this is bbc news. the headlines at 103m. sinn fein wipe out the unionist majority in northern ireland's snap election. the dup are the biggest party but byjust one seat. the two parties now have three weeks to agree a deal to avoid the return of devolved power from westminster. fears for the future of vauxhall plants in britain, as a french car company reportedly reaches a deal to buy general motors' european operations. mercedes recalls 75,000 cars in the uk because of a risk of them catching fire. also in the next hour just how much will it cost british taxpayers to leave the european union? a house of lords report says the uk has no legal obligation to make any to make any final payment. and the week in parliament looks at clashes betweenjeremy corbyn and theresa may in the commons. that's in half an hour,

here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. sinn fein are celebrating their best ever showing in elections to the northern ireland assembly. with all the votes counted, they've won 27 seats, just one behind the democratic unionists. sinn fein‘s president, gerry adams, has described the result as "an end to the old status quo". the two parties now have three weeks to try to agree a new power—sharing coalition. for the latest, annita mcveigh is in belfast. a lot has changed in ten months since were elections in northern

ireland in may. back then, the dup had a ten seat majority over sinn fein, and that has now been reduced to just fein, and that has now been reduced tojust one, fein, and that has now been reduced to just one, and fein, and that has now been reduced tojust one, and big questions ahead as to what the parties can do now, whether they can reach some sort of agreement, or as whether they can reach some sort of agreement, oi’ as seems whether they can reach some sort of agreement, or as seems likely, enter into a protracted period of negotiations before northern ireland can get its power—sharing government back at stormont again. let's have a look at the results. all of those 90 seats. the dup, down from 38 to 28 seats. the dup, down from 38 to 28 seats. sinn fein, one seat behind on 27. the ulster unionist party has

ten seats, their leader mike nesbitt, stepping down after the results. let's ta ke let's take a look at what has been a pretty momentous 2a hours with our ireland correspondent, chris buckler. if walking out of government was a gamble for sinn fein, it's paid off. they increased their share of the vote and narrowed the gap between them and their own coalition partners, the dup. but the result leaves major questions about the future of power—sharing in northern ireland. i said consistently throughout

the campaign that sinn fein are not interested in going back to the status quo. that remains the position. the dup need to fundamentally change their ways and be true to the principles of power—sharing if they want to go back into the institutions. sinn fein had called for the dup leader, arlene foster, to step aside as first minister during a public enquiry into a botched green energy scheme. when she refused, sinn fein left the coalition government, forcing powerfrom office. there is work to be done and work to quickly mend the relationship which has been frayed by the discord of this election. but it was some of stormont‘s opposition parties that suffered most in this election. i shall make my statement and leave the stage. the leader of the ulster unionists, mike nesbitt, stood down because of their poor performance. it will now be up to the leaders of sinn fein and the dup to draw battle lines in the inevitable negotiations to try and form a government. chris buckler, bbc news, belfast. 0ne

one of the most senior politicians in unionist politics, david trimble, he was speaking on the today programme, he was asked his views on what he thought would happen next in the process due to begin on monday, and he said, things may take time but he hoped that the parties and the government could find more time and space for the parties to negotiate rather than return to direct rule. i suggest it would be a goodidea direct rule. i suggest it would be a good idea that the secretary of state for northern ireland rushed through a piece of legislation to give the parties more time. in the belfast agreement, there was more time when the dup and sinn fein did their original deal. they reduced

their original deal. they reduced the time for the formation of an administration. that is going to come back and bite them now. i'm joined now by the sdlp memberfor belfast. the sdlp must be pleased, given that the number of seats was reduced, you've managed to hold on 12 seats. that's a game in real terms. it's the first we've had in many years. people may agree it was the most tribal election we've had, beating those drums to strengthen their hand at the negotiation, and we have proved that transferring across the community was worthwhile as well. what you think you can achieve, given those seats in this

