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. this was a huge test of the prime minister, and he has just 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. israel's prime minister — benjamin netanyahu — appears at the first day of his corruption trial. turkey — which had one of the fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks in the world — says it is turning the tide. 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 advisor, 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 advisor 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 has just 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 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. 0ne rule for the advisers and another will for 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. stephen reicher is a member of the spi—b, an expert advisory group on behavioural science, which supports sage — who are the government's key scientific advisory body. i asked him how he felt at the prime minister's response to the dominic cummings accusations. dismay. dismay, becausei dismay. dismay, because i think that we have 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, one of the most important things is trust. and you can't have trust a people have a sense of them and us, one rule for them and another for and us, one rule for them and anotherfor us. very and us, one rule for them and another for us. very clearly dominic cummings, it might have been for also the reasons, but dominic cummings did violate the rules and i think there is a very strong sense that in standing by at dominic cummings, what we are being told is there is 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 they undermined the unity, if people lose trust and adherence, if they stop complying with multiple measures which have contained the infection and all of us will lose out because the infection will spike again, and many more people will die. will this make you stop providing advice to the sage committee? i will continue providing the best advice that we possibly can in order to do the things that will help the public put together. one of the things which has been quite inspiring, i think, the things which has been quite inspiring, ithink, throughout the things which has been quite inspiring, i think, throughout this pandemic has been, if you like, the discipline and good sense of the public. there was a while back a few weeks ago there was a poll that showed that 44% of the population was suffering from locked down, but still observing it. because of the

sacrifices that people were making it was difficult. people were having real problems. they could not see their parents. sometimes their own children were going hungry, but for the good of the population people stayed at hearing. and that's what has put us in the positive situation we are in now where we can begin to think about exiting lockdown. and i 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 to put it mildly, this hick up have got the good sense to understand that we still need to sacrifices to overcome the pandemic. let's look at the practical effect on public behaviour. had the story broken at the time it happened in mid in peak lockdown people might have decided, well i'm going to start doing that and that would have changed things dramatically. given that we are now in late may commit

you and i have the rights to travel for exercise and we want in england, if people start to loosen up that might not change things significantly? i think it's critical to understand that even if we come out of lockdown it's not that the problems are over is that we are using strategies. we are shifting from the blunt instrument of a lockdown to the more targeted instrument which has more instruments like track and trace and social distancing and hygiene. it's as important that the public continue adhering to those and to lockdown. still the issue of trust and the issue of adherence is as important if not more important than ever was before. and every news conference with either prime minister orflanked by conference with either prime minister or flanked by the senior

scientific or medical adviser. you get the sense that those advisers are being listened to? it's frustrating, sometimes, to give advice commit to give the advice that we have given, and the documents are publicly available. they can go to the website and look at them and they can ask whether the government is heating those were not covered so just to take a few pieces of advice we have given, fairly straightforward advice. 0ne of advice we have given, fairly straightforward advice. one is for insta nce straightforward advice. one is for instance consistency in their messaging. a second one is the importance of equity. if everybody having a sense of being treated equally. a third is an issue of respect for the public. to me, what happened today violates many of those principles, many of the principles we put forward very clearly a nd principles we put forward very clearly and very consistently. and yes that is frustrating. israel's prime minister benjamin neta nyahu 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. tom bateman reports from jerusalem. a giant of israeli politics heads for the defendant bench. it was the day he hoped would never come. it began with protests. two camps, fans and foes. a country divided over benjamin netanyahu. we have a great prime minister, we love him can we support him and we really believe this is a really stupid thing. when he is looking for all the reasons in the world to get away from it, that's not going to happen. grabbing a moment in a courthouse core he lashed out and at prosecutors,

police and the press. translation: what's on trail today is the will of the people. it's delusional. flanked by his top ministers. prosecutors paint a picture of a pm obsessed with his image, doing favours for powerful media bosses to manipulate coverage, and another case is alleged she accepted a supply line of champagne and cigars. it's from the backed up to three deadlocked elections. his rival capitalised on the corruption claims but has nowjoined him in government to tackle coronavirus. judges ruled the is really leader can stay on spm while on trial. a court, shouts loud enough to be heard inside. the prime minister's loyal supporters are out in force and have covered the windows of the courtroom here so that we cannot see what's going on inside. it's a

criminal trial, but a deeply political event. in some ways it feels like a fourth election campaign. his case has become a symbol for how two sides in israel see their country's future. this time as fate lies in the hands of thejudges, and time as fate lies in the hands of the judges, and not time as fate lies in the hands of thejudges, and not the people. 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 residents. 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. another flash point between china and the united states has been china's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in wuhan. in the latest escalation,

china's foreign minister has warned that certain us interests are pushing for ‘a new cold war‘ in their condemnation of beijing. i'm joined now from los angeles california by jonathan pollack, who is a nonresident senior fellow in the center for east asia policy at the brookings institution. has the outbreak excluded old fault lines between china and the united states were created new ones as look to some extent it has created new wins but i think it's reflective of a very grim atmosphere present in the us china relationship. the question is whether or not in this context there would be the possibility for any resumption of tolerable cooperation. in the trumpet ministration seemingly trying to use china —related issues in the upcoming residential campaign. can it powerful superpower like china and the united states

learn to coexist? i guess the short a nswer learn to coexist? i guess the short answer is that they better find ways to coexist. there seems to be these kinds of very accusatory mood at present, love this falls back on established positions and really makes it much more problematic for dealing with issues, including covid—i9. it seems he the chinese are calling for accelerated multilateral cooperations for the world health organisation and the trumpet ministration has basically trashed the who and with threats to withdraw from it. we have situation where both sides are working from their preferred scripts, but fundamentally they are not dealing with one another in the way that they ought to and ought to be able to. looking at hong kong briefly cover that previous british governor

