this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines... the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. people in those regions may also be given their second vaccination sooner, as it's feared the indian variant could be more transmissible. we've sent more doses to bolton and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. portugal say british holiday—makers can visit the country from monday, despite the government in lisbon extending its state of emergency. meanwhile, people in wales are being told to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. a night of heavy israeli attacks on the gaza strip, from air, land and sea. while hamas militants continue to fire rockets across the border.

a leading charity says hundreds of women in the uk may have wrongly been made to wear a face covering during childbirth. and prince harry tells a us podcast he wants to break the cycle of pain suffered in the royal family. good afternoon. the government is sending extra doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by a rising number of cases of the indian variant. second doses of the vaccine could also be offered sooner than planned to some vulnerable and elderly people. the vaccines minister says it's important to break the cycle of infection. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. queueing up forjabs in bolton, an area currently with the highest

covid rate in the country. it's one of 15 areas receiving surge testing and enhanced contact tracing. nationally, over 4,000 cases and more than 14,000 close contacts have been traced and told to isolate. now, there's an extra push to vaccinate here, to try to stop the spread of the virus. the important thing, i think, is the combination of seeing whether we can flex the vaccination programme to help further, so we have sent more doses to bolton. and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. the variant of concern, first identified in india, has more than doubled in the last week, from 520 cases to more than 1,300, but a lag in sequencing samples mean the figures could be much higher. most cases are in the north—west and in london. and while there is no firm evidence

the variant causes more severe illness or makes the vaccine is less effective, the speed of growth is concerning. there have been documented infections in vaccinated in india for example, but none became ill, they had mild symptoms. and that is a thing we are worried about here, because there will be some people in the community who have not responded so well to the vaccines and are vulnerable. we want to limit the spread of new variants, because they may gain further mutations. that is a concern in bolton where cases of the variant are spreading in areas with lower vaccine uptake, although there has not been a big increase in hospital admissions or spread among the over 60s, the mayor of greater manchester wants to speed up the vaccine roll—out. we do say to the government, - we want to vaccinate supplies to be used in vaccinating the younger working age population, - the student population.

that is what is needed _ if we are to make the most decisive and effective intervention into the situation - that we can right now. vaccinations will help, but it takes around three weeks for the protection to build. the government has not ruled out fresh local or regional restrictions to help slow the spread, and there is still a question over whether all restrictions can be lifted onjune the 21st. if we were seeing a big increase in hospitalisations by earlyjune and deaths rising rapidly, then i doubt that we would have that relaxation. but if we can avoid that, and if that does not happen, then we may well still be able to keep to target. england's pubs, restaurants and museums will welcome guests back inside from monday, but there is still so much uncertainty around this new variant and we've seen just how quickly the virus can take off again. katharine da costa, bbc news.

well, our correspondent andy gill has been giving in the latest from bolton. the infection rate in bolton over the autumn and winter followed the pattern of much of the rest of the country, but infection rates in the last week of april doubled and doubled again in the first week of may. the problem with the indian variant is centred on three areas just to the south of the town centre. they're areas of some deprivation. there is a high asian population, also quite a lot of students and dense housing. that is where local health officials think the problem is. they think there was initially some connection of this indian variant with international travel, but now they think it is down to household transmission. initially, the increase in transmission was among younger people. now, though, they are seeing increases in age groups right up to the age of 60. so they are really hoping they can get on top of this. the local authorities have already targeted these

areas with more testing, as we have heard the government is now sending more doses of vaccine to bolton as well, to try and get on top of this. we have been speaking to people in bolton here about what they think about it. there is some concern that the vaccine, the new variant might affect the town. there is also concern about the possibility of either not coming down out of a lockdown or going into a new one. people worried about businesses. don't forget, greater manchester has been in lockdown over the past year or so for longer than many other places in the uk. dr zubaida haque is a member of independent sage, a group of scientists who are working together to provide independent scientific advice to the government. thank you forjoining us. how concerned are you about these variants, the indian variant of concern in particular? given the fact that we have the vaccine now.

independent sage are very concerned. we were concerned for quite some time and we were really quite surprised that last monday when the prime minister announced that everything was fine and the data to go—ahead for the road map next monday on may the 17th, we were concerned that actually while the prime minister was saying that we passed all the tests, actually, it was not entirely, it was not entirely truthful to say that we passed all four, because we have not passed all four, because we have not passed the tests necessarily around the risk of variants of concern. and we have seen with this variant, the bi6i7.2, we have seen with this variant, the bi6i7.2, so—called indian variant, it's rapidly increasing across the country, we know it's particularly prevalent in the north—west and in london. but it's slowly spreading and the areas where it has spread quite a lot, it has quickly become the dominant variant and that means

it's a real concern. it has also been designated as a variant of concern which means that it's likely to be as transmissible, if not more. there is some evidence to suggest it may be 60% more transmissible than the kent variant that caused our second wave last year. so there are real concerns about it and there are some concerns, although tentative at the moment that it may even evade some of our vaccines but we should wait and see. vaccines are still effective and it's great the government are sending more vaccinations to places like bolton. how wise is it that the changes due to come into place next monday, the 17th of may in england, which so many people are hanging their hopes on, does the data support those changes? it’s on, does the data support those chances? v ' . on, does the data support those chances? h m , , changes? it's difficult, because some of the — changes? it's difficult, because some of the data _ changes? it's difficult, because some of the data does - changes? it's difficult, because some of the data does and - changes? it's difficult, because some of the data does and of l changes? it's difficult, because - some of the data does and of course it has been an extremely long time

in lockdown, we have been in lockdown for several months and that has had a real mental health toll on many of us. some of the data does in terms of the fact that if you look across the country, cases are coming down, deaths are in double digits which is tremendous, its great deaths are coming down all the time. but the problem is, just as the road map test show us, that's not the only concern. this is the year of variants and what i mean is that variance, if we don't watch them, if we don't keep them under control, like the bi6i7.2, indian variant, as well as the south african variant, if we don't keep those under control, they could really undermine the success of the vaccination programme. and we have seen the devastation that the so—called indian variant has caused in india. 400,000 cases a day, millions and millions of deaths, it has been

absolutely devastating. and we cannot, we cannot return to the hospitalisation rate two like we did in january. we hospitalisation rate two like we did injanuary. we are unlikely to return to the death rates which is really good news, and that is testimony of the vaccination roll—out, but most of the population are only partially vaccinated. and there is quite a significant part of there is quite a significant part of the population that are not vaccinated at all.— the population that are not vaccinated at all. ., ., vaccinated at all. doctor, may i ask one final question, _ vaccinated at all. doctor, may i ask one final question, if— vaccinated at all. doctor, may i ask one final question, if you _ vaccinated at all. doctor, may i ask one final question, if you could - one final question, if you could answer briefly i would be grateful. how likely is it that regional or local lockdowns would be sufficient in your view, rather than a nationwide one, briefly? we don't want to regional _ nationwide one, briefly? we don't want to regional lockdown, - nationwide one, briefly? we don't| want to regional lockdown, neither do we want a nationwide lock, what we want is government to pull resources to the areas that are significantly affected by the so—called indian variant right now. and send vaccinations there. but

that's not enough. they need to reform the test, trace system which has not been fit for purpose, they need to support isolation including in multi—generational housing where they need to provide more finance and accommodation. they will need to do that in a lot of the areas affected because they are much more disadvantaged areas and have lots of overcrowding housing. thank disadvantaged areas and have lots of overcrowding housing.— disadvantaged areas and have lots of overcrowding housing. thank you very much for your— overcrowding housing. thank you very much for your time. _ overcrowding housing. thank you very much for your time. thank _ overcrowding housing. thank you very much for your time. thank you. - the welsh government is advising people not to go on a foreign holiday, even after rules on international travel are relaxed next week. 0ther lockdown restrictions in wales are also being eased in the coming days. 0ur correspondent, tomos morgan, sent this update from cardiff. the first minister has said that he would rather that people in wales do not go on holiday for the rest of the year. he is concerned mostly about bringing new variants into wales, just as we saw in the summer of last year, really. and i think for that reason and because of the news on the indian variant overnight,

there has not been any more suggestions of what will be eased further down the line, until they know conclusively from sage how bad this indian variant could be to coronavirus levels. what we do know is, on monday, indoor hospitality will reopen in wales, just as it will do in england, and groups of six can meet indoors. but if the are six people from different households are not the same extended household, they will still have to socially distance. that rules out hugging people you have not seen for a while. also, the only big change is group activities of 30 can restart on monday. but as i say, looking further down the line, we still don't have any detail here on when other sectors of the economy can reopen, such as nightclubs and the night industry and any relaxing on social distancing. the first minister did say however if things continue in the right direction, if vaccination levels remain the best they are in the uk and wales at the moment,

that potentially buy the next review in three weeks' time, wales could be lowered into alert level one. the portuguese tourist authorities have said british tourists can travel to portugal from monday. that's despite the government in lisbon announcing an extension of the country's lockdown until at least the end of may. portugal is on the uk government's green list for travel next week, but it's state of emergency remains in place. 0ur correspondent alison roberts spoke to us from lisbon earlier. the government has just confirmed to the bbc will take a decision to open the country up to british tourists from midnight on monday. as of monday, people can come to the country on holiday. of course, taking a test within the 72 hours before they embark. that is a very important part of it. no quarantine either coming here or on the way back, but confirmed people can come

to portugal on holiday. the state of public calamity has been extended until the rest of the month but it's the highest alert, not an indication of lockdown restrictions. most of the lockdown restrictions that were imposed in mid—january have actually been lifted in almost all of the country. just four municipalities under some restrictions, about a dozen on a watch list. one in the algarve is on a watch list. but the situation has been good and it is actually improving as the government said yesterday after their cabinet meeting and so things are looking good for people to come. facemasks are still mandatory in the streets and there are capacity limits in places like restaurants and so forth. but people should be able to enjoy their holidays quite happily. and the prime minister will be leading a press conference later at downing street. you can see coverage on bbc one and the bbc news channel from 4.30pm. in the last few minutes, the bbc has

heard from sources familiar with talks aimed at ending this latest round of fighting that there have been real efforts this morning to reach an agreement. in israel. these are intensive egyptian, arab and international efforts, and there are said to be some positive signals that mediation is bringing results. this comes after further overnight exchanges of israeli bombardments and hamas rockets. paul adams reports from jerusalem. explosions. another ferocious barrage on gaza overnight. israeli jets and artillery pounding what the army said was a network of hamas tunnels. the attack caused panic. palestinians fleeing areas close to the border with israel, terrified a ground assault was imminent. at one point, the army tweeted it was already happening, only to row back later. translation: there is a lot of shelling. i and the children are all afraid. even us adults, who have been in war since our childhood, we are afraid.

and we cannot bear it any more. but, with troops and armour massing on the border, the threat of an escalation is still there. the military says this operation is not over. sirens. rescue workers in gaza are struggling to keep pace. looking for the dead and the wounded, while the assault goes on all around them. some of those who fled their homes are sheltering in un schools, they have done it before, and know it may not be safe to return for some time. hamas seems undaunted. fresh volleys of rockets were launched overnight. israel says most were intercepted. but the rockets, more than 1,800 so far, are causing fear and sometimes death. but the government has other concerns, too. last night saw more violence on the streets of cities where israel'sjewish and arab populations live side by side. translation: the people of israel are dealing - with a campaign on two fronts. firstly, gaza.

i have said that we will exact a very heavy price from hamas and the other terrorist organisations. the second front, israel's cities, we give 100% backing to the police and to the soldiers to restore law and order. we will not tolerate anarchy. the scenes are ugly. gangs of young jews and arabs picking on bystanders, attacking homes, and places of worship. in the city of lod, there was even gunfire. paramilitary border guards have been drafted in to help the police restore order. there have been hundreds of arrests. the un security council is due to discuss the situation on sunday but, as usual, seems deadlocked over what to do about it. an american envoy is due to come here, and efforts to broker a ceasefire between israel and hamas are going on, so far, to no avail. israel says it still has plenty to do in gaza, and has the resources to inflict much more damage, but going in on the ground would be a major

escalation fraught with danger. anna ahronheim is the military and defense correspondent of the jerusalem post. thank you forjoining us. since we heard from paul adams, it does appear that there are some positive signs in these mediation talks, what are you hearing? i’m signs in these mediation talks, what are you hearing?— are you hearing? i'm not hearing much on the _ are you hearing? i'm not hearing much on the diplomatic- are you hearing? i'm not hearing much on the diplomatic front. i are you hearing? i'm not hearing| much on the diplomatic front. i'm more in the military front. speaking to officials, i came from a briefing just this morning with top idf officers and they are not saying this is going to end any time soon, they see her miss has the launching rockets the next two months and israel, like you said, has a lot left they want to do in the gaza strip. 0n the different attic front, there may be better, more positive news, on the military front, on that angle, it's not getting any better. hamas is still

firing rockets, there wasjust getting any better. hamas is still firing rockets, there was just a large barrage and the communities along the gaza strip, border, israel is still carrying out air strikes. it looks to me they will continue for the next few days, if not a week or two, for the next few days, if not a week ortwo, before for the next few days, if not a week or two, before israel really wants to sit down and negotiate any sort of truce. ~ ., ., , of truce. the likelihood is we will see more casualties _ of truce. the likelihood is we will see more casualties which - of truce. the likelihood is we will see more casualties which of - of truce. the likelihood is we will i see more casualties which of course will cause in return isjust tit—for—tat, more and more escalation, this is the problem, isn't it? we have seen it before. we have seen it before and we will see it again. we have seen it before and we will see it aaain. ~ ., ., have seen it before and we will see it auain.~ ., .,. ., it again. we have a civilian casualties _ it again. we have a civilian casualties count _ it again. we have a civilian casualties count getting i it again. we have a civilian - casualties count getting higher and higher. israel lost its first soldier the other day to an anti—tank missile. gaza has lost children and innocent civilians and at least 75 hamas militants have been killed. when you have the

