this is bbc news. the headlines at seven. former defence secretary gavin williamson claims he's a victim of a ‘witch hunt‘ after police say they won't investigate a leak from the national security council about huawei. former conservative party leader, iain duncan smith, says the prime minister must go now or be forced out — after the party suffers heavy losses in the english local elections. cyclone fani causes destruction in india and bangladesh — bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 125 miles per hour. the women's fa cup final in under way at wembley —

as manchester city take on west ham, with no goals scored yet. in half an hour on sportsday we'll bring you updates on the game, as well as the latest on celtic‘s win against aberdeen. former defence secretary gavin williamson has described an investigation into the national security council leak as a "shabby and discredited witch hunt" — and called for a "proper, full and impartial" assessment of the investigation. it comes after the met police said the leak, about the chinese tech giant huawei, did not amount to a criminal offence. mr williamson was sacked after the prime minister said she had evidence to suggest he was the source of the leak — which is something he denies. so gavin williamson calling for a

full impartial investigation. realistically how could that happen if at all? he has come out fighting this evening with this talk of this being a shabby witchhunt against him. the police have said that they do not believe that the leak was a breach of the official secrets act or amounts to misconduct. with the police are not saying is who actually did this. who is responsible for it. gavin williamson maintains that he wanted a full police investigation because he felt that would clear his name. now he is calling for an independent investigation, but what you have to consider is he has been already investigated by the chief civil servant, the chief civil servant that found he did have a case to a nswer that found he did have a case to answer the prime minister and saying he was behind that leak which he said he denied. the police do not wa nt to said he denied. the police do not want to get involved in believe it's a police matter. where could this go next? the independent investigation could have two paths he could follow which would be unfair dismissal

against the prime minister or large sum judicial review into the metropolitan police decision to take this no further. people in the labour party saying this does breach the official secrets act. can that decision saying it does not, can that be challenged ? decision saying it does not, can that be challenged? and have the police given any reasons for that statement? we had a statement saying that they had spoken to the cabinet office and from the cabinet office they had been given details of what had been discussed at this national security council meeting. they also said they looked at what had been lea ked said they looked at what had been leaked and that it did not breach the secrets act. at the did not give any explanation why. it was simply as far as they were concerned closed and not investigating any further. i think that's what's been casting some doubt. we don't have any clear explanation of how they have come to this decision. perhaps elected to

give too much detail because that might reveal what was discussed and the threshold to meet these requirements. the actual decision on huawei itself which is a big topic of controversy, are we any closer to finding out with the government decision is? all we have is this lea ked decision is? all we have is this leaked information i have not had any confirmation. the leak suggested that the government was going to allow huawei to take apart in development of 5g network and controversial due to concerns over national security and allowing this firm to play a role in it. they have said there's nothing for britain to be worried about in terms of this but in terms of what we know we are simply talking about lea ks but in terms of what we know we are simply talking about leaks in the government and the details of that. the former tory leader iain duncan smith has said the prime minister must say she will resign "very speaking to the radio station lbc, he referred to theresa may as a "caretaker pm".

heavy losses. the leader of this, conservatives said they are getting closer to a break the deal and an agreement can be reached within days. urgently seeking a solution. 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 elections here this week but many agree failing to deliver brexit is behind the election drubbing. this former leader has had enough. he believes theresa may has lost her authority and has to go now. we have in a sense a kind of caretaker prime minister at the moment, you could argue a caretaker leader of the labour party but a caretaker prime minister and therefore, i think making fundamental decisions about where we go with this would be a big mistake. the conservatives always knew that

