this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm. on the campaign trail — jeremy corbyn and theresa may clash over tax — amid speculation it could rise after the election. they will have a choice between a conservative party which always has been, is and will continue to be a party that believes in lower taxes, in keeping taxes down for ordinary working people. what the tories are doing is handing £70 billion back in taxes to big business and coroporations. we won't do that. we will instead reverse those tax cuts. tight security across france as the country prepares for the first round of the presidential election. more than 100 afghan soldiers are killed or wounded in an attack on an army base in afghanistan. also in the next hour, phasing out coal by 2025. britain goes a whole 2a hours without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since the late 19th century. aberdeen reach the scottish cup

final for the first time in 17 years after overcoming holders hibernian. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. conservative and labour politicians are on the general election trail on the first weekend of the campaign. jeremy corbyn is in manchester, where he said the party wanted to make the tax system fairer by getting the very wealthy and what he called ‘corporates‘ to pay more. theresa may is in dudley in the west midlands. she said the country was facing the most important election in her lifetime — and insisted the conservatives were a "lower tax party". there's been speculation they may raise taxes if they win the general election.

our political correspondent leila nathoo has been giving me the latest. to get across, that the tories cannot be trusted on taxes is their message. this came about when philip hammond appeared to suggest yesterday that he would like to see the end of a previous manifesto commitment which said that tories would not raise vat, income tax or national insurance. now the prime minister today, this morning conservative sources very much playing that down, incidentally, mindful perhaps of alienating traditional tory voters. theresa may on the campaign trail this morning refused to be drawn on whether that pledge would be ditched, but she did say that it would mean lower taxes under the conservatives. they will have a choice between a conservative party which always has been, is and will continue to be a party that believes in lower taxes, in keeping taxes down for ordinary working people. and we have shown that, for example, we have taken 4 million people out

of paying tax altogether. 31 million people have seen a tax cut under the conservatives. and all the choices, a labour party whose natural instinct is to raise taxes. theresa may said that 4 million people paid knowing contact at all in the conservatives and she pointed to what labour would do. for his part, jeremy corbyn has been out campaigning in the north—west. he has been in manchester speaking to supporters and he said that under later in the night labour the tax burden would fall on those with the broadest shoulders. —— under labour the tax burden. what the tories are doing is handing £70 billion back in tax to big businesses and corporations. we will not do that. we will instead reverse those tax cuts for corporates and big business in order to fund the social changes that we want to bring into this country. i know it is early days but it is

certainly not an election focused on brexit. we are hearing about lots of other policies. absolutely. theresa may was clear from the start, she wa nted may was clear from the start, she wanted the election to be about brexit and that was her pitch to her supporters today as well. she said that only a conservative government would bring about the strength and stability to get the best from brexit negotiations. she is very clear that she wants brexit to be a central issue. on the other hand, we heard no mention brexit from jeremy corbyn today. he was focusing on schools, on the nhs and hospitals. theresa may will also be addressing thoseissues theresa may will also be addressing those issues but you will see their jeremy corbyn is clear that he wants to this away from brexit. he wants to this away from brexit. he wants to focus on his party membership. he is mounting a people's campaign to get his message out about social justice. i think we are seeing the battle lines being drawn and we are getting an indication ofjust how the parties will be fighting this election. the snp‘s national executive has met to decide the selection procedures

for the general election. the snp‘s national executive has ruled out two sitting mps as candidates in the general election. michelle thomson and natalie mcgarry, who were elected as snp mps but now sit as independent members, were told by the party's ruling body that they would not be selected. our correspondent gave us this update. in many ways it was a straightforward meeting for the snp's straightforward meeting for the snp‘s national executive this morning. it was a low—key affair in a glasgow hotel held for a couple of hours this morning, discussion time to come to the conclusion that they would put forward all of their sitting mps to fight the seats again in the upcoming general election. of course that contains within it a dilemma for the party, because it is not 56 mps, it is actually 5a mps, because there are those two mps that

