this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk prime minister boris johnson stands by his chief advisor, rejecting calls for his resignation, over allegedly breaking coronavirus lockdown rules. according to mrjohnson dominic cummings was "following instinct," in travelling over 250 miles, for childcare, when his wife showed coronavirus symptoms. i believe that, in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. the uk labour party have responded angrily to the developments — sir keir starmer said if he was prime minister — he would have sacked mr cummings.

this was a huge test of the prime minister, and he hasjust failed that test. he has not sacked dominic cummings, he has not called for an investigation, it is treating the british public with contempt. more than 100 are arrested in hong kong, during protests against beijing's new proposed security laws. turkey — which had one of the fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks in the world — says it is turning the tide. and we'll be finding out what life is like onboard a cruise ship during the pandemic — as passengers and crew are trapped onboard waiting to dock. 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 has staunchly defended his top adviser, dominic cummings, after it emerged he'd driven more than 250 miles from his london home to county durham, following the government's introduction, of it's coronavirus lockdown. borisjohnson said mr cummings had "followed the instincts of every parent" and "acted with integrity," in seeking childcare with family members, after his wife had developed symptoms of the virus. the prime minister was responding to growing pressure from within the conservative party and beyond, for his adviser to step down. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. why did you not stay in your primary residence, mr cummings, as the government guidelines stated? dominic cummings's family travelled 250 miles away from the family home to durham when his wife already had coronavirus symptoms, citing childcare. the prime minister held him close and face down calls for him to go.

mind yourfingers. i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, andi do not mark him down for that. i believe that in every respect he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. conservative mps have got in touch with us today, prime minister, because they say lots of their constituents are angry. they feel that allowing somebody who was already ill to travel 250 miles across the country breaches at least the spirit of your guidance. hand on heart, can you really say this didn't breach the spirit of your guidance? what i can tell you is that i think when you look at the guidance, when you look at the particular childcare needs that mr cummings faced at the time, it was reasonable of him to self—isolate, as he did, for 14 days or more

with his family where he did. some conservative mps are saying, prime minister, this defence that dominic cummings behave responsibly, many of their constituents are angry about that because it makes them feel that they were irresponsible in not breaching guidelines and going somewhere perhaps close to their family during this lockdown, and they feel insulted by that. i can totally get why people might feel so confused and, as you say, so offended by the idea that it was one thing for people here and another thing for others, but really, having looked at what happened, having looked at his intentions and what he was trying to do for the good of his family, i really think most people will understand what he was doing. the uk was placed into lockdown with strict limitations on travel on the 23rd of march. the last time dominic cummings was seen before developing covid—i9 symptoms was in

downing street on the 27th of march. durham police had reports that an individual had travelled from london to durham on the 31st of march. the following day, a police officer spoke to dominic cummings's father at his fatherrequest. dominic cummings returned to london on the 14th of april. downing street say that dominic cummings and his family were hunkered down at an adjacent property to his parents in durham. the bbc has spoken to a member of the public who said he saw mr cummings at barnard castle on april the 12th, before he returned to london. at that time, the government messaging was clear — stay at home. i am content that at all times during his isolation, actually on both sides of that period, he behaved responsibly and correctly. some conservatives, including those who have crossed swords with dominic cummings in the past, are focused on getting him out of number ten.

it is because of dominic's slogans around these rules that mums and dads, grannies and grandpas across the country will have felt that they had to stay at home. i think our strong messages about social distancing, stay at home, makes sacrifices and we are all in this together have become dilutive. he set rules that everybody else has to abide by. he has broken the rules and has to go. the prime minister took a nakedly political decision to shift the rules so that his political adviser would be safe. this afternoon, police were seen at mr cummings's property in london. there were security concerns when he was in durham. cummings seems secure for now but many mps are worried that faith in the government's guidelines are a lot more shaky. the leader of the labour party sir keir starmer — the official opposition in the uk — has given his reaction to today's developments.