voters were likely to give them a bloody nose this week, but the extent, losing 1300 councillors, was worse than they feared. because of that, some are saying their patience has run out. it is not the first time we have heard senior tories calling for theresa may to go. in the past, she has simply ignored their calls but it is another reminder that many in the conservative party think theresa may simply can't deliver. others, though, say there should be compromise with labour to make sure brexit is delivered. i think we do need a mood for compromise but compromise often involves looking at the different positions of different groups and coming up with something in between. clearly, i have 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, too, jeremy corbyn says there is impetus to get a deal done. but opinion in labour is split. some point to losses in brexit supporting areas and say failing to deliver would a breach of trust. i think we have got to leave because we had a referendum, we 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 are arguing the exact opposite. the party needs to back another referendum and ultimately, staying in the eu. they point to huge gains at the local elections for the greens and the big winners, the liberal democrats. i think there were some local factors but there is no doubt the big nationalfactor was the issue of brexit. the liberal democrats have been against brexit and campaigning against it, campaigning for a final say for the british people for the last nearly three years. i think people have heard that now from the liberal democrats, that we are the stop brexit party. these elections have caused a big questions for a government struggling to deliver brexit. answering them won't necessarily be easy. just to bring you a little bit of breaking news here.

with me now is our political correspondent chris mason. first of all on these comments not a surprise to hear him say this because he has been part of a faction within the conservatives who are responsible for pushing the prime minister very hard. how much weight do they take and give? was striking is there was an expectation on either side of the european parliament elections. that there would have been another clamourfor conservatives to dig a bit of a hit around the leadership question. it has happened sooner because of the scale of the losses that the sea and at the conservatives no longer have it. we know with the views are on break that ultimately he is nervous that if there is a deal between labour and the conservatives there will be a brexit he does not recognise. to the use the vernacular a soft departure that he would be

co mforta ble a soft departure that he would be comfortable with. he sang what he is saying about theresa may and knows what it's like to be a conservative leader under pressure. we have backbenchers that want rid of the occupier of thatjob backbenchers that want rid of the occupier of that job that backbenchers that want rid of the occupier of thatjob that have previously done it himself. the prime minister has weathered some political storms that this in that context was perhaps a bit of light rain but clearly she could do without it and if there is further talk as is likely looking about trying to find a mechanism to get rid of her that obviously heightens the pressure on her to other name a date or to do something that uses that pressure. just looking at the mechanism to get rid of her one of the options there? obviously to bring the deadline forward to the next current date. the current problem is that the obvious mechanism to do it was that vote of confidence that took place before christmas and she won. the rules set out the few vote of confidence you

are out the few vote of confidence you a re protected by out the few vote of confidence you are protected by being ousted by that mechanism for 12 months. to those who want rid of her have two options. rewrite the rules and some would like to see that happen and others make the argument thatjust is not fair because you are changing the rules during the game. the other thing that could push her out is either there were very senior figures the party that went and said your time is figures the party that went and said yourtime is up figures the party that went and said your time is up or if a huge delegation of cabinet ministers did as much. another of those things have happened yet, are either impossible? no. but if you wonder if there is a great desire for all of that to happen before the prime minister is exhausting every option to secure some sort of break the deal. those in the right of the party might want to do that sooner if they think she's going to come to a deal withjeremy corbyn and there's been speculation as to whether there were edging closer to talking about that publicly today.

back at work after maternity leave and making that argument. where are we? they are still going on and will resume again after the bank holiday. detailed and serious looking at real granular detail. but the big thing that was always surrounding these talks from the very outset is the barrier to entry from other side to doa barrier to entry from other side to do a deal. of the prime minister does a deal she loses on a customs union and loses cabinet ministers and people likely to walk in a goat number of mps want to vote for it. if labour do number of mps want to vote for it. if labourdoa number of mps want to vote for it. if labour do a deal that will have to compromise away the idea of another referendum and the huge number of mps don't like that either. if this flirtation is going to be consummated than it is going to be consummated than it is going to require a big give on both sides and fundamentallyjeremy to require a big give on both sides and fundamentally jeremy corbyn would have to decide that he would be willing to bailout conservative prime minister and a wonder in the

end when he looks in the mirror if that's something he will want to do. an interesting given their gains in local elections but chris will come back to this. the cross community alliance party has made significant gains in northern ireland's local government election. the dup and sinn fein remain the largest parties, each taking around 25% of first preference votes. however alliance sharply increased their share of the vote to almost i2%. other cross community parties, such as the greens, also made gains. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week. joining me from our belfast newsroom is our correspondentjohn campbell. just tell us a bit more about what these results tell us and where they ta ke these results tell us and where they take us in terms of trying to get this back up and running. there's no surprise that they are still the two largest parties. the dup the biggest

