i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story. voting has ended in israel's general election with the exit polls suggesting a very close race, neither of the major parties are projected to have enough seats to form a government. both the main candidates, i'm kasia madera in london — the headlines. prime minister benjamin netanyahu israel's election is too close to call. both the main candidates say they've won. and former military chief it looks like the uk will get benny gantz have claimed victory. european union leaders are moving more time for brexit towards extending britain's brexit after prime minister theresa may deadline beyond friday, as theresa may pleaded her case in paris and berlin. meets the french and german leaders. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. draft proposals seen by the bbc leave the extension date blank also in the programme... for eu leaders to fill with the indian election looming, in on wednesday. in a rare interview pakistan's leader imran khan tells the bbc he's and this video is trending on bbc.com. willing to talk peace japan's emperor akihito after the polls. and empress michiko mark their 60th wedding anniversary. and we meet the couple who won a race across the world from london to singapore. 0n the 10th april 1959, he became the first imperial heir to wed a commoner. he'll retire at the end of the month. that's all. wife from our studios in london and and the top story in the uk: the sports direct owner

mike ashley says debenhams move singapore. —— live from. this is bbc into administration is a "national scandal", and has called world news. it's newsday. it's 1am in london and 3am in israel where votes are still being counted in the country's general election. exit polls suggest the blue and white alliance of challenger benny gantz is neck and neck with prime minister benjamin netanyahu's likud party. one exit poll by israel tv has likud winning 36 seats in the knesset, blue and white on 37, and labour coming next with eight seats. but with 61 seats needed for a majority, coalitions with smaller parties are the norm in israel. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell reports from tel aviv. at the end of voting came the first predictions. speaking hebrew. this poll giving political newcomer benny gantz a narrow lead over the prime minister.

but both men have now claimed victory. benjamin netanyahu, who has corruption charges looming, has been fighting a tough campaign to win a fifth term in office. his rival has gained popular support with his strong military record and promise of change. some in israel vote along religious lines. others, on key issues like security. in this poll, there were more than a0 parties to choose from. the next prime minister will have to build and lead a coalition government. during this campaign, a pledge to makejewish settlements in the west bank into part of israel was mr netanyahu's way to reach out to right—wing voters. they are widely seen as illegal and palestinians want this land for a future state. but in this settlement supermarket, israelis made their election picks

expecting a new approach to solving a decades—old conflict. yes, it's very important who wins this election and who will be handling that whole process. this shopper tells me she's surprised gantz hasn't really revealed his position. excitement among backers of benny gantz when exit polls came through. although these have to be treated with caution. likud headquarters were less crowded but the mood was positive. here among mr netanyahu's supporters, there's still high hope that he'll stay in power with help from smaller right—wing parties. this vote has been a referendum on his leadership and has shown a country that's deeply split. yolande knell, bbc news, tel aviv.

and you can keep up to date with the election results as they come in, by going to the bbc website. you'll also find profiles of the main candidates — and a guide to ‘key things to know about israel's election system. that's all at bbc.com/news. you can also download the bbc news app. also making news today, robert mueller‘s report into russian interference in the 2016 us election will be made public within a week. us attorney general william barr told a congressional committee that he plans to release a redacted version of the report. a four—page note summarising its conclusions was released last month, sparking demands for the report to be released in its entirety. new protests have broken out in algeria after an interim head of state was appointed to replace president abdelaziz bouteflika, who was forced to resign last week. abdelkader bensalah is set to become the new leader,

but it's an unpopular choice with many people. he is promising elections within 90 days of taking office. former nissan boss, carlos ghosn, says the charges against him are part of a conspiracy. he's been charged with under—reporting his pay by tens of millions of dollars. in a video made before his re—arrest in japan, he said he hoped for a fair trial. i'm innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me. and i am also innocent of all the accusation that came around these charges that are all biased, taken out of context, twisted in a way to paint a personage of greed, and a personage of dictatorship. us actress allison mack has pleaded guilty to charges linked to an alleged sex trafficking operation disguised as a mentoring group.

