this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest developments and analysis here in britain and globally. the uk prime minister's top aide dominic cummings insists he won't resign and defends driving hundreds of kilometres during the height of the lockdown. no, i have not offered to resign. umm... did you ever consider it? no, i have not considered it. president trump commemorates fallen us veterans on memorial day, but he's been criticised for his behaviour over the weekend. the uk government has announced it

will begin to reopen retail venues in june, as long as progress in containing coronavirus continues. and spain says it's going to reopen its borders, lifting the two—week coronavirus quarantine requirement for foreign travellers from july 1. welcome. if you're in the uk, there's one story everyone has been talking about all weekend. there's one story everyone has been that's borisjohnson‘s chief aide dominic cummings taking a 400 kilometre trip to durham at the height of lockdown restrictions. today we heard from him in a rare public media appearance. he said he won't resign, despite growing calls for him to and that he didn't regret his decisions. he says he took them because he and his wife feared becoming too ill to take care of their child. here's some of what he said. i can understand that some people will argue that i should have stayed at my home in london throughout. i understand these views. i know the intense hardship and sacrifice the entire country has had to go through.

however, i respectfully disagree. the legal rules inevitably do not cover all circumstances, including those i found myself in. i thought and i think today that the rules including those regarding small children in extreme circumstances allowed me to exercise my judgment about the situation i found myself in, including the way that my london home had become a target and all the complexity of the situation. i accept, of course, that there is room for reasonable disagreement about this. well, prime minister borisjohnson also fronted questions in the past hour at the daily coronavirus briefing. and is still standing by his man. i really feel that it would be wrong of me to try to... to comment further on what he has, people will have to make their mind up, i think he spoke at great length, to me he came across as someone who cared very much about his family and who was doing the best for his family. i think as he said himself,

reasonable people may disagree about some of the decisions. that he took. but i don't think reasonable people can disagree about what was going through his head at the time and the motivations for those decisions. as i say, my conclusion is that i think he acted reasonably, legally and as i said yesterday, with integrity and with care for his family and for others. the central accusation against mr cummings is a simple one. that he defied what we all saw as a clear and enforceable lockdown rule, "stay at home." and that you must stay at home especially if you have virus symptoms, because if you don't, people will die. despite that advice, while they were both concerned they may be infected, mr cummings says that he and his wife drove 400 kilometres to county durham to his parent's house to self—isolate, because they needed child care support from family. but mr cummings stressed

that he did not break the lockdown rules, at one stage even pointing to the part of the guidance that justified his actions. the guidance says, "if you are living with children..." and i'm reading out the actual guidance. "if you are living with children, keep following the advice to the best of your ability. "however, we are aware that not all these measures will be possible. "what we have seen so far is that children with corona appear to be "less severely affected, it's nevertheless important to do "your best to follow this guidance." now, it... and you know as well as i do, that there are... that the deputy chief medical officer has discussed this, if you have got small... if you've got a child that is four years old, and neither of you can look after him, the guidance does not say you have just got to sit there. so, i think i... as i have said, i think i have behaved reasonably in all of, given all the circumstances and the different things i had to try and weigh up.

here's newsnight‘s policy editor lewis goodall‘s analysis of that. mr cummings also confirmed that towards the end of his isolation period in durham, he drove with his wife and child to barnham castle. he says it was "to test his eyesight" which had been hazy for a few days, to make sure he could safely make the journey back to london. the journey isn't a short one. and mr cummings explanation has only lead to more questions. the bbc‘sjon sopel tweeted...

here's mr cummings again. i'd been very ill on the sunday, the 12th, i said to my wife let's pack up the car and go back. i had been cleared by the doctors to go back to work. and she said and i think it was perfectly reasonable, a few days ago you could barely stand up. you said that your eyesight was weird and it seemed to be weird. we should notjust embark on a 270 whatever it is mile journey and then end up finding halfway through that you actually can't drive that far. so... we should get in the car and make sure, see if you can actually drive. the only way to avoid this problem would have been to just say i'm going to stay in durham which i could have done that i did not think was the right thing to do. so who is dominic cummings? he is mrjohnson‘s closest political advisor in number 10 downing street. he's made his career by positioning

himself as defying conventional wisdom and trying to upset the established order. he was the key architect behind the successful vote leave campaign of the 2016 referendum, known for coming up with the slogan "take back control" mr cummings was so prominent in that campaign that he was portrayed by bennedict cumberbatch as the protaganist in the emmy nominated tv drama. brexit: the uncivil war. and today's public statement also highlights his importance in the government. special advisors are rarely at the centre of such a big controversy. and rarely seen in front of a camera. media discretion is very much part of their code of conduct. professor of social policy, ulster university quoted paragraph 14 of the special advisor code of conduct... "special advisers must not take public part in political controversy. "they must observe discretion and express comment with moderation, "avoiding personal attacks, and would not normally speak "in public for their minister or the department."

