hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. polling stations have opened across france, in the final round of voting for parliamentary elections. at stake is control of the five hundred and seventy seven seat national assembly, where the liberal party founded by president emmanuel macron has held sway for the last five years. he held sway for the last five years. is just voting here placed he isjust voting here. he has placed his vote and we saw earlier marine le pen and jean luc bell on show, his two main rivalsjust two months ago, also placing their votes. the situation with the presidential election was that in the end, emmanuel macron won with a fairly decisive victory, but marine le pen had a lot of popular support and it was predicted that the vote may have been tighter than it was in the end, but the issue at stake there was the cost of living and french voters voicing concern that emmanuel macron was not focusing on it in the same way that mari
uber drivers in the uk will be classed as workers, not self employed, with big implications for global employment rights. and the 99 year old duke of edinburgh returns home to windsor, after a month in hospital he s said to be in good spirits. sweden and latvia are the latest eu member states to suspend use of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, following concerns about possible side effects. france, germany, spain and italy have all said they re awaiting the conclusions of an investigation by the european medicines agency, which are due on thursday. but the agency has already said today there s no indication that the astrazeneca vaccine causes side effects such as blood clots. our medical editor fergus walsh has more details. this vaccine saves lives, of that there is no doubt. and yet in the middle of a pandemic, with thousands dying every day in europe from covid. germany, france, italy, more than a dozen eu countries have temporarily suspended using the astrazeneca jab.
and the duke of edinburgh returns home and is said to be in good spirits. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with harrowing testimony from one community in syria, one of the many shattered by the conflict, which started a decade ago this week. tens of thousands had taken to the streets, calling for change. the government tried to crush the protests and the country descended into civil war. the united nations estimates more than 250,000 people have died in syria s conflict, although the true number could be much higher. at least 6.2 million syrians have been forced from their homes. another 5.7 million have left the country, and, now, a decade on, after all the bloodshed, president bashar al assad is still in power. in aleppo in 2013, iqra school was bombed by a fighterjet. some children were killed instantly. 0thers died of their injuries in the days and weeks that followed. a bbc panorama team were filming nearby when the attack happened.
but a necessity for the safety and prosperity of the british people in the decades ahead. the police officer accused of the kidnap and murder of sarah everard is due to go on trial in late october. and coming up scotland s first minister nicola sturgeon is to set out a timeline for the easing of lockdown in scotland. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. afterfour weeks in hospital, the duke of edinburgh has been discharged and has returned to windsor castle. prince philip was admitted to king edward vii s hospital in central london on february 16th after feeling unwell. the duke, who s 99, later underwent a successful procedure for a pre existing heart condition at another london hospital. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. shielded by a screen, a patient, evidently in a wheelchair, was brought out from the king edward vii hospital to a waiting vehicle. moments later, the vehicle left with the duke of edinburgh safely aboard, on his way home to windsor af