this is bbc world news today. i'm martin stanford. our top stories: voting has finished in india's general election — exit polls suggest prime minister narendra modi is on course to win. an explosion targets a tourist bus near the egyptian pyramids, on the edge of cairo — 17 people have been injured. donald trump breaks his silence on abortion — he says he only supports it in exceptional circumstances. and — a speedy victory for rafa nadal at the italian open in rome, as he beats the world number one, novak djokovic, in just two and a half hours. hello, and welcome

to world news today. voting has ended in the seventh and final phase of india's general election. a number of exit polls suggest the prime minister, narendra modi, and his bjp party will win a second term in office — although they've been wrong in the past. the votes from the vast electorate of 900 million people won't be counted until thursday. here's sangita myska in delhi. the way in which an exit poll is conducted is literally someone standing outside a polling booth, asking people what they voted. as you know, this is not entirely reliable. having said all of that, three out of four of the biggest exit polls are showing that narendra modi and his bjp party, will be returned to government with a majority. back in 2014, mr modi achieved that, it was the first time in 30 years any party in india had won an absolute majority. the question is, can

he do it again in 2019? on thursday, the votes are actually counted and then on our election special here on bbc world, we will be bringing you the final result. just to remind you, the bjp, mr modi is a hindu nationalist, and what his critics will say is, over the last five years in power, he has not delivered on policy. instead, he has played identity politics, that india is now more divided than ever along hindu caste lines, along religious lines. but his supporters will come back vehemently and tell you that he is the only man who will be able to deliver sustained development here in india and the only person who has taken solid steps towards dealing with corruption. but, as i say, the results will be out on thursday — we will be bringing those to you. across this huge county, the state of punjab has been one of the last to cast votes. bbc punjabi's arvind

chhabra was at one polling station in gurdaspur near the india—pakistan border. in this constituency, the actor—turned—politician sunny deol was the candidate standing for the bjp. whilst sitting mp sunithakhar represented the main opposition congress party. during the vote, extra security was deployed to the area. i'm in the indian state of punjab, a place where bollywood star, sunny deol, from the bjp is taking on punjab congress chief, sunithakhar. you can see extra security has been deployed here because this is a very highly sensitive area. this is the place where two major attacks took place over the past five years, one a police station, and one on an air base. that is why extra security has been deployed here. this is also very close to the pakistan border, just about 3—4 kilometres. i spoke to youngsters here, they said jobs are their concern, they wantjobs. and then i was talking to sunny deol and sunithakhar,

they said that they are promising industry so that youngsters get jobs here. the polling has ended, now it's over to the results on may 23rd. in egypt, an explosion targeting a tourist bus has injured at least 17 people. many of those injured are believed to be foreign nationals. the blast occured in giza, outside the capital cairo. the bus was near to the new grand egyptian museum, close to the pyramids, when the explosion happened. ranyah sabry from bbc arabic is in cairo with the latest. 17 people were injured this morning in egypt when a bus exploded close to the wall of the grand egyptian museum at the giza plateau. among the 17, seven are tourists from south africa and the other ten are egyptians. no one has claimed responsibilty for the attack so far but it is expected that tourism in egypt will suffer heavily after the attack. although it had been picking up for the past few months this year, there was a 53% increase in tourism

compared to last year, after the government launched an international campaign calling on tourists to return to egypt and advertising and broadcasting it on international media. according to the head of the egyptian museum, the museum itself was not harmed and no artefacts were wrecked as a result of the explosion. the museum itself is about 400 metres away from the explosion, which was caused by a primitive ied that obviously did not cause much damage. all the injured have been referred to a hospital and all the injuries, so far, are quite light. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. there's been a large explosion in the centre of baghdad. the iraqi military says a katyusha rocket was fired into the iraqi capital's heavily fortified green zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, with no reported casualties. last week, all but essential staff were evacuated from the us embassy in baghdad. thousands of people in berlin have

taken part in a demonstration in support of the eu. one week ahead of the european parliamentary elections, the protesters gathered to speak out against far—right parties. demonstrations have been organised in seven german cities, the day after italian populist, matteo salvini, staged a nationalist rally in milan. one of india's top athletes, the sprinter dutee chand, has announced that she's gay. ms chand, who's 23—years—old, was banned from competing as a woman earlier in her career because of her high levels of testosterone. she's been diagnosed with hyper—androgenism. the ban was overturned on appeal. last year, india's supreme court decriminalised homosexuality. british prime minister, theresa may, has promised that her new brexit deal will be a "bold new offer". the new withdrawal agreement, set to be voted on in the coming weeks, is said to include new proposals for workers‘ rights in the hope of securing opposition party support.

