this is bbc news. i'm philippa thomas with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. amid record levels of covid—19 infections, india's vaccine drive stalls, with some states forced to close centres as they run out ofjabs. as foreign troops begin their delayed withdrawal from afghanistan, a warning to the taliban against renewed attacks. unicef has said it is deeply concerned, as the british government cuts its core funding to the united nations body by 60%. and an icon of manhattan — the empire state building turns 90.

hello and welcome. all adults in india can now get a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. that's good news — in theory — for a country that's become the first in the world to record more than 400,000 coronavirus infections in a single day. but many states in india have closed vaccine centres because of a shortage of supplies. and hospitals are still struggling to cope, short of beds and oxygen. devina gupta has more from the capital delhi. 400,000 and counting. surging covid cases now making inroads in india's hinterland. these villagers in the eastern indian state of 0disha are living in fear. people here are so poor that they can't afford a proper mask, let alone expensive

treatment. now three people have tested positive. translation: there are no facilities for i oxygen in our village. we have to go to the city, but how can we when there is a shortage, even in city hospitals? and his concern echoed in this private hospital in delhi, where 12 people lost their lives when the oxygen stock ran out. translation: we begged them to arrange oxygen i from anywhere that they could. during that time, there was a gap of about 45 minutes, when the stock ran out. despite this, we failed. this is a warning that india's running out of time to save lives, as the virus continues to challenge the inadequate health infrastructure here. experts believe the country needs a national lockdown

to prepare better and break the cycle, but so far india's prime minister has opposed this idea, emphasising on vaccinating more people. in fact, in an ambitious plan, he has expanded the vaccination drive to all adults above 18 years. and with an estimated 600 million more people asking forjabs, most vaccine centres have run out of stocks. translation: we were told | that it would be a first come, first served thing here, but the vaccination centre is deserted. we will see what we are going to do, whether we will get it or not. the government here continues to deny there's a vaccine shortage. but as cases climb, most nations are closing their borders for india. australia has even asked its citizens who have stayed in the country for over 14 days not to return — a move that will reportedly impact 9,000 australians here. for now, those living here are betting against odds for a vaccine, to get a fighting chance against this pandemic.

devina gupta, bbc news, delhi. ravi agrawal is editor in chief of foreign policy magazine and was previously based in delhi, and told me this is the biggest challenge narendra modi has everfaced. i think that is fair to say, this is a humanitarian crisis the likes of which india has not seen in decades. it is, in a sense, an embarrassment for this government which has over the last seven or eight years tried to portray itself as a rising world power, with a more muscular global diplomacy. india has not been accepting foreign aid for well over 15 years and is having to reverse course on that. but more than all of that, there is a rising tide of palpable anger across india because many in india believe this was avoidable. let's not forget that just a few months ago narendra modi had declared victory over coronavirus and indians were beginning to go about their daily lives,

cricket matches being played with tens of thousands in the audience, a giant hindu religious festival was held with millions dipping in the ganges, elections were ongoing with large political rallies that modi himself led. so given all of that, given the loosening of restrictions, given the complacency that set in over the last few months there is now a backlash, and that is a big backlash for modi. does that potentially make it harder to bring in stricter lockdowns, let alone thinking of a national lockdown, because it would be an admission of political failure? in a sense, it would make it harder, but one of the things this government is trying to do is to ask various states and cities to have their own versions of lockdowns that are tailored to the crises that they find themselves in. i don't think it is likely that india would go for another national lockdown, the likes of which it did about one year

ago, and that is in large part because a national lockdown would then mean migrant workers would leave the cities again and go back to the villages, potentially spread coronavirus in rural parts that still haven't seen large caseloads take off, so my sense is that would not happen for a while to come. but either way, i think trust in the government is lower than it has been in years, and that would affect any government decision. i should caveat all of this by saying modi has long been one of the most popular active leaders in the world, with approval ratings in the 70% range, which is higher than you see in leaders in the west. i don't think that's going to change overnight, but his reputation has been dented. ravi agrawal of foreign policy magazine. pope francis has begun a month—long series of prayers for the end of the pandemic. he recited the first rosary