numbers going up and the fact the israelis don't want to sit down, one is willing to sit and ready to talk, but the israeli army is not. so it is tit—for—tat, like you said, very likely going to continue. the is tit-for-tat, like you said, very likely going to continue. the other thin that likely going to continue. the other thing that seems _ likely going to continue. the other thing that seems obvious - likely going to continue. the other thing that seems obvious to - likely going to continue. the other thing that seems obvious to those | likely going to continue. the other. thing that seems obvious to those on the outside of this is that of course israel is much more heavily armed, much, has a much greater military infrastructure. and also a warning system whereby at least people can try to reach cover which many palestinians are not afforded. i mean, that's very true, but you have to ask yourself, how much did those missiles cost? combined, they have 14,000 missiles and rocket and that does not cost pennies. the palestinian public is... many people say they are held hostage by the terror groups running the strip but you have to ask yourself, why couldn't the use this money to build

infrastructure to protect the people? at the same time, though, i have to say the israeli army goes out of its way to make sure civilians and noncombatants are hit as less as possible... i’m civilians and noncombatants are hit as less as possible. . ._ as less as possible... i'm sure you will exueet — as less as possible... i'm sure you will exueet me _ as less as possible... i'm sure you will expect me to _ as less as possible... i'm sure you will expect me to say _ as less as possible... i'm sure you will expect me to say many - as less as possible... i'm sure you will expect me to say many critics| will expect me to say many critics and onlookers don't agree with that. they don't have to agree, but i mean if you look at... military videos they are releasing, yes, even on the other side, they can tell you that they are getting calls from the israeli military telling them to evacuate the building. it doesn't take two seconds to take down a building, it takes three hours. the israeli military take three hours to evacuate a building and make sure there are no civilians around. yes, many times, they are there, many times unfortunately they are killed, but at the same time, and go ahead and criticise it, but you also have to criticise hamas, why did they

spend so much money on building an arsenal instead of putting that money into protecting civilians? israel has put in money, in the armament and protecting it civilians. israel goes out of its way, i'm going to say to game, and i criticised both sides and i see both sides of the game, i cry for every child killed as a mother, ijust gave birth five months ago, any child killed, it breaks my heart. but again, the israeli military does go out of its way to inform them ahead of time and that even gives hamas the ability to take out strategic assets from buildings before it is bombed. what else can they do? before it is bombed. what else can the do? ~ . �* . ~ before it is bombed. what else can the do? ., �* ., ~ ., they do? what we're talking about, it ist in: they do? what we're talking about, it is trying to _ they do? what we're talking about, it is trying to get — they do? what we're talking about, it is trying to get to _ they do? what we're talking about, it is trying to get to situation - it is trying to get to situation where nobody needs to protect civilians from each other. thank you very much for talking to us.- very much for talking to us. thank ou. the business empire of liberty steel owner sanjeev gupta is under investigation by the serious fraud office. the probe is over suspected

fraudulent trading and money laundering, including its financing arrangements with greensill capital, where the former prime minister david cameron was an adviser. let's speak to our business correspondent theo legget. theo, what's prompted this sfo investigation? there has been a lot of pressure around to look at the financing of the group to a family group of companies which is a fairly loose collection of companies around the world under the control of sanjeev gupta. it employs about 35,000 people, including some 5000 in the uk and of course owns liberty steel. they have been questions over the link between the group and greensill capital. for example, there were reports in the financial times that invoices presented by gupta family companies, were supposed to be evidence owed to the gupta family

group may not have been entirely what they said they were. some of the companies named in the invoices say they had not done any business with gupta family, they say they haven't done anything wrong, but there have been questions around these proceedings so now we have had a statement from the sfo saying it's investigating suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money—laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of businesses within the group, including its arrangements with greensill capital. for the moment, thank you very much. the actor kevin guthrie has been jailed for three years for sexually assaulting a woman at a flat in glasgow. the 33—year—old, who's best known for staring in the film sunshine 0n leith denied the charge. he told glasgow sheriff court he had

only "helped" the woman after she fell ill, but the jury was told that his dna was found inside her underwear. he was found guilty after a four—day trial and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely. amazon is creating more than 10,000 jobs in the uk. the online giant will open a parcel centre in doncaster and four new warehouses across the country. here's our business correspondent, emma simpson. amazon, the online giant. it's already got 24 fulfilment centres across the uk. and now they are adding more. this is one of their new sites in gateshead. the business secretary dropping in for a tour. as amazon announced its latest plans for expansion. today, we are announcing 10,000 newjobs across the uk this year, we are here at gateshead, building here, 1,300 newjobs, that we are creating this year. last year, we opened darlington in may, in durham last september, and that will mean we will have 4,000 jobs in the north—east in the last 18 months. this business is growing at breakneck speed, to meet the huge demand for online shopping.

amazon created 10,000 jobs last year. now it is adding another 10,000 permanent roles across the business, meaning that its uk workforce will reach 55,000 by the end of this year. how powerful is amazon becoming? amazon is seemingly invincible at the moment, they are firing on all cylinders. their retail division has been strengthened due to the ubiquity of its offering and the fact that, during the pandemic, many shoppers made amazon their first port of call. but it is important to remember it isn'tjust a retailer, they are a technology company, and so, if you look at cloud computing, advertising, check—out—free shopping, alexa, digital content, every single aspect of amazon's business has been strengthened, due to the fact that covid has accelerated a shift towards a more digital world. it has also speeded up changes on our high streets, where thousands ofjobs have been lost.

debenhams, one of the biggest casualties. tomorrow, the shutters come down for the last time, after more than 200 years of trading. emma simpson, bbc news. prince harry says he wants to "break the cycle" of "pain and suffering" he experienced growing up, so he doesn't pass it on to his own children. the duke of sussex was speaking on a podcast, in which he said his life as a royal was like a mixture of the truman show and being in a zoo. harry suggested his own pain may have come in part from his parents, but said he wasn't "pointing the finger" at anyone. james reynolds reports. a month ago, at the funeral of the duke of edinburgh, prince harry briefly took the same path as the rest of his family. but, back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his own tracks. isn't life about breaking the cycle, right? yeah. there is no blame, i don't think

we shouldn't be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly, when it comes to parenting, if i have experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, i'm going to make sure that i break that cycle, so that i don't pass it on, basically. there's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. as parents, we should be doing the most we can to say, "that happened to me, i'm gonna make sure that it doesn't happen to you." this morning prince charles, the subject of so many of harry's reflections, visited south wales and gave nothing away. sir, do you agree with prince harry about the suffering _ and pain in the family? he gave nothing away. in the podcast, harry examined his father's upbringing. suddenly i started to piece it all together and go, "0k, this is where he went to school, this is what happened, i know this bit about his life. i also know that's connected to his parents." yeah. so that means that he's treating me the way that he was treated. exactly.

which means, how can i change that for my own kids? and, well, here i am. i have now moved my whole family to the us. that wasn't the plan! harry talked about his wife meghan�*s decision to help him seek therapy, and he revealed that his desire to leave royal duties went right back to his early 20s, and was notjust the result of his marriage. you can only be what you can see... from their new home, harry and meghan now regularly speak out. buckingham palace hasn't commented on the duke's latest interview. perhaps abiding by the unofficial motto, "never explain, never complain." a policy that harry himself no longer feels any need to obey. james reynolds, bbc news. this weekend it looks like mother nature will throw at us almost anything. big storm clouds on the way with downpours, hail and thunder, dusty wind but also some

sunshine. this map here shows us the rainfall accumulation, where it is going to rain through saturday and sunday and the darker blue the darker the rain is going to be. you can see across the northern, western and southern areas. a little bit of and southern areas. a little bit of a lull, we're still getting showers and some of them pretty heavy across the western and southern areas but many of us stay dry until tonight. tonight, a weatherfront many of us stay dry until tonight. tonight, a weather front sweeps across the country. it will bring some wet weather to south—western areas initially and then through the course of saturday morning, that rain front will sweep northwards and even once cleared, we expecting big downpours, again the hail and thunder and that is expected to continue into sunday and next week. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines:

the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton — one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. portugal says british holidaymakers can visit the country from monday, despite the government in lisbon extending its state of emergency. meanwhile people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. a leading charity says hundreds of women in the uk may have wrongly been made to wear a face covering during childbirth. sport now and let's get a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. some breaking formula one news. next month's turkish grand prix has been cancelled just six weeks after it was added to the formula one calendar. turkey has been placed on the uk's red—list which makes racing there unworkable with so many of the teams based in this country. turkey had originally replaced the canadian grand prix which was also scrapped because because of covid travel restrictions. there will now be a second austrian race next month with the french grand prix brought

forward by a week. turkey had already lost the champions league final, and there's potentially good news for the 12,000 manchester city and chelsea fans heading to porto on the 29th may. portugal say that uk tourists will be allowed to enter the country from next monday if they can provide a negative covid test. there was some confusion last night with the portuguese government saying that their entry restrictions were being extended until the 30th and then the suggestion that fans would only be allowed to travel on the day of the game and fly home straight afterwards. those requirements are expected to be lifted next week though. there is nothing like a live experience and a live game. so they will be _ experience and a live game. so they will be fans— experience and a live game. so they will be fans that want to go there but we _ will be fans that want to go there but we want to make the experience as smooth_ but we want to make the experience as smooth as possible. in this environment there is no such thing as low—

environment there is no such thing as low risk— environment there is no such thing as low risk or no risk international travel— as low risk or no risk international travel and — as low risk or no risk international travel and it— as low risk or no risk international travel and it will be a different experience. liverpool managerjurgen klopp has reiterated that there's no issue with sadio mane after the forward refused to shake hands with him following last night's win at manchester united. mane only came off the bench for the last 15 minutes at old trafford, with diogojota prefferred to start up front. mane showed his frustration at full time, snubbing the german. the world is in the situation where you can base —— make this bigger than necessary and that is unfortunately the case. i hope for you your boss will not forget if you one time don't show him respect that he then not forget all the other stuff. already i can see the headlines which you are making of it but that's not the case. i am completely relaxed about that. carla ward has resigned as head coach of birmingham city. she only took charge in august, but will now leave after sunday s

fa cup fifth—round tie at home to southampton. her tenure has been farfrom smooth. they only avoided relegation on the last day of the season and the players have complained about their working conditions, facilities and travel restrictions compared to the men's side. wards departure means that four of the 12 wsl clubs are now looking for a new manager. the schedule for this summer's british and irish lions tour to south africa has been tweaked. there will still be eight matches, but they will now take place in three cities rather than six, to reduce the risk of covid and as it stands, the lions will play all those games behind closed doors. the tour will start injohannesburg and pretoria, before heading to the cape town stadium for more warm up games and then the first test on the 24th july. the last two tests will be back injohannesburg. rafael nadal is on course to win a 10th italian 0pen title, after reaching the semi—finals in rome. he beat alexander zverev in straight sets ending three—match losing streak against the german nadal saved eight break points in the second set to win 6—3,

6—4 and is nowjust two wins away from equalling novak djokovic's record of 36 masters titles at this level. simona halep is in a race to be fit for the defence of her wimbledon title. the world number three has confirmed today that the injury that forced her to pull out of the italian 0pen is a calf tear. she will almost certainly miss the french open, that starts in 10 days time. wimbledon starts on the 28th ofjune. halep is the defending champion from her victory in 2019. last year's tournament was cancelled. that's all the sport for now. a leading charity has warned hundreds of women may have wrongly been made to wear a face mask during childbirth. research shared exclusively with bbc news found 160 mothers out of more than 900 who gave birth last december said they were made to wear a mask during labour. guidance published by the royal college of midwives says expectant women shouldn't have to wear any form of facial covering

during labour because of the risk of harm and complications. divya talwar reports. this is barnaby, rosie's third child. he's a healthy pandemic baby, but there were complications during his birth, and rosie was terrified he wasn't going to make it. i was convinced he would be stillborn. what was going through my mind was, actually, "this is awful, this is the end of everything for him." rosie says her difficultly labour was made worse after she was told to wear a facemask while in advanced labour. she has a phobia of being sick, and says the smell of the mask made her nauseous and panic. i felt like i was dying. i thought, this is so, so painful, and i got this mask over my face, feeling really claustrophobic, and the mask is making me feel really nauseous and really sick, and that's making me panic as well. i was frightened then, in amongst everything else that was happening, that i was actually then going to be sick inside a mask. at any point, did you feel like you had a choice about wearing this mask?

