this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 5pm: thousands join a trade union march calling for a "new deal" for workers and public services. the polls have closed in iraq's first parliamentary elections since the government declared victory over the so—called islamic state group. 2 british tourists are among 3 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, 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 lewis hamilton takes his first pole position since the opening race of the season at the spanish grand prix in barcelona. 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 staged a march through central london today, 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 trades union congress 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 around £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 any 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 ao—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. joe lynam, bbc news. that tuc march you were looking at has ended with a rally at hyde park, and the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, took to the stage to address 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's a declaration that we're around, we're around to campaign as long as it takes to bring about that social justice and that decency in society. we're around to protect our environment. we're around in solidarity with those in other parts of the world that don't enjoy those 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. jeremy corbyn. 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 had 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 now 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 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 and 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. yalda hakim, bbc news, baghdad. 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 25th, and that international media will be allowed to watch. 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 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 travelling with 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 the province of north kivu, 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 north kivu, in this world heritage site known for its mountain gorillas. but there are many armed groups operating in and around the park. and there have been kidnappings there before. and actually, the number

of kidnappings has been increasing in recent years. some human rights groups estimate that around 50% of those kidnappings are for ransom. we have not heard yet any confirmation on any ransom demands with these two missing tourists. but it's something we will be monitoring. conflict in the region is rife. there are about 70 different groups operating in eastern congo alone. louise dewast there. 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. and 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's another problem for mr berlusconi. he wasn't the biggest party. he only came number two. things don't look so good for him at the moment. he'll 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 now be free to stand as a candidate. james reynolds. 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. well, matthew howett is an independent telecoms and internet analyst at the research and communications analysis firm assembly, and earlier, he explained to me just how deliverable the mps‘ suggestions are. the mobile operators have committed to bringing 95% coverage by 2020. 0ne operator, ee, has already made that commitment, which seems to suggest the mps, from this letter, as slightly out

of touch with what is happening already in the industry. i have heard stories of where a mast has gone up. you may have a customer on 3g, should go up to ag, gone back to 2g. are you familiar with this? there are loads of different reasons why people can't always get the signal they are supposed to 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, make it more difficult to provide a service than in a city. i think it is clear the operators are working together to try and 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 is that going to benefit them? you say that is already taking place. in what form, what shape? they have made this commitment to focus instead on a geographic coverage

rather than population coverage. so, the regulator in the past has said in the past so, the regulator in the past 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. that's something they have done outside of what deregulatory government have asked them to do. —— the regulatory. 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? 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 also face a lot of 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, effectively, saying this is the price to get access to this land. clearly, that is difficult for the operators because they have to negotiate, it takes time. the consumer suffers with the signal in the meantime. prince harry and meghan markle have asked a senior american bishop to preach at their wedding next weekend. bishop michael curry — who leads the episcopal church in the united states — will deliver the sermon at st george's chapel next saturday. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, described bishop michael as a "brilliant pastor, stunning preacher and someone with a great gift for sharing the good news of jesus christ." 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 and 2017, there were half a million incidents where waste at least the size of a small van was illegally dumped. earlier, i spoke to councillor martin tett, environment spokesman for the local government association and asked what the organisation was doing to tackle flytipping. for a number of years, fora number of years, we for a number of years, we actually saw fly—tipping beginning to drop down but in the last two years, we have seen it on the rise again and i think we've seen a change as well because there's always been the individual who goes out with a bag and downs rubbished in a country lane. the people who come around and ta ke waste lane. the people who come around and take waste from your house for maybe as low as £25 payload, and you think it's been disposed of legally but actually what will happen is there will come out to a quiet area and

they would dump the entire lot at sometime in the middle of the night. this is a big industry now and it's worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to criminal gangs. whitford ofa pounds to criminal gangs. whitford of a lot of measures put in place. there's the identity looking through the rubbish and trying to find out where it originated from. we've heard about cctv cameras. have they not proved a sufficient deterrent? they have... were really effective at going through dump waste, looking through the proof of ownership and even e—mail addresses we have a 0—tolerance policy. we will prosecute wherever we can. the scale of the issue is really germanic and around the country, councils are spending a lot of taxpayer money trying to track these people down, using so on. what we need really, the courts to really enforce criminal penalties on these criminals because they're stuck...

