a landmark ruling in the world of sport. south african athlete caster semenya loses an appeal against new rules restricting testosterone levels in female runners. the double olympic gold medallist has unusually high levels of the hormone in her body. today's ruling means she will now have to take medication if she wants to compete. such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the iaaf‘s objective of preserving the integrity of female athletics. we'll be assessing the implications of today's ruling from the court of arbitration for sport and getting reaction from semenya's native south africa. also this lunchtime... may day riots in paris as thousands protest against president macron. after violent clashes in venezuela,

president nicolas maduro goes on tv to say a coup attempt against him has failed. researchers hail an "astonishing" reduction in obesity among some preschool children in leeds. and why beavers have become a protected species in scotland. and coming up on bbc news, there is criticism for tottenham for allowing defenderjan vertonghen back on the pitch after he suffered a head injury in their 1—0 champions league defeat to ajax. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the south african athlete caster semenya has lost a landmark case against new rules restricting the level of testosterone

in female runners. semenya, a double olympic gold medallist, has a condition that means she has unusually high levels of the hormone. the governing body of world athletics has brought in rules forcing athletes like her to take medication in order to lower their testosterone. caster semenya claimed that was unfair, but now the court of arbitration for sport has ruled against her. here's our sports news correspondent richard conway. commentator: here comes caster semenya past the... caster semenya has controlled 800m running over the past decade like no one else. but that dominance is now in doubt following this landmark verdict. athletics world governing body, that the iaaf, believes women that are known as having differences in sexual development, or dst, had an unfair advantage over their competitors. caster semenya argued she simply has a genetic gift, was

born and raised a woman and shouldn't be discriminated against. however, the court disagreed. they found that the dst measures are not discriminatory but the panel found that on the basis of the evidence submitted by the parties in the procedure, such discrimination is a necessary , procedure, such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the iaafobjective of preserving the integrity of athletics. the hormones, genes and reproductive organs of women with dst may often bea mix organs of women with dst may often be a mix of male and female characteristics. the science and the impact of testosterone on performance was a key factor in the case. she has a condition which may lead to her to have a slightly higher testosterone levels than the average female. now, lots of women have conditions like this and there are various conditions that might lead to someone having high

testosterone levels. the crux of this argument is whether those high oestrone levels that occur naturally in women confer the same advantage that they would if it was man versus woman, where we see a 10—12% difference. athletics chiefs fear that if left unchecked, dst athletes could dominate the sport, pointing to over 100 records that have already been set at national, continental and world level. the core value for the iaaf is the empowerment of girls and women to athletics. the regulations we are introducing are there to protect the sanctity of fair and open competition. meanwhile, the woman at the centre of this case was left initially been used before issuing a defiant statement saying... caster semenya now faces a crucial decision. if she is to defend her

world title, she must start taking the necessary medication next week. however, she may yet opt to run a longer distance not subject to the regulations. the iaaf has welcomed the decision but given the split verdict and the highly contentious nature of the decision, the issue looks like it will run on for some time. richard conway, bbc news. our sports reporter ade adoyin — what's the reaction there in south africa? it is disappointing, because many felt she would win on the basis of human rights and this goes against a human rights and this goes against a human rights and there is a statement from the ministry of sport in south africa who say they are naturally very disappointed by the ruling and it is not only a blow to human rights but to all south africans and they say they will lobby other bodies to stand behind them and the man who issued a statement says they are considering an appeal against this decision.

support from other sports stars, martina navratilova, a high—profile tennis player and wimbledon champion, has put out a strong statement of support for caster semenya which says the verdict against semenya is dreadfully unfair and wrong in principle, that she has done nothing wrong and it is awful that she will now have to take drugs to be able to compete. as far as options are concerned for caster semenya in terms of where she goes from here, she can appeal to the swiss court on procedural issues, but success rate in that is very, very low. the other option is to ta ke very low. the other option is to take this case further and go to the court of human rights, but that ta kes court of human rights, but that takes an awful long time. there was a journalist that did the same, it took a decade to resolve so as richard conway said in his piece a few moments ago, she has a very big decision to make as far as her career is concerned. ade, thank you very much indeed, injohannesburg. the wikilea ks founder julian assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions. he was removed from the ecuadorian embassy in london last month after staying there for seven years. he took refuge there in 2012

