america becomes the first country in the world to approve covid vaccines for babies. hello and welcome to bbc news. polling stations have opened across france in the final round of voting for parliamentary elections. at stake is control of the 577 seat national assembly, where the liberal party founded by president emmanuel macron has held sway for the last five years. but, president macron s candidates are facing strong opposition in the form of an alliance of left wing parties. i m joined now by our correspondent hugh schofield. only two months since emmanuel macron won the presidency convincingly, much of a challenge that he face this time round? it is that he face this time round? it is a big challenge. that he face this time round? it 3 a big challenge, surprising challenge, not from the far this time. but from the left. this coalition which has been created by the force of will of one man, jean luc melenchon, the man who came third in the presidential election, who ca
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 577 seat national assembly, where the liberal party founded by president emmanuel macron has held sway for the last five years. but, president macron s candidates are facing strong opposition in the form of an alliance of left wing parties. our paris correspondent hugh schofield told me more a big challenge, surprising challenge, this time, but from the left. this coalition which has been created by the force of will of one man, jean luc melenchon, the man who came third in the presidential election, who came from the far left of french politics but by dint of personality and tactical genius has got all of the left or most of the left into his camp and persuaded the very demoralised socialists, communists and greens to fly under his banner, and together, as a group, they are set to
now on bbc news, it s time for political thinking with nick robinson. welcome to political thinking, a conversation with rather than interrogation of someone his political thinking helps to shape ours. once again, london and brussels are at loggerheads. once again, the row between the uk and the eu is about the status of northern ireland. once again, politics in belfast is deadlocked, with unionists refusing to share power with sinn fein. my guess is someone whose life and career is based on a refusal to take sides in the political battle. it is a decision that has paid dividends for naomi long, who leads the alliance party, which won a record number of seats in the recent elections. brought up in one of the most fiercely loyalist parts of east belfast, she insisted that politics should not be defined by whether you want northern ireland to stay in the uk or instead to be united with the rest of ireland. but does she and her party really represent anything more than simply no
to the manchester arena bomb to survive the blast but was left paralysed from the waist down. bbc breakfast reports on his epic five day charity climb to the summit of kilimanjaro in a specially adapted wheelchair. gentle string music. i wanted something that people looked and thought, he s doing what?! it s hard enough for somebody with legs to do it, and here s a guy doing it in a wheelchair. it s a risk. i m putting my life on the line doing it. one, two. it was such a relief to get there. just so proud, just so proud. cheering thank you, thank you. goodjob, goodjob, goodjob. hello, hello, hello! how are you doing? i m good, and i ve got all of our stuff as well. how are you? 0k? martin hibbert has set himself an unbelievable challenge to climb the highest mountain in africa, kilimanjaro, in a wheelchair. # in thejungle, the mightyjungle, the lion sleeps tonight.# the first thing i saw when i came out was my trike, so i m happy. i don t even care if i don t got underwe