has voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women s elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty. as the conflict in ukraine continues the new head of the british army tells his troops they should be prepared to fight in europe once again . it s two hours until voting closes in the final round of parliamentary elections in france, with president emmanuel macron facing an alliance of left wing parties. good afternoon. the transport secretary says it s not for the government to intervene to try to prevent three days of strikes on the railways this week. grant shapps dismissed calls from the rmt union to get involved in the dispute as a stunt, saying it s for the employers and unions to reach an agreement. mr shapps says the strikes would be an act of self harm . the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says the government wants the strikes to go ahead to sow division in society. here s our political correspondent, damian grammatic
good evening. projections following parliamentary elections in france show president emmanuel macron is on course to lose his absolute majority. his coalition is on track to win the most seats, with between 210 and 250. but that s short of the 289 needed for a majority in the national assembly. projections show the left green alliance ofjean luc melenchon is set to win 150 to 180 seats, becoming the main opposition. mr melenchon says the result marks an electoral failure for mr macron. a hung parliament will make it difficult for the president to press ahead with his planned reforms in his second term of office. we re nowjoined by peter conradi, the europe editor of the sunday times newspaper, who joins us from paris. thank whojoins us from paris. you thank who joins us from paris. you forjoining thank whojoins us from paris. you forjoining us. i guess surprising thank you forjoining us. i guess a surprising result? surprising result? yes, i mean eole surprising result? y
you are being led down a cul de sac by the union leadership telling you there is no pay rise when there is, trying to create some sort of class war when there is none to be had. but the unions claim the government is not interested in finding solutions onjobs, pay and pensions a message shared by labour. boris johnson and grant shapps want the strikes to go ahead. they want the country to grind to a halt so that they can feed off the division. we ll have the latest on how the strikes will affect millions of travellers this week. also tonight. british troops must be prepared to face a renewed threat from russia that s the message of the new head of the british army. president macron s hopes of a new parliamentary majority are fading fast. he s faced a strong challenge from the left. and the international swimming federation votes to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women s events. welcome to bbc news at ten. in just over 2a hours time the bigg
is pushing ahead with plans to become a republic. it s 7am in the morning in singapore, and 6pm in colombia where the former guerilla rebel, gustavo petro, has become the country s first left wing president after winning a second round vote. mr petro won 51% of vote, to 47% for his right wing anti establishment opponent, rodolfo hernandez. mr petro described the result as a day ofjoy for the colombian people. i m joined now by the bbc world service s americas editor, leonardo rocha. it isa it is a historic first for colombia, looking at his first leftist president. take us through the latest. it leftist president. take us through the latest.- leftist president. take us through the latest. it is a very important through the latest. it is a very important day - through the latest. it is a very important day for i very important day for colombia, it is something that evenin colombia, it is something that even in the past few hours people didn t expect, they said colombia won
Sporting event since the olympics. And the official engagement portraits as prince harry and Meghan Markle prepare to spend christmas at sandringham. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. The sacking of damian green, one of theresa mays closest allies, has prompted a furious backlash from conservative mps who are angry about how confidential material gathered during a Police Investigation came into the public domain. The first secretary of state was sacked from the cabinet last night after a government inquiry found he made inaccurate and misleading statements about the pornography on his Parliamentary Office computer. He is the third cabinet minister to leave their role in the space of two months. 0ur Political Correspondent ben wright has this report. Sacked from the cabinet and out the door. The third senior minister to leave theresa mays team in less than two months. Reporter why did you liethe public, mister green. This morning, damian green wasnt keen to talk, but fo