the prime ministerfaces an uphill battle to get her deal through. as the bbc‘s ben wright reports. the ayes to the right, 286, the noes to the left, 344. mps have already rejected theresa may's brexit deal three times, but the prime minister plans a final throw of the dice before she quits number ten. the deal agreed with the eu will not be reopened, but writing in the sunday times, mrs may promises a new bold offer to mps across the house of commons, with an improved package of measures, that she believes can win new support. theresa may's offer to mps so far lacks any detail. but it will not for instance include a referendum, something many labour mps want. 0ne cabinet minister said measures including extra guarantees on workers‘ rights should secure labour support. we do, in many ways, agree. none of us want to remain in the european union, none of us want a no—deal brexit,

which means logically there has to be a deal, and if there's going to be a deal, the labour and conservative position are about half an inch apart. last week, jeremy corbyn pulled the plug on talks with the government. today, he was reluctant to say whether he wanted brexit to happen or not. he certainly sounded sceptical about helping theresa may get the withdrawal agreement bill into law. we haven't seen whatever the new bill is going to be yet, but nothing i've heard leads me to believe that it's fundamentally any different to the previous bill that's been put forward, so, as of now, we are not supporting it. theresa may says she will make her big offer in a speech later this week, and her hope is to win over enough labour mps to offset opposition from her own side. but few here think of that is likely to work — tory resistance seems to be growing, and breaking the deadlock in parliament looks as hard as ever. and look who's making hay out of that. polls suggest the brexit party is surging in the european elections being held this week. their new recruits

sell a simple message. we have one clear aim, and we are not going to muddy it with a whole lot of others. we have one clear aim, which is to deliver the result of the referendum, the second reason of not having a manifesto is you know, they are rather discredited. while labour says another referendum should be an option, there is no ambiguity from parties campaigning to remain. if the government is going to bring the withdrawal bill before parliament, what we have said is if they attach a confirmatory referendum to it, we will support it. 0thers fighting for remain votes on thursday say there is no time to hold another public vote before october the 31st, the latest brexit deadline. at the beginning of these european election campaigns, we had time to provide for a people's vote on what happens on brexit, which would take at least 5—6 months. we now no longer have the time to do that by the 31st of october. the stalemate here and the government's failure to get a brexit deal through parliament have led to this week's european elections and the chance

for voters to have a say on the state of brexit. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: protestors stage a vigil outside a french hospital — in a euthanasia case that's dividing public opinion.

this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: voting has finished in india's general election — exit polls suggest prime minister modi is on course to win. an explosion targets a tourist bus near the pyramids, on the edge of cairo — 17 people have been injured. us president donald trump has come out with a clear "pro—life" statement on abortion, amid controversy surrounding changes to the law in several states. this year alone, eight have voted to either ban abortions —

or further restrict the time limits on when they can take place. our north america correspondent chris buckler reports. the battle over a woman's right to an abortion is being fought across the states, and there may be no issue more divisive in a country already split apart by politics. should a child, a life inside a mother's womb, be killed due to the actions of its parents? on friday, missouri passed a bill that stops a pregnancy from being terminated after eight weeks unless there is a medical emergency. there is no exception allowed for cases where the mother has been the victim of rain or incest. any time we are so disrespectful and immoral that we would force a woman to bring to life a child that is the result of a rain

an incest, or of sex trafficking — we are not thinking about life. just days earlier, alabama put in place a law that is even stricter. protests were held as they voted to outlaw all abortions at any time unless a woman's life was at risk. the president knows that evangelical christians are among his strongest supporters. that was obvious as he campaigned in 2016. do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle? the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. for the woman? yeah, there has to be some form. those views seem to be stronger than the law in alabama which makes carrying out the abortion a crime for the doctor and not the mother but in a tweet donald trump has said he is strongly pro—life with three exceptions. rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother.

that may be a sign that he is worried this issue could influence some voters in next year's presidential election. we are at a point where a number, it is notjust alabama, this has happened in ohio, this has happened in missouri, this happened in georgia. there is a law that is being passed in michigan that the democratic governor is going to veto. there is a law that is being passed in michigan that the democratic governor is going to veto. this is happening across the country and people need to know what's really going on here. this is a violation of civil rights. republicans seem determined to push this issue in individual states in an attempt to get america's abortion laws challenged here at the us supreme court. more than 45 years ago the famous case, roe versus wade, established a woman's right to choose an abortion, but donald trump has appointed new justices that have given this court a conservative majority and members of his party want to test the law again. chris buckler, bbc news, washington.

