on one of the most significant french elections in years. new prime minister, keir starmer, tours the uk's nations, his first stop, edinburgh. demonstrations across israel, urging the government to reach a deal with hamas. the group is reported to have accepted a us proposal to begin talks of a hostage release. and four volunteers emerge from a small compound in texas, having spent more than a year living in conditions simulating those on mars. hello i'm samantha simmons. polls are open in france as people across the country cast their ballots in the second round of parliamentary elections. earlier, president macron has cast his vote in le touquet. turnout — so far — appears on course to be

highest in over a0 years. final opinion polls suggest marine le pen's far—right national rally will secure the most votes, but it's thought it's 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 emmanuel macron. the anti—immigration national rally scored historic gains in last sunday's first—round vote, giving le pen and the party's 28—year—old leaderjordan bardella their first realistic chance of running the government and taking control of the national assembly. however, after hundreds of rival candidates from centrist and leftist parties dropped out to give their allies a better chance of defeating the far—right, le pen's hopes of winning an absolute majority seem less certain. mark lowen reports. rarely have france's fraternal founding values felt so strained. but in this polarised, angry country, they voted in the most crucial parliamentary election in decades.

the far right national rally is at the gates of power for the first time since the second world war, eyeing a parliamentary majority. but across france, opposition candidates have dropped out in three—way races, urging supporters to unite behind a single figure who can stop the far right. its hard line on immigration attracts some horrifies others. we are completely invaded. they invade all the... everywhere you go in the provence. they are pretty beautiful towns. and they are completely not french any more. do you still believe in macron? um, i think i vote more to block the far right that vote for macron. many voters today are being asked to hold their noses and back. to hold their noses and back a candidate who could stop

a far right majority. the question is whether enough will do it, or whether that will actually galvanise national rally supporters, furious at what they'll see as a stitch up to block them from power. the prime minister cast his ballot, knowing france has been plunged into uncertainty by president macron�*s snap poll, with probably either a far right majority or a hung parliament and paralysis. france, europe, ukraine and beyond are on edge. mark lowen wasjoined by brian and marie — national rally and macron voters respectively — and they told him more about their decision—making. brian, you voted for the national rally, the far right. explain why. today in france, we have an amazing and beautiful country, but i think one of the main issues we have is safety. i've travelled myself, and this is something shared across the world. we need a little more safety. of course, there are flaws in a lot of the programmes,

but what is the point of working and putting your soul into the country, don't see my daughter, working every night to come back and not be safe at the end of the day. my wife looking back, not being safe. then you get to the point we say, ok, i need something. i need my country at least to be safe. it's the main thing. marie, it is the sense of security and law and order that the national rally are promising. do you worry about some of the other promises? i worry about the far—right party, yes. i believe it's a very racist movement, and i worry for my fundamental rights and for the fundamental rights of people of colour, people of different origins, people of lgbt+, so i worry about that. i believe it's a danger for france. you voted for macron�*s candidates.

do you feel frustrated with the president of calling a snap election that could backfire? yes. it was a decision i didn't really understand and i was frustrated because i thought it was a situation that could have been dangerous if it was handing the election to the national rally. i think he is hoping to get a majority and have a renewed face from voters, but that is not really what happened here. yes, difficult situation. brian, marie called the party racist, would you accept that? i think what they are saying seems racist, but i don't agree with it, and i'm not part of it. i think safety is the number one thing. when candidates are saying you have to unarm police for them to be respected, i've travelled to the us. they've also got a lot of problems. from what i've seen in spain

and the us, police are respected. i say hi to the police because i've grown up there. i have this respect and honour to the police, and i thank them for the service. here, it's totally the reverse. police, when you say hi to the police, they want to stop you and say, is everything 0k. safety is the main thing right now, and it's not about racism. racism isjust... theyjust use it as it a counter—effect. our correspondent azadeh moshiri has sent this report from auxerre — which is a rassemblement national stronghold. we're here in front of a polling station in auxerre in burgundy. the national rally has dominated politics here, local politics, since 2020 and many people we've spoken to, like others across france, are hoping that the far right comes to power in an historic election and takes over the national assembly. now, it wasn't always this way. yes, daniel grenon, the incumbent national rally, has taken

