welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. welcome if you watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories: in france's regional elections, the far—right party of marine le pen has failed to make the electoral breakthrough it was hoping for. still no deal on reviving the iran nuclear agreement, while israel's new prime minister urges world powers not to negotiate with tehran. nine children and one adult have been killed in a crash involving 18 vehicles in the us state of alabama. as president biden announces he's heading to raleigh in north carolina later this week to encourage more people we look at why the vaccine discrepancies around the country are more

than party politics. can the olympic games remain covid—free? the challenge to keep athletes safe as one member of uganda's squad becomes the first to test positive in tokyo. hello, thanks for joining hello, thanks forjoining us. voters in france have delivered a rebuff to president macron but also his far right rival marine le pen in the first round of regional elections. her party failed to make predicted big gains and the president public centrists party did not clear 10% threshold to make it to the second round of voting in one region. they were billed as a breakthrough moment for marine

le pen's national valley party. but when the exit polls came out, there was little to celebrate. they are predicted to win 19% of celebrate. they are predicted to win19% of all votes behind the centre—right republicans on 27%. just one year before the presidential election, it is not the result she had wanted. translation: the not the result she had wanted. translation:— not the result she had wanted. translation: the distortion of votinu translation: the distortion of voting intentions _ translation: the distortion of voting intentions measured - translation: the distortion of voting intentions measured by l voting intentions measured by the opinion polls were the real votes. i say to you with gravity and solemnity, it is only one explanation— al voters did not turn out. the only one explanation- al voters did not turn out.— did not turn out. the vote was marred by _ did not turn out. the vote was marred by a — did not turn out. the vote was marred by a record _ did not turn out. the vote was marred by a record low- did not turn out. the vote was| marred by a record low turnout with over 66% of voters abstaining. the relaxing of coronavirus restrictions and some good weather i have partly been to blame. translation: i came to have lunch and i wasn't aware there were elections today. i don't think i will go and vote. i don't even know what these elections are for.

in recent years, the national rally has attempted to detoxify its image, making a big pitch to moderate right—wing voters on issues such as crime and the problems of globalisation. in this electoral test, it seems the centre—right was able to fend them off. translation: here, we loosen, we loosen to break them, the jaws of the national rally, the demagoguery, the sterile proposals, their intolerance, everything that divides and everything that divides and everything that divides and everything that is the national rally. everything that is the national rall . . , , �* , rally. the french president's centrist the _ rally. the french president's centrist the republic - rally. the french president's centrist the republic on - rally. the french president's centrist the republic on the l centrist the republic on the move party had a similarly dismal night with the predicted ii% of dismal night with the predicted ii% of the vote share. in some regions such as the northern, they failed to reach the 10% threshold to advance to the second round of voting in one week's time. while the low turnout and local nature of these elections are very

different to the presidential poll next year, they do suggest the centre—right in france beholding against the far right. mr macron, it seems, willalso right. mr macron, it seems, will also have an uphill battle to secure a second term. israel's prime minister has called on the us and its allies to "wake up" to the threat of iran. naftali bennett making that warning. the warning comes as diplomats meeting in vienna report progress on reviving a landmark deal to limit the country's nuclear programme — a deal the us withdrew from under president donald trump. there are though, still gaps between the sides, as mark lobel reports. world powers have been negotiating with iran since april to stop it from being able to build a nuclear bomb. in return, iran wants rid of sanctions harming its ailing economy. as both sides agreed to revive a previously agreed deal, the mood music sounds good from iran, the eu and the us.

