ahead, as well as of the week ahead, similar weather over the next few days, someone living in late in the week. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: could it even be an outright majority? australia's centre—right are closing in on a surprise election victory. a snap election is called in austria, after the far—right leader allegedly made secret deals with a russian investor. and the netherlands wins the eurovision song contest for the first time in over a0 years. hello, and welcome to bbc news. the governing centre—right coalition in australia is closing in on a surprise majority in the general election. the prime minister, scott morrison,

called the result a "miracle," as the party had been trailing in polls. with a handful of seats yet to declare, his liberal national party are just two seats short of the 76 needed to control parliament. the opposition labour leader bill shorten has resigned. hywel griffith's report, contains some flash photography. he wasn't expected to last a year as prime minister, but scomo, as his party calls him, has secured an unlikely victory. scott morrison's known in australia as the man who brought a lump of coal into parliament. a fan of fossil fuels, the country, it seems, has embraced him and what he stands for. i'm standing with the three biggest miracles if my life here tonight. cheering and applause.

and tonight we've been delivered another one! this election had been billed as a generational shift. young people put climate change at the centre of the debate, demanding no new coal mines be opened but the tide turned towards the liberals. despite two years trailing behind labor in the polls, it's on course to form a government. i think scomo has come above and he's brought the people with him so here we are. it was an amazing victory for the silent majority. against the odds, against all the opinion polls, scott morrison has delivered for his party and he has done it largely alone. many of his cabinet members were seen as simply too toxic to campaign alongside him. this victory is all about scomo. and it's one that means australia's habit of chopping and changing prime ministers should end, for now at least. hywel griffith, bbc news, sydney.

austria is heading for another election. the chancellor sebastian kurz made the announcement hours after the resignation of his coalition partner and vice chancellor, heinz—christian strache. mr strache, the leader of the freedom party, resigned over an undercover video which appears to show him discussing government contracts with a russian investor in return for campaign support. bethany bell reports. this is the video that brought down a government. the man in the grey t—shirt is heinz—christian strache, who's just resigned as austria's vice chancellor. in this footage from 2017, he's seen talking to a woman who was posing as the niece of a russian oligarch. he seems to suggest she could be awarded public construction contracts in return for political and financial support. now, mr strache has stepped down, saying his behaviour was stupid, irresponsible and a mistake.

translation: it was a typical alcohol—fuelled macho behaviour in which yes, i also wanted to impress the attractive female host and i behaved like a bragging teenager and embarrassingly overrea cted. mr strache denies any criminal wrongdoing for his coalition partner, chancellor sebastian kurz, the video was the last straw. he's called for new elections. translation: i have nonetheless stayed, not ending the coalition over the first misconduct, but after yesterday's video, i must say, honestly, enough is enough. austria's president alexander van der bellen, condemned the video. translation: these are shameful pictures and nobody should be ashamed of austria. i want to say it very clear,

we are not like that, this is not austria. several thousand people gathered outside the chancellery in vienna to protest against the freedom party which up till now has been one of europe's most successful anti—immigrant movements. but now, just a few days before the eu elections, its future is in question. bethany bell, bbc news. the netherlands has triumphed in this year's eurovision song contest in israel. duncan laurence performed the winning piano ballad called arcade, which came through to the top of the leaderboard after a dramatic public vote. there were none of the feared protests inside the arena, but after calls for the show to be boycotted, small groups of demonstrators did clash with authorities on the city's streets. this report from david sillito in tel aviv does contain some flashing images. from tel aviv, israel, this is the grand final of the eurovision song contest, 2019!

it was from the beginning trademark eurovision — inside the auditorium. chanting: taking part in eurovision means you join a racist mission. but in amongst the throngs of fans, there were also protests and argument that because of israel's actions in the occupied territories, it should not be hosting the eurovision song contest. i think the world should not allow israel to host events like this because having events like the eurovision here is masking away the reality of the occupation. and the heavy security a reminder of the israel that wasn't on show. and in jerusalem there were chaotic scenes. a police charge against religious protesters. they were objecting to eurovision taking place on thejewish sabbath. but inside the event, where there had been fears of protest, it all passed off peacefully. and with some considerable spectacle. this swaying performance from australia.