dominic cummings' actions and the defence by borisjohnson have prompted a massive public response. mp's have been posting some of the letters they've received. none are likely to be more powerful than this from john wilson, seven paragraphs of controlled fury. he writes... he goes on...

he gave the bbc his reaction to mr cummings explanation. i got the distinct impression that the rules and the law are different depending on which side of the front door of number 10 downing street you're standing on. i felt that there are different standards in different rules for people who are in that area. than for people like me and my friends and my family. well, members of borisjohnson‘s cabinet have shown their support for mr cummings throughout. following mr cummings statement. foreign secretary dominc raab tweeted this...

while chancellor of the duchy of lancaster michael gove said... but at least 20 conservative backbench mps have joined opposition and public calls for mr cummings to resign. so many people have expressed their concern about the manner in which mr cummings not only behaved in the interest of his son, which is understandable, but in the way that he floated flauted his own rules. there are thousands of people all over the country who have had childcare problems. my inbox is absolutely bloated with white anger, with real fury from constituents from across the political spectrum, from across the different professions and jobs in north dorset. absolutely furious. that they have abided by the rules and regulations, as i urged them to do, as the government told them to do,

to save the nhs and save lives and keep people safe. and they feel that they have been really taken or played for fools. i've always thought that dominic should be kept out of number ten, i'm sorry to say and ijust think that this will keep rolling on and getting worse until he goes. well, joining me now is our political correspondent rob watson. the address was designed to provide a nswe i’s the address was designed to provide a nswers to the address was designed to provide answers to questions that were circulating over the last few days for dominic cummings. that he do the job intended, did you think? the big question. you don't hold back, do you? i guess a simple way to answer it is you? i guess a simple way to answer itisi you? i guess a simple way to answer it is i think for those people who think that what mr cummings dead was unreasonable, and exemplified the whole idea that there is one rule for people who live in downing street or working downing street and one rule for everyone else, i don't think his expedition well have changed many minds. for those who we re changed many minds. for those who were more sympathetic to mr

cummings, they will say yes, i think he has done some explaining for me. if you were to then expand that thought, what happens next, does he survive? i think that pens on two things. i think it depends on levels of public anger, they continue to be high, a lot of emotion out there, hypocrisy of the government does that feed through. from ordinary people to that members of parliament, particularly conservative mps. that will put pressure on the prime minister, and the second thing is what the government are hoping, now they want people to focus on the next stages in the virus crisis which is their hopes and efforts to ease the lockdown in the coming days and weeks. and i don't know. i don't what will work out but those of the dynamics. that would be my next question. whether or not we think enough has been said today that the spotlight will now shift onto the

main task at hand which is of course dealing with this pandemic?” main task at hand which is of course dealing with this pandemic? i think it probably well in the sense that u nless it probably well in the sense that unless there are more details to come up about particular trip then you can sort of see that news stories have a certain cycle and they run out. in a way i don't think that's necessarily the issue for the government because i'm sure things will start to move on, the opening of retail outlets, but i think the issue that will be lacking for the government of the us there this issue of public trust and credibility. so you may see fewer stories in the newspapers about what mrcummings has and stories in the newspapers about what mr cummings has and has not been up to but i think what you might, i sort of a background noise of people saying why should i listen to the government on this? why should i stay and why should i follow this instruction? he didn't. i think that the danger they face, rather than necessarily more twists and turns of this particular story. i don't what

you thought about us listening to borisjohnson you thought about us listening to boris johnson an hour after you thought about us listening to borisjohnson an hour after dominic cummings spoke today, you got the sense that he really wanted to hammer home yet again that message of the government not to be overshadowed by what has happened today in the rose garden at downing street? of course. that's what governments do, right? they want the public to move on and the journalists, the media, to move on to the area they are happy talking about. and that's perfectly understandable and in the case of something quite as serious as the covid—i9 crisis, obviously lots of people will agree. but i think what you will still have scenes coming to uk politics in the last few weeks it has been not just uk politics in the last few weeks it has been notjust this crisis, but that increasing criticism of the government. when you have the initial crisis and by and large people rallied behind the government, opinion poll ratings are high, that sort of phases over. people are and many would see its

