this is bbc news. the headlines at 10.00. counting is under way in ireland after its referendum on abortion. exit polls suggest a landslide win in favour of relaxing the country's near—total ban on terminations. i'm at dublin castle forced ballot boxes were opened an hour ago. ass a historic day possibly on the horizon but this country. "an utter failure" — mps say measures supposed to protect afghan interpreters who assisted british troops have failed to help any of them relocate to britain. he scrapped the talks on thursday — now president trump suggests his nuclear summit with the north korean leader may happen after all. five weeks after disruptions were first reported, some tsb customers are still having problems making payments online. countdown to kick off — liverpool fans pour into kiev for tonight's champions league final. jurgen klopp says winning is in liverpool's dna as the reds aim to stop real madrid from winning a third successive title. and coming up...

the travel show is in thailand, finding out why holiday selfies are putting animals at risk. that's in half an hour here on the bbc news channel. good morning and welcome to bbc news. counting has begun in ireland's referendum on abortion, with exit polls suggesting a vote of more than two—to—one in favour of relaxing the law. nuala mcgovern is in dublin for us. you are very welcome to dublin castle here, just behind those walls of ballot boxes have been opened and votes are being counted. we are not expecting a result until later this afternoon, but as you've been

hearing, two exit polls have indicated, suggested, projected, that in fact it would be a landslide overwhelming win for the yes side. that would be to repeal the eighth amendment, language inserted into the constitution in 1983 that gave the constitution in 1983 that gave the same rights to the on—board as to the mother. what we do know is that turnout was very high. let's hear more. this referendum is a significant and symbolic moment for ireland. this country was once regarded as the most socially conservative in western europe. currently, abortions are only legal if a woman's life is substantially at risk, but every year several thousand women go abroad, mainly to britain, to have terminations. voters have been asked whether they want to remove the eighth amendment of ireland's constitution, which says an unborn child has the same right to life as a pregnant woman. people have died because of the eighth amendment and we can't have any access to safe abortion care unless we repeal the eighth amendment. people say that, you know, they're pro—choice and want to repeal

the eight but they're kind of like blanket statements. people don't say, well, what does that really mean? that will give power for one human to end the life of another human, and i don't think that that is just. if the majority votes yes, the government plans to bring forward new legislation. abortions would be allowed for any reason until a woman is 12 weeks pregnant, and in some circumstances afterwards. last night, two exit polls for the irish times newspaper and the national broadcaster rte suggested almost 70% have voted for a change in the law. 68 to 32. 68 to 32, yeah, yeah. applause. counting is beginning this morning — the result‘s expected to be announced late this afternoon. chris page, bbc news, dublin. i have chris with me now. thanks very much for coming over tojoin us. very much for coming over tojoin us. we are waiting. any idea of when

that official results may come through? indications are it will be the late afternoon or early evening. perhaps about six or seven hours from now, but already on the basis of those exit polls which were published last night, we have campaigners from the note side in effect conceding defeat even if those exit polls has very significantly exaggerated, the yes campaign would have won. significantly exaggerated, the yes campaign would have wonm significantly exaggerated, the yes campaign would have won. it is more difficult to find those people that we re difficult to find those people that were campaigning for no, probably as were campaigning for no, probably as we can understand from these figures we can understand from these figures we have seen coming in over the past 12 hours. what i found interesting, we we re 12 hours. what i found interesting, we were talking about perhaps there might be shy no voters. there were shy yes voters when we see these numbers are. yes, when you dig deeper, what is interesting across all sections of our society you have an endorsement of the governments proposals to liberalise the laws on

abortion. for example, in the rural pa rt abortion. for example, in the rural part of ireland, west, web people are more conservative, issues about abortion have been more conservative. even the strong majority in favour of yes has been seen. we will see what happens on this part of the island. i want to bring up retweet by naomi long. this refers to northern ireland. if exit polls are right, this is an incredible result. eyes will now turn to us yet again, a place apart behind gb, behind ireland. still waiting for a change here. explain what the situation is in northern ireland and what, if these exit polls are borne out, what it will mean. northern ireland has similar laws as the irish republic as things stand at the moment. in northern ireland and abortion is only illegal if there is a serious or permanent