it didn't cross my mind that i was allowed to take it off. the guidance for nhs trusts was published jointly lastjuly by both the royal college of midwives and obstetricians and gynaecologists. it said women should not be asked to wear a face covering while in labour, whether it's a natural or cesarean birth, because of the potential harm. but we know that guidance isn't always being followed. i've spoken to dozens of women, some of them with conditions like asthma or anxiety, and they have all told me that they were made to wear facemasks at some point during their labour. all of them have said that theyjust didn't realise they even had a choice about it. this is natalie with her baby girl, who was born last december. natalie hasn't got any pictures from the birth. she says it was the most terrifying experience. natalie says that she was made to wear a mask while in advanced labour. she challenged it, but was told she had to wear one. i felt completely suffocated. i'm never going to be able to forget the feeling of not

being able to breathe, the fear, the panic. if i have to wear a mask, it's something that flashes back as a moment of fear, the worst fear that i've been through. while the majority of women who have given birth during the pandemic haven't had to wear a face covering, it's clear there is confusion among some maternity staff. a survey of more than 900 women who gave birth last december found almost 20% of them said they had to wear a face covering at some point during childbirth. we had one lady who vomited in her mask. we've had others unable to breathe. these are things that are actually avoidable, and that's just by simply following the guidance. we asked for response from the nhs trusts involved, and they said they follow the guidance and would not expect a woman in childbirth to wear a mask, and there may be rare cases where staff may have made an error. rosie says she just wants expectant mums to be aware of the latest

guidance so they can avoid the unnecessary confusion and distress she faced. we can speak now to dr marie ross—davie, who is director for professional midwifery at the royal college of midwives. she helped write the guidance around face masks during labour. it seems pretty straightforward to me. so how is it that in some situations women have been forced to facemasks? ,, , ., facemasks? sitting here listening to those stories _ facemasks? sitting here listening to those stories of _ facemasks? sitting here listening to those stories of those _ facemasks? sitting here listening to those stories of those two _ facemasks? sitting here listening to those stories of those two women, | facemasks? sitting here listening to i those stories of those two women, as a midwife it's really distressing to hear how distressed and frightened they were during labour and we certainly wouldn't want that to be the experience of anyone going through labour. this pandemic has been difficult for pregnant women and women in labour and they have been all sorts of changes to the care but as you say we were clear

and when the new guidance came out from nhs england in the uk government last summer about the need to wear face coverings in public places and in hospitals and that meant the staff to also be wearing face coverings in corridors and public spaces, we that time it was important that we put out guidance that clarified quickly that that didn't include women when they were in labour. because we recognise that would lead to more distress for women in a situation that can already be quite traumatic. so we put out that guidance lastjuly but they have been so many changes during the pandemic for maternity staff in terms of guidance and how rapidly that has changed. they can be incidences where that guidance doesn't filter down to an individual practitioner and what i wonder has happened in december last year

because if you remember that was when that second wave was coming through and there was a lot of talk about new variants of covid—19 and whether that led to some confusion in what was appropriate care at that time. �* ., , ., in what was appropriate care at that time. �* ., ,, time. but had you ever issued uuidance time. but had you ever issued guidance to — time. but had you ever issued guidance to say, _ time. but had you ever issued guidance to say, no, - time. but had you ever issued guidance to say, no, all- time. but had you ever issuedl guidance to say, no, all women time. but had you ever issued - guidance to say, no, all women must wear facemasks guidance to say, no, all women must wearfacemasks in labour? ha. so wear facemasks in labour? no. so where wear facemasks in labour? i157. so where does that confusion come from? it has been very difficult through the pandemic for staff to know exactly where they are in guidance and what would be appropriate and what the risks are. sometimes some of the stories we have heard from women about when they have been asked to face covering has been when they are moving from one area of the hospital to another so potentially when they are being transferred from an antenatal ward to a labour ward or along a corridor to go to

theatre. perhaps the women have been asked to wear face covering at that time and it hasn't been made clear that they are then able to take that face covering. that is really unfortunate and as those trusts have said, they are very clear that that isn't there guidance. so i want women to be reassured that that isn't what they can expect of the care that they received in labour, that they will not be asked to wear a face covering. and if they do find they are wearing a face covering and they are wearing a face covering and they are wearing a face covering and they are uncomfortable they should make sure they make staff aware of that and they would like to remove the face covering.— the face covering. thank you very much for your— the face covering. thank you very much for your time. _ the face covering. thank you very much for your time. some - the face covering. thank you very l much for your time. some breaking news on the indian variant of coronavirus. we are now told it has been found in cambridgeshire linked to travel. doctor david edwards,

consultant and health protection of public health england, says following a rise in the number of cases in cambridge pag and the county council and the city council have been working with local communities to stop further transmission of the virus. contacts and movements of confirmed positive cases have been robustly traced and all of those who are deemed at risk of infection have been advised to self—isolate. they have found a small number of the indian variant and these are associated with recent travel to india. we are aware that there are cases elsewhere in the country and further work is taking place to help us understand how this variant behaves. so the indian variant behaves. so the indian variant found in another part of the country, this time cambridgeshire. in northern ireland, voting is underway in the first ever dup leadership contest. sirjeffrey donaldson and edwin poots are vying

to replace arlene foster who resigned last month. 0nly dup members elected to the house of commons and the northern ireland assembly get to vote. the results of the secret ballot are expected after 5 o'clock this afternoon. let's speak now to the conservative mp theresa villiers who's a former northern ireland secretary. i won't ask who you would prefer the winner is because that would be rather indelicate, but whoever wins, what is your hope for how they will lead the dup? it what is your hope for how they will lead the dup?— lead the dup? it will be very important — lead the dup? it will be very important for _ lead the dup? it will be very important for them - lead the dup? it will be very important for them to - lead the dup? it will be very important for them to be - lead the dup? it will be very l important for them to be able lead the dup? it will be very - important for them to be able to cooperate with the other parties and the northern ireland executive. that willingness to engage across the political spectrum is crucial to make the devolved institutions work. and i would also be looking to them to support the government in its efforts to get reform and flexibility is built into the northern ireland protocol with the eu. it's not working in its current form. ~ ., .,

eu. it's not working in its current form. ., ., . ., , ., eu. it's not working in its current form. ., ., . ., , form. what sort of changes do you think they might _ form. what sort of changes do you think they might be _ form. what sort of changes do you think they might be able _ form. what sort of changes do you think they might be able to - form. what sort of changes do you l think they might be able to achieve? in terms of changes to the protocol, it already envisages that for customs checks lower levels of compliance are required if there isn't a risk that the goods ending up isn't a risk that the goods ending up in the single market. if they were to extend that principle to the food —related —— related checks that would remove a lot of the practical problems. in the longer term i would like to see it replaced altogether but those kind of immediate flexibilities of easements could resolve many of the practical difficulties that are currently taking place. difficulties that are currently taking place-— taking place. what sort of relationship _ taking place. what sort of relationship with - taking place. what sort of relationship with your - taking place. what sort of. relationship with your party taking place. what sort of - relationship with your party at westminster hope to have with the dup given the fact they are extremely, many of the members are extremely, many of the members are extremely unhappy with the irish protocol arrangement that your government broke —— brokered? clearly they are deeply unhappy with

the protocol and to be honest many conservatives are as well. the government's on representative on this says it's not sustainable in the long term in its current form. so the uk government always looks to work constructively with the political parties in northern ireland. that will continue on the protocol and other crucial challenges that they face. we are nowhere near _ challenges that they face. we are nowhere near the _ challenges that they face. we are l nowhere near the re-establishment challenges that they face. we are - nowhere near the re-establishment of nowhere near the re—establishment of the devolved establishment at the moment so the new leader is going to have to face being not involved in the running of northern ireland yet. how much intervention is going to be required by westminster? i how much intervention is going to be required by westminster?— required by westminster? i think the executive will _ required by westminster? i think the executive will continue _ required by westminster? i think the executive will continue to _ required by westminster? i think the executive will continue to operate. . executive will continue to operate. we always —— obviously don't know exactly whether the new leader who is elected for the dup will take on

thejob of is elected for the dup will take on the job of first minister himself or appoint someone else within the party. it will be a novel situation to have a difference between the leader of the largest party in the first minister role but i think we can make that work and i think we have to recognise whilst their dup take a number of positions with which i wouldn't agree on issues such as abortion for example, they have played an important role in making the devolved settlement in northern ireland work and i would expect that to continue whichever of the two are selected as the elite this afternoon.— the two are selected as the elite this afternoon. when she said she was stepping _ this afternoon. when she said she was stepping down, _ this afternoon. when she said she was stepping down, arlene - this afternoon. when she said she was stepping down, arlene foster spoke quite a lot about unity and she was very clear in which direction the party needed to head. how likely do you think that is given the two candidates we have got standing to leadership? i given the two candidates we have got standing to leadership?—

standing to leadership? i would exect standing to leadership? i would expeet they _ standing to leadership? i would expect they will _ standing to leadership? i would expect they will be _ standing to leadership? i would expect they will be a _ standing to leadership? i would expect they will be a degree - standing to leadership? i would expect they will be a degree of| expect they will be a degree of pragmatism. northern ireland leaders have shown themselves over a period of decades able to achieve a great deal working to build consensus with other parties. they have come a long way in northern ireland from the troubled past and i think we have to give a great deal of credit to the democratic unionist party for the part they have played. they really history and the founder was controversial and divisive and had some troubling aspects but i think they have shown again and again over recent years that they have tried to take responsible and sensible decisions for northern ireland and i am confident that whether it's either of them that will continue. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news:

the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton — one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. portugal says british holidaymakers can visit the country from monday — despite the government in lisbon extending its state of emergency. meanwhile people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. yesterday we were reporting extensively on the latest data from nhs england which showed that nearly five million people are now waiting for routine hospital treatment, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. another impact of covid—19 has been the extra strain on people's lives, relationships and mental wellbeing covid—19. as part of our what next series, let's discuss now the issues and possible solutions around mental health. with me is mark roach, who started experiening mental health difficulties during lockdown. he sought help and was referred to a therapist, but also to a relatively new innovation — an internet based, digital therapy programme. and i'm alsojoined by dr lloyd humphreys, a qualified clinical psychologist and head of europe at silvercloud,

which is the digital therapy service that mark used. mark, it's good of you to appear and share this with us. i am sure what you went through will evoke the empathy and sympathy of a lot of other people. what was the impact the pandemic had?— the pandemic had? before the lockdown in — the pandemic had? before the lockdown in march _ the pandemic had? before the lockdown in march last - the pandemic had? before the lockdown in march last year i i the pandemic had? before the i lockdown in march last year i was working in an office with a team of about 15 people, good social interaction. i did have some personal challenges prior to the lockdown but i think working from home on my own, you do feel that isolation and it did highlight the problems a bit more. i did talk to friends and family about the way i was feeling, which helped, but i felt i needed some extra support so

i contacted my gp and was referred. doctor humphreys, how common is this story in the last 12 months? you must have seen a massive increase in people coming to you help? there has been a huge — people coming to you help? there has been a huge increase _ people coming to you help? there has been a huge increase in _ people coming to you help? there has been a huge increase in the _ people coming to you help? there has been a huge increase in the axis i people coming to you help? there has been a huge increase in the axis of. been a huge increase in the axis of digital— been a huge increase in the axis of digital therapy over the last year. in digital therapy over the last year. in some — digital therapy over the last year. in some months of the pandemic third of all primary care mental health treatment was delivered digitally by silver— treatment was delivered digitally by silver cloud so we saw over 100% increase — silver cloud so we saw over 100% increase in— silver cloud so we saw over 100% increase in terms of the use of digital— increase in terms of the use of digital and _ increase in terms of the use of digital and that's kind of an impact of the _ digital and that's kind of an impact of the covid in terms of the restrictions, limitations and social impact _ restrictions, limitations and social impact that it's hard. but also in terms _ impact that it's hard. but also in terms of— impact that it's hard. but also in terms of actually the mental health impact _ terms of actually the mental health impact of— terms of actually the mental health impact of contracting the virus itself~ — impact of contracting the virus itself. ~ . ~ impact of contracting the virus itself. ~ ., ,, , impact of contracting the virus itself. ,, , , , itself. mark, tell us in simple terms how— itself. mark, tell us in simple terms how digital _ itself. mark, tell us in simple terms how digital therapy i itself. mark, tell us in simple i terms how digital therapy works.

there is a doctor there to support you. there is a doctor there to support ou. ., ., ., y there is a doctor there to support ou. ., ., ., , , you. the referral i got from my gp was for two _ you. the referral i got from my gp was for two elements _ you. the referral i got from my gp was for two elements to _ you. the referral i got from my gp was for two elements to the i you. the referral i got from my gp i was for two elements to the support, the first was talking therapy so having a few sessions with a mental health therapist and also using silver cloud digital platform as part of the support for that. so the two things combined were really useful. i got to speak to somebody in person which helped. they talked me through how to use silver cloud and it was very easy—to—use, very easy to understand, which really helped the process for me. and i just found i could use that whenever i wanted to and also i like that there is a feature on there which is a journal and you can write down how you are feeling as you can refer back to particular issues. it's very well explained. you understand more

about why you are feeling a certain way and also you do feel somebody is they who is genuinely trying to support you and help you. doctor humphreys, _ support you and help you. doctor humphreys, it— support you and help you. doctor humphreys, it almost _ support you and help you. doctor humphreys, it almost seems i humphreys, it almost seems counterintuitive that if some of the mental health issues you are struggling with are born out of isolation that it's a digital platform that you are using as the remedy. how is it that it is successful and how does it manage to be effective?— be effective? because it empowers the individual _ be effective? because it empowers the individual to _ be effective? because it empowers the individual to reflect _ be effective? because it empowers the individual to reflect on - be effective? because it empowers the individual to reflect on their. the individual to reflect on their own issues and develop the coping skills— own issues and develop the coping skills and — own issues and develop the coping skills and strategies in order to manage — skills and strategies in order to manage their own difficulties for themselves. so this is really about a person— themselves. so this is really about a person helping themselves but also bein- a person helping themselves but also being able _ a person helping themselves but also being able to connect to a supporter on the _ being able to connect to a supporter on the other end. to also continue that self— on the other end. to also continue that self reflection with the support that is available. so it's really— support that is available. so it's really about developing skills for yourself — really about developing skills for yourself because in traditional

therapy— yourself because in traditional therapy you have an episode of care that might — therapy you have an episode of care that might be eight sessions long and what — that might be eight sessions long and what we want to do is develop lifelong _ and what we want to do is develop lifelong skill from the digital platform that empowers the person. how likely— platform that empowers the person. how likely is it that he will continue to use some of the strategies taught you mark? that has been a big help _ strategies taught you mark? that has been a big help for _ strategies taught you mark? that has been a big help for me. _ strategies taught you mark? that has been a big help for me. it's _ strategies taught you mark? that has been a big help for me. it's not i been a big help for me. it's not just something you can use there and then. you get to use the platform for a year but also itjust helps you really make sense of why you are feeling that way and i think the more that can be done to normalise this, if you break your leg it's very visible and everyone knows what the problem is but mental health is obviously more of an invisible type of issue but no less real. so absolutely, it's definitely helped me and i would recommend it to everyone. first of all talk to people and family and friends, get some help and speak to a gp and get