unionist party and sinn fein the biggest nationalist party. the big story was that surged by the alliance party. that cross party was drawing support from catholics and protesta nts a nd drawing support from catholics and protestants and mainly has it support in greater belfast and middle—class areas. they push their appealfar beyond middle—class areas. they push their appeal far beyond that this election. they set the council for the first time in a0 years. the leader of that party says what this indicates is that many voters in northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problemslj northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. i think that people want to see politics that people want to see politics that delivers. they are not interested in the kind of tribal politics of the past in terms of unionism and nationalism. they want politics to put people first and that's what we have been offering. northern ireland is full of problems with her is the chaos around brexit or whatever and what they've been

doing is offering solutions and that's what people want to see from their politicians and that's what we have given them. we have also had an interesting new member of the dup elected. for the first time in openly gay counsellor has been elected for dup. allison bennington elected for dup. allison bennington elected to the greater belfast council. what she was saying in her interview is that she thinks when you take everything together including that result it suggested may have been a progressive turn in northern ireland at this election. voters knew that allison was an openly gay woman and i was not a problem for them. she was elected and it may be a problem for some people within the dup because they have their roots in a very conservative evangelical religion and we heard from some veteran figures in the party were clearly uncomfortable with allison and they suggested that what it might mean is

that dup might be preparing to soften their opposition to gay marriage. and dup denies that and say they were not opposed to gay marriage. for some people they may be testing the water on this policy. thank you very much indeed. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are anne ashworth, associate editor of the times, and john rentoul, chief political commentator for the independent. a 17—year—old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenage girl in wiltshire. the victim — who's not been named — died at a property in calne yesterday afternoon. police say they will have a "significa nt presence" in the town over the weekend as inquiries continue. israel says it has responded with air strikes after palestinian militants fired around 200 rockets, injuring two israelis. the gazan health ministry says a mother and her baby are among three people who've been killed

in the exchange of fire today. israel has closed a number of border crossings in response to the rockets. our correspondentjon donnison is here. how worrying is this current there is this is probably the most serious escalation on the boundary in the last few months. it is always difficult to say how it started and to pinpoint the moment because both sides will say there were responding and they were going back decades of not longer. yesterday we have these protests on the boundary which have been happening every week and now for several months and she israeli soldiers injured when palestinian militants up and fired and it's really is responding with tank fire and militants killed. two israeli civilians killed. this morning a

significant escalation no more than 200 rockets fired out of gaza and a number of israelis injured on that side and israel responded with military force. that's led to the news that a pregnant woman has died as well as a one—year—old baby. where are we in any longer—term attem pts where are we in any longer—term atte m pts to where are we in any longer—term attempts to a cease—fire here? where are we in any longer—term attempts to a cease-fire here? these escalations come and go. but there are some constants. one of them as basically no prospect really of a peace deal between the israelis and the palestinians and what has been one of the most retractable conflicts. we have the americans here the next few months putting forward this new us backed peace proposal but there is tremendous skepticism about that in the region i would say especially amongst

palestinians and another constant is that palestinians are not united. you have hamas controlling gaza and their rivals in the west bank. they have been promising to unify for almost as long as i can remember and never managed to pull it off. the key co nsta nt never managed to pull it off. the key constant is that for people living in gaza lifejust key constant is that for people living in gaza life just gets key constant is that for people living in gaza lifejust gets more and more bleak and on the israeli side those people living along the border continue to live under threat. we have people running to the air raid shelters again today and that is just not changing, and it isa and that is just not changing, and it is a pretty depressing story. another mandate in israel in the last few weeks, cannot change anything for them? where there's no reason to think that it will because he has been in power now for the best pa rt he has been in power now for the best part of the decade if not longer. there's no reason for optimism i think because he's been

given another mandate. let's wait and see what jared kushner had to say supposedly in the next month or so. tremendous skepticism about his plan amongst palestinians. the headlines on bbc news. former defence secretary gavin williamson claims he's a victim of a ‘witch hunt‘ after police say they won't be investigating a leak from the national security council about the tech giant huawei. former conservative party leader, iain duncan smith, says the prime minister must go now or be forced out — after the party suffers heavy losses in the english local elections. palestinian officials say a mother and her baby are among three people who‘ve been killed in gaza in a wave of israeli air strikes and tank fire. up to 12 people have been killed by cyclone fani 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 1 million people from their homes. cyclone fani 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. president trump has said he remains confident of striking a deal with north korea — despite reports that pyongyang has carried out another missile test. kim jong—un is thought to have become frustrated with the united states‘ refusal to ease sanctions. the south korean government see it as both a worrying development and a breach of a military agreement between the north and the south. a plane with 1a3 people on board slid off a runway and into a river injacksonville,

florida as it attempted to land during a thunderstorm. the chartered flight was carrying naval personnel from the us base at guantanamo bay — but none were seriously hurt. however — some pets are still on board the aircraft — while the authorities wait for inspectors to declare the aircraft safeto board. the commanding officer of the naval air station says the cause of the incident is yet to be determined. it‘s a miracle. i could have ended... we could be talking about a different story this evening. so i think there is a lot to say about the professionalism of the folks that helped the passengers off the aeroplane. there‘s a lot to say about that because it very well could be worse. egypt‘s antiquities ministry has unveiled a a,500—year—old burial ground near the giza pyramids the site contains tombs and burial shafts from various periods, the oldest is a limestone family tomb from around 2500 bc. the ministry said the tomb was of two people: one had seven

titles including the priest and thejudge, and the other was known as chief of the great state. thailand‘s king maha vajiralongkorn has been crowned in a three day ceremony. his coronation 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. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. 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 201a, 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. 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. 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. nevertheless, extra layers of security will remain in place through our the islamic holy month with a message to remain alert not alarmed. weather now with matt taylor. it has been very mixed where i live. i think that sums it up uk wide. very mixed indeed. lots of sunshine over towards western areas today and a high of only around 13 degrees, but very dark including clouds spoiling sunshine. though showers produce rain, hail, sleet and thunder as well. so the auto rumble of thunder cloud in showers but not as though the blue colours, that will become a number... easing off

and heading over to the southeast they will gradually become confined to the coasts and away from that showers are to fade away and for many with clear skies and the winds latest across the west director bridges will drop the furthest and quite a few rule spots. mary areas closer to freezing for a touch of frost on the grounds and the cars as we start tomorrow morning. surely start your sunday but the area of high pressure to the west of us a little bit more for tomorrow. doing so pushes the showers to the north sea. in the strong cold winds will bea sea. in the strong cold winds will be a bit further east. still breezy across the far north of scotland with showers pushing down and cloud across northern ireland tomorrow pushing into southern scotland later on and few bits of sunshine here and there. later wins the big difference across eastern areas of very few showers around many for east anglia in the southeast most places will stay dry and cloud amounts will vary and whilst temperatures still on the cold side ten to 13 degrees with

later wins and will not be quite so chilly. take us into a bank holiday monday and pushing its way south and this will be the focus for cloudier weather. the english showers turning heavier across the district and getting to the midlands may be north wales or anglia later. isolated showers and sunny spells for monday and lots of dry weather, sunny weather across scotland in one or two showers. frost will remain as into to state and not much wind around very little change comparing monday forecast if they think showers can break out anywhere. heavier once pushing north for the day and a touch lifting 1a or 15 celsius. we can actually see a bit more in the way of rain and also guardians here. area of low pressure pushing east and to france in the channel islands showers breaking out elsewhere and showers on thursday as

well. goodbye for now. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. police say the leak of information from the national security council about chinese tech giant huawei isn‘t a criminal offence and won‘t launch an investigation. but former defence secretary gavin williamson claims he‘s a victim of a "witch hunt". former conservative party leader, iain duncan smith, says the prime minister must go now or be forced out after the party suffers heavy losses in the english local elections.