a the latest china warns the us as president biden orders a fresh inquiry into the origins of covid, and suggestions of a chinese laboratory leak persist. the arrest of a belarusian journalist whose flight was diverted, as a un agency investigates, his mother asks for international help. i beg you, i ask you for help. i call upon you to save roman, save my son. has the recent fighting between israel and hamas revealed faultlines in america's relationship with its main regional ally? and shedding light on dark matter — scientists map out the most enigmatic substance in the universe.

hello and thanks forjoining us. china has reacted angrily after president biden ordered an intelligence investigation into whether the coronavirus first emerged as a leak from a chinese laboratory. beijing said us intelligence had a dark history of spreading misinformation. president biden says he's likely to release the report and its findings publicly. here's our china correspondent, john sudworth. for more than a year, the theory that the virus leaked from this wuhan laboratory has largely been dismissed as a conspiracy. the invisible enemy, the china virus... the theory�*s association

with donald trump made it for manyjust one more piece of disinformation. but in the mouth of president biden, well, that feels different, and suddenly the world's media are taking it seriously. well, i think it's very important because it will feed into... a welcome change for those long trying to argue that all possible origins need to be investigated. well, it matters because it has had a huge impact on everybody's lives around the world. we need to find out how this started, so we can prevent it happening again. if it turns out it was a lab leak, we need to make sure our bio—safety and bio—security policies are solid and that they're in place and implemented. china now finds itself repeating its earlier denials. translation: the united states does not care about _ facts and truth at all. nor is it interested - in serious scientific tracing.

but instead wants to use i the epidemic to politically manipulate and to stigmatise. many scientists still favour a natural origin. coronaviruses are known to have jumped from animals to humans in markets like this in the past. lab leaks, though, have also happened before, and the wuhan lab has collected, studied and experimented on coronaviruses on a huge scale. when we tried to report on this science, we were followed, obstructed and prevented from filming. have you found the origins of the coronavirus? but the world health organization team that visited wuhan all but ruled out a lab leak. today, one of them told the bbc if the us has evidence that lab workers got sick, it should share it. they've been saying that for almost a year now,

so if there is real evidence, then i think the responsibility of the us is to share it because then it can be followed up. the debate will continue, but evidence is what matters, and there's little prospect of china allowing another investigation on its soil. john sudworth, bbc news, taipei. the arrest of a belarusian journalist whose flight was diverted to capture him is sparking fresh diplomatic tensions. now russia, an ally of belarus, has denied entry to flights by two european airlines because they planned to avoid belarussian airspace. the eu says it's almost ready to launch new sanctions on belarus. here's sarah rainsford in minsk. more strong words from the international community and more moves towards concrete actions against the authorities here in belarus, too, with talk of a package of sanctions almost ready

against the authorities here, and possible economic measures to come soon after that. there is one sanction that's already kicked in here, though, with the national airline belavia here now banned from flying to europe, so there's a real sort of increasing sense of isolation in this country from that move. i spoke to people today trying to return their tickets, talking about the fact they felt trapped in the country now, but interestingly they also told me that they welcomed the move, they welcomed the sanctions. they hope that that could increase the pressure on the authorities that they tried to do with their street protests last year. of course, they were forced off the streets by the massive security forces' lashback crackdown that followed. one other consequence of the sanctions could be pushing belarus closer to russia. vladimir putin a critical backer of alexander lukashenko, keeping him in power until now. and vladimir putin and alexander lukashenko are set to meet tomorrow in sochi in russia. roman protasevich was placed

on a terrorism list last year by the belarusian authorities and there are fears that he'll now face the death penalty. mr protasevich's mother has been talking to journalists in warsaw. translation: i ask you to bring this information - to the countries of the european union, to america, to presidents and leaders. i beg you, i ask you for help. i call upon you to save roman, save my son. the united nations human rights

council has agreed to open an investigation into this month's conflict between israel and the militant group hamas. hamas has welcomed the decision. but israel described it as a moral failure. american political support for israel has historically been one of the rare areas of bipartisan agreement in washington. but that may be changing, as laura trevelyan now reports. devastation in gaza. hamas began this confrontation by firing rockets at israel, ultimately killing 13 people, two of them children. the israeli military response killed 215 in gaza, including 66 children. in the us, president biden was lobbied by lawmaker rashida tlaib, who's of palestinian descent. public pressure to stop the bombing of gaza from the progressive left of the democratic party. watching closely in east jerusalem was kefah, a palestinian—american teacher and a member of democrats abroad. she feels the palestinian voice is finally being heard in america. it was very uplifting because i grew up in the states, and basically, the dialogue did not include us, and if it did, it always had us in a negative picture, us being the palestinians. and to see the left finally rallying and calling for change and calling for the same things