referred and i would definitely recommend it.— referred and i would definitely recommend it. ., , i, ., recommend it. doctor humphreys, how useful are digital _ recommend it. doctor humphreys, how useful are digital therapy _ recommend it. doctor humphreys, how useful are digital therapy is _ recommend it. doctor humphreys, how useful are digital therapy is going i useful are digital therapy is going to be in the future, particularly when we think about the backlog of cases and the sheer number of people who are saying they need mental health services that are massively overstretched and arguably underfunded ? overstretched and arguably underfunded?— overstretched and arguably underfunded? , ., ., , ., , underfunded? digital really does hel to underfunded? digital really does help to manage _ underfunded? digital really does help to manage that _ underfunded? digital really does help to manage that capacity i underfunded? digital really does | help to manage that capacity and underfunded? digital really does i help to manage that capacity and the demand _ help to manage that capacity and the demand that may happen in the future — demand that may happen in the future. the important thing is getting — future. the important thing is getting to people as early as possible. if people have mental health— possible. if people have mental health issues they need to go to the gp and _ health issues they need to go to the gp and get— health issues they need to go to the gp and get a referral but we also need _ gp and get a referral but we also need to— gp and get a referral but we also need to take preventative approach. earlier— need to take preventative approach. earlier this — need to take preventative approach. earlier this week in the queen's speech— earlier this week in the queen's speech there was a pledge to put in more _ speech there was a pledge to put in more funding into prevention as welt _ more funding into prevention as welt and — more funding into prevention as well. and that is important that we -et well. and that is important that we get to— well. and that is important that we get to people as early as possible. that is— get to people as early as possible. that is why— get to people as early as possible. that is why space from covid programme is available to the public — programme is available to the ublic. . ~ programme is available to the ublic. ., ~' , ., programme is available to the ublic. ., ,, now it's time for a look

at the weather with tomas. any plans this weekend? be prepared to embrace the british weather. we have some sunshine in the forecast but also some towering storm clouds, thunder and lightning and downpours and some gusty winds. the reason for it is low pressure will be over —— moving across the uk during saturday and sunday. this is nothing new, it's been propelled by a jet stream which is just south of us and because it is south of us it means we are in the colder air and i want to show what happens on the boundary of the jet stream. you've got colder air streams coming from the north, low pressure is forming here just to the north of the jet stream and then all of the warmth that we would like is being deflected to the south and we are stuck with this pattern and it is not expected to change any time soon. and she is varane full accumulation for the weekend. so where it is blue that means it's going to be raining and where the blue is darker that is where the

rain is going to be heaviest. at the moment there is a bit of a lull in the weather. yes we have some showers around but fewer downpours compared to what we had yesterday. so this is the picture through the middle to latter part of the afternoon. showers across some western and southern areas but many of us getting away with a dry day. and the temperatures only around 11 degrees. so here is the weather front and it's pushing the weather front and it's pushing the weather front in our direction so downpours are expected early in the morning across some south—western areas of the uk but i think are cloudy and dry start across many eastern areas. through the course of saturday that weather front moved northwards and then behind the weather front is a very volatile atmosphere so the kind of atmosphere that generates those big tall clouds and we could have

hail and thunder. but sunshine is round as well so it won't be raining all the time. but the showers will be frequent on saturday and sunday. sunday is going to be a similar day. it doesn't mean the showers will occur at the same time in the same place but the general picture is for a real rush of them across the uk. be prepared.

this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 3... the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. we've sent more doses to bolton and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. portugal says british holiday—makers can visit the country from monday, but the government in lisbon says some limited covid restrictions will stay in place. meanwhile, people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. a night of heavy israeli attacks on the gaza strip, from air, land and sea, while hamas militants continue to fire rockets across the border. a leading charity says hundreds

of women in the uk may have wrongly been made to wear a face covering during childbirth. and prince harry tells a us podcast he wants to break the cycle of pain suffered in the royal family. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the government is sending extra doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by a rising number of cases of the indian variant. second doses of the vaccine could also be offered sooner than planned to some vulnerable and elderly people. the vaccines minister says it's important to break the cycle of infection. 0ur health correspondent katharine da costa reports. queueing up forjabs in bolton, an area currently with the highest covid rate in the country.

it's one of 15 areas receiving surge testing and enhanced contact tracing. nationally, over 4,000 cases and more than 14,000 close contacts have been traced and told to isolate. now, there's an extra push to vaccinate here, to try to stop the spread of the virus. the important thing, i think, is the combination of seeing whether we can flex the vaccination programme to help further, so we have sent more doses to bolton. and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. the variant of concern, first identified in india, has more than doubled in the last week, from 520 cases to more than 1,300, but a lag in sequencing samples mean the figures could be much higher. most cases are in the north—west and in london. and while there is no firm evidence

the variant causes more severe illness or makes the vaccine is less effective, the speed of growth is concerning. there have been documented infections in vaccinated in india for example, but none became ill, they had mild symptoms. and that is a thing we are worried about here, because there will be some people in the community who have not responded so well to the vaccines and are vulnerable. we want to limit the spread of new variants, because they may gain further mutations. that is a concern in bolton where cases of the variant are spreading in areas with lower vaccine uptake, although there has not been a big increase in hospital admissions or spread among the over 60s, the mayor of greater manchester wants to speed up the vaccine roll—out. and allowed the supplies to be used in vaccinating the younger working age population, -

the student population. that is what is needed _ if we are to make the most decisive and effective intervention into the situation - that we can right now. vaccinations will help, but it takes around three weeks for the protection to build. the government has not ruled out fresh local or regional restrictions to help slow the spread, and there is still a question over whether all restrictions can be lifted onjune the 21st. if we were seeing a big increase in hospitalisations by earlyjune and deaths rising rapidly, then i doubt that we would have that relaxation. but if we can avoid that, and if that does not happen, then we may well still be able to keep to target. england's pubs, restaurants and museums will welcome guests back inside from monday, but there is still so much uncertainty around this new variant and we've seen just how quickly the virus can take off again. katharine da costa, bbc news.

0ur correspondent andy gill has been giving in the latest from bolton. the infection rate in bolton over the autumn and winter followed the pattern of much of the rest of the country, but infection rates in the last week of april doubled and doubled again in the first week of may. the problem with the indian variant is centred on three areas just to the south of the town centre, called rumworth, great lever or deane. they're areas of some deprivation. there is a high asian population, also quite a lot of students and dense housing. that is where local health officials think the problem is. they think there was initially some connection of this indian variant with international travel, but now they think it is down to household transmission. initially, the increase in transmission was among younger people. now, though, they are seeing increases in age groups right up to the age of 60. so they are really hoping they can get on top of this. the local authorities have already targeted these areas with more testing,

as we have heard the government is now sending more doses of vaccine to bolton as well, to try and get on top of this. we have been speaking to people in bolton here about what they think about it. there is some concern that the vaccine, the new variant might affect the town. there is also concern about the possibility of either not coming down out of a lockdown or going into a new one. people worried about businesses. don't forget, greater manchester has been in lockdown over the past year or so for longer than many other places in the uk. earlier, i spoke to dr zubaida haque, a member of independent sage, a group of scientists who are working together to provide independent scientific advice to the government. she said the indian variant poses a risk to the lockdown easing road map. independent sage are very concerned. we've been concerned for quite some time and we were really quite surprised that, last monday, when the prime minister announced that everything was fine,

and the data to go—ahead for the road map next monday, on may the 17th, we were concerned that actually, while the prime minister was saying that we passed all the tests, actually, it was not entirely, it was not entirely truthful to say that we passed all four, because we have not passed the tests, necessarily, around the risk of variants of concern. and we have seen with this variant, the b1617.2, so—called indian variant, it's rapidly increasing across the country, we know it's particularly prevalent in the north—west and in london. but it's slowly spreading and in the areas where it has spread quite a lot, it has quickly become the dominant variant and that means it's a real concern. it has also been designated as a variant of concern, which means that it's likely to be as transmissible, if not more. there is some evidence to suggest it

may be 60% more transmissible than the kent variant that caused our second wave last year. so there are real concerns about it and there are some concerns, although tentative at the moment, that it may even evade some of our vaccines, but we should wait and see. vaccines are still effective and it's great the government are sending more vaccinations to places like bolton. how wise is it that the changes due to come into place next monday, that's 17th of may in england, which so many people are hanging their hopes on, does the data support those changes? well, it's difficult, because some of the data does, and of course, it has been an extremely long time in lockdown, we have been in lockdown for several months and that has had a real mental health toll on many of us. some of the data does, in terms of the fact that if you look across the country,

cases are coming down, deaths are in double digits, which is tremendous. it's great that deaths are coming down all the time. but the problem is, just as the road map test show us, that's not the only concern. this is the year of variants, and what i mean is that variants, if we don't watch them, if we don't keep them under control, like the b1617.2 indian variant, as well as the south african variant, if we don't keep those under control, they could really undermine the success of the vaccination programme. the welsh government is advising people not to go on a foreign holiday, even after rules on international travel are relaxed next week. 0ther lockdown restrictions in wales are also being eased in the coming days. 0ur correspondent, tomos morgan, sent this update from cardiff the first minister has said that he would rather that people in wales do not go on holiday for the rest of the year. he is concerned mostly about bringing new variants into wales, just as we saw

in the summer of last year, really. and i think for that reason and because of the news on the indian variant overnight, there has not been any more suggestions of what will be eased further down the line, until they know conclusively from sage how bad this indian variant could be to coronavirus levels. what we do know is, on monday, indoor hospitality will reopen in wales, just as it will do in england, and groups of six can meet indoors. but if the are six people from different households are not the same extended household, they will still have to socially distance. that rules out hugging people you have not seen for a while. also, the only big change is group activities of 30 can restart on monday. but as i say, looking further down the line, we still don't have any detail here on when other sectors of the economy can reopen, such as nightclubs and the night industry and any relaxing on social distancing. the first minister did say however if things continue in the right direction,

if vaccination levels remain the best they are in the uk and wales at the moment, that potentially buy the next review in three weeks' time, wales could be lowered into alert level one. and the prime minister will be viz leading a news conference later this afternoon at downing street. that street. is not the prime minister, you can that is not the prime minister, you can probably work that out. you can see coverage on bbc one and here on the bbc news channel from 4.30pm. labour mp wes streeting has announced he's been diagnosed with kidney cancer. mr streeting, who is only 38, has represented his constituency of ilford north since 2015, and was promoted to labour's shadow cabinet earlier this week, to work he said the diagnosis "had come as an enormous shock" but the cancer was "caught early"

and his "prognosis was very good". we wish him well. israel has intensified its assault on gaza, as palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into israel on the fifth day of hostilities. the bbc has heard from sources familiar with talks aimed at ending this latest round of fighting that there have been real efforts this morning to reach an agreement. these are intensive egyptian, arab and international efforts, and there are said to be some positive signals that mediation is bringing results. paul adams reports from jerusalem. explosions. another ferocious barrage on gaza overnight. israeli jets and artillery pounding what the army said was a network of hamas tunnels. the attack caused panic. palestinians fleeing areas close to the border with israel, terrified a ground assault was imminent. at one point, the army tweeted it was already happening, only to row back later. translation: there is a lot of shelling. i and the children are all afraid.

even us adults, who have been in war since our childhood, we are afraid. and we cannot bear it any more. but, with troops and armour massing on the border, the threat of an escalation is still there. the military says this operation is not over. sirens blare. rescue workers in gaza are struggling to keep pace. looking for the dead and the wounded, while the assault goes on all around them. some of those who fled their homes are sheltering in un schools, they have done it before, and know it may not be safe to return for some time. hamas seems undaunted. fresh volleys of rockets were launched overnight. israel says most were intercepted. but the rockets, more than 1,800 so far, are causing fear and sometimes death. but the government has other concerns, too. last night saw more violence on the streets of cities where israel'sjewish and arab populations live side by side. translation: the people of israel are dealing i

with a campaign on two fronts. firstly, gaza. i have said that we will exact a very heavy price from hamas and the other terrorist organisations. the second front, israel's cities, we give 100% backing to the police and to the soldiers to restore law and order. we will not tolerate anarchy. the scenes are ugly. gangs of young jews and arabs picking on bystanders, attacking homes, and places of worship. in the city of lod, there was even gunfire. paramilitary border guards have been drafted in to help the police restore order. there have been hundreds of arrests. the un security council is due to discuss the situation on sunday but, as usual, seems deadlocked over what to do about it. an american envoy is due to come here, and efforts to broker a ceasefire between israel and hamas are going on, so far, to no avail. israel says it still has plenty to do in gaza, and has the resources to inflict much more damage, but going

in on the ground would be a major escalation fraught with danger. michael stephens is middle east specialist at the independent defence and security think tank, rusi. hejoins me now. thank you very much for your time this afternoon. we are hearing that there are some positive signals coming out of these mediation attempts. how optimistic would you be at this stage, given what you saw last night? it’s be at this stage, given what you saw last niuht? �*, ., , last night? it's good that these diplomatic _ last night? it's good that these diplomatic efforts _ last night? it's good that these diplomatic efforts from - last night? it's good that these diplomatic efforts from a i last night? it's good that these l diplomatic efforts from a number last night? it's good that these i diplomatic efforts from a number of arab countries and also it appears the united states has decided it cares about the conflict again. have produced some movement on the israeli side and appear to be at least in a little way restraining the israelis from going in with a ground offensive. the problem is that the facts on the ground will determine what happens next. from the israeli perspective at least, if these rockets keep coming, there's going to be huge pressure on the

prime minister netanyahu to stop that. and that could lead to a full—scale offensive. at the moment it hasn't happened and that's certainly a positive thing amongst all the negatives that have just happened, but we need to see what happens next 24 a is i think. itrufheh happens next 24 a is i think. when ou talk happens next 24 a is i think. when you talk about _ happens next 24 a is i think. when you talk about a _ happens next 24 a is i think. when you talk about a full-scale - you talk about a full—scale offensive, how likely is it that would mean significant ground component? it would mean significant ground component?— would mean significant ground comonent? ., ., ., ., ., component? it would have to mean a siunificant component? it would have to mean a significant ground _ component? it would have to mean a significant ground component, i component? it would have to mean a significant ground component, we i significant ground component, we have seen this in 2008 and 2009, 2014 as well, when as many as 5000 israeli soldiers went into the gaza strip. and effectively went street by street, through the gaza strip, looking for tunnels, looking for places where hamas hides its weapons stores and that leads to more casualties on both sides. so it's not the ideal solution but it really depends whether mr netanyahu decides he wants to have total victory which is not a total victory, because every five years we seem to have this conversation again. or whether

