welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: more than 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. it follows similar unrest on friday. at least 30 people have been killed, many of them schoolgirls, in a militant attack in the afghan capital, kabul. sadiq khan wins a second term as london mayor in a result much closer than predicted. europe's leaders resist calls by india to waive patents forvaccines, despite the country's worsening covid crisis. and bits of a chinese space rocket are expected to plunge back to earth in the next few hours. so, should we be worried?

hello and welcome to the programme. we start injerusalem. there have been more clashes between palestinians and israeli police, a day after more than 200 people were injured in some of the worst violence in years at the al—aqsa mosque. fighting broke outjust as tens of thousands of muslim worshippers prayed at the compound to mark the most holy night of ramadan. more than 50 people were injured. gareth barlow reports. stun grenades against stones. palestinian protesters and israeli security forces clashing outside the al—aqsa mosque complex injerusalem's old city, one of the most revered sites in islam. it's also the location of the temple mount, the holiest site injudaism.

the source of the anger — weeks of rising tensions over the potential eviction of palestinian families from their homes in occupied eastjerusalem, which israeli settlers claim as their land. earlier on saturday, roads into the city became gridlocked as israel ramped up security, fearing a repeat of friday's violence. car horns. coaches of muslim worshippers were stopped at checkpoints with cars left abandoned as people trekked uphill to the mosque complex. translation: we saw on social media that our relatives - are being stopped in the street and they're not allowing them to enterjerusalem. we came here voluntarily, without planning or anything. everyone who has a car came to pick up people and help them.

around 90,000 worshippers gathered at the site on saturday for an event marking ramadan, but prayer was soon replaced with protest. officers on horseback clashed with palestinian youths, who lit fires and tore down barricades. monday will see israel's supreme court rule on the legality of the potential evictions, as israelis celebrate jerusalem day. the un, eu, russia and us have called for security forces to show restraint. but depending on the court ruling, palestinianfamilies may feel compelled to express their anger once more. there's a definite fear that the clashes aren't yet over. gareth barlow, bbc news. jalal abukharter is a palestinianjournalist and writer. he was at the al—aqsa mosque. today's scenes were not as violent as yesterday's. today's scenes were at the periphery of the mosque. the provocations

were seen by everyone to have been necessary since the beginning of ramadan, the provocations have led to unrest around jerusalem, along with underlying causes of evictions. what has happened yesterday and last night at al—aqsa have been unprecedented actions by police which led to disruptions to prayers and there was a similar example if you years ago in 2017 where there were provocations —— a few years ago. this was at al—aqsa in jerusalem. there were attempts to calm tensions at the time. we haven't seen any sign of direct government intervention to see what is going on to decrease the tension. i believe the government are not

interested enough to calm tensions because they want to distract from whatever political problems they are facing. political problems they are facina . political problems they are facina. ., ~', political problems they are facina. . ., ., facing. our thanks to jalal abukharter— facing. our thanks to jalal abukharter there. - to afghanistan now. officials say at least 30 people have been killed and more than 150 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'd just finished class and were streaming out of the gates at the time of the attack. 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've repeatedly targeted this community, afg hanistan�*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 far too short. and for those who have survived, an increasingly uncertain future. secunder kermani, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to afghanistan expert madiha afzal, and asked her what we know about who is behind the attack. so, the taliban has overtly

denied responsibility for the attack, but afghanistan's president, ashraf ghani, has blamed the taliban for it. without a ceasefire, it's hard to know. one would have to take the taliban's word for it. that they haven't committed the attack. and it could certainly be the work of isis, as the islamic state group has conducted attacks such as this in afghanistan in the past. but the taliban has as well. and what we do know is that the taliban have intensified their attacks across afghanistan, with more violence, in this past week since the final us withdrawal began than in any other week since last october. and they have shown no interest in reducing violence and coming to the table for peace talks, much less a ceasefire. actually, they have openly threatened journalists as well. so, the taliban, while they may not have conducted this attack, are certainly not innocent in afghanistan in this past week. that is interesting.

given that you have mentioned the us troop withdrawal, where do you think that stands, now? i think that will continue as it has been continuing because — or as it has begun, because of the fact president biden as not conditioned the us troop withdrawal on anything. it is an unconditional withdrawal. and so that is expected to continue. but, i think as it does, you know, again, as i said, in this past week we've seen attacks intensify. we will see a country already sort of in the grip of violence with increased violence. and it will be hard to look away, as much it will be hard to look at, you know, the ramifications in many ways of this war, of this decision, as the us troops are withdrawing. 0k. and this attack in particular is a horrendous and an strikes

at, you know, the very heart of what the taliban and an what is and other groups have been striking at, you know, girls�* education, women's empowerment, western values. our thanks to madiha afzal. the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has asked for talks with scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, after the scottish national party won an historic fourth term in office. although the snp fell one seat short of an overall majority in the scottish parliament, it has backing from the scottish greens to push for a second independence referendum. and 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. the bbc�*s adina campbell was at city hall for the declaration. a big boost for sadiq khan

