good afternoon. the rules which require people to self—isolate if they come into contact with someone who's tested positive for covid could be relaxed. in a trial starting next week, up to 40,000 people contacted by nhs test and trace will be asked to take a lateral flow test every morning for a week, instead of starting ten days of quarantine. 0ur health correspondent, anna collinson, reports. test, test, test. it's a key part of society reopening. currently, if you come into close

contact with someone who's tested positive, you may receive this — a message from test and trace saying you must self—isolate for ten days. but this could soon change. a new study, backed by the government, is going to trial giving close contacts rapid lateral flow tests every morning, for seven days. results take about 30 minutes, and if they're negative, they can go about their lives as usual. rapid tests are considered less sensitive compared to pcr ones, which are processed in a lab, but scientists hope they can still play an important role in tackling the virus. we will also ask participants to take a pcr test at the beginning of the seven—day period and at the end of the seven—day period, and also if they test positive at any time to confirm the result, and this will help us really understand, you know, the effectiveness of this approach.

there are also hopes this study could help people who've struggled to self—isolate, particularly those who are unable to work from home or are struggling financially. it's been particularly difficult for children — often self—isolating for a contract in their year group who they've never actually seen or met, and they're off school for an extra ten days, so i think this is a really positive step. even if quarantine for close contacts is scrapped, there are still calls for improved financial support for those who test positive. it's one of the many precautions scientists would like to see over the coming months. it's too early to declare victory and to drop our guard. we do know that this infection has a tendency to come back again, and we need to use this time to be absolutely sure that we've got every precaution in place to stop further outbreaks. so, as the uk looks forward to a summer of relaxation and hopes of a foreign holiday,

a reminder that the battle is still farfrom won. anna collinson, bbc news. one big question likely to be answered in the coming days is which countries you can travel to without needing to qurantine when you return home. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, is here. when are we likely to know? this news will obviously be important to so many people. soon, it seems, in the words of the foreign secretary dominic raab this morning, the details are coming shortly. it is two weeks tomorrow, the 17th of may, the government hopes to allow international travel to begin again and i am told we can expectan to begin again and i am told we can expect an announcement towards the end of this coming week which is likely to confirm that and tell us which countries will be on the green list meaning you can travel there and come back without the need to quarantine. it is likely to be a very limited list to begin with and some countries that could be on it, gibraltar, iceland, israel, possibly for us, possibly portugal, none of thatis for us, possibly portugal, none of that is confirmed at this point, though. we have also had a glimpse

of what life might be like beyond the end of the road map, afterjune zist the end of the road map, afterjune 21st in england when the government hopes all legal restrictions will be lifted, dominic raab said this morning that some safeguards are likely still to be needed then. so again, no decisions, but he suggested the use of masks and social—distancing might still be encouraged. and also vaccinating secondary school children is something the government is looking at to try to help life get back to normal. , ., . ., �* ., ~ at to try to help life get back to normal. g ., . . �* ., ~ ., ~ at to try to help life get back to normal. , ., ., ., �* ., ~ ., ~ i. normal. jonathan blake, thank you very much- — the foreign secretary has suggested that the british—iranian aid worker nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is being held hostage by iran and suffering treatment that amounts to torture. nazanin has been detained in iran for five years, on spying charges. she was recently convicted for a second time and banned from leaving tehran. a national day of mourning is taking place in israel sunday, after a crush at a jewish festival early on friday, in

which 45 people were killed. they were trapped in a narrow walkway at mount meron. the victims include teenagers and children. 0ur middle east correspondent, tom bateman, reports. two brothers who travelled to a mountaintop tomb. they went to rejoice. but 18—year—old yosef and his brother mordecai, just 12, were buried there overnight — among the young boys killed in a national tragedy. today, they paid tribute to the victims and absorbed the disaster�*s terrible toll. the israeli flag is lowered to half—mast. we're all heartbroken, saddened, shattered into a million pieces. there's no words to describe the feeling of the entire country. it's like a day of wailing for an entire country, saddened. wherever you go, whatever part of the country, people are sad and talking about one topic — what happened here at meron. friday's crush developed as crowds

of ultra—0rthodox pilgrims became packed in a narrow walkway, down a slippery ramp. those at the front became trapped. investigators have been at the site. an inquiry will look at the role of the police and officials, and why years of safety warnings were ignored. people i spoke to caught in the crush here were angry with the police, who they blame. but there is soul—searching going on in the country over the degree of autonomy the government gives to political and religious leaders of the ultra—0rthodox, and what part that had to play in poor planning and a lack of safety. israel is united in grief, but much more split over who's responsible. with some bodies still to be identified, more funerals are due to take place. there is a fraught atmosphere amid the search for answers but, for now, israelis are pausing to honour their dead. tom bateman, bbc news, jerusalem.