you mentioned in your introduction. michelle thompson won the edinburgh west seat in 2015 and natalie mcgarry won the glasgow east seat. but in that time they both resigned the whip. michelle thompson did that amid an ongoing police investigation into property deals. natalie mcgarry resigned the whip following fraud investigations. since then they have been sitting as independent mps and the decision for the national executive is what to do about that. it has been a difficult issue for the snp and i think that was reflected in the statement we had after words from the party. no mention of michelle thomson or natalie mcgarry in that statement. simply mentioning that those 5a sitting mps would go ahead. but we do know that they will not be candidates. i have heard suddenly from both mps. natalie mcgarry said that the decision came as no surprise to her. michelle thompson put out a lengthy statement were she said that she was disappointed. she

said that she was disappointed. she said she was proud of what she had achieved as an mp and she confirmed that she had decided not to stand as an independent candidate. she also had some criticism for the snp. she said that she had always made it clear that she had done nothing wrong and that her experience had told her that the snp needed a defined process to ensure what she called the concept of natural justice was applied rigorously. so 110w justice was applied rigorously. so now we know the fate of those two mps. the snp say that they will select mps to fight in the other five constituencies by the end of the week. what are the snp actually doing on the campaign trail? and what is the message coming from them? is it about brexit, independence, is it about local politics or local issues? what are the messages coming out? well, it is an interesting time in scotland. when you mention campaigning, i

think all the parties have a real dilemma on their hands in that a week on thursday we have local council elections, and up until theresa may stood up on tuesday and announced the election, we felt that that would be very much the focus on everyone's attention. the party has a balancing act, conscious that there is no time to waste before the general election but equally they do not want to overshadow the local council elections coming up. at the moment they are in the process of putting together a list of candidates. we have seen that happening over the weekend. labour holding a meeting down the road from the snp this morning in which they have discussed selection. and those decisions will be made by the end of the week as well. also the tories and the lib dems, we are expecting more announcements from them on candidate selection. however, the campaigning, such as it is, has been primarily focused on local

government elections. nicola sturgeon, for example, on the campaign trail this morning. two things running in parallel, very much bleeding into each other, as it were. two senior mps have announced they won't be standing at next month's election. labour's graham allen and the former conservative cabinet minister sir eric pickles, say they're stepping down from front line politics. mr allen, who has represented nottingham north since 1987 says he's standing down because of ill—health. sir eric, who's been the mp for brentwood and ongar in essex since 1992, says he'll miss the commons "dreadfully". more than 50,000 service personnel and police officers are being deployed across france in preparation for voting in the country's presidential election after the killing of a police officer in paris. terrorism dominated the final day of campaigning after the shooting, and security has been increased before polls in mainland france open tomorrow. the polls will open at eight o'clock

tomorrow morning. it has been a fascinating presidential election campaign. four candidates, two of them could go into the second round, with four of them tightly grouped at the top of the polling. we are bound by the rules of the french elections, so i can tell you a little bit about the last poll that was published, last night at 6:30pm. it isa was published, last night at 6:30pm. it is a rolling poll of 1500 people and it put emmanuel macron two points in front of marine le pen. behind her, francois fillon, and jean—luc melenchon of the hard left. it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we could have the ha rd possibility that we could have the hard right and hard left in the second round. imagine the consequences for europe. if you look at those polls, it could come down

to how many people come out. and what is interesting about that polling data is that 73% of the french say that they have made up their mind and they are definitely going to vote but that leaves 27% of french voters who either do not know 01’ french voters who either do not know or might switch their minds in the last few hours, or will abstain. and it is really those people abstaining that could affect which of the candidates go into the second round. i should just say that there is some voting going on today in the french territories. martinique, some in hawaii and in some american states. and of course, there will be voting going on in london as well. tens of thousands of french people will be voting in london, part of the northern constituency. we know that emmanuel macron had been in the uk campaigning, so they do see those voters as important to the results. and i should tell you about what we will do tomorrow night because at 6:30pm tomorrow evening, i had of oui’ 6:30pm tomorrow evening, i had of our results programme which starts at 7:00pm, we have loads of guests

