this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a senior member of the uk's conservative party calls for the prime minister's top aide to resign, as dominic cummings faces fresh allegations that he breached lockdown rules. he insists he acted reasonably and legally by driving from london to county durham in march while his wife had coronavirus. but new reports suggest he was seen in the north east of england on two further occasions. the country can't afford this nonsense, this pantomime, now. dominic should go and we should move on and deal with the things that matter in people's lives. police in hong kong fire tear gas at pro—democracy protesters who are angry at china's plans to introduce tough new security laws.

after weeks of increasing attacks, taliban and afghan government forces agree a three—day ceasefire to mark the eid holiday. the duke of cambridge has revealed how becoming a father brought back the painful emotions he felt after his mother's death. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the main stories here in britain and globally. the uk prime minister's closest aide, dominic cummings, is facing further pressure and scrutiny, with new allegations he breached lockdown rules and, in the last few minutes, a senior member of the ruling conservative party calling for him to resign. both mr cummings and the government insist he acted "reasonably and legally" by driving from london

to county durham in march while his wife had coronavirus. last night, the government dismissed claims that mr cummings broke the rules. but the leading brexiteer and conservative mp steve baker has said it is time for the aide to quit. we'll speak to him in a moment. first simonjones has this report. you're supposed to be more than two metres apart. he insists he has no intention of resigning and downing street is standing behind dominic cummings, despite new questions about his movements. the observer and sunday mirror claim that mrcummings, after travelling to durham, was seen at a beauty spot around 30 miles from where he was staying when he was believed to be self isolating and they allege he made a second trip to durham from london last month after he'd recovered from coronavirus symptoms. downing street said this was inaccurate. it insisted we will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about mrcummings from campaigning newspapers.

the government had spent yesterday defending his decision to travel 260 miles to the north—east in march after his wife became unwell, rather than staying at home in london. it said he feared he would become ill and the couple wanted to ensure their young child could be properly cared for. he stayed in a house near his extended family in case his sister and nieces needed to help out. it's a question of doing the right thing. it's not about what you guys think. the government's guidance on self isolation says if you live with others and you are the first in the household to have symptoms of coronavirus then you must stay at home for at least seven days. but all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for m days. ministers insist mr cummings acted legally and reasonably. what most people will probably be thinking watching this is what would i do in that situation? i've got a young child, my wife is unwell, i'm worried about the ability to support the child as a father.

do you then end up saying, well, we'll take the best possible option in order to be able to provide the ongoing care for that child and therefore go to where there's a network, but not go inside the parents' house, but rely on the younger generation. but a former downing street director of communications thinks he should go. there has been one rule for people in downing street and one for the rest of the country. that's the thing that sticks in the craw, i think, of the british people. and that's why i think mr cummings really should, at the very, very least, express some contrition. and i would have thought, actually, to resign. tomorrow the cabinet will meet to discuss how to ease the lockdown further, but ministers will be concerned that new questions about mr cummings may make it harder to convince the public to stick to the guidelines currently in place. simon jones, bbc news.

we're going to to be speaking to steve baker shortly, but first let's speak to our poltiical correspondent, helen catt. helen, fresh allegations in a couple of today's newspapers. what has been the downing street response to those new allegations? this was an investigation by the sunday mirror and the observer. they had discovered eyewitness as they say but have seen mr cummings in barnard castle, about 30 miles away from durham at the time he was there with his wife and child self isolating, so his wife and child self isolating, so before he returned to london, an eyewitness said they spotted him there and at the time the government advice was it was a central travel only. there's also another allegation in those papers that he was spotted again on another occasion after he had come back to westminster and there was a second trip to county durham. downing street has denied that and has in a fairly fiery statement last night

accused the papers of inaccuracies in these stories. officials don't seem to have completely or entirely denied the apparent spotting of him in barnard castle, but the overall response from downing street is its inaccurate reporting and very much shoot back at us. the wider problem for the government as they are trying to get people to obey the lockdown although some of the restrictions have been eased, but whatever the rights and wrongs of this, it does make that harder, doesn't it? it does, particularly the idea of room for interpretation and for many people who have been respecting the absolute letter of the lockdown rules over the last few months, may look at something, i didn't feel i could do that, and will feel they have suffered perhaps not seeing relatives in quite dramatic circumstances because of that, that's the problem the government has, but also, looking forward , government has, but also, looking forward, this week as the week we are going to start to see another three—week rolling deadline the

