this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the labour leader sir keir starmer is preparing to reshuffle his team after the party's disappointing performance in the elections — he's already sacked his deputy angela rayner. when the leader of the party on friday— when the leader of the party on friday says he takes full responsibility for the election result— responsibility for the election result in_ responsibility for the election result in hartlepool in particular and then— result in hartlepool in particular and then scapegoats angela rayner, i think many— and then scapegoats angela rayner, i think many of us feel that was unfain — nicola sturgeon warns the westminster government against using legal arguments to prevent a second independence referendum after a fourth consecutive victory for the snp. the people of scotland have voted for the snp on the strength of offering when the time is right an independence referendum. the priority at the moment is not court cases, it's not

independence legislation, it is recovery from the pandemic. disruption continues on some of britain's busiest rail lines, after small cracks are found in some high speed trains. hello and welcome if you re watching the leader of the uk labour party, sir keir starmer, is expected to reshuffle his shadow cabinet today. sir keir is facing a furious backlash from some of his mps and members after sacking the deputy leader, angela rayner, as national campaign co—ordinator and chair of the party. labour sources suggested angela rayner had to take responsibility for what was described as a bungled election campaign.

but they stressed she would be offered another role. the labour leader didn't have much to say to reporters outside his home this morning. i'm sure he will have plenty to say in the coming days though. let's speak to our political correspondent iain watson who's in westminster. really the fallout from these elections already having quite the ramification?— ramification? that's right. what's interestinu ramification? that's right. what's interesting sometimes _ ramification? that's right. what's interesting sometimes is - ramification? that's right. what's interesting sometimes is simply l ramification? that's right. what's i interesting sometimes is simply the timing of some of these results declared. the west of england mayor to the mayor of peterborough and cambridgeshire as well, some territory that isn't perhaps seen as natural or traditional labour territory, but on friday they lost ground in areas where they needed to regain ground in the more traditional labour areas, especially north—east england. given that that

was the case and the results were seen as poor, it was no surprise at all keir starmer was going to reshuffle his top team. but now that has been overshadowed by the future of his deputy leader angela rayner, when it leaked last night she had been stripped of her campaign role and the role also as party chair. she remains as deputy leader because she is elected by the members and only they can take that away. what is interesting is although it was stressed to me by several labour sources that she will get another front—line job, sources that she will get another front—linejob, that sources that she will get another front—line job, that she will be a very prominent member of sir keir�*s team, he certainly doesn't want to go to war with her and alienate a section of the party, nonetheless thatjob section of the party, nonetheless that job still section of the party, nonetheless thatjob still remains something of a mystery this morning and some people are scratching their heads as to why it wasn't simultaneously announced with the loss of those responsibilities. that has created the space for some of sir keir starmer�*s critics over his whole

approach. the former chancellorjohn mcdonnell has accused sir keir of evading responsibility himself for the election results. when the leader of the party on friday says he takes full responsibility for the election result in hartlepool, in particular, and then scapegoats angie rayner, i think many of us feel that was unfair. particularly, as we all know, actually, keir's style of leadership is that his office controls everything centrally. he's very centralised and he controlled the campaign, so i think many of us just think it's really unfair. what public relations genius thought this was a good move on the very day actually we were having successes? andy burnham in manchester, in rotherham, liverpool, salford, marvin in bristol, sadiq in london, the very day we are actually recovering a bit and having successes, then they do this. ijust think it's a huge mistake.

