a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: fighting for the french presidency. as support shifts, sunday's first round in a crucial election is looking too close to call. seven weeks and counting: british members of parliament vote to confirm a snap general election, onjune the 8th. two people are killed, as venezuela's biggest anti—government demonstrations in years turn violent. and grand slam mum—to—be. serena williams‘s agent confirms the tennis star is expecting a baby. hello. one of europe's most watched elections in years is in its final stretch.

france holds the first round of its presidential election on sunday and the candidates have been staging some of their last major rallies. emmanuel macron, on the centre—left, who isjust ahead in most polls, told a crowd in nantes he was the only candidate capable of ensuring security. his closest challenger is the far—right leader marine le pen. she's promising a referendum on france's membership of the european union and says she will stop all immigration. our correspondent hugh schofield was at her rally in marseille. for her last rally before the first round, marine le pen went back to the roots of the front national, not just the place and people of the message. it was vintage. planning immigration for the country's many woes and promising a new hard line once in power. translation: we have to protect the unity of our people. how to protect them if we are in permanent social austerity? i want to protect the people i am part of.

i want to protect the people that have seen it grow and see my children grow and who will see my children's children grow. this is marine le pen returning to the heartland, who used to turn out in venues like this in marseille for her father. the people venues like this in marseille for herfather. the people are happy to stand up and shouted out that message, france, the french. it was heady and uncompromising and for people in the audience a welcome return to what should be the country cosme core values. return to what should be the country cosme core values. they have no doubt she is heading for victory on sunday and beyond. —— the party's core values. translation: she has the best solution is to put fronts in order again. translation: the best solution is to put fronts in orderagain. translation: her speech was as captivating as usual and she gives us energy to keep going. translation: for me she is the only candidate that tells the truth. that's it. translation: she is giving hope to the youth. the

french people. the hope that we can reconcile and have a future together. but behind the surface euphoria, not all is as confident as it seems in her campaign. some say she hasn't been as strong as she could have been. rival candidates are catching up. sunday's victory may not necessarily been a formality for marine le pen that's long been predicted. there's much more on our website about the french election, including this profile of all the main candidates. although marine le pen and emmanuel macron lead in most polls, the right—wing francois fillon and far—left jean—luc melenchon are also in the running. you can find out more about all of them at bbc.com/news, or on the bbc news app. china's foreign ministry has raised new worries about north korea's nuclear programme. and an end to words or actions that

could raise tension further on the korean peninsular. the call comes after the white house press secretary said there was no confusion over the deployement of the uss carl vinson. the saga began on april the 8th when the aircraft carrier was told to leave singapore and sail north to waters near north korea. three days later president trump confirmed. for the whole week the ship and its escort sales in the opposite direction in the indian ocean and is now heading to the korean peninsula. our correspondent steve evans is at a us navy base in south korea and joins me from there live. what's the latest? this is an air force base and later in the day there will be one of those exercises which china actually thinks doesn't help the situation. it is a joint exercise between the air force and the us and the republic, —— and south korea. it happens every year,

and every year north korea says it is practice for invasion. what china is practice for invasion. what china is suggesting is that the us puts a moratorium on these exercises and in return north korea puts a moratorium on its nuclear developments. this exercise here will involve 80 aircraft, 1000 us personnel, about 500 south korean personnel and aircraft from japanese bases as well. they will get involved in simulating or involving real ammunition, airto air combat simulating or involving real ammunition, air to air combat and the bombing of targets on the ground. so the us and south korea say this is a necessary exercise to do with the defence of south korea, whereas north korea says it is provocative and china is pushing that way. mike pence, the vice president of the us, says all options are on the table, but they

are looking for a peaceful solution. if there is to be a negotiation of this difficult situation it will involve putting things like these exercises onto the table in return for north korea doing that moratorium on its own efforts. it seems a long way away.|j moratorium on its own efforts. it seems a long way away. i have to say that. how is the vinson carrier and its escort is, how it is playing into the situation? i think there are some people in south korea who say, well, we were told by the president is no less that... they are quoted as saying in the press this morning that if that was false, what else can we also assume is false? i have to tell you, the people on the street are not talking

about where that aircraft carrier is at the moment. there's an election on the way here and the stance of any new government within the next month is much more feature and that sta nce month is much more feature and that stance will also be interesting because if there is the movement to the left that the polls seem to be indicating, the likely president of this country, south korea, is indicating a much more communicative attitude towards north korea and that clearly, well, it may not play with mr trump's current stance. thank you very much indeed for that. much to keep an eye on. here in the uk mps have voted overwhelmingly to hold a snap election in june. in the end it was little more than a formality with 522 votes to 13 backing the prime minister's plans to send britain to the polls three years early. theresa may says it's necessary to guarantee stability and a strong hand for the uk during brexit negotiations. campaigning has already kicked off.