a pioneering operation to repair a baby's spine while still in its mother's womb was made available for the first time on the nhs lastjanuary. since then, the surgery — which reduces the complications caused by spina bifida — has been carried out on 32 women, despite the major disruption caused by the pandemic. 0ur health correspondent, katharine da costa, reports. it comes with risks, but then, this operation will mean that i've done the best for her. in my mind, there was no choice. ijust had to do it. hello! 0h, someone's tired, aren't they? this is mila, short for milagro — or miracle, in spanish. after six failed rounds of ivf, helena had almost given up hope of having a second baby, but on her seventh attempt, she fell pregnant and things seemed to progress well — until her 20—week scan. i was told the news that she definitely has got spina bifida. she's got a very big lesion on her back. so, basically, half of her spine was exposed. and they...

they said that it's likely that she will be paralysed, likely she'll be incontinent, and will need a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain later on. iwas... i was beside myself when they told me all these possible outcomes for having this condition. and... and ijust couldn't stop crying, basically. they told me the probability of her walking or moving her legs — very, very low. and, yeah, that was... that was absolutely devastating. within days, helena was referred for tests and scans similar to this one at university college hospital in london, and because the baby was otherwise healthy, she could be operated on while still in the womb. at 23 weeks pregnant, helena travelled to this specialist hospital in belgium, which is working in partnership with the nhs.

a team of 25 clinicians carried out the complex operation, just like this one, to repair mila's exposed spinal chord and close the hole in her back. previously, the baby would have the repair to the spinal defect after birth. but now, because we can offer surgery in the womb, what it means is that the defect is closed a lot earlier. so, it means there is less damage to the spine, and that increases the chance the baby's going to walk, and have much better control of their bladder and their bowel. shall we do some gym? mila was born at 36 weeks and is doing well. it's hoped up to 30 babies a year — from across the uk — could benefit from this surgery on the nhs, and while it's not a cure, it could be the difference between a child learning to walk or not. she can move her legs, and she's got feeling to her toes, so it is absolutely amazing. i'm just so grateful to the surgeons who've done this operation, because her life would look very different without it. katharine da costa, bbc news.

hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. more now on the plans that self—isolation requirements for people who've been in contact with someone who tests positive could be relaxed, as a result of a new study. daily lateral flow tests will be given to up to 40,000 people who have a positive covid—19 contact, and they won't be required to isolate. stephen bustin is professor of molecular medicine at anglia ruskin university and author of several papers on pcr testing. he's been giving me his

thoughts on the new plans. well, i think, as is often the case, the concept may be valid but the practical implementation and the specifics will be problematic. i think another problem is this it transfers responsibilities on individuals, on the public, and this kind of, of course, absolves politicians of having to be responsible for implementing sensible and appropriate but perhaps unpopular policies. so that is one concern i have. i think, in terms of the test itself, clearly, the sensitivity is a problem because there are numerous studies that show that they are not sufficiently sensitive to reliably detect presymptomatic infection. the fact that they are going to be doing a multiple testing gene kind of alleviates that, to a degree but it is still a problem. just to clarify, as well as the lateral flow tests, at some point in that period you would also have a pcr test, would you? well, i have long had the opinion that the solution to all of this has to be a pcr.

the lateral flow testjust isn't the right way to do it. coincidentally, we are working on a test that works in five minutes, but that's not the issue. but, yes, i think the lft isjust not sensitive enough for presymptomatic infection. not sensitive enough but that's not the main problem. not sensitive enough the main problem is that the testing procedure itself as inaccurate because you are self—swabbing and this requires some skill. so success doesn'tjust depend on the lft sensitivity, but also on everyone being able to use the reliable swab. and there are several reports that, again, are not being implemented, that suggest saliva is a better way of doing this but, of course, it all requires additional research. sorry? a lot of employers have been using, i mean, the bbc is one of them, that have been using lateral flow tests, encouraging staff to use them before they come in, a day before their next shift