at st peter's basilica in rome. 30 other roman catholic shrines around the world will take turns throughout may to read their own prayers, which will be broadcast online. the pope says covid—i9 has forced countries to make enormous sacrifices and has affected people of all cultures and social classes. in his prayer, he asked that money be diverted from armaments to scientific studies which would help prevent future pandemics. there are reports of some progress at talks in vienna aimed at rescuing the 2015 nuclear deal that iran struck with the outside world. as a third round of negotiations ended, iran's chief negotiator said the process had slowed but was moving forward. a russian representative said there was cautious but growing optimism, but european diplomats said much work still needed to be done. the head of the us—led military mission in afghanistan, general scott miller, has warned against attacks on foreign troops as they start to withdraw, saying they had the means to "respond forcefully. " it comes after the taliban said

the militants were no longer bound by an earlier commitment not to attack international forces there. that undertaking was part of an agreement last year which also committed the us to withdrawing all troops by today. the delay to their departure, until september, has angered the taliban. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes is following developments. i think there are mixed feelings across this country. of course, this is america's longest war. we've heard president biden refer to it as the forever war, we heard president trump talking about endless war. they both had the goal of bringing all us forces back home but with a different timetable. in fact, today, the 1st of may, was to have been the deadline set by the trump administration, and this is why the taliban is seemingly so angry that the united states

has apparently broken that agreement and why, over the next few months, with the new deadline of september 11, there will initially be an increase in the number of forces, a tightening security, with the fear of reprisal attacks. but i think across the country, there is some ambivalence towards afghanistan. it's interesting looking at surveys, public opinion polls, over the 20 years about people's opinions in this country towards the us presence in afghanistan. it has shifted and moved. initially, there was strong support, and even now, the wound, the deep wound, left by the attacks on 9/11 is still very much part of people's lives, and i think that colours people's opinions as far as the withdrawal of the troops is concerned. so the next few weeks are going to be quite tense, and a lot of people looking on, a lot of military families looking on with, obviously, very deep personal interest, in terms of the security and the process as it unfolds

towards september 11. may day demonstrations and protests across europe have led to clashes with police in several countries. french officers fired tear gas in paris and some protesters threw stones, smashing the window of a bank and setting fire to rubbish bins. pepper spray was used against demonstrators in the german cities of munich, essen and weimar — these images are from berlin, where riot police clashed with demonstrators. and this was the scene in the belgian capital brussels, where officers trying to clear a rave from a water cannon, pepper spray and batons as some of the partygoers pelted them with eggs. there were also clashes the swiss city of zurich, where officers fired rubber bullets when protesters threw fireworks and bottles at them. the british government is cutting its core funding to the united nations children's fund by 60%. unicef has warned the cut will have "serious consequences", particularly for children affected by covid—i9.

the british foreign office says the government is taking "tough but necessary decisions" because of the "impact of the pandemic on the uk economy". the overall foreign aid budget is being cut by more than $5 billion this year. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale has more. well, unicef say it will have a devastating impact simply because the demand for distributing humanitarian aid to children around the world is acute at the moment, notjust in the crisis spots like yemen and syria but also, they say, because of the covid crisis. there are so many knock—on impacts of the pandemic that have increased the demand for non—covid health care, if you like, that's been crowded out by the pandemic, that the charity is trying to deal with. and they say this cut will have an impact on that. the contrary side, as you say, is the british government

