today borisjohnson will detail the next stage in the lifting of restrictions. gyms, hairdressers, pubs with outdoor areas and non—essential shops will learn this afternoon if they can reopen as planned in a week's time. holidays abroad — a traffic light—style system will set out how we can travel. in scotland, hairdressers, garden centres and car showrooms can re—open from today. and in other news, israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, appears in court accused of corruption.

good afternoon. borisjohnson will announce this afternoon whether hairdressers, gyms, pubs with outdoor areas and non—essential shops will be allowed to open in england in a week's time as planned. members of the cabinet are meeting today and are expected to approve this next stage in easing the lockdown. the prime minister will also say more about proposals for ending the ban on foreign holidays. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. secondary schoolchildren are already used to being regularly tested for coronavirus. from friday the government wants everyone in england to do the same. it will offer two free lateral flow tests every week to everyone. they could be through work, community testing centres, from pharmacies or sent directly to your home. the regular testing is designed to pick up people who have the virus but don't have symptoms. alongside the vaccine roll—out, it's part of the government's strategy to open up again.

it's one of the key elements that will help us keep track of this disease. people self—isolate when they have a positive test so we keep that disease under control and it allows us to get on with opening up in a safe way our economy and our country again. for now, unlocking england looks on track. it's expected the prime minister will confirm later that shops, hairdressers and gyms can reopen next monday as hoped. pubs and restaurants will again be able to serve customers outdoors. he is also expected to outline some of what is being looked at in the longer term, such as the controversial possibility of covid status certificates, vaccine passports. under the plans, you would have to prove that you had been vaccinated, or had a recent negative test, or actually had coronavirus in the last six months and so had some immunity. for now, these covid passports would be used for big sporting events or music festivals. they won't be needed for public transport or shops, or in pubs to start with, although it's not been ruled out down the line.

i have reservations, the labour party have got reservations around the introduction of vaccine passports. we have an amazing take—up of the vaccine. it's being rolled out incredibly successfully by the nhs, it's not totally clear to me that we need a sledgehammer to crack a nut here. a0 conservative mps have already said they are opposed to the certificates. so there is likely to be a political row to play out yet. for now, though, the next step on the road map looks to be on course. helen catt, bbc news. with me is our health correspondent, laura foster. laura, correspondent, laura foster. a crucial time now fo easing laura, a crucial time now for the easing of restrictions. close attention on the data, then? yes, and alongside _ attention on the data, then? yes, and alongside the _ attention on the data, then? yes, and alongside the data, _ attention on the data, then? 1&1: and alongside the data, the government has a four point checklist. these are conditions they have to meet to lift restrictions further. firstly, the vaccine programme must be going well. so far, half the uk population has been

vaccinated. 5 million people have had their second jab. so that is looking good. .2, there must be evidence that vaccines are reducing the number of people getting seriously ill and dying with covid. we have seen research so far confirming this. moreover, the last few weeks, we have seen the number of deaths in hospital admissions for them, so that all looks good, though it is not clear how much is due to lock down and how much the vaccines. thirdly, they need to make sure any infection rates do not mean more people coming to hospital, which is about protecting the nhs and making sure that if you get ill, there is someone who can treat you. finally, the check is to make sure no new variants have appeared which could scupper everything i have listed. so, jeopardising the vaccine programme of the nhs. scientists have been looking at this for weeks, but only later today will be here what they want to do in light of it all. . ~ what they want to do in light of it all. ., ~ , ., , . all. indeed. thank you very much, laura foster- _ so today, the prime minister will also give details of a "traffic light" system for restarting international travel. our transport correspondent, caroline davis, looks

at how it could work. from the engine to the seats and every last screw, preparing for international travel takes time. ever since the prime minister mentioned the 17th of may as the first date when international travel could start from england, many in the travel industry began gearing up ready for then. while work is underway here at luton airport and across the uk, scotland, wales and northern ireland have yet to commit to a date. the industry is crossing its fingers that international travel will restart. the thing we need to hear is that travel is going to be back open. we are all trying to open, the uk, the economy and travel is an intrinsic part of that. all our teams are getting ready for restart. we believe and we hope that the 17th will be possible. we think with our amazing vaccination programme and the greater provision of testing, we think we should be able to get going. today, the prime minister will announce that when international