risk to a woman's howl. it's nearly a ban on abortion. if, however, as we expect, this is repealed, the government goes ahead with plans to loosen the law in the republic, there will be more calls for the law to be relaxed in northern ireland because it will be the only part of the uk or ireland where strict laws on abortion remain in place. another story you're covering, brexit, they are talking about the border between north and south. some are beginning to think, could this be that women from the north would come south, potentially, if in fact these abortion laws are liberalised in the republic? was campaigners certainly for abortion laws to be changed on both sides of the irish border would see things that way. i think you would have the irish government certainly under pressure if it were needed to legislate to allow women from northern ireland to access abortion services in the irish republic. however i don't think much pressure potentially will be needed. it will be in line with the general thinking of the irish government to

open up abortions for women from northern ireland. thank you very much. let's go back to london for now. we will hear more from her during the course of the day. you can follow coverage on bbc news at any time on the website. you will find the latest on all the as well as analysis from our team. there's also a piece on irish voters from all around the world who have headed home — to cast their ballots in this key referendum. that's all at bbc.com/news. a government programme aimed at protecting afghan civilians who worked as interpreters for the british army has been called a "dismalfailure" by mps. the defence committee says not a single person potentially at risk from the taliban had been resettled in the uk so far via the intimidation scheme. the ministry of defence said it would take note of the criticism. to discuss this i can now speak to the conservative mp tom tugendhat. he's the chair of the foreign

affairs select committee, and saw active service in iraq and afghanistan as an army officer. he gave evidence to the committee behind this report. welcome to bbc news. thanks for joining us. you, i take it, i welcome to bbc news. thanks for joining us. you, itake it, i not surprised of the report. no, i think there is some excellent work here. julian lewis as chair has been very clear, which is exactly the role of the select committee in pointing out the select committee in pointing out the failures of the system so far and highlighting how we can improve it. has it been driven too much in yourjudgment by a desire to keep immigration numbers in this country down? well, i can't speak for the reason why this hasn't worked but all i can say is there are some notable failings and its absolutely essential we include locally employed civilians and those we have

a duty of care for, not quite the same duty of care as our soldiers, but very similar. if they have served alongside us, they've taken the risks our soldiers have, as with many of the interpreters i had the pleasure of service with did, then we have a duty to make sure that service doesn't put them in danger 01’ service doesn't put them in danger or theirfamilies in service doesn't put them in danger or their families in danger service doesn't put them in danger or theirfamilies in danger in the future. the reason i raise the question of immigration is because i was listening to one former officer whose campaign on this woman talking on the today programme today and he said, to be honest is the only explanation for why people who are in all other circumstances in need of protection and can't be given protection in afghanistan have been denied the opportunity to settle in this country, despite the fact they put their lives at risk for the british army. well, that maybe his opinion. i'm afraid i'm not going to speculate as he has. you are chair of the select committee, i would if you have a view on that. well, i have a view that you must do more to

look liam boyce civilians. i will not speculate as to the reason why more haven't. .. not speculate as to the reason why more haven't... i think we should be being very active in making sure that those who served alongside us, those who have taken risks and those whose lives are now at risk because of the service they did alongside oui’ of the service they did alongside our troops in combat is recognised and they are given protection they require, sometimes in the uk and sometimes elsewhere, depending on what they choose. i had the privilege to serve alongside an incredibly brave man who is now living in the uk with his family. he earned his place in the uk many, many times over by his extraordinary courage. i'm extremely proud that oui’ uncanny courage. i'm extremely proud that our uncanny dillon agriculture has recognised that i brought him over. there are many others which is why i gave evidence to the committee because julian lewis gave evidence to the committee becausejulian lewis was absolutely right that this is a matter of great concern and i'm very proud that members of the committee likejohnny

mercer have made their voices very clear on this. you told the enquiry you were at that stage personally aware of one or you were at that stage personally aware of one 01’ two you were at that stage personally aware of one or two locally employed civilians who are still at risk and his perception of risk you would trust, in other words that you accepted they were right to fear for their lives and their safety. what has happened to them? well, one of them is now here, ijust mentioned him andi them is now here, ijust mentioned him and i am extremely glad the system has eventually worked. and one of them is at the moment is going through the process and i hope very much that he will be relocated soon. thank you very much. there's been a stark warning this morning from the eu main negotiator that the uk could be heading for "no deal" after brexit. michel barnier says that failing to agree a deal on the eu court would mean no treaty and no transition period. he's also described british delays in spelling out what kind of trade relationship london wants as "a game of hide and seek". and he chided british criticism

of eu positions as a "blame game", urging london to recognise that it couldn't retain many elements of eu membership after brexit. president trump has issued an optimistic statement about the prospects of a summit with the north korean leader kim jong—un. just a few days after abruptly announcing that the summit was off, mr trump said both sides were now having what he described as "very productive talks". south korea welcomed the prospect of an about—turn — saying it was watching developments carefully. former hollywood film mogul harvey weinstein has been released on a $1 million bail after being charged in new york with rape and sexual abuse. mr weinstein also agreed to wear a gps tracker and to surrender his passport after turning himself in to police on friday. he denies non—consensual sex and his lawyer said he would plead not guilty. rose mcgowan was one of the first people to go public with allegations about weinstein. he tied with god for thanks at the oscars.

