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. china's foreign minister accuses some politicians in the united states of trying to push the two countries to the brink of a new cold war.

police in hong kong arrest dozens of people participating in the first pro—democracy protests since beijing announced plans to impose a new security law on the territory. the duke of cambridge reveals how becoming a father brought back the painful emotions he felt after his mother's death. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the uk prime minister's closest aide, dominic cummings, is facing further pressure and scrutiny, with new allegations he breached lockdown rules and several members 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 some conservative mps are demanding his resignation. leading brexiteer 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 mr cummings had a track record of beliving the rules don't apply to him, and said the govenrment would be better off without him. and simon hoare said, "with the damage mr cummings is doing to the government's reputation he must consider his position." and warned he was now wounding the government and prime minister. in the last hour, mr cummings emerged from his london home where reporters asked him about the latest allegations.

mrcummings, are you mr cummings, are you going to resign? did you make a second trip from london to durham? good morning. can you back out of the way? on behalf of the nation, did you return to durham in april? i did not. i did not? cani to durham in april? i did not. i did not? can i ask you, while i am keeping my distance, how many times have you left london during the lockdown? the nation would love to know. are you going to resign, cummings? is it one rule for you, know. are you going to resign, cummings? is it one rule foryou, mr cummings? is it one rule foryou, mr cummings and anotherfor cummings? is it one rule foryou, mr cummings and another for everybody else? multiple conservative mps have called for you to go, what do you say to them? why did you go to your -- 260 say to them? why did you go to your —— 260 miles across the country? lots of mps are confused to resign,

will you? why do not follow your own rules? why are you not following your own rules? why are you not following your own rules, mr cummings? de have anything to say to people who have been self isolating in this country? anything to say? you have nothing to add? careful. de have anything to say to people self isolating in this country? i think that is a no. lots of questions from reporters, but mrcummings not lots of questions from reporters, but mr cummings not saying anything. one of the questions he was being asked about conservative mps who have called for him to resign. i spoke to conservative mp and former brexit minister steve baker who explained why he thought dominic cummings should go. i think his position is untenable. it is because of dominic's slogans around these rules that mums and dads, grannies and grandpas around the country will have felt

that they had to stay at home if covid got into their families. and of course they too care about their children but they knew that they must stay at home, for 7 days for the first person, 14 days for the others. and now it turns out that they could have been driving around the country with symptoms perhaps for hours to get to a position of more convenient childcare. this requires an extremely broad interpretation of the latitude in the rules and 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 and fix today's press. it didn't work, it isn't going to work. until dominic goes, i am afraid we are going to find we are talking about dominic. i want us to get onto the real concerns that people have, like getting out of this coronavirus crisis and getting on with the normal programme of boris johnson's government.

speaking on andrew marr‘s show this morning, the transport secretary grant shapps defended dominic cummings. i have read the newspaper report about easter sunday, which would be the 12th, 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, for 14 days. but look, as i say, i am not... did you or anybody in number 10 ask him, ask dominic cummings, whether he had left the house once he was up there? my understanding is that stayed there in the house for the 14 days until he would have been out of the quarantine period. that is my understanding of the situation. are you absolutely sure he was not back in durham seen walking in a bluebell wood on the 19th of april? again, my understanding is that he has been down in london since the 14th of april and has not returned to durham since that time.

that was grant shapps speaking to andrew marr, we have had in the last hour —— a few minutes, mr comes has gone into 10 downing street this morning under growing pressure, as we say, to step down. yesterday, ministers were defending him and downing street was defending him very vigorously indeed. today steve baker and very vigorously indeed. today steve bakerand a very vigorously indeed. today steve baker and a string of other conservative mps have been saying that needs to consider his position and we will bring you the latest from downing street, butjust to say, we saw dominic cummings leaving his home surrounded by reporters a little earlier on. he has now travelled from his home to downing street and is now in number ten at the moment so we will bring you the latest from there as it comes into us. china's foreign minister, wang yi, has warned that certain us interests are pushing for ‘a new cold war‘ following the fallout

of the coronavirus crisis. speaking at a press conference in beijing, the country's most senior 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 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 people's lives. earlier i spoke to our china correspondent steve mcdonell who had been at that press conference and i asked him what he made of the foreign minister‘s ‘cold war‘ comments.

