this is bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: more details have emerged from the school shooting in uvalde, texas. students repeatedly called 911 pleading for help, as more than a dozen officers waited in the school's hallways for nearly an hour before entering the classroom. from the benefit of hindsight, where i'm sitting now, of course it was not the right decision, it was the wrong decision. there is no excuse for that. 21 dead and you're gonna smile and laugh?! you got grandkids. protesters gather outside the annual meeting of the national rifle association in texas, as the convention continues inside. moscow's advance continues, as russian—backed separatists claim they've captured a strategic town in northeastern donbas.

in somalia, hundreds of communities are being ravaged by drought, causing a humanitarian crisis that is harming the country's most vulnerable. we have a special report. and johnny depp�*s lawyers say accusations of domestic violence have ruined him, during closing arguments in the defamation trial with amber heard. hello and welcome to bbc news. police in texas say it was the wrong decision to delay entering the classroom in a school in the city of uvalde, where 21 people were killed by a gunman on tuesday. it took 53 minutes for armed police to eventually go in. as local people come to terms with tragedy, grief is turning into anger. here's our north america editor, sarah smith. terrified students were rescued from the school

while the gunman was still in one of the classrooms. the children trapped inside were desperately calling 911 for help. one young girl called back four times, telling the operator some of the students are still alive, and pleading, "please send the police now." authorities now have to explain why there was not a much faster response. we're here to report the facts as we know them now. not to defend what was done or the actions taken. it took well over an hour before the gunman was shot. at 11:33am, he entered the school and started shooting, firing at least 100 rounds. at 11:35am, the first police officers entered the school. two minutes later, more shots were fired. by 12:03pm, there were up to 19 officers in the hallway outside the classroom. they do not try to enter.

at 12:15pm, the border control tactical team started to arrive. minutes later, the gunman fires again. it is not until 12:50pm when the keys are found to open the classroom door and the gunman is shot dead. the police knew there were children alive trapped inside the classroom, but waited over an hour before going in. with the benefit of hindsight, where i'm sitting now, of course it wasn't the right decision, it was the wrong decision. there is no excuse for that. but again, i wasn't there. we believe there should have been an entry as soon as. when there's an active shooter, the rules change. protesters are out in force in houston because the powerful pro—gun lobby, the nra, are hosting a huge convention here today less than 300 miles from uvalde. the elementary school massacre has not stopped them, not even briefly, from passionately defending their right to own weapons.

>> and are a go away! protesters outside are demanding new laws to restrict ownership. do you understand why people are now calling for tighter gun control? i can understand it. there's a lot of evil people out there. i think we need to control crime. if evil people didn't have access to semi—automatic weapons, they wouldn't be able to conduct massacres inside schools. that's one way to look at it. what's another way? control crime. if you have personnel who want to be trained, they can be trained in weapons safety, they can be armed, then you will restrict the access of any crazy nut that decides to come in. it's not the weapon, it's the nut that's got the weapon. it's because the nut has the weapon which gives them

the ability to go and kill the people. but why don't you protect the schools? you say the schools are gun free. so are your churches. how many church shootings have we had because they're supposedly gun—free? protect our kids! children, some of them the same age as the children killed in uvalde, say they want to feel safe in their schools. but protests like this will not persuade the gun lobby to agree to any changes in the laws governing gun ownership. sarah smith, bbc news, houston, texas. we can now speak to robert spitzer who's a professor of political science at the state university of new york and author of the book the politics of gun control. a very good evening to you in new york. lots of anger in houston as we have heard in that report. at the same time, the nra says it is the leading gun safety, gun responsibility, pro— citizenship organisation. is it fair to blame the nra? yes, it is. not entirely, but the nra has devoted enormous political resources to prevent gun laws from being enacted and

also to weaken existing gun laws. one of the nra's as they say we don't need more laws, more gun laws, we need to enforce the existing laws that we have on the books. but the nra has some pretty much everything it can to weaken enforcement for existing gun laws and to weaken the federal agency that administers and carries out federal laws, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives, for example they have done everything they can to block the appointment of a permanent director of that agency and in the last 15 years it has had a permanent director for a period of only two years and agencies are hurt when they don't have a permanent director. so on a larger picture, it is certainly a case that, purely from a political point of view, the nra bears responsibility for the fact that we don't have strong gun laws and we know that those laws can make a difference.— that those laws can make a difference. ., ., difference. you mentioned gun laws, this _ difference. you mentioned gun laws. this is — difference. you mentioned gun laws, this is an _ difference. you mentioned gun laws, this is an argument - difference. you mentioned gun laws, this is an argument that| laws, this is an argument that keeps cropping up every time one of these events happens, but gun control in america