travel does restart, there will be a traffic—light system. anyone from england will be able to travel from green countries without needing to quarantine, although they will still need a test before they travel and once more once they arrive in the uk. those travelling from amber countries will need all of these tests and require people to quarantine at home on arrival for ten days, although if they pay for an extra test on the fifth day and it is negative, they can leave quarantine early. only uk residents will be allowed in from red countries, and they will need to pay for quarantine at a hotel, as well as taking the tests. this is a new testing centre set up at luton airport. the company behind it is expanding its capacity at other airports, too. tests will still need to be paid for by the passenger and they can be expensive. what we are hopeful for is we will start to see, as more countries get vaccinated, as that risk of infection reduces, that actually the number of tests you have to take will change, and the type of test will change.

obviously, the pcr test is the more complicated, the more expensive test. the lateral flow can be at a much reduced cost. so our view is, hopefully, we can work with governments to enable it to be at a lower cost of testing. exactly when international travel will be allowed is still not confirmed. the 17th of may could get pushed back. the next big question is where we will be able to go. some countries around the world, like israel and the us, have a high vaccination rate, while others like france are lagging behind. it is likely that will be a big factor in deciding which countries we can travel to. and how will all this paperwork be processed? even with small numbers of travellers, there have been long queues at the border. the hope is this will be streamlined or put on an app, in time. there are still a lot of questions about when international travel will get moving again. caroline davies, bbc news. our correspondent, guy hedgecoe, is live for us in valencia now.

guy, there must be a huge amount of expectation there from the spanish authorities about what is being announced here in the uk? yes. authorities about what is being announced here in the uk? yes, there is. as ou announced here in the uk? yes, there is- as you can — announced here in the uk? yes, there is- as you can see _ announced here in the uk? yes, there is. as you can see behind _ announced here in the uk? yes, there is. as you can see behind me, - announced here in the uk? yes, there is. as you can see behind me, this - is. as you can see behind me, this beachis is. as you can see behind me, this beach is getting quite busy now, because today is a holiday. there are quite a lot of people out and about today on the beaches and around the city of valencia. but in theory, all the people who are out and about our locals, from the region of valencia, and that's because restrictions in place at the moment across spain prevent people from travelling from one region to another, and obviously, there are hardly any foreign tourists around here. it is that lack of foreign tourists which has been so keenly felt by spain over the last year or so. in 2020, there were 65 million fewerforeign arrivals so. in 2020, there were 65 million fewer foreign arrivals than in a normal year, and that had a huge impact on the economy, which shrank by 11%. impact on the economy, which shrank by ii%. so going into this summer, the government is desperate to remedy that, as are hotel owners and the many hundreds of thousands of people who work in the tourism

sector. above all, they are very keen to get british tourists coming to visit again, because that is the single biggest tourism market for spain, the british market, and british tourists make up nearly a quarter of all foreign arrivals to spain in a normal year. thanks, guy. hairdressers and garden centres in scotland can reopen from today in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions. salons and barbers can welcome back customers with appointments only although most non—essential shops will have to stay closed for at least three more weeks. here's our scotland correspondent james shaw. a big day in scotland for barbers and hairstylists. and everyone who has been desperate to tame their lockdown locks. hair salons say they are taking high levels of bookings, but they are also having to deal with continuing health and safety restrictions which limit the amount of business they can do. cuts are by appointment only, and mobile services

are still not allowed. but at least stylists are back in business. it's such a relief, we're so happy to be back in a salon, just getting back into doing what we love most and seeing all our colleagues and all our regular clients coming back isjust wonderful. and their customers could not be happier. it's fantastic, and i've been coming to this salon for 12 years, it's a great place to come to. and it feels like spring is here. it might seem like a small thing to some, but getting a haircut can definitely contribute to a feeling that the worst of the second wave of the coronavirus crisis may be over. well, i have to say, it's an enormous relief for me to be able to get a haircut after three months, at least, of waiting for one, and for thousands of other people in scotland as well. but these are not the only freedoms that we're going to start enjoying from today.

