this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at two... former conservative party leader iain duncan smith says the prime minister must say she will go "very soon" after the party suffered heavy losses in the english local elections. police say the leak of information from the national security council about chinese tech giant huawei didn't breach the official secrets act and so isn't a criminal offence. cyclone fani causes destruction in india and bangladesh, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 125mph. thailand's new king is crowned at bangkok's grand palace, marking his official accession to the throne. here, rail passengers face disruption to theirjourneys this weekend, as bank holiday engineering

work gets under way. and in half an hour, we'll look at the impact our warming world is having on the earth around us in our special weather world programme. good afternoon. in the last hour, the former tory leader iain duncan smith has said the prime minister must say she is standing down "very soon" after the party suffered heavy losses in the english local elections. speaking to the radio station lbc, he referred to theresa may as a "caretaker pm". well, his intervention followed earlier calls from senior conservatives for unity after yesterday's disastrous showing at the polls.

more than 1,300 conservative councillors lost their seats. labour failed to make the gains it had hoped for. the health secretary, matt hancock, said his party needed to listen to voters and compromise, so that brexit could be delivered. our political correspondent, nick eardley reports. urgently seeking inspiration, tories mulling over devastating local election results, trying to find a way to solve the party's troubles. these members are in scotland, there were not any local elections here this week, but many agree failing to deliver brexit was behind the election drubbing. ruth davidson says it's now time to sort out differences and get a compromise deal done. i say to the negotiating teams of our party and labour, who are currently locked in talks, get brexit sorted, get a deal over the line and let britain move on. some in government are worried about moving too close to the labour position,

but the health secretary was urging compromise. we need a mood for compromise, which often involves looking at the different positions of different groups and coming up with something in between. clearly, i've supported the prime minister's deal, which i think is better, but there are options in between. talks between the government and opposition will resume early next week. sources tell me there are still substantial differences but, after labour had a tough time at the polls, jeremy corbyn says there is impetus to get a deal done. but opinion in labour is split, with some pointing to losses in brexit—supporting areas and saying failure to deliver exit would be a breach of trust. we've got to leave because we had a referendum and asked people if they wanted to leave the eu, and by a small majority they said they did, and we said we would honour the result. but many labour mps argue the opposite, and say the party needs to back another referendum and ultimately stay in the eu.

they point to huge gains in the elections for the greens and the big winners, the liberal democrats. we are clearly the leading remain party and we expect to do well on that basis. these elections have posed big questions for a government struggling to deliver brexit. answering them will not necessarily be easy. nick eardley, bbc news. with me is our political correspondent, nick eardley. we are having a lot of interventions coming through. how damaging is this for theresa may? iain duncan smith is someone who has been critical of the prime minister and her approach. he is going further today saying that the extent of the losses for the conservative party in the local elections mean that the prime minister now needs to stand down.

she needs to set at departure date and it needs to be imminent. she is test —— he is not part of the camp that has been clamouring for her to go away the last few weeks, but the election has pushed him over the edgein election has pushed him over the edge in that sense. i spoke to him and hour ago edge in that sense. i spoke to him and hourago and edge in that sense. i spoke to him and hour ago and he has said she is and hour ago and he has said she is a caretaker. she is holding the role for someone else. she should stand down soon or be forced to do so by her party. we know it will not be easy for the party to do that, they have tried before. for a former conservative leader to come out and say that, it is damaging for the prime minister certainly. not at least after that extremely damaging results of the election. while many politicians have been talking about compromise and coming together, he is against it. yes, he is completely

against holding talks with the labour party. there are many within the party who are furious at the idea and warned that even if the prime minister could come up with some sort of compromise in the next few days or weeks, they would not sign it. if the government is moved to close to labour mac —— labour position, many will not it. that is why iain duncan smith says it is absurd for her to be doing that. many people this morning waking up to the picture on twitter with a certain milkshake in hand. tell us about this. gavin williamson is spending a lot of time on instagram and after he was sacked he posted this picture talking about the fact he was supposed to be going out to dinner with the americans, but