government has to review lockdown restrictions and they will start looking at what may or may not happen from during the first, a week tomorrow, which is the date in boris johnson's road map for easing restrictions in england that suggested we might see things like the reopening of nonessential shops, and a key part of that is going to be this track and trace programme which launches at the end of the week whereby people who are testing positive for coronavirus, get contacted and told if they need to isolate or not. the government has said everybody needs to play their pa rt said everybody needs to play their part for that scheme to work so if you have confusion about what the interpretation is of what you need to do if you are self isolating, that stores are potential problems. helen, thank you very much indeed. we will discuss this in a few minutes with steve baker and also with lawrence price, former spin doctor to tony blair, so meanwhile... china's foreign minister, wang yi, has warned that certain us interests are pushing for "a new cold war",

following the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. speaking at a press conference in beijing, the country's top diplomat said china and the united states would lose from confrontation, and insisted both sides must find a way for peaceful co—existence. it has come to our attention that some politicalforces in the us are taking china us relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new cold war. china remains prepared to work with the us in the spirit of no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect and win—win cooperation and build a relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability. i call on the usa to stop wasting precious time and stop costing peoples lives. the chinese foreign minister also insisted that a new hong kong security law must be imposed without slightest delay. almost 200 senior politicians from around the world have backed a joint statement criticising

china's plans. they're urging governments to make clear that any infringement of hong kong's autonomy won't be tolerated. thousands of people in hong kong have been protesting on the streets. this was the scene a little earlier at causeway bay — a busy shopping district — where there's a heavy police presence. tear gas was fired at anti—government demonstrators. we can speak now to the bbc‘s danny vincent, who's in hong kong. danny, is the expectation that those protests are going to continue? yes, that's right. i'm in causeway bay andi that's right. i'm in causeway bay and i can still see large groups of young protesters coming to the area, many people standing and looking at the police wanting to see what's about to happen next. if you look across many other social media apps,

used to organise these protests, one message which has come out is today, in some ways, it was a stress test for the police. they wanted to test the resistance to see how hard the police would crackdown if people we re police would crackdown if people were to come out onto the streets, so were to come out onto the streets, so in that sense, the protesters have been successful today. they've also tested the hong kong public to see if people are still willing to come out and essentially vote with their feet and show that they are strongly in opposition to this proposal. give us a bit of an idea why they are so angry about this new proposal. for many years now, people in hong kong have felt this city had been experiencing a slow motion erosion of the rights and freedoms the residents in hong kong were guaranteed. when the city was returned to china. with this new

law, it's taken many people by surprise, because of this law... sorry, many people are running away from the police at the moment... it seems the riot police are coming in this direction. it's an indication of how organised the protest as r. trying to organise themselves not to be had by tear gas. people are frustrated and angry at the potential speed this potentially could be implemented. technically overnight, hong kong may never be the same again. danny, many thanks indeed. danny vincent covering one of those protests in hong kong for us. of those protests in hong kong for us. let's go back to the uk now and the news of the prime minister is closest aide dominic cummings is facing more pressure and scrutiny today with over allegations that he breached lockdown rules. we already had the reports he had travelled from london to county durham and there are new allegations in today's

newspapers he was seen on a couple of other occasions in the north—east of other occasions in the north—east of england as well. let's speak now to conservative mp and former brexit minister steve baker. what you think is his position now? he and the government, downing street, are saying he's done nothing wrong. i think it's a question of when he has to go now, not. i think his position is untenable. it's because of dominic's slogans around these rules that mums and dads, grannies and grandpa's across the country, when i felt they had to stay at home if covid—i9 got into theirfamilies stay at home if covid—i9 got into their families and they too care about their children, but they knew they must stay at home for seven days for the first person, 14 days for the others, and now it turns out they could have been driving around they could have been driving around the country with symptoms perhaps four hours to get to a position of more convenient childcare. this requires a more broad interpretation