to avoid extradition to sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied. police have fired tear gas to push back masked demonstrators in central paris, as thousands of people used an annual may day rally to protest against president emmanuel macron‘s policies. let's get the latest from our correspondence hugh schofield, who is in paris for us. more dramatic scenes in the french capital. yes, not on the champs—elysees, which has been the scene of so many of these confrontations on saturdays over the last few months, is down in the mont parnasse region, where there is an organisation by the trade unions for may day, but there are fears this has been infiltrated not just by the are fears this has been infiltrated notjust by the gilets are fears this has been infiltrated not just by the gilets jeunes movement, which was expected and

perfectly fine, but in addition to the yellow vest movement, what are called the black rocks, anarchists are dressed in black who are there solely to cause trouble and even before the march has got under way, it is due to get under way in half an hour, the black rock types have assembled at the head of the court age and are taking on the police and we are seeing age and are taking on the police and we are seeing once age and are taking on the police and we are seeing once again these scenes of urban rioting, demonstrators in black with masks and often gas masks, throwing projectiles at the police, the police responding with tear gas and what they call anti—encirclement grenades, and it is fairly cat and mouse at the moment but it does look tense and reminiscent on this —— of the scenes on the champs elysees earlier this year. hugh schofield in paris, thank you. us secretary of state mike pompeo has said that the united states was prepared to take military action to stem the ongoing turmoil in venezuela. overnight, opposition leader jaun guaido called again for people to take to the streets,

he promised the largest demonstration in the country's history. paul adams has the latest. was this a dress rehearsal or a failed uprising? yesterday's chaotic scenes in caracas never really looked like a regime in collapse. venezuela has had lots of this in recent years. but on the streets, some clearly believed this was a decisive moment. translation: the country is ours, we need to go out into the streets. guaido is the leader in charge, he has a plan, translation: the streets are a way out of this and with the armed forces taking action together with the political translation: the streets are a way out of this the opposition leader, juan guaido, began the day talking about a "final phase" in his effort to replace nicolas maduro. he seemed to have some support from elements of the national guard — soldiers wearing blue ribbons mingling with the crowds —

but the army did not switch sides and, at the end of the day, mr guaido had this plea. translation: i am calling on the armed forces to continue their march in operation freedom, in the rescue of the dignity of our people, our families. this is the challenge. but mr maduro's supporters were also on the streets, answering a call to gather outside the presidential palace. and when their man finally appeared on camera, the pictures seemed designed to show a government and military holding firm. translation: with the truth as a sword, as a shield, we faced so many attacks and so many lies and, thanks to it, we have emerged victorious in every situation and will continue to emerge victorious in any difficulty that we face from now on, difficulty that we face from now on. but was there a moment amid the chaos when mr maduro was losing his grip, preparing to flee his own country? the trump administration wants everyone to think so. he was ready to go, he had made a decision that we had been

urging him to make for quite some time and then he was diverted from that action by the russians. we hope he'll reconsider and get back on that plane. russia says this is nonsense, but all eyes today will be on the streets. will the opposition feel emboldened by yesterday's scenes and come out in even bigger numbers? paul adams, bbc news. health experts claim there's been a significant reduction in obesity among preschool children in leeds. they believe it's thanks to a project which shows parents how to encourage children to eat healthier meals and do more exercise. the improvements have been highest in the city among children from poorer backgrounds — a result that has been described as "astonishing" by researchers. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. childhood obesity has proved extremely stubborn to shift. by the time children in england leave primary school, a third will be overweight or obese. one of the most difficult groups to help has been those

from poorer backgrounds, but today's study from leeds seems to buck the trend. to buck the trend. over a five—year period, the number of obese four—and five—year—olds has fallen by 6.4%. what's particularly interesting is that the number of obese children from deprived backgrounds has dropped even more, by an average of 8.7%. three—year—old libbyjoy used to only eat beans, sausages and mashed potato, but she was helped to try lots of different food as part of a scheme to tackle obesity in leeds. her mum now says she is fantastically healthy. her absolute favourite is broccoli, and she can eat loads of it. cucumbers, bananas, mangoes, peaches, strawberries, sweetcorn, loads of things now. the city of leeds has concentrated its efforts on tackling obesity, particularly among younger children

