this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at four: thousands join a trade union march calling for a new deal for workers and public services, as the tuc warns of the worst earnings crisis in modern history. voting has closed in iraq's general election — it's the first parliamentary poll since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself islamic state. two british tourists are among three people kidnapped at gunpoint in a democratic republic of congo national park. mps and campaigners criticise a "lack of progress" on mobile connectivity in rural areas. also in the next hour, we'll hear about a novel plan to regenerate the high street in dumfries. a community group is leading the fight against decline in the town's centre, with hopes of drawing the crowds back to the shops. and at a30, dateline looks at the implications of president trump's withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal, and what next month's summit with north korea could bring. good afternoon

and welcome to bbc news. british workers have experienced the longest squeeze on real wages in 200 years, according to the tuc. it's staged a march through central london, calling for a higher minimum wage, a ban on zero—hours contracts, and more funding for public services. the government says inflation is falling and unemployment is at a ao—year low. here's our business correspondent, joe lynam. they have come in their thousands — nurses, teachers, welders and firefighters, all calling for a new dealfor workers and the public service.

the tuc says we are living through the worst erosion in spending power since the 1800s. what it shows is that if we carry on at this same rate of pay increases, it will take to 2025 to get back to the real wages people had before the crash. that is 17 years and just too long. using official data, the tuc found that the real wages, which takes account of inflation, went up by 27% in the decade before the financial crisis in 2008. but in the last ten years, they have fallen by 4%. it says that the average worker will have lost round £18,500 in real earnings by 2025. but according to one key economist, productivity and not austerity is the main cause for stagnating real wages. the key issue is that the economy hasn't grown and the economy hasn't grown because productivity hasn't grown. that means the amount we produce with each hour we work is the same

now as it was in 2008. if we are not producing more we are not in the end going to earn any more. in a statement the government said: real wages or spending power after we have been paid are going up — just. unemployment is at a a0 year low, but for many people they may not feel that much better off. for the people on this march, they are calling for more secure, better paid jobs. the tuc march has ended in a rally at hyde park, and the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, addressed the crowd. 0ur movement was founded to respect all and include all. that is our

strength. that is our watchword. and those are our achievements. this demonstration today is about workers‘ rights. it is about collective endeavour. but above all, it isa collective endeavour. but above all, it is a declaration that we are around, we are around to campaign as long as it takes to bring about that social justice and long as it takes to bring about that socialjustice and that decency in society. we‘re around to protect our environment. we‘re around in en'o that sense of rights and don‘t enjoy that sense of solidarity. sisters and brothers, thank you so much for being here! thank you for inviting me. and keep on being the wonderful labour movement that we are. thank you. polls have just closed in the first iraqi parliamentary election since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself islamic state. security forces have been on alert because militants have threatened attacks on politicians and voters. it‘s the country‘s fourth vote since the invasion of 2003, that

removed saddam hussein from power. as our correspondent, yalda hakim, reports, safety and the economy have dominated the campaign. security is tight. islamic state have threatened these elections, the candidates and polling stations. the authorities are taking no chances. just two years ago, large parts of this country were still part of the islamic state‘s caliphate. but across this nation iraqis are cautiously optimistic that these polls mark a turn point. translation: i voted because i wanted change in this country, nothing more. this country has suffered so much, and we hope the good people win. people with ethics, conscience and faith in god. there is still a lot of anger towards the authorities in baghdad. translation: we want the entire situation in iraq to be changed. we want new schools to be built, we wantjobs.

