hello. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. at least 30 people have been killed, many of them schoolgirls, in a militant attack in the afghan capital, kabul. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has said it's the will of the scottish people to have another independence vote — after her party won parliamentary elections. for borisjohnson — or, indeed, for anyone else — seeking to block the right of the people of scotland to choose our own future. europe's leaders resist calls by india's prime minister to waive patents for vaccines, despite the country's worsening covid crisis.

and bits of china's rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back to earth in the next few hours, but should we be worried? hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. officials in afghanistan say at least 30 people have been killed and more than 150 others injured in a blast near a school in the capital, kabul. some reports have put the death toll as high as 55. many of those who died were schoolgirls who had just finished class and were streaming out of the gates at the time of the attack. most of the people living in the district in western kabul

are part of the shia hazara community, who have been targeted repeatedly in recent years by the islamic state group. the taliban have condemned the attack. our correspondent secunder kermani has more details. panic, fear and bloodshed outside the school gates. the explosions took place just as students were making their way home — many of those killed girls and young women. inside a hospital, relatives search body by body for their loved ones, whilst outside, a desperate wait for news. "oh, my god, my god," this woman cries. "two of my daughters were studying there." one of them is injured, the other is missing. the islamic state group is likely to be behind the bombing. although less powerful in afghanistan than the taliban, their attacks here are typically even more brutal and they repeatedly

targeted this community, afghanistan's shia hazara minority. violence has been flaring across the country, with the taliban stepping up assaults on the afghan government, whilst us and international troops begin a final withdrawal. in this latest atrocity, so many lives cut too short, and for those who have survived, an increasingly uncertain future. secunder kemani, bbc news. ali doshi is a university student who lives near the school at the centre of the attack. he describes how the terror unfolded. i was heading home — and on the way to home, i received this news that a school was attacked. and what i did, i called my family members to make sure that my sisters are safe. and then once i confirmed

that they were safe at home, in the middle of the way, because my friends were with me, he received this news that his sisters are not back home yet. so we got out of the car and searched for their sisters, hospitals and hospitals. what we saw in hospital was extremely horrible. like, all the families... we saw concerned families looking for their family members. the school students were brought in the ambulances. in some hospitals, there were the students who lost their life and they were brought into the hospital. so it was really horrible. it was not something that...

one of the attacks happened in the hazara community. previously, in the last three years, there had been attacks on schools, hospitals and maternity hospitals. the terrorist groups targeted children, students and young people. in today's attack, the target was school students, particularly girl school students, and the attack happened at around the time they were heading back to home, after they did their classes. susannah george is the afghanistan and pakistan bureau chief for the washington post. shejoins me now from kabul. thank you very much for your time. talking to us about this horrific attack. what more do you know about what happened and give us a sense of

what happened and give us a sense of what the feeling is like on the streets there in the wake of this attack? ., . , streets there in the wake of this attack? ., ., , ~ ., , ., . attack? for many afghans, violence is a art attack? for many afghans, violence is a part of — attack? for many afghans, violence is a part of daily _ attack? for many afghans, violence is a part of daily life, _ attack? for many afghans, violence is a part of daily life, but _ attack? for many afghans, violence is a part of daily life, but there - is a part of daily life, but there are some attacks, like this one that happened today, that seem to break through the noise and really rattle the nation. there were similar attacks on the university in kabul in recent months, and attack about a year ago on a maternity ward, in which some of those killed were newborns, that had similar feelings to the weight of this attack is attack has kind of shaken kabul and the rest of the country. it comes as there is an uptick in violence across afghanistan. we are about a week in from the beginning of the full withdrawal of us and nato forces, but most of the violence we have seen up until now has been telling been attacks on honourable