instead he was enjoying a mcdonald's. but you will remember that he was sacked over the prime minister's belief that he was behind a leak of official information, not documents. about huawei being involved in the 5g network planning. something he completely denies. after he was sacked, there were calls for opposition parties to investigate this. you have to sign in official secrets act to get much of the information, the met has come out today and said it does not believe that the leak amounts to a criminal defence. that they had spoken to the cabinet office about the material discussed, but were satisfied that the details did not contain information that breached the official secrets act. so the next says there is no crime and will

not go any further. despite how much he wants to take it further and he has said that he would, it is not going to happen. yes. the reason why he wants to take it further is because he says he is innocent and that an because he says he is innocent and thatan inquiry because he says he is innocent and that an inquiry would clear him. 0k, thank you very much. meanwhile, counting continues for local elections in northern ireland — where a62 seats are being contested in ii council areas. results so far, have been similar to those in england, with smaller parties making gains. you can see the dup there. the biggest gains were for the alliance party in yellow. they gained 17 seats. our correspondent, john campbell is in belfast. john, the surprises, really, do you think mainly focused for the

alliance party? yes, a search for the centre ground. it describes itself as a shared society party. it looks for votes right across the catholic and protestant communities. is doing very well, it is on course to double its share of the vote. this time it has expanded beyond its traditional base. we see some of the other cross community parties doing well. the green party doing well in belfast. several parties picking up seats. the final analysis is the dup will still dominate. sinn fein will still be the largest national party. none of the councils will actually change hands. we also saw a first.

anywhere else, it would not make the news, but it is a first for the dup party and the election of the first openly gay candidate. tell us about the significance of this. yes, he has been elected —— she has been elected in one of the councils. as you say, this would not be a story and many parts of the uk, but the dup has its routes in the conservative fundamentalist religion and is not always a part of —— party friendly to gay people, so the fact that she stood and won, is significant. some senior members are clearly uneasy about it. they fear it could be the start of a process which would lead the dup to and its opposition to gay marriage. gay marriage is still illegal in northern ireland and the reason for

thatis northern ireland and the reason for that is the dup is against it.|j suppose that is one of the subject that would be on the table next week, when those powershare talks resume. yes. the liberal -- the local councils are the only functioning government. sinn fein has made clear that that gay marriage will be one of the subjects which they want to see addressed. are these election results today going to influence on the talks, it may be. if either party had big swings in a direction, they might have said, listed we are fully backed by the electorate, but that has not happened. what we see is a surge towards the middle ground. so that might match the parties to its agreement, but i would not raise too

much help about that. think he. up to 12 people have been killed by cyclone fonny in the north—eastern indian state of odisha. officials say the loss of life could have been far worse — had they not evacuated more than one million people from their homes. cyclone fonny came ashore near the city of puri, in odisha yesterday. but as the storm continued across india and into bangladesh — its winds have calmed and its power has reduced significantly. angus crawford reports. the strongest cyclone to hit india in five years. wind and rain tore through the state of odisha. gusts hit more than 120 miles an hour, destroying homes and businesses... ..uprooting trees, cutting roads, destroying communications. this man says it doesn't matter what preparations we made, houses and shops, everything is destroyed.

but more than a million people were evacuated from the storm's path, kept safe in shelters. the numbers of deaths and injuries remain low. now, a time to assess the damage, clear and rebuild. workers start by unblocking the roads. an officer coordinating efforts says his teams are responding to reports wherever they come from. cyclone fani has decreased in strength and moved north. prompt action did save lives, but still it leaves mile after mile of low—lying areas flooded, crops, villages, livelihoods destroyed. angus crawford, bbc news. a passenger plane ended up in a river after landing in florida

during a storm and skidding off the runway. more than 130 people were on board the flight from guantanamo bay in cuba. the us authorities say it's a "miracle" that nobody was seriously injured. the time is 2:14pm. time for the headlines on bbc news. former conservative party leader iain duncan smith leads calls for the prime minister to step down after the party suffered heavy losses in the english local elections. the leak from the meeting of the national security council about huawei "did not amount to a criminal offence", uk police say. up to 12 people have been killed by cyclone fonny in the north—eastern india. —— cyclone fani. the storm hit with winds of up to 125 miles per hour, but officials say the loss of life could have been far worse. thailand's king maha vajiralongkorn has been crowned in a three—day