here's what the party leaders said during their first election rallies. that's what this election is about. it's about providing a strong and stable leadership this country needs to take britain through brexit and beyond. it's about strengthening our hand in the negotiations that lie ahead and it's about sticking to our plan for a stronger britain that will enable us to secure that more stable and secure future for this country and take the right long—term decisions for the future. it's about strong and stable leadership in the national interest. this election is about the future of all of us! the future of our children, the future of socialjustice, the future of our services, the future of ourjobs. are we going to be a country that gives riches and makes riches for all of us, or are we going to be a country that works only to make the richest even richer?

i know which side i'm on! i know which side you're on! this election is going to be fought on the streets of this country, up and down, in town halls, in streets, on beaches, on seafronts. we are going to take this message of the kind of country and kind of society we want to be. jeremy corbyn there and theresa may beforehand. and there's plenty more about the british general election on our website, including an ‘all you need to know‘ guide. that's at bbc.com/news. in other news: monitors from the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons, which is mandated by the un, have announced their test results confirm that sarin gas, or a similar nerve agent, was used in an attack in syria this month. dozens were killed in the rebel—held town of khan sheikhun. ukraine has failed to get the united nations to impose emergency measures against russia. the un's top court said ukraine had failed to provide enough evidence that moscow was funding and arming

separatist rebels in the east of the country. the court did issue an interim ruling against russia related to the crimean peninsula, which moscow annexed from ukraine in 2014. the dubai—based airline, emirates, is cutting flights to the us because of restrictions imposed since president trump took office. the airline says demand for travel to the us has slackened. it will cut services to five cities including boston and los angeles from next month. at least two people have been shot dead in venezuela in protests against the government of president nicolas maduro. a teenager died in the capital caracas and a woman was killed in san cristobal, near the colombian border. tens of thousands took to the streets to demand new presidential elections and the release ofjailed opposition politicians. this from our americas editor, leonardo rocha. the demonstrators arrived in their thousands for

what they call the mother of all protests. they called for new elections and the release of opposition politicians. the opposition blames president nicolas maduro and his predecessor, the late hugo chavez, for the country's serious economic crisis. many venezuelans say the country is on the verge of collapse. translation: i think we will reach victory with this protest. this is the second independence of venezuela. this is the day we have been waiting for, longing for. the confrontation quickly triggered conflict with security forces. in caracas, police fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who attempted to converge on the office of the state ombudsman. the violence wasn't restricted to the capital. this was the scene in san cristobal in the west of the country where protesters also clashed with riot police. but the president remained defiant, speaking at a rally of his

supporters he accused the opposition of plotting a coup. and the protesters of attacking the police and looting shops. translation: we have captured more than 30 hooded people, violent terrorists. we have caught more than 30 today, fully identified. venezuela, an oil—rich country, seems to be locked in a political stalemate while its economy collapses and violence flares up again. leonardo rocha, bbc news. serena williams's agent has confirmed social media reports that the tennis star is pregnant. serena has posted a selfie on snapchat showing a small bump, and the words ‘20 weeks'. now that's quite a big deal news—wise, in itself, but it also suggests she was in the early stages of pregnancy when she won the australian open injanuary. live to our sport presenter mark edwards. she must have been eight weeks

pregnant when she did that. what an athlete. incredible. as if she hasn't done everything already, although her agent did confirm it was the end of the season, but she is looking forward to a return in 2018. as you mentioned she teased us earlier in the day when she posted that each on snapchat, appearing to show the bump, and the caption 20 weeks. in december she already announced her engagement. she hasn't played since the aussie open, citing any injury, and it now seems she was pregnant. eight weeks pregnant. she wouldn't be the first top women's player to return to competition after having a baby. an australian also on grandslam titles after having children. however, the 35—year—old would be the oldest. belgium's quinn clusters came out of retirement after having a child. ——

kim clijsters. victoria azarenka also won titles last year before missing the rest of the season while awaiting the birth of her child. incredible. 23 grandslam titles and to record came somewhere around the two—month mark of being pregnant. incredible. thanks so much for that. thanks for being with us. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: prince harry says he's amazed at the response to his comments about coping with his mother's death. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they'd normally expect in an entire year.