of latitude in the rules, it makes it untenable for dominic to stay under my real objection here is we are simply burning through capital co—opting members of the cabinet with a lines trying to defend the indefensible. we saw yesterday enormous political capital expended to try to fix today's press. it didn't work. it isn't going to work until dominic goes. we will find we are going to be talk about dominic until he goes. i want us to get onto the real concerns people have like getting out of the coronavirus crisis along with a normal programme of boris johnson's government. crisis along with a normal programme of boris johnson's government. some people will be surprised you're saying you should go as a former ally of dominic cummings on the leaves side of the brexit debate. ally of dominic cummings on the leaves side of the brexit debatelj think people who have studied the various books written will know the situation is more nuanced than that. i've always admired dominic, many admirable qualities about him, he's admirable qualities about him, he's a very effective man, a man with very brilliant ideas on occasion, certainly engenders heartfelt and

ferocious loyalty amongst those who work for him, but i have always says he does too much collateral damage through the techniques he uses in particular doubling down on controversy, and the other problem is he treats any attempt to hold him to account with contempt and that is why i have always been opposed to him being in downing street. do i think all of us in political life need to be held to account whether it's by our electorates, our boss, by select committee, however it might be, i'm afraid dominicjust won't play ball with these norms of democracy and so i've always been opposed to him being a number ten, even as i quite liked him, admire him, learned many things from him, but i still think for the reasons are given, he ought never to have been a number ten although i do understand the prime ministers reasons for bringing him in at the beginning when he did. are you saying you don't buy here is an downing street's defence of what he did in that they say he acted reasonably and legally, his wife had

coronavirus, they were looking for a relative to look after their child, you say you don't buy that or you shouldn't bend the rules in the first place? i'm saying i represent thousands of people, many of whom i'm sure we'll have isolated at home for seven days for the first person, and 14 days for the rest of the family, because they understood that the rules to require not to get a car with coronavirus symptoms and driverfor car with coronavirus symptoms and driver for hours car with coronavirus symptoms and driverfor hours in order to get car with coronavirus symptoms and driver for hours in order to get to a position for better childcare. from a scientific point of view, they have said there is a safeguarding issue but of course, there is a safeguarding issue. but it's not at all clear to me that in play here. i can hold in mind people around me even as i play here. i can hold in mind people around me even as i sit here at home, i have a single father in high wycombe who isolated at home with children, went through this awful disease at home, but didn't go off driving around to get childcare from extended family. now, if what he did was within the rules, i think they will be thousands and thousands of

families across this country wishing that they had been told sooner that actually was fine to go and get childcare from your extended family, risking spreading the to them. steve baker, good to have you with us this morning. thank you very much for being on bbc news. thank you. we will be talking in a few minutes to the former spin doctor tony blair. let's turn our attention to afghanistan. the afghan president, ashraf ghani, has used his eid message to the country to announce that the goverment is to speed up the release of taliban prisoners. he made the comments as a three—day ceasefire to mark the religious festival comes into effect. there has been a surge in violence since a deal was agreed between the militants and the united states in february. our reporter sodaba haidare has more. three days of peace in a country marred by 19 years of violence. sudden and last—minute, but welcomed nevertheless, with the afghan president instructing government forces

to defend only if attacked. the truce comes following an agreement between the us and taliban to end the war in afghanistan. applause. although temporary, it's a relief for war—ridden afghans after a wave of violence, with recent attacks on a maternity ward and another one on a funeral. horns blare. afghans hope to celebrate eid al—fitr in peace this year, but for those used to the reality of war, this is most likely the calm before the storm with the taliban so often planning and carrying out attacks as warm weather approaches. to others, a flicker of hope that the ceasefire might lead to an everlasting peace.