actually goes back hundreds of years, doesn't it was yellow yes. i've done a great deal of research on this and, ironically, in the nation's first 300 years from its very earliest drownings in the 1600s through the start of the 20th century, we had literally thousands of gun laws, when we were colonies of great britain, states and localities of every imaginable variety. find states and localities of every imaginable variety.— states and localities of every imaginable variety. and in our first 300 years _ imaginable variety. and in our first 300 years there - imaginable variety. and in our first 300 years there was - imaginable variety. and in our first 300 years there was no l first 300 years there was no zero—sum game between gun laws and gun rights. they managed to exist quite comfortably together in our history. it's only been in the last few decades where the relationship between gun laws and gun rights has been viewed as a zero—sum game or a game from —— were again for one side is considered a loss for the other and it has become the epic struggle we witness now. imilli struggle we witness now. will america ever _ struggle we witness now. will america ever be _ struggle we witness now. will america ever be able to reach a consensus on gun control was yellow i don't know if it will ever reach a consensus, per se, but it may well get to a point where it is able to have gun

laws. some states have done so, most states have not. but laws. some states have done so, most states have not.— most states have not. but in the foreseeable _ most states have not. but in the foreseeable future - most states have not. but in the foreseeable future i - most states have not. but in the foreseeable future i do | most states have not. but in i the foreseeable future i do not think that stronger gun laws at the national level are on the cards. ., cards. 0k, we will leave it there, professor - cards. 0k, we will leave it there, professor robert i there, professor robert spitzer, thank you very much for your time.— let's get some of the day's other news. greece has protested to iran over what it called the violent seizure of two greek—flagged vessels in the gulf by iranian forces. the move appears to be in direct response to the temporary seizure by greece of a russian—flagged ship carrying iranian oil on suspicion that it had breached eu sanctions over ukraine. beijing says the united states is trying to smear china by accusing it of being the most serious long—term challenge to international order. on thursday, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, said china was the only country with the desire and the power to reshape the current international system. passengers booked on 240 easyjet flights to and from london's gatwick airport over the next 10 days are being told their flights

have been cancelled. the airline said customers would be given the option to rebook or receive a refund. russia's finance minister has given an indication of the huge financial cost of the war in ukraine to his country. anton siluanov said around eight trillion roubles had been spent to support the russian economy so far — that's roughly us$123 billion. financial reserves, known as the russian national wealth fund, are now being used, with the russian economy struggling under the effect of western sanctions. meanwhile, the fighting continues, centred on donbas. russian—backed separatist leaders in eastern ukraine say they've captured the town of lyman, a town on the road to the ukrainian city of slovyansk, which is a key russian target as moscow tries to take full control of the donbas. there's no way of verifying the claim. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has accused moscow of being intent on reducing cities in the east to ashes

and that the russian offensive could leave the donbas region uninhabited. we're joined by retired army lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. he was directorfor european affairs for the us national security council until 2020. he's in virginia. thank you very much for being with us. president putin's —— president putin has made remarks about us provision of long—range rockets, things will a redline if us crosses that. are we likely to see the us providing these weapons and what will they do for the ukrainian horses? ~ _, .., ukrainian horses? welcome i can start with what _ ukrainian horses? welcome i can start with what it _ ukrainian horses? welcome i can start with what it would - ukrainian horses? welcome i can start with what it would be - ukrainian horses? welcome i can start with what it would be for . start with what it would be for the ukrainian forces, it would significantly close the gap between the systems that the russians have, they have long—range rockets, they have the ballistic missiles, these standard missiles that fire from hundreds of kilometres away and they could attack ukraine with impunity. there is no means of ukrainians to defend against those, at least not effectively they try to do something with regards to our

defence but it is just not effective. the best way to do this is for ukraine to do counter battery strikes, identify where these weapons are coming from, destroy those weapons. so there would be a meaningful, significant added capability. our stuff is better than their stuff, nato stuff is better than russian stuff, we could destroy those systems as well as target really critical assets that the russians are using to perpetuate this evil war. but in terms of whether it's going to happen, and still have my doubts. i hope is going to happen, i think the conversation has turned to this idea of giving ukraine all the tools they need to win. that has so far been rhetorical. we've given them a lot, we've given them offensive weapons, heavy weapons, but we have not given them these types of things, these long—range fires. and they still have my doubts. i said. russia and they still have my doubts. isaid. russia is and they still have my doubts. i said. russia is focusing its energies on the dom bess region at the moment, it says it is making small gains but it is