—— vulnerable provincial capitals, attacks that have been aimed at checkpoints, and outposts, at villages that are on the edges of capitals, the only other similar large—scale bombing that we have seen since the withdrawal began was actually on the eve of the withdrawal. it was also near an educational institution. it also went unclaimed. no group claimed responsibly for it. and so this attack here in kabul today is just compounding fears among afghans that the instability and insecurity that's being created by the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country is going to lead not only to tele— been attacks in rural areas of the country but also lead to more large—scale bombings like this one inside urban areas —— taliban attacks. figs this one inside urban areas -- taliban attacks.— this one inside urban areas -- taliban attacks. �* , ., taliban attacks. as we mentioned in the introduction, _ taliban attacks. as we mentioned in the introduction, many _ taliban attacks. as we mentioned in the introduction, many people - taliban attacks. as we mentioned in j the introduction, many people living in this part of couple are part of

the hazara community —— part of kabul. it has its claims or sponsor ability for this?— ability for this? islamic state has not et ability for this? islamic state has not yet claims — ability for this? islamic state has not yet claims possibly _ ability for this? islamic state has not yet claims possibly before i ability for this? islamic state has. not yet claims possibly before this attack. but the islamic state has claimed or sponsor ability for similar attacks in this neighbourhood of kabul —— claimed responsibility. the islamic state views shias as heretics. western kabul is a shia neighbourhood. every similar attacks have been carried out like this one, targeting civilians, targeting very vulnerable groups of people, that had been claimed by the islamic state, but usually those claims come pretty quickly, and effects we have not seen a claim for my —— claim from islamic state yet...

it will go unclaimed. the afghan government has already blamed the taliban for this attack. the maturity down the maternity ward attack last year, the united states blamed the taliban for that. —— the men tenant maternity ward. the... allows the islamic state to carry out attacks like this. ultimately the taliban are responsible. there is a lot of... there is not good to be any clarity any time soon about who is behind this attack.— behind this attack. finally, what are the likely — behind this attack. finally, what are the likely repercussions - behind this attack. finally, what are the likely repercussions of l are the likely repercussions of this? ~ , are the likely repercussions of this? ~', ,. ., this? likely repercussions are that afu hans in this? likely repercussions are that afghans in cobble _ this? likely repercussions are that afghans in cobble are _ —— in kabulare —— in kabul are going to batten down the hatches even more for some leading up to the 1st of may there

was incredible anxiety and the afghan capital, especially in urban areas across the country, where people did not know what was going to happen next once the withdrawal began. after the withdrawal began, we saw this onslaught of taliban attacks across the country, and we do not know how long that tempo of attacks are going to last, so i think that with attacks like this, these bombings commit a bombing in cobble like this, it is just going to make afghans even more concern for the future and what is going to mean for them once the withdrawal is complete and us and nato forces are completely gone from the country —— this bombing in kabul. completely gone from the country -- this bombing in kabul.— this bombing in kabul. susannah georue, this bombing in kabul. susannah george. thank— this bombing in kabul. susannah george, thank you _ this bombing in kabul. susannah george, thank you very - this bombing in kabul. susannah george, thank you very much - this bombing in kabul. susannah george, thank you very much for that. susannah george, afghanistan and pakistan bureau chief for the washington post. more than 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. it follows similar unrest on friday during which 200 more people

needed medical treatment. tensions have been rising for weeks over proposals to evict palestinian families from their homes in a neighbourhood where israeli settlers are laying claim to the land. much of the unrest has been taking place at the al—aqsa mosque compound, where israeli troops used rubber bullets and stun grenades against crowds throwing stones and bottles. european union leaders have sidestepped a plea by the indian prime minister, narendra modi, to waive patents on coronavirus vaccines. they have offered instead to cooperate more. india is currently in the grip of a devastating second wave, which yesterday alone left more than 4,000 people dead. speaking after the eu summit in portugal, european commission president ursula von der leyen said boosting output at existing plants was the key rather than waiving patents on vaccines. i think we should be open to this discussion. but when we lead this discussion, there needs to be a 360—degree view on it because we need vaccines now

for the whole world. and in the short and medium—term, the ip waiver will not solve the problems, will not bring a single dose of vaccine in the short and medium—term. so what is necessary in the short—term and medium—term? first of all, vaccine sharing, secondly, export of vaccines that are being produced, and the third is investment in increasing the capacity to manufacture vaccines. ursula von der leyen. our correspondent devina gupta is in delhi. she explained how hard it is to get a vaccine in india. and even as the debate over lifting the patent continues, in this part of the world, it's literally a race against time because many states have been looking at vaccine shortage.