more than 40% of the vote in the first round. but before this used to be fertile ground for the left, auxerre had a socialist mayor for nearly two decades. but people decided, as we've spoken to them, that life has become too difficult and they needed change. that feeling is spreading like wildfire across france. and what about emmanuel macron�*s politics, his centrist project? well, his candidate didn't even make it to the second round here. here's what one resident, anne, had to say about the president. translation: and the fact is, he did not take into account. day to day hardships for families and people who are having trouble, especially in small towns and the rural areas. translation: and what are those hardships? - translation: difficulty to make it to the end . of the month to pay electricity and gas bills. difficulty to find work. here it's really hard to find work.

another told us he thought emmanuel macron was arrogant, thought he believed he was a king. sensing we were from britain, said he thinks he's charles iii. we'll see tonight whether that feeling, that rejection to such a scale of emmanuel macron�*s centrist project will be reflected in tonight's results. now let's look at toulouse in the south west of france, an area where the left has traditionally done very well. in the first round of the parliamentary election last sunday, the left—wing coalition came out on top. our reporter chris bockman is there.

like in paris, i can tell you that the asamblea nacional, or the far right, are pretty much contesting every single constituency that there is in this region, and there's a good chance that they're going to pick up a lot of seats until the parliament was dissolved just a few weeks ago. um, the centrist, the president of macron�*s party and his alliance on the left, on the centre, um, had lots of mps. they even had a minister. the minister had to give up after the first round to stop splitting the vote. um, these other mps who are from macron�*s party are. there's a good chance they'll be swept aside. will they go to the far left and to this kind of centre left socialist tradition? or would it go to the far right? the key thing is, is that here, the further you go from the city centre, the more the far right gains in strength. in fact, when i say gains and strength, ten years ago, they didn't even get double digit figures. now they're getting 38, 39, 40, 41%. so you really it's difficult to say

whether this pick up in voting that we've seen as well this time round favours one or the other. why are people further away from the city centres voting for the far right? well, first of all, it's the cost of living. a lot of people got pushed out of the city centres because their incomes, they don't allow them to live in the city centre, especially if they have families. it means that their fuel bills went up because they use their car so much to drive. they don't have big salaries as it is. and also there's a fear of crime. that's a big, big, big issue. there's not massive immigration in the countryside. i can't say that. but there is a fear of crime. plus, the standard of living has fallen enormously. you need to know that down in this region, average salaries are about between 1600 and e2000 a month after tax. that's not huge. and that's talking about people who work in the public sector. a lot of people earn that kind of salary in hospitals, local government teachers 1600 to 1900 after tax with inflation, what we've had and with cost of living crisis that we've had and the prices going up, they're angry. and that's the reason why it could go either way. voting ends in this, the second round of french parliamentary elections at 19:00 bst, and we'll have special coverage

here on bbc news as the polls close. the prime minister is beginning his tour of the uk's nations today. sir keir starmer is travelling first to scotland where he'll meet the first minister and snp leader john swinney. meanwhile, the new business secretary, jonathan reynolds, says the threat to nearly 3,000 jobs at the tata steelworks in wales is a major priority for the government, and he is holding talks with the company. here's our political correspondent harry farley. last week's festival of democracy is over, and the clear—up is under way in westminster. for the new government, the difficult decisions begin. there are immediate questions about the future of steel production in port talbot after the previous conservative government agreed a rescue package that would keep the plant open but would mean losing thousands of jobs. the business secretary says it's an immediate priority. there is more money available for the steel industry under our plans for government, but that's about making sure we meet this transition with the private sector together. but there is a better deal available for port talbot and the steel industry as a whole, i'm sure of that. are you guaranteeing those jobs this morning? well, i'm going to make sure that job guarantees are part of the negotiation that we're having. but already there are signs of tensions with unions over the rules labour sets itself on how much it can borrow and spend. we are going to have