still suffering huge losses and as we heard it is costing the country every day, every week as the fighting continues. what might they do next? i as the fighting continues. what might they do next?— might they do next? i think we dancin: might they do next? i think we dancing the — might they do next? i think we dancing the ebb _ might they do next? i think we dancing the ebb and _ might they do next? i think we dancing the ebb and flow- might they do next? i think we dancing the ebb and flow of. might they do next? i think we | dancing the ebb and flow of war and a longer campaign than many expected, certainly than the russians expected. they have consistently suffered major defeats up until this point. they have, in fact, sustain some some small successes in making limited gains on an area thatis making limited gains on an area that is about 150 kilometres in length, that is a tiny piece of ukraine, much, much more focused, that is where they can apply artillery, that is where they can apply all of their combat power, but that is reversible, in my view. i think they are pushing to achieve some gains but they are going to run out of steam and then it is going to be up to the ukrainians to choose whether to fight and they are not going to choose to fight exactly in this area, they'll probably start to reverse russia's gains over the long run and this is something that really goes against russia's long—term strategy,

the same time as these gains, as little as they are, are flowing back and forward, sanctions are unfolding and that cost is going to start to weigh down on ross hart. casualties are mounting, that will also weigh down on russia as we get deeper into the summer —— russia. that as we get deeper into the summer -- russia. at what point do ou summer -- russia. at what point do you think _ summer -- russia. at what point do you think russia _ summer -- russia. at what point do you think russia might - summer -- russia. at what point do you think russia might be - do you think russia might be happy to call it a day? i5 happy to call it a day? i3 interesting listening to the rhetoric in a russian speaking press, based off these tiny little successes, it's amazing to hear them claim that they are going to re— threaten kyiv and they still have maximalist objectives, maximus believes in a successful campaign to conquer ukraine. it is shocking. and, in fact, conquer ukraine. it is shocking. and, infact, it conquer ukraine. it is shocking. and, in fact, it is probably a disastrous mindset for a while. if they went with more limited aims they might be able to hang onto something, but if they push back, if they have these little successes and they start repositioning forces towards key avenue and attack

from there they will end up with the same result and spread themselves really then, but they haven't given up on this, is still pushing to retake ukraine, it's a full�*s errors, but that is where they are —— kia oval. but that is where they are -- kia oval-— but that is where they are -- kia oval. 0k, we will leave it there. kia oval. ok, we will leave it there. lieutenant _ kia oval. ok, we will leave it there. lieutenant colonel- there. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, thank you very much. you are watching bbc news, the headlines: police in texas admit they delayed storming a school where a mass shooting was taking place because they believed no more pupils were at risk. protesters gather outside the annual meeting of the pro—gun national rifle association in texas — as delegates defend their constitutional right to own a gun. latin america has reported the first case of monkeypox, as the world health organization warned that it expected the number of infections to continue to rise. argentina's health ministry has said the confirmed case is a man who recently travelled to spain. about 200 monkeypox infections have now been detected in countries outside africa, where the disease is usually found. mark lobel reports. the latest laboratory to

confirm a case of monkeypox outside africa. reportedly a ao—year—old man who recently returned from spain to argentina, where residents reacted to the news. translation: where is this going? for example this pandemic, is it going to end or not? i think this is going to continue and pandemics will come one after the other, all the time, unless we become more conscientious. the time, unless we become more conscientious-— conscientious. translation: i ho -e that conscientious. translation: i hone that it _ conscientious. translation: i hope that it is _ conscientious. translation: i hope that it is not _ conscientious. translation: i hope that it is not something . hope that it is not something that— hope that it is not something that evolves to be more and more — that evolves to be more and more complicated for our everyday life. gf more complicated for our everyday life.— more complicated for our eve da life. is , everyday life. of the 200 cases recorded recently, _ everyday life. of the 200 cases recorded recently, around - everyday life. of the 200 cases recorded recently, around half| recorded recently, around half are in the uk, where where it's health security agencies as monkeypox patients could avoid any contact with their pets for 21 days, as biologist fear the virus could get into domestic

animals and ping—pong between them and humans. cases are also mounting in spain, one of over 20 countries where the disease has spread. but the message from the world herb organisation is this can be controlled. —— world health organisation. irate controlled. -- world health organisation.— organisation. we are afraid the will organisation. we are afraid they will be _ organisation. we are afraid they will be a _ organisation. we are afraid they will be a spread - organisation. we are afraid they will be a spread in - organisation. we are afraid they will be a spread in the| they will be a spread in the community, but currently it is very hard to assess this risk. we think that if we put in place the right measure now, we probably can contain this easily. probably can contain this easil . ~ ., ., , , easily. the who said a mass vaccination _ easily. the who said a mass vaccination programme - easily. the who said a mass vaccination programme was l easily. the who said a mass i vaccination programme was not required, but smallpox jabs should be given to close contacts of people affected. to east africa now, and the united nations has warned that somalia is suffering its worst drought in a0 years. the crisis, fuelled by a lack of seasonal rains, has left more than six million people vunerable. many families are being forced to migrate from their homes in search of water and food. our correspondent catherine byaruhanga has more