and in deprived areas. one of the schemes there is called henry, and it runs nutrition workshops, some in children's centres. the programmes that henry's running really recognises that parents want the very best for their children, but actually there is a big difference between knowing what children should be eating and making that happen in practice, and so what henry's doing is really building parents' confidence and skills to establish a healthy, happy family life. a handful of other places in england have also seen reductions in childhood obesity, and it's hoped the trend will begin to turn. but for older children, weight problems are still proving a huge challenge. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. the failed merger with asda cost sainsbury‘s $46 million. the deal was blocked by the regulator last week over fears about higher prices for customers. the sainsbury‘s chief executive has said he won't quit over the failed merger.

here's our business correspondent emma simpson. it was a controversial megamerger, but these two businesses are now going their separate ways. so what now for britain's biggest supermarket chain? second—biggest supermarket chain? sainsbury‘s has spent the last year explaining why it needed this merger, that greater scale and buying power would help it compete with the likes of aldi and lidl. so the boss mike coupe has been under big pressure for a plan b. there was no change in strategy announced today, but he is promising more investment in stores and prices. well, our prices, as i was saying, core commodity areas will come down over a period of time. not overnight, because there's lots of work to be done to make sure we can afford to do that, but we will seek to reduce prices throughout our organisation. it's been a challenging 12 months.

although sainsbury‘s racked up nearly £32 billion in annual sales, it madejust 239 million in pre—tax profits, down 40% on the previous year. and grocery sales haven't been as strong as its rivals. industry watchers say sainsbury‘s has got some serious catching up to do. store standards and availability have definitely slipped. there are less consistent in terms of the stores but they have had to do that, address their cost base, because it was very, very high and they are competing against algae and lidl, whose costs are far, far lower and to become more competitive, they have to address the cost base —— mike aldi and lidl. sainsbury's says it is getting on with the job, but it is getting on with the job, but it has got to do so on its own. the boss called b as the deal ancient history now, but this failed merger has come out quite a cost. emma

simpson, bbc news. the time is quarter past one. our top story this lunchtime: the south african athlete caster semenya loses an appeal against new rules restricting testosterone in female runners and coming up — the twins hoping for bring england sporting sucess this summer. we hearfrom phil and tracey neville. coming up on bbc news, andrew rhys junior has been confirmed as anthony joshua's opponent for his us debut fight next month. he replaces the american who failed a drugs test. police officers and staff accused of domestic abuse are a third less likely to be convicted than the general public. a freedom of information request by the bureau of investigativejournalism and the bbc‘s victoria derbyshire programme has revealed more than 700 allegations made against police staff over three years —

with just 3.9% ending in conviction. anna adams reports. suzanne was married to a policeman for ten years. she said when they first met, she was comforted by the fact that he was an officer. but when she got pregnant, she said he became abusive and pushed her in front of a car. he just kept questioning me over and over again, wanting to know whose the baby was and saying it was someone else's. he was getting very aggressive, and i was so worried that i ran. i remember i was running through the bars. i went across the road to get away from him, and he tripped me up, and the car had to screech to a halt to avoid hitting me. the abuse went on for years, but when he threatened her with a knife, she finally called 999. the police turned up, and the only advice they gave him was that he should leave the house and go for a walk to calm down. she says he hit their six—year—old son, and she decided to leave. but when she filed for divorce,

she said the abuse became even worse, and he raped her as she lay in bed. i remember saying to him, no. i had my eyes closed because i was trying to transport myself to a different place. suzanne moved out with her children two weeks later, and reported her husband to his boss. a domestic abuse officer came to investigate, and she told him she'd been raped. looking back, they didn't even take a statement. i was very, very, very clear to him that i wanted a record of it in case i needed to take it further in the future. her ex—husband has now retired. after years of suffering post—traumatic stress, suzanne decided to go back to the police and get access to her file, but she found there was nothing on record at all. the police watchdog, the iopc, asked the force to reinvestigate suzanne's case last year, and now 16 months later, they said they cannot uphold her complaint. suzanne now plans to sue the police. less than a third of the forces that