coming in, and it should be a fascinating evening. —— ahead of our results programme. the first projections come out at 7:00pm, and i say that because they count the first 200, 300 votes from strategic voting centres around the country, representing the final tally, and they will give us an early projection. but that may well change during the evening given how tight the polling is. i hope you willjoin us the polling is. i hope you willjoin us for that tomorrow evening. more than a hundred people have been killed in afghanistan after an assault by the taliban on a military base in the north of the country. militants disguised themselves as soldiers, before carrying out the attack yesterday evening. those targeted were leaving a mosque, after friday prayers. our south asia correspondent justin rowlett reports. it was during afternoon prayers that two suicide bombers blasted open the entrance to this army base in the north of afghanistan yesterday. eight other fighters, dressed in afghan army uniforms,

used heavy machine guns to attack the dining areas of the base and the mosque. afghan troops have been pouring into the area. eyewitnesses warned the death toll would almost certainly rise. one man told the bbc he had counted 165 bodies. the battle lasted for five hours, and today dozens of injured soldiers were being treated in a local hospital. translation: when i came out of the mosque after prayers, three people with army uniforms and an army vehicle started shooting at us. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack and issued this picture of the men it claims were behind it. ten are now dead, one was captured alive. the assault on the army base is a shocking reminder ofjust how tough the ongoing battle in afghanistan is. last month, an afghan special forces helicopter landed on top

of the military hospital in kabul after it was stormed by gunmen disguised as doctors. about 50 people died in that attack. two and a half years after the international combat mission in afghanistan ended and the taliban now controls more than a third of the country. and with casualties amongst the afghan forces running at almost 7000 a year, there are questions about how long the afghan army can continue to defend the ground it still holds. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the latest headlines. on the campaign trail, jeremy corbyn and theresa may clash over tax amid speculation that it could rise after the election. tight security across france as the country prepares for the first round of the presidential

election. and as we have been reporting, more than 100 afghan soldiers are killed or wounded in an attack on an army base. in sport, there has been controversy at the fed cup. the romanian team captain, billy nastase, has been suspended for the rest of the tie against great britain. he was removed from court after appearing to abuse the umpire and members of the british team, including johanna konta. the british number one was visibly upset and play was stopped for 25 minutes. she returned to win the rubber and level the tie at 1—1. international tennis federation is investigating nastase's actions and also derogatory comments that he made yesterday about serena williams. aberdeen has reached the scottish cup finalfor the aberdeen has reached the scottish cup final for the first time in 17 yea rs. cup final for the first time in 17 years. they beat burnley and 3—2 at hand and bark. celtic face rangers in the other semifinal tomorrow. and ellie dowling has won two more medals at the european gymnastics

championships in romania. she took silver in the vault and bronze on the uneven bars. a quick update on the uneven bars. a quick update on the premier league matches. bournemouth league middlesbrough, swa nsea bournemouth league middlesbrough, swansea have bournemouth league middlesbrough, swa nsea have ta ken bournemouth league middlesbrough, swansea have taken the lead against stoke and don't forget the first of the fa cup semifinals at 5pm. spurs against chelsea. i will have an update in the next hour. clashes have broken out in the german city of cologne as tens of thousands of demonstrators picket a hall where the anti—immigration afd party is holding a conference. a huge police operation is being mounted, with up to 50 , 000 protesters expected in cologne. two officers have already been entered. our correspondent reports. what you can see behind me as cologne's response to germany's most controversial political party. police are expecting up to 50,000 people to demonstrate at various

parts of the city over the course of the day. this is one of the protests. as you can see, this is pretty peaceful, if rather musical. one chap has come along with his own grand piano. but as you say, there have been a number of skirmishes this morning and during one of those, a police officer was injured, although i am told not seriously. we are also told that one afd delegate had an iron bar thrown at them as they tried to get into the conference here in the city centre. we, ourselves, actually saw the crowd tried to stop what they thought was another delegate getting through to attend the conference. thousands of armed officers are indeed here in the city. they have cordoned off the city centre hotel behind me where that conference is going ahead. and i have to say, having spent the morning in that conference, the atmosphere inside is almost as fractious as it has been ina number of almost as fractious as it has been in a number of the demonstrations here. afd is a political party in crisis, really. certainly at a