# when you call my name, it's like a little prayer... the interval act, madonna, had faced some criticism for playing israel. but there were some doubts about whether this was a douze pas performance. the thing that brings all these people here tonight is music. so let's never underestimate the power of music to bring people together. meanwhile, the uk's michael rice performed with gusto, but once again it wasn't to be the uk's night. instead, the winner, the netherlands. # loving you is a losing game. # all i know, all i know...

there were claims that there were going to be protests david sillito at the eurovision song contest, where celebrations are continuing through the night. the netherlands will now host next year's competition. the british prime minister theresa may has said she will be making "a bold new offer" when the government puts her brexit plan before the house of commons for a final time next month. but the opposition brexit spokesman, sir keir starmer has called on mrs may to offer mps the option of another referendum. here's our political correspondent ben wright. a forlorn campaign launch on friday for european elections theresa may didn't want to happen. next thursday, we will be holding european elections. but soldiering on, mrs may now says she will ask mps to vote on a new and improved brexit plan. on tuesday, the cabinet will discuss changes to the brexit bill she hopes will win over labour mps despite the collapse of cross party talks yesterday, and theresa may will make a speech on her strategy

later in the week. but power is draining from the prime minister and tory critics say any changes to the bill would be meaningless. you can watch the movie titanic a hundred times but i'm afraid the ship sinks every time. so if you're going to bring back this deal and it still has the backstop in it, then the dup aren't going to support it and now an increasing number of conservative mps, even those who voted for it the second and third time, are saying, enough is enough. it's this man, campaigning in essex today, giving conservatives nightmares. polls suggest the brexit party is set to do very well in the european elections on thursday. applause. jeremy corbyn was also out and about. yesterday he said labour would carefully consider any new proposals brought forward by the government, but his party is deeply split too with its brexit spokesman insisting number 10 must offer another referendum to win labour's backing

for the bill. we do need to break the impasse and one way to do that is for the government to put public vote option on the face of the withdrawal agreement bill that it proposes to bring back in just a few weeks' time. and with the unofficial contest to replace theresa may already revving up, the prime minister's promise of a bold next move to break the deadlock seems optimistic and very late in the day. ben wright, bbc news. german chancellor angela merkel has hit back at populist politicians. she said that europe needs to fight back against nationalism. her comments came on the same day that leaders of far right parties across europe spoke at a rally in milan, led by italian deputy prime minister matteo salvini. he and his fellow speakers at the rally promised to reshape the continent after the eu parliamentary election later this month. ramzan karmali reports.

i , drumming they are seeking historic results in these elections, in their bids to transform european politics. translation: on the 26th of may, we will bring this revolution of common sense throughout europe. 0n the 26th of may, we will return power to the peoples. 0n the 26th, with us. europe will raise its head, long live italy, long live france, and long live the nations of europe. the

organiser of the events told the bbc‘s ros atkins who he is backing in the uk. what did you say about nigel farage? i am waiting for him. would you like him in your coalition? yeah. the new european parliament. but he wants to leave the european union. you think you should? for the moment, he is in. do you hope he stays? we can work together, we can work together, i hope. on which issues? the economy, immigration? both. even though these parties are nationalist in their nature, unlike mr barrage's brexit party in the uk, most want to stay in the european union. there are also differing attitudes towards russia from these pop misleaders. but they'll want change in the way the eu is run. germany ‘s chancellor angela merkel and other european leaders came under attack on matteo salvini. he said they had betrayed the continent by constructing a

europe of finance and uncontrolled immigration. but the german leader hits back, speaking at a rally in croatia. translation: being proud of 1's croatia. translation: being proud of i's homeland and building europe at the same time is not a contradiction. nationalism is the enemy of the european project. and this, my european friends, is what we have to make clear before the elections. around 2000 marched in milan against salvini and his fellow populist politicians, though they we re populist politicians, though they were clearly outnumbered by those who had come to support the deputy prime minister. however, more demonstrations against the far right have been planned across europe. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the australian centre—right has been voted back into office in what prime minister scott morrison has called a miracle election result. the chancellor of austria has called a snap election.

it follows the resignation of the leader of his far—right coalition allies over corruption allegations. now let's return to the eurovision song contest and the first with by the netherlands since 1975 with duncan laurence performing a piano ballad — arcade. with us now from tel aviv bbc arts and entertainment reporter, neil smith. thank you so much forjoining us. it is quite late there. how incredible for the netherlands, their first is quite late there. how incredible for the netherlands, theirfirst win since 1975. why has it taken them so long? it is one of those eurovision anomalies but it has taken so long. they used to have more success than that. four wins, if they used to have more success than that. fourwins, if you they used to have more success than that. four wins, if you want to include the one victory where they tied ina include the one victory where they tied in a four waste bit, which has only happened once and certainly has not happened since. —— four—way