these people need to seek fines into the hundreds of thousands of house to deter them. the cost they are entering in doing this enforcement. does this factor back to the other the councils are charging the public when they go to your local, you're having to pay if you have some slightly larger rubbish and if they did not have to do that, people would not be forced to get rid of their rubbish in other ways. we are responsible for what's called household waste, waste from a household, we will take free of charge them to the normal dumbs. some council to charge that but the biggest problem is where we are getting commercial waste, industrial waste and so on. this is the sort of big waste that actually counsel is not quite prickly responsible for any not quite prickly responsible for a ny costs not quite prickly responsible for any costs quite a lot of money to dispose of it and these are the ways the criminal gangs in particular are charging customers and dubbing it

really really don't want it to them in towns and villages. that was martin tett speaking to me earlier. the headlines on bbc news: thousands of people have joined a trade union march in london, demanding fair pay. voting is closed 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. the newly elected malaysian prime minister — 92—year—old mahathir mohamad — who won the election in a shock victory last week is wasting no time getting to work. he's already named several members of his cabinet, and a few hours ago, he announced that he has sufficient evidence to open a corruption investigation into the former prime minister, najib razak. jonathan head has the latest. there were many issues which the opposition used in their successful election

campaign, but they zeroed in on this one — the government—linked investment project for which billions are believed to have been stolen. the new government is wasting no time in restarting an investigation into the outgoing prime minister, which he had quashed while in office, and barring him from leaving the country. there are a lot of complaints against him, all of which have to be investigated. and because of the complaints being made, we find that some of the complaints are varied, we have to act quickly because we don't want to be saddled with the problem of extradition from other countries. angry crowds converged on an airport in kuala lumpur where a chartered plane had been due to take the ousted prime minister and his wife to indonesia. for a short holiday, he said, but they thought he was fleeing. for najib razak, who ruled for nine years, it has all come crashing down. bolstered by a political system

that has never allowed an opposition party to win an election before, he never expected a defeat like this. today, he announced he was resigning as leader of his party. but it could get a lot worse for him if criminal charges are filed. this man could soon be released from prison. anwar ibrahim started the opposition movement which hasjust gained power. he was jailed first under mahathir mohamad, then under najib razak, but he's been promised a full pardon as soon as tuesday. then the extraordinary revived partnership between him and his 92—year—old former mentor can begin, though no one is quite sure how it will work. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. nasa is planning to send a mini—helicopter to mars. if tests with the "rover—copter" succeed, it'll mean the agency can explore

the red planet without having to traverse its rocky terrain. the mission is scheduled to launch in 2020. breaking the cycle in 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 gang member is trying to stop children following his path. as our sports correspondent joe wilson found out, he is using cricket. when you say "think reality", what...? a classroom in birmingham, but no ordinary teacher. tanayah sam describes himself as an urban youth specialist. i didn't do my gcses. i had to do the equivalent when i was in prison, and all you year eights are going to do your gcses, ain't you? cool i put the gun into my hand, i stuck it out the window and ijust fired it in the air.