it's been sunny across much of scotland, which has encouraged many people to head for their local garden centre. these changes are part of the scottish government's road map out of lockdown, which continues at the same time as preparations for elections in may. over the course of the crisis, the scottish government has sometimes seemed more cautious than ministers in london, and that tone was evident in the latest guidance from the health secretary. the numbers are looking better, and are staying in a kind of steady state of looking better. so that's good. but we're not there yet. so what we've done, and what opens up today, i'm sure, is very welcome by very many people indeed. but our progress needs to be tempered with a degree of caution. and that's of course exactly the approach that we are taking here. so we will do what we've done today, and then in three weeks' time, i hope that we'll be able to open up

a bit more. this is nowhere near the end of the pandemic. but today's limited new freedoms may at least make people feel that the winter crisis is over, and deliver a small measure of hope. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow. there's been another night of violence in northern ireland. petrol bombs and bricks were thrown at police officers in loyalist areas on the outskirts of belfast. police say children as young as 12 were involved in the disturbances and described the attacks as "reckless criminal behaviour". a two—week—old baby boy has died after his pram was hit by a car in the west midlands. police say the incident happened near walsall yesterday afternoon. the driver fled the scene, but a 34—year—old man was arrested shortly afterwards. he's being questioned on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has appeared in court injerusalem for the resumption of his corruption trial. he's accused of misusing his power in seeking to trade favours with media bosses. mr netanyahu denies wrongdoing. the hearing comes as wrangling continues over who should be given the mandate to form the next coalition government. live now to our correspondent, yolande knell, who's injerusalem. israelis are watching all this news very closely. in a courtroom, just behind me, the first witness is giving his testimony in the criminal case against the country's longest serving prime minister. there will now be three days of hearings in the court every week. and it has been a day notjust of legal drama, but that has spilled over into political drama as well. it has been called israel's split screen moment. at thisjerusalem court,

benjamin netanyahu beginning his corruption trial in earnest. the prosecution accuses him of accepting expensive gifts from businessmen and offering favours for more positive news coverage. charges he denies. meanwhile, across the city at the president's office, talks start on who should be given the first chance to form a new coalition government after last month's election, israel's fourth in two years. he is known as the great survivor, but this is another day when benjamin netanyahu's personal and politicalfate lies in the balance. simply put, israel is divided into two camps, those for and against the prime minister. and you've got small groups of both here outside the court. anti—netanyahu protesters accuse mr netanyahu of putting his personal interests before those of the country. they want him to resign. he is doing everything that he can, and the last year has proved

that he is doing everything that he can to escape justice, actually. and he will take 9 million citizens, israeli citizens, down the drain, only to escape justice. but his supporters claim legal proceedings are a political witchhunt. now they're trying to do a governmental coup, and we are against it. because benjamin netanyahu is the one and only leader. he has no faults, maybe, he's not perfect, but he didn't do anything, he didn't do any of what they're saying. leaving court, mr netanyahu, the defendant, is quick to return to business as prime minister. but it won't be easy to keep public attention where he wants it. his trial could last for years and looks set to decide his legacy. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. here, a week today pubs and bars in england are set to reopen to serve outdoors,

but how have our drinking habits changed over the past year? the royal college of psychiatrists is warning there could be a spike in the number of people suffering the effects of alcohol misuse and dependency as lockdown ends. ellie costello has this report. this has become a familiar sight — pubs and bars locked down. but, despite ourfavourite establishments having closed their doors, many of us are drinking more frequently than we did before. it sort of became a way to punctuate the day. lauren o'neill is a journalist who has been writing about her changing relationship with alcohol. there kind of became not really a huge amount else to do other than shut the bedroom door, go into the kitchen and poura drink. and i think that has been the case for a lot of people. i know that friends and family anecdotally have said the same thing to me. pre—pandemic, hugh described himself as a moderate drinker.

