Weeks after they died, the bodies of 18 Turkish Cypriots due to be repatriated to their homeland are still being held in the Masjid Ramadan mosque in Hackney.

Islamic burials usually take place within 24 hours of death, but Northern Cyprus has closed its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities have granted approval for most of the bodies to be flown back after 1 June when the borders partially re-open.

The mosque's funeral director, Erkin Guney, said it had held an "unprecedented" number of funerals in the last six weeks, which had been "traumatic" for the community.

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

We now have 30 minutes to go until Boris Johnson faces the Liaison Committee of the UK House of Commons.

Mr Johnson, who has been prime minister since July last year, has been accused of dodging scrutiny for failing to appear before the committee until now.

Ironic, perhaps, that he will finally go before this panel of senior cross-party MPs after days of damaging headlines that go to the heart of his administration.

The Dominic Cummings saga is almost certain to come up, but don’t expect a dramatic capitulation.

Rumblings on the Conservative benches have quietened down and Downing Street appears determined to ride this one out.

Equally, in the midst of a public health crisis there will be plenty of other important issues to get to - whether that’s testing, PPE, or plans to ease the lockdown.

And a 90-minute virtual session may prove to have its limitations (let’s hope everyone’s got a good internet connection and mastery of the unmute button...)

So, will this afternoon be box office? It is hard to say. Perhaps, if the grilling gets grisly or the prime minister has a rabbit to pull out of the hat.

But it could well test Boris Johnson’s grasp of the nitty-gritty around what his government is doing to tackle coronavirus, and why.

People in England are being told they will have to wait until 4 July to get their shaggy lockdown hair trimmed.

Some hairdressers have objected to the government's timetable, though, saying they are ready to open safely along with other retail businesses on 15 June.

Some business owners, such as Baz Rifat in London, told the BBC they had created booths and knocked down walls to help customers stay socially distanced. Stylists will wear face shields, while customers will be asked to wear face coverings.

But the Department for Business has said they will still have to wait.

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BBC Trending

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Medical experts around the world are concerned about widespread false or misleading social media posts about coronavirus.

It’s the latest chapter in a multifaceted debate over so-called “fake news.”

People use different terms to describe the phenomenon, and it's worth knowing the difference between them:

Misinformation is an umbrella term to describe false, misleading, or out-of-context material, regardless of the motivation behind it.

Disinformation is a sub-group of the above. It is a deliberate attempt to mislead using material that the deceiver knows is untrue.

The meaning of 'fake news' seems obvious. Since 2016, politicians and activists all over the world have used the term to insult opponents or as a way to dismiss stories they simply don’t like, no matter whether they are factual or not.

A BBC team tracking misinformation has connected it to arson in the UK, serious illnesses and deaths in the US, poisonings in Iran and mob violence in India.

Image source, AFP

In about an hour, we're due to hear from Boris Johnson, as he faces a committee of MPs for the first time since becoming UK prime minister.

He's expected to face questions from the Commons Liaison Committee for 90 minutes, with MPs asking him about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his adviser's controversial 260-mile trip during lockdown.

About 40 Tory MPs have called for his adviser, Dominic Cummings, to be fired.

Earlier, a former chair of the committee and ex-MP, Sarah Wollaston, said Johnson "needs to face some tough questions about why we’re doing so badly compared to others around the world".

Later, we're expecting the Downing Street daily briefing where we may hear more details about England's test, trace and isolate system, including localised lockdowns to control "flare-ups" of the virus.

Food shops and some other essential retailers have remained open during the pandemic, but from Monday the range of stores will begin to increase in England.

Car showrooms will be allowed to reopen, with one car dealership saying it will trust customers to take test drives alone. Open air markets will also start up again.

Then on 15 June, more retailers are able to open their doors, including shops selling clothes, toys, books and electronics, as well as tailors, auction houses, photography studios, and indoor markets.

Many big name retailers are taking it slowly, however. John Lewis is starting with 13 of its stores, while Next will only reopen 25 of 500 branches.

No dates have yet been fixed for the reopening of shops in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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We're watching for reaction to the massive €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund announced by the EU to help member states tackle the fallout from this pandemic.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called it an "excellent signal" from Brussels. "Now let's speed up the negotiation and make the resources available soon," he wrote on Twitter.

