welcome to bbc news, i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: a u—turn from the bosses of american football, admitting they were wrong to ban players from protesting against police brutality. we, the national football league, admit we were wrong for not listening to nfl players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. the official coronavirus death toll in britain passes 40,000. only the us has more. a surprise two and a half million jobs return to the us economy, but economists say there's still a long way to go. and france says its forces have killed a key islamist militant leader in mali.

welcome to bbc news and we start with that u—turn from the nfl. four years ago one american football player knelt when the national anthem was played in a protest against police brutality towards black americans. many other players followed colin kapernick‘s example, but he was sanctioned by the game's governing body and has failed to find a team since 2017. since the death in custody of george floyd, taking the knee, as it's now called, has been repeated at demonstrations around the country and beyond, while many leading football players have shown their anger byjoining in or staging their own protests. and now the national football league, the nfl, has completely reversed its earlier position on taking the knee. it has been a difficult time for our country. in particular, black people in our country.

first, my condolences to the families of george floyd, breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery and all the families who have endured police brutality. we, the national football league, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. we, the national football league, admit we were wrong for not listening to nfl players earlier, and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. we, the national football league, believe black lives matter. i personally protest with you, and want to be part of the much—needed change in this country. without black players, there would be no national football league. and the protests around the country are emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality and oppression of black players, coaches, fans and staff.

we are listening, i am listening, and i will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices, and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united nfl family. that was the boss there of the league. several nfl clubs have run their own protest marches including this one by the jacksonville jaguars. during the recent protests in the us, colin kapernick”s gesture has been copied again and again. in minneapolis last weekend one national guard officer and his squad troops knelt alongside protestors in a powerful gesture of reconcilliation. and on friday, in the canadian capital ottawa prime minister justin trudeau joined protestors and took the knee himself. our north america correspondent david willis has more on the story.

this is a significant reversal of policy from the nfl. very significant and a sign of a zeitgeist you might say. let me tell you why, because 75% of players in the nfl are african—american, yet almost all the team owners are white, and many of them are supporters of president trump. president trump, who early of course back in 2016 in the days of colin kaepernick called for players who took the knee to be sacked by team managers, while the has re—entered the fray after another leading player in the league called for, came out against the kneeling protest, only to withdraw that, those comments in the face of widespread criticism. resident trump has gone after him, saying he shouldn't have withdrawn those comments and writing on twitter "no kneeling". but now we have the man who runs the nfl coming out basically in favour

of the players, saying that it was a mistake to oppress them back in 2016 and to oppress those kneeling protest, and basically saying that as far as the league is concerned, black lives do matter. just to be clear, this isn't just about sport, orjust one sport. this issue over years and years has polarised people, ben issue of contention right across us society. absolutely, we are talking about centuries of oppression of black people at the hands of whites. and this is what we are seeing at the moment, a movement really, that has coalesced into very large protests in major cities across the united states. we have seen more of them today, we will see more of them tonight, and this is a movement, make no question of it, much is made of a watershed in history, we really have one here it would seem. judging by the complexion

of many of these protests, many of them have more white faces in them than black. 0k, thank you david. let's go live to cleveland, ohio and speak to long—time activist, bashirjones, who became his city's first muslim council representative. thanks for being with us. thank you for the invitation. can i get your reaction to this announcement by the nfl al, saying that they got it wrong. the fact that we had to wait until the murder of george floyd, but it is still a blessing. we are thankful that people are moving forward and the death of george floyd was not in vain but now he is being

honoured byjustice not in vain but now he is being honoured by justice and honoured by justice and honoured by, people were upset with colin kneeling, but we are even more upset as a country with the police officer kneeling on the neck of george floyd. it has been an extraordinary 12 days. can you talk me through it from your personal point of view, because we have seen time and time again young black men while in police custody, or when they come into contact with police, and in this instance, george floyd's death has sparked something really extraordinary. it's embarrassing as a country,

as the world looks at us. we area as the world looks at us. we are a country that we travel around and police the world, but we yet have been unable to police ourselves, a black man in this country, as a black man in this country, as a black man in this country, as a black man in this country at breaks my heart for a country i love so much to not feel safe in. recently a march in cleveland, ohio, 4000 showed up to a march. we are suffering issues in ourown march. we are suffering issues in our own city of cleveland with the murder of tamir rice, desmond franklin and so many other names who have not received justice. we are saying to america, the country that we love, you have too much going on at home to police anyone else. and you mentioned those names there and so many people who haven't received justice, do you think you have confidence now that things are going to change? no. but we still must plant the seeds for the next generation, and

