this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. senior members of the uk's conservative party call 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. gunfire. 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 latest coronavirus developments 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 a number of 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. but this morning three conservative mp have called foercummings to quit. leading brexiteer and conservative mp steve baker tweeted that it is "intolerable that borisjohnson‘s government is losing so much capital" and said dominic cummings must go. also on twitter, damian collins said dominic cummings has a track record of believing the rules don't apply to him, and said the government would be better off without him. and simon hoare said that, "with the damage mr cummings is doing to the government's reputation he must consider his position". going on to say he is now wounding the government and prime minister. 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. i spoke to conservative mp and former brexit minister steve baker a little earlier who told me that dominic cummings's position is untenable. 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

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 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 and my real objection here is we are simply burning through capital co—opting members of the cabinet with vapid 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 talking 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. steve baker, the conservative mp, speaking to me earlier on. 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. translation: it has come to our attention that some political forces 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 people's lives. the chinese foreign minister also insisted that a new hong kong security law must be imposed without the 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. let's cross to hong kong and speak to tom grundy, the editor in chief & founder of hong kong free press, a nonprofit, independent news outlet. tom, thank you very much for being with us. what is the latest on those protests 7 with us. what is the latest on those protests? i'm just hearing some shouting now as police sweep into the causeway bay shopping district. it's been day of cut and mouse chases throughout what is usually very busy district of hong kong. police have fired pepper straight, water cannon, tear gas and protest is behind me had been making makeshift barricades, some of them

gathered still here but it seems the police tactic is to try to split everybody into smaller groups and prevent them marching on to causeway bay. this originally was meant to be a protest about the national anthem which could see people jailed for mocking the national anthem but it seems it's very quickly evolved into dissent over the upcoming national security law with people chanting independence for hong kong and revolution now, phrases which may well become illegal in a few months' time. give us an idea of why people are so angry time. give us an idea of why people are so angry about this proposed new security law. 17 years ago, half a million people hit the streets after hong kong tried to enlist its own national security article 23, the basic law, this time, there will be no local consultation, it won't go through the legislature, and within months it seems beijing is going to insert national security legislation into hong kong mini constitution.

without any legislative oversight. this could mean big consequences for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and democrats who have said this is the death of hong kong and the start of one country, one system, so for many protesters here, and it is quite tough to see who is and it is quite tough to see who is and isn't a protester because we are still under covid—19 restrictions of people wearing face masks, they believe that this is the last chance for hong kong. do you think in the coming days and weeks of those protests you are describing behind you will gather momentum? yes, it seems today as the starting gun, hundreds of police and protesters facing each other here in causeway bay, but the next flash point is wednesday when the national anthem law goes to the legislature. we may see people amassed there and then the anniversary of the massacre on june the 11th and the pro—democracy annual march on driver first, so a

of flash points coming up and we are surely going to see some more potential unrest in the autonomous city. tom, good to talk to you. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. i think we can show you the scene live now in hong kong, the riot police there, as you can see, with their shields and helmets and battles in hong kong, and those protests, was just describing, continuing all over this new hong kong security law the chinese government have insisted must be imposed without delay. almost 200 senior politicians around the world backing a joint statement that has criticised china's plans for that security law. they are urging governments to make clear any infringement of hong kong autonomy won't be tolerated, but the chinese authorities in beijing do seem intent on imposing that highly controversial security law in hong kong and the protesters are

definitely continuing today and likely to gather momentum in the coming days. 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. back now to the controvsery

over dominic cummings. he is facing new allegations he broke lockdown rules. let's speak now to tim montgomerie, conservative commentator. we've seen a lot of prime minister and ministers backing him. what you think is going to happen next? i've stopped the production going for a while now with politics, but i think it's significant. —— a prediction. three mps about this morning and said it's time for dominic cummings to go. i'm afraid i agree with them. we have a situation where 68% of the british people think dominic cummings broke the rules, i agree with them, he did break the rules. when you are a government trying to give advice to the public during a