Spain - which has suffered one of Europe's highest virus death tolls - said the announcement met "many of [its] demands".

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, welcomed the news and said it marked an "essential day for Europe".

Greece, too, welcomed the "bold proposal".

But the so-called 'frugal states' - those that object to taking on debt for other countries - have reacted more cautiously. One Dutch diplomat told the BBC that the announcement was unlikely to mark the "end state" of the negotiations.

You can read our full story here.

A further 183 people have died in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, NHS England has reported.

It brings the total number of hospital deaths in England to 26,049.

Deaths of confirmed coronavirus patients in Scotland's hospitals rose by 13, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, making a total of 2,304.

And Public Health Wales said a further 11 people had died after positive tests, bringing the total in Wales to 1,293.

Two more people also died in Northern Ireland, where the death toll now stands at 516.

Reported death tolls in the four nations may differ from the total announced by the UK government later, as they are calculated in a slightly different time-frame, and the UK total includes deaths in care homes and other settings.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Image source, PA Media

UK police say that people breaking lockdown rules are using the actions of the prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings - whose 260-mile trip sparked controversy - as an excuse.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that the public are telling officers, "if it is okay for Cummings, it is okay for us", and "it looks like there is one rule for us and another rule for the people in No 10 Downing Street".

He said if the rules are interpreted as flexible by people at the heart of government, "then it is almost impossible for police officers to be able to carry out their job effectively".

Police were getting "quite a pushback" from all generations, he said.

"Now that is a bad sign, showing that confidence in the rules, confidence in government and thereby the police's ability to enforce it, has been undermined very much in the last few days," he said.

For Andrew Edwards, the prospect of living under lockdown was perhaps more daunting than for others.

His autism means he often plans days, weeks, even months in advance. So the new rules brought in to combat the coronavirus pandemic proved difficult.

"I was worried on a daily basis what part of my daily routine was going to be taken away next," said the 35-year-old from Wrexham.

But exercise and the help of his sister Melanie have helped Andrew to live day by day.

Image source, Helen Maybanks

British actors Claire Foy and Matt Smith - who starred in Netflix's The Crown - are returning to the stage in a socially distanced play, as theatres try to work out a future in the pandemic.

The pair will reprise roles they played last year in Lungs at the Old Vic Theatre, as a couple wrestling with dilemmas about the future of the planet.

The play sold out last year, but this time they will be playing to an empty theatre and a camera.

In his review in October, BBC arts editor Will Gompertz said the sparse setting was a challenge, but the "palpable stage chemistry" of the leads meant they carried it off. This time, they'll have to replicate that chemistry while staying apart.

The theatre will sell 1,000 tickets a night at its usual price of £10 to £65, after artistic director Matthew Warchus warned it was facing a "perilous" financial situation.

Here's a round-up of what's been happening in the UK so far today:

• Plans for "local lockdowns" to tackle future outbreaks of coronavirus could involve shutting individual schools and workplaces, a minister said. The health secretary is expected to outline the contact tracing system later
• The government's furlough scheme is now paying the wages of 8.4 million employees, while a further 2.3 million self-employed workers are claiming support due to the pandemic
• Paramedics in Wales report that they are increasingly facing aggression from suspected Covid-19 patients when asking them to wear face masks, and some ambulance staff have been assaulted
• Premier League clubs have voted to resume contact training as the league moves towards restarting the season "when conditions allow"
• And theatregoers are being asked to pay between £10 and £65 to watch online as Clare Foy and Matt Smith perform a play in an empty theatre, as the Old Vic in London seeks to alleviate a "perilous" financial situation

Image source, EPA

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has urged member states to "walk that road together" after proposing a €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund for the bloc.

The package will include grants and loans for all 27 EU member states as they bid to recover from the effects of coronavirus - but some nations are opposed to taking on debt for other countries.

"This is about all of us, and it is way bigger than any of us," Von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

"This is Europe’s moment.

"And so in front of us once again is that same binary choice: We either all go it alone, leaving countries, regions and people behind and accepting a union of haves and have-nots - or we walk that road together, we take that leap forward, we pave a strong path for our people and for the next generation."