to ensure, as far as it is possible to ensure, they are not at risk to other colleagues working in the same building. but what you are saying, if i understand it, is the accuracy of this is so low that you really can't rely on it as an alternative to self isolation? er, no. except you can do multiple tests and that is what they are suggesting. we need to see how that goes. but i think another problem is the whole variant problem. lfts tend to be monochromal antibodies that detect a single variant. if we do have more problems with the p1 variant or the 351 south african variant, then this could be problematic, as well. but, i think ultimately, and ijust heard your reporter say this, the main problem, really, is compliance. they may not comply because... and how do you monitor compliance? if the argument for this test is that it helps people not have to self isolate, then what happens if their mental health or their economic circumstances mean that a positive test would make them have to do that?

what is the incentive for people to actually comply with the test result? and, clearly, that's what needs to be looked at and there needs to be incentives for people to do that. in the end, though, given the way the rate of infection is going at the moment, given the apparent effectiveness of the vaccination programme, subject to uncertainties about new variants, this whole debate could be rendered academic in a couple of months, couldn't? i don't think so. just look at brazil and india. i think this is a real warning for us. i think we are forgetting about the exponential infectivity of this virus and i think we should remember it takes very little to go from low infectivity to a massive number of infected individuals and we need to bear this in mind. we should progress much more carefully in my opinion and these tests need to be done and we need to trial various ways of identifying individuals that are infected. but, in my opinion, and this is my personal opinion, we should be spending money

on developing very fast pcr tests that can be done as point of care device tests. because that's been the only way to reliably and accurately and very fast detect all infections. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's chethan. good afternoon. the world snooker championship final between mark selby and shaun murphy has just got under way in front of a capacity crowd of 980 in sheffield. it's one of the government's pilot events. these are live pictures from bbc2 where you can watch the action. murphy got here after completing a remarkable turnaround, he was 10—4 down in his semi final before beating kyren wilson 17—12. mark selby also came back — beating stuart bingham 17—15. this is the first time these two are facing each other at the crucible since 2007 — when selby won that semi final.

manchester city could be crowned premier league champions today — if liverpol are able to beat second placed manchester united at old trafford. both sides will be desperate to win this afternoon: for united it would keep their slim title hopes alive whilst for liverpool, three points are needed if they're to stay in the race to qualify for the champions league: strange things can happen in football and i am pretty sure united have a good chance and so it will be a game where two teams try to win it. it is a good start for a football game, i would say. in both teams have to win it which is a good recipe for a good game as well. so let's see what we can make of that. the title has been long decided in scotland. the champions rangers are currently taking on celtic in the final old firm derby of the season (gfx)celtic desperate to stop rangers emulating their unbeaten

league season in 2017. an entertaining first half saw three goals and a red card in seven minutes. kemar roofe scored the opener, in the aftermath of that goal, callum mcgregor got his second booking and was sent off for celtic, but 0dsonne edouard then equalised before alfredo morelos put rangers back in front. roofe has just added a third — his second of the game. it's currently 3—1 now to rangers at ibrox. chelsea are looking to make history today by reaching their first—ever women's champions league final. after losing the first leg 2—1 at bayern munich. they know they have work to do today. at half—time in west london it's currently 2—1. chelsea are also chasing what would be a historic quadruple this season. the winners will face barcelona in the final in gothenburg they've just beaten paris st—germain 2—1 in their second leg. 3—2 on aggregate. lieke martens with both goals valterri bottas will start on pole

ahead of mercedes team—mate lewis hamilton for this afternoon's portuguese grand prix. red bull's max verstappen is third on the grid thanks to the windy conditions at portimao. the dutchman had set a time fast enough for pole, but was blown off course and had his time deleted. bottas went quickest, just a fraction of a second quicker than championship leader hamilton. it isa it is a good feeling to be on pole. it is a good feeling to be on pole. it feels like it has been a while so it was nice to get a good qualifying. it has been a weak point for me in the first few races, getting it to work but then this weekend we have been working hard and it is nice to see that it is paying off. and it is nice to see that it is paying off. 0lympic medallists jack laugher and dan goodfellow have won britain's second gold of the diving world cup in tokyo. their success came in the synchronised 3 metre springboard final. the pair, who had already secured a place for team gb in the event at the tokyo games, finished above germany and the united states.

