this is bbc news, the headlines at 5pm: the prime minister is told to "lead or step aside" as details of lockdown parties continue to emerge. the leader of the opposition says it's now in the national interest for borisjohnson to go. we're witnessing every day the broken spectacle of a prime minister mired in deceit and deception, and unable to lead. novak djokovic spends the night in an immigration detention hotel in melbourne ahead of a court hearing to decide whether he'll be deported from australia. lawyers for virginia giuffre want two people in the uk to give evidence in her civil case against prince andrew. the duke's legal team argue ms giuffre "may suffer from false memories". prince andrew has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual assault. the eruption of a giant underwater volcano near the island nation

of tonga has triggered tsunami waves across the southwestern pacific. experts say they're hopeful that efforts to save red squirrels in scotland could be helping native populations recover, but warn that measures to control grey squirrels will have to continue for some time. and coming up, as tension builds on the ukraine—russia border, global questions travels to kyiv to discuss the ongoing crisis. good afternoon, welcome to bbc news. a former minister and senior conservative politician says borisjohnson must "lead or step aside". tobias ellwood made the comments to the bbc as pressure continues regarding parties at downing street

while tough coronavirus restrictions were in place in the uk. meanwhile, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said it was now in the "national interest" for the prime minister to resign. the moral authority matters in relation to enforcing the covid rules but we've got other massive challenges facing this country. massive challenges. we have a prime minister who is absent, he is literally in hiding at the moment, and unable to lead. and so that is why i have concluded that he has got to go. and of course there's a party advantage in him going, but actually it is now in the national interest that he goes. so it is very important now that the tory party does what it needs to do and gets rid of him. claire pearsall is a conservative councillor in the county of kent, who was formerly a home office special adviser. she spoke earlier to my colleague joanna gosling, who started by asking whether she'd had a chance to speak to local residents in her area. i've had a number of conversations this week.

the general mood is that people are incredibly angry. they have abided by the rules all the way through and faced some real hardships. but they did it because they were told to, it was the right thing to do, and to protect their family and friends and people in my village. and to see the prime minister's team and the prime minister himself flout those rules has hit very hard. sir keir starmer has said this morning that it is time for borisjohnson to go. he says of course there is a party advantage for labour in him going, but actually says it is now in the national interest that he does. do you think that this does transcend party politics now? yes, i think it does. i know conservative supporters who are equally as angry as those who support the green party or the liberal democrats, for example. so i think this does transcend those kinds of barriers. and colleagues are going to have to work out what it is they want

from the prime minister going forward, and that has to happen quickly. what do you think should happen? i think there is more to come out and i think it is not going to be very long before we see yet another revelation, so the prime minister now needs to think very long and hard as to whether he is doing the rightjob for the country, and certainly for the party. do you think he should go? i think it is probably time for him to move on. i think that a number of colleagues now are looking at that as an option. we have seen some very senior tories come out this morning and sayjust that, and i agree with them. conservative councillor claire pearsall. our political correspondent, nick eardley, has been talking to conservative mps, who are now back in their constituencies. they're trying to judge the public mood, and from the ones i've been speaking to, it doesn't seem great, quite frankly.

a former cabinet minister was saying that the story yesterday about the party the night before the duke of edinburgh's funeral had made things worse. they thought the reception they were getting was terrible. it's interesting, anotherformer ally of the prime minister, a brexiteer, said that they didn't think there was any way the pm could now lead them into the next election. and there is just this growing list, isn't there, of things that are being looked at by the senior civil servant sue gray? i suppose the question now is whether the mood amongst tory mps starts to harden, whether they feel under more pressure to act, and the labour leader, sir kier starmer, urging them to do so this morning, saying that would be in the national interest. we're not getting much from number 10. they're just saying wait for the investigation to come back. but they must be feeling the heat this morning. this afternoon, rather. yes, how time moves on. what do the next few days look like, though?

well, i think the start of next week will be important to see exactly how tory mps feel, if they've decided that they do need to act against the prime minister or not. i should point out there are some allies of borisjohnson saying they think the public is prepared to wait for the investigation to come back before making their minds up. we may get that investigation next week, we don't know for sure, but there have been ministers suggesting it would be soon. and that will be a big moment, because if the senior civil servant looking at this, sue gray, says the prime minister did something wrong, or there was a problem in number 10, or there were other events or that the prime minister was at them, i think thatjust adds more and more pressure to him. is it guaranteed that borisjohnson goes? absolutely not, because he still has his supporters, he still has those who think he's an electoral asset, there are still a number of measures that would need to be taken, a number of steps that would need to be gone through for him to be

removed from office by the conservative party, but he is under a lot of pressure, more pressure than he's ever been under as prime minister. the criminal and human rights barrister, kirsty brimelow, who represented a teenager given a £10,000 so—called "superfine" while there were restrictions on indoor socialising in may last year and says this was hardly an isolated example. i have many examples. at the end of last year, a student at nottingham trent university, she... at that time you could have no more than six indoors. sorry, that was the end of 2020, so no more than six indoors. there were probably about eight indoors. she got a letter threatening prosecution or a fixed penalty notice, again involved representations, so there was a lot of enforcement up and down the country and i acted unpaid in these cases, but also a lot of my colleagues did and took on these cases to try to help people. those who were in attendance at downing street parties need to face these pentalties?

