this is bbc news. the headlines: the polls have closed in iraq's first parliamentary elections since the government declared victory over the so—called islamic state group. tens of thousands of people have marched through central london, demanding better pay and improved job security. 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 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.

voting has ended in the first parliamentary elections in iraq since it declared victory over the islamic state group. security has been high and tonight three people are reported killed after a militant attack near a polling station. it's iraq's fourth vote since 2003, when saddam hussein was removed from power and as our correspondent martin patience reports, from baghdad, safety, corruption and the economy have dominated the campaign. iraq is at a turning point. people here hope that this election will represent a fresh start. but the fear is the country could slip back into violence. despite the islamic state group being pushed out of most of iraq, the threat of attacks remains. translation: we hope that new politicians will be elected who will change things

for young people. we have got university degrees but we are sitting at home unemployed. translation: god willing, the situation will improve, the younger generation will get jobs will get better, and most importantly we'll have security. prime minister haider al—abadi needs all the votes he can get. he's facing unexpectedly tough competition from other shia politicians. the iraqi leader won praise for his fight against the islamist extremists, but whoever wins this election will need to rebuild the country's shattered cities and gain the trust of sunni muslims, whose marginalisation in the first place led to the rise of is. this is a critical moment for iraq. security has vastly improved here, and there's an opportunity to rebuild the country. but iraq's unity is fragile. sectarian divisions could once again

tear this country apart. and, with growing tensions between america and iran, many iraqis fear their country could be a casualty of any struggle. my colleague yalda hakim is in baghdad and has been following developments in today's election. eight and the movement of vehicles from one province to the other has been limited, and in baghdad there has been a curfew since last night and people have been trying to come and people have been trying to come and cast their vote, and however flawed the county might be this is one of the few democracies in the region and its future and its stability is incredibly important for the rest of the region. especially as they are increased concerns that iran and the us could be on the path to war, both of these

countries have been incredibly important for iraq, its stability and its politics, so whoever becomes the next leader of this country will have to play the very difficult balancing act of trying to maintain good relations with both the united states and iran. and for accies this isa states and iran. and for accies this is a turning point, the first election since the fall of the so—called islamic state —— and for iraqis for the they hope they will be able to look forward to their future here in iraq. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:15 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are the broadcaster, lynn fauld wood and ruth lea, economic adviser to the arbuthnot banking group. tens of thousands of people have marched through central london, demanding better pay and improved job security. the trades union congress, which organised the demonstration, says british workers are experiencing the longest income squeeze in 200 years.

the government says inflation is falling and unemployment is at a ito—year low. here's our business correspondent joe lynam. thousands came, marching for an end to shrinking pay packets. 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 our spending power since the 1800s. if we carry on at the same rate of pay increases, it will take until 2025 to get back to the real wages people had before the crash. that's 17 years, and just too long. using official data, the tuc found that real wages, taking account of inflation, went up by 27% in the decade before the financial crisis in 2008.

but, in the last ten years, they've fallen by 4%. it says that the average worker will have lost around £18,500 in real earnings by 2025. 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 basically the same now as it was in 2008. if we're not producing any more, we are not going to be able to earn any more. in a statement, the government said... real wages — or spending power after we've been paid — are going up, just. unemployment is at a ito—year low. but many people may not feel that much better off. and the people on this march are calling for more secure, better—paid jobs. joe lynam, bbc news at the tuc march, central london. 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. north korea has announced it will dismantle its nuclear test site later this month — in plain view of the world's media. the three—day event is scheduled to take place three weeks before president trump and the north korean leader kimjong—un hold an historic summit in singapore. from south korea, laura bicker reports. another key public announcement from the usually secretive state. she is describing a ceremony to dismantle north korea's main nuclear test site. kimjong—un has carried out all six nuclear blasts within these secluded mountain valleys, but now he says he will blow up all the tunnels and block all entrances and allow foreign media to watch.

it's the kind of serious step that the us has been hoping for. earlier this week, the secretary of state travelled to pyongyang. he had an offer to help build the state's economy if they give up their weapons. back in washington, in a meeting with the south korean foreign minister, mr pompeo made it clear — sanctions will remain until any deal is done. it will require a robust verification programme, and one that we will undertake with partners around the world. it's been a week of dizzying diplomatic efforts, with the release of three men who were held in north korea for over a year. skeptics say president trump is falling for the pyongyang playbook, but others believe there's a chance north korea's priorities are changing and thatjust perhaps this time might be different. 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. but as our correspondent in romejames reynolds explains — berlucsconi is unlikely to being 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 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 in rome. 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 — the 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. president erdogan of turkey has accused israel of "instigating war" in the middle east. he told the bbc‘s hardtalk programme that israel was constantly terrorising the region. he was commenting on israel's recent strikes on what it said were iranian military sites in syria. the israelis said this followed an iranian rocket attack on theirforces in the golan heights. israel said it was in retaliation, that israel launched the attack on the iranian revolutionary guards after they carried out their action on israeli posts in the occupied golan heights. and you can watch the full interview with president erdogan in hardtalk on tuesday morning at half past midnight here on bbc news.