tom daley and matty lee secured gold in the synchronised 10 metre platform event yesterday. england scrum—half ben youngs has withdrawn from contention for the british and irish lions tour of south africa because of family reasons. youngs had been one of more than 50 players to receive notification from lions management that he was under consideration for selection. however he's decided to decline, citing his two young children and the fact his wife is heavily pregnant with their third. youngs says he wishes "everyone involved a healthy and successful tour." that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport the big weekend of live events continues in liverpool today. 5,000 people will gather in sefton park later to watch the band blossoms — with no facemasks or social distancing required.everyone attending will have to show a negative covid test before being allowed in.

it's all part of the government's pilot scheme to see how large scale events can go ahead safely when lockdown restrictions are lifted. dan johnson reports. after a year of lockdown for live events, liverpool could now hold the key to all of us getting back out to enjoy the things we love. it's hard to imagine that a bit of grass, a bit of fencing and a huge big top could be sojoyous but, gosh, it isjoyous. sefton park is the venue for this afternoon's festival. the government said "we want you to do it, but we you to do it in liverpool". i was like, "i would do it on mars, quite frankly. it wouldn't matter where i did it." but, of course, liverpool is here, blossoms immediately came to mind, the lathums immediately came to mind and suddenly, we've got a gig. i tell you what, it's exciting just to wear the wristbands again.

the simplest things, eh? the masks can come off, there will be no requirement for social distancing, and in just a few hours now, there'll be 5,000 people crowded in here, finally able to enjoy live music once again. stockport band blossoms are on stage for the first time in a year. # i want to know. # since you've been gone. # have i been on your mind? there is nothing like it. singing 20,000 people playing together and i think it will blow peoples minds, really. we went into it going, brilliant, we just want to get things opened and we realise actually we realise how hard it is so this weekend is that first moment where you go, this could happen. this is what could be. and things will go wrong,

this is an experiment and it is not going to go perfectly, and loads of things will go wrong but all that learning will help the next one. scientists are already analysing data from friday night's warehouse gig which was a first step in bringing music back to life. this next stage will hopefully them if it is safe for the rest of us. we're less than a week from may's elections, with different polls depending on where you live. 0ur correspondent lewis goodall has been taking a look at what's happening — and where. we have got a bumper mammoth leviathan crop of exciting elections coming up on may the 6th across much of the country. but how can we judge on may the 7th how each of the main parties have done? well, the answer is it's quite complicated because there are lots of elections happening in lots of different places. let's take scotland just to begin with.

in scotland, obviously the big question is whether the snp are going to get their majority back. they lost their majority rather unexpectedly back in 2016, this was the 2016 result. you need 65 seats to get a majority. 129 seats in the chamber and back in 2016 they got 61. the number of seats unexpectedly went down. still by far the biggest party in the chamber. more than double the conservatives, the second biggest party on 30. but they would dearly like to get their own majority back. or if not, majority with other pro—independence parties, probably the green party in scotland because they have committed to independence as well. and they could potentially use that as a launching pad for a mandate for another independence referendum. how likely is that going to be on the basis of current polling? well, as you can see, the snp dominating in both the constituency and regional lists for the current polling for the scottish parliament. it was the conservatives back in 2016 that basically deprived the snp of their majority.

they did very well in that election under then then new popular leader ruth davidson. she is now departing the scene, she's got a seat in the house of lords. their new leader, douglas ross, not doing as well according to the polling, i think it's fair to say. the polling quite a bit worse means that it's a bit of a problem for unionism generally in scotland. labour have been going down in every single election in scotland since the scottish parliament was actually created back in 1999. they came third back in 2016, humiliating for a party that used to dominate scottish politics. they're hoping under their new leader, anas sarwar, to get back into the game. is that likely? if we look at the polls and put them into a machine and project, it is just a projection, we should say, project how that might look in terms of the chamber, how it might look on may the 7th, we can see from the last few poles, it would give the snp slightly up on the 63 seats, just shy, though, of that 65 magic staging post for a majority. but look at the greens, look at the scottish greens, doing very well indeed according

to that projection, doubling their seats to ten seats. that would leave a pro—independence majority overall in hollywood, putting the snp and the greens together of 73, which would be, by far, the biggest pro—independence majority we've seen in holyrood since it was created. both the main other parties, the conservatives and labour going down a little bit. conservatives maintaining their position as the main opposition party. very interesting scottish political situation to come. very different situation in wales, of course. welsh labour have been in office even longer than the snp has in scotland. they've been in office since the welsh parliament was created, back in 1999, over 20 years. still dominating unlike other parts of the country, labour. 29 seats back in 2016. they had been in a sort of coalition with the lib dems, very small coalition, it has to be said with their one seat to give them nearly a majority of 30 in the welsh parliament. labour will be hoping to keep as many of these seats as possible. meanwhile, plaid and

