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 in barcelona. good evening 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've 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 here 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, at the tuc march in central london. polls have 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. and in the past few minutes, the reuters news agency is reporting that three people have been killed bya bombing in kirkuk. we are watching that situation very

closely. back to the election itself. 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 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 want jobs. there's nothing right now. in 80 years, i haven't seen anything change. 2a hours before the election, airports and borders were closed. they've now re—opened. prime minister haider al—abadi 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 same 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 that is 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. and 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 that 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. a court in milan has lifted a ban on the former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi standing for public office. the 81—year—old was disqualified after being convicted of tax fraud in 2013. the decision means he could now stand if fresh elections are called. but as our correspondent in rome,

james reynolds, explains, berlucsconi is unlikely to 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 five star movement. that's 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. and there's another problem for mr berlusconi as well. 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 of course would now be free to stand as a candidate. 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 — the biggest operator, ee — has already made that commitment, which seems to suggest the mps, from this letter, are slightly out of touch with what is actually happening already by 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. is this something you are familiar with this? there are loads of different reasons why people can't always get the signal they are supposed to get. things such as even the weather affect the performance you get 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's clear the operators are working together to try 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 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 geographic coverage rather than population coverage.

so, the government and the regulator in the past have said 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're expecting to travel to places where we don't live. they've decided to move towards this measure of geographic coverage. that's something they have done outside of what the regulatory government have asked them to do. one of the obstacles or excuses that appears to be put forward by the companies is that they face opposition. is this something that 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 that the government can do and is doing to make it easier for 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.

and 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. ultimately, 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." 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, 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 — a government—linked investment project from 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. that's not far, is it, really? it's just gone past 6:15pm here 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. 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. 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, we actually saw fly—tipping beginning to drop down but in the last few 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 black bag and dumps rubbish in a country lane.

i think we are starting to see organised gangs come into it. the people who come around and take waste from your house for maybe as low as £25 a load, and you think it's been disposed of legally but actually what will happen is they 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. we've heard 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 of cctv cameras. have they not proved a sufficient deterrent? they are. we' re really effective at going through dump waste, looking for proof of ownership, even e—mail addresses, and we have a zero—tolerance policy. we will prosecute wherever we can. the scale of the issue is really big and around the country, councils are spending a lot of taxpayer money trying to track these

people down, and so on. what we need really, the courts to really enforce criminal penalties on these criminals. the good slapping them on the wrist is not going to count. these people need to see fines into the hundreds of thousands of punds to deter them. does this factor back to the councils are charging the public when they go to your local, you're having to pay if you have some slightly larger rubbish. 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 down to the normal dumps. if you've got extra large amounts, some councils to charge for 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 council is not quite particularly responsible for any costs to dispose of it and these are the ways the criminal gangs in particular are charging customers. that was martin tett speaking to me earlier. 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 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. all you year eights are going to do your gcses, ain't you? cool he 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 constructive, 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've 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 a gangster. when we 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. an exhibition of paper doves is opening 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 that 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 really 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. in just over some 90 minutes, this year's eurovision song contest gets under way in lisbon. the annual event is increasingly becoming about more than just music. the performances these days can be rather spectacular, and for many artists, it can be 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. 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. what is it now, 86 minutes and counting? ben rich has the weather. 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 across 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 across 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 setting 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 for 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 will essentially join 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. temperatures starting to climb.

20 degrees there in edinburgh, 21 the high in london. for many, tuesday brings plenty of warm sunshine. slightly different for northern ireland and western 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. hello, this is bbc news, our latest headlines. thousands of people have joined a trade union margin london demanding fair pay. voting is closed in iraq. it's the first elementary election since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself the islamic state. army officials in the democratic republic officials in the democratic republic of congo said they're working closely with park rangers to try to locate two british tourists

kidnapped by gunmen yesterday. mps are calling for better mobile signals in rural areas. illiterate to