to borrow to invest. we haven't got time to wait for growth. people are literally hurting out there, and we're going to have to borrow to invest. and our crumbling public services need money. for the conservatives, the postmortem has started. two thought to be considering bids to lead the party, offering their analysis, but not quite their own ambitions. we didn't have a good enough diagnosis ofjust how broken some of our public services were, and we didn't have the willingness to take the tough decisions that were necessary to deliver for the british public. the reason i came on today was genuinely not to talk about leadership, because this is not the moment for this. we need to show the public that we understand, they have sent us some very, very loud messages that we are listening, that we are reflecting, and then we, as a party, need to get together and unite and work out what we want for the future. the tory leadership battle will take shape in the coming days. for labour, they face the tough decisions of government

as they decide how to use their large majority. keir starmer is meeting scotland's labour leader anas sarwar in edinburgh this afternoon. 0ur reporter katie hunter is there huge gains for labour and the general election, what can we expect from keir starmer�*s visit this morning? from keir starmer's visit this morning?— from keir starmer's visit this mornin: ? ., , , ., from keir starmer's visit this morninu? ., , , morning? from the first phone calls on ou morning? from the first phone calls on you can — morning? from the first phone calls on you can see _ morning? from the first phone calls on you can see their _ morning? from the first phone calls on you can see their priorities. - morning? from the first phone calls on you can see their priorities. we l on you can see their priorities. we are expecting him as we are in the city to be meeting the scottish labour leader, anas sarwar, and celebrating some of those games that you mentioned. and then we'll be expecting him to meet the leader of

the snpjohn swinney. he himself has only been on the job a couple of months. before those meetings take place, keir starmer has talked about resetting the relationship with devolved governments in fundamental values of respect, service and community. john swinney, scotland's first minister has said he hopes to have constructive discussions on issues such as child poverty, growing the economy and net zero. meetings between the two new leaders has been fairly positive. it's no secret that relations between the uk and scottish government have been pretty strained at points in the past. it will be interesting to see how these to get on in the weeks and months ahead. find how these to get on in the weeks and months ahead-— months ahead. and the fallout from the snp losses _ months ahead. and the fallout from the snp losses in _ months ahead. and the fallout from the snp losses in the _ months ahead. and the fallout from the snp losses in the general- the snp losses in the general election, what it means for their future? ., election, what it means for their future? . ., election, what it means for their future? ., ., , ., election, what it means for their future? ., , ., ., , ., future? labour one seat after seat after seat in _

future? labour one seat after seat after seat in scotland, _ future? labour one seat after seat after seat in scotland, didn't - future? labour one seat after seat after seat in scotland, didn't they | after seat in scotland, didn't they care? but as i've been saying over the weekend, the biggest story in scotland was the scale of that snp defeat. last general election, they won 48 seats. they are down to nine at the moment. there has been a lot of talk about reflecting, listening to the public, soul—searching, and it's interesting from an independence point of view because john swinney was saying before this general election that if the snp won a majority of seats in scotland that that would give them renewed emphasis to sit down with the uk government and push for a second referendum. 0f government and push for a second referendum. of course that did not happen. labourwill referendum. of course that did not happen. labour will be very pleased that did not happen and it will be interesting to see how those talks go this afternoon.— go this afternoon. we'll be back with ou go this afternoon. we'll be back with you later— go this afternoon. we'll be back with you later on. _ go this afternoon. we'll be back with you later on. thank - go this afternoon. we'll be back with you later on. thank you. i with ongoing conflicts in ukraine and the middle east — foreign policy is high up the agenda for the new prime minister. he's been busy speaking to a number of world leaders — including president biden,

and this morning keir starmer spoke with both israel's prime minister and the palestinian president. while reiterating his condolences for the tragic loss of life following the october attacks with benjamin netanyahu, he also set out the urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in aid reaching civilians. it comes as protesters in israel demonstrate across the country, demanding the government reach a deal with hamas to ensure the release of the remaining hostages in gaza. sources from hamas say the palestinian armed group has accepted washington's proposal to begin talks on releasing hostages, and have also dropped their demand that israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire. 0ur correspondent injerusalem, sebastian usher, told me more about the protests and hopes for a deal. well, the protests have been going on since this morning. they started at the symbolic time of 6.29, local time. that was when hamas launched its first rockets on october the 7th. this is the nine—month anniversary of that. there's going to be a week of protests,

