this baby here was crying at him so we picked here up and took her inside. the previous evening, we had found a dead here in the garden, so we realised she was orphaned. it was lockdown. we could not take her to a hare rescue or anything. i started googling what we could do and how to look after her. she had to bond with us to take the milk because they are notoriously difficult to hand rear. every four or five hours, bottle—feeding a tiny hare? we were weighing and measuring it, letting it run round the lounge so it was quite good. she was getting milk off us, on her own free will, she would sit on our lap, almost as if to say, where is my bottle? it was fun because i could cuddle her and i gave her milk a couple of times. we had her eight weeks in the house, hand rearing her, and, after eight weeks, got her ready for release day, got the kids to say goodbye. then she started

coming back every day. we thought we would check out their claims but, sure enough, on our arrival, clover was waiting for her interview. i did not know whether we would see her today but she is alreadyjust following their family around the corner. the whole family was greeted and sniffed. even i was investigated. changing my camera battery, clover came too. even when packing away, it was worth seeing if any of my equipment was edible. however long this family friendship will last is anyone‘s guess. maybe clover will bring her own family for a visit one day. such a sweet story. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. the sunny spells, the scattered showers will continue throughout the rest of the day. temperatures are a little

down on those of friday. quite breezy as well but the wind is not as strong. we will keep that cool feel for the second half of the weekend. today, showers are dominating in the north—western parts of england, northern ireland, south—western scotland. and a fair rash of them in the north—east of scotland. they are being pushed further southward and eastward as we go through this evening and overnight. given the fact they are showers and the wind is slowly going to ease, it will be quite a chilly night. particularly in the glens of scotland. down to single figures in southern and eastern areas. sunday, the main difference is high pressure is building in from the west, winds later in the north. it is more likely we will see more showers across england and wales. hello this is bbc news.

the headlines... a warning that the country is at "a critical moment" in the coronavirus pandemic. figures show the highest number of detected infections is in young people as many students prepare to return to universities. several more areas of england have been added to the government's watchlist of places with high rates of coronavirus — they'll be closely monitored, and restrictions may be re—imposed. government departments in england are told to get civil servants back into offices "quickly" following the coronavirus lockdown but one union has described the government's attitude as "outdated". in france, the highest daily rise in coronavirus infections is recorded since the start of the pandemic. in australia, tensions on the rise as anti—lockdown protestors clash with police. here, the prime minister criticises protests which saw environmental campaigners extinction rebellion target three of the uk's printing presses owned by rupert murdoch.

now on bbc news, a behind—the—scenes look at the preparations as some of the biggest names in italian opera gatherfor a glittering night under the stars at the verona arena. music plays. italy, home of opera — and the night the music came alive again at the famous roman arena in verona. after months of silence, a dazzling gala concert with a big cast of italian opera stars. they sing.

i missed to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the orchestra. i'm going behind the scenes to find out what the future holds for live opera. music is something that goes directly to the soul. it's not important, you know, the quality now, we start to think about the quality later, maybe in a few months, but now, let's do music. and will audiences return?

i'm from verona, and the arena, it is our place to meet and enjoy music. so it was very important for me to be here tonight — the first occasion of reopening it. sorry. they sing. for an opera fan such as myself, it's a real treat to visit the roman amphitheatre in verona in northern italy which since 1913, has hosted a summer opera festival. but it's with some trepidation that i come here, because like many, i'm wondering how live opera performances are going to survive

the coronavirus crisis. the arena's general manager and artistic director, cecilia gasdia, has invited me to come and see for myself how she and her team are all pulling together to make this year's festival work. cecilia tells me that social distancing rules mean, for now, opera's are being staged in concert form with no lavish sets and costumes and without intervals.

