this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. my name's mike embley — our main headlines: monday's parliamentary election in canada. the liberal party led byjustin trudeau is projected to form a minority government. the polls have started closing across canada's six time zones. i'm lyse doucet in toronto, bringing you the latest results of the votes are counted. the other main stories this hour: israel's long—standing prime minister benjamin netanyahu fails to form a government, after two inconclusive elections. his rival benny gantz now gets his chance. japan's new emperor naruhito will formally ascend the chrysanthemum throne in the next hour. and northern ireland decriminalises abortion and same—sex marriage despite a last ditch

attempt to derail the move. hello. votes are being counted in canada's parliamentary elections and the result is likely to be among the closest the country has ever seen. neither the liberals of prime ministerjustin trudeau nor the conservatives led by andrew scheer are now expected to win outright. cbc is projecting that the liberals will form a minority government. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in toronto. lyse. welcome to toronto in the centre of canada as we watch the result as they come in. polling station after polling station across this country, the votes are being counted and victories being declared. 338 riding in alland victories being declared. 338 riding in all and still

a lot of votes to be counted. there are already projections thatjustin trudeau ‘s liberals will form a minority in the next parliament. but it is quite stunning, the results seen so far. liberals and the conservatives have at this point, almost exactly the same percentage of the popular vote. just under 34%. there are 97 seats for the liberals, 84 for the conservatives. quebec party had been expected to make a comeback and so far they have 19 seats. the new democratic party was, according to analysis, said they had run a good campaign but the results are disappointing so far. only three seats and only one seat so far for the greens but the night is still young. and the night so far seems to belong to the liberal party. that's going to their headquarters in montreal. our

correspondent is there and chris, it was declared that justin trudeau won his seat in montreal. there must have been cheers there but there have been cheering for over an hour now. cheers there but there have been cheering for over an hour nowlj must cheering for over an hour now.|j must say, when i arrived here a few hours ago it felt tense and nervous. there was a real sense from the liberal party that they were watching this election closely and not quite sure what would happen. the mood has completely changed in the last hour. cheers of gone up time and time again with a chant of four more years. they regard this as being a real victory. if you consider that they were neck and neckin consider that they were neck and neck in the polls for so long, right throughout the campaign but on election night itself there has been a big change and the liberals have managed to squeeze out the conservatives and it is likely they will now form a minority government. let's speak to one of the liberal

party strategist. i did say it was tense and nervous. i mean, it has been a difficult campaign. it has been a difficult campaign. it has been tense and close. and if you look back seven or eight months, the liberals were trailing. we were 12 points behind. so we have been clawing our way back and gaining momentum yet slipping and sliding. so tired and it was impossible to call. what do you think has made the difference. if it has been a difficult campaign and it has been focused on your leader. they have been questions about his past and his political record and he has had a difficult time during the campaign. he has the tonight is a validation of him and of the party and of the party message. when people got to the ballot box they thought about what was at stake to climate change, jobs, the economy and also a positive vision for the country. and what has happened over the last few days is we saw

a lot of nastiness from the conservative party and people started to have a question in their head, what kind of leader do we want, what kind of country will we be ? leader do we want, what kind of country will we be? you are looking to bea country will we be? you are looking to be a government in a tight position and potentially are we talking about trying to look at forming a coalition maybe with the new democrats? or are you happy to go it alone? i think they will go it alone. there are many questions that will arise over the next few days and depending on how strong a minority it is, still in the territory potentially of a majority so territory potentially of a majority so the entire west coast of the country is yet to come in. we will see. i think it would be happy with a sizeable minority, i think that is fairto a sizeable minority, i think that is fair to say. but going forward, if you are a minority that means on issue by issue you will have to look for votes from elsewhere. you spoke about climate change and the environment. there are some parties that want you to move further in

that want you to move further in that direction such as the new democrats and the greens. would change your agenda going forward? especially if it is a strong minority than canadians have sent a message to all the parties on how they want to move forward. that will matter a lot. and there is concern among the value shared between the parties and there is enough, around their that with a strong and disciplined house leader and whether we can get vote. we can't ignore the party atmosphere behind you because these are very happy people. and if they are happy, it is, i suspect, because justin trudeau they are happy, it is, i suspect, becausejustin trudeau has come through and they are big supporters of him. we mentioned that it has been a nasty election, dirty one at times. do you think the conservatives practice of focusing on the leader backfired?”