pandemic, your ability to tell the british public it's important to obey the rules, depends upon their belief in you. they believe there is a one rule for them and another rule for you. i think the way the prime minister's chief adviser has behaved does mean regrettably he has to go. but downing street, you say broke the rules, but downing street are clear saying his actions were in line with coronavirus guidelines and these newspaper stories are false allegations. i don't know whether you've read the story but a couple of weeks ago mary wakefield, dominic cummings' wife wrote an article in the spectator describing the families experience with the covid—19 virus. in that story in that article for the spectator, there was not one mention of the trip to durham. why was there not

one mention of the trip to durham in that piece? i think it's because they know, even if they won't admit it now, dominic cummings and mary no they weren't acting in the spirit or in the legal force of the rules. so i think that article in itself portrays what they really think about what they should have done in the circumstances. let's focus on the circumstances. let's focus on the politics of this, though, because how much does borisjohnson need dominic cummings as his chief adviser? how reluctant will he be to fire him? that is the heart of it, actually. one of my concerns about the downing street operation for a long time has been that it's been too centralised, there haven't been enough people within that operation giving candid advice to the prime minister. we have seen cabinet ministers effectively got rid of in reshuffles because they had an

independent view of the world. they we re independent view of the world. they were willing to say something different to perhaps what dominic cummings would like. and so i think the prime minister has come to rely on dominic cummings to too great an extent and i think it's notjust dominic cummings in downing street, if the appointments and the people around dominic cummings, that is chosen, which has become a very narrow operation, a very unbalanced operation. i think that needs to change as soon as possible, whether dominic cummings stays or goes. personally, i think he does need to go now because he does seem to have a very low tolerance for different points of view. yes, the way he dealt with the allegations yesterday was obviously he said obviously are not going to resign and who cares about the way it looks. so he's being accused of a certain arrogance. yes, like donald trump in the way he behaved i thought. that

may work in parts of america, i'm not sure it works very well here. one of the problems for dominic cummings, you know the conservative party very well, is it that he makes enemies quicker than he makes friends? exactly, dominic cummings has an incredible number of qualities and i think he was central to the tory election victory last december. he sees certain issues with clarity. is able to put up analysis which can really cut through, but if you are going to be someone through, but if you are going to be someone who through, but if you are going to be someone who says through, but if you are going to be someone who says that we are on the side of the people and they are the elite, you can't be someone to be seen elite, you can't be someone to be seen to be breaking rules in an insta nce seen to be breaking rules in an instance of a pandemic. it looks at the moment as though he is the one who is the elite, choosing when and when not to abide by regulations

while the rest of the population have to abide by those rules. of course, many people have suffered enormously because of these rules, absent from loved ones, not been able to visit thick or dying relatives, and they've made enormous sacrifices in order to abide by laws about dominic cummings and other people in downing street put in place. if those people in downing street don't like abiding by the rules, the wrath of the public will be greater in the days and weeks ahead. tim, good to talk to you. tim montgomery there, conservative commentator. funerals have taken place in pakistan for some of the victims of friday's plane crash in karachi, in which 97 people died. flight data and cockpit recorders have been recovered and an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway. but the pakistan pilots' association says it doesn't trust the government to investigate properly. umer nan giana sent this report from the scene.

this is where the airliner plane crashed. in karachi yesterday. as you can see, this is the street where the debris is all over the place. you can see one of the parts of the wings of the aircraft here and there are parts of the engine and there are parts of the engine and there are parts of the engine and the body of the aircraft on the street, a very narrow street, about 20 foot wide or something. and we have been told that people were inside these houses when the plane crashed here. if we can show you a little bit of what happened to the house, it erupted into a fireball. the owner of the house when he heard the pain, rushed out and realised some people were present close to the gate badly burned. this is the engine of the aircraft. and this