crossroads. it is really slipping in the polls. it is beset by political infighting and until now its most recognisable figure was assumed to be the person who would lead them into the general election to stand as its candidate against angela merkel. in the last few days, she has announced that she would be leaving the party —— leading the party into the election and in the last hour, the party has rejected her plan to take the party in a more mainstream direction. she has fallen foul of the right wing extremists in the party who say they want to remaina the party who say they want to remain a party of extremes, a party on the fringe. quite a surreal report there, jenny hill reporting on clashes in germany with piano music behind it. we will keep and ion events in cologne for you. for the first time since the industrial revolution britain

has gone an entire 2a hours without using coal to generate electricity. national grid said the news was a "watershed moment" in attempts to phase out coal by 2025. taxes on co2 emissions and the falling cost of renewable energy have made coal plants less economical in recent years. with me is now is hannah martin, head of energy at greenpeace uk. 0k, ok, drum roll, is greenpeace happy? we are. it is a watershed moment in the transition to a low carbon economy. a decade ago, a decade thyme day without coal would have been unimaginable. i'm sure in a decade, there will have been a real transformation. it is an opportunity for the uk government to incentivise new technology such as smart technology and renewables, so that we could become a global leader as we could become a global leader as we move towards a low carbon economy. where are we at in comparison with other countries, at

becoming greener? the government did commit toa becoming greener? the government did commit to a phase—out of coal by 2025 which was a key moment in our global leadership on climate change. the government needs to get on with those plans, and put in place proper incentives for renewable energy. we are seeing energy costs in solar and offshore wind of falling dramatically. because that is what was putting people off, individuals and companies. solar panels, for example, the costed a fortune. on the grants to have them were taken away. they were, nastier. that is why i think the government needs to come up with proper plans so that when we face away from coal, we can work with new technology to help us meet our climate targets.|j work with new technology to help us meet our climate targets. i don't think there is anyone, not many people on the planet that do not get the fact that we have a problem with saving our planet, with solution, —— from pollution and climate change.

but there are concerns aboutjob losses because of renewable energy. we know that huge job losses, whole communities have been affected over the last two or three decades. well, in 2015 nearly a quarter of a millionjobs were in 2015 nearly a quarter of a million jobs were provided in 2015 nearly a quarter of a millionjobs were provided in in 2015 nearly a quarter of a million jobs were provided in the low carbon economy. that is 1% of all non—financialjobs low carbon economy. that is 1% of all non—financial jobs and low carbon economy. that is 1% of all non—financialjobs and billions of pounds were going into that economy. we know that offshore wind farms at the moment could provide power 98% of the time. these are amazing advances in this technology, and there are huge opportunities to be gained in these sectors. but the government needs to move towards promoting the sectors so that we can't really reap the rewards of the low carbon economy. so for those who have lost their jobs low carbon economy. so for those who have lost theirjobs in the coal sector, you say it is a price that they have to pay in terms of future generations having a cleaner world to live in? well, coal needs to come off the system. we know that it is terrible for public health, in terms ofair terrible for public health, in terms of air pollution. and it is terrible

in terms of emissions and climate targets. but what we can do is provide thousands of newjobs in the low carbon economy, such as offshore wind. that is really what the government should be prioritising. thank you very much. no sign of jeremy corbyn at the moment. he's about to speak to the electorate in crewe. in the meantime, let's turn our attention to american politics. the american vice—president has confirmed that the us will honour a promise by former president obama to accept more than 1,200 refugees from australian detention camps. after meeting the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull, he also spoke about north korea's nuclear ambitions. mr pence said the uss carl vinson carrier group would be in the sea of japan "before the end of this month". from sydney, the bbc‘s hywel griffith reports. in australia, they call it

the mateship, a special relationship which has seen it fight side—by—side with the us for nearly a century. and with tensions rising on the korean peninsula, america wants to reaffirm those old alliances. after false claims and confusion of the whereabouts of its aircraft carrier, the vice president today said the uss carl vinson was now on the way to the sea of japan, building up its capabilities in the region. the one thing that nations, most especially the regime in north korea, should make no mistake about, is that the united states has the resources, the personnel and the presence in this region of the world to see to our interests and to see to the security of those interests and our allies. military might was backed up with some diplomatic pressure, a joint call on china to impose economic sanctions. it is self—evident that china has