it was his adult children living with him during lockdown who made him realise he was drinking too much. every night, i was always having two bottles of fairly strong beer and then a whole bottle of red wine. that's about over 100 units per week, at least. it's recommended that adults don't exceed more than 14 units of alcohol per week, which equates to six pints of beer or six medium glasses of wine. i had no discipline. i had no kind of power over myself at one point. it really depressed me. but i still could then carry on that day. it was quite a vicious loop, really. an estimated quarter of uk adults, particularly those furloughed or working from home, reported drinking more during lockdown. of furloughed workers, one in ten said they were drinking in secret. and provisional data from 2020 shows a stark increase in alcohol—specific

deaths in england and wales during the first nine months of 2020, compared with the same time period in 2019. it can affect your mood. people get depressed quite quickly if they start drinking too much and that's a very easy trap to get into. it's easy, for instance, to start getting mild gastrointestinal problems if you're drinking too much and eventually for people to go on to get serious liver, kidney and heart problems. and increase their susceptibility to cancer. so ahead of beer gardens opening again in england next week, what is the advice for those who have noticed they are drinking too much? there are more and more really nice alcohol free drinks available. make yourself a mock cocktail while you are having your zoom call, it doesn't have to be a large glass of wine. if you do find yourself getting into problems, drug and alcohol services are still here. if there are people around you, be open and honest with yourself, with them.

talk to those folks around you. they might have ideas about how you can moderate your drinking as much as yourself. ellie costello, bbc news. that's it from us, now it's time for the news where you are. have a very good afternoon.

hello. this is bbc news with ben brown. let's get more on the government's decision to make available two lateral flow tests to everyone in england from this friday. oksana pyzik is a global health

adviser and senior teaching fellow at university college london school of pharmacy. she believes the lateral flow tests should just be one of the tools used to combat the spread of the virus. certainly not a perfect tool, but it is fast, it works within 30 minutes, and it is cheap. so if we look at it on a mass level, this sweep across society may help identify cases that we otherwise would not find. so, one in three people are asymptomatic or show no symptoms at all. but the problem is that this particular rapid lateral flow test is actually best used in people who have a very high viral load, who are very infectious, and that tends to correlate with people who actually are symptomatic. so i think it does have a place, it can be one of the tools that we use, but it does not make sense to separate it from contact tracing or not

to incentivise the test itself. right now, it is available twice weekly, but voluntary. and if people are going to have to choose between feeding their families — if they are self—employed, or they do not get sick pay — or taking up this test, then it is going to be, quite frankly, a very easy decision to make in terms of bypassing the test. and what we also see is if you are self administering this type of rapid lateral flow test using a swab in the nose or throat, if not done correctly you could yield, again, a false negative quite easily. so it has to bejoined up, it has to be married up with financial incentives. it has worked really well in other countries, and i am surprised that that has not been implemented here. ok, so you think it should have been done sooner. one of the things is in terms of its availability, we gather it is going to be available in pharmacies, quite easy to get a hold of, and this has been tried out, i think, in canada and

the united states with some success. yes, absolutely. so, in pharmacies, one on every street corner, very accessible, you can pick up even a box of seven of these, in addition to other... if you go to a testing centre or purchase it online. so, as we know, we have already been in schools, as well as nhs workers, key workers, are already used to doing this. so sectors of society have been dutifully and regularly self testing. and in other countries we see that this pharmacy model has been highly effective and there has been uptake amongst the community for that. and i think in terms of especially keeping one eye on europe, with the third wave and a surge of cases there, we need to be ensuring that, despite the very successful vaccine roll—out, that we do not make any slip ups as we start to reopen. so this testing will be part of that, although i do not think it will be enough with the current border controls in place. so i do not think that is going

to be the be all and end all with regards to protecting from variants, but what it will do is if you have a positive test, that will be backed up by a pcr test, which is much more accurate, and then we will have better surveillance and monitoring of the variants in the community on a much wider level than necessarily we currently have right now. so i think that is another added benefit in terms of understanding where the variants are around us at a particularly, let's say, dangerous period internationally, notjust within the uk borders. so these are all things to consider. now on bbc news, it's time for a look at the sport. here's gavin. good afternoon. the spanish league has released a statement valencia's game against cadiz. mouctar diakhaby reacted furiously after allegedy hearing a racist comment from cadiz defenderjuan cala,