political climate? i suppose the oi'ius political climate? i suppose the onus is on the larger parties, those who have brought us to this crisis to start to put the pieces back together, but the sdlp has always been the party of power—sharing and facilitating, and we are not going into this with a lot of red lines like the larger parties. david trimble is talking about having some sort of pause, because three weeks won't be enough? it is difficult to see exactly where we are going, but ringing the institutions down is the easy part and renegotiating a building up is the hard parts. we are ina building up is the hard parts. we are in a difficult situation. we've no budget in place, no plans for brexit, and we are stepping into a little bit of a void, so going back to direct role is an abdication of responsibility and we want to avoid

that, but those parties who went out with a big, tough mandate and got it, should deliver for people and not give the reins back to london. are you looking forjames brogan shire to find some way to negotiate this? i don't think people will acce pt this? i don't think people will accept a lame assembly for too long. i will askjames accept a lame assembly for too long. i will ask james brogan accept a lame assembly for too long. i will askjames brogan shake to assist us, but people have sold bigger problems like this and there's no reason why northern ireland can't. thank you very much. we have a professor of british and irish politics from liverpool university. what will we do with this shift in the balance of power?

this was the onward march of nationalism. unionism for the first time has lost its place at stormont. losing 90% of the majority over sinn fein, the dup leader has a tough decision. she was part of the problem according to sinn fein, but if she stepped aside in a deal could be on but if she doesn't, it won't. do you think there will be people in her party asking her to step aside? iimagine there her party asking her to step aside? i imagine there are some people in the dup who think it would be easier, but i imagine the bulk of her party will continue to back her. they won't allow sinn fein to choose their leader. does she go for the sake of the broader process, or does she stay on as dup leader with the possibility of direct rule. they may

be less unenthusiastic because they will be looking at rolling with less devolution than they had in may. with they welcome the idea of another election? i think it would be madness. the nationalists based was so be madness. the nationalists based was so mobilise. let's face it, this won't solve the northern ireland's problems. it stirs animosities. it was highly sectarian in a number of ways, so there needs to be some sort of fudge to give the parties are greater period of time to negotiate a deal. do you think that is what the northern ireland secretary will do. he will be looking for a way to

buy more time? yes, he is looking to avoid suspending primary legislation through westminster to suspend institutions. if you suspend the institutions, there is no guarantee they will ever be returned, so it's important that the show is kept on the road, even if the government is somewhat fictional in many ways. you can't risk suspending the institutions permanently. we had clare saying that the people of northern ireland white was a lame duck assembly for an extended period of time. yet the majority of voters have voted the parties who are at an impasse. they want tough representatives of their block, representing them. how do you

resolve that? the answer is that the dup and sinn fein will have to talk to find a way of governing. most of the gift will have to be from the dup, regarding same—sex marriage and irish language protections. otherwise it will be utterly redundant. thank you for your thoughts today. a conundrum is the way to describe northern ireland's politics. it took years of discussions to get the good friday agreement and stormont on the road. no one wants lambeau politics here, yet we are in a very difficult position with the two main parties seemingly at a sticking point in terms of how they move forward together. we are in the three weeks

of very interesting discussions and a lot of work to be done to make progress, i think. reports from france suggest the owner of peugeot and citroen has reached an agreement to buy vauxhall. the deal has been subject to three weeks of talks, but there are concerns about what it could mean for the thousands of vauxhall employees in the uk. andy moore reports. vauxhall builds the vivaro van at luton. around 70,000 rolled off the production line last year. and at elsemere port about 120,000 vauxhall astras are built every year. as well as those employed directly by gm, thousands more work in the supply chain. there are also 15,000 people in the pension scheme, one of the uk's largest. they have already been told that they will be no worse off under the new deal. the good news is that the psa group, which owns peugeot and citroen, has promised not to cut anyjobs in the uk before 2020, and the future after that is uncertain.

