Been given more details about how gcse and a level grades will be calculated for pupils, whose exams have been cancelled because of the pandemic. The exams regulator, quual, says teachers will be asked to estimate a mark, when ranking students. As our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys reports, the results will be published no later than august, but could be earlier. Its quite a freeing, strange thought, not having to worry about revision and exam stress for the next few months. But it is a weird feeling, yeah. A lot of people are worried about the work that we have done till now because, obviously, a lot of people dont put the effort in until the last minute and they can sometimes turn it all around, just at the last minute. I dont know if ill necessarily definitely get the grades that i need for my first choice any more, now that i cant pull it up in my exam at all. Every year till now, exams meant grades. But now, in england and wales, teachers are asked to estimate instead and rank students top to bottom. The results then adjusted across the nation. So, i wanted to ask will these gcses and a levels be just as valued as any other year . The student certificates this year with their grades will be like any other certificates. They will use those grades to progress, they will use those grades in their lives just like any other set of students and thats hugely important. In chester today, two anxious students. For max, its his gcse year. Charlotte needs her to a levels to get into uni. All the hard work we want to put in, we want to make sure its shown in our grades and through the seven years weve spent learning havent gone to waste. But i trust my teachers. I think that for people who perhaps didnt get the grades that theyd like to go into sixth form, or college, or an apprenticeship, then they might consider retaking the exams. But for most, as long as they get a suitable grade, i think it would be harder to get back and get the grade they want than just to continue with what theyve been given already. The challenge is going to be to make this system feel fair for everyone. But most of all for those kids in the middle whove worked really hard in the last few months to try get above a grade four. They already have a sense of what grades theyre working at, or were prior to the school closures. They also therefore know, from that dialogue with their teachers, where, in essence, those teachers will be predicting that those grades are going to be in the summer. In northern ireland, students still waiting for details. The real test everywhere will be results day. Branwenjeffreys, bbc news, chester. Now on bbc news our world. Umaru fofana investigates trade in trafficked rosewood worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the sound of an environmental catastrophe. It is midnight in the forest in southern senegal, just a few kilometres from the border with gambia. Its a place rich in an extremely valuable timber known as rosewood. Bbc our world has been investigating the trade in this trafficked rare wood worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We are being led by these men, illegal loggers. Its difficult terrain and they have been scouting this ancient forest for weeks. This tree, over 100 years old, has been marked for felling. Its approaching 2am in the morning deep inside this forest. We have been here for several hours and we have seen so many stumps, some of them are freshly cut rosewood trees. Here is one giant one, just about to fall. Its dangerous work, but its a risk many across west africa are prepared to take because of the prices this wood commands overseas. Each trunk is cut into two metre logs. The loggers know that it will need to fit into a shipping container that will travel nearly halfway around the world to china. These men are among the thousands of senegalese tempted into breaking the law. Its a trade that is corrupting communities and accelerating the destruction of their forests. Our world follows the rosewood trail and turns the spotlight on those involved in this illegal trade. As a rosewood tree dies its unique red sap bleeds out from the cut of the axe. The forests of senegal are one of the last remaining strongholds of the majestic west african rosewood tree. It is protected by an International Conservation agreement and, at least on paper, the senegalese government has gone even further by making it illegal to fell or export it. Im surrounded by rosewood trees. Despite their protected status, the exploitation of these trees continues unabated. There are warnings that unless there is a drastic change, seeing them alive, this could be a thing of the past. Casamance, in west africa, is the front line in the fight against deforestation. Its foot soldiers are prepared to risk everything. This man is part of a group of volunteers who know first hand the devastation caused by logging. He patrols his local area on his rickety motorbike, he is searching for signs of loggers. He has been attacked, but is determined to continue. He is one of many local activists recruited by a former senegalese minister of environment. He has dedicated his life to conservation. The northern border lands of casamance and an area he patrols, even though its a three hour journey. In what used to be a thick forest, this is all there is left. Without enough tree cover, the landscape soon turns to dust. We are following him now. Intelligence sources have told them there are active depots, we are going there to see what its like. Very soon we spot a blue truck in the distance. Its likely to be a buyer picking up logs just outside a local village. Clearly activity is