Very warm welcome to Bbc News. We are coming to life paris today. Polls are open in france as people across the country cast their ballots in the second round of parliamentary Elections. Earlier President Macron cast his vote in le touquet. The opponents, horrified by the idea of a faris government are trying desperately to try dicke stop it. Often uniting with candidates to black forest majority. Turnout so far has been significantly higher than in the second round of the last Election in 2022, according to the interior ministry. Its the highest since 1981. Final Opinion Polls suggest marine Le Pens far right national rally will secure the most votes , but its thought its unlikely to win an outright majority in the national assembly. Such an outcome could plunge the country into a chaotic Hung Parliament, severely denting the authority of President Macron. The anti immigration national rally scored historic gains in last sundays first round vote, giving Le Pen and The Partys 28 year o
Speech as Prime Minister, emphasising his expectations of high moral standards of his cabinet and promising to rebuild britain, brick by brick and that his government can get things done. Lets speak tojosh glancy, News Review Editor at the sunday times. Josh spent three months following Keir Starmer on the campaign trail, getting to know him and those around him. These experiences provide key insights, some might say, for predicting what kind of leader starmer might be and where he will stand on ideological and political issues. Thank you forjoining us. Some have said he already looks at ease, more comfortable now that he is actually in office. Do you think he is going to, you know, disregard the Ming Vase and show the public who he really is . I vase and show the public who he reall is . , ~ vase and show the public who he reall is . , ~. ,. , really is . I do think there was a lot of nervous really is . I do think there was a lot of nervous tension really is . I do think there was a
From home for good. Let me know if you think Working Practices have changed for ever and if so, whether thats a good thing or not on twitter, its Annita Mcveigh or bbcyourquestions. Also coming up this hour. Out of this world four amateur astronauts, including a billionaire will spend the next three days circling the earth in the latest milestone for space tourism. Hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. The uk, the us and australia have launched a new Security Partnership with plans to develop a fleet of Nuclear Powered submarines. The pact, to be known as aukus, will also cover artificial intelligence, cyber and quantum technologies. The uk Prime Minister, borisjohnson, says the project will be crucial for the protection of their shared interests in the indo pacific Region But China has accused them of having a Cold War mentality. Our Defence Correspondent Jonathan Beale reports. Britains decision to send its Aircraft Carrier hms Queen Elizabeth and other
First lady of the united states, jill biden, talking about military veterans. The couple are, says time magazine, part of a community that in a year of crisis have leapt into the fray. Jonny dymond, Bbc News. Time for a look at the weather. He is chris fawkes. Weve seen a bit of patchy cloud since the clear blue skies, nevertheless a lot of dry, fine weather. However, the Northern Ireland well see the cloud continue to thicken here with outbreaks of rain starting to spread in, as these Weather Fronts just our west start to approach and these fronts will be bringing more of us rain over the next couple of days as we will see in a moment. Over the next few hours turning wet in Northern Ireland. The rain most persistent across western counties. Turning quite cloudy for Western Scotland but east scotland along with england and wales dry and sunny spells, feeling warm, temperatures as high as 23 degrees. Overnight tonight the rain will begin to spread from Northern Ireland into scotland. Yo
Scheme for vulnerable afghans we are working on that very carefully, weve always been a big hearted nation, youve got a Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary who know what that means from our own personal history. New zealand announces a Snap Lockdown after the country detected its first case of locally transmitted Covid 19 since february. Haiti suffers further. After the Death Toll in Saturdays Earthquake passes 1,400 a Tropical Storm makes landfall on the island. Bob dylan is being sued by a woman who says he sexually abused her in 1965 when she was 12 years old. He denies the allegations. The taliban has urged Government Officials in afghanistan to return to work. It has offered them a general amnesty and, in a statement, said it wanted people to start routine life with full confidence. At kabul s airport, military flights have resumed after yesterdays chaotic scenes, when hundreds of afghans tried to board aircraft. Those scenes at the airport have been highlighted by newly released