psa's boss carlo tavares has already had talks on the phone with the pm theresa may. there were reassuring words but no promises were made. vauxhall is set to become the second—biggest carmaker after vw. french government has a 14% in this and there are fears french jobs will come ahead of british and german ones. the unite secretary, len mccluskey, has been involved in talks with the psa bosses. he called vauxhall a jewel within the crown of gm's european business. last autumn, the government did a deal to keep nissan in sunderland. the company was promised free access to european markets whatever happened after brexit. psa may well seek similar assurances. what more do we know about this? we

know that the press have been invited to a press conference with the groups involved in this story. officially, there are no comments from either company. there was nothing they could add or see on or off the record. this negotiation has been very brief to joint companies, but general motors wanted to get rid of gm europe, it's been making losses for many years, and they want to focus on core american brands. for psa's point of view, they definitely want to be a bigger player in europe and this would make

them toe to toe with volkswagen europe. there's the question of pensions? he's a very old companies with very generous pension schemes. there's an estimate they could be a pensions shortfall of 10 billion euros, mostly on the 0pal site, which is a german company, but about £1 billion on the box inside, here in the uk. so we don't know. has psa agreed to take on 10 billion euros? i doubt it. a giant pensions black hole would be too much for psa to swallow. lets see what happens on monday. jo, thank you. joe, thank you.

mercedes—benz is to recall around one million cars because they're at risk of catching fire. it's because of a fault found within newer models which can cause them to overheat on starting. it's thought around 75,000 cars in the uk could be affected, but mercedes says the risk to customers is small. the models at fault include some a, b, c, and e—class cars as well as mercedes' cla, gla and glc vehicles. anyone who's bought a car between 2015 and 2017 could be affected. mercedes say they're aware of 51 fires so far, but that no deaths or injuries had been recorded. it's thought owners will be contacted later this year. the dup has remained northern ireland's largest party in the assembly election, but only by a single seat ahead of sinn fein. there are fears for the future of

vauxhall‘ future after a potential ta keover vauxhall‘ future after a potential takeover bid. 75,000 mercedez—benz cars in the uk are to be recalled because there's a risk they could catch fire. let's see what is happening in the sport. let's start with athletics. richard kielty, he is progressing well. he made his heat. andrew robinson also won his heat. three to tomorrow and the women‘ semifinal. philip completed her heat. joe bundy

produced a stunning right to win the time trial in los angeles. it is 15th world title including his paralympic medals on the track. 15th world title including his paralympic medals on the trackm certainly getting harder as i'm getting older. it's the recovery afterwards. i don't know whether it's that i'm getting older or that we had seven weeks' notice. i really struggled when i got off the bike. the only reason i got up off the floor was because of the medal presentation so i was pretty out of it for awhile. beat west indies in 45 runs, with 0wen morgan hitting a century. chris works and liam

plu nkett century. chris works and liam plunkett did the damage in the reply taking four wickets each, so england are1—0 up with taking four wickets each, so england are 1—0 up with another game starting tomorrow on the same ground. andy murray said his match was difficult against lucas poor e. i've had some big wins it will be a true rematch. he has a lot of power, talent in his hands, i will try to dictate as many points as i can, so when he is up on the waistline, when he's moving the ball it will be very tough. manchester united take on

bournemouth who have gone seven matches without a win in the league. we are pretty excited by this game. i think we can only be positive and look to the future in a positive way. there's certainly no other way to approach this game or any other game. we are as confident as we can be around our pictures. we know a win is needed to fully feel—good about ourselves. and i believe it's not far away. we know that liverpool plays arsenal so it's one of those weekends where somebody is going to lose a point, so we should win against bournemouth, but bournemouth isa against bournemouth, but bournemouth is a very tricky team. very dangerous team. its scottish cup quarterfinals with rangers versus hamilton and hit burnie on versus air. northampton beat sale in the rugby