structural racism is a real thing in america and so we dismantled at, there will be other lake faces by different names, but i can guarantee you that this is a generation that isa that this is a generation that is a little bit different. i am not saying that we should loot because looting does not honour the dead. destroying buildings won't do it. we must destroy a system that promotes structural racism. and how do you do that? we are now 12 days on and protesters are still coming out in their thousands in the streets peacefully, and what changes would you like to see? here in cleveland, wejust passed something very monumental. i've brought some legislation and co—sponsored it with other counsel people in the city of cleveland, we have now declared racism a public health issue, so we are moving things legislatively and for everybody out there, this is not a black issue, that is not a white issue, this is everybody versus racist, and i'm calling on everyone around the world that we must stand up against hatred. hatred in your city, your country, and begin to look at those who need the help and uplift them, because if we don't stand up for human beings, who will stand for us? and what would be your message to washington? messages...

we're getting prepared for an election, we hope to remove the manifestation of structural racism. president trump is the manifestation of structural racism, and we hope with this upcoming election to remove him from the white house that was built by african—americans. from the white house that was built by african-americans. and just lastly, i want to go back to, how confident and optimistic you were and you said that you weren't, but that won't stop the fight for changes. is that a depressing, negative note or is that you being realistic? i think it is both, unfortunately. ithink it's both. when you have to sit and talk with the family of desmond franklin who was shot and killed by an off—duty police officer and watched them sob, not even knowing truly if

they will receive justice. thousands upon thousands of black and brown people have faced that same issue here in america stop eisa to america, we don't have time to police anyone else. we have got some issues at home that we need to handle. thank you for speaking so clearly and passionately about your experiences in what is happening there in the us. we really appreciate your time. thank you so much for caring, thank you. the number of people who've died after testing positive for the coronavirus in the uk has passed 40,000. britain is now only the second country in the world to reach that figure, after the united states. here's our health editor, hugh pym. for families and friends of the bereaved, some of whom spent weeks in intensive care, there've been months of grief and emotional turmoil. my mum, she was my best friend. she was kind, funny. this is just the worst pain in the world.

i feel like without the proper protection, then more things like this and more families will lose a loved one. since the first uk death in early march, a total of 40,000 have now died after testing positive for coronavirus. the government's chief scientific adviser said keeping the death total to 20,000 or below would be a good outcome. it's now above 40,000. how do you assess that outcome given where we are now? the day that the number of deaths from coronavirus has gone over 40,000 is a time of sorrow for us all. we've got to remember that each one of these is an impact on a family that will never be the same again. and my heart goes out to them all. and it makes me redouble my determination to deal with this virus.

so, how did we get here? on 11 march, the world health organization formally declared a pandemic. that day, spanish football fans were in liverpool for a champions league football fixture. the next day, testing and tracking of new community cases was stopped, with resources focusing on hospitals. the four—day cheltenham racing festival was in full swing. on 16 march, people were told to avoid pubs and other social venues, and work from home if possible. the next day, the chief scientific adviser made this prediction. if we can get this down to numbers 20,000 and below, that's a good outcome. on 23 march, lockdown began across the uk. on 21 april, the daily death toll hit a peak, with more than 1000 deaths. since then, the overall total has climbed and now stands atjust over 40,000 deaths, though this doesn't include those in all settings where there wasn't a test. some experts argue the government should have

reacted more quickly after seeing what was happening in italy. we had two to three weeks more time to get ready for this, but i think we just took it too easy, to be very frank. i think we assumed that we were different, that somehow we were going to respond in a different way, that we could cope. and then, by the time they realised they had the problem, it was too late. the uk covid—19 death toll, at around 40,000, is ahead of other european countries, with italy next on the latest reported figure atjust over 33,500, followed by france, spain and belgium. but adjusted for the size of the population, belgium has the highest death rate, at around 84 per 100,000 people, with the uk at 60, a little above spain, italy and france. there are slight differences in the way each country calculates its figures.