you think the political conditions will be enough to have a ceasefire with hamas. —— whether he thinks. when one side talks about total victory, it can often provoke even further retaliation from the other side and we must forget, the people involved, the civilians involved in this. we have already seen dozens and dozens of people dying, mostly palestinians but also israelis. every five years i feel like i come on this show and we have the same conversation, it's one of the most depressing thing is to be involved with. i have been involved working on this conflict for nearly 20 years and it is just unbelievably heartbreaking to see the same scenes over and over again in the same area of the world with the same footage, the same people running to the bomb shelters, the same palestinian families terrified about israeli weapons. there is no such thing as total victory. weapons. there is no such thing as totalvictory. if weapons. there is no such thing as total victory. if mr netanyahu can get five years of quiet, that's probably a result for him. for the palestinians, once again, they have

to rebuild and find ways to get their economy moving again, unemployment gets higher with every passing year, so i try not to be depressed too much about this conflict but it's never really heading in a good trajectory. you heading in a good tra'ectory. you mentioned * heading in a good tra'ectory. you mentioned the i heading in a good trajectory. you mentioned the fact that president biden is inclined to take note of what's happening whereas donald trump was not. given the factor has not been american involvement for the last few years, how likely is it that washington can make a difference now?— that washington can make a difference now? there has been american involvement - difference now? there has been american involvement under i difference now? there has been i american involvement under trump, it wasjust in a american involvement under trump, it was just in a very one—sided way, which favoured israeli preferences over palestinian preferences. the biden administration has been a bit more nuanced in the way it deals with the conflict but ultimately has seen the middle east in its entirety, including israel and palestine, as a burden in the way of its largest strategic gains. i think like every us president, 0bama, bush, and trump, they have found that by ignoring the middle east, it

tends to come back to bite you and you have to deal with it. so let hope the americans can take a leadership role on this which produces a quick ceasefire. i'll be honest, not hugely hopeful. thank ou ve honest, not hugely hopeful. thank you very much _ honest, not hugely hopeful. thank you very much for _ honest, not hugely hopeful. thank you very much for your— honest, not hugely hopeful. thank you very much for your time. i honest, not hugely hopeful. thank. you very much for your time. thanks. british tourists will be allowed to enter portugal from next monday, the portuguese authorities have announced. portugal is on the uk's green list for unrestricted travel from then, but there had been confusion over whether the portuguese would reciprocate. we're nowjoined by miguel campina from maria's restaurant in algarve. where exactly in the algarve are you? it looks heavenly. this where exactly in the algarve are you? it looks heavenly.- where exactly in the algarve are you? it looks heavenly. this is what we call the — you? it looks heavenly. this is what we call the golden _ you? it looks heavenly. this is what we call the golden triangle. - you? it looks heavenly. this is what we call the golden triangle. but i we call the golden triangle. but also the rest of the algarve, it's absolutely gorgeous. taste also the rest of the algarve, it's absolutely gorgeous.— also the rest of the algarve, it's absolutely gorgeous. we are very envious you _ absolutely gorgeous. we are very envious you are _ absolutely gorgeous. we are very envious you are standing - absolutely gorgeous. we are very envious you are standing there i absolutely gorgeous. we are very l envious you are standing there with the see behind you. how important is

it that the british are allowed to come on holiday to portugal as soon as possible? it’s come on holiday to portugal as soon as possible?— as possible? it's absolutely vital for our region, _ as possible? it's absolutely vital for our region, we _ as possible? it's absolutely vital for our region, we are _ as possible? it's absolutely vital for our region, we are so - as possible? it's absolutely vital i for our region, we are so delighted that the portuguese government today, right on time, this morning, they have done their work and gave a total green light to our family, the british people, because the algarve, we consider the british people as family and also we know that the british people obviously consider the algarve as a second home. find the algarve as a second home. and who can blame _ the algarve as a second home. and who can blame us, frankly? how clear is it, really? because even during the course of today, the portuguese government seems to have changed its mind about, yes we have got the state of calamity as it is still called being extended and yet british people are welcomed in. it's not the clearest communication. hie.

not the clearest communication. no, the british not the clearest communication. mfr, the british government, portuguese government straightaway legislated today, during the weekend, a special law to allow all the british visitors, you don't need special reasons, you don't need to have a residency here, you are welcome in portugal, when you arrive at the airport, you will be, like a normal holiday and everything will be easier, and everything will be transformed the easy way so everyone can start their holidays in a positive attitude.— can start their holidays in a ositive attitude. ., , , ,, , positive attitude. your businesses release suffered _ positive attitude. your businesses release suffered in _ positive attitude. your businesses release suffered in the _ positive attitude. your businesses release suffered in the algarve . positive attitude. your businesses i release suffered in the algarve with the restrictions that were in place. how much freedom will people have, what restrictions will be still notice this summer? the masks, obviously the _ notice this summer? the masks, obviously the masks _ notice this summer? the masks, obviously the masks will - notice this summer? the masks, obviously the masks will be - obviously the masks will be obligated when you walk around, if

the beach is crowded which is not the beach is crowded which is not the case in the algarve. maybe lisbon you have a few beaches that will be quite crowded. you have to wear the mask, there will be social—distancing, but i think little by little, with the vaccination process in portugal which is quite impressive, i think little by little, those restrictions will be eased and during the summer, you will see a bit of changes in all this process. i you will see a bit of changes in all this process-— you will see a bit of changes in all this process. i wish every success, thank ou this process. i wish every success, thank you very _ this process. i wish every success, thank you very much _ this process. i wish every success, thank you very much for _ this process. i wish every success, thank you very much for talking i this process. i wish every success, thank you very much for talking to | thank you very much for talking to us. . ~' thank you very much for talking to us. . ~ , ., y thank you very much for talking to us. . ~' , ., , . thank you very much for talking to us. . .. , . i'm thank you very much for talking to i us-_ i'm telling us. thank you very much. i'm telling m self us. thank you very much. i'm telling myself you — us. thank you very much. i'm telling myself you can't _ us. thank you very much. i'm telling myself you can't have _ us. thank you very much. i'm telling myself you can't have too _ us. thank you very much. i'm telling myself you can't have too much i us. thank you very much. i'm tellingi myself you can't have too much sun. —— can have. the health service executive in ireland has closed down its it systems after being targeted in what it said was a "significant ransomware attack".

the hse said it had temporarily shut down its systems as a "precaution". it said covid—i9 vaccination appointments were not affected by the incident but the rotunda maternity hospital in dublin has been forced to cancel many routine appointments. the actor kevin guthrie has been jailed for three years for sexually assaulting a woman at a flat in glasgow. the 33—year—old, who's best known for staring in the film sunshine on leith denied the charge. he told glasgow sheriff court he had only "helped" the woman after she fell ill, but the jury was told that his dna was found inside her underwear. he was found guilty after a four—day trial and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely. amazon is creating more than 10,000 jobs in the uk. the online giant will open a parcel centre in doncaster and four new warehouses. here's our business correspondent, emma simpson. amazon, the online giant. it's already got 2a fulfilment centres across the uk. and now they are adding more. this is one of their new sites in gateshead.

the business secretary dropping in for a tour. as amazon announced its latest plans for expansion. today, we are announcing 10,000 newjobs across the uk this year, we are here at gateshead, building here, 1,300 newjobs, that we are creating this year. last year, we opened darlington in may, in durham last september, and that will mean we will have 4,000 jobs in the north—east in the last 18 months. this business is growing at breakneck speed, to meet the huge demand for online shopping. amazon created 10,000 jobs last year. now it is adding another 10,000 permanent roles across the business, meaning that its uk workforce will reach 55,000 by the end of this year. how powerful is amazon becoming? amazon is seemingly invincible at the moment, they are firing on all cylinders. their retail division has been strengthened due to the ubiquity

of its offering and the fact that, during the pandemic, many shoppers made amazon their first port of call. but it is important to remember it isn'tjust a retailer, they are a technology company, and so, if you look at cloud computing, advertising, check—out—free shopping, alexa, digital content, every single aspect of amazon's business has been strengthened, due to the fact that covid has accelerated a shift towards a more digital world. it has also speeded up changes on our high streets, where thousands ofjobs have been lost. debenhams, one of the biggest casualties. tomorrow, the shutters come down for the last time, after more than 200 years of trading. emma simpson, bbc news. prince harry says he wants

to "break the cycle" of �*pain and suffering' he experienced growing up, so he doesn't pass it on to his own children. the duke of sussex was speaking on a podcast, in which he said his life as a royal was like a mixture of the truman show and being in a zoo. harry suggested his own pain may have come in part from his parents — but said he wasn't �*pointing the finger�* at anyone. james reynolds reports. a month ago, at the funeral of the duke of edinburgh, prince harry briefly took the same path as the rest of his family. but, back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his own tracks. isn't life about breaking the cycle, right? yeah. there is no blame, i don't think we shouldn't be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly, when it comes to parenting, if i have experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, i'm going to make sure that i break that cycle, so that i don't pass it on, basically. there's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. as parents, we should be doing the most we can to say, "that happened to me, i'm gonna make sure that it doesn't happen to you."

this morning prince charles, the subject of so many of harry's reflections, visited south wales and gave nothing away. sir, do you agree with prince harry about the suffering _ and pain in the family? he gave nothing away. in the podcast, harry examined his father's upbringing. suddenly i started to piece it all together and go, "0k, this is where he went to school, this is what happened, i know this bit about his life. i also know that's connected to his parents." yeah. so that means that he's treating me the way that he was treated. exactly. which means, how can i change that for my own kids? and, well, here i am. i have now moved my whole family to the us. that wasn't the plan! harry talked about his wife meghan's decision to help him seek therapy, and he revealed that his desire to leave royal duties went right back to his early 20s, and was notjust the result of his marriage. you can only be what you can see...

from their new home, harry and meghan now regularly speak out. buckingham palace hasn't commented on the duke's latest interview. perhaps abiding by the unofficial motto, "never explain, never complain." a policy that harry himself no longer feels any need to obey. james reynolds, bbc news. let's show you the latest pictures from gaza. a lot of smoke hanging in the air above gaza city where israel has intensified its assault and palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into israel on what is now the 50 facilities. we have heard there have been promising signs from mediation talks that have been going on, helped by egypt's, animations and the international community. but israel's military have said and ground forces are still involved on attacks today. have not yet entered gazza, but

yet been ruled out and what's happening diplomatically is not necessarily in tune with what the military have planned. 119 people killed in gaza and eight in israel since the fighting began on monday. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomas. this weekend it looks like mother nature is going to throw at us almost anything. big storm clouds on the way, with downpours, hail and thunder, gusty winds, but also some sunshine. this map here shows us the rainfall accumulation, where it is going to rain through saturday and sunday and the darker blue the heavier the rain is going to be. you can see across some northern, western and southern areas. today, a little bit of a lull, we're still getting showers and some of them pretty heavy across the western and southern areas, but many of us stay dry until tonight. tonight, a weatherfront sweeps across the country.

it will bring some wet weather to south—western areas initially, and then through the course of saturday morning, that rain front will sweep northwards and even once cleared, we're expecting big downpours, again the hail and thunder and that is expected to continue into sunday and next week. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. portugal says british holidaymakers can visit the country from monday, but the government in lisbon says some limited covid restrictions will stay in place. meanwhile, people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. palestinians in northern gaza are fleeing from israel's heaviest bombardment to date. families have been arriving in gaza city seeking refuge in shelters. meanwhile, there's been more violence between jewish and israeli—arab groups

fighting within israel. the government has ordered a "massive security reinforcement" to suppress the unrest. a leading charity says hundreds of women in the uk may have wrongly been made to wear a face covering during childbirth. sport now and let's get a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the turkish grand prix has been cancelled only two weeks after it was added to the formula one calendar. turkey has been placed on the uk's red—list which makes racing there unworkable with so many of the teams based in this country. turkey had replaced next month's canadian grand prix, which was also scrapped because because of covid travel restrictions. there will now be a second austrian race next month, with the french grand prix brought forward by a week. turkey had already lost the champions league final, and there's potentially good news for the 12,000 manchester city and chelsea fans heading to porto on the 29th of may.

portugal say that uk tourists will be allowed to enter the country from next monday if they can provide a negative covid test. but city say they are still seeking clarity from uefa over exactly what protocols will be in place. there was some confusion last night with the portuguese government saying that their entry restrictions were being extended until the 30th and then the suggestion that fans would only be allowed to travel on the day of the game and fly home straight afterwards. there is nothing like a live experience and a live game. so there will be fans that want to go there, but we want to make the experience as smooth as possible. in this environment there is no such thing as low risk or no risk international travel and it will be a different experience. liverpool managerjurgen klopp has reiterated that there's no issue between hium and sadio mane after the forward refused to shake hands with him following last night's win at manchester united.