there is nothing right now. in 80 years i haven‘t seen anything change. 2a hours before the election, airports and borders were closed. they have now re—opened. the prime minister has based his entire campaign on the defeat of the islamic state. he is now desperately trying to bring the sunni minority groups back into the political process. the divisions that have ravaged iraq for the past 15 years are showing signs of easing. iraqis are tired of the fighting and now want to bring change through the ballot box. the hope is this election will bring a new era of stability. we will be getting the latest from iraq shortly. the foreign office say they‘re supporting the families of two british nationals, who were kidnapped in a national park in the democratic republic of congo. the tourists

were abducted yesterday in the virunga national park, which runs along the border with uganda and rwanda. a ranger accompanying them was killed in the attack. 0ur reporter, louise dewast, who‘s in the capital, kinshasa, has the latest. we have just been told by an army spokesman in north kivu, the province where the attack happened, that they are conducting searches in the park. that the hostages are still being held captive. the attack happened just north of goma, a town in the province. it is a world heritage site known for its mountain gorillas. there are many armed groups operating in and around the park. there have been kidnappings there before. the number has increased in recent years. some human rights groups estimate that around 50% of those kidnappings are for ransom. we have not heard yet any confirmation of any ransom demands with these missing tourists. but it is something

we will be monitoring. conflict in the region is rife. there are about 70 different groups operating in eastern congo alone. louise dewast in kinshasa. countryside campaigners are calling for action on what they say is an "appalling lack of progress" in improving mobile phone coverage in rural areas. they‘ve been backed by more than 50 mps, who‘ve accused mobile operators of failing to put up new masts, despite help from government. jon donnison reports. these days, life without your mobile, for many, seems almost unimaginable. but in some parts of rural britain, it remains a reality. the communications regulator 0fcom says only 57% of people living in premises in rural areas are able to make phone calls on all four mobile networks. that compares to 90% in urban areas. now 50 rural mps have written

to the secretary of state for digital culture, media and sport, matt hancock, calling for urgent action to change that. they want legally binding targets to force mobile operators to improve coverage. but the operators say they are investing millions of pounds in rural areas but that planning applications for new mobile phone masts are often rejected by local people. the government says mobile phone coverage is improving, and that it is already changed planning laws to make it easier to put up new masts. it says the mobile companies now need to respond to those changes and act fast to increase coverage in rural areas. jon donnison, bbc news. matthew howett, an independent telecoms and internet analyst at the research and communications analysis firm assembly, joined me earlier and explained how deliverable the mps suggestions are. the mobile operators have committed

to bringing 95% coverage by 2020. 0ne operator has already made that commitment, which seems to suggest the mps, from this letter, is likely out of touch with what is happening already in the industry. out of touch with what is happening already in the industrylj out of touch with what is happening already in the industry. i have heard stories of where in mast has gone up. you may have a customer on sg, gone up. you may have a customer on 36, should go up to gone up. you may have a customer on 3g, should go up to ag, and it has gone back. are you familiar with this? there are a lot of different reasons why people can‘t always get the signal they should get. things like the weather affect performance in certain areas, and trees as well, which there are a lot of in those parts of britain will stop that makes it more difficult to provide a service than in a city. i think it is clear the operators are working

together to bring better coverage to the rural areas, and they are relying on the government to make it easier to put up masts. working together, how will that benefit them? you together, how will that benefit them ? you say together, how will that benefit them? you say that is already taking place. in what shape? they have made this commitment to focus instead on a geographic coverage rather than population coverage. so, the regulator has said in the past you have to roll out to a certain percentage of people in britain, which made sense at the time. but if you think about how we use mobile phones, we are expected to travel to places. they have introduced a geographic coverage. one of the obstacles are geographic coverage. one of the obstacles a re excuses geographic coverage. one of the obstacles are excuses that appear to be put forward by the companies is that they face opposition from locals. is there something the government can help by introducing

new regulations, or are they really quite tight at the moment and in favour of local population?” quite tight at the moment and in favour of local population? i think there is work the government can do and is doing to make it easierfor them to put up masts. but there are still big challenges. they face opposition from landowners because they know that these mobile operators have to put up a mast because the government is pushing them to do so. in some instances they are holding the operators to ransom, saying this is the price to get a ccess ransom, saying this is the price to get access to this land. clearly, thatis get access to this land. clearly, that is difficult for the operators because they have to negotiate, it ta kes because they have to negotiate, it takes time. the consumer suffers with the signal in the meantime. the archbishop of canterbury has announced who will preach at the royal wedding later this month. prince harry and meghan markle asked bishop michael curry to deliver the sermon. the archbishop described him as a "brilliant pastor, stunning preacher and someone with a great gift for sharing the good news ofjesus christ". the former italian prime minister, silvio berlusconi,