responded to the foi request have specific procedures in place to ensure they're impartial. but dame vera byrd, qc, said she isn't surprised by this. i've heard people say that cops will say, the lads will look after me, it doesn't matter what you say. and they clearly believe it. and there is that very strong bond between officers against the public. so something is going badly wrong. i think the figures speak for themselves. and the only answer is police complaints being investigated by police won't get to the bottom of it. the national police chiefs' council said that they are confident that every report against an officer is thoroughly investigated, and they believe the overwhelming majority of cases are handled appropriately. anna adams, bbc news. the former black cab taxi driverjohn radford, who used to be known asjohn worboys, has been charged with four sexual offences. he faces two counts of administering a stupefying or overpowering drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault, and two of administering a substance

with intent to commit a sexual offence. scotland yard says they are alleged to have been committed in london between 2000 and 2008. tomorrow voters will go to polls in elections for 248 councils across england, as well as every council in northern ireland. nearly 9,000 council seats are up for grabs in total. so what should we be looking out for? here's our political correspondent chris mason. after all the bluster and fluster of day—to—day politics, it all boils down to a polling station, a piece of paper and a little stubby pencil. so, a carnival of democracy across much but not all of the uk, starting in northern ireland, where every seat on all 11 councils is being contested, with just over 800 candidates competing for a62 seats. let's hop back across the irish sea to england, where 248 councils

are holding elections, with some 8,500 seats to be won. so, let's take a look at who currently holds those seats. the conservatives have the largest number, 4,901. labour, the next biggest party, and then there's the liberal democrats, the uk independence party and the greens. so, even if the tories lost hundreds of councillors, they are still likely to win the most seats overall. now, the last time most of these seats were contested was back in 2015, and the reason the conservatives did so well last time is that they were six points ahead of labour in the national share of the vote in the local elections then. 35% against 29%. now, if that lead were to narrow, the tories are likely to lose seats to labour. also, if the tories' 24—point lead over the liberal democrats was to narrow, then theresa may's party may lose seats to vince cable's. so, what are the main parties hoping for on the night?

the conservatives will be hoping that the worst predictions of the opinion polls will not be fulfilled, because not least nigel farage's brexit party is not on the ballot paper, and they therefore only suffer losses of a few hundred seats rather than let's say 500, 600,700. the labour party, they will want to put in their first convincing local election performance since 2012, over 35% of the vote, and suggest that, actually, a future general election would be a good prospect for them. liberal democrats, they're defending their worst ever set of local election results. progress of some kind for them at least would seem to be essential. now, let's be honest. what is it about local elections? maybe they sometimes lack the capacity to grip, to enthuse. they don't exactly effervesce with energy in that big sense of a big moment in the way that general elections can. but this is the first time that people will have voted since the brexit deadline passed without, well, er,

brexit actually happening. so they are a crucial test of support for the parties. and of course councils matter. they decide where houses get built, who runs the buses and whether a pub can get a late licence, as well as plenty of other stuff like bins, social care and much more. so, if you're going to stay up all night with huw edwards, and why wouldn't you want to, where should you be looking out for? let's take a look at swindon. the conservatives could lose control there, so that's one that is worth looking at. milton keynes, currently hung, under no overall control, but the conservatives defending the most seats. there is colchester in essex, where the conservatives are close to winning a majority. and winchester, where the conservatives could lose their majority and it will be interesting to see how the liberal democrats do. and a last one to look at, walsall and the west midlands,

the conservatives could take control. they unexpectedly won the walsall north seat in the general election back in 2017. so, plenty to keep you going with huw in the dead of night, and more to follow throughout the day on friday. and if you're feeling just a tad left out, perhaps you're in scotland or wales or those parts of england where your council isn't holding elections this time, well, there's the european parliament elections. they're looking increasingly likely to happen all over the uk towards the end of this month. chris mason reporting. and for full coverage and analysis of the results as they come in you can join huw edwards tomorrow night on bbc one and the bbc news channel starting at 11.35. the ukip leader gerard batten has launched his party's campaign for the european elections, speaking to supporters in middlesbrough, he said ukip was only party with a clear policy on how the uk will leave the european union. he said he hoped the elections wouldn't take place, but inisted he was confident

