for quite awhile. what would it look like if we were to do something different? we talk about police officers, that's kind of .i. that to an intensive training with police officers so that we can build a bridge between the police force and the community. there is predatory

policing that is happening in economically challenged black communities where they are over police, herded and controlled, rather than protected and served so that needs to happen. we'd need to have more accountability for police officers so when they do what these police officers participated in it's not just that they are arrested, not just that they are fired, not just that they are charged but they are found guilty and they serve time so that people understand their eyes a price to pay. there is accountability. a second thing is to think about reparations. right now we're looking at how we are economically challenged in this community, we see how the income of black people is steadily dropping by the year 2053 the estimate the income will be zero in comparison to oui’ income will be zero in comparison to our white counterparts. so a way of redistributing funds we hope well turnaround decade upon decade of economic injustice in our community and third which i think is the ha rd est and third which i think is the hardest piece is how do we change

the hearts and minds of people? there is a large community of people not of colour in this country of white people who really believe that black folks are inferior. they are groups of white nationalism and supremacy and they are pushing that age—old that it scratch my agenda that race is a determining factor. we are fighting against the hearts and minds of those individuals as well. professor we have not done it justice, it is an enormous subject but thank you very much forjoining us. the chair of the senate health committee in the united states has warned that president trump's withdrawal from the world health organization could interfere with clinical trials to develop a vaccine against covid—i9. 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.

india has recorded its biggest single dayjump in coronavirus cases with nearly 8,000 new infections 265 deaths. these latest figures bring the total numbers to over 170,000 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—i9 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 headlines on bbc news... 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 by some leading scientists. city of minneapolis following the death of george floyd, an african—american in police custody. a former police officer is charged with murder and the pentagon puts the us military on high alert. 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. let's bring you some live pictures

now from the kennedy space center in florida where the rocket is due to take off in around an hour's time. you cannot control the weather as they have said so they are at the mercy of that. but the two astronauts will have been in place for a couple of hours or so already, doing the necessary preparation. we can bring in our correspondent jane o'brien who is at cape canaveral in florida now, from where the rocket is due to be launched. that's a very good deployment for you, isn't it? i would that's a very good deployment for you, isn't it? iwould normally that's a very good deployment for you, isn't it? i would normally say yes but we are in the middle of a global pandemic which is what makes this rocket launch so extraordinary. they are trying to make this historic first and deal with all the quarantine that the astronauts have had to go through and the fact that asi had to go through and the fact that as i said we are in the middle of a pandemic so the complexity of this mission if it was not bad enough has

been added to and again it is a real nailbiter today. we still don't know whether or not this lunch is going to happen. we are being told that at the moment it is ago but whether, it looks beautiful but we keep getting these thundershowers moving in, the problem is that we know that there is going to be a clearing of the storm system between 3pm and 3:30pm but the launch is at 3:22pm. will it be cleared in time for that small small window? that they need in order to be able to take off safely? and that of course is what we are all waiting for and we just won't know until the moment comes. you have to be very patient when you are dealing with these things. how eagerly anticipated is this lunch? —— launch. eagerly anticipated is this lunch? -- launch. it's the first time an rocket is taking them to the space

station lifting from american soil so station lifting from american soil so this has the tag made in america all over it. if it all goes according to plan it could really change the way we think about space exploration because it is commercialising what should become a fairly routine mission, transport to the international space station and if that can happen, then it also means that the costs will become lower and the next step, getting somebody back onto the moon and then on to mars should become that much more cost—effective and that much easier. that is the whole purpose of this. it should change the way that we actually put people into space. the clock tells us we are just over one hour away. fingers crossed. tariq malik is an astrojournalist, and editor in chief of space.com and hejoins me now from newjersey.