split. but they were the bookmakers' favourite. there was a lot of thinking that duncan laurence with his soaring piano ballad arcade had what it took to win this year. and also, may be people wanted to just go to the netherlands next may. maybe the weather will be nice. and there will be plenty of other things to do besides to see, as well as the contest. maybe that played a part.|j am sure there was more to it than that. how did this eurovision compared to past competitions, do you think, in terms of the overall entries? it was an interesting contrast, some people meant for some very elaborate and interesting staging, australia had the singer hoisted aloft on a kind of bending polled that allowed

her to sweep around the audience like a circus artist. it is very visually impressive, slightly more impressive in the arena than it proved on television. then you had people who put their faith in the music and a song and if there is something that can be learned from this, soul beats spectacle. you can have all the staging in your life, of the song doesn't connect with the listener, then really, you are not going to end up with the golden furphy like the netherlands have this year. madonna performed at this year ‘s competition but maybe not eve i’yo ne year ‘s competition but maybe not everyone was pleased with that performance. well, it had been so hyped and there had been so much news coverage of hyped and there had been so much news coverage of it and there was even question of what she would perform. they kept the world media in the dark in the last few days. before confirming what was going to happen. really, with so much riding

on it you thought it was going to be the most amazing spectacle and it really wasn't. it was an underpowered, vocally underpowered performance from her and the two songs she chose, one was her hit, like a prayer which dates back to the late 90s. but the other one was a new song and i think if you going to do it, you want to have a greatest hits montage and you want to leave the audience begging for more and i have a feeling that the audience almost begging for less. there were political controversies inside the arena, flags being shown at madonna ‘s dancers had flowers in their jackets. at madonna ‘s dancers had flowers in theirjackets. having the contest in israel certainly didn't —— wasn't

universally popular but there was a was the chance to be some form political statement to go with the protest that happened outside the arena and in cities around the world. as it happens, what happened was there were alice union flags shown aloft during the voting process by iceland and their and a kick punk band, they had suggested they would do something of the nature but the organisers didn't think they have anything up their sleeves. the madonna herself, one of her dancers had a flag on her back. it was meant to some kind of statement for unity rather than division. you can try and take part —— apart your vision but it was good to be there, it was quite visible.|j

hope you get to join in the celebrations. let's have more on our main story, the elections in australia. the conservative returning to power but also the majority in the lower house. fergus hunter from the sydney morning herald considered whether the election was won on economic issues or who ran the best campaign. well, i guess it's hard to diagnose that definitively right now but clearly a lot of people are praising the campaign that scott morrison ran, this very personality—focused effort that was all about him and his appeal. he portrayed himself as an ordinary guy, an ordinary dad and the message he was delivering was a heavily economy—focused one

about keeping the economy growing and stable and, going negative, he said that the labor party was a threat to that with their tax reform agenda. so, look, both of those factors were in there in that he is now, as a personality, propelled into hero status with his party and he's basically untouchable for them, given they were expecting a loss. and yes, there will also now be discussion about how people approach, well, how voter will approach economic reform because labor had set out a fairly courageous reform agenda. a lot of people were watching australia because of what was happening with climate change. there was this argument that as australia experienced some of the effects of extreme weather patterns, that that would be such

a feature in the election. but that hasn't played out. why is that? yes, it's difficult to say at this stage but i know a lot of environmentalists and people who were campaigning for action on climate change are in shock of this result, they are reeling. they see it as a real setback because yes, labor was promising stronger action on climate change, emissions reduction target of 45%, compared to the coalition's promise of 26%. now people have endorsed, seemingly, the coalition's vision for that. crosstalk. is it also, what we're seeing in australia play out, is very much a desire to maintain the coal industry in order to preserve the prosperity of the economy, that people have

chosen that over anything else? well, clearly one of the coalition's key points on climate change action was that they will do something about it, they will meet the paris agreement but they are not willing to do anything that would harm the economy and that has seemingly resonated with people, certainly in certain sections of the country. we've all the latest analysis on what australia's election result means for the world on our website. from climate change to immigration and foreign policy — it's all there. bbc.com/news is the address. take a look. manchester city have won the fa cup. alongside their premier league and carabao cup wins, they've won an unprecedented domestic treble this season. in a one—sided match at wembley they beat watford 6—0. david 0rnstein reports. manchester city have won

the lot this season! the completion of an unprecedented mission. manchester city going where none of their rivals have gone before. they came in tens of thousands to witness something unique, a city clean sweep or watford's first major trophy. it's a huge day. it has been 35 years. several winners. the pre—match much fervour felt entirely fitting. # abide with me... the music, the colour, and the blazing lights, stage set for a meeting of such magnitude. watford knew they needed to quickly find a rhythm, and they did. though even quicker was city's keeper. super save by ederson! the hornets haunted, how painful would approve? well, very. city's brilliance shows no bounds. david silva with the chance. here they were doing something not even the great manchester united

team of 1990 managed, nor the arsenal invincibles of 2004, even when pushed all the way by liverpool in the premier league. in a season when there's an all english lineup in the finals, city's achievement is simply extraordinary. three trophies going into the manchester city cabinet. the wealth gap between these sides is enormous. city could yet face severe sanctions for allegedly breaking financial rules and over the signing of young players. here the footballing gulf was brutally exposed. the gloss supplied by raheem sterling. city have six! never has an fa cup final seen a bigger margin of victory. it's the best team in the world for me. to set such a high standard for such a long period of time. i am talking two years running. what a team, what a privilege.