coronation ceremony. it comes at a time of political uncertainty for the country. a general election was held in march — the first since the army took control in a coup five years ago — but a new government has yet to be declared. this is a sight that few thais have ever seen, a new king purifying himself with consecrated waters as he prepared to ascend to the throne. maha vajiralongkorn, or king rama x, as he's known more formally, became king in 2016 after the death of his father, who'd reigned for 70 long years. but he's waited until now to be crowned over three days of elaborate buddhist and hindu ceremony. to many thais, the monarch is revered as an almost godlike figure, and some were on the streets, dressed in royal yellow, to see their king make the transition from the human

to the almost divine. and, for many, this was a rare glimpse of a sovereign who spends much time abroad and has appeared more remote than his much—loved late father. at 66 years old, he spent his life preparing for this moment, placing a crown weighing more than seven kilograms on his head, issuing his first royal command. translation: i shall reign with righteousness, for the benefit and happiness of the people forever. king vajiralongkorn has had a colourful and at times controversial life. today, his fourth wife, whom he married only this week, was formally recognised as his new queen. he is protected by severe laws prohibiting any criticism, but some thais hope that a crown prince who was seen by some as unpredictable will become a figure of stability for a country facing political uncertainty.

for the king has real political influence. what will matter is his relationship with the army, which took power in a coup in 2014, and what role he might play in the balance between military and civilian rule that emerges from recent elections. for this king will be more than just a spiritual leader. james landale, bbc news. our correspondent, laura bicker, watched the crowning in bangkok. these ceremonies do matter, this is one of the most powerful monarchies in the world, and this enacts his place, cements his place at the head of this thai dynasty. it comes to those ceremonies you just talked about, it began with both a bathing and an anointment. the bathing in those waters that came from five thai rivers, and the anointment where he was anointed in jugs of water which came from 107 sources across thailand.

one source within the palace itself. a sacred pool within the palace. those were some of the most important ceremonies, and you mentioned the nine—tiered parasol. underneath that he was crowned with this elaborate crown which weighs 7.3 kilograms. quite a hefty crown to put on your head. there have been further ceremonies where he has gone to the temple of the emerald buddha, one of the most sacred temples in thailand, where he has officially appointed as the royal patron of the buddhist faith. 95% of thais are buddhist, so it is important for him to be seen to be doing this. all of these ceremonies over these three days will be viewed by thais very carefully because his father was much loved and much revered. i have heard from thais who have said that they spoke of him like an uncle. he was seen as someone that they could love.

this king has been slightly more remote, a slightly different personality. he has spent a lot of time in munich with his 13—year—old son. he is also very close to the military, a military which has overthrown two thai governments in 13 years. he has also run his palace differently, the bureaucracy and the finances. big differences between him and his father. however, they will watch these ceremonies over the next few days and realise that he comes from a long line of a thai dynasty. that was laura bicker there. 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 was killed by the latest israeli strikes. the exchanges follow a heightening of tension in the area —

after fighting broke out along the border on friday. our middle east correspondent, tom bateman, is injerusalem. these have been weekly protests that have taken place at the gaza perimeterfence, largely on fridays, ever since last summer, which have seen the death of 200 palestinians with israeli troops guarding that perimeter fence, that they say is necessary to guard and prevent a violent reaction by what they see as militants on the other side who could harm israeli civilians. hamas say they want an easing of this. israel says it has no say for security reasons. that has been the context, at what we had on friday afternoon was a palestinian gunman who shot at two israeli soldiers, they were wounded, and in esponse to that the israelis struck at a hamas observation post, and two

militants were killed. palestinians were killed afterwards. a heightening of the tensions because of those casualties on both sides, and as the funerals took place in the gaza strip of two of those militants this morning, 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, dozens were shot down, but certainly at least one house was hit and damaged, but no reports of injuries. in response, the israeli military has carried out strikes in the gaza strip, killing at least one man, and others injured. at least one home, pictures of a home very badly damaged as well in that. we have seen a ratcheting up once again of these tensions

despite an effort to broker a longer—term truce between the two. police are stepping up security at mosques across the uk, in response to fears that they could be targetted 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. the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood has more. stepping up security at the mosque. extra volunteers at the gates. extra cctv cameras put in place. is everything all right? for mosques across the country, the focus on this year's ramadan is on worshippers' safety as well as spirituality. hello, little man. how are you? are you ok? 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. how is the security going to be at the mosque? are we going to be safe at the mosque? so, people feel it. 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.