that we're calling for. clashes between israeli police and palestinians injerusalem in the run—up to the latest conflict also drew condemnation from the progressive left in the us. laura wharton is an israeli—american political scientist and jerusalem city councillor for a left—wing party. she's been watching as events here are compared to the reckoning over racial justice in the us. i would say that a lot of americans, especially american jews and the american jewish left, saw the police, you know, beating up palestinians and saw the riots and so forth and saw george floyd, which is justified in many ways, because it's similar. the thing is that there are also fundamental differences. it's more complicated because we're at war. here injerusalem, tensions between israelis and palestinians over access to holy sites and to land helped fuel the latest deadly conflict. in the aftermath, the biden administration is underlining

that it doesn't want to see palestinians evicted from their homes or morejewish settlements in eastjerusalem and the west bank. marc zell, the chairman of republicans overseas, loved president trump's unapologetic pro—israel stance and doesn't like the new tone from washington. you know, we're like the native americans coming home. - that's really what...we're the indigenous people. i the arabs are latecomers! but the biden administration says you're taking the land of palestinians. yeah, that's exactlyj what they're saying. they've got it - completely backward. though support for israel's right to exist and defend itself is a cornerstone of us foreign policy, the pro—israel bipartisan consensus of the past is shifting rapidly, reflected by the range of views among americans living here. laura trevelyan, bbc news, jerusalem. let's get some of the day's other news. thousands of people are continuing to leave parts of goma in the democratic republic of congo because of fears

of a second volcanic eruption. more than 30 people are known to have died when the nyiragongo volcano first erupted at the weekend. election officials in syria have announced that president bashar al—assad has won a fourth term in office with 95.1% of votes cast in wednesday's polls. the election is the second such vote since the start of syria's conflict. it's already been dismissed by western diplomats as neither free nor fair. three men who assisted the perpetrators ofjihadist terrorist attacks in and around barcelona that killed 16 people in 2017 have beenjailed in spain. two of the group were handed sentences of 53 and 46 years, while a third man was given an eight—yearjail term. twitter says it's worried about the safety of its staff in india. the company has been coming under pressure after it put a �*manipulated media' label on a tweet by a spokesperson from the governing bjp.

the information ministry accused the social media giant of hampering free speech by arbitrarily suspending accounts and deleting tweets. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has condemned the overhaul of electoral rules in hong kong. the sweeping changes, approved on thursday, limit the number of directly elected legislators. they also mean candidates will be vetted, keep out those critical of beijing. martin yip in hong kong explains. this electoral reform bill pretty much prescribed by beijing was passed by a landslide 40—2 in the legislature. the only remaining pro—democracy politician said no to it. so did another who claimed himself to be neutral. beijing has hailed this passing of the bill as the beginning of good governance after what it calls "chaos" in past elections. the question now is if hong kong's legislature would ever

hear pro—democracy opposition voices again, as in the past year, we saw dozens of politicians and activists both young and old being detained or imprisoned under various charges. some of them are charged with subversion or collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law, which, if found guilty, could mean life imprisonment. even if they could be able to walk free from jail at some point, they could still be disenfranchised for life. lo kin—hei, head of hong kong's democratic party, has said they will find a gap to survive. for the democratic party, we're still debating or still discussing within our party on our role forward. whether or not we will join the election, it is still too early to call. other parties remain undecided on whether they should run in future elections. because, under the new law,

if you want to run in the election, you would first have to be vetted by a committee that includes the national security police. if you fail this process, that could well mean that the police have secured enough evidence to prosecute you, while if you pass, that could be the voters' turn to question if you are indeed a pro—democracy politician. martin yip in hong kong. stay with us on bbc news, still to come. mapping out the invisible substance thought to make up 80% of the universe. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be

thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juventus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the j tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of. the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than a500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she's left the spice girls. argh, i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. not geri, why? this is bbc news, the latest headlines.

china is winning the us as president biden ordered a fresh enquiry into the origins of covid—i9 as suggestions of a laboratory leak in china persist. the belarus diversion of a passenger plane will be investigated by the un civil a and agency, and the mother of the man arrested asks for international help. an investigation injapan has found that boys were able to pass entrance exams more easily for most of tokyo's public high schools than girls. scores are carried out differently for boys and girls. entrance exams for 80% of tokyo public high schools were easier for boys than girls according to a newspaper. in one case, 20 girls failed