this virus has hit lots of very developed nations with robust healthcare systems, robust health infrastructures, and it's taken a lot of people by surprise. and i don't think the uk is alone in having been taken by surprise. i think we need to essentially wait till the end of the pandemic and then have a dissection of what happened and learn lessons from it. for now, the authorities will focus on testing as many people as possible and then tracing their contacts, seen as the best way to suppress the virus. hugh pym, bbc news. so as hugh's report showed, the uk now has the second highest coronavirus death toll in the world after the united states. there's been much debate about whether the uk figures reflect policy mistakes made early on. was the country under—prepared? should lockdown have happened earlier? i asked siouxsie wiles — a microbiologist — why the uk has fared so poorly. look, i think we all had the same evidence of what was happening, we also what was happening to italy and every country could have been there and made different decisions and so i think it is partly arrogance, maybe

overconfidence, and perhaps a lack of compassion by those in positions of power. so what do you mean then by overconfidence and a lack of compassion? is this just wrong decisions made early on? i think so. it is clearly about what people valued, and so i think there was a real feeling that well, you know, you could just protect the vulnerable, thinking that it was just the over 80s or something and somehow allowing this virus to run through would mean it was better in the long run. i think those who really understand infectious diseases would never take that call for an unknown agent. we still have no idea what the long—term consequences for this, for lots of people will be for this infection. so keeping it out, stamping it out was clearly the best option. of course politicians have to make different calculations as well, they are not just scientists

just making a decision on one issue, they have to factor in the economy, people! lives adversely on loads of different ways as well. absolutely, but i think that also brings a little bit to mind that somehow people are not the economy, and i think economists now are realising that that is not true either. new zealand has done hugely well, but it doesn't have for example a city the size of london, isn't as connected to the rest of the world as the uk. that's very true, although in the early stages of the pandemic that doesn't matter so much, it is much more about how many introductions of the virus there are. what new zealand realised was that watching italy, if we did not act strongly and faster we would be in the same position, we would be in a worse position because we didn't have the same number of intensive care beds or ventilators per capita that italy had.

so it was more about stopping the human to human spread and what we realised was actually we didn't have the capacity to do that, our contact tracing wasn't good enough and so for us at strict measure of locking down was the quickest way to deal with the virus. other countries could have made the same choice. i see, and what you make now, we're running out of time, but what do you make of the uk its restrictions now? well, the virus is not under control so we should expect many more deaths, it is very sad. i think everybody needs to be doing things about understanding how they can prevent transmission, how they can try and stop the virus from getting into theirfamilies. you are watching bbc news , the headlines this hour: the us national football league has reversed its stance against players protesting by taking the knee. it's said it was wrong to stop them doing so. well, those developments from the nfl came after police in the us city of minneapolis have been banned from using chokeholds following a wave of angry protests against the death in custody of george floyd. on friday, president trump said that every american must receive equal treatment from law enforcement, regardless of race, gender, or creed. he's been criticised for saying he hoped george floyd

was "looking down" and "saying this was a great day". for days, the people of washington have been taking their calls for change to the white house. now, the city's mayor has approved her own — the renaming of an area on the president's doorstep black lives matter plaza. but nearby, the protests go on in the shadow of the memorial to martin luther king. some scenes of police brutality he's witnessed in recent days may have seemed disturbingly familiar. there continue to be staggering and disturbing incidents involving police. man: get a medic! in buffalo, new york, a 75—year—old protester was shoved to the ground by an officer. he's seen motionless and bleeding from his skull

as police file past without coming to his aid. two officers have been suspended. but it's just the latest in a torrent of apparently unjustified use of force at these protests. an assault from behind in seattle. man: what are you doing? the arrest in charleston of a man peacefully trying to reason with officers. and police in la driving into protesters, to name but a few examples. for the incident that sparked all this, three officers have now been charged with aiding and abetting murder. another‘s already been charged with murdering george floyd. minneapolis says officers will now be required to intervene if they see a colleague using unauthorised force. the president of the united states. the president's called for authorities to continue to be tough on the street, but has also talked of equality for black people. they have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. they have to receive it. we all saw what happened last week. we can't let that happen. hopefully george is looking down right now and saying there's a great thing that's

happening for our country, there's a great day for him, it's a great day for everybody. nobody's ever done for the black community what president trump has done — think of it. well, it is easy to say there should be fair treatment for african—americans, but given the deep—rooted issues with racism in this country, and as we're seeing almost daily with police culture, that is of course far harder to achieve in practice. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. france says its forces have killed a key islamist militant leader in mali. del died on wednesday in what she called ‘a daring operation' which is being seen as a major success in the fight against islamic extremism in the region. rich preston has this report.