what a great title. thank you. this is not the first commercial launch to the space station so why is it so significant this is the first time a private company in this case spacex is launching people, astronauts, to the international space station of the international space station of the planet earth into orbit for nasa, their customer. spacex is one of two companies that over the last eight years or so has been supplying cargo ships, robotic spacecraft, to visit the space station to deliver food, water, all those necessary supplies astronauts need but nasa wa nts supplies astronauts need but nasa wants people. they need to get their own astronauts on rockets that are launching from the united states. we have been dependent on russia, they pay $90 million for one seat. more than a spacex rocket launch costs it's self. so they want to have that new capability. this vehicle will

carry not just new capability. this vehicle will carry notjust one ask not but two up carry notjust one ask not but two up to fouron carry notjust one ask not but two up to four on a regular flight and nasa hopes this will be a paradigms they can use notjust for missions to the international space station but for trips to the moon, trips to mars, maybe. they are buying trips to commercial vehicles to make the much more affordable and then also to build a bigger commercial enterprise that other folks can take advantage of. how is this spacecraft different from others that have been used in the past? boeing are working on, about one year behind spacex? one of the key aspects of this vehicle is its stepping stone nature. spacex is launching it on a rocket called the falk and nine they have launched since 2010 and this one “— nine it will land on ship in the

ocean, they can collect it, this capital itself is designed to be reusable. something nasa's capital for apollo, gemini and mercury were not. the space shuttle was but it took a lot of work. spacex want to do more to make it easy to turn around for more flights. it has modern touches. touch—screen displays. the spacesuits they are wearing a very sleek and look like custom designer sci—fi clothes. it has this really novel escape system where rockets in the capture will rip it away from the rocket in case ofan rip it away from the rocket in case of an emergency. we saw dramatic test of that earlier this year so it has all of these new systems in place that previous capitals have not. plus that reusability aspect of nasa's space shuttle really makes it attractive. we appreciate your insight. it will be a fascinating watch, if it happens, fingers crossed. thank you very much. as you

will probably have worked out, the president, donald trump, is amongst the spectators at the kennedy space center. you're watching bbc news. when 15—year—old sirine jahangir lost her eyesight five years ago, she turned to her love of music. now sirine has become something of a star after impressing the britain's got talentjudges with her singing and piano skills. the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood has been catching up with her. # treat each other right, best friends... from an early age, sirinejahangir has had a passion for singing. but she only started taking music seriously after losing her sight at the age of ten. when i lost my sight me and my dad were in the car. and i couldn't look out through the window anymore.

and my dad didn't know what to do, so hejust put the music up really loud and i rememberjust smiling so much, laughing and singing along. i started songwriting when i was six and i used to write about princesses, best friends, ponies. as i grew up and started to face more difficulties i found it hard to express my emotions and tell people how i felt so what i would do is i would write about it and i would sing my emotions rather than say them. the 15—year—old says she doesn't want her loss of sight to hold her back. i don't like to dwell on my blindness because although it's affected my life in such a massive and immense way, it's also strengthened me in other ways, given me so many gifts i'm so grateful for.

what's your name? my name is sirine. up till now, sirine has been performing at home for her family. but an appearance on the reality show britain's got talent has earned the teenager the appreciation of millions around the world. sirine plays piano. i have never done anything like it and the fact i was able to stand on stage, show people what i love and get appreciated for it is just the most amazing amazing experience of my life. # my salvation. sirine is now one of the bookies favourites to reach the finals of the competition. meanwhile she is hoping to inspire other teenagers through her music. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello there.

we have more of that warm sunshine across the whole of the uk but some of you i know will be wanting some rain — well, i might have news for you coming up a moment. the skies were almost completely clear in aboyne in aberdeenshire, as they were across much of the uk and we're going to keep those clear skies overnight. it stays dry. the only real exception to that story is that we may well see some low cloud and fog form around the coastal parts of eastern scotland, particularly the north—east. there may be a few mist catches working into parts of north—east england as well. a comfortable night's sleep though, temperatures eight to 12 celsius. tomorrow, any fog, mist or low cloud could take the first few hours of the morning before it clears away from those eastern coastal areas. otherwise, it's a sunny start to the day and we'll keep the sunshine into the afternoon. again, day's highest temperatures across more western parts. i think we'll probably see highs of around 27 in parts of western wales. beyond that, there are signs the weather will cool off into next week and some of you will see some rain at times as we head towards the middle of the week as well.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines. 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. we need to proceed in a very cautious way. so we have set out a road map, but at each stage we are saying we are not going to proceed with that unless we are confident that we can do so in a safe way. 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. appeals for calm after a fourth night of violence in the us city of minneapolis following the death of george floyd, an african—american in police custody. a former police officer is charged with murder and the pentagon puts the us military on high alert.