skeleton you can see was actually like this one. the security agencies when they moved in first, they made a place for themselves and pulled the bodies out of the rubble. if i can show you the point of impact where the plane first crashed, it was that house which is three or four houses from here. this is where the plane first hit and then itjust crashed into the street. on the impact, it went into a fireball and the whole place went on fire. let's bring you back to political events in the uk. under growing pressure on borisjohnson is in the uk. under growing pressure on boris johnson is chief in the uk. under growing pressure on borisjohnson is chief adviser dominic cummings to resign after allegations he broke the rules. and fresh allegations about that in today's newspapers. but first let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt. there is growing pressure this morning for him to stand down. what

we've seen the last hour or so are conservative mps are starting to break ranks and say actually of time he considered his position. only a few so far but significantly, the first one was steve baker, a prominent brexiteer in parliament, makes his intervention quite significant, few others following suit, some who have had their run into dominic cummings over the yea rs, into dominic cummings over the years, damian collins for example, dominic cummings refused to appear before the committee when he was chair of the digital support select committee. a long—running beef if you like there. he has added his voice for him to go. the conservative mps coming out and adding their voices to this add to the pressure the opposition has already started to put in place here. the lib dems, snp, labourall right most civil servant in britain, the most prominent, it is broken special advisers code and also labour are putting quite a significant pressure on to get the prime minister to turn up at this

afternoon at a press conference to a nswer afternoon at a press conference to answer questions. nick thomas, who was arrested early on and on andrew marr. we have had people in exactly these situations, tens of thousands of households, who have had to muddle through and try to follow guidance as best they can and this particular situation was even raised ata particular situation was even raised at a downing street press conference with the deputy chief medical officer and she mentioned things like, for example, looking to local authority helps to see if there is childcare and what we've not got answers to tour here is did the prime minister is chief adviser take advice before making that extraordinarily long journey to durham? extraordinarily long journey to durham ? what extraordinarily long journey to durham? what enquiries did he make as to what the availability was of childcare locally in london? indeed, on his own story of the moment, when he got to durham, didn't actually use the childcare at all, it is a family memberwho use the childcare at all, it is a family member who was delivering food as a reason why that couldn't

of been done in london either. these are the vital questions which need to be answered. that's what the opposition are saying. what are the government saying in defence of dominic cummings? not backing down on this absolutely. a statement issued last night at the mirror and the guardian who wrote the initial stories are written inaccurate stories are written inaccurate stories about dominic cummings and today they were writing more inaccurate stories addressing these fresh claims about and having been spotted out and about near durham. they are very much holding the line and you will have seen the conference yesterday the transport secretary grant shapps holding the line and justifying during the media rounds this morning. the problem for the government is though that they are getting people like cabinet ministers having to go through really minute detail like what dominic cummings do when and where and at what times, looking at specific words and statements to say did the police called his father? did his father called the police? that becomes confusing and quite difficult for the government. as we

saw earlier on the andrew marr show, grant shapps was answering issues around the dates. i have read the newspaper report about easter sunday, i was merely correcting the fa ct sunday, i was merely correcting the fact that it seemed to me he may have gone up to durham earlier. than you suggested in your introduction. therefore, he would have been isolated for two weeks, 14 days, but, look, as i say, i'm not... did you or anybody in number ten ask dominic cummings whether he had left the house once he was up there? my understanding is he stayed there in the house for the 14 days until he would have been out of the quarantine period. that's my understanding of the situation. are you absolutely sure he was not back in durham seen walking on a bluebell wood on the 19th of april? my understanding is he's been down in london since the 14th of april and has not returned to durham since that time. so that was grant shapps

they're speaking for the government on the andrew marr show. helen kat, thank you very much indeed. you are watching bbc news. hello, cloudy and damp start to sunday, it will be brightening up a bit as we go 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 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 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 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 like across much of the uk, largely clear skies, patchy cloud in northern scotland with a few fog patches around parts of 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 weak weather front 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.

this is bbc news. the headlines. senior members of the uk's conservative party call 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.