this is bbc news. the headlines at noon: fed up with the brexit deadlock — senior conservatives call for unity, after the party suffers its worst results in english local elections for nearly 25 years. we need to be listening to these results from these local elections, which, as i say, are about deliver brexit, but it wasn't deliver this particular form of brexit. cyclone fani causes destruction in india and bangladesh, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 125 mph. here, rail passengers face disruption to theirjourneys this weekend, as bank holiday engineering work gets underway. thailand's new king is crowned at bangkok's grand palace, marking his official accession to the throne. and at 12:30, coming up on click: the future of 56 technology and how

it might benefit uk farms. senior cabinet ministers have urged the conservative party to unite after it suffered its worst english local election results for 25 years. more than 1,300 tory councillors lost their seats in thursday's vote — prompting further calls for theresa may to step down as prime minister. the labour party also suffered losses, but there were big gains for the lib dems, the greens and many independents. 0ur political correspondent, nick eardley, gave us his assessment of the election losses for the conservatives. the scale of the conservative losses was considerably more than many thought. we had heard predictions up to a 1000, it went considerably beyond that to 1300, and i think they are bruised this morning.

they are desperate to try and find something that avoids another kicking in the european elections which happen injust three weeks‘ time. the big question for the conservatives is how they find a solution to the brexit impasse. that is what they are blaming for this result, this is what the prime minister said yesterday, and also the labour leadership seems to agree that people are punishing the conservatives and the labour party for failing to deliver on brexit. talks between the two to try to find some solution will continue next week, and this morning we heard from the health secretary about what he thinks needs to happen. i think the prime minister's deal is a better arrangement than a permanent customs union, but i think we need to be in the mood for compromise. we need to be listening to these results from these local

elections, which as i say are about delivering brexit, but not about delivering this particular form of brexit — there was no door that i knocked on where the person opened and said, i would like a slight change to paragraph five of the agreement in this particular way. that is not the mood of the nation. it is get on, deliver brexit and then move on. the mood of the labour party, they might have expected to have a good night. that last time the seats were fought was in 2015. not as good as a result as they were expecting. there were many in the labour party who thought they would be fairly substantial gains, some predicting up to 400, quite the opposite, the party suffered a net loss which at this stage of the conservative government, nine years in, a fairly unpopular government at the moment, the labour party would be expecting to do far better.

again there are many on the labour benches, though not all, who are saying that is a result of the fudge the party has been pursuing on brexit. the fact that they do not have a clear enough policy, many believe, to take to voters. we have heard some saying that now they need to get on with it and come to an agreement with the government so that this can get over the line. some in northern seats are saying that for the party to regain trust it needs to be seen to be delivering brexit — the wigan mp this morning saying not delivering it would be the ultimate betrayal. 0n the other side there are many mps, my phone has been buzzing this morning, who are saying the opposite. that if you look at where the gains came from for the liberal democrats, the green party, two parties that want another referendum, staying in the european union, they argue that is where labour can do well.

this is what the lib dem leader had to say in his assessment this morning. what had happened is that we had had a couple of bad general elections, 2015, 2017, people had written us off prematurely. i think they have now been proved wrong and we are clearly a major force. we will in the coming european elections demonstrate that again. we are very clearly the leading remain party, and we expect to do well on the basis of that. so i expect the base of a where the parties go in the next few days will continue, but it does feel like in the leaderships of both the conservative and labour party there is a feeling that there is an impetus to get on with these talks and try and deliver something. —— the debate will continue. how many times have we said there might be an impetus, but solutions

are much harder to find? still there seem to be labour and conservatives inching towards some kind of agreement if they can get it, or at least the talks of kept going over a number of weeks. but presumably any agreement will meet the problem of theresa may's agreement, not enough votes available to get it through. the big issue is customs. the customs relationship we have with the european union after we leave. labour want a closer relationship, it seems like the conservatives are prepared to move some way towards that if not completely. the question that that then poses for the two parties is, what does it do to party discipline? if the prime minister moves closely towards labour's petition, it will infuriate some tories who just will refuse to get on board with anything that looks like a customs union. likewise on the labour side, if the leadership was to agree to a deal that did not include another referendum, there would be fury from one wing of the labour party, so there are huge party management issues,