who denies any wrong—doing. the entire valencia side left the pitch, and captainjose gaya said they were told by the referee they'd be docked points if they didn't resume the match. diakhaby was substituted but encouraged them to carry on, and after 20 mintues they returned, before losing 2—1. la liga's statement said they took any allegation of racism seriously. after an eventful easter sunday in the premier league, we have two more games today. everton are pushing for a place in europe next season — they take on crystal palace at 6 o'clock, with palace looking to put more distance between themselves and the relegation zone. and later on, west ham can move up to fourth with a win at wolves, who are also precariously close to the bottom three. rookie patty tavatanakit has won the first women's golf major of the season — the ana inspiration in california. she made a fantastic start to the final day — an eagle here at the second hole —

and a closing round of 68 left tavatanakit two shots clear of a charging lydia ko, for herfirst win on the american tour. she's come a long way since she finished as top amateur in this event three years ago. it's a dream come true every time i play here. i remember exactly, i was on this green, receiving my low amateur award and i saw they were jumping and i actually took a snapchat and the caption was, "one day." it has been crazy. here's a blast from the past for snooker fans. seven—time world champion stephen hendry will play fellow legend jimmy white in world championship qualifying later today. hendry made his professional comeback last month. he is 52 years old, white is 58. back in the late �*80s and �*90s hendry beat the "whirlwind" four times in the world championship final. the scot knows he has a target on his back. people want to beat me. i will be, you know, i will be a scalp for somebody.

but, yeah, it is going to be... i am going to try and approach it, find a way of approaching it and not put too much importance on it, because i think... you look atjimmy all these years, i thinkjimmy�*s dying to play at the crucible again, and i think it has affected him in the qualifying. he is trying too hard almost. i have got to guard against that, i have got to be prepared mentally just to go there and experience it. in darts, the world number one gerwyn price has been ruled out of the premier league after testing positive for covid—i9. the competition is set to get underway tonight, and all players and officials were tested yesterday, with everyone testing negative apart from price. he'll be replaced by 2009 champion james wade who will play gary anderson this evening. that's all the sport for now but there's more website on the bbc sport website — including the latest from the day's early championship game — the first of 10 matches today. watford can move to within three points of leaders norwich with victory at middlesbrough — and they're leading i—0, ismaila sarr with the goal.

i'll be back with more later. hello there. the cold arctic air has arrived now, but many places will be dry today, with some sunshine. temperatures much lower than they were yesterday, and it feels colder because the winds are strong and gusty. gusts of 50 or 60 mph in northern scotland where we are seeing most of the snow showers at the moment. those will continue over night. some more snow showers coming into northern ireland overnight. they will push over the irish sea towards wales and even the southwest. many other areas overnight will be dry and clear. some icy conditions where we get those wintry showers coming in, and a widespread frost overnight, typically —1 to —3 celsius. another cold day to come on tuesday. some sunshine, but again those snow showers in the same sort of areas. cloud, though, will build up inland and almost anywhere could catch a snow shower through the afternoon i think. passing snow shower driven on by these strong and gusty winds. again, like today, temperatures three to nine celsius, but when you add on the strength of the wind, it will feel probably more like the middle of winter.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: an expansion of the coronavirus testing programme. everyone in england will have access to two free rapid tests a week from this friday. borisjohnson will give more details about his plans to further ease the lockdown in england today, including a traffic light system for foreign travel. hairdressers, homeware shops and garden centres are reopening in scotland, as covid restrictions are eased. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu in court on trialfor corruption — as his party seeks to form the next government. now on bbc news, sarah keith—lucas and nick miller report on the latest weather stories, including a look at the role of climate change in last winter's severe weather in the uk and usa.

this time on weather world, spring is in the air here in the uk. after a winter which delivered something increasingly rare — proper cold. the uk records its lowest february temperature in over 60 years. and texas, colder than alaska, we look at the science behind winter's big freeze. also on weather world... oh, my goodness. washed away, the shift in global weather patterns that have turned parts of australia wetter and wetter. plus carbon crisis — as levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide reach record post—industrial levels. it was only a matter of time. i'm not surprised. it's very sad, it's very— disappointing, but it's, you know, unless we do something about it, it is inevitable. _ and from the skies to the stars — what the rest of the year has in store for us astronomically. whether it's a solar eclipse or a shower of meteors, i will be letting you know when to look out for this year's

celestial highlights.