says the pandemic has hit the economy, they are having to make some tough decisions at the moment, and the uk will still be spending £10 billion, $1243 billion a year on aid next year. it's still one of the biggest donors, it isjust having to spend less. what we're seeing now is just, drip by drip, what impact it's actually going to have on people on the ground. scientists investigating the plastic waste drifting in the oceans say they've discovered more about where it comes from. they've calculated that 1,000 rivers are responsible for the vast majority of the pollution. the research was led by the ocean cleanup project, based in rotterdam, which has started to collect plastic from the pacific. 0ur science editor david shukman reports. the shocking sight of plastic waste polluting the oceans. it is one of the most visible ways that human activity

is damaging the natural world. so where has it all come from? well, most of it is carried by rivers from cities to the sea. i saw this for myself in indonesia a few years ago. the waterways were choked with plastic. it used to be thought that only the ten biggest rivers in the world were to blame, but now a study finds that many more are involved. at least 1,000, according to an organisation that is trying to tackle the problem — the ocean cleanup. on one hand, it shows that the problem is actually much more vast than we used to think — it is not ten rivers, it is 1,000. but on the other hand, it is stilljust1% of all the rivers in the world, so i do think it is a manageable problem. the ocean cleanup has started to collect plastic waste from several rivers, to catch it before it gets to the sea, and the hope is to have many more systems like this. it's also been deploying a giant collection device in the pacific ocean, but the challenge is huge. turning this plastic tide will take a massive effort. david shukman, bbc news.

you are watching bbc news. our top stories: amid record levels of covid—19 infections, india's vaccine drive stalls, with some states forced to close centres as they run out ofjabs. as us and nato troops officially start pulling out of afghanistan, their commander has warned militants against attacking them. well, let's get more on that. dr asfandyar mir is based at the center for international security at stanford university. he told me the us decision has serious ramifications for the afghan government. president biden�*s decision to pull us forces out certainly extricates america from a very complicated war, but the war itself is not going to end and the conflict is likely to enter a new phase for afghans. there are three

major challenges. the first is the question on whether the taliban will attack us forces as they pull out. earlier today, the taliban issued a statement saying that they are not bound by any agreement any more now that the deadline has passed. however, they remain in consultation on whether to do that. the us military has proactively attacked some taliban ammunition dumps in the south of the country, in a bid to deter taliban violence. the second key challenge is the future of the security forces. us military is worried that these forces may not be able to withstand the challenge of the taliban, that they might collapse. multiple us senior officials have said that. and then the final concern is about the future of jihadists. al-qaeda is degraded, but it still has a presence in afghanistan. the chief of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri, was assessed to be in afghanistan until mid to late last year,

and the most worrying aspect of the jihadist revival issue is that the taliban still retain a relationship with al-qaeda, and they are only offering very minimal guarantees for now. and al-qaeda, for its part, is portraying the us withdrawal as its own victory as well. dr asfandyar mir. residents of care homes in england will be able to go out for walks and visit relatives' gardens without having to self—isolate afterwards, following new rules which come into force on tuesday. 0ur health correspondent jim reed reports. john kemp's mother sheila has lived in a care home in eastbourne for the last two years. the 92—year—old has seen her family recently, but sitting two metres apart, wearing ppe. from tuesday, they can walk together on the seafront again. with my mother, it means she can actually go out, get into the fresh air, be able to go on the seafront, see people, have a cup of coffee, a cup of tea somewhere. 0bviously, spending quality time rather than time

with ppe in between us, and again, just spending time together and reflecting on the past and the future, as well. it's exactly three months since all care home residents should have been offered a first dose of the covid vaccine in england. with infections now down to levels seen last summer, the government says it's time to relax the strict rules around trips outside the home. the majority of care home residents not only have had their first dose, but also their second dose, so we can take these sort of cautious steps forward, and, as i say, another step back towards normal. we look forward to being able to do more opening up in the weeks ahead. from tuesday, residents who leave a care home in england will no longer have to self—isolate for 1a days on their return. they can visit a relative's garden, a park, oranother outdoor space, and they will be able to go inside to vote.