has won a court battle, and overturned a ban that prevented him from holding public office. the 81—year—old, who had been barred from serving until next year after being found guilty of tax fraud, could now stand if fresh elections are called. leaders of the right wing the league party are locked in talks with the anti—establishment five star party, in an attempt to form a government. 0ur rome correspondent, james reynolds, told us that it doesn‘t necessarily mean he will be taking office any time soon. the biggest party in the march general election was the five star movement. the five star movement has made it very clear that silvio berlusconi, ban or no ban, can play no role whatsoever in any coalition talks involving the movement. that is important because five star and another populist party, the league, are in the middle of coalition negotiations which may end up

with them as a government. there is another problem for mr berlusconi. his wasn‘t the biggest party. he only came number two. things don‘t look so good at the moment. he will be happy that now he can get back into the field, if there is no coalition government, there may be an early election and he would be free to stand as a candidate. james reynolds. north korea has announced when it will dismantle its nuclear test site. the state news agency says it will take the site apart between may 23rd and may the 25th — and that international media will be allowed to look on. it comes after the us secretary of state mike pompeo said his country would provide help for north korea‘s weak economy, if it gives up its nuclear weapons. the headlines on bbc news: the tuc says workers are experiencing the longest squeeze on wages for 200 years. voting is underway in iraq —

it‘s the first parliamentary election since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself islamic state. diplomats are working with authorities in the democratic republic of congo after two british citizens were kidnapped in a national park. in sport, lewis hamilton breaks the track record in barcelona to claim his first pole position since the start of the season. he qualified just ahead of valtteri bottas. scunthorpe just ahead of valtteri bottas. scu nthorpe united score just ahead of valtteri bottas. scunthorpe united score a dramatic equaliser to finish 2—2 in their league1 equaliser to finish 2—2 in their league 1 play—off semifinal against rotherham. lincoln and exeter are still goalless in the league 2 play—off. and british triathlete non sta nford play—off. and british triathlete non stanford finishes third injapan. that is the sport.

more at 5:30pm. council leaders have warned that the amount of rubbish dumped illegally across england each year, could stretch from london to moscow. the local government association says the cost to taxpayers for clearing up fly—tipping rose to more than £57 million last year — that‘s up by 13%. the report says between 2016 to 2017, there were almost half a million incidents where waste at least the size of a small van was illegally dumped. joining me from amersham is councillor martin tett, the environment spokesman for the local government association. thank you forjoining us. afternoon. it is really quite worrying when you see the cost to the taxpayer. how is

the battle going against the fly—tippers? the battle going against the fly-tippers? for a number of years we saw it dropped down but in recent yea rs we saw it dropped down but in recent years we we saw it dropped down but in recent yea rs we have we saw it dropped down but in recent years we have seen it on the rise. we have seen a string —— change in the structure. there has always been the structure. there has always been the individual who goes out with maybe a black bag and dumped rubbish ina maybe a black bag and dumped rubbish in a country lane. now we are seeing more organised gangs. he saw the people who will come around and take waste from your house may be for as low as £25 a load, from offices, and you think it is being disposed of legally. what will happen is they will come to a quiet area and dump the entire lot at some point in the night. this is a big industry and it is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. we have heard of measures put in place. there is the identity, looking through the rubbish and trying to work out where it originated. cctv cameras. have they not proved a sufficient deterrent? they are very good at detecting the