the conservatives battling it out for second place. a big question what happens to the ukip seat, which you can't see, because they've since splintered off into lots of different seats. but ukip did very well in these elections when they were last contested in wales back in 2016, before the brexit referendum was even contested. political eons ago. and it's hoped, the conservatives then, they will be able to absorb quite a bit of support and swelled their numbers in the welsh parliament. there is a bit of a pro—independence sort of feeling a big shift on constitutional issues in wales, as well. plaid open to take advantage of that, as well. and then, of course, we think, of everything that is going on in england. and if we think a bit about what is going on there and the fact that it is keir starmer�*s first outing as leader of the opposition before voters, how can we assess how well he's done? one way is by comparing it to other leaders of the opposition in their first year before the voters. and how many seats, extra seats, they won comparison to how many they had before. tony blair, for example, his first set of local elections, as leader of the opposition back in 1995, he increased their party's number of seats by a whopping 32%,

very, very successful. all good, very well for the 1997 general election for him. but then we look at william hague, not considered a particularly stellar leader of the opposition, it has to be said, considering that he only won net one more seat in the 2001 general you election, he still did pretty well as well, back in 1998, 23.5% increase in the number of seats for the conservatives. the only one to do really badly in fact, really, wasjeremy corbyn, going down by 1.4% back, i think, in 2016. are so, how well starmer does, where he fits on this table, will be a sort of benchmark for how well he's done in these elections. but, of course, many in the labour party rather nervous given the apparent vaccine bounce that recently in the polls the conservative government has been enjoying. a new photo of princess charlotte has been released to mark her sixth birthday today. the picture of the smiling princess was captured by her mother — the duchess of cambridge —

in norfolk this weekend. good afternoon. tell us how much of a ical good afternoon. tell us how much of a typical bank _ good afternoon. tell us how much of a typical bank holiday _ good afternoon. tell us how much of a typical bank holiday is _ good afternoon. tell us how much of a typical bank holiday is it _ good afternoon. tell us how much of a typical bank holiday is it going - a typical bank holiday is it going to be? well, it was so dry during april, wasn't it? last week and seen the showers and we have got some rain arriving on bank holiday monday but today it is sunshine and heavy showers around. let me shower you the satellite picture and radar at nine o'clock this morning. sunshine, very few showers. you can see how all the cloud has bubbled up in the showers have developed more widely. this afternoon, what is left of the afternoon, we'll find heavier showers focused more across eastern scotland and england and the risk of them hail and thunder. further west it may well turn to hire later. i've got a top temperature of 13 or 1a

degrees. a lot of those showers that we have bubbling up today will fade away during this evening. skies were clearfor a while but away during this evening. skies were clear for a while but if we look at in the west we have signs of change. increasing cloud, the breeze picking up increasing cloud, the breeze picking up and main starting to arrive in northern ireland. ahead of it and straight into eastern scotland in the north—east of england. the reason it is turning cloudier, windier and wetter in the west as this area of low pressure. this is going to deepen and the winds will strengthen on monday. we have got main pushing on, too. the rain takes much of the day to arrive across east anglia and the south—east, may be largely dry in the far north of scotland but once the rain arrives elsewhere could be quite heavy. western areas could turn heavy later. the strongest winds are going to be on the southern flank of that across wales and southern england. strengthening to the day and gusts of 50 or 60 mild an hour eventually but with the cloud, wind and it is going to feel cold for the time of year. when the interleaving across

many parts of the country and overnight as well. most of that persistent rain moves of that area of low pressure but we are left with a messy picture i think on tuesday. windy down there as north sea coast for a while and when these eventually but we've got showers and longer spells of rain turning wintry of the hills of scotland. north of scotland temperature 7 degrees. south wales are 12 or 13, not quite so wet. a lot of showers to come on tuesday even though that low pressure is moving away and heading into wednesday there were still coming down from the north. and that means colder than it is normally at this time of year and that cold air will remain to the west of the week. could be a touch of frost on wednesday. we have got little bends, sunshine, showers developing on the hills and developing down the eastern side of england but had further west and it is much drier with