and to see that constantly, and to live in that town — i was there by myself since i was 15 — and to see people just lay wreaths at his feet even though they knew, today is a good day. this is a big strike into the heart of abuse of power and it shows people worldwide, which was what i was hoping the whole time, that this cannot and will not stand. some tsb customers are still having problems making online payments five weeks after the bank first reported problems. a number of current account customers and some business clients are unable to fully access their accounts online or via the mobile app. the bank has also admitted to the bbc that there has been a rise in fraud incidents. the problems started when the bank switched its it systems. a 15—year—old boy has been stabbed in nottingham. police was called at ten o'clock

last night to alfreton road in the radford area of the city. the boy has injuries to his leg, but they aren't believed to life changing. the love actually and four weddings and a funeral actor hugh grant, who has called marriage "unromantic" in the past, has married for the first time. the 57—year—old has married his swedish girlfriend anna eberstein. they said "i do" at a simple ceremony at chelsea old town hall in london yesterday afternoon. the couple have three young children together. he also has two other children with a former partner. the headlines on bbc news: counting has begun in ireland's referendum on abortion, with exit polls suggesting a vote of more than two—to—one in favour of relaxing the law. a government programme to protect afghan interpreters who helped british troops has been condemned by mps as an utter failure. cancelled two days ago — now donald trump says washington is having "very productive" talks with north korea about re—instating next month's summit. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre,

here's mike bushell. the tens of thousands of liverpool fans enjoying the kiev sunshine ahead of tonight's champions league final, against real madrid, will need to pace themselves today with kick off, not until 9.115 kiev time tonight. it's liverpool‘s first champions league final in 11 years, and they're in confident mood, because their team has scored more goals than any other team in the competition this season, and can boast one of the world's best players in mo salah. they're not letting the fact that real madrid have won the trophy for the last two seasons dampen their excitement. there's another huge match at wembley today — as aston villa play fulham in the championship play—off final. it's a match that coule be worth up to £280 million for the winner. fulham looking to return to the premier league after a four—year absence.

villa have been away for two. kick off is at 5 o'clock. before that it's the premiership final as saracens play exeter at twickenham. 0ur rugby union reporter is chrisjones. it looks like it'll be a mouthwatering final between the top to inform sides in the english league. you said it. these two by the pre—eminent forces in the english club game at the moment. forget about traditional powerhouses like bath and gloucester, northampton and leicester. it's all about saracens and exeter. saracens won this title in 2015 and 2016. exeter capped their remarkable journey from the championship to the summit of english rugby by winning a title last year in 2017. it's all set up magnificently. lovely morning down here in london and we have the two best teams, the best coached teams, and some fantastic head—to—head matchups on this two display today. it's also the final

of the pro 1a later. can scarlets stop leinster? leinster on the verge of history after that staring champions cup victory spearheaded by stuart lancaster, once of england. but the scarlets are the defending champions. they took glasgow a part in the semifinal. bit of a clash of style, a contrast. it's in dublin, giving leinster a huge advantage. if scholars can replicate the quality of this time last year and that semifinal against glasgow than the welsh side have a real chance. fantastic. what a day ahead. can't wait. it's all eyes on chris froome when the penultimate stage of the giro d'italia starts in a couple of hours. he's got a 40—second lead after reeling in fellow brit simon yates yesterday. froome's aiming to become the first british man to win the giro. they are around an hour into stage

20. nobody has made a move so far on this penultimate stage. and pakistan remain in control of the first test against england at lords. they finished day two on 350—8, a lead of 166. play starts again in 45 minutes' time. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much. we are staying with the football this afternoon. more liverpool football fans due to travel to kiev for tonight's champions league final have been forced to change their plans after a second tour operator cancelled a flight there. hundreds of liverpool fans have been left stranded after a series of flights were cancelled. after not being able to secure landing slots at kiev‘s boryspil airport, some fans had paid up to £1,000 each forflights. hugh woozencroft is in kiev for us, and we can speak to him now. good morning. great atmosphere there but this travel has put a damper on things for many fans. yes, it has.