highly legitimate, questioning the governments handling, did they do well enough on testing? did they do well enough on testing? did they do well enough on testing? did they do well enough and protective gear for health workers? was the uk too slow to bring in a lockdown? all of those sort of questions it is going back not quite to business and politics as usual, but it's a bit more of that. thank you very much for the update. (00v )we'll be live in the us where commemorations are under stay with us on 0ustide source, still to come... we'll be live in the us where commemorations are under on memorial day and president trump is criticised for his behaviour over the weekend. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, has said that mr cummings should be sacked. here's some of what she said. i think he has come to their own judgment and the reason why i think that matters is that the consequences are potentially so serious. as we go into the next phase of dealing with this crisis,

starting to lift lockdown restrictions and rely less on the letter of the law and more on guidance and appeal to people is good judgment, then trust in the advice we are giving and the reasons we are giving that advice is really important. and people, fa get any sense it's one rule for them and another for people in authority it will become very difficult. the sacrifices people have made over the last few weeks are immense. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. the uk prime minister's top aide dominic cummings insists he won't resign and defends driving hundreds of kilometres during the height of the lockdown.

next, to the us. the covid—i9 death toll there is nearing 100,000. it currently stands at 97,850, according tojohns hopkins university. today, though, it's memorial day there — that's an annual holiday that honours those who have died serving in the military. these pictures show president trump and the first lady participating in a wreath laying ceremony at the arlington national cemetery in virginia. from there, they went to baltimore, to give a speech. here's some of it. in recent months, our nation and the world have been engaged in a new form of battle against an invisible enemy. once more, the men and women of the united states military have answered the call to duty and raced into danger. tens of thousands of servicemembers and national guardsmen are on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus.

caring for patients, delivering critical supplies, and working night and day to safeguard our citizens. mr trump's trip to baltimore comes despite the mayor of the city having said this the day before. i would like to make one final plea to the president to revisit his travel plans. i just to the president to revisit his travel plans. ijust told all residents not to go out unless it is for essentialjobs. if residents not to go out unless it is for essential jobs. if they residents not to go out unless it is for essentialjobs. if they see the present go out for nonessential tasks, why can't they? x the same reasons they should not take on tested medicine for the disease. again, i hope the president cancelled his trip to the baltimore and shows true leadership by serving as an example to the people of our country. in contrast, the governor of maryland, the state baltimore is in, did welcome the president's visit, saying that now more than ever we need to reflect on america's heroes. on that note, that's something the president has been accused of not doing over the weekend. this is an article in

the washington post. here's a short selection of what mr trump retweeted over the weekend, tweets mocking the former georgia candidate for governor stacey abrams's weight, ridiculing house speaker nancy pelosi's looks, i think we are able to show these tweets... and one calling hillary clinton a very offensive word we won't repeat here. he also tweeted a conspiracy theory long debunked that a television host who he has feuded with may have killed a woman. it's notjust one newspaper. here's the new york daily news on sunday... the president has responded...

julia manchester is a political reporterfor the hill. shejoins me from florida. trump going to baltimore despite mayor asking him not to. what did he make of that and the idea he was not adhering to social—distancing rules he initially spoke about? i'm not surprised he went to baltimore. throughout this entire pandemic, president trump, while following some guidelines has kind of almost made guidelines for himself. we have seen that those around him of all worn masks, something his own coronavirus task force have recommended all americans do. however last week we saw the president travelled to michigan and for most of the trip you did not wear a mask despite being asked to do so. i'm not surprised that he

went to baltimore despite being told not to. i think another good thing to point out about that is that it was a democratic mayor that asked him not to come so i think he was, partisanship would have gone against that. i think this shows that president trump wants to not only make his own guidelines and rules about this pandemic but he wants to almost put on a front—end wants to show that the us somehow getting back to normal. he wants the us to open despite the fact that we are nearing where we are at 100,000 deaths from the virus. there also criticisms levelled for him playing golf, not marking memorial day as he should. we also had a number of pictures coming in of people holding weekend parties. memorial day often signals the start of the summer holidays in america and this was the scene in missouri, packed as you can see with partygoers. clearly not social—distancing. i think we can

also show you this, daytona florida. state police intervene to disperse unauthorised crowds at i gathered dayto na, unauthorised crowds at i gathered daytona, this was taken on saturday. incredibly difficult to implement social—distancing when you are seeing pictures like this in a number of states in america? incredibly difficult and i'm actually 20 minutes south of the taylor beach and i can tell you on the shore right now, it's obviously raining right now here, not many people on the beach. —— daytona beach. yesterday there were lots of traffic and people moving in crowds, getting to be on the shore here and the united states, part of the united states and i think it shows that people seem to think that once two months has passed, they are able to go freely about and live their lives however we are still seeing local and government officials say hold on, let's put on the brakes right now. we need to continue to have these social—distancing

measures, where armas can be smart about this because in the south—eastern portion of the united states where we have seen a lot of states and cities start to open up earlier than other parts of the country, there could be a second wave in the summer or the fall so i think we will see the results or i hope we don't see the results of this but we could see a very dire picture here in a couple of weeks. thank you very much for that update. the uk has announced it will begin to reopen retail venues in june, as long as progress in containing coronavirus continues. the prime minister borisjohnson made the announcement a few minutes ago. today, i want to give the retail sector notice of our to reopen shops so they too can get ready. so i can announce that it's our intention to allow outdoor markets to reopen from june one, subject to all premises markets to reopen from june 1, subject to all premises being made covid—19 secure, as well as car showrooms which often have significant outdoor space where it is generally easier to apply social—distancing.

