this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: demonstrators gather again in minneapolis as troops prepare to impose a weekend curfew after four nights of protests over the death of george floyd. the governor calls on people to stay at home. the major freeway systems in minnesota will be closed. stay off the roads. stay—at—home tonight so that we can remove the folks, restore order to our streets. don't go out, don't go walking, don't drive. making a stand in washington, dc. crowds gather outside the white house calling forjustice for george floyd and victims of police attacks. these are live pictures from los angeles, where groups have confonted law enforcment officers

as nationwide protests are held over police brutality. three, two, one, zero, ignition. lift off! go spacex! godspeed. a new era for space travel as the first ever commercial rocket carrying people into space is successfully launched. the uk government defends plans to ease lockdown, as scientific advisors say they fear restrictions are being lifted too quickly. i believe this is also a very dangerous moment. we have to get this right. as the number of global coronavirus cases passes six million and india's daily total hits a record high, we have a special report on how the poorest are coping with the lockdown.

welcome to bbc news. there is no sign at all of an end the protests that have spread all over the united states in the last five days. they began to mark the death of george floyd, an african—american man from minneapolis who died as a police officer kneeled on his neck. some have now turned violent with buildings set alight, shops looted and police vehicles set alight. crowds are gathering in los angeles, new york, washington, detroit, atlanta, chicago, and philadelphia and many more cities. we can take you live now to washington. it has just gone 8pm there and the stand—off between protesters and police continues. they have made their way. just 2a hours ago there we re way. just 2a hours ago there were protesters getting to the front of the white house and

donald trump responded there that there was a strong security response on behalf of the white house. but you can see, 2a hours on, protesters have been there throughout the day. and these things in washington are replicated right gci’oss washington are replicated right across the country. we have seen protest, many of them starting peacefully, for example, in new york a black lives matter march starting peacefully, but then arrests being made later in times square. in los angeles, another much organised by black lives matter, los angeles again starting peacefully but since then doesn't have smashed police cars, one set on fire. it isa police cars, one set on fire. it is a pattern sat across various cities right across the united states. a tense weight now to see what happens, whether there are continued protest, whether there will be the violence we saw 2a hours

ago. in minnesota it is now 7pm and the state governor has pleaded in the last hour for residents to stay at home. the major freeway systems in minnesota will be closed. stay off the roads. stay—at—home tonight so we can restore those. don't go out i don't know walking, don't drive. we don't want innocent people who simply want to express their frustration and rage over a situation that has ignited this across the country. parents, call your children, if there all, friends, call other friends. don't go down looking to see if this would be something to see. it's not the place to be. that curfew in minneapolis due to get under way in just under an let's get more from our north america correspondent david willis. david, you are in los angeles. there have been protests there throughout the day today. what

has been happening? there have indeed, lewis. we have seen one of the worst nights last night of the worst nights last night of civil unrest in many decades in this country, with protests, violent protests, from new york in the east, to los angeles here in the west. and it's barely nightfall, as you say, and there have already been clashes in cities such as baltimore, you mention washington, dc, chicago, and here in los angeles, where a demonstration involving a large group of people started peacefully enough, but ended up with violence directed at police vehicles and there is now a stand—off going on. a cu rfew now a stand—off going on. a curfew has been imposed here from dusk until dawn and not only in los angeles, i might eight, almost a dozen other american cities are now subject to dusk to dawn curfew is tonight. the feeling that perhaps the arrest of that man,

derek tobin, who was the white police officer captured with his knee on george floyd's net, might allay some of the tension, now seemingly rather hopeful and there are a lot of people who say that the people who arrested george floyd along with him also needed to be brought tojustice. with him also needed to be brought to justice. it does look as though we are in for another long and hard night across america. that's right. we're looking at live pictures in los angeles now. just gone by p.m.. there has been a definite ebb and flow. at one point there was this stand—off where police formed a line, and this was after a police vehicle was set on fire, and about a dozen damaged in total and we can see the aftermath of that they are. but then there are periods, of course, where it seems to quieten down. and we must remember right across america throughout the day time