it is a case that has galavanised france. vincent lambert has been in a coma for the past 11 years. but now campaigners are picketing a hospital in eastern france in a bid to prevent it complying with a court order to stop feeding him. lambert has been in a state of minimal consciousness since a traffic accident left him paralysed. his wife agreed six years ago to doctors withdrawing all sustenance, but his roman catholic parents disagree. joining me now via skype is french commentator, anne elizabeth moutet, who's currently in moscow. the parents have asked the president to intervene to overrule the european court of human rights, do you think you will get involved? i'm not sure he will get involved because we are in the midst of the european campaign. whatever he does, there is a part of the electorate that won't be happy, unless he wants to make a case against the right

more specifically. but we do not doubt have a very powerful, evangelical movement. we have a catholic lead for the conservative list. that might be a possibility. but on balance, i think the president willjust but on balance, i think the president will just wait. there was a decision, there have been record sales and counter decisions and stays of execution for years because of vincent lambert‘s parents. but now it has come to the end. at the same time as the bill, according to which he can be left to die. there isa which he can be left to die. there is a bill which says that what will be stopped is basically nourishment through intravenous tubes. there are opponents of this, saying it is cruelty. he suffered a car accident ten yea rs cruelty. he suffered a car accident ten years ago, it was his 42nd birthday today. and his parents who

are in the 90s and 70s have been holding out, partly for religious reasons, but also because it is their son and they feel he is still alive. what to do the hospital authorities do now? they have in order to say that they can withdraw treatment, will they? and they can, it does not say that they must, it says they may. there is a possibility that the lead for the conservative european election at least has said that he would like the united nations protection measures to be applied to the case of vincent lambert and these are more restrictive than the european court ofjustice. in some ways, it's unusual that the un is more restrictive than the european court ofjustice. this restrictive than the european court of justice. this may restrictive than the european court ofjustice. this may or may not get into the campaign. i think the french have seen those extremely difficult cases can intervene in

political campaigns in america. everyone in politics remembers other incidents, i'm not sure the politicians of this country would like to take that decision themselves. it's such a painful divide for the family, isn't it? his wife think it's right to let him die, so do many of his siblings. his wife and siblings are looking at less with rationality, horrible to say that word. he has suffered the comic irreparable brain damage, he would be close to a vegetable. the question is, do you keep life going even though it sent out to some extent, it cannot go on. or do you think is wrong? the decision is how to ta ke think is wrong? the decision is how to take for all different reasons. i don't think anybody in france likes the idea that euthanasia can be

paralysed. it starts with horrible cases like this and then you find other instances where people exploit it for immoral and difficult to accept in a body of law situation. it isa accept in a body of law situation. it is a horrible situation, nobody is right, nobody is wrong. thank you for joining is right, nobody is wrong. thank you forjoining us. voters in switzerland have backed tighter gun laws to conform with europe—wide rules. just under two—thirds of those who voted in a referendum approved tougher controls on semi—automatic and automatic weapons. the bbc‘s imogen foulkes is in switzerland. she told me why the vote brings switzerland in line with the european union's gun laws. they are not in the european union, ican imagine they are not in the european union, i can imagine there are a lot of people across europe saying why on earth are at the swiss adopting eu

legislation when they are not in the eu? the fact is, switzerland is in the schengen open border treaty. these new gun controls are designed specifically for member states. europe ask for them in at 2015 paris terror attacks, they wanted to find ways to control the trade and access to semiautomatic and automatic weapons. that is going to apply to switzerland too. this is a country with very traditionally relaxed approaches to gun control and a thriving gun culture, shooting clubs across the country, is very popular. swiss military service is obligatory here, swiss soldiers traditionally took their semiautomatic weapon whom with them, initially, in case of invasion to stop more recently, it is tradition and once daily service, they tend to keep them and it becomes part of a hobby for many men

here. from now on, because the swiss have said yes to these controls, those weapons will be more restricted, they will have to be registered, not just the restricted, they will have to be registered, notjust the guns but you different parts of the guns. owners will have to have permits, they will have to show what they wa nt they will have to show what they want these guns, they will have to show that they are trained in them, they will have to show that they have practice on an officially shooting range every few months. otherwise, they will not be allowed to keep them. of course, some people in switzerland, traditional euro sceptics, conservatives, gun lovers, officers, associations with the swiss army, they oppose this. but today, they lost, by a margin of 2-1. hello and thanks forjoining us. less than 24 hours after leading manchester city to a 6—0 win over watford in the fa cup final, captain vincent kompa ny has announced

he's leaving the etihad. the belgian is returning to former club anderlecht to become player—manager on a three year deal. kompany joined city from hamburg 11 years ago, and in that time has won four league titles, two fa cups and four league cups, winning one of each this season to clinch an unprecedented english domestic treble. the 33—year—old was out of contract at city and it's understood he rejected a 1—year extension. belgian football journalist kristof terreur says kompa ny would be the perfect leader for his new club. he is the most popular player of the la st he is the most popular player of the last 20 years. they are already working him now with open arms so they are very happy that he is coming back because at the club is ina coming back because at the club is in a little bit of a state of crisis at the moment. they needed something and this is the ultimate crowd pleaser, get your most popular