and his team tonight as it's now been confirmed he will serve a second term as london mayor. 19 of the 20 candidates — that's a record number of candidates since the job was created back in 2000 — were standing in this race, and they were in the room as the results were read out. and a big sigh of relief, cheers, as sadiq khan was confirmed back into the position of london mayor. in terms of the numbers, well, sadiq khan secured 1,206,034 votes while his closest rival, shaun bailey from the conservatives, well, he managed to get 977,601 votes. now, the pressure was really on labour to keep this position because london is very much dominated by labour in terms of political allegiances, so it would have been a bit of a shock if the result had gone in a different direction. but it was much more closely contested than previously predicted — shaun bailey, the conservative candidate, doing much better than what the polls suggested.

and at times, the lead between both shaun bailey and sadiq khan was fairly narrow. saying that, it is sadiq khan's night. he will be spending the next three years as london mayor. it'll be interesting to see how he leads london out of this covid pandemic, because it is about rebuilding london, getting people back intojobs, seeing how the economy can get back on track. and there are some key issues at the heart that really, really matter to londoners — transport, crime and policing, pollution and, of course, housing. so, lots of things to deal with tonight, lots of things going forward for sadiq khan to consider. he will now go on to be the next london mayor again for another three years.

our thanks to adina there. let's get some of the day's other news. two avalanches in the french alpine region of savoie have killed seven people. four hikers died after being engulfed by a snowslide near the ski station of valloire. another three people were killed on mont pourri, 150 kilometres away, when a second avalanche struck. thousands of people in colombia have again joined protests to demand the resignation of president ivan duque. in bogota, cali and other cities, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, after days of clashes that have led to the deaths of almost 30 people. 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 co—operate more. well, india is currently in the grip of a devastating second wave, which yesterday alone killed more than 4,000 people. and 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. 0ur 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 — are looking at a vaccine shortage. 0n the plus side, india is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. currently, it has two doses — 0xford—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 hot spot, arrange transport to reach a vaccine centre, and then there's a wait for 11—5 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. this is bbc news. the main story this hour: more than 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. it follows similar unrest on friday, when 200 people needed medical treatment. thailand has seen a record number of deaths from covid—i9 with cases surging and hospital capacities stretched. until now, the country had managed to largely contain the virus, but this latest outbreak accounts for around half of all cases reported since the start of the pandemic.

i've been speaking to dr rick brown, who's with the world health organization in bangkok. he told me a little more about the situation in thailand. what happened was that there was an upsurge in cases around the end of march, beginning of april which has turned into really a third wave, and as you said, currently there are around 2000 cases being reported today and yesterday, there were 19 deaths. and actually, the reason why there is some pressure on healthcare facilities is because thailand has a policy of admitting every single patient who tests positive for covid—i9, even if they don't have symptoms. and i mean, this makes sense from a public health perspective, as long as there is capacity. that's really interesting because that's quite a strict — strict controls and that, part of that approach, although it must be stretching capacity now, is part of the reason it's

been so successful. what are the other reasons that, up until now, thailand managed to have a handle on this so well? so i think i would point to a few things. one is that they do have very good early warning systems. as i think you probably know, they detected the first case outside of china which allowed them to prepare, to sensitise members of public and clinicians. they also have had years of investment in health systems, so they have one of the longest and field epidemiology training programmes, they have a network of more than 1 million village health volunteers. then next, i would maybe say they have strong cultural norms which helped — so for example, a non—contact greeting. they also have a culture before this event of wearing masks when people have respiratory illnesses. i see, that's really interesting, couple of interesting details, factors specifically as to why it has done so well.

one of the big ways out of it for thailand, all countries, though, is vaccination. briefly, because i'm afraid we are nearly out of time, but where is the country when it comes to vaccination? so thailand made a decision early on to invest in establishing domestic production of vaccine and this is looking increasingly like a good decision. so everything we've heard suggests that they are on track to be able to produce astrazeneca vaccine domestically, maybe starting around a month's time. and i think, you know, if everything goes to plan, this is going to be their way out of the pandemic. rick brown. here in the uk, an undercover investigation by the sunday times newspaper and channel 4 dispatches has covertly filmed the queen's cousin, prince michael of kent, talking about taking large sums of money from a prospective client for access to the kremlin. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell.