all of which are putting pressure on the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to act now to have a ceasefire. there is anger, grief and pain. president herzog, the israeli president, has just made a statement on twitter saying the state will do everything it can to get the hostages back and that the majority of people here want a deal to do that. so the pressure is building. there has been some hope. the sources from hamas suggest, although no official announcement, that they have made a key concession in line with the three days proposal that president biden outlined more than five weeks ago. that suddenly reenergised the ceasefire process, which had been in the doldrums. we have seen false starts before. this time, it looks serious, but the israelis are at the moment keeping expectations in check. there will be an israeli delegation sent to talks in the coming days, possibly in egypt, possibly

in qatar or both. those are two of the main mediators with the us. we have also heard that the head of the cia will be attending these talks. we have heard that before and they haven't resulted in anything, but the signs are better this time than we have seen for some time. 0n the ground, we have heard in the past half hour, according to palestinian sources, an israeli strike has killed a member of the civil administration of hamas, the deputy labour minister in gaza city. we have asked the israeli army for comment. they say they will get back to us, but that shows, as other incidents continue to show, that israel has continued to carry out strikes where and when it believes it is necessary for what it sees as its battle to denude hamas of notjust military, but political capacity. that is what israel will still be wanting after the ceasefire. that is where compromises still need to be made.

now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. we start at wimbledon where the british summer continues to affect play on the outdoor courts. but action is underway on the show courts, and chetan pathak is there for us. jasmine paolini and carla sal karate playing their prospective opponents. and chetan, the men's defending champion carlos alcaraz is first up on centre? he had a bit of a tough one in round three going to the five sets. is the going a bit easier at the moment? it was an absolute cracker in the last run they were lucky to be on centre court for that. he brought out all of those tricks in the last set. humbert, his opponent now in the quarterfinals of the championships, and alco wraiths has one —— the

first set. alcaraz in control and in charge. he is trying to get this donein charge. he is trying to get this done in straight sets. there is a nailbiter on court one in the women's draw. this is for the first place in their women's quarterfinals. it's betweenjasmine paoli near madison keys. madison keysis paoli near madison keys. madison keys is the american and 12th seed who reach the quarterfinals here last year. that match is currently under medical timeout. madison keys is weighted to come out and serve for this match, but she's clearly had a medical issue and been taken off the court to look at that. madison keys is a game away from the wimbledon quarterfinals, but will she be able to recover from this clear whim issue she is dealing with there. you have coco gauff against

them in a virus. you will see the top seed, gaelic singer a bit later on. he has looked really impressive so far. he's up against british seed in france. hopefully play on the outside courts to with this and out. yes it is good to see this and out. after england and the netherlands finalised the last—four lineup at the euros in dramatic fashion on saturday, attention now turns to the first of the semi—finals on tuesday, which is an eye—catching match between three—time winners spain against two—time champions france. it'll be a clash of styles in munich. spain have been one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament, whilst france needed penalties to get through their quarter—final against portugal and have been criticised for not scoring from open play. translation: personally, idon't care, because in the end we are semifinalists. i don't know why we would go looking for that little bit

extra now we are in the final four and now we have to all get together, including the media and especially the french media and moving the right direction to lift the trophy and not say that the style of play is not good, because in the end been sufficient. stage nine of the tour de france is ongoing and also the british grand prix is under way. judge russell started on pole. you can follow that all on the bbc sport website. for now, that's all from us. four volunteers have emerged from a small compound at a nasa base in texas, after spending more than a year living in conditions designed to simulate those on mars. they've been growing crops, operating equipment, and carrying out experiments, to help nasa prepare for a future mission to mars. aina aslam reports. hey! this is the moment kelly haston, ross brockwell, nathanjones and anca selariu emerged

from the mars simulator that's been their home for the past 378 days. as they left the 3d—printed habitat and finally reunited with theirfamilies, they appeared to be in high spirits. i am so proud and honoured to be part of this crew and project, and to be a part of a small, incremental part of the work being done here on earth that will one day enable humans to explore and live on mars. the volunteers spent most of their time in the small compound simulating operations future astronauts will have to do, including going for mars walks in a red sandpit, growing and harvesting vegetables, and dealing with a 22—minute communication lag with earth. nasa is eager to know how they got on with the experiments and their prolonged isolation. this mission is an important step in nasa's plan to set foot on mars by the early 2040s. the volunteers were thanked for devoting a year of their lives to serve humanity's exploration of space. anna aslam, bbc news.