cecilia turned to management after a long career as a celebrated soprano. she's performed at the arena and appreciates its marvellous acoustics. the opening concert is dedicated to italy's health workers. about 25 of the country's opera stars are singing arias from italian opera. i joined them at last—minute rehearsals in a nearby venue. but how did opera singers keep themselves in shape to prepare

themselves for a live performance after months of lockdown? well, opera singers are a little bit like athletes — their artform is physically demanding, and they have to constantly train and use their voice to maintain their fitness. the world renowned tenor francesco meli and his soprano wife, serena giambrone, could at least practice together during lockdown at home in genoa. the audience is... i don't know, many, many people are very different, like the theatre and everybody is here for you, for the performers, for the... ..to take the emotion, and the whole arena is like this.

lockdown has been tough on singers. many artists worldwide like soprano donata d'annunzui lombardi are facing very uncertain futures. i had many cancellations, because i had five productions that were cancelled. this is the destiny for every artist for every singer in this period. but anyway, i think that a real artist is always free to build another world, another... opportunity? yes, opportunity. # ave maria...#. bass baritone alex esposito kept up his singing via video links during italy's strict quarantine period. alex lost a friend to covid—i9 and believes he suffered himself.

i started with symptoms, fever, tiredness, and i lost the taste and the smell. so i'm quite sure that i had it, and i was alone. i would've been scared. you are from bergamot, which is one of the cities that was worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic. how did you feel when all of that was going on? very sad, of course, because i have a lot of friends there and relatives, of course. and they told me the only two sounds they could hear, it was of the ambulance and the bells of the church for dead people. so, how did you manage to maintain your normal routine of practising your vocal exercises and so on?

of course, when i started to feel better, i thought, what was the future of my life and of myjob, of course and my art? it was soon possible, i started to practice again alone to move my voice and to run to the light because i wanted to exit from this. lombardi was the part of italy at the pandemic‘s epicentre in which 35,000 italians died. milan is the regional capital, and mezzo—soprano annalisa stroppa lives just outside the city. she sings. yeah, the first month for me was totally in silence. because i feel that the voice didn't want to sing. i was not in a mood.

are you worried about the future for opera and future performances in other parts of the world? it's a very worrying period. of course, everybody thinks of how it will be in the future, how we can come back to work. the music is my life. it's not only a job for me. i miss a lot the relationship with the public, i miss to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the sounds of the orchestra. mounting operas is extremely expensive, and operating with audiences at greatly reduced capacity is just not financially viable. how can theatres survive? the arena normally seats 13,500, but with current guidelines,

that's had to drop right down to 3,000. outside the arena, i see a group of artists demanding more government funding for the arts. as general manager, cecilia gasdia oversees 1,400 staff at the arena di verona. her leadership qualities were apparent from childhood. she was the second of three daughters.

but could nature wreck months of planning? there is heavy rain in the run—up the concert. even the 14th century italian poet dante seems to be wondering if the weather will spoil it. relief all around, the sun appears for the stars of italian opera. and as final preparations get under way, i catch up

with one of the conductors, ricardo frizza, and ask him what it's like to conduct an orchestra with new social distancing rules. it's difficult, it's not the same as before. because, of course, the more distance between the musicians, there's been more complications for the ensemble, for them playing together. does the music suffer in quality because of social distancing, in your opinion? yes. it lacks a bit of precision. but i think it's better to lack precision than stop the music. music is something that goes directly to the soul, it's not important, you know, the quality now. we will start to get into the quality maybe later, in a few months, but now, let's do music. 0ne singer limbers up his voice at the arena and attracts a few curious passersby.

he sings. at last, the countdown begins. well, there's an air of nervous expectancy. it's just over an hour before tonight's gala concert begins, and the tension is almost palpable. musicians from the orchestra slowly taking up their position behind me, and also members of the audience are taking their place. this is the first time that the arena di verona is staging a live performance since lockdown ended. there are even some members of the paparazzi assembled, because there are various dignitaries in the audience, including the president of the italian senate. it's also a return to the arena for locals and visitors. why have you decided to come

to the opera tonight? to support the arts, but also because a lot of people every year come here to verona to see the opera. i still remember when i came to my office, because i still had the right to go to the office, most people couldn't. and i live just a few streets down there, and i came to my office which is over here, and the entire square was a total desert. it was so heartbreaking. so unbelievably heartbreaking, and it's so great to see it alive again. i think it's very important for the people staying in verona. and are you nervous about sitting in the audience with many people? no. no, no. absolutely not. this isn'tjust an important event for the arena di verona. it's also very significant for the whole of the italian nation, because it represents a reawakening of the country's culture. there is one big difference, though, this time, hand

sanitiser, and i have to have my temperature checked... ..before i can go in. and unless you're performing, masks are compulsory. gong rings. and they like to start them young at the arena di verona. six—year—old lucas conducts the national anthem. and then we are in for a treat, as one opera star after another performs solo on stage. she sings.