even if the government and the labour party leadership can come to some sort of compromise, getting it through their parties will not be easy. there are some who predict that even if they did reach that agreement, it might not get through parliament. there is a long way to go. meanwhile, counting continues for local elections in northern ireland where a62 seats are being contested in 11 council areas. results so far have been similar to those in england with smaller parties making gains. 0ur correspondentjohn campbell is in belfast. there is not a direct lead across, because the uk parties do not contest elections generally speaking in northern ireland, but some interesting detail, and particularly developments on dissident republicans. bearing in mind the

killing of lyra mckee last month. just within the last hour or so, councillor gary donnelly, an independent republican, has retained his seat on derry city council. he topped the poll in his area as he did last time out. he is a republican who has previously been a spokesperson in militant republican and militant group, and he actually represents the area in which the journalist lyra mckee was shot dead just a few weeks ago. i should also make it clear that gary donnelly is not and anyway affiliated to the new rra, and after lyra mckee‘s killing he called on them to desist. it does show that there are still some places in northern ireland weather is support for militant republicanism which takes a different line from sinn fein. —— the new ira. it is just that one

councillor in derry, but gary donnelly has retained his seat and topped the poll in the area in which he stood. i suppose that is a useful reminder of the wider political context beyond the talks in the parties that will be meeting again after the selection to restore power sharing. the political picture is not a straightforward as saying there were groups who wanted a republican future and that all went away once the troubles ended. yes, exactly. there is a little bit more complication, but as i said, he is only one councillor. it is just in one area. sinn fein represents the vast bulk of republicans. 0nce one area. sinn fein represents the vast bulk of republicans. once the counting is done, sinn fein will still be the largest national party, the dup will still be the largest unionist party. the really interesting story here of the last couple of days has been the performance of the alliance party. there is explicitly cross community, it does not identify as either

nationalist or unionist, and we have seen nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real surge nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real surge in support. particularly in greater belfast, but even more importantly for that party it is picking up seats in areas where it has not had representation in years. it is also going to have a seat on derry city council, and allies is not how they see their own almost a0 years. middle ground parties are doing well, green party also doing well, socialist party also doing well, socialist party also picking up seats in belfast and derry. particularly in belfast city council, it will be a more pluralist council with a broader range of parties that it has had in the recent past. thailand's king maha vajiralongkorn has been crowned in an elaborate ceremony to mark his ascendancy to the throne. today is the first of three days of coronation rites for the king who inherited the throne in 2016 when his father died.

this is the scene live now in bangkok, where those ceremonies are continuing. we have also already had the purification ritual where the king was prepared for becoming what is in effect a living daughter in the view of those who believe in the system of those who believe in the system of government in thailand. —— a living god. 0ur correspondent laura bicker is in bangkok. thailand has strict laws, which ban criticism of the monarchy. there is some wonderful detail, i was looking at some of it oddly reports, the eight sided card wooden throne, the 90 ad umbrella, which signifies full kingship. not to speak of the royal fan, the signifies full kingship. not to speak of the royalfan, the royal flyway sky at the royal slippers. you can send these things up as an outsider, but they really matter. these ceremonies do, this is one of the most powerful monarchies in the world. this enacts his plays and

cements his place as the head of this pie dynasty. when it comes to those ceremonies that you just talked about, it began with a bathing and ointment. bathing came from five thai rivers, and the an ointment, where he was anointed in jugs ointment, where he was anointed in jugs of water, as at what i came from 107 sources. add one source within the palace, a sacred pool within the palace, a sacred pool within the palace itself. those were some of the most important ceremonies, and you mentioned the 90 had parasol. ceremonies, and you mentioned the 90 had pa rasol. under that ceremonies, and you mentioned the 90 had parasol. under that he was crowned with this elaborate crown which weighs 7.3 kilograms, so quite a hefty round to put on your head. there have been further ceremonies where he has gone to the temple of the emerald brooder, one of the most sacred temples in thailand where he