today lots of these protests have been peaceful or at least started that way. absolutely. ani started that way. absolutely. an i think he tactic as far as los angeles is concerned, of course they have learned a lot, the police or the other, since 25 years plus since the rodney king rights, is very much to contain demonstrations such as this. they don't want them to spill out into this is a sort of vulcanised metropolis, if you like. they want to contain the protest, they don't wanted to out into other areas, particularly beverly hills, the homes of the rich and famous and so on so that is what they are trying to do at the moment, trying to contain it. as i said last night they went on for a very long time last night in downtown los angeles, past two o'clock in the morning there was still the sound of sirens racing up and down the street there. 0k, david, for the moment, thank you very much. we we re moment, thank you very much. we were on our 2a hours ago talking about the rioting and

the destruction we saw. we wait and see now whether this will be repeated this evening. but for the moment, david willis in los angeles, thank you very much. and you can see the streets therefrom that helicopter shot. and we can quickly go to washington, dc. again there is a static scene with the protesters on one side of the barriers and police officers on the other side. different scenes in other cities where there is a less formalised division between the two sides as these streets are full of people. one of those locations we will turn our attention to now. david mindich is a professor of journalism. he's been following today's unrest and joins us from down town philadelphia now where protests are still taking place. what's going on down there? i'm standing right in front of city hall, city hall is behind me with the protest began at noon.

it was very peaceful. people we re it was very peaceful. people were socially distancing and changing. passionate but there was no overturning cars and things like that. later a couple of police cars were set on fire. behind me there is a starbucks that was torched. and there's a fire engine behind me they just put there's a fire engine behind me theyjust put out the there's a fire engine behind me they just put out the flames about an hour ago. so it was a very tense situation in downtown philadelphia just even about an hour ago. and talk us through the situation with cu rfews. we know through the situation with curfews. we know they are trying to be imposed in cities across the us. i haven't heard there is a curfew in philadelphia. the philadelphia police really restrained themselves. i thought it was actually impressive that both sides didn't seem to have too many confrontations, except for

that things were, there is graffiti all over the place, a couple of cars were overturned. so there was a lot of physical damage, but they haven't heard report of injuries or deaths in downtown philadelphia stop just give us a sense of the atmosphere then. you have described what has been happening. how are you feeling, safety wise? i feel relatively safe. live about a block away from here. philadelphia is hills around city hall, so city hall is the very centre of early delphia and that's where most of the protests happen. and that's where it began today. and then the protesters marched to the museum area where there is a larger notice and then that's where i heard more rioting began. and i should also say that philadelphia has a long tradition of unrest between the police and the communities. there was actually a bombing of

a compound in 1985 and the police commissioner and ben mayor, whose statue stands right in front of city mayor, was responsible for dropping a bomb on this community that really dispersed and destroyed a lot of homes —— city hall. frank rizzo was the police commissioner ben mayor and his statue, protesters tried to tear it down today but the police came in and stopped them. 0k, david, thank you for talking us through the events there in philadelphia. we appreciate your time. thank you. these are pictures of los angeles. we have just these are pictures of los angeles. we havejust been hearing that a curfew will be introduced in philadelphia, much like other cities, including minneapolis, of course, which is the epicentre of all these protests. this is los angeles. as we were talking about earlier on the ebb and flow of protesters on the street, things look relatively calm at the moment. there have

been more serious confrontations a couple of hours ago, but the real test is coming up as we had into the evening, just to see how things develop here in la and across the united states and we will be covering every development as it happens here on bbc world news. let us move on to a different story now. the first commercial spacecraft to carry people into space has successfully launched from cape canaveral in florida. the capsule — built by elon musk‘s spacex — has two astronauts onboard and they are now on their way to the international space station. rebecca morelle has more. these are steps towards a new era of space flight. nasa's two, the first to launch from american soil in almost a decade, and this is the rocket, built by spacex, a company about to make history by carrying people into space. bob, doug, have

an amazing flight. enjoy those views of our beautiful planet. three, two, one, zero, ignition, lift off! the falcon 9 and crew dragon. godspeed, bob and doug! this is a huge step for us and the commercial ventures and i think it's important for the world to realise that we are going into space to stay and we are going to continue on, to the moon and then on to mars. looks like we saw a zero g indicator... ten minutes into the flight and the pull of the earth has gone and then the final stage of the rocket gently detaches. dragon is now officially making its way to the international space station today. but this is just the start. they have to come home safely and make sure the systems

and the parachutes and everything gets them home safely, it is not until the mission is back on earth that we will know that it's been a complete success. thanks for flying with falcon 9 today. we hope you enjoyed the ride. good luck and god speed. for the astronauts, their journey is just beginning. the future private space flight has truly arrived. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the number of recorded coronavirus cases around the world has now passed six million. the latest milestone was announced byjohn hopkins university in the united states. more than 367,000 people are known to have died, with the us continuing to top the list of both infections and deaths. brazil, russia, the united kingdom, spain, and italy are the other worst affected countries. brazil itself has posted another record number of confirmed cases in the past 2a hours with more than 33,000. it's also recorded a further 956 deaths in the last day bringing the total number there to more than 28,000 800 which is more than france.