the funeral of the former leeds rhinos player rob burrow has taken place in his home town of pontefract. members of the public lined the streets of the west yorkshire town to remember burrow who died last month, after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019. he had gained a huge following of fans, who were inspired by his work as a campaigner, raising millions of pounds for mnd charities. you'll remember when he died a few weeks ago, there was a huge outgrow pouring of grief are more fans in many tributes from the sporting world and beyond. let'sjust many tributes from the sporting world and beyond. let's just show you the same life in france where voting is well under way, and this is the second round in its parliamentary election. this is at one polling station in the capital,

paris, where marine le pen's national valley is aiming to take control of the national assembly, but she may be thwarted by a plan where many send places obscene centrist left candidates withdrawing to allow the anti—far right votes to be concentrated on one contender. —— national rally. the election is taking place in a tent atmosphere with 30,000 police deployed. last week, in the first round of voting, the national rally gained 40% of the vote. hello there! it was a promising start to our sunday morning. lots of sunshine around, but the showers have been developing, some of them turning out heavy and thundery. and that's how it's looking for the rest of the day. these heavy and thundery showers

pushing from west to east. england and wales, which will see most of these torrential downpours because of this weather front, which is enhancing them as it's moving across the country, fewer showers and lighter winds further north. in fact, parts of western south west scotland could stay dry altogether today, quite pleasant in the sunshine and maybe turning a bit dry behind the heavy showers for wales and south west england too. now winds still a feature across southern areas. quite breezy. a strong westerly breeze further north. much lighter winds, but the temperatures still disappointing for this time injuly. mid to high teens from north to south across the country. so, yes, there will be some disruption to play at wimbledon today and again tomorrow, courtesy of a new area of low pressure moving up from the south. now as we head through this evening, the showers fade away quite quickly, in fact, and overnight skies will clear widely with light winds. it's going to turn quite chilly. temperatures in single digits in towns and cities even lower than these temperatures suggest out of town, but recovering

across the south. and that's because we've got a new area of low pressure moving up from the south that will introduce more cloud outbreaks of rain and southerly breezes from the near continent. so we start cool, but fine. lots of sunshine around for monday morning quite quickly though, rain and cloud will be pushing into southern britain, spreading northwards, probably reaching mid wales, the midlands later in the day. further north, a few showers developing, the odd heavier one but some good sunny spells continuing and i think with more sunshine around tomorrow, central and eastern parts will see highs of 20 or 21 degrees, but for most it's the mid to high teens. a bit of a grotty looking day on tuesday. that rain pushes northwards monday night into tuesday, the heavy rains pushing into scotland and northern ireland, some strong easterly winds as well. england and wales will see the winds turn lighter and we'll see a mixture of sunshine and scattered, potentially heavy, thundery downpours. top temperatures around 20 or 21 degrees once again. unfortunately, it does look

unsettled as we move through the rest of the week. low pressure always nearby, bringing showers or longer spells of rain. temperatures remaining just below average for the time of year.

this is bbc news. the headlines: voters cast their ballots in france, where a second round of parliamentary elections is under way. turnout appears on course to be highest in over forty years.

centrist and left—wing parties mount a joint effort to block the far—right national rally. the british prime minister, keir starmer, is travelling to scotland which is led by a pro—independence party. sir keir wants to improve relations between the central government and other parts of the united kingdom. president biden is facing growing unease amongst party colleagues as he continues to insist he won't drop his bid for re—election. senior democrats are reported to be planning an emergency meeting about mr biden's presidential candidacy. and four volunteers have emerged from a small compound in texas where they've spent more than a year in conditions simulating those on mars. the new business secretary has said "job guarantees" will form part of the negotiations with steel giant tata about its port talbot site. jonathan reynolds said there was "a better deal available" on the future of the plant, but said newer technologies

would employ fewer people.