an incredible year for us. incredible. for the organisation, all the people, a big congratulations. especially for the players, of course, they are the reason we have won. their feet finished with one last climb — up to the royal box to seal a regal triumph. vincent kompany lifting the prize and his club to a dizzying height. well, manchester cityjust get better and better. they're collecting silverware at a rate english football has rarely seen. this was the day they made history. and by the looks of it they're hungry for even more. david 0rnstein, bbc news, wembley. elsewhere in football, bayern munich won germany's bundesliga for a record 7th time in a row. and the women's champions league winners are lyon, who beat barcelona. the marathon is just

about the most arduous test for any runner. a shade over 26 miles — that's around 42 kilometres — it's tough enough on a flat surface — but imagine having to run it on top of the great wall of china? every year — for 20 years now — they've been doing exactly that — as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. there are marathons, and then there are marathons. this is about as gruelling as it gets. but hey, the scenery is not bad. nearly 700 competitors from dozens of different countries took part in this year's full marathon. there were plenty of ups and downs, and there were steps. lots and lots of steps. it's the most stupid idea i've ever had in my life. this is nackering. quite.

but there were officials along the way offering moral support. do your best! yay! these may be the single most dispiriting words in the english language: "half way." half way, depending on where you are going. eventually, after mile after mile of pain and exhaustion, tears and sweat, the finishing line came into sight. everything i hoped it would be. brutal. the wall was fun, lots of climbing and resistance, the toughest race i've ever done, once you get to that line it's amazing. i had to crawl on my hands on my knees, i thought i was going to throw up. then i saw the girl who got second, i saw her behind me and i thought, i'd better pick up the pace so that she doesn't catch me. the great wall of china may not have been able to hold back the mongol hordes but it's still pretty tough.

it requires a lot of commitment. now for the weather. hello there. many of us had a pretty cloudy day yesterday weather wise. it was in scotland and northern ireland where the weather wasn't just cloudy, it turned out to be quite wet and cool. the skies looked like this. further south, the cloud did breakup. we got a little bit of sunshine. but that just sent these big shower clouds towering up through the skies around in the greater london area. the radar picture still shows we have patches of rain around across parts of scotland, northern ireland as well. but the showers we had across england and wales have largely cleared out of the way. that said, you can still see some passing showers working into the coastline of sussex and kent over the next few hours. further north, that's where the cloudiest weather will be. there will also be mist and fog patches around in the next few hours across eastern scotland into northern part of northern ireland, particularly into the hills. and perhaps across parts of the east midlands and east anglia turning quite murky as well. all in all, for sunday morning, it's a cloudy, grey start to the day

one way or the other. the cloud will slowly break to give some bright or sunny spells. but as the weather tries to brighten up, and it will be a slow process across scotland and northern ireland, we will start to see some showers breakup. the showers mostly really get going as we head through sunday afternoon. they will come along in batches. across eastern scotland showers are quite widespread. a few over the mountains elsewhere as well. inbetween those downpours, a bit more brightness, it won't feel quite as cool with temperatures up to 16 in glasgow. a few showers popping up in northern ireland as well. for wales and western areas of england, i fancy it will be a largely dry day. but there will be a line of heavy showers working in across the midlands, central and southern england, and parts of southern england as well. those showers heavy, thundery, and slow—moving in nature. beyond that, for the week ahead, we will continue to see showers through monday and tuesday as well. some sunshine between. but later in the week low pressure will bring some slightly stronger

winds and the threat of some rain. monday starts off in a similar kind of vein weather wise. a lot of cloud around and we will see some showers building, particularly through the afternoon, some of those heavy and thundery. it could occur almost anywhere. some heavy ones for northern ireland as we go through the afternoon. in between, the wind is very light. in any sunshine temperatures coming up. showery over the next few days. highs of 17 in edinburgh and 19 for cardiff, and into the low 20s around the greater london area. but then towards the end of the week probably thickening cloud threatening rain for some of us and the winds picking up as well. that's your latest weather. goodbye for now.