he is his royal highness, prince michael of kent, a first cousin of the queen. he's not a full—time working royal and does not receive any funding from the public purse. prince michael does, however, have long—standing cultural and other links with russia, and it was supposedly to take advantage of those links... as a royal member... ..that two people, posing as representatives of a south korean company dealing in gold, set up a remote meeting with the prince. in reality, they were reporters for the sunday times and channel 4. they hoped the prince could open doors for them in the kremlin. the fee they offered the prince for a speech was a generous one. how about the fee, us$200,000, that we have offered? was it acceptable, sir? oh, yes, very much so. thank you, yes. very good. thank you so much, yes. is it in line with what you'd normally charge for a speech

like this, sir? yes, indeed. so i have no questions for you on that. i'm very happy with your suggestion. in a statement, prince michael's office said he hadn't met president putin since 2003. his representative, the statement said, had made suggestions that prince michael would not have been able to fulfil. buckingham palace declined to comment. nicholas witchell, bbc news. relations between the czech republic and russia are said to be at their lowest point since the fall of communism. the two countries have expelled dozens of each other�*s diplomats in tit—for—tat moves amid czech claims that russian intelligence agents were behind explosions at an arms dump in 2014. rob cameron reports from prague. the annual commemorations of the liberation of czechoslovakia in 1945, in part by the red army —

always a flashpoint between pro— and anti—moscow groups. chanting. russia's night wolves motorcycle gang couldn't enter the country this time, due to the covid restrictions, so these are mostly czech sympathisers. this year, it's happening at a time of heightened tension — after claims of russian sabotage operations on czech soil, which moscow denies. but not all czechs believe their government's version of events. translation: these shots of passports were photos. i any amateur could produce them if they were trying to hold a show trial or something. in my opinion, it really isn't something that should be setting off a diplomatic war. the diplomatic expulsions are being described as a watershed moment in czech—russia relations. some claim they'll be a chance to root out what prague says is "a nest of spies" in russia's embassy and start from scratch.

hopefully it will, because our relationship with russia was completely unbalanced and russians were definitely playing the stronger game against us. so i hope that we will be, let's say, clever enough and we will use this opportunity to normalise our relationship with russia. behind the walls of the russian embassy, dozens of diplomats and support staff are busy packing their bags and preparing to leave this country, and they've been given until the end of the month to do so. but while russia's diplomatic presence will be vastly reduced, there's also a human side to this story as, over the decades, thousands of ordinary russians have made the czech republic their home. there have been reports of russians being verbally abused in public here since the expulsions. some believe the strength of feeling has at least the potential to boil

over into russophobia. immediately, like, many very smart and enlightened people said, you know, "kick all russians out of the country. 0ur security services have to check them." of course, people are mad. of course it's their country, and some very unpleasant and strange things happened, but if these opinions are, like, taken away from reality, where you just see everything in black and white, then it's a bit sad because it definitely does not make you a smart person. at the very least, the centuries—old relationship between these two slav nations is shifting as czechs are forced once again to reaffirm their loyalties and decide which way to face — east or west. rob cameron, bbc news, prague. bits of a large chinese space rocket are due to plunge back to earth in the next few hours. us and european tracking sites are monitoring the uncontrolled re—entry of the long

march rocket. monitors say the chances of damage from a ground impact are low, and the chinese foreign ministry says it expects the debris to burn up during re—entry. so, how great a danger does the uncontrolled re—entry pose? jonathan mcdowell is an astrophysicist working at the harvard—smithsonian center for astrophysics in boston. 0na on a personal level you should not be worried at all. the chance that this is going to hit anyone person is very, it is tiny. the chance that it could crash somewhere populated and cause a limited amount of damage is significant, though, and so over the next few hours, it's going to come down somewhere on an orbit around the earth that is mostly ocean and so the most likely thing it will splash in the ocean and no—one cares but there is a decent chance that it could crash down somewhere on my aunt

and then you are looking at about a ton of metal flying through the air at a couple of hundred miles an hour, smashing into the ground, so that's not great. it's part of the design of this rocket, it is designed to leave its 20 ton core stage in orbit around the earth and do an uncontrolled thing and every other country designs there rockets not to do this and so, it is a different choice of what risk to the public they feel is acceptable to take —— their rockets. i think a lot of other countries will be criticising them for this decision. there is an international space liability convention that says if you cause damage from your space objects, you have to pay compensation. and so that as happened in the past, indirectly, in 1978 a soviet navy nuclear reactor satellite crashed on canada and left radioactive material over hundreds of miles and they

ended up paying millions of dollars to canada to support the clean—up. dollars to canada to support the clean-up.— the clean-up. jonathan mcdowell. _ you can reach me on twitter. i'm @lvaughanjones. 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 the chance of a few spots of rain —

it 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 40 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 though while some will reach across to eastern areas, it may well be there'll be quite few showers here around, at least during the afternoon, for the midlands, east anglia and south east england. 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.

this is bbc news, the headlines: more than 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. they follow similar unrest on friday when 200 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. 30 people — many of them young girls — have been killed in a militant attack at a school in the afghan capital, kabul. reports say there were multiple blasts as they were leaving their school. the neighbourhood is home to the hazara minority, who are shia muslims. remnants of a large chinese space rocket are set to plunge back through the atmosphere in the next few hours. tracking monitors say the chances of damage from a ground impact are low and china says it expects the debris to burn up during re—entry.