this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. our top stories: fights over brexit claim another british prime minister. theresa may announces her intention to resign. i do so with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country i love. the favourite to succeed her is former foreign secretary borisjohnson, who says he's prepared to leave the eu without a deal if neccessary. in other news, bomb in the french city of lyon injures eight people. and an estimated one million school children in over 100 countries skip classes to demand action to stop climate change.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the race is on to find a new british prime minister after theresa may announced she would step down as leader of the conservative party in two weeks‘ time. in an emotional statement, mrs may said she'd been unable to complete britain's withdrawal from the european union, despite her best efforts. the former foreign secretary boris johnson is the favourite to succeed mrs may. and he's declared that under his leadership britain would leave the european union in october with or without a deal. political editor laura kuenssberg reports. it was time. time to go to work, although the job has slipped away. good morning. lovely weather. for confidantes to choreograph

the exit rather than plan the future. time to confront the truth. a broken government, a broken leader. time to forget distractions. the men in suits walk out. then silence drops. as with every leader, it's lonely at the end. the cameras click just for them. ever since i first stepped through the door behind me as prime minister, i have striven to make the united kingdom a country that works notjust for a privileged few, but for everyone and to honour the result of the eu referendum. i negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbours that protects jobs, our security and our union.

i have done everything i can to convince mps to back that deal. sadly, i have not been able to do so. i tried three times. i believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high. but it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort. so i am today announcing that i will resign as leader of the conservative and unionist party on friday the seventh of june. painful for her inner circle after all the agony of trying to get parliament on side for someone else to try now. it will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honours the result of the referendum. to succeed, he or she will have to find consensus in parliament where i have not. such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise. but her efforts to deal first with her party, then labour, came crashing down. with a country watching on,

this inscrutable leader, human after all. this country is a union, notjust a family of four nations, but a union of people. all of us — whatever our background, the colour of our skin or who we love — we stand together and together we have a great future. our politics may be under strain, but there is so much that is good about this country, so much to be proud of, so much to be optimistic about. i will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold. the second female prime minister but certainly not the last. i do so with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country i love. for so long, theresa may fought

and fought to hold on to her party, to hold on to her premiership, but that struggle is now exhausted, her time in office nearly done. there's no immediate exit. she'll stay until a new leader is chosen by the tory party at the end ofjuly. but who? coy for now. i found it moving actually. i think the prime minister's put her heart and soul into trying to do the best for this country at a difficult time, facing a challenging climate in parliament. and i know that the prime minister has always striven to do what she believes is best for this country. the first cabinet minister in a race of rivals confirmed in a meeting in his constituency he'd run just a few hours later. her passion was to deliver the referendum results, the brexit referendum results. that will now be someone else‘s responsibility, and whoever succeeds

in doing that will know that she laid the foundations. and no prizes for guessing who will also be one of a cast of maybe more than a dozen, speaking at a conference in switzerland today. i do not wish to elaborate now on what we are going to do and how we are going to do it, but believe me you will be hearing possibly more about that than you necessarily want to hear. laughter you cannot see power, you cannot touch power, but in this street you feel it profoundly when it has fallen away. that report by laura kuenssberg. well, whoever steps in to number 10 as prime minister, he or she will have the same basic challenge as theresa may — that is trying to deliver brexit while parliament seems incapable of agreeing on a way forward.

and to underline the scale of the challenge, the european union says the brexit agreement which it reached with theresa may remains the only offer on the table, and that her resignation doesn't change its position. so what lies ahead for the brexit process? our deputy political editor john pienaar reports. everyone expected this — the fourth tory premier in a row forced out over europe. the only real shock was seeing her heartbreak on show. now the same deadlock that brought theresa may down is waiting for the next one. well, the numbers have not changed in parliament. the challenge, the significant challenge, of seeing that we leave the eu, deliver on the brexit referendum with a deal, which remains firmly in our national interest, that challenge still firmly remains. what do we want? brexit! the brexiteers are strong and getting stronger, among conservative mps and their democratic unionist allies. and with nigel farage scooping up tory supporters, pressure for a tough line

on brexit won't let up. until we deliver brexit, nothing else really counts. if we don't deliver brexit, there won't be a conservative party, so there's no point in talking about other things until we deliver brexit. for months, this issue's split the country. at westminster, rival factions are dug in deep. if all we do is talk about brexit and we pivot towards no deal, we will not move in the polls, and eventually we will simply hand the keys of number io tojeremy corbyn. the riders and runners for leader are off. expect lots of promises to make up for lost time and get a better deal in brussels that mps can get behind. but so far, summit after summit, nothing but failure, staying close to eu rules and standards rejected by mps, including those meant to avoid a hard eu border with ireland. yesterday, the european commission president told german tv...