interesting thatjohn interesting that john mcdonnell offering interesting thatjohn mcdonnell offering some advice on media handling as well as the substance of the move against angela rayner. of course was pretty prominent in the labour party when it went down to a historic defeat in 2019 but he said the difference between him and keir starmer was he owned the defeat and thatis starmer was he owned the defeat and that is what keir starmer should be doing now, taking responsibility for worse than expected election results. it will be interesting is the day goes on to find out who keir starmer will surround himself with at his top table. to be honest reshuffles can be a high wire act if they are done against a backdrop of poor election results, if they look to be reactive. we don't yet know if some of the losers from the reshuffle will go quietly. some insiders are saying it is a serious moment for keir starmer but also he has the opportunity of perhaps creating a top team that might make more of an impact. lain creating a top team that might make

more of an impact.— more of an impact. iain watson, our olitical more of an impact. iain watson, our political correspondent _ more of an impact. iain watson, our political correspondent in _ political correspondent in westminster with all the latest from the labour party, thank you very much indeed. the cabinet office minister, michael gove, has refused to be drawn on whether the government at westminster would challenge a second scottish independence referendum in the courts. he said the focus of the devolved administration in edinburgh should be the recovery from the pandemic. but the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, warned number ten against using legal arguments. it comes as the prime minister invites the leaders of the devolved nations to a summit on how to recoverfrom the pandemic. i asked our political correspondent at holyrood — nick eardley — how quickly nicola sturgeon might try to go for another independence referendum. probably not for a while. i think you will see nicola sturgeon make a very public play in the next couple of days about going back to work and focusing on the big pandemic decisions that she has to make. but there is also two things coming, there is a political battle which is going to be nicola sturgeon saying "i have my mandate,

you have got to give us another referendum," and the uk government saying no, and potentially after that a legal battle as well over whether the scottish parliament can publish legislation to hold another referendum and whether that will be challenged by the uk government in the courts. we have been hearing that the two cases that are going to be a big part of scottish and uk politics over the next few years this morning on the bbc. let's bring you first nicola sturgeon speaking to andrew marr about her case for another referendum. i haven't been planning fora referendum, i have been focusing on covid. but anybody who knows anything about the legislative parliament knows any government has to consult its law officers _ government has to consult its law officers before it brings forward legislation, so that will be part and parcel of what we do.

i don't want to lose this point, andrew. no, we haven't got to the stage of introducing a bill formally but that will be part and parcel of the process. what can ijust be clear because i think it is important we don't lose sight of this point. all of this talk about legality and whether or not the uk government would challenge the scottish government in court misses the point. the people in scotland have voted for the snp on the strength of offering when the time is right an independence referendum. and as in 2011 leading up to 2014, any uk government would simply accept that and come to an agreement with the scottish government that put it beyond any legal doubt. so that is nicola sturgeon�*s case. the uk government isn't getting into the specifics of what a legal challenge might mean if the scottish parliament was to pass a bill for another referendum. i don't think we can read too much into that at this stage to be honest. i think michael gove was trying to avoid talking about it this

morning because being seen to challenge legislation passed in holyrood would probablyjust increase the sense of division between westminster and edinburgh. but the case you will hear from the uk government is that focus should be completely on the pandemic over the next few years and the economic recovery, and the case michael gove was making on andrew marr�*s programme this morning was that working together makes that recovery easier. have a listen. no... you won't take her to court? the first thing i should say is congratulations to nicola. she has secured a significant election victory and i want to congratulate her on that. i also want to take the opportunity to congratulate the new members of the scottish parliament who had been elected, a more diverse group than ever before representing different traditions and communities in scotland. showing democracy in scotland is healthy. the other thing that is critically important

is an acknowledgement on the part of all of us as political leaders whatever parties we come from that the priority at the moment is not court cases, it is not independence legislation, it is recovery from the pandemic. to be fair to nicola sturgeon, during the course of this election campaign she said that was the single most important thing that we should all be concentrating on, and we should work together as team uk in order to deal the pandemic. to deal with the pandemic. can i ask a very straightforward philosophical question? yes. is scotland allowed to leave the uk? of course it is-_ through a legal referendum which would allow people to make that choice. the big debate is how you get that legal referendum. the scottish government under nicola sturgeon is going to argue that the political mandate is there to have it, the uk government is going to say now is not the time. when we are back at westminster, i think this will be a big issue over the next few years. the political debate

and potentially a legal one too. nick eardley there. there is another result coming in, a conservative gain for labour. this means the conservatives take control of that council, so that is yet another win for the conservatives, really following a pattern we have seen over the last couple of days that they are looking like a direct switch really, votes from labour to the conservatives, and more signs the conservatives, and more signs the conservatives, and more signs the conservatives are consolidating the conservatives are consolidating the performance from the 2019 general election and managing to do well in areas where traditionally labour have been the stronger party.