this was a huge test of the prime minister, and he hasjust failed that test. he has not sacked dominic cummings, he has not called for an investigation and the british with contempt. millions of people across the country have made the most agonising choice is not to visit relatives, some of whom were ill, dying, not to go to funerals. they deserve better answers than they got from the prime minister today. the government argument is that dominic cummings was doing what was right for his family to make sure that his child had proper childcare if he fell ill, is that not a reasonable excuse fell ill, is that not a reasonable excuse and would you not do the same? that's not a reasonable interpretation of the rules and the prime minister knows that. millions of people have not done the same and that's why this is such an important issue. millions have not done that and he has done it. one rule for the advisers and another will for everybody else. you have stopped

short so farfor calling everybody else. you have stopped short so far for calling for him to resign or be sacked, have you changed your mind on that? if i were prime minister i would sack him, there must be an investigation is what has happens, but that's what i would have done. i'm joined now by stephen bush — political editor at the new statesman who's in east london, and anne mcelvoy, senior editor at the economist. did the prime ministers make the right decision to stand by dominic cummings? i guess the proof in the pudding will be in the eating. a majority of people according to the polls thought when it first story came out, so before the story about barnard castle came out that the first story was a majority of people wa nted first story was a majority of people wanted him to go in a large majority felt he had broken the rules, but some of those people clearly felt that people occasionally make m ista kes that people occasionally make mistakes and particularly when they are concerned about their children and refined with him staying. we know it tends to happen when the

public thinks one thing in government sinks another if there is a stall and the end of the stall ships stays intact in sells unhappily and sometimes it holds below the water line. we will know whether or not was was the right call but considering that it does not feel to me like the government could have had it issuing a statement and sometimes they will make mistakes dominic cummings made a mistake and then that other he resigns for bridging and bring her back later or an apology would have sufficed. in some ways the reason why i think he's made the wrong call is the risk is fairly large and i'm not convinced there's much of a reward. would it have been better to put the prime ministers to say pa rents put the prime ministers to say parents make mistakes because they do so because of the love of their

children and can we get on with it? prime minister can only do that if dominic cummings had accepted he made a mistake. his response was that he acted reasonably and legally. once he made the defence as to acting reasonably and legally i would have guessed that he said i don't have anything to apologise for and that would be an odd position to be put in. also very independent character so is unlikely to bend. you say he's an independent character, he's also an employee. four shots is his boss. i'm suggesting there's some characters that you could get the script and read this out and i'm not sure that that would be the way of operating. i think you come down to something apart from these semantics about what it is to be reasonable. charger truly be a public opinion remains that this is a moment which

government has seem to favour the warand government has seem to favour the war and course of action or set of excuses for this close to the prime ministerenter excuses for this close to the prime minister enter the another for the re st of minister enter the another for the rest of the population. it's reasonable to point out that the distances involved is not the quickest place to get from a to b. this is an area under the guidance, the conservative party has made great leaps forward. and i on what is the public response, not what is twitter saying, or poor shots about the public at large. particularly in those areas. you mentioned that vote come the 2019 general election that borisjohnson come the 2019 general election that boris johnson and dominic come the 2019 general election that borisjohnson and dominic cummings w011 borisjohnson and dominic cummings won by appealing to those northern voters, stephen bush also won the brexit referendum that proves twice in the course of three years that they had a real read on the public

mood, both of these men. have they got it wrong this time? if winning an election menu never got it wrong we would never have a new government, would we? david cameron w011 government, would we? david cameron won the first parliamentary majority in 22 years for the conservative party and a year later lost the referendum. tony blair was once an election winning dynamo and even his admirers would have to concede he perhaps lost his touch a tad towards the end. and this is another moment in the life of government where they start to lose touch. this is five or six months after they 180 seat majority but again tony blair left power two years after winning a 50 seat majority. did you have a point? is an interesting status question here. talk about dominic cummings, and the headlines are written as if he is, he is very important indeed

in chief adviser, but the emphasis is on adviser. it's interesting contrast perhaps with robert the housing minister and secretary of state for housing which is rather important cabinet figure does not so well known who was also having his difficulties we shall say the letter of the rules are from the lockdown. and we are at this point where we see can we pose the question whether is the senior adviser and you think it's more responsible with boris johnson for shifting the sands of election to referendums in britain that many ministers are then to be treated pretty much as if a minister should be treated, or is it a separate category and be remember that there's always storms and squalls around advisers. has this changed to the extent that he's in separate category? we will continue

this conversation elsewhere. thank you to anna and stephen. we can talk now to stephen reicher, who is a member of the spi—b, an expert advisory group on behavioural science, which supports sage — who are the government's scientific advisers. your reaction to the prime minister prospect decision to stand by dominic cummings? dismay. we've been putting various pieces of advice to government and the first is that for there to be adherence to the measures to contain the virus and of the most important things is trust. and you can't have trusted people have a sense of their being different rules for them and different rules for them and different rules for us. dominic cummings, for it may be all sorts of reasons, he did buy that the rules