his lessons are drawn from his experience. guns, drugs, gangs, prisons. all came before he decided to change. 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, or 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. getting 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 a time once 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 rather 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 leading the charge. 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 legislation 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 has taken this 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 become a lot more than just the music. the performance these days can also be rather spectacular. for many artists, it's a life—changing experience. 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. i feel sexy, i feel pretty, i feel me. i feel myself. # storms don't last forever. # forever. # give all you've got #. of course, it's been 20 years since israel last won. 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. lovely. 0k, lovely. ok, the weather now. hello there. the sort of weather you have had today has depended very much on where you were in the country. western areas got to enjoy the best of the sunshine. what a beautiful day here in cornwall for our weather watcher! it has not been like that everywhere. the satellite picture reveals this clump of cloud that has been spreading in from the south. it has already brought rain to some parts of south—east england. we have already had bits of damp weather in the north east of scotland. generally speaking, the amounts of cloud have been increasing. that is how it looked in worcestershire earlier on. as we head into tonight, the cloud will bring heavy rain in to parts of the south—east and east anglia. that will slide its way up the eastern side of england and eventually into eastern scotland

by the end of the night. further west, where we see clear skies, especially across northern ireland, it will turn quite chilly. in fact, here, there could be a touch of frost may be in some spots in the countryside getting all the way down to freezing. so, into tomorrow. chilly start in the west. a bright start here. further east, more in the way of cloud. that cloud still producing some outbreaks of rain. the rain only slowly trudging its way out of eastern england and settling in across eastern scotland for a good part of the day. further west, that is where we will continue to see the best of the sunshine. very small chance of a shower but most will be dry. temperatures nothing to write home about. equally not too bad for this time of the prospects for the coming week actually look quite promising in terms of dry weather. high pressure across scandinavia and another area of high pressure down to the south—west. these two high pressure arejoining forces, building in across the british isles to give plenty of dry weather. having said that, monday will bring extra cloud towards the south east, perhaps some showers here. some more cloud just beginning

to creep into northern ireland and western scotland through the afternoon as well. in between, good spells of sunshine. temperature is starting to climb. 20 degrees in edinburgh, 21 our high in london. for many, tuesday brings plenty of warm sunshine. slightly different for scotland. some outbreaks of rain. in the sunshine, temperatures perhaps up to 22, 23, and that really does set the tone for the coming week. it will be largely dry. there will be spells of sunshine. in that sunshine, it will feel pleasantly warm. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. thousands of people have joined a trade union march in london, demanding fair pay. voting has closed 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. 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. let's find out how the sporting news is looking. . there's a lot going on today including formula 1 was hamilton taking his first bowl since the beginning of the season. that is to come. we're starting with football and the scottish premiership. they needed to better the result at dundee but a true after a late goal. the finished bottom of the table and they will be

automatically relegated. the player for their premiership survival against livingston from the scottish championship. meanwhile i was tied in league1 championship. meanwhile i was tied in league 1 semi final. ending to all. rather them had the best of the early exchanges. they found john taylor in space. rather them thought they had won it when he scored with his first touch after coming on as a sub but cameron had other ideas of scoring his first goal in the 88th minute to make it all squared going into wednesday's second leg. in the lead to lincoln's hopes of securing back—to—back is still alive. lincoln merely took the lead, closed the door marked where matt to read's header struck the crossbar and a bit

of luck and a couple of fine saves from the goalkeeper kept his side from the goalkeeper kept his side from conceding. the two sides would meet again in the second leg on thursday. tonight is the first of the shipping ship semi finals as middlesbrough and aston villa get under way and they‘ re middlesbrough and aston villa get under way and they're currently leading 1—0. a really good header across the goal and the right hand corner and here are the results. the rest of the results and there's another semi final playoff letter for you. will have the results of that later on here on bbc news. in the super league they dented the city title hopes. arsenal were stronger the second—half scoring twice in ten minutes. the first i danielle and then a second to claim victory. chelsea have a game in hand arsenal are back in fourth place. just before we tell you about the f1