china‘s foreign minister, he only does one of these press conferences every year on the sidelines of the national people‘s congress, it is highly orchestrated. the questions are vetted and the answers are prepared. you know that what is said is a direct message from beijing to the world. and on severalfronts, well, he was really getting stuck into the us and the trump administration. on the coronavirus, he said that he hoped the american people would soon be able to return to their normal lives, but that these attempts to try and make china pay for the damage that this virus has caused by some sort of a lawsuit, for example, he described them as frivolous and shoddy. he said that as well as this damaging real virus, in the us, he described a political virus, which he said was causing

politicians there to sort of drum up conspiracy theories to attack china at every chance it had. so on the one hand, he is saying he feels sorry for the american people and what they are going through, but he really was attacking the trump administration and especially those, mainly republican politicians, who have been well, in his words, spreading conspiracy theories about the virus and blaming china for it. and steve, relations between china and trump‘s white house administration were already bad in terms of trade and all the arguments over trade before coronavirus, now they have got worse and worse and worse. yes, absolutely. there were times when he said that we really should be cooperating with each other and he was asked at one point about the so—called wolf worrier diplomacy. by which we have seen these chinese politicians, especially on social media, giving as good as they get from the likes of donald trump.

well, we are not going to see that coming to an end quickly because he said, basically, in china, we have got the truth on our side, but also guts, and we are not to take this from america any more, we are going to be taking them on when we are challenged. so it seems that tensions are not going to ease off in the near future, that is for sure. as part of that meeting, 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, with a dozen of them arrested so far. this was the scene a little earlier at causeway bay — a busy shopping district —

where there‘s a heavy police presence. tear gas and water cannons were fired at anti—government demonstrators. tom grundy is the editor in chief & founder of hong kong free press, an independent news outlet in the city. hejoined us earlier and explained that the atmosphere on the ground is tense. i am just hearing some shouting now with police sweeping into the causeway bay shopping district. it has been a full day, about four or five hours of cat and mouse chases throughout what is usually a very busy district of hong kong. police have fired tear gas, pepper spray, they have deployed the water cannon and protesters, you can see behind me, they have been making makeshift barricades, some of them are still gathered here. the police tactic is to try and split everybody into smaller groups and prevent them from marching on to causeway bay. this originally was meant to be a protest of the national anthem

law, which could see people jailed for not singing the national anthem, but it seems it is quickly evolving into dissent over the upcoming national security law, with people chanting, ‘independence for hong kong‘ and ‘revolution now,‘ phrases which may very well become illegal in just a few months‘ time. just give us an idea as to why people are so angry there about this proposed new security law. well, 17 years ago, half a million people hit the streets after hong kong tried to enlist its own national security law through article 23 of the basic law. this time, there will be no local consultation, it will not go through the legislature and in a matter of months, it seems that beijing is going to insert national security legislation into hong kong‘s constitution without any legislative oversights. this could mean big consequences for freedom of speech, freedom of the press. democrats here have said that 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 a protestor and who isn‘t, we are still under covid—i9 restrictions with people wearing face masks, they believe that this is the last chance for hong kong. and do you think, in the coming days, the coming weeks, those protests you are describing behind you will gather momentum? yes, it seems today‘s a starting gun and we have seen hundreds of police and hundreds of protesters facing each other in causeway bay. but the next flashpoint is wednesday when the national anthem law goes to the legislature and we may see people in masks there. there‘s the anniversary of the tiananmen massacre onjune four and the pro—democracy annual march onjuly one. so a lot of flashpoints coming up

and we are surely going to be seeing some more protests, potential unrest in the autonomous city. the headlines on bbc news... senior members of the uk‘s conservative party call for the prime minister‘s top aide to resign, as dominic cummings arrives at number ten after breaching lockdown rules. china‘s foreign minister accuses some politicians in the united states of trying to push the two countries to the brink of a new cold war. police in hong kong arrest dozens of people participating in the first pro—democracy protests since beijing announced plans to impose a new security law on the territory. back now to the controversy surrounding dominic cummings, boris johnson‘s most senior adviser. let‘s take a look at the timeline of events around mr cummings‘ trip to durham. on the 23rd of march, prime minister boris johnson announced the uk would be placed into lockdown, with strict limitations on travel. the government guidelines stated...