"what can someone else achieve that she didn't?" and the irish leader, voting today, is saying britain could see a general election, a new referendum, maybe a no—deal brexit. british politics is consumed by brexit, and will be consumed by brexit for a very long time. it means that we now enter a new phase when it comes to brexit, and a phase that may be a very dangerous one for ireland. if leadership campaign promises to get a better deal in brussels fall flat, and leaving without a deal is all that's left, there's no clear way for mps to stop that happening. and with most mps opposed to leaving with no deal, another constitutional crisis may well be on the cards. so if clarity about brexit is what britain needs most, the painful end of yet another premiership mayjust have achieved nothing at all. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster.

what does mrs may's departure mean for brexit? here's political correspondent jessica parker on what ms may's departure means for brexit. that's a big, big question, and it will depend on whoever succeeds her. so you're going to get people saying that what needs to happen now is that britain, the uk, needs to be prepared to leave without an agreement come what may. if an agreement can't be reached by that new deadline of the end of october, i'm sure there will also be the argument being made that a renegotiation needs to happen with the eu, although, of course, the eu has been pretty clear that when it comes to the withdrawal agreement, the divorce element of the deal, they're not up for any kind of renegotiation. so i think different candidates will be offering out different visions in terms of how to take brexit forward, but of course i think as we learn from theresa may's premiership — having a plan is one thing, making it happen quite another. and the favourite emerging, certainlyjudging by the front pages that we were just going through, is the former foreign secretary borisjohnson. with clearly strong brexit credentials, and also someone very well—known on the international

stage because of his formerjob? yes, former foreign secretary and a job that some said he didn't do particularly well. he certainly had his critics during his time as foreign secretary. well—known here as well in the uk, and those advocating borisjohnson‘s cause will say he is well known amongst the public, that he can really take the fight in any upcoming general election whenever a general election may occur. his critics don't much like his record as a former foreign secretary, didn't like the way in which he fought the referendum. so while there will be his very keen advocates, there will also be some very strong critics but of course at the moment, as you say, he is seen to be the frontrunner but worth mentioning, it's often the case in these tory leadership races that the frontrunner isn't the one

that ends up walking into number 10 downing st. we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. of course, in terms of the timetable here, we're looking at conservative mps whittling the candidates down to two roughly around the end ofjune, and the new leader being in place when the membership has had its say towards the end ofjuly. it's worth underlining for viewers around the world that theresa may's departure does not trigger a general election, does it, that people in the uk do not now have a vote on who will lead the country through this most challenging and historic period. you're absolutely right. so what happens here in the uk is that people elect a local representative via their constituency. that representative is usually a member of a party, and whichever party gains the largest number of votes, or the largest number of seats i should say, their leader will become prime minister, or in theresa may's

case, of course she runs a confidence—and—supply arrangement with the democratic unionist party because she didn't win enough seats to form a majority in 2017. so as things stand, what will happen is actually around 100,000 people who are members of the conservative party are going to choose their conservative party leader, and because the conservative party is the largest party in parliament, that person will then become prime minister. that's not to say we couldn't see some kind of general election down the line, maybe if the brexit deadlock continues and it's seen as one of the only ways to try and break that, but for now, you're quite right, whoever the conservative party choose as their leader will walk into the door of number 10. jessica parker there. european leaders are now facing the prospect of a new prime minister with a new approach to the brexit process, after years of complex negotiations and delays. so what will change after theresa may. 0ur europe editor katya adler is in brussels. first off, what doesn't change

is that eu leaders remain fed up with the brexit process, which they feel has been going on and on, and the change of prime minister threatens to lengthen that process even more. where they do expect change is they think that the new prime minister will want to come here to brussels to try to renegotiate the brexit deal, particularly that controversial backstop guarantee on the irish border, and brussels was quick to say today that it would not be budging. eu leaders feel they have gone around that block so many times over the last two years, and they point out that theresa may and her cabinet signed off on the brexit deal back in november. but the concern here is that a new, maybe more hard—line, prime minister could use what one eu diplomat described to me today as "dirty tactics" if they do not get their way, such as holding up eu business, maybe vetoing the next eu budget. another worry here is that that next prime minister could be willing to trigger a costly no—deal brexit, something the eu never really believed that theresa may was willing to do.

now, however her successor deals with the eu will affect how open eu leaders are to offering a new brexit extension to the uk. the current one runs out on the 31st of october and the assumption here is that the next prime minister will want more time to try to renegotiate the brexit deal, and possibly to hold a new general election. katya adler in brussels. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: from japan to germany, and 100 countries in between, school children skip classes to demand action against climate change. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, an

event to aid relief in africa. hughes started forming at seven a.m.. it led to full-scale rides as a.m.. it led to full-scale rides as a deliverable fans broke out of the area. the belgian police lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of the father of the tragic death of the father of the indian people on the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an. the chatshow has made her one of the richest people on the planet. jerry kelly well, ginger spice, has left the spice girls.|j do not believe it. she is girl power. not her, why! i'm ben bland.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: britain's conservative party politicians are racing to be the one to replace theresa may, after the prime minister said she would step down over her failure to deliver brexit. the favouite to succeed her is former foreign secretary, borisjohnson, who says he's prepared to leave the eu without a deal if neccessary. two abortion and healthcare providers, the american civil liberties union and planned parenthood, are suing the state of alabama over its ban on abortion. the ban was signed last week and offers no exceptions for rape or incest. anti—abortion activists hope the ban will be brought before the us supreme court, and lead to a review of federal judgements on abortion. alexa kolbi—molinas is the senior attorney at the aclu, and told me on what basis they were suing alabama. we are bringing this lawsuit on the basis that this ban is blatantly unconstitutional. it violates more than four

decades of supreme court precedent holding that states cannot do what alabama just did, which is ban abortion. but if this did go to the supreme court eventually is there not a risk that it could result in achieving the exact opposite of what you want to achieve, in that there could be a change to the federal position on abortion? well, it's very early days, i think, to say that about this case in particular. it takes years for cases to work their way through the courts. what i actually think is important for people to realise is that the supreme court doesn't need to take up an abortion ban if it's going to overturn roe v wade. there are a number of cases in the pipeline, a number of restrictions that have been passed across the country, and any one of those could, if the supreme court took it, be the grounds to overturn roe v wade. but of course we are fighting very hard to ensure that doesn't happen.

just to clarify for our viewers, the roe v wade case, that is the 1973 supreme court decision which made abortion legal throughout the united states. i just wonder, given that that is the legal precedent, how has the state of alabama gone ahead with this ban? presumably they must feel that somehow it's compatible with that ruling? that is a great question, and in fact the sponsor of the bill, the author of the bill, and even the governor of alabama herself have all stated that they know it's unconstitutional. they know that it's going to be blocked by the courts. and yet they still feel emboldened, emboldened by president trump's anti—abortion agenda, emboldened by the restrictions they have been pushing over the years, to pass this extreme ban anyway. they know it's unconstitutional. an explosive device has gone off in a shopping street

in the french city of lyon, injuring eight people. the blast happened outside a bakery near the city centre, as hugh schofield reports. the device went off at 530 pm on a busy pedestrian shopping street near lyon shopping centre. it contained nails, nuts and bolts. victims had cut to their legs. translation: nails, nuts and bolts. victims had cut to their legs. translationzlj was working, serving people and all ofa was working, serving people and all of a sudden we heard a big boom. we thought it was related to something in work but it was an abandoned package. ifound in work but it was an abandoned package. i found six victims lying on the ground with lots of blood flowing. we could not do much. we called the fire department and the police then we let them do their job. reports suggest a man on a bicycle was seen depositing a back

at the scene shortly before the explosion. he is described as between 30 and 35 years old and is 110w between 30 and 35 years old and is now being searched for by police. school students are holding strikes in countries around the world today to demand action on climate change. organisers have said more than a million people are expected join in at least 110 countries. the strikes were sparked by the swedish student greta thunberg, whose solo protest outside sweden's parliament last year has led to movements across the world known as fridays for future. our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. from marchers in the streets of spain... ..to demonstrations in india... ..and protests in new zealand. around the world, the school strike movement continues to grow, calling for urgent action on climate change. basically we have two demands.

we want to have a more ambitious zero carbon act but also, we are wanting the government to declare a climate emergency. it's fundamental to be here, fundamental that everyone takes part in the strikes on the 24th of may and also every single week. we are putting pressure on the governments and we want them to act fast and now. leading the protests in sweden, 16—year—old greta thunberg. her decision to boycott classes in 2018 has prompted young people around the world to follow suit. translation: some adults think it is wrong for us to go on strike instead of going to school, that we instead should study so that we can make a difference in the future. but the fact that it will be too late when we are finished with our studies is something they ignore. and the organisers say today's global strike is their biggest yet. it comes as global temperatures are rising.

the last four years have been the warmest on record and the un says major changes are now needed. that will mean cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 and ending our dependence on fossilfuels. the students say it's their future that's at stake and they are now calling for older generations tojoin their protests later this year. but while they're highlighting this global issue, it is not yet clear if it will prompt the action from governments they demand. rebecca morelle, bbc news. let's head to peru now and an extraordinary story about generosity and hard work. the generosity came from a middle eastern businessman. the hard work was shown by a school boy who was struggling to find somewhere to do his studies. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. nighttime in this city. a young boy

doing his homework under a lamp post. the 12—year—old had little choice. there is no electricity back home. a few weeks later and he is welcoming a businessman who saw the images on social media and was so impressed by his academic dedication, he decided to give him a new home and his classmates are refurbished school.|j new home and his classmates are refurbished school. i would like to have a new class, new computer, a new generation class in school in the name of victor and we will make this a school very ideal and protected for all the kids. the businessman says he suffered a tough childhood and does not want children neglected to experience the same thing. translation: neglected to experience the same thing. translationzlj neglected to experience the same thing. translation: i am happy they are helping me to build my little house. it is humble and always will

be. thanks also for building our school. the businessman also handed over a wallet full of cash and will be back for the inauguration of the new school and the new home. now the young boy will never have to study on the streets again. they are arguably the most famous girl band in the world. spice girls released a series of number one hits before raking up. two decades later they have kicked their reunion tour. giving fans what they really, really want, they gave their first performance together since the closing ceremony of the olympics. they will play 13 dates over the next few weeks without victoria

beckham who now has her own fashion label. that is it for the moment. thanks for watching. hello there. well, as you've probably already heard, it's not going to be a heatwave this bank holiday weekend. it's turning cooler and there is some rain in the forecast, but it's not going to be a washout by any means. there is sunshine around. most of the rain is likely to be across more northern and western parts of the uk, but by sunday night it's a bank holiday monday and it will be turning cooler for all, with north—westerly winds setting in. this is the pressure chart for this morning. we've got this weak weather front gradually easing into the north—west corner of the country as the day wears on. that will produce thick outbreaks of rain in northern ireland and much of scotland as the day wears on. further south, the best of the sunshine. staying dry for many places, skies turning hazy across the south—west as the cloud begins to build. temperatures reaching maybe 23

degrees in the south—east. a little bit cooler across scotland with all that rain and the breeze. more weather fronts moving in during tonight. it's going to be heavy rain in places and that rain also arriving across northern and western england as well, the south—east continuing to stay dry, with temperatures here around 11—13, actually quite a mild night for many because of the cloud, the breeze and the rain. low pressure firmly in control as we head into sunday. this cold front is the one that will bring the cooler air to the country as it continues to spread its way south and east. it will do so quite quickly, i think. bursts of rain eventually reaching east anglia under south—east during sunday afternoon. skies brightening up, one or two showers, at least it's an improvement since the afternoon. 20—21 in the south—east early on, but as that cold front moves through, the cooler hour will arrive here as well. it does so during sunday night, opening the floodgates for north—westerly. quite a brisk north—westerly.

this next feature will bring more wet weather to northern parts of the country, showers or even longer spells of rain here, but through bank holiday monday it looks like it will be a day of sunshine and showers for northern ireland, england and wales. some of those showers will be happy across western areas and quite blustery too. the further east you are, the better chance you have of staying dry and seeing sunshine. noticeably cooler for everybody. beyond bank holiday monday to tuesday, a northerly wind for a while, but will feel quite chilly, feeding and further showers at times. again, there will be some sunshine around but it is pretty unsettled for the upcoming week. it is going to feel quite cooler times, most of the showers across northern areas, with some sunshine and signs of things warming up a bit across southern areas the end of the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

a number of british conservative politicians have joined the race to replace the prime minister theresa may after she announced she will be stepping down. the former foreign secretary borisjohnson is seen as the frontrunner. the new leader is expected to be in post by the end ofjuly. the president of the european commission jean—claudejuncker has made it clear that finishing the brexit process is the eu's primary concern. his spokeswoman said mrjuncker would establish working relations with any new british leader. the irish prime minister warned that negotiations could now enter a dangerous new phase. a suspected parcel bomb has exploded in a central district of the french city of lyon. local police say eight people were lightly wounded by the blast in a shopping street. local media are reporting that the improvised device had been filled with nails, bolts and screws. now on bbc news, it's time for click.