the rovers are back in the football league. more than a story later on for you but they're back in the football league and won the national league playoff. they've been boosted by taking his first pole since the start of the season. bridget will head to the spanish grand prix tomorrow is his mercedes team—mate between him and his main rival. nick pa rrott between him and his main rival. nick parrott reports. the circuit is one of the most familiar venues in formula 1. preseason testing takes place here and everyone should know what to expect. it can still throw off the odd surprise. they got one off the odd surprise. they got one of the biggest. the driver ran out of the biggest. the driver ran out of road where no one else seems to have a problem. almost a write off as well. the home fans inspired the hero to eight on the grid. his best qualifying of the year. at the sharp and it had looked like ferrari would come out on top after sebastian would like the first two sessions. the first time since the opening

weekend in australia lewis hamilton was unstoppable. he found fractions where others couldn't. and of his mercedes team—mates on just four hundredths of a second. with that old one at a quarter of a second behind in third you will be hoping he can extend his championship lead. great atmosphere here in barcelona. we always get a great crowd and a lot of british fans here in spanish fa ns lot of british fans here in spanish fans here even. i appreciate eve ryo ne fans here even. i appreciate everyone and very happy. fans here even. i appreciate everyone and very happylj fans here even. i appreciate everyone and very happy. i was happy with the lab. the first running was the last time i looked into the first goal but the last i was happy i was feeling good and then i looked. i had the tower there and looked. i had the tower there and look where i ended up. i said i never go to the top so i'm not entirely happy but expecting mercedes to be very strong something

tomorrow should be an interesting race. it will be. the rovers aback back end football league after two away. they won in the national league playoff final this afternoon despite having to play almost the entire game with just ten men. with the weight of expectation on the shoulders they walked out of for in this football with a place in the league. the pressure was all on tranmere. the challenge of the opening minute meant he saw a red and they were down to ten men. down but not out and certainly not giving up but not out and certainly not giving up six minutes later and he's header put a tranmere in front. the players celebrated in glass bottles were thrown from the stands. likely not to have been serious injured. the first test of sic myth that is the

clock but nine more played. given brittle enough time to score the equaliser. intensity of the second half was only broken in the 81st minute. james fired home the winner to secure promotion and their return to secure promotion and their return to the efl. it's half—time of the biggest game and the european season for rugby union. build—out and lei nster battle it for rugby union. build—out and leinster battle it out in the champions cup final. the latest score that half—time is sex all. the all blacks star was ruled out for a hamstring injury. leinster public senior coach of the former england head coach. stuart lancaster will have more on that match later on. if leaders are through to the quarterfinals of the challenge cup after overpowering castleford at the jungle. it was the ben barber show in west yorkshire as the man of steel favourite scored a hat trick of tries. its first—ever running the length of the pitch pedestrian safety is best to last. jerking his

way around five vendors to score an incredible try and put the st helens in the last eight. 36, 18 the final score there. and a sixth round match the dragon's crest whitehaven 56 points to ten. 0nto cycling and simon yates has maintained his lead. ecuador one stage it with the aids winning save it a bunch to 16 second lead the defending champion. chris froome was also in the group and he is ninth overall. the british sprinter stunned the world champion by beating him in the 100 metres in shanghai. prescott excelled in the rain to run the best time of ten points zero four seconds for his first victory. he was seventh. there was progress for their series in

japan. she secured their first podium finish in two years taking bronze. she finished 42 seconds behind the winner byjodi simpson finished in 12th. i was googling job applications and reading what i had to do to apply for this particular job. i to do to apply for this particular job. i did to do to apply for this particular job. i did a spec that at all today and it has been a tough two years. i have gone through a lot of up and downs. this was super cruel and super tough and it just downs. this was super cruel and super tough and itjust shows if you stay patient and keep plugging away you can get back up there, really. mariota spain witnessed —— finish the men's race. it was 18 with thomas bishop 24th. he would simply a positives from the madrid open even though it's over for him.