the actress, who is best known for her role in superhero television series smallville, was arrested a year ago on sex trafficking charges. she could face up to a0 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering. take a look at this. aren't they beautiful? these are the cherry blossoms in japan. they represent the nature of life and a season of renewal injapanese culture. it also accounts for an annual boost, last year of $2.7 billion. each spring, "hanami", or "flower viewing", events and festivals are held, with many people picnicing under the trees to enjoy the flowers‘ transient beauty. i'm sure you will agree it is absolutely stunning. let's bring you

up—to—date with back set. —— brexit. european union leaders appear to be moving towards extending the uk's brexit deadline beyond this coming friday. prime minister theresa may headed to europe on tuesday, starting in berlin, for talks ahead of wednesday's european summit in brussels. the german chancellor angela merkel told party colleagues that a flexible extension could run until the end of this year or even the beginning of 2020. mrs may then moved on to paris to meet president macron. draft proposals seen by the bbc leave the extension date blank for eu leaders to fill in on wednesday. but if the draft is agreed, britain would have to leave onjune the ist if it fails to take part in next month's european elections. i asked georgina wright from the independent think tank, the institute for government, what her advice would be for theresa may as she prepares to speak to the 27 european leaders. the government policy is to ensure there is an extension.

i think theresa may has been trying to tell her mps and mps in parliament is "we need to have a plan the eu are not going to accept an extension if it means delaying a no—deal, we need to reassure them that this is going to make a difference". in terms of an extension, that would involve the uk taking part in the european parliamentary elections. how will that play out? the eu have been pretty clear on this and have said, "we have given you a chance to pass a withdrawal agreement and leave in time before the elections and you have not done that. and if there is a risk that you will still be an eu country, past may, then you will take part in european parliament elections." that has all sorts of complications here. the government would need to plan for the selections and the eu as well because they are drawing up as we speak without british seats in the european parliament.

so they would need to halt that reconfiguration and plan elections according to the current set up which does include uk seats. donald tusk has issued some conditions if this extension is given, a lot of if's as usual when it comes to brexit. that the uk need to be sincere and insincere cooperation. and in sincere cooperation. it would have to behave ultimately but yet you have members of the european research group in the tory party, adament brexiteers saying they will behave like trojan horses, that is not behaving well. this is a big concern for eu leaders in particular, the uk has a history of being quite firm in its position. when it would agree with the european policy, great. and if they did not, they would say so loudly. and build coalitions with member states. what some eu leaders are concerned about are "if you will remain a member say, will you be proactive?

will you try to build and improve eu policy or obstruct it?" the government has been clear that they would not be the policy, they are intent on leaving the eu and that would be the number one focus. all 27 remaining eu states have to agree and president macron may be changing his mind in going with this. the front has been consistent throughout the negotiations. "fine if you need more time, but what is the purpose? would it make more of a difference? if it is simply a matter of delaying no deal that maybe we should go through with it now." but if it would make a difference in the house of commons in the uk, and improve the relationship further down the line, maybe it is worth it. georgina wright there speaking to kasia. with india's election looming, pakistan's prime minister imran khan has told the bbc he's willing to talk peace after the polls. he insisted his country

was dismantling the radical groups involved in the violence in kashmir. and he claimed he had the pakistani army's full backing. imran khan has been talking to the bbc‘s world affairs editor, john simpson. these are testing times for imran khan. in february, he had to cope with an aerial bombing against his territory by india. and if things had gone wrong, there could have been a serious escalation between the two nuclear powers. instead, he seems to have diffused the situation. india was targeting what it claimed were terrorists from the daesh organisation operating against it from pakistani territory. a lot of people in india will see this interview with you. what message would you like to send the modi government and the people of india? surely, the number one task of the two governments should be how

are we going to reduce poverty. and the way reduce poverty is by settling our differences through dialogue and there is only one difference which is kashmir. it has to be settled. it cannot keep on boiling like it is. because anything happening in kashmir through a reaction to the oppression that is taking place in kashmir, it will be pawned off on pakistan. we will be blamed and tensions will rise as they have risen in the past. so, if we can settle kashmir, the benefits of peace are tremendous for the subcontinent. the indian government would say you're still simply not doing enough about terrorism. we are already dismantling the organisations as we speak... including daesh? including daesh. we have taken over their madrasas, their various organisations they ran. this is the first serious effort that has been taken to disarm militant groups.