well, there seems so many coming out. obviously the dates are crucial as to what potential offences they have commented, and there are potential offences with all the evidence that is there. what i would say about the position of the metropolitan police saying that it doesn't investigate allegations in relation to covid offences retrospectively, that is generally a sensible approach because the approach is meant to reflect light—touch policing, the four es, enforcement only being a last restort. the difficulty is that up and down the country, we just have not seen that approach with members of the public, and there is an added and heightened responsibility and accountability when we have those people in government who potentially are in breach of the regulations and, certainly there can be no argument, in breach of the guidance on the evidence we've seen in the newspapers, and so, therefore, there is a very strong

case that, of course, the metropolitan police looking at government should be investigating with a view to advising as to what crimes possibly have been, or potentially have been committed. 0bviously that's a matter for court if they've been committed or not.

good evening. the senior conservative mp and former minister, tobias ellwood, says borisjohnson must "lead or step aside" following the controversy over gatherings at downing street while covid restrictions were in place. a number of tory backbenchers say they've been inundated with messages from angry constituents about the growing list of parties, dating back to the spring of 2020. the labour leader sir keir starmer says it's now in the national interest for mrjohnson to be removed from office. 0ur political correspondent, iain watson has the very latest. borisjohnson has boris johnson has come borisjohnson has come under renewed pressure following an apology to buckingham palace over a living do held last year on the eve of the funeral of the duke of edinburgh. and today the labour leader urged conservative mps to force him out. of course there is a party advantage in him going but now it is in the

national interest so it is important that the tory party does what it needs to do and gets rid of him. when opposition mps call for a promise to develop normally the tubes running around but the chairman of the commons defence committee today tobias ellwood did not exactly defend his boss saying that he should lead or step aside. 0utside downing street demonstrators against a forthcoming police bill were making their views known and some of his own mps have also been doing so. what may be worrying the prime minister is that some of his former supporters now want him to go. 0ne mp, elected in 2019, told me he owed his seat to borisjohnson but now, he says, this feels terminal, and he should go quickly. and another mp i spoke to several days ago, who told me that he thought borisjohnson could ride out this political storm, got back in touch today to say

he is now damaging the conservative brand and it was a question of when, not if, he leaves number 10. but no cabinet minister has broken ranks and there is hope inside downing street but an investigation by senior civil servant may say that the prime minister has not broken the prime minister has not broken the rules. and lifting restrictions later this month could improve the mood. conservative mps will be listening closer to the voters and that could determine yet whether borisjohnson is shown the door. lawyers for the duke of york want to question two people as part of the civil sexual abuse case being brought by virginia giuffre in america. according to court documents, prince andrew's legal team argue ms giuffre may be suffering from false memories, and they want to hear from her husband and her psychologist. prince andrew denies all the allegations against him. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal is live in washington. more twists in this story? and this

comes 24 hours _ more twists in this story? and this comes 24 hours after— more twists in this story? and this comes 24 hours after virginia - comes 24 hours after virginia giuffre requested witness accounts from a former assistant to prince andrew and a woman at a nightclub at the time of the allegations another prince has hit back with requests of his own. his legal team want to hear from her husband robert giuffre and they want to know how he met his wife in 2002, about their household finances and also relationship with convicted sex offendersjeffrey epstein and ghislaine maxwell. they also contended that she may be suffering from false memories and thatis suffering from false memories and that is why they want to examine the second person, her doctor, psychologistjudith lightfoot. both are residents in australia and the legal team for the duke of york have requested this testimonies be released. the case continues.