a positives from the madrid open even though it's overfor him. he lost to the canadian teenager dennis despite saving a match point in the second set. however it's a love for this that edmund has gone in madrid and will break into the world's top 20 next week. meanwhile, rafael nadal is out. he was beaten by dominic thiem. it also means that roger federer will replace rafael nadal as the worlds number one. ireland's cricket has enjoyed a good second day. ray watts of the first day in dublin and it was a productive day for the bowlers. they we re productive day for the bowlers. they were covered to reach 193 for six. the wickets were fairly evenly spread but notably two of them from the former england test player. the score there currently is 268 for six but the covers are on. it is raining again in dublin. goff now in the

third round is under way at the player should be chips in florida. regard by some as the unofficial fifth maybe major tiger woods is at a phenomenal round. he is eight under on the day after 15 holes. webb simpson have the five shot lead. 15 under par and goes out in about two hours' time. that's it for me in about two hours' time. that's it for meina about two hours' time. that's it for me in a very busy day of sport for now. you can find a much more on the bbc sport website. we will be back for you in sports day. an exhibition of paper doves will open at salisbury cathedral this weekend to symbolise peace and hope returning to the city. the installation had been planned to mark the anniversary of the end of the second world war, but since the nerve agent attack in march, the meaning has changed — as andy howard reports. sometimes the simple things are the most effective. thousands of white paper birds fly high in salisbury. doves are often a symbol of recovery and hope, and at the moment,

this city needs both. we feel that what happened to us, this is an opportunity to say we are not alone, we are together, we are doing something together. we may not change the world, but as a community we have shown we are standing together, and it is a new beginning. please god, it's a new beginning for us. some of the doves have come from around the world, where this travelling exhibition has been before. others have been made here, with local people's messages written inside. but it is notjust in the cathedral where the salisbury doves are in flight. shops have come together too, and the flock is growing all the time. out of adversity positive things happen. i think it is heart—warming. doves have a nice message, don't they? so everyone knows what the meaning is, and they are really taking part. paper birds can't help this city alone.

businesses said today trade is down by 40% or more since the nerve agent attack. but what these little doves have already done is help bring people together. safety in numbers at troubled times. andy howard, bbc news. over 500 knights are fighting this weekend in the world's biggest mediaeval combat championship. it was started 20 years ago by historical re—enactors bored with simply playing out scenes from the past. it's the first time the sport's come to the uk. the bbc‘s mike bushell was drafted in to help team scotland. from across the known world, they came hither. ye old, and not quite so old. ye brave, and not quite as brave. the bold, and not quite as bold! a force like never before.

the chance to keep alive the conflict and culture of a time gone by. but this is no re—enactment, it's a recognised sport with 31 countries here. hello! we are from china! we are obviously re—enacting a period of time in history but we are doing it as a sport. this is full contact sport. this is mma in armour. most things are allowed. there are certain zones you shouldn't hit. you shouldn't hit the groin for obvious reasons, you shouldn't hit the back of the knees and you shouldn't twist limbs in an unnatural action, we don't want bone breaks. we get a few injuries but it's not that bad. 0ther full contact sports, like hockey, rugby, that's same level of injuries. we do have them but they're not that common. watching scotland against the not

so ye old usa, it is amazing there aren't more injuries. but it's that thick armour and helmets that protect you. it was beautiful. beautiful. it was brutal. i can't even watch ufc boxing, i find it too violent. but you do this. but this is ok. you have protection everywhere. yes. and you can kick. 0k. argh. psychologically it can be hard to take the hit. the main thing is to stay on your feet because people who win, the team that wins will be the one that has the last person standing. how many times have you been hurt? i've never been hurt, no. just a bruise. usually from the armour pinching than the actual hit. it feels worse than it is. after being reassured, it was time for me, sir mike—alot, to fight, with my trusty red shield. and the tactic was to give them a runaround until quebec's tallest

gladiator put a chink in my armour. but i had a cunning plan. hold on for dear life. in the end, a non—contest with andrew from quebec victorious. that wasn't your hardest fight, sir. ah, it was fun, though. some fights go on a lot longer. this outnumbered australian stood his ground against the odds to force a draw against england. and it looks like we got off lightly, a reminder why you shouldn't try this at home. a crestfallen fighter from finland carted off by ye old paramedics. luckily a precaution and he's ready to fight another day. come on! any excuse to get dressed up. the time is 5:47pm. the headlines on bbc news. thousands of people have joined a trade union march in london, demanding fair pay.