but if they leave, they'll still have to be accompanied by a visitor or care home worker and those who leave for a medical appointment will still have to self—isolate. the change comes after a legal challenge from campaigners who called the existing restrictions barbaric. they welcomed the move but said it's come far too late. i think this guidance was always so bizarre, so cruel and so discriminatory. i mean, it was illegally imprisoning people in care homes. it was depriving them of their liberty, it was doing incalculable harms. residents of scottish and welsh care homes are already able to meet outside without needing to self—isolate. while in northern ireland, outdoor visiting is allowed in homes that do not have a covid outbreak. jim reed, bbc news. one of the world's most famous buildings, the empire state in new york, is marking its 90th birthday. celebrations at the tower will include a special light show and the number 90

illuminated on its famous mast that king kong clung to in the famous final scene from the film. when the empire state opened on the 1st of may 1931, it was the tallest building in the world. since then, it's become one of new york's must—see attractions that, in pre—pandemic times, welcomed more than 4 million visitors a year. i've been speaking tojohn tauranac, who is the author of the empire state building: the making of a landmark. he explainsjust how meaningful the building is. the empire state building, as far as i'm concerned, is the icon of new york city. even to the point where new york state used to have images of the empire state building on automobile license plates. that's how meaningful it is to new yorkers. and it meant a lot to the people who built it because, isuppose, 1931 — you're talking

about a year of great depression and very fewjobs. yes. the building was planned in the boom of the 1920s, to open in the bust of the 1930s. and fortunately for the planners and builders of the empire state building, there was some hope on the horizon. you talked about visitors to the empire state building. well, there were two observation decks, one open on the 86th floor and the other enclosed on the 102nd, and people were willing to part with their admission fee to go up and see the sights. but rentals were sparse. there really wasn't any elevator service between the 25th and 80th floors, because there was nobody there. there was no occupancy. and the manager used to turn the lights on on the empty floors, just to try to fool people into believing there were actually tenants

occupying those floors. the building came to be called the "empty state building". and for those who built it, i suppose — the construction workers, the engineers — it would have been the one big project they could go to at that time. absolutely. there were stories that are probably apocryphal, but never let a bad fact that get in the way of a good story... people said that the steel that was arriving from the carnegie steel mills in pittsburgh was still warm when it arrived, it had been shipped out that quickly and that readily, because few other buildings were going up. so many buildings had been planned and had simply taken off the drawing board, as it were. but one other building that was going up, the chrysler building. there was a bit of a race here, wasn't there?

who's going to be the biggest? actually, the race started between a0 wall st, the bank of manhattan building, and the chrysler building. and the chrysler building announced they were knocking off at 875, 900 feet, so the bank of manhattan building put a crown on top of their building — it topped out at 925 feet. and chrysler snubbed his nose at them and kept on going, with the addition of the spire, the stainless steel art deco spire on the chrysler building. it took the height of the building to 1,046 feet. it was the first building taller than the eiffel tower. the empire state building had been progressively getting higher, and they had determined to knock off at 80 stories, or 1,000 feet, in large part because of the 0tis elevator company, which told them

that cables any higher, or any longer, than 1,000 feet would simply collapse under their own weight. john tauranac there. here in the uk, nightclubbing returned to liverpool — only as a trial — but it was the first time people have been allowed on to the dance floor since the pandemic began. and on sunday, it's the turn of live music as a festival will be held in the city with an audience of 5,000. even if a success, though, it may come too late for many, as new research suggests a quarter of festivals with a similar capacity have already been cancelled. our business correspondent katy austin reports. boomtown in hampshire has just been called off for the second year running, blaming lack of insurance for covid—related cancellation. the sheer volume of money, we're talking millions of outlay, that we have to commit to, all these

costs ahead of the event, itjust became very evident that we were just in an impossible position without being able to have the backing of insurance to mitigate the risks. 0ne trade body says around a quarter of larger festivals have already decided to cancel for this year, and most of those still scheduled to go ahead are due to happen in july and august. but it says, for many of those, there's still a huge amount of uncertainty. it says a government—backed insurance scheme is needed, similar to what other countries have done. and our own government has invested in a scheme for film and tv production, which we understand has been very successful. there are models, there are ways of doing it. nozstock in herefordshire is sold out for late july. how certain are you, as we stand here today, that it will go ahead? sadly, we can't be certain. we're desperate to get on with it, but the issue of insurance makes it an incredibly risky venture. they say late may is the cut—off for making a final call.