to win places even though they scored higher grades than boys who were successful. and in almost 30 schools, girls had to score more than 10% higher than boys to get in. but are girls outperforming boys in schools? joining me now is katelyn cooper, an assistant professor in the school of life sciences at arizona state university, who conducted a study called "who's smarter in the classroom—men or women?" so who is smarter? it's hard to say definitively, but some studies have shown that women outperform men at the high school level. research suggests there is no difference in intelligence, but behaviours like self—control and motivation may lead women to outperform men at this point in time. howeversome outperform men at this point in time. however some of the research i have done, we see the opposite trend. at that

point, men actually outperform women at university. it point, men actually outperform women at university.— women at university. it differs according _ women at university. it differs according to — women at university. it differs according to subject, - women at university. it differs according to subject, and - women at university. it differs according to subject, and thel according to subject, and the sciences are slightly different on that front.— on that front. correct, men tend to outperform - on that front. correct, men tend to outperform women j on that front. correct, men i tend to outperform women in on that front. correct, men - tend to outperform women in the sciences, but not the arts and humanities. when we think about why this might be, we are raised in very gendered ways. young children will give boys toys like lego and science kits, whereas women are often given dolls, encouraged to play with tea sets in the house. so it is clear _ with tea sets in the house. so it is clear from a young age that we are giving men an idea that we are giving men an idea that science is for them and giving women an idea that they are not necessarily welcome in science careers.—

science careers. does this follow into _ science careers. does this follow into the _ science careers. does this follow into the workplace | science careers. does this l follow into the workplace as well? definitely. the study has shown men and women who are equally qualified forjobs, research scientists are more likely to hire men, agreed to mental them and pay them more compared to women. 50 mental them and pay them more compared to women.— compared to women. so we see that men are _ compared to women. so we see that men are four— compared to women. so we see that men are four more - that men are four more confident in their science ability, so they are more likely to exaggerate on job applications, and ask for a raise. , applications, and ask for a raise, , applications, and ask for a raise. , ., raise. so when they look at the to of raise. so when they look at the top of scientific _ raise. so when they look at the top of scientific corporations i top of scientific corporations it is not necessarily a surprise that it is men. what is the answer? how do we redress the imbalances and even things out? you really want to focus on confidence in the context of science. we want to make sure both men and women

feel included and that they can contribute to the scientific workforce. in contribute to the scientific workforce-— contribute to the scientific workforce. .. , , ., workforce. in cases where women outperform _ workforce. in cases where women outperform men. _ workforce. in cases where women outperform men, we _ workforce. in cases where women outperform men, we need - workforce. in cases where women outperform men, we need to - workforce. in cases where women outperform men, we need to look at the behaviours and why this is. perhaps we have seen gaps and we see women study for ma than —— we see women study far more than men in high school, so we need to close the performance gap earlier on. thank you very much, caitlin cooper, assistant professor at arizona —— arizona state university. music — la marseillaise. the sounds of the french national anthem echoing in kigali. this was emmanuel macron's first visit to rwanda, only the second french president to make the trip since the genocide in 1994. mr macron then headed

for the gisozi genocide memorial centre, where 250,000 victims are buried. translation: france did not understand that by wanting i to block a regional conflict or a civil war, it stood de facto by a genocidal regime. a report by a french inquiry panel in march said a colonial attitude had blinded then—president francois mitterrand and his officials and that they had serious and overwhelming responsibility for not foreseeing the genocide committed by the hutu government backed by france. translation: and so, | with modesty and respect by your side today, i come to recognise our responsibility. responsibility, but no official apology from france. more subtly a call for forgiveness. translation: only those who went through that - night can perhaps forgive and so could give us the gift

of forgiving ourselves. yet emmanuel macron insists french troops were not involved in the massacres. a genocide survivors' group said it regretted the lack of a clear apology from mr macron. translation: we remember the french who went - to the checkpoints, who walked with the far and who helped them to distinguish between the tutsis and the hutus. we cannot forget that easily. we need to be honest. they have participated. it was time to say sorry. but president paul kagame welcomed the speech. this was a powerful speech with a special meaning - for what is taking place now, and which will resonate - well beyond rwanda. this was a visit meant to mark the final stage of the reconciliation between france and rwanda, a way to move on from three decades of diplomatic tensions.