we've been hearing 4000 fans will fly in from liverpool airport alone, about 40% of the 100,000 fans expected to be in kiev over the weekend will arrive today. as you can see behind me things are really gearing up. we have a liverpool fan who's had a long journey to get here. tell us we've travelled from. i travelled from brisbane in australia. i live on the gold coast. i left on wednesday night at 10:30pm and managed to get into kiev at tea—time, 6pm thursday. i flew through abu dhabi, to istanbul, which could be an omen! spread four i use —— spread four hours there. i leave here on monday, flight to cairo in egypt, four hours there, then back over. managed to get the ticket easily enough. i have friends with a season ticket at home. secured a ticket and secured a nice area bmb. it has been difficult for

fa ns area bmb. it has been difficult for fans closer than you. —— aianb.m was quite easy to book. had to do some searching. some tourist operators have seen when people are searching for certain ways to get there they started putting the prices. i split it into single flights all the way and back and we nt flights all the way and back and went straight by the airline, so quite a few people here and there so it wasn't too bad. how have you found the atmosphere since you've beenin found the atmosphere since you've been in kiev? really, really good. electric yesterday. i spent about 12 hours here yesterday drinking £150 pints. is this your first final? no, i went to athens. i went to the europa league final back in dortmund. sorry, back in 2001. i missed istanbul because that was the yearl missed istanbul because that was the year i first went to australia to do a bit of backpacking. i've not seen

a bit of backpacking. i've not seen a win yet, so this is the win. how do you see the game going tonight? high—scoring, i think. do you see the game going tonight? high—scoring, ithink. it do you see the game going tonight? high—scoring, i think. it will be difficult but i've got very confident. i thing we have difficult but i've got very confident. ithing we have been difficult but i've got very confident. i thing we have been the best team in europe this year so hopefully we can pick this up. they've had a great win, champions of france, germany. they are not mugs. don't underestimate them. hopefullyjurgen has mugs. don't underestimate them. hopefully jurgen has done mugs. don't underestimate them. hopefullyjurgen has done his homework. mohamed salah, hopefully he comes out on top. he's scored 1.7 goals per game. 50 goals in 48 appearances so goals per game. 50 goals in 48 appearances so far. it's ridiculous. well done getting here. good luck in the game tonight. the atmosphere is building, plenty of real madrid and liverpool fans here. i hope you didn't have as conjugated journey to get there. hopefully we

kept the cost down. let me bring you some breaking news coming in from dublin and that is that the campaign, the official campaign for ano campaign, the official campaign for a no vote in the referendum on abortion, in other words the save the eighth campaign, named after the manner to the constitution, has conceded that it has lost the referendum and it has lost by an overwhelming margin. the communications director told rte, the irish broadcaster, there is no prospect of the abortion rights legislation not being passed. he said he's disappointed it has come down it has, but they are conceding defeat. it seems, based on exit polls and that concession from anti—abortion campaigners that ireland has voted and apparently overwhelmingly, according to the exit polls at this stage, in favour of scrapping the eighth amendment to the constitution which is a

constitutional ban that permits abortion only in real exceptional cases where the life of the mother is endangered. it's being billed as bbc music's biggest weekend — with huge name stars to back that up. ed sheeran, taylor swift and sam smith arejust a few of those performing in swansea this weekend. it's not just wales getting involved, though — all four nations are getting their own huge event. let's have a look at what fans can expect. # i'm in love with the shape of you... # we all have a hunger... # i say, don't you know # you say... # i'm way too good at goodbyes... # she fell under my spell # and for the way you make me feel # you always keep it real # the players gonna play, play, play # the haters gonna

hate, hate, hate... let's talk to our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba, who's in swansea. good morning. what the atmosphere, starting to build up? it is starting to build up. the gates opened here about ten minutes ago and you saw people rushing to get those prime spots at the front of the stage because of course this is one of the biggest music events of the year. it's a four—day festival happening infour it's a four—day festival happening in four locations across the four nations. each of those places hosting something tied into a bbc radio network. here it's bbc radio one. lots of acts we've just been hearing people, taylor swift, people like that. also people like george ezra. i spoke to him earlier that his amazingly successful year and