was officially appointed as the royal patron of the buddhist faith. 95% of thais are buddhas, so it is important for him to be seen to be doing this. these ceremonies will be viewed by thais carefully, because his father was much loved and much revered. i have heard from thais you have said that they spoke of him like a knuckle. he was seen as someone like a knuckle. he was seen as someone that they could love. this king has been slightly more remote. —— spoke of him like an encore. he is very close to the military, a military which has overthrown to thai governments in 13 years. he has also run his palace differently, the bureaucracy and the finances. there are big differences between him and his father. however they will watch the ceremonies over the next three days that he comes from a long line

ofa days that he comes from a long line of a tie dynasty. i suppose this is one of those public events, particularly given the scale, that has the potential to unite thais in celebration of their heritage and the future representative by the king. but what about the underlying tensions in thailand? are there any signs that he can have a positive role to play to improve the very fractures politics? that will be an interesting role for him to play if thatis interesting role for him to play if that is one he intends to do. it must be mentioned that their stage that i am in limited in what i can say due to the laws in thailand, but certainly when it comes to the number of people wearing yellow, which is the colour of monday in thailand, that is the day that the king was born. it is also the colour of the sun which represents the monarch in the kosmos. many people have been wearing this yellow, the city is bedecked in yellow and gold

in preparation. tomorrow there will bea in preparation. tomorrow there will be a procession through bangkok where the king will visit three sacred temples. that will be an indication of the kind of crowds that turned out, thousands for his father after his father died, so it will be interesting to see the kind of support he can garner on the streets of bangkok in what i have to say is very high—temperature is indeed. thank you for dealing with those sweltering conditions to report on that. palestinian militants in gaza have launched dozens of rockets into neighbouring southern israel. the israeli military say more than 90 missiles were fired, and that it has been hitting back — targeting positions of the hamas organisation in gaza. the gaza health ministry say a 22—year—old palestinian man has been killed by the latest israeli strikes. the exchanges follows a heightening of tension in the area after fighting broke out along the border on friday. 0ur middle east correspondent

tom batemanjoins us now live from jerusalem. tom, there is ongoing protest about the israeli occupation. what is different about these protests, because even the last couple of days they have turned very violent. -- in they have turned very violent. -- in the last. they have been weekly protests at the gaza perimeter fence, largely on friday, ever since last summer. they have seen the deaths of 200 palestinians with israeli troops guarding that perimeterfence. israeli troops guarding that perimeter fence. they say that is necessary to guard and prevent a violent breach of what they see is militants on the other side who could harm israeli civilians. as for the palestinians, they say they want an easing of the blockade that has been imposed by israel. also supported by egypt. israel says it is noted for security to stop

weapons entering the strip. that has been the context. what we had on friday afternoon was a palestinian gunman who shot at two israeli soldiers, they were wounded. in response to that, the israelis struck at a high mass observation post and two militants were killed. a further two play stadiums where killed in the process by israeli troops. a heightening of the tension because of those casualties on both sides, and as the funerals took place in the gaza strip of two of those militants, there was a barrage of rocket fire from the gaza strip into israel, triggering alarms across towns and cities in southern israel. the israeli military says the majority of those or dozens where shot down, but certainly at least one house was hit in the city of ashkelon and damage there, but no reports of injuries. the israeli military carried out tank and air strikes in the gaza strip, killed at least one man as you mention, a

22—year—old. 0thers injured, at least one home, pictures of a home very badly damaged as well in that. we have seen a ratcheting up of these tensions despite an effort to try and broker a longer—term truce between the two sides. what about rocket attacks? this is a persistent feature of the way how mass strikes back against israel. but they rarely do more than damage property. —— hamas strike back against israel. they also cause injuries and death. in one of the escalations last year, there was a fatality of a palestinian person and southern israel because of the rocket strikes. we have seen much longer range rocket strikes that have taken place are usually into israel earlier this year. a house was struck north of tel aviv, and a family of seven people were injured.