player back, back as a player and as a manager now. fans are really looking forward to seeing him coming back. anderlecht have lots of talented youngsters but they need somebody to take them by the hand and he will be ideal for that, i think. he has that if the belgian national team where he was the leader who guided the youngsters around, he does that add city with loads of youngsters were praising him when they are walking into the dressing room and he welcomes them and he showed them out. he will do the same at anderlecht but i wonder ifi the same at anderlecht but i wonder if i see him playing right now, would he just be too good for this anderlecht right now who won't even in europe next season probably. rafael nadal comprehensively beat novak djokovic to claim his ninth rome masters title the spaniard raced through the first set — the first 6—0, the first score

between the rivals in 141 previous sets. djokovic did manage to force the match to a deciding set, but nadal was dominant, winning in 2 hours and 25 minutes in the last tournament before the french open later this month — a competition that djokovic believes is nadal‘s to lose. the dial is number one favourite, without a doubt. and then, everyone else. i think it's going to be a good tournament. you know, best of five, with one day between matches, i think players will have enough time to really be at their best and eve ryo ne time to really be at their best and everyone is trying to peek for it, without a doubt. in the women's final, czech world number seven pliskova beat british number one johanna konta 6—3 6—4. it was pliskova's second title of the season. finally, brooks koepka is still well on course to retain his us pga title in new york. he's currently four shots clear of good friend, dustinjohnson, who has pulled three shots back so far on the final day.

england's matt wallace leads the european challenge. that's all the sport for now. thank you, hugh. you may find it hard to believe, it's already been a year since the marriage of prince harry and meghan markle. to celebrate their anniversary, the royal couple have released a number of unseen from their wedding day. in a video they've shared on social media, there are new images of meghan with her mother in that famous dress. we can see harry with his brother, william, in their wedding suits. and there is even a touching image of megan, with her new father—in—law, prince charles. they released the images on their instagram account, thanking all their followers around the world for making the day even more meaningful. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some

of the team on twitter — i'm @martinstanford. hello there. we have seen quite a bit of cloud around today and some showers. similar weather picture really as we start off the new working week, temperatures in the next few days not doing too badly. back to the showers, we had seen heavy ones forming in a line around dorset across parts of the midlands across lincolnshire, and these have been caused by a converging winds. that is the wind kind of bashing together in this zone, and the air is forced to rise and that's where we had seen these heavy downpours along this line of convergence. underneath those, heavy showers we have seen torrential downpours actually across parts of the midlands. and also reports of a funnel cloud into lincolnshire, so storms have been pretty active today. overnight tonight, many of the showers will fade away.

it stays quite murky across some of the east coast with more foggy patches for eastern england, and eastern areas of scotland. and a few showers continue across the northwest. it will not be a cold night though, with all of the cloud around. temperature is between eight and 11 celsius. it seems on monday for many of us they will be a pretty cloudy start of the day, mist and fog patches are lifting, and although for most of us dry through the morning, the afternoon and will see further showers develop, and we are going to have a couple of these convergence zones that are expected to set up across eastern scotland and running down into the eastern parts of england. so those are the zones where you are most likely to see heavy showers. they will be thundery and slow moving in nature. there could be one or two elsewhere, for example, in parts of wales and northern ireland. between the showers not feeling bad with the sunshine, temperatures reach a high of 20 degrees. from monday and tuesday, we have a weak weather front moving its way into northern scotland, that will bring a change in the weather here with the rain. high pressure begins to build in further west bringing some quiter weather. with building pressure, for northern ireland and

parts of western england and wales and probably the midlands, it should be largely dry with sunshine with temperatures reaching a high of 21. but across northern scotland, thick cloud and slightly colder weather and a threat of rain around as well. onto wednesday's forecast, that area of high pressure builds in further, so wednesday should be a quiet day for most parts of the country. again, lots of dry weather with sunshine with the exception for northern scotland where rain will work its way into northern areas, it gets quite cold there, with a low of 10, the further south we see highs of 20 degrees. that's your latest weather, goodbye for now.

this is bbc world news, the headlines... voting has ended in the seventh and final phase of india's general election. the counting of votes begins on thursday, but exit polls suggest prime minister modi, is on course to win a second term in office. 17 people have been injured in egypt, in a bomb blast targetting a tourist bus. the explosion happened in giza, outside the capital cairo, near the new grand egyptian museum. many of the injured are foreign nationals. donald trump has outlined his views on abortion, after several us states passed tough new laws. he said on twitter he was against terminations, except in cases of rape, incest or a serious health risk to the mother. anti euthanasia campaigners have been picketing a hospital in eastern france, to try to prevent doctors withdrawing treatment from a man who's been in a coma for 11 years.