going on. I can hear boom, boom as the logs are being loaded on to the truck. For security reasons we cant go past this post, but we will fly the drone to get a better understanding of whats going on there. There you see a lorry and a group of men loading piles of rosewood. Many senegalese villages decide to cash in on the trade. They chop down their own trees and sell them to the smugglers. But its a poor payday. Tens of dollars for logs that will eventually sell for thousands. With that, the deforestation accelerates. The forests of casamance, senegals green zone, are the lungs of the country, but they are as important spiritually as they are environmentally. For the people of casamance the forest supports them, but hold the shrines and spirits of their ancestors. At a festival for the traditional king the forest is celebrated in combat, rituals and prayers. This woman is the traditional head of the women in this area, the lady of the sacred forest. Under a tree in the kings sacred forest we showed him our footage of the deforestation. Its the first sign hes seen, such convincing evidence ofjust how much has been lost to illegal logging. We have made four trips over the last year to bear witness to the scale of timber trafficking. The blunder of the senegalese forests are now going on night plunder. And day and attracting loggers from all over west africa. Rosewood is now one of the most trafficked wildlife commodities on earth. The worldwide trade in its timber now supports the largest criminal wildlife market on the planet. Although the journey begins in senegal on humble donkey carts down forest tracks, it is heading for the neighbouring gambia, a place that has decimated its own forest so much that rosewood trees have all but disappeared. In the jigsaw of countries on the african continents west coast, senegal and gambia are locked together in an awkward embrace. 0ften its border with the ocean, gambia is surrounded on all sides by senegal, and the gambia border runs deep into senegals forest interior. We filmed the rosewood crisis along 170 kilometres section of the border and we identified at least 12 depots full of rosewood and timber using local informants, drones and satellite imagery. All of these depots fall within gambian territory. More stumps. In 2017, the west african rosewood tree was Given International protection. It was listed under the convention on the International Trade in endangered species. Known as cites. Its code of conduct to protect the Living Environment that both senegal and gambia have adopted. Both the gambian and senegalese president s have made public declarations about working together to stop the trade in rosewood. But the reality on the ground is a world away from those good intentions. Over the last year, the pace of destruction in these forests has remained unchecked. Entire forests of senegalese timber make a second lorryjourney down the road to the gambian capital banjul and its atlantic port. Its shocking and surprising in almost equal measure that one can find logs virtually everywhere in the gambia these days. Ive been coming here for well over ten years and ive never seen so many logs in so many places. Exports of illegal rosewood are estimated to be worth about 10 of gambias gdp and half of its total exports. Gambia is now in the top five Largest Global exporters of rosewood a strange accolade for a country that depleted its own supply of home grown rosewood years ago. This man, the former gambian president , is accused of amassing huge wealth from this trade. It hasnt slowed up. Under the current government, over 300,000 tonnes of rosewood have been shipped from gambia to china. 0n the road to banjul is a farm once owned by the former president. Its now in the hands of the government, of the hands of his successor who came to power three years ago. Behind this wall is what used to be a farm owned by the former president xx. It has been transformed into a massive depot of logs. There are soldiers manning the entrance. They refuse us permission to film. The gambian government, like senegal, does not permit the export of rosewood. There is an outright ban and numerous public declarations condemning the trade, coming directly from the ministry of environment. But from time to time, this changes. That same ministry is keen to show us they have been clamping down on the illegal trade by seizing containers of rosewood at the port of banjul. Can you tell us whether they are from the gambia or where they are from . You know, its hard to see a place within this country, within the gambia, where such a log of such size can come from. I mean, the gambian forests are very depleted. We dont have big enough logs or trees that can really match this. So, as a result, i would assume that they come from outside the gambia. The current gambian environment minister is the man responsible for impounding the containers we were shown. I do swear that i will execute the function of the office of the minister of forestry. But we have obtained undercoverfootage, shot by the washington based environmental investigation agency, which points to high level gambian government complicity in a trade that was widely known. It shows a meeting that shows a different relationship with gambias environment minister. The export deal these traders want to make is completely outlawed under the environmental rules. Our world cannot independently verify the claims, but in a statement, gambias environment minister said the allegations regarding his conduct were false and clearly unsubstantiated. He said the current export ban would continue to be extended and enforced vigorously. He denied that gambia