andi reasons, he did buy that the rules and i think is a very strong sense that standing by dominic cummings what we are being told is there's one rule for the government and another rule for the rest of the population. my concern is not so much to do with dominic cummings, i'm not particularly bothered what happens to him, it's what happens to the rest of us. if we undermine the unity between the population and the government, if you will lose trust and lose adherence, if they stop complying with the measures which have contained the infection than all of us will lose out because the infection will spike again and many more people will die. with this make you stop providing advice to the sage committee? i will continue providing the best advice that we can in order to do the things that will help the public to pull together. one of the things which has been quite inspiring i think throughout this pandemic has been, if you like some of the discipline and good sense of the public. there

was a while back a few weeks ago a poll that showed that 44% of the population were suffering from lockdown but still observing it. and because of the sacrifices people we re because of the sacrifices people were making it was difficult and people were having real problems. they could not see the parents and sometimes their own children were going hungry. but for the good of the population people stayed at hearing. that's what has put us in a positive situation we are in now or we can begin to think about exiting lockdown. and i think the important thing, the all important thing is we need to trust the public. i think the public hopefully despite this, despite this to put it mildly this hiccup, have got good sense to understand that we still need to show sacrifices in order to overcome the pandemic. let's look at the practical effect on public behaviour for a second. had the story broken at the time it happened in mid

april, in peak lockdown people might have decided what i'm going to start doing that, and that would have changed things dramatically. given that we are now in late may that you andi that we are now in late may that you and i have the right to travel for exercise and we want in england, if people start to loosen up that might not change things significantly?” think it's critical to understand that even as we come out of lockdown is not that the problems are over one the pandemic has gone away, we are using new strategies. shifting from a blunt instrument to lockdown and more targeted measures such as social distancing and hygiene. it's important we adhere to those just like it was important we are here to lockdown. still the issue of trust and adherence is as important if not more important than it ever was

before. in every news conference we see the prime minister or the minister being flanked by a senior scientific or medical adviser. you get the sense that those medical and scientific advisers are being listened to? it's frustrating, sometimes to give advice. to give the advice that we have given. the documents are publicly available, they can go to the website and read them and ask whether the government is heating those were not. just to ta ke is heating those were not. just to take a few pieces of advice we have given them, fairly straightforward it's of advice. 0ne given them, fairly straightforward it's of advice. one is for instance consistency in your messaging. a second one is the importance of equity, everybody having a sense of being treated equally. many of the principles we have put forward very

clearly a nd principles we have put forward very clearly and consistently indeed. yes thatis clearly and consistently indeed. yes that is frustrating. police in hong kong have fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators, protesting china's plans to impose a new security law. police say 120 people have been arrested, after the first mass protests since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the territory. beijing says the legislation will improve people's lives, but campaigners warn fundamental freedoms are being eroded. 0ur china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell reports. activists in their thousands are back on the streets of hong kong, ending the quiet of coronavirus. beijing has introduced new security legislation for the city. they are attempting to resist it. protesters say it elevates acts of dissent and opposition to treason and sedition, potentially meaning serious jail time if you, for example, call for hong kong independence.

we are worried that china's communist party will use the evil law to further suppress hong kong people. following last year's summer of rebellion, more than 7000 protesters have been charged with public assembly and rioting crimes. before the end of the year, they could be accused of trying to overthrow the communist party. china's leaders say the law will mean a better atmosphere for business and that it should be applauded rather than feared. translation: this targets a narrow category of acts that seriously jeopardise national security. it has no impact on hong kong's high degree of autonomy or on the rights and freedoms of citizens. here in beijing, the national people's congress is under way. it is the most important annual political gathering for the chinese communist party. and this time round, china's leaders do feel like they got a

pretty good story to tell with the handling of the coronavirus, and perhaps they thought this would give them cover to almost sneak through new security legislation, and that it wouldn't attract much attention. well, it's certainly attracting a lot of attention in hong kong. hong kong protesters know that in the coming days the legislation will pass through china's rubber stamp congress. then there is little they can do to prevent it coming low. stephen mcdonnell, bbc news, beijing. the coronavirus pandemic has hit several cruise ships across the world — with passengers and crew trapped on board while waiting for permission to dock. the majority of passengers have now been evacuated back to land — but thousands of ship crew are still trapped on several boats. in us waters alone — the coast guard estimates that more than 511,000 crew members are stranded. let's speak now to caio saldanha — a brazilian dj who's been at sea