olivier weber, bbc news. the tokyo olympics is still set to go ahead despite rising covid case numbers across japan. and now the japanese doctor's union hasjoined the calls for the event to be cancelled. the union's chairman said holding the event could risk the creation of a new variant. translation: a new variant strain might arise and be - called the tokyo olympics virus strain. and the criticism that the games were a great act of folly by humankind may stalk us for the next 100 years. some people are acting like dictators and asking people to make sacrifices in order for the games to go ahead. what was originally a struggle between the virus and people is now turning into a struggle between human and human. the international community must stop this event. scientists have been taken aback by the findings of a group of astronomers who've been mapping the distribution of dark matter. the researchers say

the invisible substance, which is thought to make up about 80% of all material in the universe, is more spread out than first predicted. that could challenge a long—held science tenet — einstein's theory of general relativity. our science correspondent, pallab ghosh, reports. look up at the skies, and you see stars. but this telescope, in the deserts of chile, is able to see the universe as it really is, filled with a mysterious substance called dark matter. it can't be seen, but this instrument can detect dark matter by the way it distorts starlight. this is a map of matter in the universe. and that's allowed astronomers to produce this map of how it's spread across the expanse of space. it's an element of, you know, unveiling mystery. something you, you couldn't see before, and suddenly, it's there, and you think, "wow." so, what is dark matter,

and where is it in space? well, let's start off with our own sun. it's one of 100 billion stars that make up our galaxy, the milky way, which, in turn, is one of countless others throughout the universe. dark matter permeates space, with galaxies like tiny gems on a tangled cosmic web. the bright areas are where dark matter is most concentrated, and it's here that galaxies form, but the map is not what astronomers expected. the matter should be slightly more clumped together. instead, it's smoother than predicted by einstein's theory of general relativity, which helps determine how the matter should have spread out after the big bang. if the structures in this map are smoother than we expect them to be, which is what the results seem to hint at, it means that einstein's theory is wrong. so, you might think that that's a bad thing, that maybe physics is broken. but for physicists, it's extremely exciting,

because it means we can find out something new about the way the universe really is. building on the work of einstein, carlos frenk was among a group of scientists that developed the current model of cosmology. hearing now that there may be something not quite - right with the theory, - well, it's very disconcerting. it's very alarming, and, - in a way, frightening to see that maybe my whole life's work might crumble in front of me. i but, at the same time, i it is immensely exciting. astronomers believe that we are at the start of a new revolution in cosmology that will give us a fuller understanding of how the universe began and how it will evolve. pallab ghosh, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @benmboulos.

hello there. we saw plenty of sunshine today, and it felt much warmer across the board than what we've been used to this month so far. there are some subtle changes overnight. we've got a weak weather front pushing into western areas. that's going to bring the thicker cloud to many, but also outbreaks of rain across the west, initially for northern ireland, and then that rain will spill its way a eastwards through the night across western scotland in towards western england and also western wales. there'll some mistiness and murkiness around, too. but the further east you are, although there will be more cloud around, it should tend to stay dry here. those temperatures no lower than around 8—11 degrees for most, so milder than last night. so, here we go — here's the pressure chart for friday, then. we've got this weak weather front across western areas pushing into high pressure, so that's always going to weaken it. so, it looks like the rain out west will slowly peter out

through the course of the day, but could stay rather grey, damp and misty here. further north and east, we'll see the best of any sunny spells and dry weather, but where the sunshine does appear and pushes temperatures close to the 20 celsius mark, then we could see the odd heavy shower developing, particularly in towards east anglia. and temperatures not as high as what we've seen today. now, for the bank holiday weekend, though, we're going to see lots of sunshine around, particularly for england and wales, as high pressure continues to build in across the country. for saturday, there will be a legacy of cloud left from that weather front, so patchy cloud and sunny spells sums it up nicely. maybe the odd shower mixed into there, but most places will be dry. where you get the sunshine, temperatures reaching the low 20s celsius again. further north, where skies stay cloudy, then the high teens celsius. for sunday, though, i think it looks sunnier across the board. little bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up through the afternoon, and there will be light winds as well around this area of high pressure, so it's going to feel much warmer than what we've been used to. 22—23 degrees across the south, 20 celsius there across

parts of scotland, too. now, for the bank holiday monday, we'll see this weather front push in from the north—west, affecting the north west of scotland, parts of northern ireland. but for the south and east of scotland, much of england and wales, it's pretty similar to sunday. plenty of sunshine, light winds and feeling warm — in fact, even warmer. we could make 211—25 degrees across the south or the south east. and it stays fine, settled and sunny, particularly for england and wales as we head through the first week ofjune. temperatures holding up at around the mid—20s celsius across the south east.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: china has reacted angrily after president biden ordered a fresh inquiry into the origins of the covid outbreak. suggestions that the pandemic began as a result of a leak from a chinese laboratory are persisting — beijing says us intelligence has a dark history of spreading misinformation. belarus's diversion of a passenger plane and the arrest of an opposition journalist on board is to be investigated by the un civil aviation agency. the mother of roman protasevich is asking for international help to organise his release. the united nations human rights council has agreed to open an investigation into this month's conflict between israel and the militant group hamas. hamas has welcomed the decision. but israel is describing it as a moral failure.

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