voting has closed 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. now its time for meet the author. when you call a book 0rdinary when you call a book ordinary people you may be tied to wonder why we don't want to read about it. diana evans don't want to read about it. diana eva ns ta kes don't want to read about it. diana evans takes to families who have ordinary lives and invests them with endless interest. their race, class, midlife worries and weariness of their love lives and hopes. this is london early in the 21st—century. people live now in a book about what makes them all much more than ordinary. welcome. it is interesting, i think, i think

readers will find it interesting that ordinary lives as they are lived every day more intriguing and more the stuff of a novelist trade, the melodrama. what i'm trying to do with this book is to present an accurate picture of the kind of ordinary british lives that i know. it's not necessarily huge, dramatic moments or a storyline in this book, it's more about the quieter but very piercing in her moments in peoples and psychology. there's piercing

moments. to families that become entangled for reasons that everybody would be familiar with. midlife marriage and all that kind of thing. you're also going into questions of race. which many of your readers won't be familiar with they won't think that's normal life and you are taking them into lives which they won't know day in and day out. that's exactly what i'm trying to do. i think the theme of race has been connected in a very direct way to black writers. i don't think there has been enough visibility of black lives and characters in their ordinariness. i think there's been this mass dehumanization of black lives through things like the legacy of slavery and the continuing realities of racism and the mainstream temptations of blackness

in the media. what i'm trying to do is draw attention to the ordinariness. the reality of lives that most black people live in one form or another. in this case, a fairly middle—class kind of way and a setting. that's what you've chosen. the black middle class is something that some people don't even know exists. we have never really seen in fiction. i'm influenced by the writerjohn updike who presents a picture of middle america in the life and that's exactly what i'm trying to do, but what is new about this is that i am expressing it from a black perspective and that has not been done before. very much so because you open the book with a party that is being held to celebrate 0bama's election in 2008. so the motive which the book opens as one of

celebration about that particular moment. yeah, that with the huge moment. yeah, that with the huge moment and universal. there was this element of real celebration and i wa nted element of real celebration and i wanted to capture that and wanted to be able to many years from them be able to open a book and remember what it felt like. it's also a dichotomous moment because there was this darker aspects to it. london was ina this darker aspects to it. london was in a moment of crisis. the knife crime statistics were very high, we had alsojust crime statistics were very high, we had also just entered a recession. even though it was a very celebratory moment it was climatic. there's a sense in the book that after a highlight that's as far as the characters in the book are concerned there is bound to be inevitably, because life is life disappointment. and the retreat from the mountaintop. yes, of course, the

couples do go through various small crisis points in their own lives but i think essentially it quite a hopeful book. it's hopeful because they're not bad people. there isn't any sense of creeping evil or great mischiefmaking in the book. no, i think they are ordinary people trying to cope with points in their lives with if you like they're losing a sense of self. that's what idoin losing a sense of self. that's what i do in all of my books, really. my first book was about the loss of a twin and what happens beyond that loss. the second book was about the loss. the second book was about the loss of a dancing body in a dancer's life. this book is ordinary people wondering what happens to them beyond the massive changes of parenthood and marriage. one of the couples at the centre of the story isa couples at the centre of the story is a classic suburban couple in a way. part of suburbia. very common idea of how life is lived in going