-- 28,800. england's deputy chief medical officer, has warned the nation is facing a "very dangerous moment" in the fight against coronavirus. professorjonathan van tam said the scientific consensus was that easing the lockdown in england next week would not affect the infection rate, but he urged the public not to "tear the pants" out of the new guidelines. our political correspondent, chris mason, has this report. helen's bay beach in county down today. in northern ireland and in scotland groups are already allowed to gather outside. england and wales will follow on monday. new rules grant us more freedom, but require us to make morejudgements about what is safe. in bournemouth, the lure of the beach and the challenge of social distancing.

in york, the prize of a pint, and, yes, exactly the same challenge. with the number of coronavirus cases falling, ministers say the time is right for a more liberal approach, but some of those advising our political leaders have concerns. if we make multiple releases of the lockdown at the same time, we won't know what is causing the inevitable jump 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 a pot that is still bubbling in places, and it risks overflowing in these places. regent's park in london earlier and primrose hill too, as the labour mayors of london and greater manchester also worry loosening the rules has come too soon. so, at this afternoon's government news conference, iasked... what do 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 that we need to proceed in a very cautious 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 advisor 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 loosening the lockdown will, too. chris mason, bbc news. this is bbc news — the main headlines: protesters gather in minneapolis as the authorities step up efforts to prevent more riots over the death of george floyd, a black man killed in police custody. let's stay with our main story. the us attorney general william barr has been speaking about the case. he blamed what he labelled "outside radicals and agitators" for hijacking the protests but he also said they were working at speed to prosecute those responsible for george floyd's death. u nfortu nately, unfortunately, with the writing thatis unfortunately, with the writing that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of people ——

peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements. groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda. in many places, it appears the violence is planned, organised and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far left extremist groups, far left extremist groups, using antifa—like tach x, many of whom travel outside the state to promote the violence. —— tactics. pooja gehi is the national executive for the national lawyers guild which has been ofering legal assistance to those who've been arrested during the protests in recent days. thank you for being with us. obviously protests, demonstrations often tipping over into violence, separating out protesters and those who are there to cause trouble and

make trouble is obviously a difficult thing to do. being arrested across the united states. what kind of offences are people being arrested for this is nothing new. we've seen police violence against brown and black communities throughout time, and in the united states, a disproportionate criminalisation of those communities and people are just trying to be heard and we are seeing excessive charges being brought against black communities in particular who are protesting on the charges include, and i think this is related to covid and the consolidation of power the state has around stayed home orders and shelter in place orders and shelter in place orders something like that and people are disproportionately being charged the things they are doing. so if people are

being disproportionately charged, what kind of support do they need when they are in that system? our guild is a member — lead volunteer —based organisation with chapters all over the country. we are currently doing legal support in around 15 different cities who are providing real support for protesters on the ground and the way that we do that is set up legal observers who are mutual bystander legal workers and lawyers who are observing police violence, taking notes, and making sure people are being seen and there is accountability and we also do jail support where we process people through the system and go people through the system and 9° by people through the system and go by representation for people when they arrested and we have a know your rights guide for activists which is www.nlg/nyr.

and if you're talking about the disproportionate nature of what is happening out there, people being disproportionately rested for lockdown breaches or whatever, what other structural changes you think need to take ways to solve that? , i mean, i think to stop murdering black people, defund the police and not pretend it is not a com pletely not pretend it is not a completely racialised system of hyper... is at a completely racialised system? hyper... is at a completely racialised system ? there hyper... is at a completely racialised system? there are areas you which are being painfully exposed which i hugely problematic but i can't com pletely hugely problematic but i can't completely be the case everywhere 100 descent of the time? i practised law for very long time and i think it's disproportional in the way people are criminalised across the board and it has been and in this exact moment when we are seeing brown, black and indigenous communities being

impacted affect it by covid which has led to poverty, incarceration, feminisation, andi incarceration, feminisation, and i think it is disproportionate across the board, the reaction. thank you very much for talking us through that, we appreciate your time. india has announced plans to ease a strict national lockdown put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. the shutdown imposed at the end of march has had a devastating effect on poorer sectors of society, pushing millions living on the edge into poverty. in the city of mumbai, one group of citizens took notice, and decided to take action. here is their story. iamjust i am just happy that i'm part of this magic.