a government spokesperson told us it had supported festivals through the culture recovery fund and is exploring what further support it may provide. katy austin, bbc news. the oscar—winning actress 0lympia dukakis has died at the age of 89 in new york. she was known for her roles in films such as moonstruck and steel magnolias. the singer, cher, who starred alongside her in moonstruck, described her as an "amazing" actress. star trek star actor george takei also paid tribute, saying the entire world was "moonstruck by her". and the duke and duchess of cambridge have released a picture of their daughter, princess charlotte, to mark her sixth birthday, which is on may 2. the photo was taken by her mother kate this weekend in norfolk. and just to remind you of our top story, amid record levels

of covid infections, india's vaccine drive has stalled, with some states forced to close centres as they run out of jabs. much more on the bbc website, you can always talk to me on twitter. thanks for watching. hello again. well, there probably aren't too many of you that escaped with a completely dry day today. it has been a day of sunshine and showers, but those showers have been really widespread. so, yes, although skies looks like these at times other times, we had the heavens open. this one quite an impressive shower, bringing a covering of hail to the roads and pavements of leek in stafordshire. you can see just how extensive today showers have been nationwide, really. and although they are beginning to fade away now, there are still a few left over. the reason we've had so many showers during the day is because, over the last few days, we've had a lump of cold air move across the uk.

that gets heated strongly by the may sun, which causes the air to rise, causes those showers to break out. we've got the same kind of mechanism with us for the forecast into sunday. now, right now, most of the showers have cleared out of the way, just one or two left over for scotland to take us into the first part of the night. it's another cold night, though, with clearing skies, light winds and widespread frost. temperatures getting down to about —2 —3 in the very coldest areas. so a cold start to the day sunday morning, but a lovely start with clear blue sky for many of you. through the day, though, showers will start to out initially across the northwest of the country. they will become very extensive for most areas as we head into the afternoon. probably some of the heavier showers across central and eastern england, eastern areas of scotland. and those temperatures a bit disappointing, really, for the time of year. highs 11 to 14 degrees for most of you. and talking about disappointing weather, here comes your bank holiday. it's an area of low pressure coming in off the atlantic

bringing wet weather, bringing windy weather, bringing fairly chilly weather as well. it may well start off bright across eastern areas of the uk, but outbreaks of rain quickly spreading from the west. might well be cold enough to have even a little bit of snow mixed in over the highest ground in scotland and northern england. and it's going to be pretty windy, pretty windy and pretty chilly for the time of year. temperatures doing well to get into double figures across england and wales. for the north, scotland and northern ireland about seven to 9 degrees. maybe the far north of scotland is a place to be for the best of the weather. after that, it stays pretty sorry i think for most areas, with a good low pressure coming in from the southwest. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines. india's expanded vaccination drive — offering all adults over the age of 18 a jab — has stalled with some states forced to close centres after running out of vaccines. the country is in the grips of record levels of covid—19 infections, reporting more than four—hundred—thousand cases in the last twenty—four—hours. the head of the us—led military mission in afghanistan has warned against attacks on foreign troops as they start to withdraw, saying they had the means to " respond forcefully. " the comments come after the taliban said they were no longer bound by an earlier commitment not to attack international forces. the british government is cutting its core funding to the united nations children s fund by 60%. unicef has warned the cut will have serious consequences , particularly for children affected by covid 19.