we are closer to a deal than any time in the past, but it doesn't mean that we are there. the next round, delegations will come back from capitals with clearer instructions, clearer ideas on how to finally close the deal. the whole question of- which sanctions will be lifted is currently being negotiated in vienna, and i'm not- going to conduct those negotiations in public. | complicating matters, iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamanei, who is the ultimate power broker here, has repeatedly called the elimination of america's ally, israel. now israel says the recent election of hardliner ebrahim raisi as iran's next president has heightened fears. raisi's election is, i would say. —— raisi's election is, i would say, the last chance for world powers to wake up before returning to the nuclear agreement and understand who they are doing business with. these guys are murderers — mass murderers. iran already blames israel

for the murder of its top nuclear scientist last year, and an attack on one of its uranium enrichment plants in april. on sunday, iranian state tv reported technical problems at this nuclear power plant in bushehr. it's been temporarily shut down, it says, for a technical overhaul. fires have hampered operations in the past, but accidents have also turned out to be foreign attacks. however, such is the momentum of the current negotiating table, there is talk of an imminent nuclear deal soon. as early as next month. mark lobel as early as next month. mark lobel, bbc news. ten people, including nine children, were killed in a crash involving 18 vehicles in the us state of alabama on saturday. the county coroner said the vehicles were likely to have hydroplaned on the wet roads and lost control after tropical depression claudette battered the state, causing flash flooding and tornadoes and destroying dozens of homes.

jeremy gray is a reporter at the alabama media group and has been covering this horrific story. in south alabama, in boulder county, on 165, the interstate, there were multiple vehicles — 18, as you said — they collided. we had a tropical storm, claudette, we had a lot of rainfall and in the course of that, an suv carrying a 29—year—old man and his young daughter, they were killed, and they also collided with a van carrying residents of a youth home. the driver was pulled to safety by a bystander. unfortunately, the son and daughter of the driver of the youth home. the eight victums of the van ranging in age from four up till 17. you are talking about i understand there were girls

who are in like a foster home for abandoned or neglected children. correct. some of them are placed there privately. some are in the care of the state. i mean, it's almost too awful to contemplate as a result. what were the conditions like? i mean, they must�*ve been pretty dreadful. yeah, there was a lot of rainfall across the state. we had a man and a child killed by a falling tree in tuscaloosa county in the central part of the state. there was a man swept away by floodwaters — he's still missing. there was a woman trapped in her car in north alabama, she drowned as well. so right now, the entire death toll for the state is 13, perhaps 1a, and that includes the wreck in south alabama. i can only imagine across the state, to have that many children killed in one terrible accident must have a huge impact on people.

what sort of response has there been? well, the four young women who were residents of the youth home attended the same high school in talpoosa country, the eastern part of alabama. there was a community gathering there today, people sharing memories and stories of these young girls and just a very emotional response from the community — it is a very small community, very tight—knit. jeremy gray. let's get some of the day's other news. the acting prime minister of armenia, nikol pashinyan, has declared victory after a snap parliamentary election that was called to defuse a crisis over an ill—fated war with azerbaijan. he was speaking as early results showed his party opening up a significant lead over a political bloc led by a former president, robert kocharyan. australia has a new deputy prime minister, barnabyjoyce,

who returns as leader of the national party which forms a governing coalition with the liberals of prime minister scott morrison. mrjoyce, who previously resigned from the role after revelations he had had an affair with a former aide, defeated current deputy prime minister michael mccormack in a leadership challenge. president biden announced he is heading to raleigh in north carolina to encourage people to take up the vaccine. 46% of the populace are currently vaccinated but in the south and north—west rates are low. mississippi is the best example with 27% of the population having had both jabs. in the northeast, vermont's population has the highest rate at 58%. i've been speaking to doctor lisa cooper, the director of johns hopkins centre for health equity. she said the vaccine discrepancies around

the country are more than party politics. i think, you know, we have people of a range of age groups, people from different racial and ethnic groups, people with different levels of education, who have different kinds of comfort level with the vaccine and with trusting authorities and institutions that are administering the vaccine. so it is not as simple as politics. i think there are communities of colour that have been treated very poorly for a long time in the united states and as a result have developed mistrust of institutions. we have people who have lower levels of education who do not understand how the vaccine was developed or how it works. and then, you know, you have some people with particular religious backgrounds or political affiliations who might have some concerns around the government and it's coming up with a vaccine quickly and the safety of it, whether or not it is being used to trap them in some way, so there are many