crime. if we see anything dumped, i can speak on behalf of buckinghamshire, we are effective but going through waste looking for things like letters, proof of ownership, e—mailaddresses. things like letters, proof of ownership, e—mail addresses. we have a zero tolerance policy. we will prosecute where we can. the scale of theissueis prosecute where we can. the scale of the issue is really dramatic. around the issue is really dramatic. around the country councils are spending a lot of taxpayers‘ money trying to track these people down using cameras etc. the two things we really need, first of all, the courts to impose criminal penalties. slapping them on the wrist will not count. they need fines running into thousands of pounds to deter them. secondly, councils need to get past —— back the cost they are incurring in enforcing this. doesn't that come back to the fact the council are charging the public at their local tip, you are having to pay, if you have larger rubbish, if they didn‘t have larger rubbish, if they didn‘t have to do that, people wouldn‘t be forced to get rid of their rubbish

in other ways? well, we are responsible for household waste. waste from household, we will take free of charge at the normal dumps of wheelie bins. if you have extra special large amounts some councils do charge for that. but the biggest problem is where we are getting commercial waste, industrial waste etc. this is the big waste that actually councils are not responsible for. it costs a lot of money to dispose of. this is where the criminal gangs are targeting customers and dumping it where we don‘t want it, intense and villages. thank you very much for that. breaking the cycle of youth crime in britain‘s cities, has become one of our most pressing social issues. knife crime, in particular, has commanded attention, in recent weeks. 0ne former gangster is trying to stop children following his path. as joe wilson found out, he is using cricket. when you say "think reality", what. . . ?

a classroom in birmingham, but no ordinary teacher. all came before ijust wanted to be a bad man. well, you can talk to young people in a classroom all day long. the key is to engage them with something positive, something contructive. 0r energetic. something, maybe, like cricket. tanayah sam is working with the chance to shine charity, lottery funding from sport england. but why this? cricket is a different form of integration for the boys and for the girls. get them to, you know, just let off some frustration. whack! it‘s also a great way

for me to engage and carry on the information. unfortunately it is glamorised for young people to walk with a knife and we have got to be honest and frank about that. if you've got a knife and you're with your mates and there's some guy, you don't want to look like an idiot, so you're going to stab him. so you shouldn't carry around knives. because you'll end up using it. and he knows all about it cos he was actually a gangster. when he was walking to the field i heard them all saying i will never, ever carry a knife. all of them were saying it. in this playground are children who are waiting to be influenced. a plastic cricket bat and a tennis ball, not everything. but something. and tanayah sam believes the best opportunities are found in unlikely places. joe wilson, bbc news, birmingham. there was once a time when saturday afternoons were spent taking a trip to the shops — but online shopping and out—of—town superstores have changed that tradition. in the town of dumfries, in south—west scotland, the community appears to have hit upon a novel way to

regenerate its high street, as our correspondent lorna gordon has been finding out. it‘s a familiar image — a high—street lacking shops and homes, and getting emptier by the year. look at it! we‘ve got more shops that are empty in dumfries than we have got that are occupied at the moment. this high street, though, is fighting back, and evie copland is part of a group of locals it‘s a real sad state of affairs, but we have got a dream to change the face of our high street and bring a bit of love back to dumfries town centre. and you are from dumfries, aren‘t you ? so this must be something you really care about. absolutely, lifelong doonhamer. i‘m so proud to come from here. all i want to do is make it somewhere for everyone to be proud of. the challenges here are not unique, but the people driving this project think they‘ve hit upon a really novel way of regenerating the centre of this town. scottish land reform leglation could be used here in a way not seen before, and the community

will be able to buy shares in the scheme too. it's an incredibly exciting project in scotland, we have a recognised culture of community land ownership, particularly across the western isles and in the highlands. this is taking the thing to a whole new level which is being watched by communities across scotland to see how successful it will be. and for people likejohn downson, one of a handful of residents left on the street, change can‘t come soon enough. i would really like to have some neighbours, you know? when i look out this window, i‘m looking out sometimes in a desert and i would like to look at this window and see a lot of people living close to me because that‘s where you get a feeling of community and you‘re not quite as alone and isolated as we are at the moment. so this campaign, which started as an idea by local artists, now involves many more. they do accept there are challenges ahead —

