as "brussels gossip". police say the burglars who shot dead dorset homeowner guy hedger wore balaclavas, were armed with a shotgun and stole jewellery in a pre—planned raid. three police officers have been injured in clashes with masked demonstrators in the centre of paris. the violence erupted during a may day march led by trade unions and anti—racism campaigners. three women are arrested on suspicion of terror offences in raids linked to a police operation in north london on thursday in which a woman was shot and injured. the prime minister has described reports of a supposedly fractious dinner between her and the european commission president, jean—claude juncker, as "brussels gossip". a german newspaper reported that there were sharp disagreements about how quickly a deal could be reached over the rights

of british and eu citizens and over how much the uk owes the european union. our political correspondent ben wright reports. may day means a bikes and barrows festival in this lancashire village. and people seem keen to peddle their politics. the election was not the main concern here in scorton this morning, but it seems brexit will shape we apologise for that, we will come back to that later. the reports of those disagreements between theresa may and jean—claude juncker, the european commission president, appeared in the german newspaper, the frankfurter allgemeine. the journalist who wrote the story, thomas gutschker, says he stands by it. the eu commission has

confirmed my reporting, though not on the record. but numerous colleagues have been asking them for confirmation. and i see they have confirmed it. so the problem here may be that the dinner went badly because there was a misunderstanding between the interlocutors. in that respect, it shouldn't come as a surprise that theresa may walked away with a different understanding or impression from that dinner. obviously, that was the case forjean—claude juncker as well. why did your sources feel they had to leak this to you now? one would have to ask them. i think it conveys a sense of frustration. there has been this dinner. juncker conveyed his frustration when he left. i think he felt that he didn't

manage to get his message across to theresa may. that is why after that meeting, he called the german chancellor angela merkel and told her how disastrous this is and that theresa may is living in a different galaxy where she is harbouring many illusions, which is why our cha ncellor afterwards went to the bundestag, where she was due to deliver a speech, and said that some in britain are harbouring illusions. she was referring to theresa may. the negotiations don't really start in the uk until post—general election, as you know. and this very public lobbying that we are now seeing from the 27 and jean—claude juncker appears to come across as almost undermining ms may. it is not meant to undermine her. eu officials have been telling the british government for weeks

that they are in favour of early elections because they think otherwise, these elections that were due in 2020 would hang as a sword of damocles over the negotiations. however, they thought it should have been done before she notifies, because now the clock is ticking. it is a race against time. negotiations need to be terminated until next year institutions in britain and europe to agree on any treaty that will be worked out. any indication as to why ms may has described the talks as constructive, and when jean—claude juncker went back to the summit that was held over

the weekend, he also said that had been constructive? do you understand why he would turn around and we would now have a very different account of this meeting? in your report, he says that brexit cannot be a success. how do you understand this? well, constructive is a neutral way of describing any talks you have had. you can translate that, at least from the european side, as saying it has been constructive in the sense that we have said what we think about these negotiations. we have made clear our position and we hope the british government now has a better understanding of the complexity. so it is a fairly neutral way... in all the years i have been in this business, to say that talks have been constructive is a way of saying almost anything. and what is the german people's take on this? well, i realised today that the interest in this story is much bigger in britain than in germany.

clearly, everybody here has followed events, but for the british government, this is the most important topic for the next two years, and rightly so, whereas for us, it is just one among many. people in germany are concerned with the french elections next weekend, who is going to win that. brexit is not the number one issue in germany right now, and i don't think it will be in the time to come. that was the foreign editor, thomas gutschker, of the frankfurter allgemeine, speaking to me earlier. with just 38 days left until the general election on june 8th, let's cast our mind back 20 years ago today, when tony blair led the labour party to a landslide victory

in the 1997 general election. but with the former prime minister today announcing his return to front line british politics, what is the legacy of tony blair, and what sort of impact can he make on the country in 2017? the prime minister shrugged off the prospect of tony blair returning to front line politics when she was asked whether she was quaking in her boots at a campaign event today. 0n the first point you make about tony blair... laughter. i think the best answer is this. i'm interested in conservative voices of the future, not labour voices of the past. with me is lance price, former director of communications for the labour party. a labour voice of the past. is it

going to work? there is no doubt he isa going to work? there is no doubt he is a labour voice of the past. by saying that he wants to get stuck in again and get his hands dirty, in his words, he's not suggesting that he should come back and stand in the election or that he should become prime minister again at all. he is looking for labour voices of the future. but he wants those labour voices of the future to be able to do what he did, which is to win power and put labour policies and values into practice. he clearly feels that the labour party or its leadership has drifted far to the left, and there is a huge gap in the centre for progressive ce ntre—left gap in the centre for progressive centre—left politics, and he wants to do what he can to encourage those of the future to take up the mantle. are we talking about a new party, then? how is he going to do it? for

then? how is he going to do it? for the time being, we are in the middle ofa the time being, we are in the middle of a general election campaign and he is still a lower labour man. is jeremy corbyn safe? well, no one is going to try to get rid ofjeremy corbyn during an election campaign, much as some people might like to. i dare say that if mr blair could make jeremy corbyn go away, you would, but that is not real politics. if tony blair understands anything, he understands how politics really works. but he is looking to the future, so let's see what happens after the general election and what state the labour party is in and whether or not mr corbyn six to try to hang around or whether the labour party is in a position to rebuild itself and get back to the policies that can command popular support in the country on a sufficient scale to put labour values into practice. but the minute you say tony blair on iraq comes up. with that sort of legacy, will he be taken seriously? how are the media going to respond?

how are the media going to respond? how will the public respond? will they deride him? well, for a long time, you are right, you couldn't have a conversation about tony blair without it quickly reverting to a conversation about the iraq war. but i think that mood has changed. people are listening to him again. they may not agree with him about everything, and i am sure they don't. many have not forgiven him for what happened in iraq. but what he is saying now about the centre ground and particularly what he's saying about brexit and the european union is important message. he will be heartened that people are starting to listen to that. if you look at the media coverage, he is given the opportunity to say what he thinks. 0ver given the opportunity to say what he thinks. over the past few years, he has felt that he hasn't been able to even has felt that he hasn't been able to eve n ex press a has felt that he hasn't been able to even express a view without, as he described it, a tonne of what is it coming down on his head. that doesn't seem to be the case as much as it was. do you think he is riding this wave of populist and pr savvy

politicians like donald trump? do you think he is thinking this is a good time to get in? more interestingly, he is probably looking across the channel rather than looking across the atlantic. he is looking at emmanuel macron, who stands a good chance of becoming the next president of france, and there isa next president of france, and there is a centre—left politician who has charisma and is forward—looking and represents the future of france in a way that tony blair believes politics in this country on the left should represent the future of the uk. if he could find somebody of that ilk who was willing and able, given that we have a very different system to france, to do something similar here, then a lot of people would be pleased to see that. what is he hoping to offer that is different? what is he hoping to find in these other people?” different? what is he hoping to find in these other people? i think what he is really about is ideas. people talk about tony blair as if he were apr talk about tony blair as if he were a pr creation, but he wasn't. he was very grounded in terms of practical

ideas that can be put into effect. whatever people think of the period that he spent in government, he was very focused on the details of policy and he had a profound impact on the nature of the country during the ten years he was prime minister. i think he wants to encourage debate about ideas back onto the sort of territory that he thinks is important. central to that is brexit, of course. very quickly, do you think it is going to work? yes. 0k! thank you very much. both candidates in the french presidential election have been holding rallies in the final week of campaigning. the far right contender marine le pen has attacked her rival as the "continuity candidate", while emmanuel macron said the future of europe is at stake in this election. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson is in paris. the second round of french elections has been the graveyard of far right dreams of power.

used to facing a united front of all her rivals, marine le pen is now calling on voters to unite against someone else, her liberal opponent emmanuel macron. at a rally today, she attacked mr macron as a back door socialist, soft on terror, a friend of high finance and too easily irritated to be head of state. her image, by contrast, has become ever softer, a woman of the people, a mother and protector of what she calls forgotten france. for decades, the front national has influenced french politics from the margins. now marine le pen says the party represents the mainstream on issues like immigration and the eu. but many voters still fear that she would unravel france's democratic traditions, and that fear, as one paper put it, is her political glass ceiling. by the river seine today,

emmanuel macron honoured a moroccan man killed by far right supporters two decades ago, a reminder of the controversial history that dogs the front national. but support for the far right is growing here, and on a visit to france's rural heartland over the weekend, he told us that this election was the last call for france's membership of the eu. to have almost half of this country angry with the european idea, we have to reform europe. we need a new european union in situation to protect our people and to regulate our globalisation. if, the day after, i decide to follow up and pursue the current functioning of the european union, i will betray my people. i don't want to do so, because the day after, we will have a frexit or the front national again. france's main unions held separate rallies today, their members were divided over the choice in this election — to vote macron, to block le pen

or to not vote at all. police have revealed more details of the burglary in dorset in which the householder was shot dead. they say the men broke into the property wearing balaclavas — one of them armed with a shotgun. 61—year—old guy hedger died at his home in the village of st ives. duncan kennedy reports from the scene. it's been described as one of the most exclusive residential neighbourhoods in southern england, but it's now the scene of a murder investigation. dozens of officers have been searching for clues in what's become a wide—ranging inquiry. police say guy hedger, who was 61, was shot in the early hours of yesterday morning. he later died of his injuries. this afternoon, detectives said this was a horrific act of gun violence on the tranquil edges of the new forest. we believe there was a level

of preplanning within this offence. it appears that the offenders have actually gone prepared to be confronted. they were wearing balaclavas and in possession of a shotgun. police say jewellery, including some designer watches, were taken in the robbery. a friend and former work colleague of guy hedger told us his death was deeply shocking. it's a very close—knit business, so the sense of shock and upset will be felt very deeply. we will give as much support to our people as we can, and we will offer our sympathy and condolences to his broader family and friends at this distressing time. police say another man living in the house was unharmed and could be an important witness. this is an area with large, detached houses behind imposing electronic gates, with many residents here profoundly unsettled by what has happened. it's absolutely dreadful.

absolutely awful, sickening. this evening, the police said that mr hedger‘s family had been left devastated by what has happened. they said a postmortem examination was carried out this afternoon, and they have again renewed their appeal for any witnesses who might have seen anything to come forward as soon as possible. dorset has one of the lowest gun crime profiles of anywhere in britain. but this violent burglary in the heart of the english countryside is now at the centre of an intensive police investigation. the headlines on bbc news: theresa may has dismissed as "brussels gossip" reports in a german newspaper of a difficult dinner she had last week with the european commission president, jean—claude juncker. police in dorset say burglars suspected of shooting dead a businessman in his home broke into the property armed with a shotgun as part of a pre—planned raid. three police officers have been

involved in clashes with demonstrators in paris. the violence erupted during a mayday march led by trade unions and antiracism campaigners. three women have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after raids in east london. the arrests are being linked to the counter—terrorism operation in which a woman was shot and injured in north west london last thursday. a total of ten people have now been arrested in connection with what's known as the harlesden road police operation. 0ur correspondent james waterhouse has been following developments the met police are describing this as an ongoing intelligence—led operation. these arrests involve three women, two 18—year—olds and one 19—year—old. they are currently being questioned outside of london on suspicion of the commission, preparation

and instigation of terrorist acts. officers have confirmed that these arrests are linked to a similar raid we saw on thursday last week in which a 21—year—old woman was shot and injured by police. she has since been discharged and arrested on suspicion of the same offences. have police been more specific on that latter picture in terms of foiling any meaningful plot? not yet. it is an ongoing investigation. there are ten arrests in total. there is an unusual feature here in that seven of the ten suspects are women. no one has yet been charged, but this is quite a wide network the police are working with. there have been arrests in london as well as kent. so we don't know to what end the foil has been stopped, but you get a sense of the size of the operation that is taking place.

japan has dispatched its largest warship to protect a us navy supply ship as it crosses japanese waters in the western pacific. it's the first time ever that japan has sent one of its war ships to sea with the purpose of protecting a foreign military vessel. japan amended its security law last year to allow such missions. from tokyo, rupert wingfield hayes reports. the izumo is the pride of the japanese navy. the biggest warship the country has built since world war ii. today's departure is hugely symbolic. the izumo will escort and protect this us navy supply ship and will respond with force if it comes under attack. forjapan‘s military, this is another big step away from pacifism. just across the sea of japan, satellite photos show north korea is preparing for another underground nuclear test. speaking on sunday, us president donald trump again warned pyongyang not to go ahead. i would not be happy if he does a nuclear test,

i will not be happy. and i can tell you also, i don't believe that the president of china, who is a very respected man, will be happy. if pyongyang is worried, it is not showing it. today it vowed to go ahead with the nuclear test at any time and at any location. this all comes two days after north korea test fired another of its growing family of ballistic missiles. the fifth test this year. meanwhile, the uss carl vinson carrier battle group has finally arrived in waters off the korean peninsula. the huge ship and its escorts are a very potent symbol of america's military might. but what are they here to do? president trump is not giving many clues. ijust don't want people to know what my thinking is. so eventually, he will have a better delivery system and if that happens, we cannot allow it to happen. for the first time, the us president acknowledged the terrible consequences that could result

from a military strike against north korea. massive warfare, with potentially millions of people being killed. that, as we would say, trumps trade. tensions are now higher than at any time since north korea's young dictator kimjong un came to power in 2011. despite the heated rhetoric, neither side wants a conflict. but when tensions are high, so are the dangers of miscalculation. the testing of primary school children is affecting their learning and mental health according to an influential group of mps. the cross—party education select committee says the way sats results are used to judge schools causes a negative impact on teachers and pupils. here's our education correspondent marc ashdown. even from a young age, children are well accustomed to being tested, but mps are worried the importance

placed nowadays on how pupils perform in isolated tests leads to a multitude of problems. results are used to judge schools in annual performance tables, which this education select committee report says create a high—stakes environment, damaging to both pupils and teachers. these year 6 students are gearing up for their tests. it is a good school in a challenging area of london. the reality is, children at the age of ten or 11 are going to do an hour's test, which will rate their learning and reading for four years. it's a very high—stakes hour. for us, as a school, the results of that are also very high stakes for our school, too, because it is how it is rated. the report recommends scrapping the annual publication of tests in favour of a rolling three—year average. teaching unions say this just reinforces what school leaders have been saying for years. one union described the current system as toxic. we've been clear for a long time

that the current system of assessment is not fit for purpose and we are really pleased to see today's report acknowledging that too. we've been working with the government over a number of months now to try and bring about long—term improvement and there are some encouraging signs but there's still a long way to go yet. ofsted too urged to take the focus off sats and look at a broad and balanced curriculum in its inspections, to prevent so—called teaching to test. ofsted said it already looks for a broad curriculum. the department for education has said it will consider the report and respond in due course. 2.2 million people turned out over the weekend to watch the tour de yorkshire. organisers say that's the biggest number of spectators since the tour de france came to the region in 2014. it's hoped next year's event will be extended from three days to four, as dave edwards reports. three years ago, the tour de yorkshire didn't even exist. now it's hard to imagine this time of year without it. 2.2 million of us went out to watch,

from the very young to... well, you get the idea. there was even a home winner for the fans to cheer as otley‘s lizzie deignan won the women's race, with grandma on hand to celebrate. serge pauwels from belgium won the men's. organisers say they are now looking at extending an event that they have called a huge success. i think it's important for us and the sustainability of the race going forward to have the fourth day and to do two days for the women's cycling as well. next year? hope so. we are talking to british cycling. we had a conversation with them again today on it. we will have those conversations. there is no reason why that shouldn't happen. police have praised the spectators, with the west yorkshire force saying the atmosphere was fantastic, and it hasn't made a single arrest. the director of the tour de france

says it's only a matter of when and not if the world's biggest bike race returns to yorkshire, and that surely is the highest possible praise. time for a look at the weather.. this has been a bank holiday which has delivered sunshine and warmth for some of us, near 21 celsius in western scotland. this was the view earlier today from one of our weather watchers. in northern ireland, it has been the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures near 19 celsius. it was castlederg in county tyrone that had that temperature. this is where the lion's share of the sunshine has been. for england and wales, there has been more cloud around. heavy showers have affected parts of wales and southern england. they fade away over the next few hours. after midnight, it's looking dry. variable cloud, some clear spells, maybe the odd patch of mist and fog developing. quite cool in the countryside. after a warm day today, it will be close to freezing with an isolated touch of frost around.

we start tomorrow with a mixture of cloud and sunshine. the thickest cloud is down the eastern side of the uk. but for cornwall and devon and the channel islands, where you saw some rain today, it is a drier picture tomorrow. wales is looking mainly dry, maybe catching a shower later in the day. the showers push into southern and southeast england. north—west england, northern ireland and scotland have a fine day. variable cloud, sunshine, warmest in western scotland. the cloud is keeping some of us down the eastern side cool, especially when you factor in the breeze coming in from the cool north sea as well. that's the story throughout this week. the wind direction is not a warm one. eastern parts of the uk will be cooler compared with the west as we go through this week. wednesday, lots of sunshine for scotland and northern ireland. more cloud for england and wales. maybe a shower for parts

of east anglia, with patchy, light rain. you can see the temperature contrast between east and west. that is how we end the week. high pressure is to the north of us. there is a prevailing easterly wind across the uk, but the high pressure means that with the exception of a few showers for east anglia and south—east england, there will be a lot of dry weather to come. not good news if you want something for the garden. coolest in the east. it will be warmest across western parts of the uk. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm: theresa may has dismissed as hearsay reports in a german newspaper of a difficult dinner she had last week with the european commission president, jean—claude juncker.

i think it is brussels gossip and look at what the european commission themselves said immediately after themselves said immediately after the dinner took place which was that the dinner took place which was that the talks had been constructive. we hear from the journalist who broke the story. also, detectives leading the investigation into the shooting in dorset says he believes it was a targeted attack. also: scuffles in paris as rallies are held by both candidates in the presidential election. three police officers have been injured in clashes with masked demonstrators in the centre of paris.