i think it is also available right 110w. it will be avaliable on the bbc i player. the headlines on bbc news: voting has closed in iraq — it's the first parliamentary election since the country declared victory over the group that calls itself islamic state. tens of thousands of people have marched through central london, demanding better pay and improved job security. the foreign office says its supporting the families of two british nationals, who were kidnapped in a national park in the democratic republic of congo. sport now and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. it's been a busy day of play—off football but we start with news

of a relegation. ross county have dropped out of the scottish premiership, after they could only manage a draw at stjohnstone. they had to better the result of patrick thistle. but thistle recorded a 1—0 win over dundee, when kris doolan stabbed home the game's only goal in the 63rd minute. the result means they finished four points clear of ross county who will now play livingstone of the championship in a two—legged play off. the winner of which will be playing premiership football next season. meanwhile tranmere rovers are back in the english football league, after being relegated in 2015. they fought for 89 minutes with ten men to beat borehamwood 2—1 at wembley. tranmere put liam ridehalgh‘s early red card behind them with chris cook scoring in the seventh minute. but celebrations were interrupted when beer bottles were thrown at the players from the stands — josh ginnelly lucky to escape serious injury. boreham wood managed to equalise before the break, butjames norwood secured victory for tranmere with nine minutes remaining to return his side to the football league. aston villa will take a 1—0 advantage over middlesbrough

into the 2nd leg of their championship semi—final playoff. villa took the lead in the 15th minute when mile jedinak headed in a jack grealish corner to open the scoring at the riverside. boro created chances but failed to score and now trail villa, ahead of the second—leg on tuesday at villa park. a reminder, derby have a 1—0 lead over fulham after their semi—final first leg last night. it was a tight one in the league one play—offs as scunthorpe scored a late equaliser against rotherham to draw the first leg of their semi—final, 2—2. it was the away side rotherham who had the better of the early exchanges and took the lead when a ball over the top found jon taylor in space. but scunthorpe levelled immediately after the restart when duane holmes‘ chip was put into his own net by michael e—hek—way. the millers thought they'd won it when joe newell scored with his first touch after coming on as a subsitute. but there was late drama,

as cameron mcgeehan had other ideas... his first scunthorpe goal in the 88th minute made it all square going into wednesday's second leg in rotherham. in the other semi—final, charlton will start the second leg tomorrow a goal down against shrewsbury. in league two, lincoln's hopes of securing back—to—back promotions are still alive after they drew 0—0 with exeter in the first—leg of their semi—final playoff. lincoln nearly took the lead close to the hour mark when matt rhead's header struck the crossbar. a bit of luck and a couple of fine saves from exeter goalkeeper christy pym kept his side from conceding. the two sides will meet again in the second—leg on thursday. coventry a re currently playing notts county in the other semi final, it's currently 0—0 in that game. manchester city's women have been dealt a blow in their bid to win the wsl 0ne title, with defeat away at arsenal. city led at the break after nadia nadim's cool finish on 11 minutes. but a strong second half from arsenal saw the hosts score twice in ten minutes. the first by danielle van de donk and then beth mead added a second,

with this strike. it means chelsea can stretch their lead at the top to six points with a win against sunderland this evening. the score there tonight though remaining 0—0 so far. leinster are the new european champions. they beat racing 92 of france, 15—12. which means leo cullen becomes the first man to win the trophy as a player and coach. it was a game dominated by the boot. the sides tied 12—12 until leinster took the lead for the first time with minutes left on the clock. racing came up short with a final shot to take the match to extra time. so leinster crowned european champions for a record—equalling fourth time. lewis hamilton will start on pole position in tomorrow's spanish grand prix. the reigning world champion secured his first pole since the opening race of the season, and just edged out mercedes teammate valtteri bottas. ferrari's sebastian vettel will start in third, ahead of team—mate kimi raikkonen. hamilton leads vettel byjust four points in the drivers standings after four races so far. and just before we go...

ireland cricketer‘s have finally got theirfirst ever test match underway. on day two, as they took on pakistan in dublin. after rain washed—out the first day, their bowlers enjoyed a productive spell. at one point pakistan were 13—2 — they recovered to reach 268—6 at stumps. the wickets were fairly evenly spread at malahide, but notably two of them fell to the former england test player boyd rankin. that's all the sport for now. if you want to see that interview with president erdogan of turkey it is on at 430 in the morning on monday and half past midnight on cheese steak. —— on tuesday. 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. 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. councillor martin tett is the environment spokesman for the local government association — he told us why flytipping is becoming an expensive problem for local authorities. for a number of years, we actually saw fly—tipping beginning to drop down.

but in the last few years, we've seen it on the rise again and i think we've seen a change in its structure as well, because there's always been the individual who goes out maybe with a black bag and just dumps rubbish in a country lane. but i think we're seeing now organised gangs come into this market. the people who come around and take waste from your house for maybe as low as £25 a load, from offices maybe for £100 or £200. 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 out 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. 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 ofjesus christ.‘ 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. 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. 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 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 7 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 urban 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 out 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. sarah keith lucas has the weather.

shaping up to be a weekend of mixed fortu nes shaping up to be a weekend of mixed fortunes out there. many of us had scenes like this one, quite a bit of cloud around and the satellite image shows the crowd has been around central part of the country where is the north and west had clearer skies with sunshine around. this evening we will keep all the cloud in south—east england and up towards scotland. rain in east anglia shifting up to north—east england and into scotland