"you should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home." on the 27th of march, boris johnson tested positive for coronavirus. three days later, on the 30th of march, downing street confirmed that dominic cummings was suffering from coronavirus symptoms and self—isolating. a day later, durham police said it was "made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from london to durham and was self—isolating at an address." newspaper reports say witnesses saw dominic cummings in barnard castle, around 30 miles from durham, on the 12th of april. two days later, on the 14th of april, mr cummings was photographed back in downing street. and on the 19th of april, newspaper reports say a witness spotted mr cummings in bluebell woods near durham. interesting we have seen downing

street and lots of ministers defending mrcummings street and lots of ministers defending mr cummings yesterday but today, we have seen a string of conservative mps saying the opposite, that actually, he did rate lockdown rules or at least he bent them very significantly and he needs to resign. —— he did break lockdown rules. you are right, essentially, the reaction of these conservative mps are that the government will have a problem of authority and trust. one rule for the country and another for senior memos of the administration. what is your hunch? do think you will resign voluntarily or pushed out by boris johnson will resign voluntarily or pushed out by borisjohnson or does the prime ministerfeel he out by borisjohnson or does the prime minister feel he needs out by borisjohnson or does the prime ministerfeel he needs him to much and he is too important to the prime minister and to the downing street machine? i have been doing this for too long to put hunches

on—air, but i guess that the way to look at it is the rather brutal choice facing the prime minister, which i guess could be reduced in its simplest terms to this. does he hold on to dominic cummings and pay a vast amount of political capital for that, given how incredibly angry some conservative mps are and more importantly how incredibly angry summit members of the public are and to see, if you like, the government‘s authority continue with some sort of lockdown or indeed to have any authority of any sort of advice it gives to the british people? or on the other hand, you know, does he think it would be better to get him to go despite how important he is to mrjohnson‘s government? that is the problem for the government in the longer term because as they continue to try to sell their message that people need

to continue to take measures to itself distance and all of the other rules and restrictions that are still in place, as they try to do that, to get the british people to do that, it is very hard prime minister‘s chief and most important adviser himself is being accused of breaking or bending those rules.|j think you have got it in a nutshell. you only need to look at social media for a while and we all know that twitter is not everything, facebook is not everything, but are the kind of anger that is out there is pretty sobering. we see ordinary person at the ordinary person tweeting, well, i can see my mum and couldn‘t go there to their funeral, i couldn‘t see my dad. it goes on and on and on. there would clearly bea and on and on. there would clearly be a enormous cost for keeping mr cummings and the other thing about the story is what is known as having cut—throat. there is an awful lot of books. his in this country and

anywhere elsewhere the only people you care about are the politicians, and it leaves everybody bored. i think this is the only thing where politicians fear it does have cut through where people up and down the country, and it is being reported internationally, they will say, what nervous going on? a few sound problems, apologies, thank you, rob. turkey, which had one of the fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks in the world, says it‘s turning the tide. the daily growth in infections has dropped to the lowest level since the country‘s first case in march. authorities say the country‘s contact tracing system — which involves almost 6,000 teams nationwide — is a key weapon in tackling covid—i9. our international correspondent orla guerinjoined a tracing team in istanbul. how do you track a virus that sweeps unseen through a city? in istanbul, home to more than 16 million, the answer