mane only came off the bench for the last 15 minutes at old trafford, with diogojota preferred to start up front. mane showed his frustration at full time, snubbing the german. the world is in the situation where you can make this bigger than necessary and that is unfortunately the case. i hope for you your boss will forget if you one time don't show him respect and that he doesn't forget all the other stuff. already i can see the headlines which you are making of it, but that's not the case. i am completely relaxed about that. the schedule for this summer's british and irish lions tour to south africa has been tweaked. the eight matches will now take place in three cities rather than six to reduce the risk of covid andas it stands, the lions will play all those games behind closed doors. the tour will start injohannesburg and pretoria, before heading

to the cape town stadium for more warm up games and then the first test on the 24th july. the last two tests will be back injoh'burg. rafael nadal is on course to win a 10th italian open title, after reaching the semi—finals he beat alexander zverev in straight sets, ending three—match losing streak against the german. nadal saved eight break points in the second set before sealing the match and will play the american reilly opelka. if he wins another title in rome, nadal will equal novak djokovic�*s record of 36 masters titles at this level. simona halep is in a race to be fit for the defence of her wimbledon title. the world number three has confirmed today that the injury that forced her to pull out of the italian open is a calf tear. she will almost certainly miss the french open that starts in 10 days time. wimbledon starts

on the 28th ofjune. halep is the defending champion from her victory in 2019. last year's tournament was cancelled. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. now it's time for your questions answered. a lot of people have been getting in touch about the indian coronavirus variant. with me is dr alan maryon—davies, honorary professor of public health at kings college london, and i'm alsojoined by jonathan ball, professor of virology at nottingham university. lots of questions and clearly a lot a lot of concerns about this variant. amanda in hertfordshire asks how has this indian variant

entered the uk? she talks about how her parents are fully vaccinated and recently visited hertfordshire from the united states and all of the hoops they have had to jump through and she is surprised a new variant could get into the country. it does seem surprising _ could get into the country. it does seem surprising but _ could get into the country. it does seem surprising but actually i could get into the country. it does seem surprising but actually even| seem surprising but actually even though people are getting tested beforehand and afterwards and all of the precautions, some of these cases break through. one of the problems has been they have been very many exceptions. a lot of these restrictions, people have been excluded if they come from essential industries, for example drivers and people working in the health sector. so consequently it quite easy for the virus to escape and getting into

the virus to escape and getting into the community. the virus to escape and getting into the community-— the community. which is why the tracin: the community. which is why the tracing that _ the community. which is why the tracing that is _ the community. which is why the tracing that is going _ the community. which is why the tracing that is going on _ the community. which is why the tracing that is going on is - the community. which is why the tracing that is going on is so i tracing that is going on is so important. ken in the west midlands asks, how many cases of the indian variant are there and what is the percentage of positive tests that were sequenced last week? ken has estimated 36%. i am not sure how he got to that number. i am estimated 36%. i am not sure how he got to that number.— got to that number. i am not going to an ue got to that number. i am not going to argue with _ got to that number. i am not going to argue with something _ got to that number. i am not going to argue with something as - got to that number. i am not going l to argue with something as accurate as 36%~ _ to argue with something as accurate as 36%. what i should say is within the uk _ as 36%. what i should say is within the uk we — as 36%. what i should say is within the uk we are incredibly good at sequencing the genomes and the number— sequencing the genomes and the number of sequences that will be carried _ number of sequences that will be carried out— number of sequences that will be carried out will vary day by day. so the percentage of the positive cases will also _ the percentage of the positive cases will also vary. what we do try to do is a sequence across the country so that we _ is a sequence across the country so that we get— is a sequence across the country so that we get a good idea of the circulation of different variants of the virus — circulation of different variants of the virus as we see them. at the moment, — the virus as we see them. at the moment, the overall problem of the

so-called _ moment, the overall problem of the so—called indian variant, we know the prevalence is quite low, it's around — the prevalence is quite low, it's around 2%~ _ the prevalence is quite low, it's around 2%. but we do know there are hotspots _ around 2%. but we do know there are hotspots particularly in the north west— hotspots particularly in the north west for— hotspots particularly in the north west for example but we are also starting _ west for example but we are also starting to — west for example but we are also starting to see it gather pace in the south—east. that is the concern, that this _ the south—east. that is the concern, that this virus — the south—east. that is the concern, that this virus will start to spread more _ that this virus will start to spread more widely. but the reality is, it's probably in lots of different places— it's probably in lots of different places at— it's probably in lots of different places at the moment at low prevalence and we have not yet picked — prevalence and we have not yet picked uu _ prevalence and we have not yet picked up-_ picked up. how easy is it to tell one variant _ picked up. how easy is it to tell one variant from _ picked up. how easy is it to tell one variant from the _ picked up. how easy is it to tell one variant from the other? i one variant from the other? thankfully it's very easy. what we do is we derive the full—length genome and we do some of the sequencing for that at nottingham, so overnight you can determine the sequence of the virus in a positive sample. across that sequence there are particular genetic changes or sets of genetic changes which define what the variant is. so it really is

very quick and a matter of using the computer to say what the variant is and you can build up a map of where those variants are circulating. ads, those variants are circulating. a couple of questions here, quite specific, one is from someone who says my wife and i are scheduled to visit bolton to visit my mother—in—law for the first time in 18 months, we have a room booked at a hotel, i have received both doses of the astra—zeneca vaccine, is it still safe to travel to bolton? like all these things, _ still safe to travel to bolton? like all these things, that _ still safe to travel to bolton? l age: all these things, that would safe, there is always some risk. somebody has had both of the jabs on the other person has had onejob so that person is only partially protected. even people who have had both jabs are still not 100% protected. but

the great thing about the vaccine is it still holds true for the indian variant hopefully, it doesn't seem to reduce the incidence of severe symptoms and the need to go into hospital. so if you do catch the virus it is a much milder illness. so in that sense it is relatively safe. bolton is a hotspot but it's still relatively low there and if you take the precautions you should be ok. lia you take the precautions you should be ok. , ., you take the precautions you should be ok. i. ~ ., ., you take the precautions you should beok. ~ ., ., , . ., be ok. do you know what percentage of those who — be ok. do you know what percentage of those who are _ be ok. do you know what percentage of those who are asked _ be ok. do you know what percentage of those who are asked to _ be ok. do you know what percentage of those who are asked to quarantine j of those who are asked to quarantine actually do so because somebody says here, what action is taken to increase the level if it's not very high? officials in singapore actually go around and check several times a week to make sure people are doing as they have been asked. that is also doing as they have been asked. “inst is also happening to some extent in this country. compliance varies a

lot. in some places fewer than half the people who are quarantining properly and in other places most people will quarantine properly. it varies. but there are compliance officers who will knock on doors and check to see whether you are isolating properly. so that can happen. you do have to watch it because these people, although they cannot find you, they can refer you to the police and the fines start at £1000. why can't we use the lateral flow test instead of the more expensive pcr test which is required when you go on holiday? hate pcr test which is required when you go on holiday?— go on holiday? we do know that the lateral flow test _

go on holiday? we do know that the lateral flow test is _ go on holiday? we do know that the lateral flow test is used _ go on holiday? we do know that the lateral flow test is used in _ go on holiday? we do know that the lateral flow test is used in certain i lateral flow test is used in certain circumstances so for example with hauliers— circumstances so for example with hauliers if— circumstances so for example with hauliers if they are staying for a longer— hauliers if they are staying for a longer period, they are encouraged to get— longer period, they are encouraged to get the _ longer period, they are encouraged to get the test and that will be a lateral— to get the test and that will be a lateral flow device. in that circumstance you want a rapid test so that— circumstance you want a rapid test so that the — circumstance you want a rapid test so that the person who is being tested — so that the person who is being tested can carry on with travel. what _ tested can carry on with travel. what we — tested can carry on with travel. what we do know about the lateral flow devices though is that they are not as— flow devices though is that they are not as sensitive as the gold standard _ not as sensitive as the gold standard pcr test. it depends what papers _ standard pcr test. it depends what papers you read and weigh the evidences look at. maybe 60 or 70% sensitive _ evidences look at. maybe 60 or 70% sensitive as — evidences look at. maybe 60 or 70% sensitive as a pcr test. in terms of the requirements for travel that is why they— the requirements for travel that is why they have gone with the gold standard — why they have gone with the gold standard pcr test because it is the highest _ standard pcr test because it is the highest sensitivity. but of course it is very — highest sensitivity. but of course it is very expensive and so it adds to the _ it is very expensive and so it adds to the cost— it is very expensive and so it adds to the cost of travel.— to the cost of travel. final question _ to the cost of travel. final question from _ to the cost of travel. final question from chris. i i to the cost of travel. final|

question from chris. i have to the cost of travel. final i question from chris. i have been staying with my daughter in plymouth since last august and i am 79. i had my second jab of astra—zeneca last monday. i intend to return to boldon at the end of may. i live alone, how safe will i be and what do you suggest i should do? she safe will i be and what do you suggest i should do?- safe will i be and what do you suggest i should do? she will have had both her— suggest i should do? she will have had both herjabs. _ suggest i should do? she will have had both herjabs. it— suggest i should do? she will have had both herjabs. it will— suggest i should do? she will have had both herjabs. it will be - suggest i should do? she will have had both herjabs. it will be a i had both herjabs. it will be a fortnight after the second one so she should be reaching herfull state of immunity by then. that does provide a lot of protection for her. she is going to bolton, as long as she is careful and follows the usual precautions and keeps out of indoor places the chances are that things will be ok. i don't think she needs to worry unduly because she will have as much protection as any we can get.

have as much protection as any we can let. �* , . have as much protection as any we can let, �*, ., ., have as much protection as any we can let. �*, ., .,, can get. it's a case of being sensible — can get. it's a case of being sensible and _ can get. it's a case of being sensible and following i can get. it's a case of being i sensible and following whatever rules are in place. thank you both. the headlines on bbc news... the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton — one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. holidaymakers can visit the country from monday — but the government in lisbon says some limited covid restrictions will stay in place. meanwhile people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. a leading charity has warned hundreds of women may have wrongly

been made to wear a face mask during childbirth. research shared exclusively with bbc news, found 160 mothers, out of more than 900 who gave birth last december, said they were made to wear a mask during labour. guidance published by the royal college of midwives says expectant women shouldn t have to wear any form of facial covering during labour because of the risk of harm and complications. divya talwar reports. this is barnaby, rosie's third child. he's a healthy pandemic baby, but there were complications during his birth, and rosie was terrified he wasn't going to make it. i was convinced he would be stillborn. what was going through my mind was, actually, "this is awful, this is the end of everything for him." rosie says her difficultly labour was made worse after she was told to wear a facemask while in advanced labour. she has a phobia of being sick, and says the smell of the mask made her nauseous and panic. i felt like i was dying. i thought, this is so, so painful, and i got this mask over my face, feeling really claustrophobic, and the mask is making me feel really nauseous and really sick, and that's making me panic as well. i was frightened then,

in amongst everything else that was happening, that i was actually then going to be sick inside a mask. at any point, did you feel like you had a choice about wearing this mask? it didn't cross my mind that i was allowed to take it off. the guidance for nhs trusts was published jointly lastjuly by both the royal college of midwives and obstetricians and gynaecologists. it said women should not be asked to wear a face covering while in labour, whether it's a natural or cesarean birth, because of the potential harm. but we know that guidance isn't always being followed. i've spoken to dozens of women, some of them with conditions like asthma or anxiety, and they have all told me that they were made to wear facemasks at some point during their labour. all of them have said that theyjust didn't realise they even had a choice about it. this is natalie with her baby girl, who was born last december. natalie hasn't got any pictures from the birth. she says it was the most terrifying experience. natalie says that she was made to wear a mask

while in advanced labour. she challenged it, but was told she had to wear one. i felt completely suffocated. i'm never going to be able to forget the feeling of not being able to breathe, the fear, the panic. if i have to wear a mask, it's something that flashes back as a moment of fear, the worst fear that i've been through. while the majority of women who have given birth during the pandemic haven't had to wear a face covering, it's clear there is confusion among some maternity staff. a survey of more than 900 women who gave birth last december found almost 20% of them said they had to wear a face covering at some point during childbirth. we had one lady who vomited in her mask. we've had others unable to breathe. these are things that are actually avoidable, and that's just by simply following the guidance. we asked for response from the nhs trusts involved, and they said they follow the guidance and would not expect a woman in childbirth to wear

a mask, and there may be rare cases where staff may have made an error. rosie says she just wants expectant mums to be aware of the latest guidance so they can avoid the unnecessary confusion and distress she faced. the parents of a baby who died after medical errors have won the right to request a new inquest into his death. hayden noo—enne�*s death at a london hospital was recorded as being of natural causes — after the coroner at his inquest questioned an internal nhs investigation, in which the chelsea and westminster hospital admitted mistakes. the hospital subsequently did accept they were to blame. michael buchanan reports.(tx next) even before he died, we knew for a long time that something was wrong. i whispered to alex, "he's fighting for his life."

hayden nguyen was just six days old when he fell ill. his parents took him to hospital, but medics failed to properly treat his infection, and he died within hours. his body was expanding and collapsing like a bellows, he was gasping that heavily. i've never seen a body move like that. even at that point they still didn't give him oxygen, they still didn't believe that he was in shock. he had been in shock for hours. the hospital, the chelsea and westminster, carried out an investigation. they found the root causes of the death were a failure to identify the signs of shock and a failure to act on abnormal test results. when they had actually completed the investigation, they sat us down and took us line by line. it was, in a way, healing, although the content was incredibly disturbing, and it helped a little bit with the grieving process. the death went to the inquest at westminster coroner's court. unbeknown to the family, however, the coroner disagreed with the investigation's finding. her questions prompted the hospital to change their conclusions.

in a second report, they now wrote that hayden had died of a virus which is known to have a high mortality. the coroner, shirley radcliffe, concluded hayden had died of natural causes. what the coroner did was kill hayden a second time. what the clinicians did was negligence, possibly neglect, but i don't think they did it in a premeditated fashion. i think what the coroner did was premeditated and cruel. we asked doctor shirley radcliffe to explain her behaviour, to respond to the family's concerns about what she did. she hasn't even responded to our e—mail. peter walsh has supported scores of families who have been failed by the nhs. i've never personallyl heard of another case where the investigation _ led by the hospital trust concerned and its conclusions finding _ and admitting mistakes is overturned

by the coroner. undeterred, the family fought on and sued the nhs. the hospital changed their tune again, and admitted liability, confirming that hayden would have survived but for their failings. the couple are trying to build their lives with their other son, but say they need a new inquest so hayden's life and death is recognised correctly. if you read back over the conclusions, it looks like hayden was only six days old, he was very ill, he got appropriate care and he couldn't have been saved. and that's not true, and that is what is on the record. that's not just. it's notjust. hayden's parents will shortly go to the high court to seek a new inquest. michael buchanan, bbc news.