from southern somalia. the mass movement of people across somalia. grandparents, children, neighbours, leaving their homes, carrying all they have because their land has become hostile. this man and his family walked 300 kilometres to get to this camp in southern somalia, but some were left behind. translation: i'm feeling sad because the other people - we left back there, i'm worried about their survival. where are the children? our children are suffering. there are children we left on the road. and some children do not survive the journey to get help. this child, who was three years old, is buried here. she died shortly after arriving at the camp. she was malnourished and suffering from measles

and hepatitis. her mother and grandmother come here to visit her grave. translation: she suffered a lot the night before she died - and by the morning, she was gone. another grave is being dug for a little girl who we understand died from measles last night. the people here tell us she was also malnourished. most children won't die because they're simply hungry. itjust means that their bodies are too weak to fight off infections that they could survive. every bed on this specialist ward is taken, so there's no space for this baby, carried in by her mother. they will have to wait until a bed is free. translation: if we could cultivate our farms, - we could have eaten our own food and stored some of it, but now where can we get food?

somalia needs aid to get through this drought, but international prices are already going up. the war in ukraine is the latest shock to global supplies, and the fact that the world's attention and donor funding are focused on a war thousands of kilometres away, many warn the crisis affecting somalia and its neighbours is being forgotten. resources are really, really small. 15% of the somali appeal has been funded. so our needs are increasing every day, so i think there's a lot of concern that we might be heading to a risk of famine coming soon and when the needs grow... unless we get the money now, it's going to be extremely difficult. the focus is now on keeping everyone, especially the youngest, alive. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news, doolow, in southern somalia.

hundreds of fans lined the streets asjohnny depp and amber heard's six—week long libel battle reached its final stages in fairfax, virginia. in closing arguments, johnny depp's lawyers said the accusations of domestic violence had "ruined him". amber heard's legal team said if thejury rejected all her evidence and decided every allegation of abuse was a lie, then what sort of message was that for other victims of domestic violence? the case has now gone to the jury — who will resume deliberations on tuesday. david sillito reports now from fairfax. cheering we love you, johnny! it is now finally coming to an end, and johnny depp's welcome for today's closing arguments was more than enthusiastic. siren wails and it's notjust the fans. this courtroom drama has for millions become daily viewing, and it's clear that from the very beginning, it'sjohnny depp who was winning the global pr battle. i believe johnny depp. i think he's very truthful, i think he's been through a lot. you're convinced johnny?

i'm...99%, yes. i'm here today because i support amber heard, 100%. as he pulled in, the sound of bob marley's war could be heard from the car speakers, but inside court, it was rather different. ladies and gentlemen of thejury, you now have heard all the evidence in the case. the seven members of the jury who will now decide his future where reminded this was not a popularity contest, this was a case about libel. amber heard's words describing herself as a victim of domestic violence were, his lawyers claimed, notjust false, but devastating. you heard mr depp testify that he has lost nothing less than everything, because of miss heard's lies. nothing less than everything. the court was then re—shown this video ofjohnny depp.

amber heard's lawyers said if they ignored all her evidence, what message does that send to others wanting to speak out about domestic violence? "if you didn't take pictures, it didn't happen. "if you did take pictures, they're fake. "if you didn't tell your friends, you're lying. "if you did tell your friends, they are part of the hoax." it is now over. the decision about who has been telling the truth is now in the hands of the jury. david sillito, bbc news, fairfax, virginia. platinum puddings, coronation chicken sandwiches, victoria sponges — they will be some of the many tributes that will be served at thousands ofjubilee street parties across the uk next weekend, to mark the queen's 70—year reign. our royal correspondent, sarah campbell, has been speaking to a group of women from across the generations about what the queen

means to them. are you a fan of lemon puddings? oh, yes. an afternoon tea fit for a queen. different generations, but in the background of all their lives, one woman. she's constant, she's stoic, she's loyal. she's done a lot for everyone, holding the country together. she is not a person that throws up her hands _ and says "oh, - i can't cope with it." she gets on with it. newsreel: from the farthest corners of the world, - they've come to see the first lady of our nation journey in rich majesty to her crowning. i was in the front row with my flag, waiting anxiously for this gold coach to come by. it was like a fairy princess. you know, when you're that age, when you're that young, it was just awe—inspiring. 25 years later, and the nation took to the streets again to celebrate the silverjubilee.

