this is bbc news — im nancy kacungira with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. britain's prime minister boris johnson tells the bbc that his government didn't understand coronavirus at the start of the pandemic — and could have handled things differently. when you look back at this crisis, everybody can see that this was something that was new, that we didn't understand in the way that we would've liked in the first few weeks and months. huge crowds attend friday prayers at hagia sophia in istanbul — for the first time in more than eighty years. but many outside turkey are critical. iraq creates a city in the desert to bury its coronavirus dead. we report on the scale of the outbreak there.

black lives matter in brazil. we have a special report from the country where police killed nearly six times as many people as in the us last year. borisjohnson has conceded that the way the uk government responded to the coronavirus pandemic might have been different, if the nature of the virus had been better understood. in a bbc interview to mark the end of his first year in office, the british prime minister also admitted there were "very open questions" about the timing of the lockdow back in march. he was speaking exclusively to our political editor laura kuenssberg. 366 days in number ten. hi, laura. hello. welcome, welcome.

he won an election... sanitiser? we left the eu... you walked through this door as prime minister... but the days have been dominated by a crisis no—one could have imagined — covid—i9. what have you got wrong so that you get it right next time? i think, laura, when you look back at this crisis, everybody can see that this was something that was new, that we didn't understand in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months, and i think probably, you know, the single thing that we didn't see at the beginning was the extent to which it was being transmitted asymptomatically from person—to—person, but i am very proud of many of the things that people in our public services did, that members of the public did, to deal with coronavirus. what you are saying today now is that the response was too slow because the disease wasn't understood? i think it's fair to say there are things we need to learn about how we handled it in the early stages.

i think what people really want to focus on now, is what are we doing to prepare for the next phase? but prime minister, people also want to know what happened though, prime minister... you're talking about this as though it is in the past, laura, and it's not, it's the present. hindsight isn'tjust a wonderful thing, it is also a useful thing. sure. and people want to know what happened. 16,000 people died, who have tested positive, what do you think the mistakes were? we mourn every one of those who lost their lives, and our thoughts are very much with their families, and... were you taking it... and i take full responsibility for everything that government did. your health secretary claimed a prospective ring had been thrown round care homes, you know that's not the case. well, we have done a huge amount. it was too late, wasn't it? i mentioned the difficulty of testing, but actually, thanks to the fantastic work of our care home sector,

if you look at what is happening now, the number of new outbreaks in care homes is massively down, and we're testing every care home worker weekly... so it'll be different next time? testing every care home worker weekly, every care home resident every 28 days, we will increase testing... what is your priority now? i mean, you have had this roller coaster year? the priorities are exactly what they always have been. except more so. we are doubling down. covid has taught me that for too long this country has moved too slowly sometimes, so we need to go faster. yes, the country has been going through a very tough time, and psychologically it has been an extraordinary time for the country. but i also know this is a nation of incredible natural resilience, and fortitude, and imagination, and i think we will bounce back really much stronger than ever before. optimism, his

familiar trademark. do you see yourself being here for the very long—term ? well, we are working very hard, laura. i thought i'd got through this interview already, folks! but borisjohnson has already discovered the real challenge of life in power is perhaps surprise. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, downing street. lets round—up some of the other main developments. french citizens have been advised not to travel to neighbouring catalonia in spain, following a spike in coronavirus cases in the region. the border between the nations remains open but the french prime minister has urged residents not to travel until the situation improves. the top infectious disease expert in the united states, doctor anthony fauci, has said he doesn't think a return to universal lockdown is necessary — despite surging coronavirus cases in many parts of the country. doctor fauci said americans hadn't yet given more basic measures a chance to work. president trump signed a series

of executive orders that allow prescription drugs from canada and other countries where prices are cheaper, to be imported into the us. the president says this affects insulin and epi—pens, and the move would "completely restructure" the prescription drug market in the us. formula one has scrapped this season's races in the united states, canada, mexico and brazil because of the pandemic. the organisers believe it would be irresponsible to go ahead with the events, as infection rates in the americas remain high. three grand prixs have instead been added to the calendar in europe. the historic hagia sophia site has held friday prayers for the first time since turkish authorities ruled that it could be re—converted into a mosque. the 1,500 year old unesco world heritage site was originally built as an orthodox cathedral. it was then converted to a mosque in the middle ages, and became a museum in 193a.