The number of people dying with coronavirus in Scotland has fallen for the fourth week in a row.

Figures released by National Records of Scotland showed there had been 230 deaths in the week ending 24 May.

That's 105 fewer than the previous week, and brings the total number of deaths since the outbreak began to 3,779.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to slightly ease the country's lockdown restrictions on Thursday.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Premier League clubs have voted unanimously to resume contact training as they edge towards restarting the season, when it is safe to do so.

England's top flight was suspended on 13 March because of the pandemic but non-contact training resumed on 19 May.

A statement from the Premier League outlined that the change had been agreed "in consultation with clubs, players, managers, the PFA, LMA and the government."

It adds: "Strict medical protocols are in place to ensure the training ground is the safest environment possible and players and staff will continue to be tested for Covid-19 twice a week."

The results of the third round of coronavirus tests are expected to be published later on Wednesday. So far eight people from Premier League clubs have tested positive from 1,744 tests.

Image source, European Parliament

The European Commission has proposed a massive €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund to help the EU tackle an "unprecedented crisis".

The package will be made up of grants and loans for every EU member state.

Economies across the 27-nation EU bloc have been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, but several southern states had big debts even before the crisis.

Some countries - among them Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden - are opposed to taking on debt for other countries, and think the relief should come as low-interest loans rather than cash handouts.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will have to win over these sceptical member states to push the plan through.

Read more here

If you're just joining us, here are the latest headlines from around the world:

• The European Commission is setting out a major recovery fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) to help the EU tackle an "unprecedented crisis". Economies across the 27-nation EU bloc have been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, but several southern states had big debts even before the crisis.
• Meanwhile, France has announced an €8bn rescue plan for its car industry, which has been severely impacted by the pandemic. It has also stopped doctors from using the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine on Covid-19 patients because of potential health risks
• Latin America has become the new epicentre of the global crisis. Brazil's daily death rate is now the highest in the world, and one study has warned that deaths could increase five-fold by August
• And in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face questioning from a committee of MPs as he continues to come under pressure over allegations that his closest adviser broke lockdown rules
• The total number of cases worldwide has now passed 5.5 million, while more than 349,000 people have died

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media reporter

Image source, Getty Images

A BBC team tracking misinformation around the virus has found links to assaults, arson and deaths. And experts say the potential for indirect harm could be much bigger.

Online rumours led to mob attacks in India and mass poisonings in Iran. Telecommunications engineers have been threatened and attacked, and phone masts have been set alight - all because of conspiracy theories.

"We thought the government was using it to distract us," says Brian Lee Hitchens, "or it was to do with 5G. So we didn't follow the rules or seek help sooner."

But then in early May, both he and his wife caught Covid-19.

"And now I realise that coronavirus is definitely not fake," he says, running out of breath. "It's out there and it's spreading."

You can read more about the impact of misinformation here.

As the UK begins to ease its lockdown, the BBC has filmed the work of medical staff at one hospital over a week, capturing the life and death struggles that continue inside, the emotional toll and the fears of staff about a second wave of infections.

"I felt broken on many occasions," said nurse Carleen Kelly. "It’s a huge emotional burden, it’s a time of our lives that we will never, ever forget."

You can watch the first of the films from inside the Royal London Hospital here.

BBC Radio 5 Live

With the UK prime minister due to face a grilling from MPs on the liaison committee for the first time this afternoon, BBC Radio 5 Live has been hearing from Sarah Wollaston, a former Tory MP turned Liberal Democrat who used to chair the committee.

She said Mr Johnson "has a reputation for sometimes struggling with the detail" and is likely to face close scrutiny, despite appointing the committee chairman Bernard Jenkin himself rather than allowing a vote as is usual.

"We have the highest number of deaths in Europe so the prime minister needs to face some tough questions about why we’re doing so badly compared to others around the world," Dr Wollaston said, describing the estimated 60,000 excess deaths since the pandemic began as a "colossal number".

She said Mr Cummings, the prime minister's adviser accused of breaching lockdown with a 260-mile trip, "should be fired", saying his actions undermined public health, his circumstances were not exceptional, and his justifications were implausible.

"It would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that 60,000 people have died already and we are now expecting a second wave," she said.