so, annalisa stroppa, and the audience absolutely love her. she's a very attractive, engaging performer — singing aria there, rosina in the very popular barber of seville by rossini, and rosina determined to use all her wiles to capture the heart of her dashing lover. he sings.

and now we have donata lombardi who is singing, again, a very famous aria from tosca by puccini. she sings. violin plays.

he sings. so, you can see how the audience absolutely loved francesco meli — singing an aria there from il trovatore by verdi. the knight talking about his eternal

love for his fiancee, leonora. and considered to be the leading tenor here in italy, francesco meli, and, you can just tell from the reaction of the audience here that they loved it. bravo! she sings. applause. he sings.

and the last performer is the extraordinary baritone, leo nucci, singing an aria for my favourite opera — rigoletto by verdi. he sings.

applause. then the artistic director cecelia gasida joins in the finale — a personal triumph for her. the arena di verona has not been silenced.

the title of the rousing popular neapolitan song which the opera stars sing at the end of the concert is ‘o sole mio' — meaning "oh, my sunshine." well, with economic downturns and warnings of new waves of covid—19, let us indeed hope that we can all look forward to a sunnier future. they sing.

hello there. although it is a shower rebate there area although it is a shower rebate there are a good deal of places that have escaped the showers particularly in the south. this was earlier as you can see in west sussex and further north in derbyshire, the clouds were more threatening with showers for the north. you can see them gathering in northern ireland and south—western scotland, england and wales and they were ten to move further southwards and eastwards because of the brisk northwest elite which has made it feel a little cool even with the sunshine. overnight,

it will turn chilly under the starry skies and that even with those showers continuing to feed southwards and eastwards. it starts to ease a little from parts of scotland, the glens go down to 5 degrees, also chilly in southern and eastern areas with clear skies but a bit more cloud first thing in wales, northern and western england and thatis northern and western england and that is courtesy of this weather front but this little bit of high pressure will come in through the day which means that for many, the winds will ease down on what we have seen winds will ease down on what we have seen to date and the showers will as well in scotland and northern ireland, mostly they will be further southin ireland, mostly they will be further south in england and wales. i can't promise it will be altogether dry for scotland or northern ireland, just a few less showers and a spot sunshine but still quite a chilly breeze coming from the north. on the whole, it will feel a bit warmer as it will even with the showers further south in england and wales and they could be heavy showers in the afternoon particularly in the east as that front clears away overnight. high pressure keeps the

weather front at bay in the south on monday and in fact there could be some patchy fog in the south. that could linger into the first part of the rush hour which will be a new addition as we move into autumn and the nights get longer. further north, ill fog with outbreaks of rain and a milderfeeling, because we pick up the south—westerly and have lost the northerly —— hill fog. relatively mild steel for most, that will hold the south on tuesday into wednesday but eventually it will be swept away by the return of north—westerly later in the week and there is potentially something a bit more potent by next weekend. between 110w more potent by next weekend. between now and then, not a huge amount of rain but as ever, more on the website.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 6: a warning that the country is at a critical moment in the coronavirus pandemic as thousands of students prepare to return to universities across the uk. young people in leeds are urged to take responsbility for controlling the spread of the virus as the city is added to the covid—19 watchlist. government departments in england are told to get civil servants back into offices quickly, but unions say the attitude is outdated. borisjohnson criticises protests by environmental campaigners extinction rebellion targeting three printing presses owned by rupert murdoch. and coming up at 6:30pm, we'll have sportsday with all the action from another thrilling day at