they rushed to a shelter and by that. it was a lucky escape for those people. it created another of these military escalations. it brings you to one of the fundamentals here. between israel and hamas in the gaza strip, what you have is to completely competing perspectives and narratives of the situation. as far as far as israel is concerned, hamas is a terrorist organisation that wants to wipe out the existence of its state and harm and kill its civilians. it says it is simply defender gets. inside the gaza strip, conditions are dire, people are jobless, there gaza strip, conditions are dire, people arejobless, there is terrible poverty. endemic problems, disease, health problems. the blockade that is put in place by both israel and egypt, they say for security reasons, is one very significant part of that. you have a dynamic where the two sides, israel

says it was calm on the boundary, the military leadership of hamas in gaza says it wants an easing of that blockade at the very least. that is where we have had some attempts at negotiation, but there are political pressures from more hawkish elements on both sides that call for an escalation to try and bring things toa escalation to try and bring things to a head. the efforts at least by the un and egyptian staff are happy to try and prevent that sort of flare—up from turning into an all—out conflict. the headlines on bbc news: senior conservatives call for the party to pull together after it suffers its worst results in english local elections for almost 25 years. there's further calls for theresa may to step down as prime minister. cyclone fani hits bangladesh after leaving a trail of destruction in india. more than 1.5 million people are evacuated. train passengers warned to expect disruption, as network rail carries out engineering work.

parts of the west coast main line will be closed, as will london euston station. cyclone fani, which battered parts of the eastern indian coastline, has significantly weakened as it moves north towards bangladesh. the storm has been downgraded by the indian meteorological department as it moves inland, but a storm surge still breached embankments to submerge dozens of villages on bangladesh's low—lying coast. the cyclone had been one of the strongest to hit india in years, killing at least 12 people. richard forrest sent us this report. as cyclone fani barrelled up india's east coast, towns and cities further north were preparing for it to hit. in west bengal, trains were chained to the tracks as the state's rail network was closed down, causing travel misery for thousands. and at kolkata's airport, everyone hoping to travel was out of luck with every flight cancelled.

i'm going to ranchi. so now our flight has been cancelled so we have to stay here with two children. i need to go to delhi and start my preparations for my exams but i'm not able to catch flight today and even i'm not able to book flight for tomorrow, day after tomorrow and 3—4 days ahead. fani, one of the biggest storms to come out of the bay of bengal in the past decade, made landfall in puri before heading north—east towards kolkata and moving on to bangladesh. more than a million people were evacuated from the low—lying coastal areas. and this is why. winds of 125mph have ripped down trees and torn roofs of buildings. electricity poles have been toppled and windows blown out. weather forecasters say fani is weakening but still poses a major threat as it heads to bangladesh.

officials in india say their mass evacuation efforts appear to have been successful and now their attention will turn to assessing the true scale of the damage in rural areas. richard forrest, bbc news. well, as we have been explaining, the storm is moving north—eastwards into bangladesh, from the place where it made landfall at puri, a small town on india's east coast. earlier i spoke to our correspondent yogita limaye in bangladesh. she told me more about the damage caused by the storm. was it had weakened. the indian meterological department said it had weakened, gone from being a cyclonic storm to a deep depression, which essentially means wind speeds reduced significantly and also there was not as much rainfall. this is the place where it entered bangladesh from. we are very close to the border with india, very close to the state of west bengal where it passed through before coming here.