32-12. northampton beat sale in the rugby 32—12. 0spreys have moved to the pro 12 table top, they ran out 39 winners. five defeats in a row to edinburgh, they were also wins for ulster. in super league, a late, disputed try gave wakefield a victory over saint helens. a fantastic finish from brown helped them on their way back they were trailing 12—10 when the video referee awarded a penalty which was converted. 16—12. wigan beat lee 20-12. converted. 16—12. wigan beat lee 20—12. rory mcilroy‘s lack of

competitive golf has seemed to help more than hinder, as he is ahead in the world championships in mexico city. in a second round of 65, including ms eagle is setting him up nicely for this challenge. not too pleasant. it's the big fight at night. it's on five live. the world cruiserweight champion is fighting for the first time as a heavyweight and he was nearly a stone lighter than his opponent on the scales. i'm prepared for the fight. he is a manufactured heavyweight, not a real heavyweight. when you get close to him he is trembling. he's not as

bonded and and doesn't leave the things he is saying. i thought it would look more physically impressive, some remnants of some abdominal muscles, he didn't look goodin abdominal muscles, he didn't look good in my opinion, so it doesn't bode well for him. i've knocked out quys bode well for him. i've knocked out guys who are bigger, stronger, more athletic than him, so i think he will get smashed fritz pretty quickly. we have more on all the today's stories on our website. we will be back for you in the next hour. the uk may be able to leave the european union without paying a penny.

that's the view of constitution experts in the house of lords today. it says the uk would be in a strong position to walk away without any payment if negotiations end without a deal. downing street described the report as a significant contribution but the chairman, lady faulkner, said that payment may be needed in order to make an agreement.“ said that payment may be needed in order to make an agreement. if you walk away without paying venue or essentially closing the door. it seems to me that that would be the nuclear option. so, i don't think and there is nothing i have heard from the government that they want to trigger the nuclear option, but it is as big as that. boris johnson is to visit russia in the coming weeks according to the foreign office. he is to hold talks with his russian counterpart. he says he

wa nts to russian counterpart. he says he wants to engage, but beware, there will be focused on international issues including the ukraine and syria. he will be the first minister to visit russia in more than five yea rs. the french centre—right presidential candidate, francois fillon, has suffered another blow — with the resignation of his campaign director. mr fillon is being investigated over claims that his wife and two of his children were paid more than one million euros for parliamentary work which was never carried out. sarah corker reports. he has been putting on a brave face but more cracks are appearing in his presidential campaign. the scandal over allegations he misused public funds to pay his wife and family members and won't go away. heavyweight supporters are abandoning him. his latest

defections, spokesman and campaign manager. but, in an effort to fight back, he made this direct appeal to the french people. translation: i invite everyone to come next sunday at 3pm with a calm and assured strength. those who respect our democratic institutions. you will make your voice heard. he has also lost the backing of the allied union of democrats. many in his party are calling for him to step aside. translation: we are in a countdown, it's either the stop watch all the detonator. it is likely to explode our political family and i detonator. it is likely to explode our politicalfamily and i don't wa nt our politicalfamily and i don't want it. collection takes place in two rounds in april and may. the polls look like this.

in this scenario, that's the former prime minister puts him in the lead at 26.5%. marine lip pen faces legal is to use. her national front party, accused of misusing eu funds. francois fillon denies the allegations and vows to fight on. sir bruce forsyth has reportedly returned home, after spending five nights in intensive care. the 89—year—old was being treated for a severe chest infection. in a statement released

by his agent, sir bruce said he wanted to "say a special thank you to all the nhs doctors, nurses and staff" for their "kindness and ca re". let's see how the weather is doing. it's been a cold, blustery day. there are blue skies, sunshine, but equally, low pressure not far—away. central and eastern parts of england look dry. gale force winds. temperatures only 6—7d towards the north. scotland will see rain and hill slope fishing northwards. strong winds, but elsewhere more persistent rain moving in. much of our reign sitting across wales and southern and central parts of england. hill snow across wales

pushing across, seeing that rain over the pennines. an improved day across scotland and northern ireland.