its return to a mosque hasn't been without controversy — as paul adams reports. a vast crowd to witness a new chapter in hagia sophia's 1500 year history. this grand cathedral turned mosque turned museum once again a place of muslim worship. for older conservative turks, a moment of huge national and religious pride. translation: our 86 years of longing ends today. we have been waiting for the opening of hagia sophia for a long time and thanks to our president and the court decision today we are going to perform friday prayers at hagia sophia. translation: we are witnessing history today, the day hagia sophia returns to its origin. a moment of triumph too for turkey's president, a day to put other concerns of a fragile economy and political challenges and the effects of coronavirus to one side. his supporters compare him to the sultan who captured

constantinople in 1163 and claimed this byzantine cathedral for islam. for the president's critics, it is all part of a worrying trend. this is a symbolic act of reversing the turn towards the west and secularism and establishing the fact that turkey defends the right of islam as much as it defends its own national rights. inside, 500 invited guests attended prayers in a vast space revered by muslims and christians alike. the pope has called this moment painful, but mr erdogan says christians have nothing to fear, hagia sophia will remain open to all. byzantine mosaics depicting jesus and the virgin mary will be covered, but only during prayers.

in an address full of references to the country's ottoman glories, turkey's top muslim cleric said a long period of national heartbreak had come to an end. but away from the mosque, not everyone was celebrating. some see the president's move as needlessly provocative. translation: i think it would be much better if it remained as a museum. yes, we are muslims, we need mosques in turkey. if they want to use it as a mosque it is fine, but there is no need to argue with the whole world. this was a day for president erdogan to savour but for all the sense of triumph, today's move does little to foster unity in a country full of divisions. paul adams, bbc news. china has defended its vision, beijing said it was a legitimate and necessary

response to unreasonable measures by the united states. that refers to washington's decision to shut down a chinese consulate in texas. here's our state department correspondent. he own aggressive alchemy of administration officials who are saying they are completely fed up with the extent of chinese espionage that cases have increased by 1300% over the past decade. this has made the past decade. this has made the us less secure economically and they are going to just that —— take decisive action. then we have chinese hawks like mike pompeo who casts this as a sort of existential struggle between the freedoms of the democratic world and the tearing of the chinese communist party. then add to that you have a president who has made blaming china for the pandemic at key part of his election platform. so you have a very confrontational tone. iraq's health system has been worn down by years of war and poor investment — and now it's being overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus infections, which were up by 600% last month. fighters from the armed popular mobilisation units,

which were formed to fight is, are now being mobilised to bury baghdad s dead, in a new cemetery in the desert. reda el mawy reports. on the cusp of life and death. like many iraqis, jamileh saadoun has endured much in her lifetime. her son has been by her side for the last ten days. he is risking his own life to care for her. and he will stay until she recovers, or until she passes.

in this battle, the doctors are heavily outnumbered. drjafar nassir says he only has half the medics he needs. they are dealing with the double trauma of nursing the sick and putting their families in danger. outside, safir el mehdi is helping someone find the remains of a loved one. before the outbreak, safir was a taxi driver. now, he drives bodies to the cemetery.

none of the usual burial sites will accept the bodies of covid—i9 patients. so, safir drives the bodies to the desert, south of the capital, where a vast new city for the dead has risen from the sands. all 3,000 graves are for victims of the virus. sadly, jamileh, who we filmed with her son a few days ago, did not survive. workers try their best to provide some dignity in death. the government has been overwhelmed. it has turned to groups who fought so—called islamic state to bury the dead.

iraqis are used to conflict, and this fight will get worse before it gets better. reda el mawy, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the two friends who kept a 20—year—old pledge to share a big lottery win. the us space agency nasa has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol here once an everyday part of the soldiery locked drudgery and danger, now no soldiery locked drudgery and danger, how no more soldiery locked drudgery and

danger, now no more after almost four decades. a private house not doing any harm to anyone, i don't really see why all these people should wander in and say you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs on the prowl at worchester sure park and already they've been met with a roar of approvalfrom already they've been met with a roar of approval from visitors. you make they are lovely, yeah, really sweet, really cute. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... britain's prime minister boris johnson tells the bbc that his government didn't understand coronavirus at the start of the pandemic — and could have handled things differently. huge crowds attend friday prayers at hagia sophia in istanbul — for the first time in more than eighty years. but many outside turkey are critical. it's been a week of changing

course for president trump — he urged the public to wear masks repeatedly, and cancelled the republican convention because florida has been hit hard by coronavirus. with the presidential election little more thab 100 days away — our north america editor, jon sopel analyses the white house strategy. it's as though donald trump was given this shiny brand—new car injanuary 2017 and injuly 2020, he suddenly discovered that it's got a reverse gear. he slammed it into reverse and now he can't get it out and we are seeing reversals on all manner of different things. or as the british prime minister borisjohnson put it this week, more flip—flops than bournemouth beach. he's had to say that masks, far from being politically correct, are an act of patriotism. he said that the coronavirus, farfrom being a bad case of the sniffles, is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. he's had to perform a bit of a u—turn on schools going back, and, of course, he's abandon his plans to hold a huge event for his convention

