also tonight... boris johnson's former adviser dominic cummings says the prime minister was warned about that downing street party at the height of lockdown. the culture secretary freezes the bbc licence fee for two years. she claims it's to help household budgets, and not a political attack on the corporation. we simply could notjustify putting extra pressure on the wallets of ha rd—working households. and one of the great wartime mysteries — who betrayed the family of anne frank to the nazis? a new investigation offers an answer. and coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel — back to the future, everton contact the belgian fa as they make a move for theirformer manager roberto martinez. good evening. two days after the hostage—taking incident at a synagogue in texas, two teenagers have been arrested today in greater manchester. the attacker was a british man — named as malik faisal akram from blackburn — who was shot dead by police at the scene after a 10—hour stand—off. he'd taken four people hostage, including a rabbi, who all survived unharmed. friends of akram said he'd suffered from mental health problems and they expressed surprise that he'd been able to travel to the us. greater manchester police said the teenagers detained today, whose identities have not been released, are both being questioned as "part of the ongoing investigation", as our special correspondent ed thomas reports. what made malik faisal akram leave blackburn, the place he called home, to travel to texas, arm himself with a gun and hold people hostage inside a synagogue? there was a tense ten—hour stand—off. as an fbi swat team moved in, the 44—year—old spoke to his family back home. his words were recorded as he became increasingly desperate. these pictures show several hostages running for their lives. within minutes, malik faisal akram was shot dead. the rabbi here described their ordeal. it didn't look good, it didn't sound good. we were very... we were terrified. and when i saw an opportunity, where he wasn't in a good position, i made sure that the two gentlemen who were still with me, that they were ready to go, the exit wasn't too far away. i told them to go, i threw a chair at the gunman and i headed for the door. and all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired. throughout the stand—off, malik faisal akram was heard demanding the release of aafia siddiqui. she's known as lady al-qaeda, a pakistani neuroscientistjailed in the us for trying to kill american soldiers in afghanistan. it is the way that he was killed, he was shot. that shouldn't have happened. tariq hussain knew malik faisal akram and his family. he says many here question his mental state at the time he went to america. it's very frustrating for the family, they're going through a very hard and difficult time and our prayers are with them. if there was mental health issues, why did he go in the first place? the people looking after him, why did he fly out? there's questions that are not being answered, you see. this message was posted on blackburn muslim community facebook page, believed to be from malik faisal akram's brother, and has since been taken down. he apologises and says... and tonight, a second close family member of faisal malik akram, who didn't want to be filmed, raised concerns over his state of mind. he said it was widely known in blackburn that he was struggling with his mental health. the us president has described what happened here as an act of terror, while those who escaped said they felt lucky to be alive. this is now a global investigation, but the centre of this remains very much here in blackburn. tonight we understand malik faisal akram's brother has been spoken to by british counterterrorism officers who are working alongside the fbi. questions still to be answered include, what exactly motivated him to go, how did he get into america, how did he get the gun, and was anyone else involved in this? separately in manchester, around 30 miles away from here, two teenagers continue to be questioned in connection with what happened in texas. studio: ed thomas in blackburn, thank you. borisjohnson�*s former chief adviser, dominic cummings — now one of his leading critics — has accused the prime minister of knowing in advance about a downing street drinks party in may 2020, during the first lockdown. last week mrjohnson said he believed he had been attending a work event. tonight downing street has said it is untrue that the prime minister was given a warning in advance. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has more details. the prime minister needs friends. an earlyjog with the dog at the start of a week that could decide his future. waiting for an official verdict over what gatherings were going on under his own roof during lockdown. last week there was an apology and an admission about one event. i believed implicitly that this was a work event. but, mr speaker, with hindsight i should have sent everyone back inside. the evening in the number 10 garden had been organised by one of his right—hand men, his private secretary martin reynolds here, who had invited around 100 people. but a man who used to be beside boris johnson's side has challenged the version of events. writing online, dominic cummings says on the day of the event itself, amid many arguments... number 10, though, says... remember, mr cummings doesn't hide his desire to see borisjohnson gone. chief adviser back then, perhaps now enemy number one. yet two other former officials say they remember mr cummings telling them that day he'd warned the prime minister not to go ahead before the drinks gathering took place in the garden in any case. number 10 firmly disputes this account yet tonight's spat will dim government hopes that the febrile atmosphere may have started to calm. do you have confidence in the prime minister? there is widespread fear and sometimes loathing about the mess and the public�*s reaction. yet there is a pause before the official report from civil servant sue gray emerges. it is only right that we don't condemn the prime minister, someone who has apologised to parliament and said that he will come back when the sue gray investigation is finished. that is the fairest way of dealing with this. it's impossible to know right now how many mps really want borisjohnson out. but many have heard anger from constituents. when, not if, is a common refrain. my constituents at the moment are about 60—1 against - the prime minister and i've listened very carefully to members - of my association too. there are some very strident voices in my constituency demanding thatl i support the prime minister. for many conservatives it's the style and character of this government that concerns, not the specifics of any parties. but acting to take out a leader is a drastic move, and it's not clear yet how many punches the prime minister can really withstand. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. labour has accused the government of trying to regain popularity by punishing those who've been reporting the scandal of lockdown parties in downing street. the culture secretary, nadine dorries — one of borisjohnson�*s strongest supporters in the cabinet — has suggested that the bbc licence fee could be abolished in 2027, and has confirmed that the corporation's funding will be frozen for the next two years. media experts predict that the bbc will face the prospect of having to close services and make significant redundancies, on top of the thousands already seen in recent years. our culture editor katie razzall has more details. the bbc is 100 this year and so much has changed across radio, tv and more recently, online. in a digital age, the corporation is under increasing pressure. and today came the opposite of a birthday present — the £159 licence fee that funds nearly three quarters of the bbc�*s budget will be frozen for two years. the bbc wanted the fee to rise to over £180 by the end of this settlement. instead, it will remain fixed at £159 until april 202a. that's more money in the pockets of pensioners, in the pockets of families, who are struggling to make ends meet. labour says this government wants to destroy the bbc because it doesn't like its journalism. is the licence fee really at the heart of the cost of living crisis? or is this really about their long—standing vendetta against the bbc? now it's part of operation red meat, to save the prime minister from becoming dead meat. the culture secretary had claimed yesterday in a headline—making tweet that this license fee announcement would be the last. today, she appeared to row back, simply saying discussions on future funding must begin. suggested replacements include a subscription service, perhaps with a government grant to fund less commercial programming, or even allowing the bbc to run adverts. the biggest living thing... quality broadcasting doesn't come cheap. freezing the licence fee for two years is a real terms annual cut of nearly half a billion pounds by 2027 according to one media analyst, enders — that is around the same as the bbc spent on all its radio output last year. we're going to have to address how we do what we do differently and there will have to be changes and consequences. if you diminish capital resources, there are going to be effects. the bbc has already had ten years of real reduction by about 30%. whatever the funding after 2027, cuts are inevitably coming as a result of this latest settlement. if you don't watch it, why would you pay the licence fee? you should be able to have a tv in your house without paying it. i'm happy to pay it. the bbc produces some great programmes. - things have changed with streaming services but i think the bbc is one of the things out there that is still the same, still part of british culture. frozen for next year, it's good really, isn't it? that's what we want. it would help our pensions. the culture secretary has effectively kick—started a public debate on the future of the bbc, putting those who say she wants to destroy a national treasure against those who argue that the licence fee model is outdated in a world of netflix and disney+. today though, she wouldn't commit to offering up any alternatives. and in the short term alone, hyperinflation in the likes of drama and sports programming means whatever the bbc decides to axe, difficult decisions lie ahead. katie razzall, bbc news. there's an anxious wait for news from the pacific islands of tonga, where a volcano eruption has triggered a tsunami and covered the region in volcanic ash. the authorities have not officially asked for aid or confirmed any deaths, but the communications network is virtually destroyed and there's been little contact with people there. the eruption happened underwater on saturday, north of the main island of tongatapu where the majority of the population lives. the family of one british woman say she died after being swept away by the waves. our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has the latest. these pictures of the hunga tonga—hunga ha'apai volcano erupting are from last friday. this is just a foretaste of what was to come a day later — an eruption many, many times larger. this is the volcano poking above the ocean's surface last week. and today, it's completely gone. it has now been confirmed the huge eruption severed the main cable linking tonga to the outside world. this morning, new zealand dispatched aircraft to try and find out what is going on. some of those islands are reporting that they haven't had loss of life but i would reiterate that is second—hand and it's early days. this evening we learned this british woman, angela glover, was killed by the tsunami that hit the island on saturday. she had moved to tonga in 2015 to open an animal shelter. she died trying to rescue her dogs. the strange thing was, the uglier the dog, the more she loved it. her initial call to go to tonga was to swim with whales, which she did, and yeah. beautiful girl, she is irreplaceable. offers from new zealand and australia to help tonga are being complicated by the covid pandemic. the island nation is currently covid—free and it wants to stay that way. they have had disasters during the pandemic previously, from cyclones and hurricanes, and what they did then was just air drop supplies in and there was no physical contact or interaction between, say, troops and the local forces. a century ago, nearly one in ten tongans died in the 1918 flu pandemic. any reluctance now to ask for help would not be without reason. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, tokyo. the end of the pandemic is in sight for the uk according to a senior envoy for the world health organization. david nabarro told the bbc that there was light at the end of the tunnel but that there would still be bumps along the way. his comments came as the latest government figures showed another drop in cases with almost 84,500 new infections reported in the latest 24—hour period — substantially lower than a week ago. it means the average number of new cases per day is nowjust over 100,000. more than 19,000 people are in hospital with covid. another 85 deaths were reported — that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. this figure is usually lower on a monday. on average in the past week, there were 264 deaths per day. on vaccinations, over 36.4 million people have had a boosterjab — that's 63.4% of those aged 12 and over. much more work is needed to protect all parts of the uk from the impact of climate change. a new assessment of the risks concludes that even current levels of global warming will cost the country billions of pounds every year within a few decades. the report warns that while the world aims to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, the evidence shows that rises of up to 4 degrees by the end of the century certainly can't be ruled out. our climate editorjustin rowlatt spells out the implications. remember arwen? i can barely stand up! the monster storm that ripped down trees and pylons across much of the north of the uk in november. more than 200,000 homes were left without power. we have had to sleep with all the clothes on because it's been so cold in the bedrooms. be warned, the government says today, we can expect more extreme weather as our world continues to warm, and we aren't prepared. we are already seeing more severe extreme weather of many types. this is having an impact and we are not ready for the climate change that's already happening, let alone the climate change which is on the way. uk temperatures won't necessarily rise in line with the global average. this is now. we sometimes get temperatures 2 degrees above average in the south of england. now, if average global temperatures rise by 2 degrees, the increase would be more like 3 degrees. but we should also be prepared for this, says this latest assessment of the risks of climate change. it's unlikely but if global temperatures were to rise by 4 degrees, maximum summer temperatures in the south could be as much as 7 degrees hotter with the north up to 6 degrees hotter. the risks cut right across society, say ministers. infrastructure, roads, sewage systems, power stations will struggle as storms, droughts, floods and heat waves become more frequent and more intense. our health and productivity will suffer. farms will struggle to produce as much food. at the same time, the supply of goods from abroad is likely to be disrupted. to meet these challenges the government needs to take action right away, say its independent advisers on climate change. we really have got to start thinking about adaptation in everything we do. we've really got to start taking seriously the fact that our climate is changing and we are going to see quite significant changes over the next 30 years. the good news is that today's report finds investing in protecting the country from climate change is good value, with every pound delivering up to ten times that in economic benefits. but we all need to begin to make these investments now if we are going to be ready for the coming storms. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the government's been defeated in the house of lords over plans to give the police new powers to stop protests in england and wales if they think they're too noisy. peers voted by 261 votes to 166 to delete sections of the controversial policing bill. peers from all sides of the house criticised the wording of the proposed curbs to the right to protest. in northern ireland — a vigil has been held at the parliament buildings in stormont — in memory of the murdered teacher ashling murphy. the 23 year—old was killed on the banks of the grand canal outside tullamore last wednesday. thousands have attended vigils in different parts of the world in recent days. the circumstances around ashling's killing late afternoon in a quiet, rural area has renewed calls for more to be done to tackle violence towards women. our correspondent emma vardy has the latest. the sense of grief and shock over the murder of ashling murphy has travelled from this town in rural ireland across the world. a talented musician, playing here with her sister, ashling was also an irish speaker and her career as a local primary school teacher in her home begun. town of tullamore had onlyjust begun. she was the girl next door. she loved clothes, she loved socialising with her friends. we are struggling as a community. we are struggling to grasp it ourselves. this was the canal path where ashling murphy wentjogging after school. the irish police say she was strangled and that she fought with the killer who may have been injured when he fled the scene. they are waiting to question a man who is recovering in hospital with injuries that have raised suspicion. people have found this difficult to comprehend. what officers say was a random attack, along this popular route in broad daylight. and what happened here to ashling murphy has sparked a reaction much further afield. in towns and cities across ireland, in london, and as far as australia, tens of thousands of people have gathered in ashling murphy's memory. but more than that, to unite in calls for a