off to work in the morning and coming home on the same train or tube. a lot of people might look at it as it said at the beginning and think, oh my goodness, am i going to get interested in this? am i going to get drawn in? what you think draws people into a story like this? what do you have to do as a writer to make it sing? it's all about the characters. you have to inhabit your characters. you have to inhabit your characters as the writer. there's good aspects and there are bad points. you have to present characters who are immediate and also decrypt description and language is very important to me. i was really appreciate writing and showing interesting language and the potential of sentences. when you bring those together, character and language and description you create so much trauma. you have got a kind of soundtrack running through the book. you can hear the songs. that's

a neat device. the title is taken from ajohn a neat device. the title is taken from a john legend song from his album get lifted. music is a big pa rt album get lifted. music is a big part of my life and very important. it's a big part of the character's lives and i was trying to do something beyond literature to bring in this other dimension. i'm always trying to do something a little bit different and push the boundaries of sentences. he talked a moment ago about how you are trying to present about how you are trying to present a picture of london and how lives are lived in london. at this juncture now a story, our national story, what is your view of the state of london and people moan about house prices and busyness and dirty air. what is it you feel about the place that you're trying to ca ptu re ? the place that you're trying to capture? london, well i'm in london are, i have lived in london all my life. it's such a rich and

fascinating, wonderful place. it's so full of stories and history and beauty. there's also this other side to it that is quite ugly and it's very difficult place to live and it's increasingly difficult financially, socially and yet there is this desire in londoners to remain in london. there's a sense that this is our home. you say this is the story of ordinary lives and ordinary people and their lives as a hopeful story. why? it's a hopeful story because it's about the endurance of the human spirit and about the insistence on the human spirit to claim life and claim a sense of fulfillment. i'm trying to celebrate that in the book as well. at the same time acknowledging that it is difficult. diana evans, author

of 0rdinary it is difficult. diana evans, author of ordinary people. thank you very much. thank you. hello there. the sort of weather you have had today has depended very much on where you were in the country. western areas got to enjoy the best of the sunshine. what a beautiful day here in cornwall for our weather watcher! it has not been like that everywhere. the satellite picture reveals this clump of cloud that has been spreading in from the south. it has already brought rain to some parts of south—east england. we have already had bits of damp weather in the north east of scotland. generally speaking, the amounts of cloud have been increasing. that is how it looked in worcestershire earlier on. as we head into tonight, the cloud will bring some pretty heavy rain in to parts of the south—east and east anglia. that will slide its way up the eastern side of england and eventually into eastern scotland by the end of the night. further west, where we see clear skies, especially across northern ireland, it will turn quite chilly. in fact, here, there could be a touch of frost may be in some spots in the countryside getting

all the way down to freezing. so, into tomorrow. chilly start in the west. a bright start here. further east, more in the way of cloud. that cloud still producing some outbreaks of rain. the rain only slowly trudging its way out of eastern england and settling in across eastern scotland for a good part of the day. further west, that is where we will continue to see the best of the sunshine. very small chance of a shower but most will be dry. temperatures nothing to write home about. equally not too bad for this time of year. the prospects for the coming week actually look quite promising in terms of dry weather. high pressure across scandinavia and another area of high pressure down to the south—west. these two high pressure arejoining forces, building in across the british isles to give plenty of dry weather. having said that, monday will bring extra cloud towards the south east, perhaps some showers here. some more cloud just beginning to creep into northern ireland and western scotland through the afternoon as well. in between, good spells of sunshine. temperature is starting to climb. 20 degrees in edinburgh, 21 our high in london. for many, tuesday brings

plenty of warm sunshine. slightly different for scotland. some outbreaks of rain. in the sunshine, temperatures perhaps up to 22,23, and that really does set the tone for the coming week. it will be largely dry. there will be spells of sunshine. in that sunshine, it will feel pleasantly warm. this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 6pm: thousands join a trade union march calling for a "new deal" for workers and public services. the polls have closed in iraq's first parliamentary elections since the government declared victory over the so—called islamic state group. 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,

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 in sport, lewis hamilton takes his first pole position since the opening race of the season at the spanish grand prix