Labour was the biggest winner in wales, where the conservatives lost more than 80 seats. Ukraine says it has recaptured five villages north east of kharkiv, as it continues a Counter Offensive against russian forces. The taliban continues to roll back on womens freedoms in afghanistan, ordering them to wear the face veil. Chelsea get their new owners terms have been agreed, with the Consortium Led by american todd boehly. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. Sinn fein is on track to win the most seats in the Northern Ireland assembly for the First Time Ever signalling a historic shift in the political landscape. It comes as the Democratic Unionist Party Leaderjeffrey Donaldson, has said his party will decide next week whether to consider entering a Power Sharing government. Lets cross live to belfast and get all the latest from annita mcveigh. Hello and thank you very much. Yes, welcome back to belfast, one of three count centres in Northern Ireland going through the votes. Politics
Drakefords Labour Government exceeded expectations, really, did much better. And i think we basically mirrored that, really, here in wales with the local elections. What we didnt expect, potentially, was such a big downfall for the tories here in wales. Theyve done worse, losing all over the gains they made in 2017, losing the majority and the only councils they controlled, monmouthshire in wales. And, actually, now in monmouthshire, for the first time, labour is now the Biggest Party. Thats the first time for labour there. Labour, they took back control of two of the councils they lost last time around. They were unable to take the third. And they did actually lose one as well, due to a local issue in neath port talbot. Some of the other stories of the day yesterday were plaid theyve gone from one council to controlling four. However, their overall vote share is down and theyve lost six seats. So i think the question for them will be, if they cant take seats and cant hold onto voters
I was working in the office, we stopped for something to eat. There was no party, there was no breach of the rules, im confident about that. The police have obviously got to do theirjob. But, meanwhile, im in scotland because weve had a fantastic set of results, the best results for ten years, coming second in scotland. Theres a smile on all of our faces and weve taken this council. So labour is very clearly back on the pitch and were turning the corner and now were marching towards that General Election. In terms of the uk results, it was a bit of a perfect storm with you, in terms of the tories at the moment, shouldnt you have done better . We did really well. We won in the north, i was in cumberland, in carlisle yesterday, where we won. We won in the south in southampton. We took seats in london that people said wed never take. We did really well in wales and here in scotland, best results for a decade. Anas sarwar has been leader now for, what, 14 months and hes realy turned it aro
Asked questions about his position all the way to West Dunbartonshire where he was keen to try and trump it with labour gains. He wanted to talk about their successes labour had yesterday, he wanted to talk about where labour had made inroads, he wanted to talk about a Turning Point for stock instead, he is now being hounded by questions about what hes going to do if he is fined by Durham Police. This relates back to a gathering that took place in the Run Up To A By Election last year. He was filmed in an office of one of his mps, a Constituency Office of one of his mps drinking a beer. He has said repeatedly that he is confident no rules were broken. Initially, Durham Police looked and assessed there have been no offence committed. Yesterday, they announced that they were investigating following significant new evidence. I think this is awkward timing because it overshadows the election result. It also completely neutralises the line of attack that he has been employing an Boris Johns
president trump has told the leaders of more than a0 muslim nations they must join forces to defeat religious extremism. speaking in saudi arabia, on the second day of his tour of the middle east and europe, he said terrorists must find no sanctuary, and he singled out iran for criticism, saying it represented the tip of the spear of terrorism . our north america editor, jon sopel, is travelling with the president. his report does contain some flash photography. the president has been ona photography. the president has been on a deep emotion into middle east politics today, and a charm offensive, meeting a host of arab and gulf leaders from across the region. and one central geopolitical subject, the fight against islamist extremism, and how to make good on his pledge to destroy so called islamic state. but after the trenchant islamic state. but after the trencha nt and some islamic state. but after the trenchant and some would say islamophobic language of the trump election