there were gusty winds and heavy rainfall, but significantly reduced wind speed, so while we have been driving here, we have not seen any evidence of their being any large—scale devastation, the kind that we have seen in the indian state. what we know is that this country's meteorological department is saying that the worst seems to be over, it is now going from a deep depression to a depression, which would mean rainfall as it moves further north. all of the areas that it was meant to pass through and is passing through, densely populated areas, there was a big fear that they would be damaged here as well. hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated and put in cyclone shelters. bangladesh also has a big coastline. there were also fears of storm surges, which means waves higher than they normally are were expected along the coastline. we know that some areas by the coast, there seems to have

been destruction but not something of a mass scale. as far as this country is concerned, bangladesh, i think the worst fears have not materialised. what about the prospects of the clean—up operation? will this be extensive? here in bangladesh, so far we do not know, no official has said anything about a mass level of destruction. people have been moved to shelters, the government will have to decide when it is safe for them to go back. they have also told fishermen not to go out to sea. the alert is still definitely very much there, because the storm in its weakened form does remain in this country. there is still an alert in many districts, but at some stage i suspect the government will have an assessment of when they can call off that high alert and when people can get back to life as normal.

rail passengers are being warned to expect disruption to theirjourneys this weekend, as bank holiday engineering work gets under way. one of the uk's busiest routes, the west coast mainline, will be closed between london euston and milton keynes. there's also a reduced service for east midlands trains services into london st pancras. passengers are being asked to check theirjourneys before setting off and use alternative routes. 0ur correspondent leigh milner has been at euston station, which is shut all weekend. 0ver over the weekend, some stations including euston will be closed because hundreds of engineering works are taking place. they are happening because fewer passengers a p pa re ntly happening because fewer passengers apparently travel during the bank holiday weekend. let me just remind you of some of the lies which will be affected. the west coast mainline, where some stations

including euston will be closed. some stations between london and glasgow, elsewhere engineering works well affect south—western railway, trains from london, waterloo to clapham junction and barnes. there is also disruption on the thameslink services to and from london st pancras international. if you are travelling from essex, which i am, buses will be replacing some of the trains between shinfield and southend victoria. network rail says other operators including virgin trains and london northwest railway will also be affected in preparation for the hs two. lots going on. the obvious advice i have been given, check before you travel. a passenger plane with more than 100 people on board has slipped off the runway into a river, next to jacksonville airport in florida. the local mayor says that everyone on board the boeing 737 is "alive and accounted for", and that the plane was not submerged. boeing say they're "aware

of the incident" and are gathering information. police are stepping up security at mosques across the uk, in response to fears that they could be targeted during ramadan, which begins this weekend. there's been concern over safety among some in the muslim community, following the new zealand and sri lanka attacks. for mosques across the country, the focus on this year's ramadan is on worshippers' safety as well as spirituality. for mosques like this and others across the country, ramadan is one of the most important and busiest times of the year. thousands of worshippers gather for special prayers every single night during the month of fasting. in the mosque kitchen, this mum says following recent attacks on places of worship, some in her community in east london are really worried. people are scared, you know, they are afraid to come to the mosque of

the kids are afraid. and it's the areas where mostly women and children pray that have now been identified in safety assessments as needing extra security. mosque leaders say they have a duty to protect their congregation. the world for us changed after christchurch and the reality kicked in that it happened there, it could most certainly happen here and we have to be prepared for it. we completely understand why people feel the way they do. i'm here to reassure them we have no information or intelligence to suggest anybody at the uk is in specific risk and i want to make sure they feel safe and supported the uk policing in their worship. _by —— by uk policing. nevertheless, extra layers of security will remain in place through our the islamic holy month with a message to remain alert not alarmed.

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. more than 50,000 tickets have been sold for today's women's fa cup final between manchester city and west ham. city are looking to win their second cup competition this year against a team who are chasing afairy year against a team who are chasing a fairy tale ending to their remarkable season. jo corrie has more. west ham were playing any 30 year of women's football, but after heavy investment from the club they recruited a new squad of professional players are were awarded a spot in the super league and now i just awarded a spot in the super league and now ijust 90 minutes away from and now ijust 90 minutes away from a first major trophy. the main aim when we first come in just to survive in the league and to stay in ad, and we did that by christmas. i remember talking to a girl and say, we can have a good cup run. it will bea we can have a good cup run. it will be a fantastic story regardless of what happens, if we win or lose, whatever. i am what happens, if we win or lose, whatever. iam proud what happens, if we win or lose, whatever. i am proud to be a west

ham player. standing