so amber valley there, another counsel gain for the conservatives. tomorrow the prime minister will announce a relaxation in social distancing measures — which will permit intimate contact between friends and family. cabinet secretary michael gove said on the andrew marr show this morning that we ll find out when hugging will be allowed. the prime minister will confirm tomorrow that there will be a relaxation. we have already indicated a proportionate relaxation on international travel, very limited at this stage because we had to be safe, and in the same way as we move into stage three of our road map it will be the case we see people capable of meeting indoors. and without prejudice to a broader review of social distancing, it is also the case friendly and intimate contact between friends and family is something we want to see restored. the 17th of may or thereabouts, hugging, as we call it. yes. but the director of the oxford vaccine group, professor andrew pollard, said there s a long way to go before

we can consider life without masks. i think there is a future with no more social distancing and no more masks, but from a global perspective we are still a long way from that. yes, here in the uk we have had remarkable success through the vaccine programme and so that is getting closer to happening, but from a global perspective there is such a long way to go. that was professor andrew pollard. police investigating the death of community support officer julia james have arrested a man in his 20s. the man, from the canterbury area, was arrested on friday and remains in custody. 53—year—old ms james was found dead on 27th april in woodland near dover, having suffered serious head injuries. simonjones is in aylesham.

this is day 13 of the investigation. the man detained would —— was arrested at 9:30pm on friday evening. he remains in custody this morning and is still being questioned. also this morning there's been a lot of police activity at this house in aylesham which is not farfrom the murder scene. we have seen forensic officers going through a skip behind me and we have seen them taking out some paving slabs, and there are a number of officers currently inside the property. the police haven't confirmed who exactly lived here but they have said this search is linked to the murder investigation. we do know that the pcso was out walking her dog, it was on tuesday of last week when she was attacked. since then officers have made numerous appeals to members of

public for the information. one of those as peels is still active, police want to hear from anyone who might have seen anything suspicious in this area between 1pm and az30pm on april the 27th, that is the day she was killed. they say that perhaps someone in the area came across someone who they thought was acting rather strange lead to such an extent that perhaps they decided to cross the road or take a different path. police say it might seem insignificant to them, but for the police investigation it could be vital. we do know this has been a huge operation, there are hundreds of officers who have been working round—the—clock on this case. 0ther police forces are also sending in personnel to help with searches of this rural area, to help with door—to—door inquiries and the national crime agency is also offering support. in the last few minutes we have seen forensic officers bring objects from out of the house which they will carry out further examinations on, so

certainly this investigation continuing at pace and police are continuing at pace and police are continuing to question their suspect. serious disruption on some of the uk's busiest rail lines is expected to continue into next week after cracks were discovered in some high speed trains. inspections on more than 180 trains are due to be completed today, but great western railway and london north eastern railway have advised passengers to check timetables. 0ur correspondent, sean dilley, has been outside kings cross for us. to describe the situation, there are people turning up for travel, there was one train on the platform coming behind us here, but there are plenty of staff trying to help people to make the journey is. the advice has been clear that lner out of

paddington all the way to swansea and bristol and penzance are saying if you don't have to travel, please don't travel. we heard from robert nisbet on bbc breakfast earlier from the rail delivery group who represent the train operating companies concerned. he said 183 trains were taken out of service yesterday, the hitachi trains with the cracks in the metal underneath. they say safety is the top priority, they are working as quickly as they can to get the trains back and operational, many of those returning to service today. but the rail delivery group say timetables may have a knock—on effect as we move forward. advice from the government is to make sure there's plenty of staff to help those who absolutely need to travel. in many ways it's fortunate it is a weekend, many people are used to remote working with covid—19, but

they say if you do not need to travel please try not to.- travel please try not to. sean dilley reporting _ travel please try not to. sean dilley reporting there. - there have been renewed clashes in jerusalem 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 holiest 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 i that our relatives are being stopped l 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. the un, eu, russia and us have called for security forces to show restraint.