finding absentee landlords, raising funds — but are determined not to pass the buck. people say, "oh, but that is someone else‘s fault, the council should fix it or the government should fix it or somebody higher up ought to be fixing this problem for us and because they‘re not, we are in this terrible state," but actually, what we found is it‘s really empowering for people to stop and say, maybe we can just go out and clean that problem ourselves. if people power works here in dumfries, others could follow, using land reform legislation to save their high streets and bring life back into the centre of their towns. it‘s the eurovision song contest tonight. and increasingly, it‘s about more than just the music. the performances these days are increasingly spectacular, and for many artists it‘s a life changing experience — as david sillito has been finding out. good evening, europe!

and good morning, australia! hello to the rest of the world! and if there are any submarines passing by. all: hellooo! eurovision. it‘s a world all of its own and whatever you think of the songs, it certainly knows how to do spectacle these days. # cos i‘m way up and i ain‘t coming down. # keep taking me higher #. and this is where it‘s all going to be happening tonight and what gets you about this is how big it has become. it has grown like topsy over the years. but at the heart of all of this are very personal stories of many artists who never, ever thought they‘d get a chance to be on such a stage. # i'm not your toy. # not your toy. # you stupid boy. # stupid boy #. this is netta from israel, and she‘s one of the frontrunners. the song, a rallying cry of female empowerment. butjust getting here has been life—changing for her.

i didn‘t expect to win. i expected to get recognition, to get some gigs to afford my rent. you know, i had a — i had a hard time being me as a child. i was fat. i am fat. sorry, i‘m still the same girl. and i was thinking "how can i be this skinny star? i have to be skinny if i want to be a star. it needs to happen. i will be beautiful when i grow up, i will be skinny and i will perform everywhere." and looking back then — me looking back — and i‘m realising i‘m the same girl. i look exactly the same. and this is big. this is absolutely — this is big.

and for the uk, it‘s 21. # give all you got. # hold your head up. # through the storm #. this year, the bookies have the uk‘s surie at 200—1. but this is a place for outsiders and for netta, whatever happens on the night, just being here is already a victory. david sillito, bbc news. he is getting into the spirit of things. here is the weather with ben. whether fortunes have things. here is the weather with ben. whetherfortunes have been mixed today. the west has had the best of the sunshine. further east, cloud. rain in the south east. that rain will turn quite heavy tonight

as it glides across east anglia, the eastern side of england and into eastern side of england and into eastern scotland. further west, clear spells. it will turn cold across parts of northern ireland to see a touch of frost. temperatures all the way down to a degrees. it does look like a pretty great and disappointing start to sunday across eastern england and eastern scotland. the rain moving northwards. at worst, a better chance of seeing some sunshine. a small chance of a shower. temperature is nothing to write home about. not too bad for the time of the year. 13 to 17. for the week ahead, the prospects are promising. mostly dry, spells of sunshine and it will feel pleasantly warm. this is bbc news. our latest headlines... the tuc has warned workers are experiencing the longest wage squeeze in 200 years. it has called for an end to austerity at a rally

in london today. the polls have closed in iraq‘s first general election since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself islamic state. voters have been selecting from 7,000 candidates standing for 329 parliamentary seats. two british tourists are among three people kidnapped in a national park in the democratic republic of congo. the foreign office said it is working with authorities in the country. mps are calling for better mobile signals in rural areas. a letter to the department for culture, media and sport criticises what they call an "appalling lack of progress" on connectivity. now on bbc news, it‘s time for dateline london with jane hill. hello, and a warm welcome to dateline london.

this week‘s news has been dominated by news from and about the middle east. we‘ll discuss what happens now, given donald trump‘s abandonment of the iran nuclear deal. we‘ll also consider the prospects for the forthcoming north korea summit. my guests this week, janet daley, columnist with the sunday telegraph. from bloomberg markets, stryker mcguire. the iranian writer amir tahiri. and the arab affairs writer abdel barri atwan. welcome to you all. so, president trump called the iran nuclear agreement — signed in 2015 by iran — the five permanent members of the un