the opportunity and we say the responsibility to bring pressure to bear on north korea, to stop this reckless and dangerous trajectory upon which they are embarked. the fate of hundreds of refugees was also on the agenda. the agreement for america to resettle those at australia's offshore detention centres has been questioned by president trump. a ‘dumb deal‘ in his words, but one he will honour. let me make it clear, the united states intends to honour the agreement. subject to the results of the vetting processes that now apply to all refugees considered for admission to the united states of america. the vice president will leave australia knowing he is likely to retain its support whatever the next few months may bring. the mateship unlikely to waver. hywel griffith, bbc news, sydney. good afternoon. let's have a look at

some of the top stories. two men have been arrested in connection with an acid attack which left two people blinded in one eye. 20 people we re people blinded in one eye. 20 people were hurt in the attack at a nightclub in east london on monday. two men in their 20s have been arrested on suspicion of gbh. police are urging another man to hand himself in. the sun newspaper has printed a formal apology to everton footballer ross barkley. the former editor, kevin mckenzie, compared the footballer to a gorilla in an article in his column. the nigeria asserted that a racial slur was not intended. kelvin mackenzie remains suspended from the publication. police in nottingham say they are treating the death of a teenager on thursday night as murder. officers we re thursday night as murder. officers were called to a housing estate following reports of a 14—year—old boy suffering a cardiac arrest. he died in hospital later. a

17—year—old has been arrested on suspicion of murder. scientists have been taking part in a "march for science" past london's most celebrated research institutions. organisers said that the growth of "fake news" and misinformation made it crucial to highlight the vital role that science plays in our lives. they also say there's a need to respect and encourage research that gives insight into the world. doctor who star peter capaldi was at the event lending his support. the marches are taking place in more than five hundred cities across the world on all continents. a sports ombudsman should be appointed to protect athletes from abuse and bullying. that's one of the recommendations of a year—long review commissioned by the government. it was led by the 11—time paralympic gold medallist baroness grey—thompson following a spate of bullying allegations against coaches, mounting concern over the treatment of injuries, and the child sex abuse scandal in football. winning medals is something that i think everyone in the uk will support. we feel better as a nation

when we are winning the olympics, paralympics, the football, you name it. it is a moment to celebrate. but over the last few years, duty of ca re over the last few years, duty of care is something that has slipped away. i do not think it has been malicious or intentional, but there are hard malicious or intentional, but there a re ha rd targets malicious or intentional, but there are hard targets out there and we wa nt to are hard targets out there and we want to see british athletes do well. if we get the duty of care are right, we can do as well, if not better. let's catch up with the weather. the rest of the afternoon and this evening is looking fine across most of the uk. lots of dry weather and some sunshine. this is the weekend headlines, so tomorrow is not looking too bad. the temperatures, around 6pm, 13 or 1a in the southern and western areas, but nippy on the north sea coast. the changes on the way in the coming days. we will see a rush of colder air from way in the coming days. we will see a rush of colder airfrom sunday onwards. as for us tonight is concerned, clear skies and temperatures in city centres dipping down. frost possible in one sports.

great weather tomorrow for the london marathon, around 9 degrees in the morning and in the afternoon, peaking at around 15 or 16. for most of us, in the morning it will be lower than that. the cold air in the north will be reaching all areas by the time we get to tuesday. monday is the transition day and wintry showers are on the way for some of us. hello. this is bbc news with chris rogers. the headlines: jeremy corbyn and theresa may clash over tax as they hit the campaign trailamid speculation it could rise after the election. 50,000 police officers are deployed across france, as security is tightened ahead of the first round of voting in the country's presidential election. around 100 afghan soldiers have been killed in a taliban attack on an army base in afghanistan. two of the attackers blew themselves up and seven were killed in the assault near mazar—i—sharif city which lasted several hours. for the first time in more than 100 years, britain has gone a whole working day without using coal

to generate electricity. national grid said the news was a "watershed moment" in attempts to phase out coal by 2025. over 50 hedgehogs have been released back into the wilds of east yorkshire after being nursed back to health in animal sanctuaries. the village of burton fleming, near bridlington, has also declared itself a hedgehog—friendly zone in a bid to boost numbers of the animals. tim muffett reports. residents of burton fleming await new arrivals.