let's get more now on the fresh calls for borisjohnson's senior advisor to resign after new allegations emerged that he broke coronavirus lockdown rules. and we can speak, i think, to lance price, former spin doctor to tony blair, the former british prime minister, what do you make of these allegations? downing street are really quite robustly defending dominic cummings, saying he's got no intention of resigning, he did nothing wrong. what do you make of what he did? i think you, quite clearly, broke the spirit of the rules that were then in place from the government and there is no doubt at all that the way in which downing street are rallying the troops and circling the wagons, whatever metaphor you want to use in his defence, is demeaning both to those ministers involved in that process but also crucially undermining the

message that the government has been seeking to put out once the lockdown started, that these rules apply to everybody including people adhering to them otherwise they risk spreading the virus and clearly dominic cummings's actions were outside of that advice. his defence is maybe he broke the spirit of the rules but he didn't break the rules technically. so why should he resign? the question you have to ask yourself is firstly, if everybody had done what dominic cummings did, would not be all right? clearly, the a nswer to would not be all right? clearly, the answer to that question is no. and if the answer to that question is no, there can't be one set of rules or one interpretation of the rules for people who work at downing street and another for the rest of us. and the second question is if dominic cummings thought that he had done nothing wrong, why has he spent the last few weeks, he and his wife

who writes for the spectator magazine here in the uk, why would they have gone out of their way during that time never to mention the fact when describing his illness and the fact he was so poorly, never mentioning the fact he had been outside of london. that shows that he knew he had done something wrong. obviously he's very close to boris johnson. do you think there will be a lot more pressure in the coming days for boris johnson a lot more pressure in the coming days for borisjohnson to get rid of him because it doesn't look like he's going to resign voluntarily and the only way he will leave downing street is iffy he is fired by the prime minister, one of its closest allies? yes, that's absolutely true and the role of a special adviser, i was one downing st to a prime minister, and the only person who could have got rid of me was the prime minister himself, so if the prime minister himself, so if the prime minister himself, so if the prime minister responsible for this, and it will be the prime ministers decision ultimately whether he stays or goes. now, the spin campaign over the weekend has been to try to draw

a line under this. and to hope that the story goes away. there's absolutely no evidence this sunday morning in the uk that the story is going to go away. and everybody is talking about dominic cummings, rather than the important message the government has got, and we know that message is going to develop during the coming week, that ministers are going to have a very important thing to say how the rest of us should be behaving during the lockdown and whether we can be given a little bit more freedom, why would anyone listen to any of that advice if they know that the senior adviser to the prime minister, who is still in office, if he is still in office, feels he can interpret the governments rules according to its own lifestyle. how important do you think it is what fellow conservatives feel? we were just talking to steve baker, leading brexiteer, who said he wants dominic to resign. we've just brexiteer, who said he wants dominic to resign. we'vejust heard brexiteer, who said he wants dominic to resign. we've just heard a tweet from simon hoare, tory mp, and i would just read it to you can get your reaction. with a damage mr cummings is doing to the governments

reputation, he must consider his position, lockdown has had its challenges for everyone, it's position, lockdown has had its challenges for everyone, its is cavalier i don't care, and cloud revenue, tome that infuriates people. that's what he is saying. there was that clip of him on the tv last night outside his home saying, "i don't care what this looks like." ina sense, "i don't care what this looks like." in a sense, will not add to the pressure for him to go? yes, i think that tweet is interesting, firstly, i few people now are actually breaking cover within the conservative party and saying they think dominic cummings is doing too much damage to the government to be allowed to stay in his job. and the other point is that he points to the fa ct other point is that he points to the fact that the way in which dominic cummings behaves and is always behaved, this is nothing new, it's not a surprise to anybody who watches the affairs of downing street and westminster closely, he does a lot of collateral damage to

the government. he's made a lot of enemies inside downing street, inside whitehall, more generally, in the various ministries of the british government. and that means that people are not very willing, not many of them anyway, to come out genuinely in his defence. those that do, like senior ministers who have put out and encouraged to tweet and make comments yesterday, it makes them look a little foolish, i think. lance, thank you very much for being with us. former spin doctor to tony blair. the united states is approaching 100—thousand coronavirus related deaths, and this morning the new york times has dedicated its entire front page to the victims. the paper carries the names of a thousand people who've died along with a short biography for each of them. the us has the largest number of infections in the world, but the number of deaths continue to fall in new york which has been the worst affected state.