as theatres are set to open next week, today it has been announced that the theatre company trafalgar entertainment will take over the biggest new theatre build coming to london since the 1970s — the olympia theatre, a 1,500 seat venue. this is part of the re—development of the iconic olympia venue in west london. the theatre company will take on the 70—year lease and have extensive plans for the £100m, 5—storey theatre venue and it is scheduled to open in mid—late 2025. we're nowjoined by trafalgar entertainment ceo, sir howard panter. this is an exciting project. some might say a rather risky time to be investing in theatre. it’s might say a rather risky time to be investing in theatre.— investing in theatre. it's part of a ma'or investing in theatre. it's part of a major project _ investing in theatre. it's part of a major project as _ investing in theatre. it's part of a major project as you _ investing in theatre. it's part of a major project as you mention, i investing in theatre. it's part of a major project as you mention, a l major project as you mention, a major project as you mention, a major redevelopment of olympia in

west london. i am told it is the largest development that is currently happening in london. it's been coming for some time as you can imagine. but it is in fact part of the re—emergence of london as a cultural hub at bringing communities back together again and doing it with a building that is worth going to. that's going to be a great iconic building. one hasn't been built like it since the national theatre in 1976. london is renowned the world over for being a great diverse melting pot of cultural ability. it leads the cultural industry. its world—class by any standards and we felt as did our partners in this development that this is something that will become a bit like the albert halljust down

the road, an iconic venue where you can see the very best of culture and entertainment and everything from the proms to eric clapton to great musicals. it's something which will be well worth the investment when it comes to open. as we are finding with other activities in the life sector at the moment. help? sector at the moment. how sustainable _ sector at the moment. how sustainable is _ sector at the moment. how sustainable is of _ sector at the moment. how sustainable is of any - sector at the moment. how sustainable is of any of i sector at the moment. how sustainable is of any of this j sector at the moment. how sustainable is of any of this size because there are much smaller theatres across the country that have really struggled, especially in the last year with not being allowed to put anything on. the last year with not being allowed to put anything on— to put anything on. obviously the last ear to put anything on. obviously the last year his _ to put anything on. obviously the last year his highly _ to put anything on. obviously the last year his highly exceptional. to put anything on. obviously the i last year his highly exceptional and it's been tragic and difficult for everyone who has been involved. it's been extremely difficult for freelancers. it's been a very tough year. but prior to that it was very hard if you enter onlondon and it has by the way the most theatres of any city in the world, far more than

new york and far more customers go to london theatres than go to new york, you are hard—pressed actually to find a building that was actually closed. we are social animals and we want to get together and we want to celebrate storytelling together and it's something that has been with us for many thousands of years and it's not an accident that has happened. it's happened because it's in our dna because we want that usp of being in the same room as someone else telling us a great story, or singing is a great song or doing something magicalfor

singing is a great song or doing something magical for us. singing is a great song or doing something magicalfor us. that singing is a great song or doing something magical for us. that is four ears something magical for us. that is four years ago — something magical for us. that is four years ago but _ something magical for us. that is four years ago but briefly, - something magical for us. that is four years ago but briefly, there l something magical for us. that is| four years ago but briefly, there is something coming our way from the trafalgar entertainment group isn't there? , ~ trafalgar entertainment group isn't there? , . ., , , there? yes. we have refurbished the trafaluar there? yes. we have refurbished the trafalgar theatre, _ there? yes. we have refurbished the trafalgar theatre, we _ there? yes. we have refurbished the trafalgar theatre, we have _ there? yes. we have refurbished the trafalgar theatre, we have taken i there? yes. we have refurbished the trafalgar theatre, we have taken it l trafalgar theatre, we have taken it back to a glorious 1930s art deco dream. we have worked with various historians. it was unbelievable the things of great beauty we were seeing there that hadn't been seen since 1932 which is axed —— absolutely extraordinary. i since 1932 which is axed -- absolutely extraordinary. i was asked on social _ absolutely extraordinary. i was asked on social media - absolutely extraordinary. i was asked on social media for- absolutely extraordinary. i was| asked on social media for some positive news this afternoon and you have given it to us. thank you very

much forjoining us. any plans this weekend? be prepared to embrace the british weather. we have some sunshine in the forecast, but also towering storm clouds, thunder and lightning and downpours and some gusty winds. the reason for it? low pressure will be moving across the uk during saturday and sunday. i know this is nothing new. it's been propelled by a jet stream which is just south of us and because it is south of us it means we are in the colder air and i want to show you what happens on the boundary of the jet stream. you've got colder air streams coming in from the north, low pressure is forming here just to the north of the jet stream and then all of the warmth that we would like is being deflected to the south and we are stuck with this pattern and it is not expected to change any time soon. and here is the rainfall accumulation map for the weekend. so where it is blue that means

it's going to be raining and where the blue is darker that is where the rain is going to be heaviest, or more of it at least thorugh the wekend. at the moment there is a bit of a lull in the weather. yes we have some showers around, but fewer downpours compared to what we had yesterday. so this is the picture through the middle to latter part of the afternoon. showers across some western and southern areas, but many of us getting away with a dry day. and the temperatures, pretty nippy on the north sea coast, only around 11 degrees. so here is the weather front, remember the jet stream's to the south of us, and it's pushing the weather front in our direction, so downpours are expected early in the morning across some south—western areas of the uk. but i think a cloudy and dry start across many eastern areas. through the course of saturday that weather front moves northwards and then behind the weather front is a very volatile atmosphere, so the kind of atmosphere that generates those big tall clouds and we could have downpours, hail and thunder and gusty winds. but sunshine is round as well so it

won't be raining all the time. but the showers will be frequent on saturday and sunday. sunday is going to be a similar day. it doesn't mean the showers will occur at the same time in the same place but the general picture is for a real rash of them across the uk. so it's going to be quite a weekend for some of us. be prepared.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the government sends more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by the indian variant. we've sent more doses to bolton and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. portugal says british holidaymakers can visit the country from monday, but the government in lisbon says some limited covid restrictions will stay in place. meanwhile, people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not travel abroad unless they really need to. palestinians in northern gaza are fleeing from israel's heaviest bombardment to date. families have been arriving in gaza city seeking refuge in shelters. meanwhile, there's been more

violence between jewish and israeli—arab groups fighting within israel. the government has ordered a "massive security reinforcement" to suppress the unrest. a leading charity says hundreds of women in the uk may have wrongly been made to wear a face covering during childbirth. and prince harry tells a us podcast he wants to break the cycle of pain suffered in the royal family. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the government is sending extra doses of the coronavirus vaccine to bolton, one of the areas of england hit by a rising number of cases of the indian variant. second doses of the vaccine could also be offered sooner than planned to some vulnerable and elderly people.

the vaccines minister says it's important to break the cycle of infection. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. queueing up forjabs in bolton, an area currently with the highest covid rate in the country. it's one of 15 areas receiving surge testing and enhanced contact tracing. nationally, over 4,000 cases and more than 111,000 close contacts have been traced and told to isolate. now, there's an extra push to vaccinate here, to try to stop the spread of the virus. the important thing, i think, is the combination of seeing whether we can flex the vaccination programme to help further, so we have sent more doses to bolton. and, of course, we will obviously follow the clinical advice, if they think that it would help if we shortened the interval period. the variant of concern, first identified in india, has more than doubled in the last week, from 520 cases to more than 1,300, but a lag in sequencing samples mean the figures could be much higher.

most cases are in the north—west and in london. and while there is no firm evidence the variant causes more severe illness or makes the vaccine is less effective, the speed of growth is concerning. there have been documented infections in vaccinated in india for example, but none became ill, they had mild symptoms. and that is a thing we are worried about here, because there will be some people in the community who have not responded so well to the vaccines and are vulnerable. we want to limit the spread of new variants, because they may gain further mutations. that is a concern in bolton where cases of the variant are spreading in areas with lower vaccine uptake, although there has not been a big increase in hospital admissions or spread among the over 60s, the mayor of greater manchester wants to speed up the vaccine roll—out. and allowed the supplies to be

used in vaccinating the younger working age population, - the student population. that is what is needed _ if we are to make the most decisive and effective intervention into the situation - that we can right now. vaccinations will help, but it takes around three weeks for the protection to build. the government has not ruled out fresh local or regional restrictions to help slow the spread, and there is still a question over whether all restrictions can be lifted onjune the 21st. if we were seeing a big increase in hospitalisations by earlyjune and deaths rising rapidly, then i doubt that we would have that relaxation. but if we can avoid that, and if that does not happen, then we may well still be able to keep to target. england's pubs, restaurants and museums will welcome guests back inside from monday, but there is still so much uncertainty around this new variant

and we've seen just how quickly the virus can take off again. katharine da costa, bbc news. we have the latest coronavirus figures. the uk has recorded 17 new deaths in the latest 2a hour period. the figure yesterday was 11 and for comparison, last friday it was 15. in terms of the number of new cases reported, in the latest 2a hour period we are looking at 2193 compared with 21190, period we are looking at 2193 compared with 2190, so it is down since then, and also yesterday when it was 2657. 36.1 million people have now received their first covid vaccine.

well, our correspondent andy gill has been giving in the latest from bolton. the infection rate in bolton over the autumn and winter followed the pattern of much of the rest of the country, but infection rates in the last week of april doubled and doubled again in the first week of may. the problem with the indian variant is centred on three areas just to the south of the town centre, called rumworth, great lever or deane. they're areas of some deprivation. there is a high asian population, also quite a lot of students and dense housing. that is where local health officials think the problem is. they think there was initially some connection of this indian variant with international travel, but now they think it is down to household transmission. initially, the increase in transmission was among younger people. now, though, they are seeing increases in age groups right up to the age of 60. so they are really hoping they can get on top of this. the local authorities have already targeted these areas with more testing, as we have heard the government is now sending more doses of vaccine to bolton as well, to try and get on top of this.

we have been speaking to people in bolton here about what they think about it. there is some concern that the vaccine, the new variant might affect the town. there is also concern about the possibility of either not coming down out of a lockdown or going into a new one. people worried about businesses. don't forget, greater manchester has been in lockdown over the past year or so for longer than many other places in the uk. well, with me now is professor devi sridhar who is the chair of global public health at edinburgh university. thank you very much forjoining us. another variant, just at the point when various parts of the country are hoping for a relaxation of restrictions. how wise is it to keep following that road map? i restrictions. how wise is it to keep following that road map?— restrictions. how wise is it to keep following that road map? i think we all know that _ following that road map? i think we all know that we _ following that road map? i think we all know that we need _ following that road map? i think we all know that we need to _

following that road map? i think we all know that we need to lift - all know that we need to lift restrictions and restrictions carry harms, at the same time, we don't want to have a repeat of january and see the virus taking off and be back into a state of lockdown. it's a very careful game of snakes and ladders where you actually progress very slowly and if you go to quickly your way back down. right now it's a careful balance but if you are fully vaccinated, i think you should feel pretty safe right now going about and going into pubs and restaurants. if you are not vaccinated, stay cautious, your vaccine is weeks away, wait for that before you have more risky behaviours.— more risky behaviours. that's particularly — more risky behaviours. that's particularly tough, _ more risky behaviours. that's particularly tough, targeted l more risky behaviours. that's| particularly tough, targeted at young people, those are the ones waiting in line?— young people, those are the ones waiting in line? what i would say to ounuer waiting in line? what i would say to younger people _ waiting in line? what i would say to younger people is _ waiting in line? what i would say to younger people is just _ waiting in line? what i would say to younger people isjust because i waiting in line? what i would say to younger people isjust because you | younger people is just because you are in your 30s or 40s, these are the largely unvaccinated people, doesn't mean you can't get seriously ill. i'm likely to die but you could need oxygen, having long covid and your vaccine is around the corner. it would be like get outside, enjoying outdoor hospitality, meet friends outside, if you want to hug

your friends, friends outside, if you want to hug yourfriends, do it outside butjust avoid outdoor settings for a few more weeks until you're vaccinated. make sure at this stage, you made it this far, why get it now? maw; this far, why get it now? many --eole this far, why get it now? many people are _ this far, why get it now? many people are looking _ this far, why get it now? many people are looking forward i this far, why get it now? many people are looking forward to l this far, why get it now? many people are looking forward to being able to book a foreign holiday. clearly there are a restricted number of places you can easily visit, but how wise is it to be going anywhere abroad? i visit, but how wise is it to be going anywhere abroad? i think it's a really tough _ going anywhere abroad? i think it's a really tough one _ going anywhere abroad? i think it's a really tough one because - going anywhere abroad? i think it's a really tough one because even i going anywhere abroad? i think it's i a really tough one because even more than holidays, there are people who have been separated from families. we know the aviation sector is struggling, it's a major source of jobs and employment but the truth as the virus moves when people move and there are variants circulating on these create challenges. with the indian variant we are seeing it is more transmissible, all the lines are accelerating straight up and that's, no one takes dividers likely in india and bangladesh, because they have seen the destruction it

can cause. don't go abroad for right now. things will open up. if people are fully vaccinated, they can get out and travel with vaccine passports. the list solution is here, it'sjust passports. the list solution is here, it's just a passports. the list solution is here, it'sjust a matter of passports. the list solution is here, it's just a matter of time. are we inevitably going to see more and more variants of covid coming into the country?— and more variants of covid coming into the country? there are possibly thousands of — into the country? there are possibly thousands of variants _ into the country? there are possibly thousands of variants because i into the country? there are possibly thousands of variants because every time the vaccine replicates and it has a chance to mutate, we know there are millions of infections across the globe, out of those some have a selective advantage either because they can jump to those who have had it before, it has the dominant strain. we seem it with the kent variant and the so—called indian variant. they are selected because they are unfortunately more nasty. that's the worry, you always have variance, to stay ahead of between two suppress, make sure we don't replications and that we