for more than 65 days. asimple a simple question, how are you? well, i'm doing to make each day day by day. it's really hard to tell how amiin by day. it's really hard to tell how am i in general. i'm doing day by day. right now i'm feeling fine. you've been trying to get home for two months, is that right? yes, that is right. i've already got five dates to come back to brazil, but it was always cancelled. it was really frustrating. what do you do all day on board the ship? well, i stay in

the cabin, i go to eat, i sleep, and i try to do my best to learn something while i'm here, and also speaking to the oppressed and posting on social media about our situation, not only my situation but the situation of all seafarers all over the world. a cruise ship, i imagine if you are a dj is meant to be one of the most enjoyable places in the world. but what are conditions like at the moment during this pandemic? well, a cruise ship is always a very good place for the passengers. but for us, the workers, it's not also good. right now we are trying to make this place as our home but not only our cabinets as we are used to when we are working, but

sometimes it's difficult because we are also feeling that we are stranded to the ship. have you had a chance to actually do some djing for your colleagues just to keep spirits high and keep the mood high?m your colleagues just to keep spirits high and keep the mood high? in the beginning when i first came to the ship on march 1a beginning when i first came to the ship on march 141 beginning when i first came to the ship on march 1a i played three times for the crewmembers here, since we had no guests. i have played there for the crewmembers and multiple parties, but then we started to stop everything since the virus was on board. and i'm here doing just leaving just waiting to go back home. has anybody got sick

on board were all you all 0k? well we got moved to three ships, but in my first ship celebrity infinity we got sick patients, we had isolation and we had one person unfortunately that was disembarked because of the disease. and on the ship i'm down 110w disease. and on the ship i'm down now we don't have any cases can we had crewmembers that were brought here, but they are in isolation. i'm sorry, i have to stop you there. thank you so much for speaking to us. we really appreciate it. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has appeared in court at the start of his long—delayed trial on corruption charges — just days after he was once again

sworn in as premier. he is the first sitting prime minister in israel's history to go on trial in a criminal case. as he arrived at the court injerusalem, mr netanyahu said the case against him was aimed at toppling him in any way possible. translation: parliaments and police and general offices have allied with left—wing media, i call them just not be be, in order to stitch up unfounded and salute senatore cases against me. the object is to topple against me. the object is to topple a strong right wing prime minister. more on our website. and you were watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. hello there. it's been an approving picture throughout the day across much of the country. the early morning club continues to melt away increase the amount of sunshine as high pressure builds back in. and it

looks like it's going to be dry for most with light winds as high pressure m oves most with light winds as high pressure moves across much of the uk. we could see parts of northern ireland and scotland as well still fairly cloudy and breezy across the northern aisles but the letter wins to clear skies could be chillier tonight with the last few nights. temperatures down in single figures for many, mist and fog developing. for monday high pressures back in the driving seat but these weather friends will come into play later in the day across the northwest. the early mist and fog will tend to clear away and a sunny day for most. the cloud and breese will start to pick up across western scotland and northern ireland and the ring will pile in here. the cloud the ring in the wind with the south and east you go very warm around the mid—20s celsius across the southeast. that band of cloud and rain moves its way southeastward since we through the course of monday night. it will be lying across several areas by the

end of the night and because there's more cloud cover with double figures for most. high pressure dominating the scene but this weather front will be light through social areas and bring that end of cloud, very wea k feature and bring that end of cloud, very weak feature and build anything on it, we will start to move south sky is guys brightening up again behind it across scotland and northern ireland. a little bit fresher i think generally across scotland and northern ireland for tuesday around the mid—teens celsius here but still got that warm air mass across southern eastern areas, so 25 or 26 degrees despite that being a bit more cloud around. 0n degrees despite that being a bit more cloud around. on wednesday with the new weather front push into northern ireland and into central and western scotland, could bring further epics the ring here but again much of england or wales and the dry sunny day things to high—pressure and other 112. closer to the mid—teens celsius a little bit higher than for northern ireland. let's look at their area of high pressure will be shifting eastward and started to draw up to the winds in the meal warm air

northwards into scotland. warmer across the board, low 20s in the north and mid—20s for the south.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: did you leave the family home in durham? the prime minister bris johnson stands by his chief advisor, rejecting calls for his resignation over allegedly breaking coronavirus lockdown rules. according to mrjohnson, dominic cummings was "following instinct" in travelling over 250 miles, for childcare, when his wife showed coronavirus symptoms. i believe that in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with