conservatives practice of focusing on the leader backfired? i think this is an indictment on them. i think they lost the trust of canadians that there was a huge backlash to the negativity and the nastiness that permeated the campaign didl nastiness that permeated the campaign did i think they will look ha rd campaign did i think they will look hard at their own leader and the type of campaign that they run. but you will need to look at how you go forward and perhaps you will need to look at how you go forward and perhaszustin trudeau has to think about what he does in the future as well. this has been so close and so tight that every party is going to need to look inwards. that i think they are also taking their cue from canadians. right now we look at about 160 seats. hundred 72 majority is a strong showing in the selection. as you can tell, from the selection. as you can tell, from the cheering and the screaming going on throughout the interview there are happy people here but it is true that things change now. certainly the liberals want to make sure that they had the most the seats. scheer has said time and time again if they had the most seats would justin

trudeau have the moral mandate to lead. it seems that he does. no doubt will come back to you again because we get reports thatjustin trudeau is preparing to speak to his supporters. not the right moment yet but they are anticipating the moment sometime soon when a clearer picture emerges. but what we know so far is that there is a clear trend towards the liberals of justin that there is a clear trend towards the liberals ofjustin trudeau and the liberals ofjustin trudeau and the projections are that they will form a minority in the next canadian parliament but it is so close. let's have a closer look at the results so far. we arejoined by have a closer look at the results so far. we are joined by two experts on the matter david came all the way from ottawa he is a dominant political science commentator. and we have been looking at the results and noting that it is a razor thin

martin —— margin in the last few minutes we have seen the conservatives start to take more raw votes. a greater share of the percentage of popular vote in canada. so what a bitter and frustrating night for conservatives who, if this trend continues through the evening, will see their share of popular vote, more people cast ballots for them but they have fallen short in the sheet —— seat count. so voter efficiency in the first past the post parliamentary system where you make it the most seats but not the most votes. the liberals were because this is a victory saying that yes, we won. they are benefiting basically from what we are seeing is a shift from the ndp and the people who said that they would vote ndp but was still open to changing their mind in the dying days of the campaign, who looked like they switched over to the liberals. conservatives always knew what their vote base was going to be. they knew it was

locked in an solid and they were waiting to see what would happen with vote splitting and we are having an indication of the tonight. perhaps the biggest irony is thatjustin trudeau came to power in 2015 promising election reform. it was a promise he broke and it could be very different tonight had the promise. indeed and perhaps there is a reason he did not keep the promise after all. would be that strategically for political reasons the party knew that the prime minister knew that that was the right move for the liberals, perhaps not the right move or canadian democracy. in the days to come... this is not a clean win for the liberals underjustin trudeau. they will take it, they will take it anywhere they can get it but they cannot necessarily say they have a mandate to govern with less than 34% of popular vote which is where they are at this hour tonight. let's see how the numbers change and what the final call is but without small a

share of the popular vote, they will have to turn to other parties, the quebec party, the greens, the ndp, perhaps even the conservatives on issues of pipeline policy in order to get their agenda and mandate. and of course we will have to deal with an electorate who perhaps have some mixed views and misgivings about how things fell out tonight. so that is the popular vote and how it is going to but it is the seats that matter. and we have been listening to the cheering arising again and again from party had orders in montreal. they were worried when the polls open today. perhaps for them this is better—than—expected. open today. perhaps for them this is better—than—expectedl open today. perhaps for them this is better-than-expected. i will start with a fun fact the last time this happened, that one party formed party with fewer votes was in 1979 whenjoe party with fewer votes was in 1979 when joe clark defeated justin party with fewer votes was in 1979 whenjoe clark defeated justin 's father. this is unprecedented in canadian history. nonetheless i suspect the locals were holding

their breath today but they were confident enough in the final days of the campaign and i think they knew they had an efficient vote and a very good at out the vote game and the fact that canadians have a history of going to the ballot locks and holding noses in voting liberal. explained the numbers in this vast federal system. most of the seats are here in ontario where we are and in quebec where chris butler is and the city of montreal. these seeds are still being counted. but do you think the trend is clear? yes. i trust the projections. it is in line with what the pollsters and folks we re with what the pollsters and folks were saying for quite some time. this is what we expected. again, perhaps not what the liberals would have preferred but i think the country was ready for a minority government. and ultimately we have a long history of punishing governments a little bit in giving them another chance and we can

see in two years another election if that returns another liberal majority. it is a rare thing, although, to see a majority government, particularly one swept in with as much of a share both the parliamentary seat count and the popular vote four years ago, to find itself in a position where we'll have to literally go cap in hand to the other parties to govern. we both agree that that is a really rare thing. usually if a party wednesday first majority mandate it gets a second one in the second term. so incumbency was not enough for the liberals to be able to pick up that second majority. again, a big sigh of relief for the liberals tonight but not where they thought they would be 1.5 years ago. the last time it happened was to appear elliott trudeau in 1972. he lost to a minority in 1972 and was back with a minority in 1972 and was back with a majority in 1974. sometimes we are a majority in 1974. sometimes we are a fickle country. and with a prominent pollster by your side,

will they say this is one of the few elections where we got this right i wa nt to elections where we got this right i want to defend it. i think they get it right often. they may not always call majority minority but they get within the margin of error pretty often and they are getting better. i trust them. david is right. what is key in polling industry and in the measurements that we do is about popular vote share. we went in to this last weekend saying, you know, in terms of the popular vote this will fall out evenly for the liberals and the conservatives and thatis liberals and the conservatives and that is exactly what we see tonight. the question is always how do the votes translate at a riding by riding level and how will they ' 7 riding level and how will they split? david and shachi, thank you for joining split? david and shachi, thank you forjoining us as we continue this coverage of the canadian election.

ballot by ballot, polling station by polling station, riding vibrating and province by province to the votes are being counted. canadians have decided and it seems they have decided that the liberal party will return to power with far fewer seat but, as we have been reporting, it looks like the share of popular vote so far in the first past the post system is almost roughly the same for the liberals and the conservatives. so even when lignite is over, will still be battles to come. “— is over, will still be battles to come. —— so even when the night is over there will still be battles to come. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: japan prepares for the formal enthronement of emperor naruhito. a historic moment that many of his victims have waited for for decades. the former dictator in the dock, older, slimmer, and,

as he sat down, obedient enough. dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside korem, it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century. the depressing conclusion, in argentina today, it's actually cheaper to paper your walls with money. we've had controversies in the past with great britain. but as good friends, we've always found a good and lasting solution. concorde bows out in style. after almost three decades in service, an aircraft that enthralled its many admirers for so long taxis home one last time. this is bbc world

news, the latest headlines: canadians vote in one of the country's closest elections ever — to decide whether to give justin trudeau's party a second term. his party may have to form a minority government. benjamin netanyahu, israeli's prime minister for the past decade, has said he is giving up efforts to form a new coalition government. the past two parliamentary elections have been inconclusive and the way is now clear for mr netanyahu's more centrist rival, benny gantz, to try to form a government. gareth barlow has the details. israelis have gone to the polls twice in 2019, and on both occasions, there's been no clear winner. after april's election, benjamin neta nyahu struggled to form a coalition. so another vote was held in september. but once again, he's failed to find unity. translation: good evening, citizens of israel. a short while ago i informed the president that i am returning him the mandate to form a government. since the receiving the mandate, i worked unceasingly,

both openly and secretly to form a broad, national unity government. it means the man seen here on the left, benny gantz, who served as head of the military under benjamin netanyahu, will try to form his own coalition. his blue and white party has already been backed by israeli—arab politicians, but it will need more support. benjamin gantz. he's ruled out working with the prime minister as benjamin netanyahu is facing corruption investigations. there's just 28 days to form a government. if benny gantz fails, a third candidate may be found, or a third election may be held. gareth barlow, bbc news. the speaker of the house of commons has blocked an attempt by the british government to hold another meaningful vote on borisjohnson's brexit deal. the prime minister was hoping to win approval for the agreement to allow the uk to leave the european union, as he's promised, at the end

of the month. many members of parliament are worried they don't have enough time to scrutinise all 110 pages of the bill that would turn mrjohnson's brexit deal into law. world leaders and foreign royalty are gathering to attend the enthronement of japan's emperor naruhito. the ceremony officially marks the emperor's ascension to the chrysanthemum throne. his father abdicated earlier this year. our correspondent, mariko oi, is in tokyo. despite the weather it is a significant day forjapan. of course, for many viewers who were watching us back in may, you might be wondering "didn't they have this ceremony for emperor naruhito to take the throne?" and it did happen. on the first of may, he took the throne and, of course, the new era, reiwa, started then as well. it's not uncommon, i have to say, for these events to take place over several years, in fact,

because usually a new emperor takes the throne after the passing of the previous emperor. of course this time it's different. his father stepped down in the first abdication in more than two centuries. and that's why it feels a bit odd that there are was a ceremony then and there is a ceremony later today. but today's event is really to introduce emperor naruhito and empress masako to the world. and that's why, as you mentioned, 2000 guests are expected to attend the event later today, starting at 1:00pm local time, including many foreign guests who have flown in just to attend this event. there was a lot of speculation who might attend the event, even as late as yesterday there were reports that carrie lam, the chief executive of hong kong, might attend. but in the latest list we were given yesterday her name wasn't on it. but there are many foreign royals, including prince charles who will be attending the ceremony today. and there will be a tea party and then a banquet hosted by the prime minister,

shinzo abe. these are life pictures from inside the pine hall in the japanese palace. many find this the high point of the two menial transition. that it is said, goes back to 2000 yea rs. we that it is said, goes back to 2000 years. we are expected to see macro to in elaborate multilayered dress. including many foreign dignitaries and royals among the guests stop abortion has been decriminalised in northern ireland and same—sex marriage is to be legalised. there was a late attempt to change a law passed at westminster, earlier this year — the northern ireland assembly sat for the first time in nearly three

years to hear the arguments. our ireland correspondent, emma vardy has the story. chanting: our bodies, our lives, our right to decide. their call has been heard. at midnight tonight, a law passed by mps in westminster will take effect, overturning northern ireland's near total ban on abortion and legalising same—sex marriage. finally, our rights and our healthcare are being brought into the 21st century. this has been a long time coming. thousands of women in northern ireland have campaigned for this change. abortion has been illegal even in cases of rape. denise was unable to terminate her pregnancy after she was told her baby had a fatal condition and was likely to die in the womb. when you get that news, it hits you like a bus, you just can't believe what you're hearing. i was too sick to travel, which left me with the experience of being trapped in northern ireland and in the vulnerable state of being pregnant with a child that was going to die. having been through that experience, what does this mean to you today? it's a victory for women's rights and it's a time of celebration on that cause. but it's also a time to remember the many victims of northern ireland's

barbaric and cruel laws. we pray, father, for you to turn around and bring your presence... the change in the law is extremely contentious, vehemently opposed by a number of northern ireland's religious and anti—abortion groups. this is an imposition from westminster, it's not wanted in northern ireland. this is an historic day, it's the day when the people of northern ireland will have to face the reality that abortion has been forced on us against our will. ..to consider a private member's bill on the defence of the unborn child. inside, an attempt led by the democratic unionist party to thwart the change. sinn fein refused to take part, calling it a cynical political stu nt. and less than an hour after they arrived, the dup walked out. it is a very sad day and i know some people will seek to celebrate today. i would say to those people, think of those of us who are sad today and who believe that this is an affront to human dignity and to

human life. what do we want? equal rights. and another big moment. from tonight, same—sex couples in northern ireland will be able to marry. there will be many people who celebrate what is a significant moment of social change here today. but on all sides of this debate, there is resentment and frustration that it was westminster that intervened and that northern ireland is still without a functioning assembly for local people to take these historic decisions themselves. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. and with much of the news dominated by canada's local election, let us ta ke by canada's local election, let us take you to montreal. this is the scene of the liberal party headquarters where justin scene of the liberal party headquarters wherejustin trudeau is expected to appear very shortly because of if he appears, of course we will stay with it. to keep you up—to—date, canada has been deciding the shape of its next parliament. 27.4 million voters involved with