of success if they did. ukip doesn't want these elections to ta ke ukip doesn't want these elections to take place at all, but they are, and they offer the 17.4 million levers they offer the 17.4 million levers the chance to leave. and as we sit on the bus, you told them once, tell them again. ukip is the only political party that has a clear policy on how to leave the european union. from today, beavers are a protected species in scotland. they were reintroduced on scotland's waterways a decade ago, but some farmers and landowners fear the beavers will cause damage to agricultural land. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. for hundreds of years, beavers were absent from scotland's rivers and streams. but now they're back, and it's not hard to spot the signs of where the animals have set up home. they're busy creatures, foraging here, taking down the trees,

using it for theirfood, but also as construction materials. beavers are known as ecosystem engineers. their dams alter their watery landscape, catching silt and pollutants and helping support a web of life, of insects and birds. now beavers have been added to the list of protected species in scotland, making it an offence to kill them without a licence. it's significant in that it is showing the intent to allow beavers back into scotland. very significant as a means of saying, well, we have something here which can provide huge benefits for the environment. beavers are industrious animals. all these trees are likely to have been felled byjust one family group living on this loch, and while the dams that they build can slow the flow of water, in some areas, that can cause problems. farmland around the tay is some

of the most productive in scotland. an unofficial release of the animals here led to dams appearing in some drainage ditches and waterways, costing farmers crops and money. adrian ivory will now need a licence to clear any dams beavers build from his land. he recognises, though, that beavers are here to stay. last year, when the beavers obviously set up home here, and the whole crop, it was left under probably a couple of inches of water, the whole crop rotted out. so we are involved in a mitigation trial with snh with the scottish government whereby we are going to put a device known as a beaver deceiver or a beaver gate into the water, near the mouth of the river. and where all attempts to limit the damage beavers cause don't work, licenses can be issued to allow for their culling. around 20 have been granted. there are calls for close monitoring of how many end up being killed. the balancing act of protecting

beavers while also protecting crops now set in law, to allow for the species to spread in scotland. lorna gordon, bbc news, perthshire. two of the biggest events in women's sport take place this summer, the football and netball world cups. and england's hopes are being led by a famous set of twins. phil and tracey neville reached the top of their respective sports as players, and they're now aiming to do the same as coaches. jo currie has been to meet them. there's never been a better time for women's sport, and this summer it's set to ramp up even further, with the neville family right at the heart of it. in a way it's the norm in ourfamily to be probably going to tournaments and to be playing in arenas, which we'll be doing in the summer. i think, for me, i probably get more nervous for phil. you look beyond the result. obviously ijust want trace to be happy, and to have done herjob

well, and for people to think nicely of her. because obviously, at the end of the day, she's england coach, but she's my sister. both nevilles played sport at the highest level. tracey won world and commonwealth bronze medals in netball, while twin phil and older brother gary played football for manchester united and for england. let's take you back to when you were younger. what was the neville household like? rounders was monday night, cricket was tuesday night, cricket was wednesday night, rounders was thursday night, night off for a chippy tea on a friday. cricket was saturday, sunday all day. that was our lives. we were never at home. we created a family ethos that has really kept us going out and kept a strong through probably some of the hugest disappointments that we've had, but also some of the hugest successes as well. england have done it! and one of those golden moments saw tracey coach the roses to commonwealth glory in australia last year, while phil led the lionesses to the shebelieves title in march. next step will be selecting their squads for this summer's world cups, where they will be delivering good and bad news to players. i've got good experience.

i haven't, actually. she went to world cups. i didn't go to any world cups, and i got left out of the last stage. 1998, i got left out. probably the best man in england to do thatjob, or to actually try and understand how a player can feel. success breeds success in sport. media coverage, sponsorship and participation figures could all rest on how the england teams perform this summer. so how much pressure is resting on the two head coaches? we can get through a family meal in 30 minutes because we've got other things to do. you know, it's not about savouring the moment. it's about, let's just get this job done and get out of here. we're going to create a legacy whether we win or lose, but if we win, we'll create an even bigger legacy. no matter the ups and downs of this summer, the nation's sporting success rests on one family's fortune, and team neville will be flying the flag for england. jo currie, bbc news.