currently it has two doses, oxford—astrazeneca covishield and indian—made covaxin, which are available for the public. it's also testing the russian sputnik v vaccine, to roll it out in the coming days, but the struggle to even book an appointment is so real. i've been trying through the day, and i've been talking about this. look at this — at least five days in a row are booked, be it a government school turned into a vaccine centre or a private hospital. in india's capital delhi, i couldn't get a vaccine appointment, and delhi's chief ministerjust today has said that the city needs at least 230 million doses if it wants to vaccinate everyone within the span of three months. i've also spoken to several people who have been luckier than me to book an appointment, and they say the struggle just begins from there, because they have to step out of their home in the covid hotspot, arrange transport to reach a vaccine centre, and then there's a wait forfour to five hours — again, in a very risky environment —

and public health experts have said it's a similar scenario in many cities, which is putting lives at risk again. devina gupta reporting. here in the uk capital, the labour candidate sadiq khan has been re—elected as the mayor of london. he beat the conservative candidate shaun bailey with 55% of the vote. let's speak to our correspondent, adina campbell, who is at london city hall, where they were announcing the results. a really lovely view of london behind you there. and this result coming through a little bit later than expected. take us through what's been happening in the last couple of hours.— couple of hours. yes, we were expecting _ couple of hours. yes, we were expecting the _ couple of hours. yes, we were expecting the result _ couple of hours. yes, we were expecting the result a - couple of hours. yes, we were expecting the result a couple i couple of hours. yes, we were l expecting the result a couple of hours ago, but a short time ago it was finally announced here at city hall in london, 19 of the 20 candidates stepped into the room to listen to that final declaration, and it was confirmed that sadiq khan has indeed secured a second term as mayor of london. there were cheers

as the results were read out by his team, a result that many people were expecting, but not the race that many people had protected because it was much closer than first anticipated. the conservative candidate shaun bailey doing much better than what people had first thought. and it was very close at times between the conservative and labour, but a sigh of relief tonight for sadiq khan, who will be able to continue work as the london mayor again for the next three years or so. labour, of course, is dominant in london, so it would've been very much a shock if you are not secure the second term, but much closer than what people were expecting, next question is how labour and how sadiq khan will take london out of this covid pandemic, because bits of society here are starting to open up, it will be a closer watch on jobs, how the economy gets back on track here and how we can start to rebuild london. and particularly because thisjob is rebuild london. and particularly because this job is so highly regarded, it is one of the top jobs

in british politics, people will be wondering how london fares up on the global stage and how sadiq khan can encourage more investors into the capital and taurus into the capital, just out of this covid pandemic, so we now know that sadiq khan will be very much looking forward to a second term as the mayor of london and we finally have the results tonight, confirmed here at city hall. ., ~ tonight, confirmed here at city hall. . ~ , ., tonight, confirmed here at city hall. ., ~' , ., , tonight, confirmed here at city hall. . ~ ,, , . tonight, confirmed here at city hall. . ~ , . ~ ., hall. thank you very much. adina campbell — the headlines on bbc news: at least 30 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a blast near a school in the afghan capital, kabul. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, says it's the will of the scottish people to have another independence vote — after her party won parliamentary elections. and let's get more on that story now. the scottish national party has won an historic fourth term in office

but has fallen short of an overall majority byjust one seat. but there will still be a clear majority at the parliament in favour of a second referendum on independence, with the scottish greens also backing a vote. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, said another referendum is the will of the country. but uk prime minister borisjohnson said allowing one would be "irresponsible and reckless". our scotland editor sarah smith reports. across scotland, victorious snp candidates are celebrating increasing their votes and winning a remarkable fourth time in government. term in government. kaukab stewart became the first woman of colour elected to the scottish parliament. whilst i may be the first, i will not be the last. and with a pro—independence majority in that parliament, nicola sturgeon says westminster cannot stand in the way of another referendum. all of this risks treating voters in scotland and our entire democratic process as if they simply don't matter, like they arejust a sideshow.