novak djokovic will hear in the next few hours, whether or not he'll be allowed to remain in australia. the government says the world number one tennis player, who hasn't been vaccinated against covid, is a threat to public health. his lawyers are appealing, describing the latest decision to cancel his visa, as "irrational." shaimaa khalil has more from melbourne. free, free the refugee! once again, novak djokovic is in detention, and once again, the world number one is challenging the cancellation of his visa. in court documents which were released today, we learned that the immigration minister alex hawke made his decision because the player's presence in australia may foster anti—vaccination sentiment. the tennis star's legal team say the argument was invalid and irrational, and that deporting him would potentially undermine support for the vaccination programme. we want novak djokovic to play! and while some of djokovic's

supporters gathered to back him, there has been little sympathy for the tennis player. he will be in his lawyer's office while a court decides his fate. his rival rafael nadal said the grand slam is not just about djokovic. the australian open is much more

important than any player so if he is playing, finally, ok, if he's not playing, the australian open will be a great australia open with or without him. that is my point of view. sunday's court decision is crucial for both sides — the top seed whose chance at a 21st grand slam rides on it, and a government that has been hugely embarrassed by the mishandling of this saga. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, melbourne. the government's latest daily coronavirus figures show there were 81,713 new infections in the latest 24—hour period. that means there were 117,800 new cases on average per day in the last week. another 287 deaths were reported, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. on average in the past week there were 263 deaths per day. vaccinations are continuing,

but at a slower pace. on average in the last week 144,015 people had a boosterjab, which means 63.1% of the population aged 12 or over, have now had three doses. tsunami waves a metre high have hit the pacific island nation of tonga after an underwater volcano erupted for the second time in two days. satellite images captured the moment as huge plumes of black ash darkened the sky. local people have been urged to move to higher ground. wildlife experts in scotland are hopeful that progress is being made, in efforts to save the native red squirrel from extinction. grey squirrels have been better able to adapt to changing habitats over the years, and they carry a virus that's fatal for red squirrels. alexandra mackenzie has that story. the native red squirrel. not a common sight

in the uk, but now limited to areas like here in bar hill wood in dumfries & galloway. how many red squirrels would you have in this wood? in november last year we had over 30, which is an exceptional amount. you know, there's not many places in scotland where you find that level. so what makes this the ideal habitat for the red squirrel? principally it's the age of the trees. they are now producing cones regularly and that enables food to be available at different times of the year. the larch produces cones in the summertime, the scots pine in the winter. so it gives the squirrels a good wide feeding pattern. but of course they are in competition with the grey squirrels. wherever you get the grey squirrels, the reds are going to disappear, unfortunately. the scottish wildlife trust said having a predator, the pine marten, helps to control the grey squirrel population. but that is not enough. grey squirrel control is going to be

necessary for a long time yet. so that will be the key thing that needs to keep continuing in a targeted and landscape scale approach. you know, which is tricky and hard work but what is needed if we want to keep our red squirrels. the battle for survival with the more feisty grey squirrel is likely to continue for some time. alexandra mckenzie, bbc news, kirkcudbright. manchester city have extended their lead at the top of the premier league, after beating title rivals chelsea, at the etihad stadium. kevin de bruyne scored the only goal of the game. it puts them 13 points clear of chelsea, in second place. that's it. i'll be back with the late news at ten past ten. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are.

hello, this is bbc news with martina croxall. today marks 25 years since princess diana walked through a minefield in angola to raise awareness of the lasting impact of conflict. diana captured global attention when she walked through the live minefield in 1997, escorted by the british landmine clearance charity the halo trust. she never lived to see the full impact of her visit — such as the signing of an international treaty to outlaw the weapons — as she died later that year. we've been speaking to louise vaughan from the halo trust who explained how that walk was organised. she was already very much involved with the international red cross and she was planning a trip

to angola to highlight the terrible impact that these weapons were having on normal people who had absolutely nothing to do with the war, and particularly children. so when we heard she wanted to visit a minefield to showcase what was happening, we agreed that we would accompany her. the minefield had very recently been cleared by my colleagues there. essentially, it was amazingly brave of her. it is important to realise that when she visited the civil war was still raging, things were very dangerous there. she was clearly quite nervous about walking through the minefield but she was very shrewd — she knew that those images of her would absolutely become global front—page news everywhere and that would make it impossible to ignore that there had to be a universal ban on these totally indiscriminate weapons. the instant impact was tremendous — it stopped global headlines. everybody is now familiar with those images, one of the most iconic of her life. within months, there had been a grassroots campaign to ban landmines throughout the world for a number of years, but by making it front—page news she made it impossible for governments to ignore.