different groups. and different beliefs. in which case, what is the role, do you think, that the president of the united states can usefully play here? because i think you would make the point communication is everything, isn't it? but perhaps communication at a local community leader level may be the best way to avoid this sort of authority problem that goes on. canjoe biden make a difference? i think he can. i think he has a very important voice. he is trusted among many people. but i do think it is important for the federal government to work, as you said, with local leaders, with grassroots organisations, with people who are faith community leaders, physicians, nurses, other health professionals — people who are trusted within their own communities and within certain groups, in order to get that message across. lisa, is there an element also where a substantial number of americans sort of cannot quite be bothered now. the crisis feels like it is over? i think there is some element of that. i think people who did not

really believe that it was a real issue in the first place are now relieved that many of the restrictions have been lifted. i think, others who feel somewhat invincible, feel like they are not at particularly high risk, so i think — and people arejust fatigued, you know, are just fatigued, you know, with everything. and so i think there is some of that and some other real issues getting in the way. people have to work, they do not have time to get off work, they may not have transportation to get to where they need to get a vaccine, so there might be some other complicating factors related to access that are not only related to being hesitant about taking the vaccine. dr lisa cooper. stay with us, coming up. why abandoning the megacity of seoul for a more rural life is helping south korean children through the pandemic. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade center,

armed with shotguns. we believe that according to international law that we have a rightful claim to certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner". cheering and applause. as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council have now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time _ the checkpoint charlie which, for 29 years, has stood i on the border as a marker of allied determination to defend the city. -

this is bbc news, the latest headlines. voters in france have delivered a rebuff to both resident macron and his main far right rival marine le pen in the first round of regional elections. the head of myanmar�*s ruling military is in moscow to attend a security conference — a further sign of how the army is tightening its grip on the country. the its grip on the country. un general assembly passl a the un general assembly passed a motion to to ask member states to stop supplying weapons. i states to stop supplying weapons-_ states to stop supplying wea ons. ~' , , weapons. i think it is very clear that _ weapons. i think it is very clear that russia - weapons. i think it is very clear that russia is - weapons. i think it is very clear that russia is now i weapons. i think it is very l clear that russia is now one weapons. i think it is very - clear that russia is now one of myanmar�*s closest friends. we saw at the end of march that russia sent the deputy defence

minister, a high—profile visit. russia denies that it supports the regime and agrees with its methods but nonetheless russia is now one of the closest friends of myanmar on this visit really does show that myanmar has alternatives when it comes to weapons.— it comes to weapons. however limited they — it comes to weapons. however limited they might _ it comes to weapons. however limited they might be. - it comes to weapons. however limited they might be. have i it comes to weapons. however limited they might be. have a| limited they might be. have a country like russia is prepared to deal with them, clearly they have access. and in terms of what they might do with them, the fighting goes on, obviously in many quarters across the country. and the village of kin mile was torched after fighting in that area. do you think that is part of a policy to approach, to put down insurgencies like that? the violence has _ insurgencies like that? the violence has become - insurgencies like that? tue: violence has become much more complicated than it was at the start of the coup where you had protests that were eventually violently put down. they have violence on both sides. you

have people being trained in ethnic areas who are being armed, beginning to launch attacks on myanmar armed forces and police in ethnic areas, marginal areas of the country as well as the army continuing to arrest and abduct people they consider to be suspect. they can be as young as 12 or 13—year—old. peoplejust abducted or even shot. and what we are seeing now is that low—level violence appears in cities and people are being abduct, people are being assassinated. in urban areas of young gone. and these are people who are suspected of being informants, it is not clear who some of these people are all the time and so the violence has become much more complicated on both sides. find complicated on both sides. and would you _ complicated on both sides. and would you expect that to not just continue but to worsen? i think it will continue and unless there is leadership that emerges on the side of the