is don‘t waste a minute. right from the very beginning, we were ready for the covid—i9. this is where we pick up the calls. this doctor tells me teams began tracking the virus from day one, when turkey‘s first case was diagnosed in march. the system was well—established from decades of tracking measles outbreaks. manning the phone here, dedicated doctors and nurses. we are, as a team, feeling like we are in a war, because people forget to go home. they don‘t know the timeframes that they are working in. we say that, ok, eight hours is completed, but they don‘t care about going home because they know that this is a duty that they have to complete before it spreads to anyone else. so teams like this suit up and head out, responding to calls from the emergency services and from worried

members of the public. they track down contacts of those who test positive using an app and shoe leather. wejoin them in fatih, the heart of old istanbul. in this city alone, i2oo tracing teams are on the move. they are heading to see two flatmates who are already being monitored, their friend is covid—positive. now these two, both in their 20s, have a doorstep test. a rapid response one day after they called to say they have mild symptoms. translation: we follow

foreign news and when we first heard about the virus we were very scared, we were very concerned about how we would beat this. but turkey has rallied faster than we thought, much faster than europe and the united states. well, the doctors are out of their ppe now and everything has been bagged up and it is going to be disposed of safely. they have taken the swabs and they will be sent off to the lab and the results will be back within 2a hours. this is a key part of the battle here. it is house by house, contact my contact. we are keeping the virus out of the streets, that is very important for us. once we isolate them, you know, the virus stops spreading to their friends, to their relatives, to their co—workers. so far, it seems to be working. along with widespread testing, and partial lockdowns. the official death toll is more than a200, but international experts say turkey has managed to shield its people

from a greater disaster. 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 to 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.

hopes that ceasefire could be built on for longer lasting peace. you we re on for longer lasting peace. you were watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. despite some cloudy skies this morning, it is certainly an improving picture and it will slowly brighten up as the afternoon continues. you can start to see the cloud breaking up quite nicely here in this weather watcher picture from dorset and the reason being high—pressure starting to build from the south—west. that will dominate over the next few days. this week whether front up into the north over the next few days. this week whetherfront up into the north is still breezy at the moment, the winds will slowly die down as we go through the day and any cloud and

drizzle will tend to ease. it has been quite a cloudy start, but generally, we are asking that cloud breaking up into the afternoon and there will be more sunshine coming through. lighter winds as well ban yesterday, and with it, more sunshine and light winds as a consequence. it will feel a little warmer. temperatures through the afternoon peeking from ten to 22 degrees. that is 72 fahrenheit. as we move through the evening and overnight, the winds will fall lighter still and that high—pressure continues to dominate. there will be some clearer skies, a little bit of patchy mist and fog and those spots in south—west wales and south—west england. we will need to keep an eye at first thing on bank holiday monday morning. elsewhere, were looking at a temperature sitting at around seven to ii looking at a temperature sitting at around seven to 11 degrees. so as we move into bank holiday monday, dry settled and sunny for many, certainly the best of the three days through the weekend. there are some in france pushing into the far north—west and by the end of the day, it could bring some rain into

another ireland and western scotland, but shouldn‘t spoil the day to much. temperatures will peak at 25 degrees, 77 fahrenheit. those week weather fronts continue to push across the top of the high, but it is fairly powerful, so it is not going to produce that much in the way of rain. maybe just a little bit more in the way of noticeable cloud as we go through tuesday and into wednesday. you can see a little bit more cloud around and it says dry, sunny and warm, physically into the south. that is it, whatever you are doing, take care. —— particularly into the south.

this is bbc world news, with me, ben brown. the headlines: the uk prime minister‘s top aide, dominic cummings, is under renewed pressure, amid fresh allegations that he breached coronavirus lockdown rules. senior members of the ruling conservative party are among those calling for mr cummings to resign. police in hong kong have used water—cannon and tear gas against pro—democracy protesters angry at china‘s plans to introduce tough new security laws. dozens of people have been arrested. china‘s foreign minister has warned that certain us interests are pushing for "a new cold war", following the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. wang yi said the two countries must find a way for peaceful co—existence. taliban and afghan government forces have agreed a three—day ceasefire to mark the eid holiday. the militant group had stepped up its attacks in recent weeks.