for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. this is bbc news. i'm mike embley. the latest headlines: candidates for the french presidency have staged some of their last major rallies before sunday's first round vote.

british mps have voted overwhelmingly to back a snap general election onjune the 8th. one of the most high profile figures in american tv news, bill o'reilly, has lost hisjob, accused of sexual harassment. his employer 21st century fox, which owns the cable channel fox news has confirmed he won't be returning from a break. he's claimed the allegations against him are unfounded. live now to washington and our correspondent laura bicker. laura, and our correspondent laura bicker. in a sense the why laura, in a sense the question is why it has taken fox and their advertisers so long to act. first of all they were backed into a corner. the lou reed details of these allegations were widely reported in the press of the much of the last few weeks. —— leurid. in the past

few weeks. —— leurid. in the past few days laura bloom, representing some of the women who were harassed by bill o'reilly, one claims he called her hot chocolate and was inappropriate at every opportunity. as the details came forward more than 50 sponsors pulled from the show. the protests outside fox news hq continued. all of this while some we re hq continued. all of this while some were alleging a culture of sexual harassment at fox news after roger ailes, the chairman, was sacked after his own scandal came forward. this at a time when fox is... 21st century fox is trying to secure the remaining 61% of sky, they felt they we re remaining 61% of sky, they felt they were under the spotlight and had to act, and that's why they've done this now and they've issued an internal memo to staff, saying," we

hope to foster a work environment built on trust and respect". laura, thanks very much for that. more now on the french presidential election. the two apparent front runners are a centrist who believes in globalisation and the european union, and a nationalist who wants to suspend all immigration. it's an illustration of the contrasting ideas of french national identity, as alan little reports. a warning, his film contains flash photography. france has two faces — the proud, independent nation, its imperial past still visible, and the france that has led the drive to ever closer european unity. two rival ideas of what france should be. france would love to see a french europe. you know, that was the plan, in a way, in the ‘50s and the ‘60s. it's a kind of bonapartist vision for europe. there's an ambiguity, contradiction in french politics and in french minds about one's

love for one's country and one's love for europe. you know, it's a contradiction, but it's what makes us. that contradiction has never been sharper. marine le pen has brought french nationalism in from the cold. she is slowly shedding her party's association with the shaming memory of france's wartime collaboration with nazi germany, she has allied it instead with euroscepticism. unlike in britain, that euroscepticism is growing among the young. this group hold different political views — some left, some right — but they all reject what they see as a rigid, pro—european orthodoxy. france has a long history which has always fought out for its independence and its ability to rule itself by its own means and its own will. i can't understand obstinate will that some people, especially in the older generations now, they seem to have to surrender this independence and this sovereignty to unelected bodies.

our generation didn't know the war, so we are not as afraid as they were about the conflict between nations. the framework for politics, the framework for democracy, is the nation state. we're in a europe right now where there is rising insecurity. there is no growth, there is high unemployment. we have to get rid of that eu which is doing harm to the people. this revolt has been brewing for years. a generation ago, the french nearly derailed the european train. in a referendum then, they voted to accept the euro byjust 51% to 49%. a tiny majority for so profound a change. post—war europe's founding statesman was a frenchman. robert schuman's vision has guided

french thinking for 70 years, but that other france, the france that wants a return to national sovereignty and clear borders, is getting stronger in its challenge to his legacy. in the end, every generation has to hand its dreams and hopes down to the care of posterity and it's up to those who come afterwards to decide whether to nurture or amend or discard those dreams altogether. but france has always been, even in their day, in two minds about how far it wants to be absorbed into a broader european identity and that's at the heart of this election campaign. allan little, bbc news, in eastern france. prince harry says he's been amazed by the response to his revelations about his difficulty in dealing with his mother's death. his brother prince william has also opened up about coping with the loss of princess diana, he said the shock of it is still with him 20 years later. this report from our royal

correspondent peter hunt, and there is flash photography from the start. harry and his helper, melissa, getting the london marathon preparations under way in a race which this year has a special focus on a princely passion — mental health. prince harry has attracted widespread praise this week for his honesty when he spoke of the anguish and the anxiety he suffered for years after his mother's death. it was only right to share my experiences and to hope to encourage others to come forward and reduce or smash that stigma to make it easierfor them to talk about our own experiences, so i wasjust doing my bit. was it liberating? was it scary? no. look, when you have heard so many stories from so many other people, and if you can relate to that, then it is only right that you talk about your own experiences. all of the experts you have had would have told you one of the key issues is finding out