monday will see israel's supreme court rule on the legality of the potential evictions, as israelis celebratejerusalem day. but depending on the court ruling, palestinian families 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. russian president vladimir putin has overseen moscow's traditional victory day parade, which this year marks the 76th anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany. more than 12,000 troops, and a cavalcade of tanks, aircraft and weaponry took part in the event in moscow's red square. the ceremony coincides with a time of strained relations with the west and in a speech, president putin said that russia would firmly defend its interests. the queen's cousin, prince michael of kent, has been secretly filmed talking

about taking large sums of money for access to russian decision—makers. the footage was recorded by undercover reporters from the sunday times and channel four�*s dispatches programme, who were posing as business—people seeking access to kremlin officials. his friend, the marquess of reading, later described him as "her majesty's unofficial ambassador to russia". the prince denies the claims. india continues to be hit by a huge second coronavirus wave, but although its government has said the pandemic is showing signs of slowing down in some regions, the number of cases have started to rise again and more than 4,000 deaths have been recorded in the past 2a hours. earlier i spoke to dr sumit ray — the critical care chief at a new delhi hospital. so now the number of cases which are coming to the emergency room have come down a little bit, i must agree with that, that the numbers in that sense in delhi are coming down. but what is happening now, and that's the timeline of covid,

is about two weeks after the rising curve, what happens is that pressure on the icu increases because a certain percentage of patients deteriorate, who get covid about two weeks earlier. and now the pressure are on the icu beds, the ventilator beds, and that is where we are facing the maximum pressure now. the pressure has eased a little bit. i'm not saying that it is easy, but it's a little bit in the emergency room. but the pressure on the icus have really increased. when it comes to equipment, ventilators and other medicine that you that you desperately need to treat these patients, do you have everything you need? are there enough beds, for example? we've seen in in many other countries actually problems with there just not being the capacity to treat those who are the most seriously ill? yes, the number of beds have been a problem, the ventilators, the number of ventilators have been a problem. the surge was so fast and so massive that most of the hospitals and icus do not have the adequate number

of beds or ventilators. and that is a constant challenge that are facing right now. medicines mostly we are getting the medicines, except a few, but that's only for a very small percentage of people. the biggest challenge is icu beds and ventilators at this present moment in the national capital territory of delhi. that that is where the oxygen situation has improved significantly over the last three days. but these are the major challenges and that is what is restricting us to take care of all the patients who deserve to be in the icu, are on ventilators. and is india getting help from other countries? we've heard about equipment, including oxygen being sent to india. is that helping? are you getting enough from the international community? so the oxygen, i think india produces enough oxygen, the distribution and the logistics was a problem.

the help from the international community in terms of sending cryogenic tankers, etc, is obviously adding to the battle. i mean, so that that aspect is really helping. now, we are getting some hospitals are getting ventilators and oxygen concentrators from abroad. 0ur hospital, we have got some oxygen concentrators which are of help. but what we need, also what is happening also is that there is help coming from abroad to set up oxygen plants in hospitals. that would be useful in the long run. but what we need now is in the icus is ventilators and also not just ventilators, what we don't realise is that the number of beds, there is no physical space in my icu to put in a bed. we are beyond capacity, we are stretched beyond capacity. and for that we need surge capacity building rapidly by the government with help or without help from abroad. but we need hospitals quickly, hospitals coming up quickly,

which have prefabricated hospitals which have icu beds, which have ventilator beds, which can take a certain subset of patients which are overwhelming the health care system in already established hospitals. and what's the impact been on staff there? your team working in circumstances which presumably none of you have ever experienced before. it's a traumatic experience, isn't it? well, it is a very traumatic experience, particularly for the young, for the young resident doctors and the nurses, their anguishes that, i mean, justified anguishes, that they feel that we could have saved many more lives if the surge was not so rapid and not so large and if we had enough number of ventilators and icu beds. because finally you lose the patient in... ..those who are admitted in the icu are on the ventilators, if there are not adequate numbers of icu beds and ventilators. there's some degree of triaging has had to be done, which obviously nobody�*s used to. and that is a huge emotional challenge and pressure on our young

residents and nurses. you are watching bbc news. 80 years ago, liverpool was hit by one of the worst german bombing raids of the second world war. nearly 2,000 people were killed and more than 60,000 houses destroyed or damaged. now a unique recording of an eyewitness account of the may blitz has been passed to the bbc. andy gill has more. in eight days in may 1941, the luftwaffe dropped 800 tonnes of high explosives and more than 100,000 incendiary bombs on liverpool. and, as the bombs fell, a bbc sound engineer climbed a tall building and recorded what he saw. st luke's church, that's a big church at the top of bowles street, is just a shell. that's been burnt out. the water mains went. there is a bomb down somewhere.

the water mains went and they couldn't do anything, the firemen couldn't fight the fire. they have no water. the broadcaster gillian reynolds was a girl of five in liverpool at the time. what a hero this man was. going up on the rooftops and recording away and bombs all around him falling, falling, you could hear them. and he covered them, he covered what was happening so brilliantly. when i am quiet like that, i am trying to seek a bit of shelter. i don't want to put my neck out too far. there is some fire engines coming along now. the people with no water can't make any tea and they have been coming out to the firemen with buckets or anything at all which would hold the water. the museum of liverpool reopening this month is currently staging an exhibition about the blitz. 0ne expert says the recording is an important find.

it is fascinating and i think it really brings home the horror of war for everyday people in the city. you can really imagine yourself on top of the high building with the guy with the fire watchers and the vibrations he must have felt as those bombs you can hear on the audio are going off around him. you can imagine the fire raging, he must have felt the heat from the fire and the smell of burning in the street. 80 years on, the st luke's church mentioned in the recording still stands, a memorial in its damaged state to those killed in the blitz. we know something of the history of the recording but not the answer to the recording but not the answer to the most important question of all. who made it? the recording belonged to a retired teacher in west yorkshire who used it for lessons.

another teacher who also used it says beyond that information is sketchy. the story goes that the teacher had a relative who lived in liverpool during the second world war and he seems to think he had access to bbc sound equipment and made a recording, but other than that we don't know much about the person narrating the story. bbc radio want anyone who does know the identity of the blitz witness to come forward. here we go. that's about two roads away. i cringed here. it's enough to scare the pants off anyone, this. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. it looks like most of us are going to be doing some serious shower dodging in the week ahead. but after it's been just

so cold for so long, there is one offset to that more unsettled weather and that's that we're pulling milder air in from the atlantic so our temperatures will at least reach close to average values. across england and wales this afternoon, actually quite a bit of sunshine. some showers breaking out across the midlands and the south—west later on in the afternoon. in the east, temperatures up around the 20 degree mark. the most frequent showers will be for scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon. they tend to back off through the evening and overnight but then the focus for some thundery downpours shifts to eastern england. mild, quite muggy night here, temperatures in double figures. we are frost free across the board. and then on we go into monday. it looks like some of this heavier rain could affect the north—east of scotland, particularly the northern isles through the day. elsewhere, sunny spells but some scattered showers, the heaviest and most frequent ones again for scotland and northern ireland.