was being used as an export corridor and a Clearing House for the illegal rosewood trade. Gambia works with senegal, he said, to block illegal trading rules. Gambia works with senegal, he said, to block illegal trading routes. Those arrested have been diligently prosecuted and forced to pay hefty fines. Rosewood that leaves gambia is overwhelmingly going to a single buyer, china. Whose insatiable appetite is driving this trade. According to chinese import data, in 2019, the gambia exported over 100,000 tonnes of rosewood. A fourfold increase on the year before. And this is where all the rosewood ends up in the high class furniture emporiums of china. In january this year, we returned to gambia hoping to challenge those involved in the trade. But on the first day there, just hours after we made the first contact, this happened. We crossed the border into gambia last night, very late last night, around midnight, after a very long delay there. And now this morning, the immigration officials have called us to report back to the border. Whilst we have been trying to sort it out to go there, three of them have just arrived at the hotel, waiting for us outside. It soon became clear we were going to be escorted out of the country. A port official has gone past our vehicle, telling his colleagues that the immigration officers are here and have asked them to take us on the ferry across to leave the country. We are still on the ferry, making it across to the other side. 0ur driver has just been told by the two senior ranking immigration officers they are under orders to take us across and then they will hand us over to the other gambian immigration officers to make sure we go across the border into senegal. Although we had a call from the minister of information saying we were free to return to the gambia, we were only given our passports back after we had been stamped out of the country. In the past six years, the gambia has exported over the equivalent of1 million rosewood trees to china. The total value of this trade is estimated to be almost 300 million. By value and by volume, rosewood is the most trafficked wild product in the world. In gambia, the International Protection of this endangered species has proved meaningless. This truckload of rosewood logs was filmed snaking through banjul traffic in february. The timber traders call rosewood the ivory of the forest and the stockpiling of its wood continues remorselessly. Soon, it may all be gone. Hello. Yes, our weather is turning warmer this weekend. But of course we follow the rules, stay at home, and we improvise. And whatever your view on the weather outside, itll be sunnier by sunday, and out there, itll be warmer. Itll also be windier, as well, with pollen levels heading up. The big picture shows High Pressure to the east of us, low pressure approaching from atlantic, and that ahead of it will strengthen the southerly flow. Of course, thats a warm direction. So it will be a warm wind on sunday, lifting temperatures in the sunnier parts of Eastern England to around 20, maybe 21 celsius. That said, though, there will be a touch of frost in places as saturday begins, cooler than this in the countryside, so some spots close to freezing. Therell be a few mist and fog patches out there, perhaps more especially towards the midlands and southern england. Some rain in northern scotland will set on across the northern isles, still the odd shower in scotland and northern england, from what will be a good deal of cloud, a few bright and sunny spells. Elsewhere in england and wales, there will be increasing sunshine as we go through the day. While all parts are going to be milder, it is particularly across england and wales where we will notice those temperatures into the mid teens. But also a freshening southerly wind, a sign of things to come as we get deeper into the weekend. 0vernight and into sunday morning, although there is plenty of cloud around, enough of the wind to stop the temperature going down too fast. So we are frost free as sunday begins, and sunday will deliver plenty of sunshine. And whilst most places will hold onto that sunshine, the further west you are, youll see it clouding over. And we may well start to get a bit of rain later in the day, northern ireland, parts of western scotland, the far west of england and wales. Some uncertainty about the timing of the arrival of any rain from the area of low pressure i showed you earlier. What is certain, though, is the winds will pick up more on sunday, gusts across Western Areas later in the day, near 50 mph. But it will be warmer across all parts, and particularly in that sunshine across some eastern parts of england, we could see around 21 celsius. But pollen levels will be higher, and particularly in england and wales. Now, into next week, well, sunday night into monday, we will see from that area of low pressure a band of rain spread east across the uk. Behind that, as it clears on monday, sunshine returns. Itll be cooler, before temperatures head up again as the week goes on. This is bbc news. Im simon pusey with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. China comes to a standstill to commemorate the thousands of coranavirus victims. One of the Worlds Largest hospitals opens in london to treat 4,000 coronavirus patients and theres a stern warning for people in britain to stay indoors this weekend. This advice is not a request. It is an instruction. Stay at home, protect lives, and then you will be doing your part. As the us suffers its worst daily death toll from coronavirus Americas Health watchdog says people should wear face masks when they go out but the president doesnt seem to agree