so for migrant labourers, they we re so for migrant labourers, they were all daily wage earners, on an everyday basis of course the factories the small industries shut down, construction sites shut down, construction sites shut down, construction sites shut down so they were all getting paid. when the shut down happened, they will go back to their towns. they were not earning money so they would not earning money so they would not pay rent to stay, they couldn't buy food for themselves. khaanachiye.com is khaanachiye. com is basically khaanachiye.com is basically a platform where we aggregate demand for people across the city of mumbai and we create capacities from kitchens, from restau ra nts capacities from kitchens, from restaurants to supply this food and we also organise everything into and organised for us. we

mapped the demand and create a supply and release funds for it and then we distributed to the hungry. they are not concerned about coronavirus. but then, its hunger. they see their children dying of hunger. they do not care about diseases, only food. there will be about 15 people who will be cooking the food in big vessels and there is a whole packing team which continuously will be putting them in containers and getting ready and as soon as they are packed, they are ready for dispatch. i think everybody can do something and when you have the will, i think god shows you the way.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ lvaughanjones. i'm lewis vaughan jones and this is bbc news. hello there. saturday brought more dry, sunny, and warm weather across the whole of the united kingdom. now, it was a fine end to the day in london and west london did quite well for temperatures. heathrow got up to 26 degrees. but for the most part on saturday, the highest temperatures were across the north and the west of the uk with kinloch here in the highlands of scotland, the nation's hotspot with highs of 27. we're going to see similar kind of temperatures for these western areas as we get on into sunday as well. now over the next few hours, most of us are going to keep the clear skies but probably some low cloud and some fog begin to push onto the eastern shores of scotland and although temperatures in the towns and cities between around 8—13 degrees, in the countryside the coldest spots get down to about 3 degrees so it will be quite chilly for some of you to

start sunday morning. sunday, well, that low cloud and fog can take the first few hours of the morning to clear away from east scotland. maybe a bit of misting this as well in north—east england. but otherwise, a sunny start to the day and a sunny afternoon. now, the highest temperatures in scotland probably again to the north—west of the country, the highlands doing ok with highs probably reaching around 25—26 degrees celsius here. you might see another 23 or 2a for westernmost areas of northern ireland. and some of the highest temperatures in england across western areas along with wales too. you could see highs locally hitting around 27. now, for monday's forecast, the high pressure is still in charge of our weather, so we've got more of that dry weather to come. more of the sunshine as well. temperatures still on the high side for the time of year, looking at highs of 2a in glasgow, 26 or so in cardiff, but from then on we're going to start to see the weather changing somewhat because an area of low pressure is going to start to develop to the north of the uk and move in as we head

towards tuesday and wednesday. so, that is going to be bringing some cloudy skies with rain or showers pushing southwards and as well as that, the area is going to be getting cooler. for the time of year and normal isn't something we've seen for quite a long time. so, scotland is going to be cooling down as you can see, there will be some rain and showers around as well as we go through tuesday and wednesday. perhaps some of the heaviest rain actually working through during tuesday night. further southwards across england and wales, still hanging onto some warm sunshine on tuesday but the change comes really on wednesday with thicker cloud. again, rain or showers working in. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news. the headlines: protesters are gathering again in minneapolis and cities across the united states over the killing of african—american george floyd by a police officer. officials have called for the national guard to assist local law enforcement to prevent riots which have followed the protests. england's deputy chief medical officer has warned of a "very dangerous moment" in the fight against coronavirus. professorjonathan van tam said easing the lockdown would not affect the infection rate, but he urged the public not to "tear the pants" out of the new guidelines. the first commercial spacecraft to carry people into space has successfully launched from cape canaveral in florida. the capsule, built by elon musk‘s spacex, has two astronauts onboard and they are now on their way to the international space station.