and you have the will to see it through? we have the willjohn because it is the future for pakistan. 0utside pressure or not, it is in our interest that we do not have any militant groups any more. given pakistan's nuclear weapons, india's attack last february could have led to a very dangerous conflict indeed. imran khan maintains he was determined to make sure pakistan's reply was strictly limited. once you respond, no one can predict where it can go from there. it could go anywhere because they could come back and again attack pakistan. pakistan would have no choice but to respond. so in that situation, two nuclear armed countries, ifelt that it was very irresponsible. last 0ctober, there was trouble in the streets right across pakistan

when the supreme court acquitted a christian woman who had been sentenced to death for blaspheming against the prophet muhammad. her acquittal was confirmed injanuary and she has been offered asylum in europe and yet she still has not been allowed to leave pakistan. you will find that aasia is leaving very soon. are we talking days or weeks? we are talking about weeks. is that your decision to let her go? there is a little bit of a complication and i can't speak on the media about it. but i can assure you, she is safe and she will be leaving in weeks. imran khan hurries off. following him, the officer carrying, i was told, the briefcase which holds pakistan's nuclear codes. john simpson, bbc news, islamabad. you're watching newsday on the bbc.

still to come on the programme, we'll have more anaylsis on the election deadlock in israel from our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. also on the programme, it's the race across the world as five couples race from london to singapore on a very limited budget. 35 years of hatred and rage as theyjump up on the statue. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power. a power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future. a day where we hope a line can be drawn on our bloddy past.

i think picasso's works were beautiful. they were intelligent, and it is a sad loss to everybody who loves art. thanks for staying with us. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories. they're claiming victory, even when the race is too close to call. both candidates in israel's election say they've won. eu leaders move towards extending britian‘s brexit deadline as theresa may makes her case in paris and berlin. let's take a look at some front

pages from around the world. the south china morning post leads with the story of the nine pro—democracy activists in hong kong, who have been found guilty of public nuisance charges. it calls them leaders of the largest civil disobedience movement in hong kong's history. they could face seven years in prison. the japan times reports on a video released by former nissan boss carlos ghosn. which we told you about earlier as well. in it he describes his removal from the company as "a conspiracy" by "selfish" nissan executives intent on "backstabbing". the singapore straits times reports on a proposed law to fight fake news. it says only those who deliberately fabricate fake news and spread it would face criminal charges, not those who pass it along unknowingly. that brings you up—to—date with some of the papers for some ——.

more now on the israeli elections where the results are so far too close to call. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet is injerusalem for us. this was an election being described as one of the most closely fought in israeli history and now it is still being described as too close to call. we have two main challengers saying they had both won. benny gantz, the former army chief, the biggest challenge to prime minister netanyahu for a decade has done well. but benjamin netanyahu says that he also won or at least the right—wing bloc as he called that lead by his party likud has won. it will be hours before we know who truly has one. but the real numbers are in the selection and the two men now want to look like winners because in israel, they really are two processes. first, winning the election and second, winning the battle to form the next government. how does it work? we are joined here by an expert in all that — yohanan plesner. he is the president

of the israel democracy institute. thank you forjoining us. it's still too close to call for you. how does it look? usually one says exit polls are exit polls and in this case, it is evermore true. the final results might be dramatically different than what we are seeing in the exit polls because there are about two parties at least that are very close to the threshold. and if each and everyone of them if they cross or do not cross the threshold, it may upset the entire balance between the two different blocks, the right—wing plus ultra—orthodox bloc versus the centre—left plus the arab parties. and it will change the likelihood of who will form the government. often, we go to bed thinking one party or one leader has triumphed and then usually we wake up and it has gone completely different. i have memories of that exact experience.

but what we need to look out for is the arab party. if they are going to cross the threshold, that would mean the balance of power between the blocs is much more likely to be very close. if on the other hand the balance between the blocs will be clearly tilted in favour of the right—wing plus ultra—orthodox, then we are a lot more likely to see mr netanyahu as prime minister even if he does not lead, even if likud is not the largest party. so far it looks as though some of the new far right parties having to cross the threshold to make it into the israeli knesset. two right—wing parties, one of them ran a very un—israeli libertarian agenda and it seemed they might be able to cross and they didn't. and they also had the combination of other extreme positions. the other right—wing party headed by the education minister ran

on an anti—institutions agenda, anti—establishment, subverting the independence of the supreme court and so on. and fortunately in my eyes as head of the israel democracy institute, the israeli public rejected that agenda. we will have to wait and see what it looks like in the end. thank you very much forjoining us here. yoha nan plesner from the israel democracy institute. it is all about democracy but really what these numbers will tell us once they are officially confirmed, it will tell us a lot about the political future of israel and the wider region but it will also tell us something about the state of democracy here in israel. lyse doucet there. injerusalem. now, you might think that international travel is fairly straight forward these days.