a 40 day election campaign. votes are still being count —— counted and the result is likely to be the closest the country has ever seen. needed deliverables, led byjustin trudeau, nor the conservatives led by andrew scheer but it is expected the liberals will form a minority government. they were neck and neck in the polls for a long time and at the last elections, the liberal is one with 177 seats. it will be much, much tighter than that now, quite clearly. as our correspondent has been saying, canada prides itself of being a nation of consensus and shared values and there is a big middleground was it make a difference if the conservatives or the liberals pull ahead and it will matter which of the smaller parties holds the balance of power. the democratic power —— party and the greens are likely to win more seats. we will keep you updated. much more on all of the news on the bbc news website, any time, thank you for

watching. hello there. pressure will be building in for tuesday morning, so it looks like many places will start dry. you can see this area of high pressure pushing in from the south—west keeping this weather front at bay. mainly affecting the far north of the country to start the day. we will have lost that weather front across the south—east so drier there too. so it's going to be quite a chilly start to tuesday, with some mist and fog around, particularly where those skies clear and the temperatures really drop. so dont be surprised if you see scenes like this across some central and southern parts of england and wales to greet us this morning. now, that mist and fog could linger on for a few hours, but it should tend to lift and break and then we should see a good deal of dry weather with some sunshine across england and wales. a vast improvement across the south—east. more cloud further north, certainly for scotland and northern ireland. most of the rain in the far north, with many places staying dry. temperatures 12—15 degrees in the south. so that should feel quite pleasant.

and then through tuesday night it stays dry, variable cloud across england and wales. stays breezy, though, for scotland, northern ireland, with rain tending to flirt with the north—west corner. temperature wise, again chilly in one or two spots, particularly where skies clear. so on into wednesday, we hold on to the fine weather, i think, across much of the south—east. we have this weather front still bringing wet and windy weather to the far north—west. and that low pressure system across spain and france bringing a lot of rain and mayjust influence the weather across the south—east. a weather front here sending more cloud perhaps one or two showers. for the north and the west it stays windy. outbreaks of rain, which will become more persistent in parts of northern ireland, western scotland. but in between again a slice of dry weather. hose temperatures 12—15 degrees. —— those temperatures 12—15 degrees. as we head on into thursday, it looks like that front in the south—east may bring a little bit of rain. but we've got low pressure to the north—west which will push in to bring a spell of windy weather here. now, we could see gales or even severe gales for a time across western scotland.

showers or even longer spells of rain here. one or two showers further south, particularly in south—east where we will have that weak weather front. in between, some good spells of sunshine and again those temperatures around the low to mid—teens celsius. low pressure then clears off to the north to end the week. we could see something a little bit drier once again. but then we look to the south—west, this new area of low pressure will slide into bring increasing cloud and rain through the day. but we start friday off on a dry note for many, with sunshine, a few showers in the north, which will be wintry on the hills. there will be some cold there across northern areas so as this wet and windy weather pushes northwards we could see some snow fall on the higher ground of scotland. but it will be milder in the south.

canadians have been voting in what's billed as one of the country's closest elections ever — leaving the future of prime ministerjustin trudeau in doubt. polls suggest neither his liberal party, nor the rival conservatives will win a clear majority. very early results suggest the liberals have an early lead. in the next half hour, japan's new emperor naruhito will formally ascend the chrysanthemum throne in a ceremony in tokyo. naruhito became emperor on may 1st upon the abdication of his father. but to many japanese, today is the highpoint of the imperial transition. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has said he is giving up efforts to form a new coalition government after september's inconclusive parliamentary election. he announcement clears the way for his centrist rival, benny gantz, to try to form a government. he'll have 28 days to negotiate. now on bbc news, stephen sackur speaks to catalan minister for foreign action, alfred bosch.

welcome to