injacksonville, florida. now, what has changed? the medical advice has remained consistent. what's changed is donald trump's position in the polls which, to say the least, are precarious. and i think his new campaign manager has gone to him, sat him down, given him a bucket of ice cold water and said, "this is serious. you have to change direction on these things." a lot of people are guffawing, or laughing at donald trump having to perform u—turns. i'm sure there are some people who are writing, "this could be the worst week ever of donald trump's "presidency," because he's had to do humiliating things that show weakness. but if he wins in november, i think the campaign strategist will say, "this was his best week ever." the death of george floyd in police custody in minneapolis had a profound impact across the world. not least in brazil — where last year police killed nearly six times as many people as in the us. brazil has a long history of racism and slavery —

more than five million people were enslaved there. our correspondent, katy watson reports from sao paulo. a week before the death of george floyd, brazilians were mourning one of their own. 14—year—old joao pedro matos pinto was killed while playing with friends. a botched police operation in a rio favela. two deaths thousands of kilometres apart, and millions united in grief and anger. "black lives matter here, too", they said. but history keeps repeating itself. and in the sao paulo favela of paraisopolis, people here are hardly living the american dream. guilherme was a 15—year—old with his whole life ahead of him. but a few weeks ago, he disappeared. his body found dumped on the outskirts of thecity. one policeman has since been arrested, the other

it's still on the run. translation: guilherme was such a good son. he helped me so much with his younger siblings. i'm afraid for my children now, not for me. i don't even have the will to live any more. friends and neighbours have come together but so much has changed. "the police should be protecting us," this woman tells me, "but they don't because of the cover of our skin." guilherme's death devastated this community but is a reality lived by so many, they're not the first community to suffer and sadly, they won't be the last. the culmination of racism, violence and poverty means it's also a reality that few people here think will ever change. brazilians were taught to believe that racism didn't exist, that everybody got along without being discriminated against.

it's what the president and jair bolsonaro still believes. due to this myth that everybody is equal, and even black people in brazil sometimes have difficulty to see themselves as black because here is not only about where you came from, it's the way you look like. so if you look like white, you are going to be treated as white even if your parents are black. that is slowly evolving. unlike the us, black people are the majority in brazil and there is more pride in being black than ever before but change is slow in the pandemic complicates progress. translation: black people are dying from gunshots, from hunger, and now from covid. as long as there's racists, there's no democracy. and fighting for democracy is fighting against the bolsonaro government. these are hard times. despite the challenges, these

past few months have offered a chance for reflection. this in a country where violence and exclusion are so often normalised. racism is being more openly discussed. people here can't ignore it any longer. so, could the winds of change finally moved brazil in a new direction? katy watson, bbc news, in sao paulo. malaysia says the us bank goldman sachs has agreed to pay out nearly four billion dollars to settle a dispute over the troubled state investment fund, one mdb. the finance ministry says that goldman sachs has recognised the misconduct of two of its former employees — claims that they deny. prosecutors allege that malaysia's former prime minister, najib razak spent much of the money on luxury goods. he's also denied wrongdoing. thousands of hungarians have joined protests against alleged government

interference in media freedom. it followed the resignations of dozens ofjournalists from hungary's leading leading independent news website, index, after their plea to resinstate their sacked editor — was dismissed. a decision he believes is related to the websites operations. our budapest correspondent nick thorpe sent this report. this march for the independence of the media in hungary is winding its way through the streets of budapest from the offices of index to the prime minister's headquarters up on the hill. the people taking part in this march blamed the prime minister personally for the pressure on index and its potential disappearance now. there were emotional scenes earlier today as more than 80 of the staff of index handed in their mass resignations. that happened just a few days after the editor in chief

was fired by the management. the staff are very clear in their own minds, that this amounts to an attempt by the right—wing government of the prime minister to why the takeover or close—down of index. ——of the prime minister to either takeover or close—down of index. index was by far the most popular critical or independent voice in the whole hungarian media landscape with more than a million daily page views on its site. therefore, its disappearance would seem to represent a pretty major victory the prime minister, whose government already enjoys a considerable dominance of the hungarian media. on another level, it could also harm him as his claima that hungary still has a diverse and free media will be severely damaged by the disappearance of index. nick thorpe, bbc news, budapest.