how much he enjoyed playing at festivals like this where people are not necessarily fans who know his music inside out. there is an excitement about it because you always have to give your best show but there's an element of, let's keep them. there's also, of course, people are at festivals to forget. it's like an antidote to everything else going on, i think. it's like a weekend where you can forget everything else and i think everybody in braces that, which lovely. 0ne one of the reason this is happening across the uk is because this is a year when glastonbury isn't happening. glastonbury takes a fallow year every five or six years or so fallow year every five or six years orso and fallow year every five or six years or so and this is one of those yea rs. or so and this is one of those years. the bbc thought this was a tremendous opportunity to try to underline the importance it places on music, how it breaks through to people of all ages and backgrounds and to really cement in the public‘s mind the bbc‘s commitment to music

of all kinds, notjust mind the bbc‘s commitment to music of all kinds, not just the mind the bbc‘s commitment to music of all kinds, notjust the big pop a cts of all kinds, notjust the big pop acts appearing here. we'll see the likes of ed sheeran on stage. at 12 o'clock, florence and the machine, taylor swift, liam payne, years & yea rs. taylor swift, liam payne, years & years. they want to highlight the range of music. yesterday and today at belfast‘s titanic ship ways, it isa at belfast‘s titanic ship ways, it is a six music hosted event with people like manic street preachers. in coventry and perth, radio 2 and radio 3 events. jamie cullum is playing. 0ne radio 3 events. jamie cullum is playing. one of the points of this, obviously they want to entertain the public with a huge range of different music but it is to try to say we have a strong relationship at the bbc with both the artists and the bbc with both the artists and the public. the atmosphere is building here. the weather u nfortu nately building here. the weather unfortunately is not looking as good as unfortunately is not looking as good as it could. we've got the threat of thunder and lightning perhaps later

on and certainly quite a lot of rain but by the time being, the fans are flooding in. we'll have probably about 30,000 people here today. they will be looking forward to a bank holiday weekend of really enjoyable live music. yeah, and i'm sure they will not be put off by a bit of rain, thunder or lightning and anything else they can throw at you. you've got a good pair of boots just in case. very much. sir richard branson has told the bbc he's training to be an astronaut. the virgin boss, who for years has been working on his own commercial space programme, is hoping to take his first trip in a matter of months. ben ando reports. first, it was planes. then boats. then balloons. train horn blares. and then trains. but a decade and a half ago, sir richard branson set his sights even higher, creating virgin galactic with the aim of offering affordable space tourism — affordable, that is, if you could afford the $250,000 ticket price. now, at the age of 67,

sir richard has revealed that he is training hard, ready to be fired into space. i am going for my astronaut training, going for my fitness training, going through centrifuge and other training so that my body can cope, hopefully cope well with it when i get into space. how are you getting on? so far, so good. i like to keep fit anyway, so, but no, i mean, to go into space, if you are going to really enjoy your experience, the fitter you can be, the better. when he launched virgin galactic, sir richard expected to be spaceborne by 2010 but technical problems and the disastrous crash in 2014 in which a test pilot died have caused delay on delay. and the competition is catching up, with entrepreneur elon musk and jeff bezos, the founder of amazon, now apparently leading a charge to get paying tourists into orbit. sir richard knows in this privatised space race, the countdown is on. sir richard knows that in this

privatised space race, the countdown is on. 0ne one small step, as they say! australia may be in the grip of winter — but one city's bathing in an unseasonally warm glow. sydney's playing host to the vivid light festival — an annual celebration of colour, culture and art. andy beatt reports. the sydney nightscape lit up like never before, some of the city's most iconic images illuminated by a kaleidoscope of colours. it's so well done that it looks like it's almost just like a tipping tv. you can't even tell it's a projection or anything. it's just very fluid. it's the tenth time the light festival's been staged here. this year may be the biggest and brightest yet. i just think the lights are spectacular. the characterisation is phenomenal in the lights and they're using the architecture of the buildings just perfectly. 90 installations have magically transformed landmarks, with visitors urged to enter a world of childish delight. 0rganisers say the displays draw

on australian culture and the local environment. the inspiration was really the creative act in kind of a cosmic sense and also in an individual sense as an artist and then beyond that became the australian flora and fauna and nature and geology and all the things that make it such a unique place. last year, nearly 2.5 million people enjoyed the event, bringing a $100 million boost to the economy. with the spotlight remaining on sydney for the next three weeks, that could soon be outshone. what a great way to shake off