the duke of cambridge has revealed he has found parenting "overwhelming" at times and says having children brought back the emotions he felt following the death of his mother. speaking candidly in a new bbc documentary which hopes to encourage men to open up about their mental health through football, prince william shares the impact being a father has had on his own wellbeing. our correspondent sean dilley has more. when you've been through something traumatic in life and that is, like, your dad not being around, my mother dying when i was younger, your emotions come back in leaps and bounds. the duke of cambridge speaking about his struggles with parenting as a father of three. i've definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming. me and catherine particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together. prince william opened up in a conversation with former professional footballer marvin sordell for a documentary, football, prince william and our mental health, which will air on bbc one on thursday.

marvin sordell quit football last year after a successful career that saw him play for the england under—21 team, bolton and burton albion. when he retired at 28, he pointed to his mental well—being, describing football as a beautiful game with an ugly persona. sordell, who has previously spoken of his poor mental health and his suicide attempt in 2013, says being a father has been difficult. it was the hardest time of my life. i found it really, really tough. and i grew up without my father and i've not had a father to look up at, and now i've got a child and they are looking up to a father and i don't really know how i'm dealing with this. i really struggled with my emotions at that time, you know. the programme features conversations with footballers and fans and managers from all walks of life. prince william says he wants his emotionally—charged documentary to kick off the biggest ever conversation on mental health through football. your dad would be very

proud of you, he would. as your mum would. i appreciate that. you'll make all the right decisions, i know you will. i can see the kind of man you are and you will be absolutely fine and you will be a great dad. after a mostly cloudy and in some places damp sunday, it will brighten up places damp sunday, it will brighten upa bit places damp sunday, it will brighten up a bit through the afternoon. more cloud across the eastern side of england than we had yesterday, but are very much on the plus side, it's not as windy as it was yesterday. the wind gradually easing further as we get deeper through the day. any rain we've had to start the day will slowly die out. that's because high pressure is now building in across the uk, so that's going to settle things down once more i'm certainly for the bank holiday, a good deal of sunshine. these weather fronts for the bank holiday, a good deal of sunshine. these weatherfronts may bring some rain in north—western parts of the uk to end the day. this is how the afternoon is shaping up. patchy rain in north—west england,

western scotland, dying out, perhaps some towards the far north of scotla nd some towards the far north of scotland as the afternoon ends. brighter skies at times voiced in scotland, brightening up in northern ireland, slowly seeing some sunny spells developing more widely in england and wales but especially into wales and south—west england. these wind average speeds, gusts are 40 these wind average speeds, gusts are a0 miles an hour or so, certainly a notch down from yesterday. it is going to feel warmer out there, particularly where yesterday was so very windy and wet. in western scotland. as we go into tonight, the wind falls scotland. as we go into tonight, the windfalls like across much of the uk, largely clear skies, windfalls like across much of the uk, largely clearskies, patchy cloud in northern scotland with a few fog patches around parts of south—west wales and the far south—west wales and the far south—west of england. under clear skies, with the wind turning light, temperatures in the way down, so most of us ending the night in single figures. for the bank holiday tomorrow, you can see a lot of fine weather out there, too much of england, wales and into eastern scotland. northern ireland and

western scotland, the morning sunshine, cloud increasing and some outbreaks of rain, slowly moving in as the afternoon goes on. the warmest parts of scotland and northern ireland, 20, low to mid 20s across much of england and wales. high pressure still around for much of the week ahead, but a week whether fund pushes further south into tuesday. at least introducing more cloud. a selection of locations for the week, a chance of rain at times in northern ireland, northern and western scotland and most of england and wales, staying dry. that means no rain and in may, there's been hardly any at all.

you're watching bbc news. the headlines. a senior member of the uk's conservative party calls for the prime minister's top aide to resign —— as dominic cummings faces fresh allegations that he breached lockdown rules. he insists he acted ‘reasonably and legally‘ by driving from london to county durham in march while his wife had coronavirus. but new reports suggest he was seen in the north east of england on two further occasions. the country cannot afford this nonsense, this pantomime, now. dominic should go and we should move on and deal with the things that matter in people's lives. police in hong kong fire tear gas at pro—democracy protesters who are angry at china's plans to introduce tough new security laws. after weeks of increasing attacks, taliban and afghan government forces agree a three—day ceasefire to mark the eid holiday.