let's introduce you now to long—time friends joe feeney and tom cook who live in the us state of wisconsin, made a pact many years ago — that if one of them won the us powerball lottery they would share it. and now, decades later, tom's numbers came up and he's honoured the deal. joe — who you can see here — in the blue shirt — with tom and their wives — said he was stunned when his friend called to say they were sharing the jackpot worth 22 million us dollars. whenever the bigger winner comes, we're going to split it. so we buy every week. never really thinking it would happen. that happened many years ago, and itjust kind of continued. almost 20, i think. a handshake is a handshake, man. what can i lose, a few bucks? ican think i can think of a better way to retire. what can i lose, a few bucks? they laugh. he's right, it is a great way to retire. just before we go

though, a quick question? what would you do if you owned a laundry for nearly 70 years and have hundreds of items of clothing that's customers have neglected to pick up over the yea rs ? neglected to pick up over the years? well, you could do this... this is chan one g and his partner from taiwan. this... this is chan one g and his partnerfrom taiwan. both in their 80s his partnerfrom taiwan. both in their80s and his partnerfrom taiwan. both in their 80s and gained internet fame for modelling all of those left behind cleese pieces of clothing. the grandson put together the outfits and posted the pictures on instagram where they have gained more than 140,000 followers. they are now thinking about shooting a winter collection for later in the year. let's give you a reminder of our top story, borisjohnson has reminder of our top story, boris johnson has admitted reminder of our top story, borisjohnson has admitted that the uk government didn't understand the coronavirus in the first few weeks and months of the pandemic. in a bbc interview, he conceded that there were things that the government could've done differently in its handling of the crisis. that's it for me. don't forget, get in touch with me. i'm on twitter. things are watching, stay with us on bbc

news. hello again. i've been looking ahead to our weekend weather prospects, and for a saturday, i don't particularly like what i see. it's going to be a cloudy day for many of us with outbreaks of rain at times. now, looking at the satellite picture, just to our west, you can see just how extensive the cloud is, and it's a complex area of low pressure that's going to be bringing different zones of rain across the country. a couple of weather fronts mixed in with this lot, they will be pushing eastwards. now, the first of those weather fronts is bringing rain the moment to scotland across wales, across wales, across england too. as that clears, we will be left with a lot of cloud, some drizzle for northern ireland and a few heavier bursts of rain, so a real mixture of weather here, those rather murky conditions will extend to scotland. now, it's going to be a humid night, temperatures around 17—18 degrees for a low for some. now, tomorrow's forecast is a cloudy start with some

drizzle around, i've mixed in the jet stream winds here, and hopefully you can see a dipjust here. that's responsible for this line of very heavy showers that will be extending in across the republic and northern ireland. so, some heavy downpours around. as that dip in the jet stream, or trough, hits this weather front that's over the english channel, it will cause a wave to develop and, yes, there will be a zone of heavy rain across east anglia and southeast england, but this wave could push into central southern england, the midlands, lincolnshire and yorkshire. there is some uncertainty about exactly the zone of the wettest weather through the afternoon, but some areas will get pretty wet, certainly in the east. as far as the cricket goes, i think we will see some interruptions to play for the third test. monday looks like a complete wash—out, that's one to watch as well. now, through saturday night, we will continue to see outbreaks of rain clearing away from east anglia in southeast england. the skies will clear for a time and it will begin to start to turn a little bit less humid, but temperatures still around 12—13 degrees or so. for sunday, it's the better half of the weekend

for many of us. broadly speaking, it's a day of sunshine and showers. although, there will be some lengthier outbreaks of rain working its way into northwest scotland, and it will be a breezier kind of day, but feeling significantly fresher. more pleasant, you might argue, particularly with a bit more in the way of sunshine coming through. temperatures for most rest between 17—22 which isn't going to feel too bad at all. into next week, well, for monday, we've got a lot of cloud, so it's not exactly aaa rated weather, we are going to see cloud and rain on monday, heavy rain as well, then it turns drier and warmer as the week goes on.

this is bbc news.

the headlines. britain's prime minister, boris johnson, has admitted that his government didn't understand the nature of the coronavirus pandemic in its "first few weeks and months." speaking to the bbc, mrjohnson also said there were open questions about whether lockdown had been imposed too late. huge crowds attend friday prayers at hagia sophia the president of turkey, recep tayyip erdogan, has he said 350,000 people took part inside and in the surrounding streets. the 1500 —year—old world heritage site became a museum in 1934. authorities have created a city interactive very the record number of people have died in the technician of coronavirus. doctors have warned that a return to normal life would be premature. —— due

to the number of people have died.