susie, this is you. laughs this is you, in 1977. this is your first street party. chaos! laughs was it? no, it was wonderful because in that era, nobody had specificjobs. everybodyjust rolled up and did it and you asked for help and somebody helped. god save the queen plays in 2002, queen's brian may memorably played the national anthem on the palace roof. a few miles away in south—west london, a young kamar celebrated a goldenjubilee with her family and friends. i remember it as amazing, with all the flags and tables decorated, food everywhere, everyone's laughing, having a great time. most of my family were there as well, having a good time, so it was really nice. that's a really nice photograph. eileen isjust 18 months younger than the queen. orla made the news a decade ago as a diamond jubilee baby.

i think it's amazing that she's 96 and i don't know anyone in their 90s who's still working. she's more agile on her pins than i am! laughs she's not bad for 96. she is very good for 96, definitely. first, there was the victoria sponge, and now inspired by the lemon posset served at the queen's wedding... does everybody want some? all: , all right, here we go, then. how else to thejubilee tea party than with a dollop of platinum pudding? tuck in. cheers! sarah campbell, bbc news. before we go let's go to sydney, australia, where the famous vivid light festival has taken place for the first time since the pandemic began. the light show figures —— features artworks presenting australia's landscape and indigenous culture. they are projected onto the iconic sydney opera house and other landmarks over the next three weeks. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @richpreston.

much more on all those stories on the bbc news website. from all the team, thanks her watching and we will see you soon. hello there. it was a warm and sunny day across the southern half of britain from friday, and we saw temperatures pretty widely across the south and south—east reach around 21 degrees. now, we're not going to see temperatures that high for quite a few days now. certainly into the weekend, things are set to turn cooler as we start to pick up a northerly breeze, we could even see a few showers as well. now, many places will be dry on saturday thanks to high pressure. as this area of high pressure continues to push towards iceland, it will open the floodgates to this northerly wind, which is coming down from the arctic. so, for saturday, we start dry, on the cool side, there'll be plenty of sunshine around, but into the afternoon, clouds will develop, most across northern and eastern areas and we could see the odd shower here. northern scotland, down parts of eastern england

could see the odd shower, too, but further south and west you are, the best of the sunshine and the best temperatures. we could see 19 or 20 degrees in south wales. but quite cool across north sea coasts, especially with that on—shore northerly breeze. now, through saturday night, most of the showers fade away, there could still be a few pushing into northern and eastern scotland, it does remain breezy. elsewhere, the winds will be light and the clearest skies with it all the cool night to come, i think, a range of around 5—8 degrees typically. sunday is looking cooler — we could see why — the blue hue extended its way southwards around this area of high pressure will be pushing towards iceland. so, it's going to feel quite disappointingly cool in fact across northern and eastern parts of the country throughout sunday. more cloud around generally across the country, and anywhere could catch a shower. they will be sunny spells in between but quite limited, i think a lot of places holding onto the cloud. it's going to be breezy in the north and east, that willjust make it feel even chillier, but lighter winds across the south—west. it's here where we'll see the lightest temperatures

again, 15, 16 degrees, disappointing for the time of year across northern and eastern scotland and eastern parts of england. into monday, we could see quite a bit of cloud around generally, we got a shallow area of low pressure across the uk, but there'll be barely any wind, so any showers that develop will be pretty slow—moving. sunshine will be quite limited, so that will affect the temperatures again. i think on the cool side, 11 to 1a or 15 degrees in the south. as we move into tuesday and wednesday, it's a similar sort of story with a slack air flow across the uk. i think most of the showers will tend to be across more northern and western areas through tuesday and wednesday, perhaps turning a bit drier and warmer in the south.

this is bbc news. the headlines: politicians and the police in texas have admitted they took too long to storm a classroom, where a gunman was carrying out a mass shooting on tuesday. officials have admitted they thought no more pupils were at risk at the school in uvalde. protesters have gathered outside the annual meeting of the pro—gun national rifle association in texas, as the convention continued inside. former president donald trump spoke out against tighter gun controls and said he believes "evil like the texas massacre was a reason to arm — "not disarm law abiding citizens." moscow's advances in eastern ukraine are continuing. russian backed forces have gained more ground close to a strategic town in north—eastern donbas and are close to encircling several important cities. the regional governor has warned that ukrainian forces, may have to retreat to avoid being captured.