mali has been besieged by islamist militants since 2012. dozens of attacks over the yea rs have left dozens of attacks over the years have left thousands of malians dead, with violence spreading across the region. the man in charge, abdel malek drouk del, commanding the group calling itself al-qaeda in the islamic maghreb. imitating a group made influence for attacks in the united states. mali was a french colony until 1960 when islamist ‘s stormed it, and it sought help from a former colonial power with french and united nation's support, the islamist ‘s were suppressed but not beaten. this announcement from the french armed forces minister is a significant victory in the fight against the millers militants, saying that droukdal

and others were killed in a severe blow to the terrorist groups. the news comes as thousands of malians gathered in the capital malians —— bamako asking for the leader of the country to step down, saying he failed and that is seven saying he failed and that is seve n yea rs saying he failed and that is seven years of rule should end. transmack it's time for everything to change, our armies demoralised, the money has been diverted. soldiers don't get theirfood has been diverted. soldiers don't get their food rations. we are the laughing stock of the whole region. france has around 5000 troops in mali, alongside 13,000 un peacekeepers although the killing of the militant leader isa killing of the militant leader is a success story in this long—running battle, the security of mali as a whole and the safety of its people is unlikely to change anytime soon. a sign that the lockdown is being eased around the world is the gradual return of professional sport. we've seen football matches being played in various countries , although usually

the games take place behind closed doors. that's not the case in vietnam though , where the fans are also making a comeback. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. in namh din, you would think that covid—19 never even existed. dozens of supporters showing their colours ahead of the big match. yes, masks are being worn, temperatures are being worn, temperatures are being taken but apart from that, anything seems, well, com pletely that, anything seems, well, completely normal. transmack vietnam is always ready to fight the out takes, says the supporter. the measures taken to fight the virus are varies good. that is why our league resumed in full blast of other leagues in the world. and look at the crowd. no social distancing here. people

standing shoulder to shoulder. the authorities in vietnam took the strictest of measures to fight the virus. easy to do when you are a 1—party state. but it worked. the country had little more than 300 cases and not a single death, which means a welcome return for the national sport. translation: we all know how much football needs spectators. matches at a stadium filled with fans are so wonderful. not saying this to comparison with other countries but vietnamese football has returned after the covid—19 out make which shows how well we have bought the virus. it wasn't the greatest results for the home fans. their team lost to—1. but the fact they were here to see it is the biggest victory of them all. tim allman, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter,

i'm @lvaughanjones. i'm lewis vaughan jones. well, it's certainly not going to feel like a day injune out there on saturday. and certainly not compared to what we had last week, when temperatures were in the mid to high—20s. saturday is going to be a blustery one with further showers. and low pressure is firmly in charge of our weather. you can see the clouds circling around the area of low pressure very close to scotland, and actually through the early hours, we're seeing a band of cloud and rain slipping southwards across the uk, accompanied by some pretty strong winds. it's the weather front that's linked to this low pressure, and this low pressure will hang around through most of saturday and then by sunday, it looks as though it's going to clear away. but through the early hours, we've got a band of more persistent rain stretching

from the north, moving due south. it does look as though the south of the country is actually going to wake up to some sunshine, but look how that cloud, that rain—bearing cloud slips southwards through the course of the day, so i think most of us will catch at least a little bit of rain. but the chances are that during the afternoon the skies will clear across more northern parts of the country and the sun will come out. across the south, middle of the afternoon, where we'll probably have most of the cloud and the outbreaks of rain. now, the wind arrows you can see here, those are the gusts of wind, and in places they are in excess of 40 mph, perhaps even up to 50. 50 mph in gusts isjust about gale—force, and that's a strong wind for the time of the year. certainly whipping those trees around. temperatures in the sunshine in the north will probably peak at around 19 for example in the lowlands of scotland. further south, more like the low or the mid—teens, nippy in those gusty winds. showers will continue into saturday night

and early hours of sunday, but there is an indication that low pressure and its weather front will drift a little bit further towards the east during the course of sunday. sunday on the north sea coast blustery with showers, but even here, they will eventually fade a little bit later on in the day. and i think for most of us, overall, sunday is looking better, particularly the further west and the north you are. so, again, another fine day in glasgow. and the outlook actually shows that the weather will be stabilising itself as we go through next week. perhaps not all that sunny and not all that warm, but winds will die down. that's it from me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the national football league in the united states has reversed its stance against players speaking out. the commissioner of the nfl, roger goodell, said it had been wrong to stop players from peacefully protesting during the national anthem, as they did by taking the knee. a surprise set of employment figures from the us has led to hopes the us economy is on its way back despite the coronavirus pandemic. two and a half million jobs were created in may. however that's only 10% of the jobs lost over the past three months. more than 40,000 people are now known to have died in the uk from coronavirus according to latest government figures. britain is only the second country in the world to surpass the number after the us. the toll rose by 357 on friday.