if there is an attacked or incident, how do i help women with children... and this is how they are preparing, and nationwide security road show, giving training on how to guard againstan giving training on how to guard against an attack. we believe next week we will see another thousand. the message from the police is one of reassurance. the message from the police is one of reassurance . you the message from the police is one of reassurance. you can the message from the police is one of reassurance. you can understand why people feel the way they do. i am here to assure them and i want to make sure that they feel safe and supported by uk policing in their worship. i am not that apprehensive to come here. yes, the mosque take a lot of preparations to make sure we are saved, so i feel safe. when we all come together, we are more

strong. and it is a really peaceful atmosphere. nevertheless, extra layers of security will remain in place through our the islamic holy month with a message to remain alert not alarmed. a grandmother has been jailed for six years, after becoming the ‘second in command' of a drugs gang headed by her two sons. 51—year—old angela collingbourne, helped the group to sell nearly three million pounds of cocaine in newport. seven other members were also jailed for conspiracy to supply class a drugs. unless urgent action is taken, the rare and varied wildlife of madagascar could soon be lost forever. that's the warning from an international team of scientists. they're concerned at the ongoing loss of natural habitats in the region. our science correspondent, victoria gill, has been to see what's being done now, to help save the animal population.

a tropical sanctuary. home to wildlife that lives nowhere else on earth. but all this biodiversity, the life that thrives in this forest of madagascar is under threat. lemurs depend on primary old—growth forest like this. but across madagascar, 80% of the habitat has been cut down. the driver of that is agriculture. slash and burn. burning forests to produce a plot of fertile soil. but here there is a farming revolution going on. with the help of a malagasy charity, teenagers here are learning to grow food in a new and sustainable way. these lessons in weeding, pruning and maintaining the soil using compost and crop rotation to keep the same plot.

translation: it is difficult with the traditional farming techniques because you move from one field to another and cut and burn trees. with the new method you stay in one place and it is much easier. translation: if the forest continues to be destroyed there will be less water to drink and there will be a loss of habitat for the wildlife. lemurs will disappear or die out. today, the community is celebrating the newest group of recruits who will sign up to learn these new skills. and a training scheme will soon be brought to other villages in the region because as well as protecting the forest, this way of farming is producing higher yields. critical in a community that relies entirely on what people can grow. the future of the forest depends on these young people. if the forest is lost, many things will be lost such as soil fertility and there will be no more potable water to drink and the air will become not

clean for the population. generations have farmed here. but with so little of its forest remaining, conservationist say the country is now on an environmental precipice. so while they are building their future in one of the world's poorest countries, this generation holds the survival of madagascar‘s unique biodiversity in their hands. now it's time for a look at the weather. we can cross the newsroom to ben rich. it is the bank holiday and it is freezing! yes, it feels like we have gone to a traditional bank holiday it seems like we've gone back to something like winter. some really

cold weather for some of us. and heavy showers. this is the radar picture. you can see them heading into eastern parts of england, some with hail and thunder. in some parts of scotla nd with hail and thunder. in some parts of scotland there is snow on the high ground. it will be windy for the east coast. ate over 9 degrees. it will feel very chilly. —— eight mac or 9 degrees. this evening and tonight, it should fade away and we will have clear skies and with colder air, some of us will have a touch of frost. a bit more cloud. the cloud will head towards the south. further south, the cloud will head towards the south. furthersouth, not as the cloud will head towards the south. further south, not as many showers as today. the temperatures are not in great shape for this time of year.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: senior conservatives have called for the party to pull together after it suffered its worst results in english local elections for almost 25 years. the party lost over a thousand councillors. labour also suffered key losses. police say the leak of information from the national security council about chinese tech giant huawei "did not contain information that would breach the official secrets act" and "did not amount to a criminal offence".