so the anti—landmine ban treaty, the ottawa treaty, came into being by the end of the year. tragically she didn't live to see that, but that treaty is still one of the most successful of all time — 164 signatories, landmines are virtually obsolete now from production and use, and we have seen over 30 countries cleared of landmines, including mozambique, which was one of the most heavily land—mined countries on earth. so it's been an extremely powerful treaty and has saved literally millions and millions of lives. louise von of the halo trust. —— staff and volunteers at her majesty's coastguard are celebrating two hundred years

of saving lives. formally established on the 15th of january 1822, its role has expanded to life—saving in the uk, co—ordinating rescues on international waters and providing support in national emergencies. luxmy gopal reports search and rescue. for 200 years, the coastguard has been searching, rescuing and saving lives. it's such a feeling to be able to help people who've really been at a really low point, and just make that situation at the time a little bit better for them to bear, and then long—term it means somebody goes home who maybe wouldn't have done. 0riginally set up to combat smuggling, her majesty's coastguard was formally established on the 15th of january, 1822. newsreel: there's a certain amount i of mystery about the coastguard - l who he is and what he does. it has worked to keep people safe at the coast and at sea ever since. this is coastguard control. as illustrated in this video from 1972. ahoy there, coastguard here! we'll be down with you in a few minutes. hang on! when we started, it was horseback patrols, looking for smugglers and people like that. that's where the coast and the guard bit comes from. it's changed hugely. we still rely massively on our volunteers, as we have done for almost the entirety of the 200—year history

of the organisation. the coastguard now has 3,500 volunteers across 310 rescue teams, in addition to ten helicopter bases. the way the coastguard saves lives at sea has changed almost beyond recognition since its creation 200 years ago, with a new updated radio network and with new technology such as drones and unmanned vehicles playing a growing part in its search and rescue operations. you've got to embrace new technology, you've got to look to improve. you can't sit still and think, "we're doing the best we can." there's always improvements to be made, so we have to look at technology. so we're looking at fibre communications, improving ourfleet to bring in electric vehicles, drone technology and how that can assist in searches, and speed up finding people that are in difficulty. so really, we've just got to be open to change and embrace it and look to improve at any point that we can.

to mark the organisation's milestone birthday, 200 throw lines are being cast into the seas around the four nations today as a symbol of the coastguard's life—saving role, past and present, on our shores and at sea. luxmy gopal, bbc news. large crowds of hindu worshippers have gathered on the banks of india's ganges river for a holy bath in spite of a 30—fold increase in coronavirus cases in the past one month. similar festivals are taking place across the country. doctors in west bengal applied to stop its festival this year, worrying it would become a super spreader event. india reported over 260 thousand new coronavirus cases on friday. aru na iyengar reports. varanasi in the northern state of uttar pradesh. thousands of pilgrims throng the ganges river banks to take part in the magh mela festival. they believe bathing in these sacred

waters will wash away their sins. translation: nobody - is following the guidelines. announcements are being made to urge people to wear masks. what can the government do? the mistake is on our part that we should be following the rules, but nobody is following the rules, nobody is ready to listen to the rules. at the gangasagar festival in west bengal, officials try to enforce covid restrictions. pilgrims have to show their vaccine certificates along with an rt—pcr test report ta ken two days before arrival. but most here believe god will save them from covid. three million people are expected here. doctors asked the state high court to stop the festival, fearing it would become a super spreader event, but that was rejected. they are worried because last april there was a record rise in coronavirus cases after the government of uttarakhand state in the north allowed the massive kumbh mela festival to go ahead.

the indian prime minister, narendra modi, says the festivals show india's vibrant cultural diversity. meanwhile, coronavirus cases are predicted to peak next week in new delhi and mumbai as the country battles with the highest number of cases since may last year. aruna iyengar, bbc news. time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. not as cold or quite as foggy for many of you tonight, compared with recent nights. a bit more cloud around to begin with. a few showers spreading down across south wales, southern parts of england, but it is in scotland and northern ireland the breeze picks up, touching gale force at times in the far north, outbreaks of rain for many as we go through the night, turning to clearer skies later. temperatures by and large above freezing, maybe one or two pockets of frost around first thing sunday but nowhere near as abundant as it has been of late. a damp morning for parts of northern england, north wales, as a weather front pushes south, weakening as it works across the rest of england

and wales, nothing more than a cloud and one or two isolated showers later on. it does then introduce lots more sunshine across the country for the afternoon, certainly a brighter day compared to today. breezy across the north of scotland but the wind is coming off the atlantic so by and large temperatures will be a little bit up on what we've seen over the past few days, seven to around 11 degrees. then through the week ahead, after a sunny start to the week we are going to see some rain and wind at times in scotland and northern ireland on tuesday and wednesday and then it is back to as you were, some dry days with some frosty and foggy nights. hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. the prime minister is told to "lead or step aside" as details of lockdown parties continue to emerge. the leader of the opposition says it's now in the national interest for borisjohnson to go. we're witnessing every day the broken spectacle of a prime minister mired in deceit and deception, and unable to lead.

novak djokovic spends the night in an immigration