vaccinate notjust at home but abroad, we don't forget there is a pandemic, we realise there is south america and africa and asia and until we help and we cannot keep our eyes shut to the world.— eyes shut to the world. thank you much. israel has intensified its assault on gaza, as palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into israel on the fifth day of hostilities. the bbc has heard from sources familiar with talks aimed at ending this latest round of fighting that there have been real efforts this morning to reach an agreement. these are intensive egyptian, arab and international efforts, and there are said to be some positive signals that mediation is bringing results. paul adams reports from jerusalem. explosions. another ferocious barrage on gaza overnight. israeli jets and artillery pounding what the army said was a network of hamas tunnels. the attack caused panic. palestinians fleeing areas close to the border with israel, terrified a ground assault was imminent. at one point, the army tweeted

it was already happening, only to row back later. translation: there is a lot of shelling. i and the children are all afraid. even us adults, who have been in war since our childhood, we are afraid. and we cannot bear it any more. but, with troops and armour massing on the border, the threat of an escalation is still there. the military says this operation is not over. sirens blare. rescue workers in gaza are struggling to keep pace. looking for the dead and the wounded, while the assault goes on all around them. some of those who fled their homes are sheltering in un schools, they have done it before, and know it may not be safe to return for some time. hamas seems undaunted. fresh volleys of rockets were launched overnight. israel says most were intercepted. but the rockets, more than 1,800 so far, are causing fear and sometimes death. but the government has other concerns, too. last night saw more violence on the streets of cities

where israel'sjewish and arab populations live side by side. translation: the people of israel are dealing i with a campaign on two fronts. firstly, gaza. i have said that we will exact a very heavy price from hamas and the other terrorist organisations. the second front, israel's cities, we give 100% backing to the police and to the soldiers to restore law and order. we will not tolerate anarchy. the scenes are ugly. gangs of young jews and arabs picking on bystanders, attacking homes, and places of worship. in the city of lod, there was even gunfire. paramilitary border guards have been drafted in to help the police restore order. there have been hundreds of arrests. the un security council is due to discuss the situation on sunday but, as usual, seems deadlocked over what to do about it. an american envoy is due to come here, and efforts to broker a ceasefire between israel and hamas are going on, so far, to no avail. israel says it still has

plenty to do in gaza, and has the resources to inflict much more damage, but going in on the ground would be a major escalation fraught with danger. let's speak to our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. what are you hearing in terms of whether the mediation talks are hearing any fruit at all. it’s whether the mediation talks are bearing any fruit at all.— bearing any fruit at all. it's very difficult to _ bearing any fruit at all. it's very difficult to tell _ bearing any fruit at all. it's very difficult to tell at _ bearing any fruit at all. it's very difficult to tell at the _ bearing any fruit at all. it's very difficult to tell at the moment l bearing any fruit at all. it's very i difficult to tell at the moment and it does seem as though there is activity but a lot of it is very behind—the—scenes. a lot of it frankly not even taking place in this country. it is involving the egyptians in particular, possibly even turkey. we expect at this american envoy to arrive here in israel any time to lend the white house's wheat to the ongoing effort to a solution. there's a sense of

anticipation that this could yield something and could still prevent israel from taking that next decisive step to go and to gazza on the ground. but as things stand, i would say the when we talk about going on on the ground, how long does it take israel to organise an incursion, if that's what it is? you can see it with the massing of troops.— what it is? you can see it with the massing of troops. they are getting it read , massing of troops. they are getting it ready, whether— massing of troops. they are getting it ready, whether they _ massing of troops. they are getting it ready, whether they are - massing of troops. they are getting it ready, whether they are going i massing of troops. they are getting it ready, whether they are going to | it ready, whether they are going to conduct the operation, i don't know. but it does take a bit of time. the past, there have also been efforts to alert the population in gaza to an impending operation of this kind. leafleting and social media, we haven't seen any of that. there is a

chance the israeli military feels it's achieving enough through the operations it has been conducting without the need to go in and inevitably cause much, much greater civilian casualties. in a ground operation. the other thing they are hearing in mind is a situation bearing in mind is a situation elsewhere in the country. we still have the ongoing tension on the streets at israel which i referred to in my report. obviously there is a danger anything in gaza could inflame there. more violence in the west bank with at least seven palestinians killed in clashes with the israeli military. actually happening on several fronts. the israeli military. actually happening on severalfronts. sol think all of these aspects had to be brought in mind whilst the israeli government weighs up the options. what is hamas doing? sofa. government weighs up the options. what is hamas doing?— what is hamas doing? sofa, firing rockets. fewer _ what is hamas doing? sofa, firing rockets. fewer than _ what is hamas doing? sofa, firing rockets. fewer than has _ what is hamas doing? sofa, firing rockets. fewer than has been i what is hamas doing? sofa, firing rockets. fewer than has been the| rockets. fewer than has been the case previous days. thought to have

amassed a very substantial arsenal, part of the operation to attack tunnels was precisely the kind of places where it restores its rockets and fighters can move around and prepare to launch them quickly and furtively. how many may rockets have the got? they are thought to have more than that but there will also be, particularly given they are losing senior military figures being taken out by the israelis, killed in their homes in some cases. and having precious arsenal of rocketry removed day by day. when two thank you very much. breaking news now regarding the bbc�*s religion editor martin bashir. he has decided to step down from his role after five

years in step down from his role after five ea - step down from his role after five ea * , ., , step down from his role after five ea - ,.,, , step down from his role after five ea ,,, m, years in the post. he is best-known those interviews _ years in the post. he is best-known those interviews with _ years in the post. he is best-known those interviews with princess i years in the post. he is best-known| those interviews with princess diana and michaeljackson. he had recently come under scrutiny after it emerged bbc produced fake bank statements in an attempt to secure the interview with princess diana. a retired supreme court judge is going to lead a bbc internal inquiry into that incident. martin bashir won't face a criminal prosecution. he has been absent for his role for several months after contracting covid—19 and undergoing quadruple bypass surgery. it is those continued health problems we are told that has contributed to his decision to leave. the welsh government is advising people not to go on a foreign holiday, even after rules on international travel are relaxed next week. other lockdown restrictions in wales are also being eased in the coming days. our correspondent, tomos morgan, sent this update from cardiff. the first minister has said that he would rather that people in wales do not go on holiday

for the rest of the year. he is concerned mostly about bringing new variants into wales, just as we saw in the summer of last year, really. and i think for that reason and because of the news on the indian variant overnight, there has not been any more suggestions of what will be eased further down the line, until they know conclusively from sage how bad this indian variant could be to coronavirus levels. what we do know is, on monday, indoor hospitality will reopen in wales, just as it will do in england, and groups of six can meet indoors. but if the are six people from different households are not the same extended household, they will still have to socially distance. that rules out hugging people you have not seen for a while. also, the only big change is group activities of 30 can restart on monday. but as i say, looking further down the line, we still don't have any detail here on when other sectors of the economy can reopen,

such as nightclubs and the night industry and any relaxing on social distancing. the first minister did say however if things continue in the right direction, if vaccination levels remain the best they are in the uk and wales at the moment, that potentially buy the next review in three weeks' time, wales could be lowered into alert level one. four gang members have been sentenced to life in jail, after being convicted of murdering a 15—year—old boy. keelan wilson died in may 2018 after he was stabbed more than a0 times, in what was the prosecution after he was stabbed more than a0 well—planned attack" and that plan was to "execute another young man". the men will serve a minimum of 17 and 18 years. british tourists will be allowed to enter portugal from next monday, the portuguese authorities have announced. portugal is on the uk's green list for unrestricted travel from then, but there had been confusion over whether the portuguese would reciprocate.

miguel campina is from maria's restaurant in the algarve. earlier, iasked him what restrictions to expect when on holiday in portugal. the masks, obviously the masks will be obligated when you walk around a crowd, if the beach is crowded which is not the case in the algarve. maybe in lisbon you have a few beaches that will be quite crowded. but you have to wear the masks, there will be social—distancing, but i think little by little, with the vaccination process in portugal which is quite impressive, i think little by little, those restrictions will be eased and during the summer, you will see a bit of changes in all this process. the health service executive

in ireland has closed down its it systems after being targeted in what it said was a "significant ransomware attack". the hse said it had temporarily shut down its systems as a "precaution". it said covid—19 vaccination appointments were not affected by the incident but the rotunda maternity hospital in dublin has been forced to cancel many routine appointments. a think tank says more than £13 billion will be needed over the next three years to reverse the damage to children's education caused by the pandemic. the education policy institute suggests the money should go towards improving mental health as well as academic support. the government says it is working on a long—term plan to help all pupils. the actor kevin guthrie has been jailed for three years for sexually assaulting a woman at a flat in glasgow. the 33—year—old, who's best known for staring in the film sunshine on leith denied the charge. he told glasgow sheriff court he had

only "helped" the woman after she fell ill, but the jury was told that his dna was found inside her underwear. he was found guilty after a four—day trial and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely. prince harry says he wants to "break the cycle" of "pain and suffering" he experienced growing up, so he doesn't pass it on to his own children. the duke of sussex was speaking on a podcast, in which he said his life as a royal was like a mixture of the truman show and being in a zoo. harry suggested his own pain may have come in part from his parents, but said he wasn't "pointing the finger" at anyone. james reynolds reports. a month ago, at the funeral of the duke of edinburgh, prince harry briefly took the same path as the rest of his family. but, back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his own tracks. isn't life about breaking the cycle, right? yeah. there is no blame, i don't think we shouldn't be pointing the finger or blaming anybody,

but certainly, when it comes to parenting, if i have experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, i'm going to make sure that i break that cycle, so that i don't pass it on, basically. there's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. as parents, we should be doing the most we can to say, "that happened to me, i'm gonna make sure that it doesn't happen to you." this morning prince charles, the subject of so many of harry's reflections, visited south wales and gave nothing away. sir, do you agree with prince harry about the suffering _ and pain in the family? he gave nothing away. in the podcast, harry examined his father's upbringing. suddenly i started to piece it all together and go, "ok, this is where he went to school, this is what happened, i know this bit about his life. i also know that's connected to his parents." yeah. so that means that he's treating me the way that he was treated. exactly.

which means, how can i change that for my own kids? and, well, here i am. i have now moved my whole family to the us. that wasn't the plan! harry talked about his wife meghan's decision to help him seek therapy, and he revealed that his desire to leave royal duties went right back to his early 20s, and was notjust the result of his marriage. you can only be what you can see... from their new home, harry and meghan now regularly speak out. buckingham palace hasn't commented on the duke's latest interview. perhaps abiding by the unofficial motto, "never explain, never complain." a policy that harry himself no longer feels any need to obey. james reynolds, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. any plans this weekend? just be prepared to embrace the british weather. we have some sunshine in the forecast, but also

towering storm clouds, thunder and lightning, obviously downpours with that, and some gusty winds. the reason for it? low pressure will be moving across the uk during saturday and sunday. i know this is nothing new. it's being propelled by a jet stream which is just south of us, and because it is south of us, it means we are in the colder air and i want to show you what happens on the boundary of the jet stream. you've got colder air streams coming in from the north, low pressure is forming here just to the north of the jet stream and then all of the warmth that we would like is being deflected to the south and we are stuck with this pattern and it is not expected to change any time soon. and here is the rainfall accumulation map for the weekend. so where it is blue that means it's going to be raining and where the blue is darker that is where the rain is going to be heaviest, or more of it at least through the weekend. at the moment, there is a bit of a lull in the weather. yes, we have some showers around, even some heavy ones, but fewer downpours compared to what we had yesterday. so, this is the picture through the middle to latter

part of the afternoon. showers across some western and southern areas, but many of us getting away with a dry day. and the temperatures, pretty nippy on the north sea coast, only around 11 degrees. so, here is the weather front, remember the jet stream's to the south of us, and it's pushing the weather front in our direction, so downpours are expected early in the morning across some south—western areas of the uk. but i think a cloudy, dry start across many eastern areas. through the course of saturday, that weather front moves northwards and then behind the weather front tucking in is a very volatile atmosphere, so the kind of atmosphere that generates those big tall clouds and we could have downpours, hail and thunder and gusty winds. but sunshine is round as well so it won't be raining all the time. but the showers will be very frequent on saturday and sunday. in fact, sunday is going to be a similar day. it doesn't mean the showers will occur at exactly the same time

in the same place, but the general picture is for a real rash of them across the uk. so it's going to be quite a weekend for some of us. be prepared.

the government sends more coronavirus vaccines to bolton, one of the areas hit by the engine variant. ~ . , of the areas hit by the engine variant. ~ ., , ,., ., �* ., ., variant. we have sent some to bolton and we will obviously _ variant. we have sent some to bolton and we will obviously follow _ variant. we have sent some to bolton and we will obviously follow the i and we will obviously follow the clinical advice if they think that it would help.— clinical advice if they think that it would hel. .,, . ., , ., it would help. people in wales are bein: it would help. people in wales are being encouraged _ it would help. people in wales are being encouraged to _ it would help. people in wales are being encouraged to holiday i it would help. people in wales are being encouraged to holiday at i it would help. people in wales are i being encouraged to holiday at home this year and not to travel abroad unless they really have to. portugal says british tourists can visit the country from monday, but the government in lisbon says some

limited covid restrictions will stay in place. the head of the world health organization says that globally a second year of the coronavirus pandemic is on track to be far more deadly than the first. covid—19 has already cost more than 3.3 covid—19 has already cost more than 33 million— covid—19 has already cost more than 3.3 million lives and we are on track— 3.3 million lives and we are on track for— 3.3 million lives and we are on track for a _ 3.3 million lives and we are on track for a second year of this pandemic— track for a second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first _ pandemic to be far more deadly than the first. find pandemic to be far more deadly than the first. �* .., pandemic to be far more deadly than the first. �* _, , ., ,': :: , the first. and coming up at 5:30pm, the first. and coming up at 5:30pm, the latest government _ the first. and coming up at 5:30pm, the latest government coronavirus l the latest government coronavirus briefing which is led today by the prime minister borisjohnson and england's chief medical officer.