has said about china in general, we should stop being fooled that somehow the end of the all the cow telling there's this great pot of gold waiting for us. it's always been an illusion he said. do you agree? it expectations. there was obviously no credible alternative, but to return hong kong to eat chinese sovereignty. certainly that's not what prime minister thatcher recognised, she recognised that as did many others. the real question is the terms of the relationship. the chinese are bristling and insisting this is their own territory and will set up their own territory and will set up the rules here. they will pass new legislation, it does not necessarily mean to activate something in that context. they are reminding the outside world that they are ultimately the guarantors of all this. it's indicative of the risks both in terms of hong kong centrality and role in finance and the like, and whether the city

becomes diminished in the years to come in ways that are very, very harmful to the citizens of hong kong and beyond that. the chinese have decided not to wait. they will preempt any kind of delays that the chief executive in hong kong has created for them and the passing of this security legislation. the real question is how to the citizens of hong kong respond to, with a chinese make it a statement for the record, if you will, in effect tries to give them some added leverage the matter with the risks might be? 0r them some added leverage the matter with the risks might be? or is that something that really may be a precursor for something something that really may be a precursorfor something much uglier down the road. it's too early to say, but i would have to say that in the current context these are not at all welcome developments and frankly i worry a bit that the mood, particularly when you throw the you we re particularly when you throw the you were knighted states into the

equation escalates the war of words. turkey — which had one of the fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks in the world — says it is turning the tide. the growth in infections has dropped to the lowest level since the country's first case in march. the authorities say a nationwide contact tracing system — which involves almost 6,000 teams — is one of the key weapons in the fight against covid i9. from istanbul our international correspondent 0rla guerin reports. how do you track a virus that sweeps unseen through a city? in istanbul, home to more than 16 million, the answer is — you 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. they've been contact tracing since day one when turkey‘s first case was diagnosed in march. the system is well developed from decades of tracking measles.

it relies on tireless work by doctors and nurses. we are, as a team, feel as if we are in a war. because people forget to go home. they don't, you know, they don't know the timeframes that they're working in. we say ok, eight hours is completed, but they don't care going home because they know this is a duty they have to complete and before it spreads to anyone else. so 1200 tracing teams fan out across the city. we joined them in the heart of old istanbul. so, step—by—step, they track the virus checking in on two flatmates who friend is covid positive. both in their 20s, they are tested on their doorstep. just a day after

developing mild symptoms. translation: we followed foreign news and when we first heard about the virus, we were really scared. but turkey has rallied faster than we thought, much faster than europe and the united states. the doctors are out of their ppe now and everything has been backed 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. and even if they test negative, they will have to remain home for another 1a days. we are keeping the virus out of the streets, that is very important. once we isolate them you know, the virus stop spreading to their friends, to their relatives, to their co—workers. that seems to be working so far. along with widespread testing and partial lockdown is.

the official death toll here is relatively low, around 4300. international experts say turkey has managed to shield its people from a greater disaster. 0rla guerin, bbc news, istanbul. a "once—in—a—decade" storm is battering large parts of australia's west coast. tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without power as phil mercer reports. weather forecasters warned that australia's entire west coast was at risk from a monstrous storm. it's the remnants of tropical cyclone mangga that is combining with a cold front to lash coastal areas with destructive winds, heavy rain and abnormally high tides. the weather bureau said the storm was dynamic and complex. satellite images have shown the scale of the threat. waves up to eight metres have been forecast.

despite the temptation, surfers have been told to stay out of the water. thousands of homes are without electricity after strong winds brought down power lines. residents have been urged not to go outside. properties have been damaged and roofs torn off buildings. perth, a city of 2 million people, hasn't been spared. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. it's been in improving picture through the day across much of the country, the early morning cloud continuing to melt away with the greasy mess of sunshine as high pressure build back in. today 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. you can see widespread clear skies for england and wales come into northern ireland and lots of scotla nd into northern ireland and lots of scotland as well. state fairly cloudy across the norther aisles but

could be chillier tonight and of the last few nights to purchase down in single figures for many, mr for developing for southwestern areas. from under high—pressure back in a travesty but the weather fronts will come into play later in the day across the northwest. little early mystified quilted to clear away very quickly and then it's a sunny day for most. cloud and breeze will start to become pick—up across scotla nd start to become pick—up across scotland and northern ireland and rain will here into the afternoon. temperatures from the mid—teens here in the south and east to go very warm around the mid—20s celsius across the southeast. that band of clouds and rain across the northwest moves its way southeast towards as we head through the course of monday night. we'll be lying across central areas by the end of the night and because there will be more cloud cover and temperatures a little bit more up than double figures for most. into tuesday with live high—pressure largely dominating the scene but this weather fronts will be going through central areas to continue to bring that band of cloud

around him every week future. very barely anything on it. starts to move southeast written skies brightening up across scotland and northern ireland. fresher generally across to state and each of the mid—teens celsius here. so have that warm air mass across southern and eastern areas. 25 or 26 degrees despite there being a bit more cloud around. i was a the weather from pushing to northern ireland and into central and western scotland. for the abrasive ring here but again much of england or wales and other dry sunny day thanks to high—pressure and other warm 12. it will be shifting eastward concerning two draw up southerly winds for the near continent and the drier and warmerair near continent and the drier and warmer air the north into scotland and northern ireland so i think for thursday and friday 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, borisjohnson, stands by his chief adviser, 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 labour party has 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's