change in society so women and girls can feel safe. if we are to break the cycle of male violence against women we need to develop an enforceable zero—tolerance approach towards misogyny and sexism. that's to end all violence against all women in all of its forms. at stormont in northern ireland today the deputy first minister michelle o'neill called for a cultural shift. ireland is still in disbelief. but there is also a sense of defiance and hope that ashling murphy's death can also bring about change. emma vardy, bbc news, tullamore. britain is deprived don't provide ukraine with further military assistance as continuing tensions between ukraine and russia. russian troops have been deployed at the border alongside ukraine and ben wallace insisted the weapons were purely for ukraine's self defence. novak djokovic has arrived in serbia after being deported from australia. he'd been hoping to defend his australian open tennis title — but was denied a visa because he's not had a covid vaccine. from belgrade, our sports editor dan roan sent this report. he'd hoped to return to his hometown as the first man to win 21 grand slams. is it good to be home? instead, a chastened novak djokovic landed at belgrade airport earlier, having been thrown out of australia following a bruising legal defeat that ended 12 days of drama over his unvaccinated status. reflecting his standing here, the world number one slipped out through the diplomatic exit, avoiding a small crowd of loyal fans furious about his deportation down under. i think they should all be ashamed of themselves and i think that novak will rise from this like a phoenix. i honestly feel very sad. | i mean, to treat, not even novak, any human that way is just wrong. after a build—up that threatened to boil over amid controversy over djokovic's presence in melbourne, the australian open at last began today without the reigning champion. rafael nadal, meanwhile, through to the second round but the man he is level with on 20 grand slam titles still the big talking point. honestly, i wish him all the best. i think the situation has been a mess. on a personal level, yes, i would like to see him playing here. if it's fair or not that he is playing here is another discussion that i don't want to talk any more about that. one ofjust three men in the top 100 still unvaccinated, djokovic risks being frozen out of grand slam tennis, likely to be barred from may's french open after the government there tightened the rules over a covid pass at sporting events. something for him to ponder as he arrived home at his luxury apartment in belgrade earlier. after a damaging saga that sparked a global debate about vaccination policy, novak djokovic is tonight trying to put this episode behind him here in a city where he enjoys unwavering support. but his stance means that his hope of becoming the most successful player in the history of the men's game remains uncertain. dan roan, bbc news, belgrade. it's a question that has plagued historians ever since the end of the second world war. who was it who betrayed the family of anne frank to the nazis? anne died in a concentration camp in 1945, at the age of 15, after two years in hiding in amsterdam. her diary, published after her death, is probably the most famous first—hand account ofjewish life during the war. using new investigative techniques, detectives have revealed the identity of the man thought to have betrayed the frank family, as anna holligan reports from amsterdam. the final entry in anne frank's diary. tuesday 1st august 1944. three days later, thejewish teenager was arrested. this was the frank family's hiding place during the nazi occupation of the netherlands. and this question of who betrayed the frank family, who had lived in this building undetected for more than two years, untiljust months before the end of the war, has remained one of the great mysteries of dutch history. and now this team of investigators have identified a man who they believe is the key suspect, ajewish lawyer who had been based here in amsterdam helping jewish refugees fleeing nazi germany. no dna clues or video images existed, so the detectives relied on circumstantial evidence, and a note. the final suspect became the person who was named in an anonymous note sent to otto frank shortly after he got back from the camp, auschwitz, in which a man called van den bergh was identified as the betrayer. otto frank was anne's father and the only member of the family to survive the war. the suggestion that the betrayer appears to be someone from within thejewish community is hard for many to bear. the historic context is critical here. it's a story of a man who was cornered and in order to save himself, his wife, his children from the gas chambers he gave a list of addresses to the sd which had no names. so the story is tragic. while there is still a degree of scepticism that we may never know the true identity of the betrayer, this tale serves as a warning, a lesson of what humanity may be capable of in its darkest time. yet another way anne frank's legacy remains alive. anna holligan, bbc news, amsterdam. the enduring mysteries of the second world war, possibly resolved. that's it, have a good night. this is bbc news. our headlines: two teenagers have been arrested in the english city of manchester as part of the investigation into a siege at a synagogue in the us. a british man was shot and killed by police in texas, after taking four people hostage. international efforts to deliver aid to tsunami—hit islands in tonga have been gathering pace. communications with the island nation are still very limited. one british man reports his sister died. borisjohnson�*s former chief adviser dominic cummings — now one of his leading critics — has said he warned the prime minister in person about a downing street drinks party in may 2020, during the first lockdown. britain's culture secretary has confirmed the bbc�*s licence fee will be frozen for the next two years. nadine dorries also announced a review into how the corporation is funded after 2027.