that there is not enough money in some places. what are you going to do about that? that is not, as you probably know, our mission. our mission is to remove the stigma of mental health so that we can provide a platform for people to discuss it. the risk is you could encourage people to seek services that are not there. that is something that we have been aware of for the last year but the fact of the reality is that, as i say, the appetite is there. once the appetite is there, things will change, i am confident of that. it is not my position and it is not our position or ourjob to do that. we are nonpolitical. we'll do everything we can to encourage the conversation, remove the stigma, so everything else then can take place. opening up about the past is a brotherly trait. in a bbc documentary prince william has provided an insight into the trauma of his bereavement. the shock is the biggest thing, and i still feel it 20 years later about my mother, shock, you know, 20 years later,

and people think it can't last that long but it does. you never get over it. it is such an unbelievably big moment in your life that it never leaves you. you just learn to deal with it. an upbeat harry believes the campaign is at a tipping point. the uk, he hopes, will lead the way in the world by removing the taboos surrounding mental health. sorry i gave you such big scissors. peter hunt, bbc news. now, here's an example of why you should always keep a close eye on your guests, especially when they've got something to celebrate. this is president trump hosting the new england patriots american football team to congratulate them on their victory in the super bowl earlier this year. so far, so good. but the players then appeared to get the run of the white house, and here's what happened during press secretary sean spicer‘s daily briefing. we'll see what pans out in the

negotiation but i think... can i just? need some help? i thinki got this, but thank you... maybe. thanks, man. i'll see you in a minute! hold on one sec. all right. that was cool! real quick... how do you follow that? a rare bit of cheer and lightheartedness at a sean spicer breathing, the new england patriots' rob gronkowski, as you saw, his offer was declined. more on all of this on our website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you very much for hello.

after several days of fairly quiet weather taking us through much of the weekend, next week is looking very different. next week's weather will get us talking, stay with me for a tease of what's to come. this is how thursday begins, with more cloud around than recent mornings, not as chilly as it's been on recent mornings, but that cloud will produce some damp weather in places and a bit of patchy rain for northern and western parts of scotland, perhaps into northern ireland and parts of north—west england to begin the day. low cloud around as well. venture into the hills it could be misty and murky and a similar story into snowdonia. a band of thicker cloud into the midlands, wales and yorkshire producing patchy rain, not amounting to much. to the south of that for some it could be a bright start but quite a chilly start here. even here cloud is going to increase, just leaving by the afternoon limited sunny spells, southern england, east anglia.

a few brighter breaks into south—east scotland, north—east england, east wales, west midlands and eastern parts of northern ireland but on the whole a good deal of cloud around, patchy rain in north and west in scotland, maybe at times into northern ireland and north—west england but many places will stay dry. breaking out in the sunshine it will feel warmer, maybe 15, 16 or 17. going through thursday night we're going to keep a good deal of cloud around, pepping up the rain in northern scotland with a strengthening breeze but for many it looks like a mild start to friday morning. on friday we are going to take this rain southwards across scotland eventually reaching into parts of northern ireland. colder air following this, maybe a few wintry showers in shetland during friday. to the south of that for much of england and wales, a good deal of cloud around, some sunny spells and the temperatures peaking into the mid—teens in some spots. friday night we continue taking this weather front southwards across the uk, barely any rain associated with it, but it is the leading edge of cooler air so it will be turning somewhat chillier by the start of the weekend, a touch of frost in a few spots to begin the day. quite a breeze in the north—east,

not as chilly as the rest of the uk into south—west england, maybe south—west wales, a lot of dry weather around with variable cloud and sunny spells. on sunday, england, wales and northern ireland mainly dry but the wind here will pick up. wetter and windier weather will move east across scotland through the day. this area of low pressure across scotland is significant because into next week it will take colder air south across the uk and some of us will see some snow. keep checking the forecast. the latest headlines from bbc news. the main candidates for the french presidency have held some of their last rallies before sunday's first round vote. none of the four front—runners is likely to secure an outright majority. a run—off between the top two is expected in may. british mps have voted overwhelmingly to hold a snap election in june. by 522 votes to 13 they backed the prime minister's plans to go to the polls three years early. theresa may says she wants to

guarantee stability and strong hand for the brexit negotiations. at least two people have been shot dead in venezuela in protests against the government of president nicolas maduro. a teenager died in the capital caracas and a woman was killed in san cristobal, near the colombian border. tens of thousands took to the streets to demand new presidential elections and the release ofjailed opposition politicians. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament.