this is bbc world news, i'm chris rogers. our top stories: insults fly between the candidates but viewers say emmanuel macron wins the french presidential debate. us republicans say they have enough support to repeal obamacare and may hold the first vote today. until now, no—one knew how many albatrosses there were in the world. but now, thanks to some space technology, they do. like it or not, it's bigger, more profitable and more controversial than ever. facebook closes in on 2 billion users. but can it see off the growing threats to its reputation? plus, failed by france's economy, the one in four young people out work and what the next president can do about it. hello and welcome to bbc world news.

the centrist candidate in the french presidential election, emmanuel macron, has taken a strong lead in opinion polls following a fiery tv debate with his far—right rival marine le pen. both contenders were trying to woo the estimated 18% undecided voters ahead of sunday's election. latest opinion polls suggest that two—thirds of viewers thought mr macron was more convincing. james reynolds reports. for the first time, emmanuel macron and marine le pen sat directly across from one another. right from the start of this debate they began their attacks. translation: mr macron is the candidate of savage globalisation, uberisation, economic uncertainty, social brutality, of every man for himself. translation: you have shown

you are not the candidate for a balanced democratic debate. the question is, do the people want your defeatist attitude ? you say globalisation is too hard for us, so is europe. let's shut our borders, leave the euro, because others succeed, not us. the atmosphere got heated. at times the moderators barely managed to get a word in. "i treat the french like adults", mr macron told his opponent. "you lie all the time." then each was asked about terrorism. translation: the safety of our people, the fight against terror and islamist extremism, you don't want to take it on and i know why. against terrorism we have to close our borders straightaway, immediately, and that's what i will do the moment i take power. translation: closing borders achieves nothing. there are many countries outside the schengen area that have been hit

as hard as us by terrorist attacks and since 2015 we have put back border controls to fight terrorism. marine le pen spent much of the time attacking her opponent. she avoided detailed discussion of her own proposals. emmanuel macron and marine le pen presented two very different visions of france. theirs was a debate marked by attacks and accusations. they now head out to the rest of the country for the final days of the campaign. after months of wrangling, the us house of representatives has scheduled a vote to repeal and replace president obama's signature piece of legislation, the affordable care act. it guarantees health insurance for millions of americans, and republicans have struggled to agree on how to change it. our correspondent in washington, laura bicker, says it seems they believe they have the votes to get the bill through the house. it looks like they have the vote

to get it through the house. remember, this was a key campaign pledge from republicans. how many times did we hear from the platform from donald trump — his pledge to repeal and replace obamacare? it was easier said than done because when they first tried it republicans simply couldn't agree. they say the problem with the affordable care act is that too many people are paying far too much for health—insurance, subsidising the cost for others. and they don't believe that republicans or government should be involved in providing healthcare. that is something that is so personal. when it comes down to it, when they first voted a draft of the bill it was estimated 2a million americans would come under that draft and would lose healthcare coverage. some republicans could not stomach it.

others felt that the bill didn't go far enough. they found some compromise, we understand. it does seem that when they hold the vote tomorrow it will pass the house. but when it goes to the senate, well, that's another matter. they have come up with some halfway solution where they will provide an $8 billion fund but it is only for five years. the leading democrat in the house, nancy pelosi, has issued a statement, she says house republicans will have this moral monstrosity on their foreheads and the people will hold them accountable, so the democrats worried about this going through tomorrow. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. donald trump returns to new york on thursday for the first time as president, for talks with australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull. protests and security closures are expected to provide the backdrop to the talks. trump and turnbull will commemorate

the 75th anniversary of the battle of the coral sea by us and australian forces against the japanese, in the leaders' first encounter since a tetchy phone call rattled ties in late january. researchers have developed a blood test which could prevent thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer undergoing unnecessary treatment. the technique — which costs less than £50 a time — will help doctors tell whether patients will respond to the standard drugs used to fight the disease. there is international condemnation of president maduro's plan to rewrite venezuela's constitution. it would also allow him to get round the current parliament, which is dominated by the opposition but his government says a new constituent assembly is the best way to unite a fractured country. there's been another day of street protests, with barricades limiting traffic in many cities. greg dawson has the latest. the only sign of traffic banning

cars. protest at in taking place here and across the country in direct response to a new citizen led national assembly proposed by the president. in a televised address nicolas maduro confirmed it would sideline congress which has been calling for his resignation. with pots and pans in hand, these people made it clear the only changes they wa nt made it clear the only changes they want is a new president. we are not scared, says this woman, we are sick and tired of this disgusting government. mr maduro once at least half of the new assembly to come from his traditional powerbase, the

poor and the working classes. the government has two choices, they can approve the constitution among themselves or they can have a referendum. if they hold a referendum, we will defeat them. the us has condemned the announcement is a bid to cling to power. brazil, chile and olivia also denounced the statement. the months long campaign of street protests look set to continue. they are calling for a mega protest across venezuela on wednesday. sally is here with all the business news. what does that mean? thumbs up, like... i do not know. facebook.

what does that mean? thumbs up, like... ido not know. facebook. i get a lot of them. jazz hands. laughter.. we start with facebook, because despite the ongoing controversy over everything from fake news to extremist and violent content, the social networkjust keeps getting bigger and more profitable. facebook has been warning for some time it can't keep growing at this rate but the latest results show no sign of a slowdown yet. take a look at these numbers. facebook made profits ofjust over s 3billion in the first three months of this year. that's a jump of more than 76% on the same period last year and more than investors were expecting. facebook is creeping ever closer to two billionusers — facebook is creeping ever closer to two billion users — 1.91; billion people are now actively using the social media platform every month, up i7% on this time last year.

but in recent months there's been growing criticism over how facebook polices its content — failing to stop extremist or violent material — or the spread of ‘fake news‘ that some claim is distorting politics. it's planning to hire 3000 more people to monitor and remove offensive material. can it limit the damage to its reputation? lots more in 20 minutes' time. as you have been hearing emmanuel macron and marine le pen have been squaring off in a tv debate ahead of france's presidential election this sunday. whoever wins will inherit a raft of economic challenges. unemployment at 9.6% is far higher than in germany or the uk. youth unemployment is a particular problem —

nearly a quarter of 15—24 year olds are out of work, and in some areas the figure is even greater. we'll have a report from marseille. see you in 20 minutes. a very special day to day, made the false the we feel. —— the force be with you! stay with us on bbc news, still to come: may the fourth be with you! we meet the fans celebrating star wars day in a rather special cantina. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby serve to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand.

the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: a strong performance in the final televised debate has confirmed emmanuel macron‘s position as favourite for sunday's french

presidential election. republicans in the united states are confident they now have enough votes to begin to repeal obamacare, and have scheduled an initial vote in congress for later on thursday. the new speaker of the macedonian parliament has taken office, almost a week after an unusual outburst of violence in the capital. masked men stormed the parliament building last thursday, beating up opposition politicians. since the elections at the end of last year, macedonia has been stuck in a political stalemate. our balkans correspondent guy delauney went to skopje to see how the country could get back to normal. mayhem in macedonia's parliament. last week, a mob attacked mps and journalists as the long—running political stalemate became something

far more disturbing. the latest protests have been peaceful but the underlying tension remains. macedonia hasn't had a government since last december‘s election. the country is stuck. these protesters are country is stuck. these protesters a re loyal to country is stuck. these protesters are loyal to nikola gruevski and his party. they have run macedonia for more than a decade and claim they can't hand over power to the opposition social democrats because they have made too many concessions to the country's ethnic albanian minority. for one of the mps attacked last week, they say that is just an excuse. battered but back at work, she insists the issue isn't ethnic relations, it's about vmro avoiding prosecution for corruption in office. whatever they have done in the last three months is with only one purpose and this is to prevent a peaceful transfer of power

because a new reform— oriented government would mean criminal accountability for some of the people who have stolen millions of euros from the citizens of macedonia. the nikola gruevski followers have left an indelible mark on the capital, attempting to recast macedonia as the cradle of civilisation but now, political violence is putting progress at risk. i think the most important steps is to condemn the violence and hold those who participated in the violence is responsible. this goes without saying. the second phase is that we shouldn't politicise it on divisions but use this example in order to try to unify the country. some harmony would be welcome after two years of protests and international pressure may yet bring about a solution but only the most optimistic would take it for granted. abortion within 90 days of pregnancy

has been legal in italy for almost four decades but in this strongly catholic country, most doctors who could perform abortions are conscientious objectors — 83% of them in some areas of southern italy. so some women have to drive hundreds of kilometres to find a single doctor willing to carry out the procedure and experts say the situation is only getting worse. one of those rare non objectors spoke to the bbc. ifi if i carry out more abortions, it doesn't mean i am happy. it's not about statistics. i have carried out abortions right from the start of my career. making

it illegal was an important conquest for italian women. in the 1970s, we fought hard to have this law passed so fought hard to have this law passed so it's important to apply it. young doctors think it will damage their career. i hope one day a young doctor comes to see that there is nothing wrong, but they will only be applying a law of the italian state. otherwise, the law that legalised abortion in italy. being applied. some sport now, and juventus are on the brink of reaching the champions league final after winning the semi—final first leg away to monaco two nil. gonzalo higuain scored both of juvey‘s goals, one in each half to leave monaco with a mountain to climb

when they play the second leg in italy next week. it's now more than 600 minutes sincejuventus last conceded a goal. ajax took a giant stride to the europa cup final in beating lyon 4—1 in their semi —final first leg in amsterdam. on—loan chelsea striker bertrand traore scored two of ajax‘s four goals. the emphatic win moved the dutch club to the brink of a first european final in 21 years. better injury news for manchester united ahead of thursday's europa league semi—final against celta vigo. they welcomed four players back to training today before flying off to spain. paul pogba, who has missed the last two games with muscle fatigue, took part, while defenders eric bailly, chris smalling and philjones are also back in contention for selection for the first leg. i think it is a big achievement. so many problems we have. it will allow

us many problems we have. it will allow us to be back to the championship next season. we have to try. that's what we are going to do. honestly, the league becomes for us now more important. former world number one ilie nastase will not be invited into the royal box at wimbledon this year, following his behaviour at last month's fed cup tie. nastase — the romania team captain — was ejected after a foul—mouthed rant at his counterpart anne keothavong and british number one johanna konta. the director of the fbi has told he has no regrets about reopening his investigation into hillary clinton's email. james coney said he felt mildly nauseous that he might have influenced the result. history is likely to judge that this law enforcement officer played

a decisive role in determining the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. just days before polling, james comey revealed the fbi had reopened its inquiry into hillary clinton's e—mails from when she was secretary of state. he said he had no good options. so i stared at speak and conceal. speak would be really bad, there's an election in 11 days. lordy, that would be really bad. concealing, in my view, would be catastrophic, notjust to the fbi, but well beyond. and honestly, as between really bad and catastrophic, i said to my team — we've got to walk into the world of really bad. so how does he feel now about the impact his intervention has had? look, this was terrible. it makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election. but, honestly, it wouldn't change the decision. what's not in doubt is that his letter, 11 days before america voted, convulsed the campaign. its significance can't be over—stated. this was donald trump, the day the news broke. the investigation is the biggest political scandal since watergate

and it's everybody‘s hope that justice, at last, can be delivered. and hillary clinton has now made clear she believes that james comey may have cost her the election. i was on the way to winning until a combination ofjim comey‘s letter, on october 28th, and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off. but donald trump, on twitter, attacked hillary clinton and seemingly has a swipe at james comey, too. "fbi director comey was the best thing that ever happened to hillary clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds." the question is, why did the fbi make public the e—mail investigation and not the parallel inquiry into the trump campaign's links with russia? the answer seems to be that congress

had been told the e—mail investigation was complete and therefore reopening it needed congress to be told again. it's an explanation that baffles many democrats. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. british scientists have for the first time been able to assess the entire global population of an endangered seabird, using high—resolution satellite images. numbers of the northern royal albatross have previously been hard to estimate, as it only nests on a small group of remote and rocky islands east of new zealand. but scientists are now able to use much more sharply—defined satellite images to track the albatross population. they are the world's largest flying birds but despite being so easy to spot, counting albatrosses is tricky. most of these birds nest on islands which are extremely remote and difficult to access but now

there was a new way to get a tally of the birds —— from space. scientists say using the powerful of the birds —— from space. scientistftzasi in the powerful of the birds —— from space. scientistftzasi in one powerful of the birds —— from space. scientistftzasi in on places ful of the birds —— from space. scientistftzasi in on places like satellite to zoom in on places like the chatham islands in the south pacific. they can go down to 30 centimetres which mean each albatross appears as a white dot and research is simply top them up. that means we finally have a number for this species, royal northern albatrosses. scientists were unsure how many birds there were but the satellite tally comes in at about 4000 nests. it's less than conservationists hoped but many albatross species are doing badly. they are facing serious threats from the plastics polluting our ocean to invasive species. researchers say these counts from space are essential, knowing how many albatross is there are now will help us albatross is there are now will help us to track how they fare in the future. this thursday isn't

just any old thursday. it is may 4th — which is — unofficially — star wars day. back in 1977 the first chapter in the space saga was released in cinemas across the united states and every year fans celebrate the battle between the rebels and the empire. in los angeles — you can go to a pop—up bar that may look awfully familiar — as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. i have walked in the wrong place! in sci—fi terms, this is pure heresy. captain kirk visiting mos eisley — star trek meets star wars, some things do not compute. this is the scum and villainy cantina, a bar devoted to all things science fiction. i wanted to build a place that, geeks and nerds and cosplayers could all gather together and have a place to make pretend. in my head this is a play set and we are all action figures.

wookies, bounty hunters, starfleet crew, droids and the occasional sith lord sharing good times and the odd beverage, although this is most certainly not romulan ale. you truly feel transported into a galaxy far, far away. that's what they're doing good, is making you feel like you are in a different place, like, totally. almost everybody comes in costume. so i'm in a dress from star trek, you'll see other people from star wars, people come in their own original creative costumes that are just space themed and they're the ones that really make this our own galaxy ball. the scum and villainy cantina will remain open until the end ofjune. so, may the force be with you, or live long and prosper. you decide! that is the latest, thanks for

watching. some fairly stark temperature contrasts over the uk during wednesday with cold cloud over southern and eastern parts of the country. the sunshine further north and west, the high teens and low 20s. the wind is coming from the east and you look downwind, you can see what is coming our way. this is the contrast over the next few days. today we start of cloudy. a few spots of light rain just for the morning commute. there will be some brea ks morning commute. there will be some breaks in the cloud to the south—west but more cloud across wales than we saw yesterday but a few shins of breaks pushing into parts of the north midlands. a sunny start the northern england and northern ireland. quickly warming up. a little bit of low cloud with

more chance towards orkney, shetland and the mori firth. the low cloud will break up and we will see some sunny conditions into northern parts of the midlands and north wales. southernmost counties, the chance of rain drizzled towards the south—east corner and that eastern coast, with the wind of a chilly sea. only struggling into double figures. it could hit 19 or 20 in western scotla nd could hit 19 or 20 in western scotland once again. still breezy as it will be throughout the day. gusty winds towards the west of higher ground. maybe a bit colder into friday. temperatures are a few degrees below freezing and rural parts of scotland. a reasonably similar day. some low cloud across the of scotland. the odd subtle hint of brightness and some sunshine, the

best of which is to the north and the west. high—pressure receives a little bit. how close it gets, still a bit uncertain but it could bring rain to the channel islands and parts of devon and cornwall. the sun is brighter and warmer to the north and west. the rain will clear up to the continent and into sunday, northerly winds. sunniest in the west but warmer in south—east. this is bbc world news, the headlines: emmanuel macron, the centrist candidate for the french presidency, has cemented his position as favourite for sunday's vote after a quarrelsome televised debate with his nationalist rival, marine le pen. republican politicians in the united states say they are now confident they can repeal president obama's healthcare legislation. extra money for those with pre—existing medical conditions appears to have won over enough sceptics. more protesters have been killed in venezuela where there's been another day of violent clashes

in cities across the country. many other opponents of the government were injured as riot police used force to block rallies the new speaker of the macedonian parliament has taken office, almost a week after an unusual outburst of violence in the capital. masked men stormed the parliament building last thursday,