we know that the transmission of the virus is lower outdoors. and that it is easier to follow covid secure guidelines in open spaces. that means we can allow, we can also allow outdoor markets to reopen in a safe way that does not risk causing a second wave of the virus. then from the 15th ofjune, we intend to allow all other nonessential retail ranging from department stores to small independent shops, to reopen. again, this change will be contingent upon progress against the five tests and will only be permitted for those retail premises which are covid—19 secure. countries across europe are continuing to ease their coronavirus lockdowns. on monday gyms and pools began reopening in spain,

germany, iceland, and italy. spain has also announced it will lift a requirement for foreign tourists to undergo a two—week quarantine from july 1. under current restrictions, visitors from abroad must isolate themselves for two weeks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. spain's foreign minister had previously said the measure would be relaxed injuly, without specifying the date. greece has also begun lifting quarantine restrictions in an attempt to boost its flagging tourism industry. greeks are once again able to travel freely to the country's islands. the return of domestic travel is an important step towards restarting the wider tourism industry, which makes up at least a fifth of the greek economy. ferry services to the islands are operating with reduced capacity, to ensure social distancing, and passengers are having their temperatures checked. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter,

i'm babitatv. we have had warm sunshine today across england and wales but the highest temperatures were in the south over the next few days we will see some of that warm air we circulate around our area of high—pressure and increasingly that warmerair high—pressure and increasingly that warmer air often northwards so temperatures will be rising quite a few degrees for many others. today's top temperature reached 27 degrees in teddington, just into the 80s and night. that's just into the 80s in fahrenheit. it felt warm in the sunshine with light winds, and just down the road from teddington, this is how the sunny skies looked in the hampton area about three miles away. now, towards the north west of the uk, it clouded over in both northern ireland and scotland through the afternoon, and this cloud is a cold front. it's been bringing some rain across northern ireland and scotland.

as the front moves into our area of high pressure overnight, the front weakens. so, we could see a few patches of rain perhaps getting into northern england and north wales, but it won't amount to much at all. for many of us, it will become dry overnight, and it will be mild night as well, temperatures 10—14 degrees. tomorrow, our weather front continues to push southwards. remember its weak, so just areas of cloud working in across england and wales, and for some across central and eastern parts, there might be quite a nice sunrise to start the day. through the afternoon, the cloud thins further, so bright or hazy sunny spells getting through widely across england and wales, and it's going to be warm again, with temperatures in the low to mid—20s. now, for the far north of england, northern ireland and scotland, there'll be more sunshine around through the afternoon. a fresher feel to the weather, but still feeling warm in the sunshine, highs of 17—20 celsius. through wednesday, the warmer air starts to reci rculate and push northwards. now, this weak weather front could bring a few splashes of rain to northern ireland, but again not amounting to too much. the fresher air still with us across parts of central and northern scotland, but the slightly more humid

air is in the south. that's where we'll see sunshine and the warmer temperatures, temperatures reaching 20—25 degrees, with some of that warmer air wafting its way into northern ireland through the afternoon. 0n into thursday, the warmer air pushes northwards. now, in scotland, in glasgow, towards the end of the week, we could see temperatures up to 2a degrees. similar weather, actually, into the weekend ahead as well. as for further south, across england and wales, that's where we'll always likely see the highest temperatures, with temperatures peaking at around roughly 27 degrees celsius later on in the week in central england.

this is bbc world news. the headlines:

the uk prime minister's top adviser, dominic cummings, denies doing anything wrong when he drove hundreds of miles to his parents' home during the lockdown. the uk prime minister announces all nonessential retailers can reopen in england from the 15th ofjune. 0utdoor markets and car showrooms will reopen next week. spain says it's going reopen its borders, lifting the two—week coronavirus quarantine requirement for foreign travellers from july the 1st. and greece has also begun easing restrictions to help boost its flagging tourism industry. greeks are once again able to travel freely to the country's islands. stay with us here on bbc world news for all the latest of elements in the uk and around the world. let's remind ourselves of some of the key points from that press