voters are not a sideshow. it is you, not me, not boris johnson, not any politician, but you who are the people that matter. there is simply no democratic justification whatsoever for borisjohnson — or, indeed, for anyone else — seeking to block the right of the people of scotland to choose our own future. alexander burnett, scottish conservatives and unionist party... when the tories held on to aberdeenshire west, the snp's hopes for an outright majority were extinguished. scottish conservatives say it is now time to move on. we need to focus on the issues that will secure scotland's recovery, and that is important for people's jobs, for young people's education, for investing in our nhs after everything they have done throughout this pandemic. there are so many issues we should

be putting to the top of the agenda in scottish politics and the next scottish parliament, but all we are speaking about again is another independence referendum. the scottish greens increased their seats to eight and said the prime minister cannot ignore a result that has delivered a mandate for another referendum. the position of the uk government is verging on being dangerous. they are saying to the people of scotland, there is no democratic path to allow them to make the decision about their own future, and relying instead merely on legal technicalities rather than on any form of political legitimacy. but borisjohnson has made his position clear, telling the daily telegraph, "i think a referendum in the current context is irresponsible and reckless." we could be looking at a constitutional stand—off between edinburgh and london, so what might happen next? if westminster refuses to grant the authority for another independence vote, the snp plan to legislate for one

at holyrood anyway and dare the prime minister to take them to court, if he wants to establish that the scottish parliament cannot have a referendum without his permission. none of that will happen soon. the new snp government will prioritise covid and the recovery for the next few months before they make any moves to try and fulfil their manifesto promise to give voters in scotland a choice over whether they want to leave the united kingdom. service misreporting. —— sarah smith reporting. some of the results in the local council elections in england are still coming in. this is how they currently stand — labour has lost control of six councils, while the conservatives have made 12 gains. with votes happening across scotland, wales and england, reeta chakrabarti looks at some of the key areas that have determined the outcome. in scotland, the focus had been on whether the snp could gain an overall majority. they didn't manage to. they gained these three seats. they took east lothian from labour, they took ayr from the conservatives and they took edinburgh central

from the conservatives, a big gain there. but there was evidence elsewhere in other marginal seats that they were targeting of tactical voting by unionist voters to keep the snp out, so they had a strong night but did not get their overall majority that they were aiming for. now, in wales, the story is a very labour—focused one. labour had a very good night. it equalled its previous best of 30 seats in the senedd. there had been a lot of focus on whether the conservatives could gain seats from labour. they did manage to gain the vale of clywd and they also took brecon and radnorshire from the liberal democrats. but that surge we saw from the conservatives in 2019 in the general election didn't happen. labour managed to gain rhondda from plaid cymru, and that was a big gain for them, a big swing from plaid. now in england, there has been a whole host of local elections,

and here, the story has been of a very strong conservative performance. conservatives gaining seats all over england, including cannock chase, which has never been conservative before. you can also see, conversely, labour had a bad night of it. they lost harlow to the conservatives and they lost southampton to the conservatives. there was a crumb of comfort in the mayoral elections, though, for labour. here, you'll see rather more red on the board. they held doncaster, liverpool, salford amongst others. and in the west of england, they gained the mayoral seat from the conservatives. reeta chakra barti. remnants of a large chinese space rocket are due to plunge back through the atmosphere in the next few hours. us and european tracking sites are monitoring the uncontrolled re—entry of the long march rocket, which was used last month to carry into orbit a section of the permanent chinese space station currently being built. the monitors say the chances

of damage from a ground impact are low, and the chinese foreign ministry say it expects the debris to burn up during re—entry. earlier, professor joanne irene gabrynowicz, from thejournal of space law, spoke to the bbc. she was asked if it was allowed to just let things uncontrollably fall from space. well, it's not a question of whether it's allowed or not. china is a signatory to what's called the outer space treaty and therefore is responsible, internationally responsible, for its object and any harm it may cause. so, since we know this object was launched by a single nation and since there's no dissension about whether somebody else could be responsible for it, china will be responsible for whatever harm it causes. there are non—legally—binding guidelines and there are legally—binding treaties

to require you to use space with due regard toward other space—farers' use of space. so, there is an obligation to be responsible in your actions, but those are international treaty obligations. it's not a set of regulations. a nation is not required to get a licence from anybody. so, it is best practice to use your spacecraft in a way that doesn't cause harm. there is the obligation to avoid harm, but it's very logical that the more actors you have and the more stuff you have and the more that stuff is moving around the planet, the probabilities of things hitting each other and causing more debris increases.