but imagine a journey of more than 19,000 kilometres, through 21 countries without stepping on a plane or having the use of a smartphone, the internet or credit cards. and to cap it all off — a very limited budget. that was the challenge set by the bbc programme race across the world which gave five couples the cash equvalent of a single airfare from london to singapore to make their way here to the lion city. —— the cash equivalent. and the winners, who made it here to singapore first, retired pe teachers tony and elaine teasdale, they told me how it felt to re—live the experience as the tv series went out. it was incredible! the best part was watching the other competitors and the journey they took because of course that was different to our journey. that was interesting to us. how long did it take you? something like 50 days, right?

yes, it was 50 days. we picked up the race i think day two or three. it was a long haul, no doubt about that. but it was the most wonderful journey. we saw some of the world's most beautiful locations and met some wonderful, wonderful people who helped us along the way. so, yeah, it was a good old race. beautiful locations you say. you went through countries like cambodia, malaysia, china, what were some of the best bits and potentially the worst bits? the best bit was of course signing the book at the top of the tower at the hotel in singapore. but we love cambodia, kind of raw and natural and interesting welcoming people. we loved uzbekistan and we worked with camels there. so, that was a first for us. you said you worked with camels,

what were you doing exactly? picking ticks off the camels and they were the size of a broad bean with 12 legs and they were not pleasant. we were able to exercise and for two or three hours as well. it was not all too bad. there were so many beautiful places. it was really difficult to pick too many who... picking ticks from camels sounds pretty harrowing. were there other scary moments? i think the north of china was pretty scary. it is quite militant, people with guns and police and we were asked for passports all the time. filming was not allowed there so that was pretty scary. and i had a little bit of a back issue for a few days and that was just eating away a little bit. but on the whole, sorry... glad to see that you're doing better now and of course you won the race.

the question everyone is asking no cash, no credit cards, no internet, no smartphone, but ironically you think that helped you win. well, you get used to asking people how to get to places and quite often, they would offer to work on their smartphone and tell us the price... not often enough! we would be joining cues of two. i would be looking for tickets at kiosks. we travelled like that early in the days when we were married. and there was no internet, and we had that back then. probably our last journeys were without all of that anyway and we seemed to get by then. congratulations to them for winning the race around the world programme. the oldest contestants on the

programme and they won. amazing! no internet, no smartphones. remember those days? hello there. good morning. temperatures are on a downward trend over the next few days and nights. we still managed 16 degrees in western scotland, but colder air is coming down from scandinavia over the north sea, so it will feel chilly for the next few days. but at least we are all going to get some sunshine, a bit like we did here on tuesday. tuesday, still cold and grey and wet at times across southern england. it will be southern england that sees the biggest change in the weather for wednesday. that cloud that has been sticking there for the past few days bringing some rain at times is finally moving its way southwards. still a bit of cloud, a few spots of rain along the south coast, otherwise probably a dry start, clear skies further north and as you move northwards, the winds are lighter. we are more likely to have a frost

and temperatures could be down to —2 or —3 in rural scotland. but it will warm up to a certain extent on wednesday in the sunshine. the cloud moves away from the southwest of england, we keep one or two showers for a while in the channel islands, otherwise it dries out and a bit of fair weather cloud building up in northeast england. a noticeable wind down the eastern side of england, especially in the southeast, willjust add to the chill. but at least the sunshine will be out. still only nine degrees along those north seacoasts, further west highs of 12 or 13 celsius. those temperatures will fall away very quickly during the evening and overnight because the winds fall light and most parts of the country will have clear skies, except for northern scotland, where there is more cloud coming in here. it will not be as cold. elsewhere, a bit more blue on the chart. frost possible all the way down towards the west country by thursday morning. heading towards the end of the week, it is high pressure dominating our weather. building down from scandinavia across the uk and blocking off all of these atlantic weather fronts for the time being.

a lot of dry weather again on thursday, more cloud for northern scotland, maybe a few spots of drizzle over the hills, and we're likely to find increasing cloud for central and eastern parts of england and northern ireland and the best of the sunshine in wales and western england. typical temperatures still only ten or 11 degrees. light winds on thursday, not much changes on friday, dry with sunshine at times, sunshine heading into the weekend, but the winds are going to be strengthening. it may feel a bit colder out there and with pressure lowering out to the west, the chance of a bit of rain for northern ireland and into cornwall. essentially, we have high pressure still in charge and with the southeasterly wind, it should get less cold next week.