like i tell my students, there is no appeal from the laws of nature. professorjoanne professor joanne gabrynowicz. now for some sport, manchester city have missed a chance to seal the premier league title by losing 2—1 at home to chelsea. they took the lead and then missed a penalty, before marcos alonso won the match for chelsea in injury time. the two sides will meet again in the champions league final. the seven—time formula one world champion lewis hamilton has taken the 100th pole position of his career, for sunday's spanish grand prix. the mercedes driver is the first person to reach that landmark in formula one. next on the list is the former driver michael schumacher with 68 poles in his career. in the next few hours, we're going to see the biggest crowd at a us sporting event since the start of the pandemic. 70,000 fans will pack the at&t stadium in arlington, texas, for the super—middleweight

unification fight between saul "canelo" alvarez and british fighter billyjoe saunders. it will also be a record for an indoor boxing event in the us. you're watching bbc news. after the weather, we'll take a look at tomorrow's front pages in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are rachel cunliffe from the new statesman and john stevens from the daily mail. and here's the weather now with nick miller. hello. after saturday's cloud and rain, somewhat brighter skies around during sunday, but there's every chance you're going to see some wet weather at some stage of the day. really due to the proximity of this area of low pressure, so either showers close to that or indeed along this weather front with still the chance for seeing some outbreaks of rain. certainly more cloud than there will be elsewhere if you're close to that. we're still drawing in some warmer air from the south, so if you do get to see a bit of sunshine, it will actually feel quite pleasant, particularly across south east england

and east anglia, which will see the higher temperatures. but this is where we're starting the day. it's a much milder start than we've had recently, and particularly across england and wales. now, along the weather front i pointed out, some cloud from south west england, south east wales, the midlands and on towards yorkshire. just edging a little bit further east with a chance of a few spots of rain. doesn't look like much more than that for much of the day. close to the low pressure, northern ireland and scotland will see some quite heavy showers, thundery possibly, too. quite blustery, particularly in northern ireland. these are average wind speeds, but gusts here could be over a0 mph or so. and as for temperatures, it will feel a little bit warmer if you do get to see a bit of sunshine during the day, mainly 14—17, but a few spots in east anglia, south east england mayjust get above 20 degrees just depending on how much sunshine there is. but be aware — as we get into the evening, there could be some quite heavy and thundery downpours moving through here, whereas elsewhere overnight and into monday, we will continue with a few showers, particularly across western areas. and just to reinforce the fact that

it's a bit warmer by day and it is overnight as well. these are the temperatures to start things off on monday morning, so there won't be any frost around. that area of low pressure is still, though, close by on monday. in fact, as it will be for the week ahead. and so that's going to mean that there'll be plenty of showers, and this is where we're expecting them to be during monday. some heavy with hail and thunder, particularly towards the west and north. and while some will reach across to eastern areas, it may well be there'll be quite a few showers here around at least during the afternoon for the midlands, east anglia and south east englund. temperatures are fairly close to average for the time of year. it will feel a bit warmer than it has done over the past week if you're in some of that sunshine. there will still be these heavy downpours around, but very noticeably overnight it's not going to be as cold. it will be largely frost—free in the week ahead.

hello. this is bbc news. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment. first, the headlines — labour's sadiq khan is re—elected mayor of london, beating conservative candidate shaun bailey with 55% of the vote. the snp wins an historic fourth term in office. nicola sturgeon says she wants the scottish people to have

the right to choose their future. deputy labour leader angela rayner is removed as party chair after labour's poor performance in the local election results. in wales, labour's mark drakeford remains first minister after his party took half of the 60 seats in the senedd. in other news, dozens of people have been killed, many of them schoolgirls, in a militant attack in the afghan capital, kabul. disruption continues on some of the uk's busiest rail lines. passengers are advised not to travel tomorrow after cracks were found on some high—speed trains. before we look at the papers, let's return to that result announced in city hall in the past hour, where labour's sadiq khan has been re—elected to serve as the mayor of london. here's some of what he had to say after the declaration. i'm a londoner through and through. this city is in my blood. but i'm also a patriotic englishman and a brit who's proud to represent