opposition with these so—called people's defence forces, i think it will be quite difficult for this violence to become co—ordinated and the army could just wait until it's sort of peters out. however, as the army continues to launch these punitive attacks, as you mentioned, in central myanmar, there will be increasing anger and therefore increasing violence back. it is hard to see the opposition winning outright but we will see this kind of low—level violence escalated over the coming months. for the millions of young people living in south korea's capital seoul, the pandemic has meant hours upon hours of being stuck in virtual classrooms. with no chance of seeing their friends or playing outside, many say it has left them feeling isolated and depressed. however, some families have abandoned the megacity and embarked on a more rural life. as part of our "education interrupted" series, julie yoonnyung lee has been to meet them. freedom, after almost a year

cooped up inside a small inner city apartment in seoul, this 11—year—old is finally free to roam. translation: during - the pandemic i couldn't go to school and took online classes every day. city i cried a lot, it was so hard. there were lots of things i wanted to do but i couldn't do any of them. but exploring the village, right away i was captivated. the traditional old houses, so close to nature, i really loved that. but in south korea, academic success is everything. this translation: people kept saying, "why are |

you going there? " they called me weird. clinic south korean mums are eager to send their kids to a good university. education fever here is really high. they thought by moving here we were giving up on education. but i don't think sitting is the only way to study. i want to raise my children in a challenging environment. i want them to learn nothing comes for free. and he is not the only new kid in town. arriving in southjeolla province, schools here are enjoying a revival. translation: seven new students have joined our school this - year. one girl used to study only with her teacher but now she can enjoy group

activities and projects. with more than 80 new students arriving in the area, it's notjust schools that are flourishing. translation: now it is a town where kids run around. - it used to be a town with no children but now young families live here, too. the atmosphere is really lively and i hear lots of laughter. translation: i believe this has been one of the happiest times | of my life, because it was filled with all the delightful things. julie yoonnyung lee, bbc news. a ugandan team coach has tested positive for coronavirus after arriving in tokyo ahead of the olympic games. in all uganda is sending 56 athletes and support staff — all of whom are said to have had two doses

of the astrazeneca vaccine. it comes as the olympic village prepares to lay out unusually strict precautions to prevent any outbreaks of the coronavirus. so this is the tokyo olympic village, and it's the first chance that any of us in the media have had to come in and take a look at what will be the hub of the tokyo olympic games because, in a few weeks' time, thousands of athletes from all over the world will arrive in tokyo and this is where they will stay during the games. and the olympic organisers have brought us here today to show us how they will do that safely. so this is a representation of what the athletes' village bedrooms look like, and these are the beds. they're quite small. they're also made of cardboard, which is environmentally friendly, but the main issue about the design of these bedrooms is they are shared, as they always have been in every olympics previously, but, because of the pandemic, there have been many experts who've said that sharing rooms for athletes is a really bad idea.

so this is one of the main dining halls, and you can see it's pretty vast, and it needs to be because they will serve 115,000 meals every day during the games. now, to mitigate the risk of having so many people coming in here every day and mixing together, they are telling athletes that they need to use their smartphone app to find out when it is least busy here, to come alone, to pick up their meal and then come to one of these tables, which will have plastic dividers on them, and they are being told they must then eat their meal alone and do so quickly. it doesn't sound like an awful lot of fun, but that's how they're trying to mitigate the risk. so this is the main gym and again you can see it's pretty huge. apparently, there's room for 500 people to train at any one time here and they do have these dividers between the machines, but the main anti—covid measure they will enforce here is to make everybody who comes in weara mask, even when they're on these machines, and it's hard to see how you enforce but also how these

olympic—level athletes will wear a mask while training hard on one of these machines. so this is a facility that's specifically built because of the covid—19 pandemic — you wouldn't find it at a normal olympics. this is a fever clinic. in a room over there, that's where you go and get tested if you have a fever or develop symptoms, you then get a pcr test and, if that comes back positive, the athlete will be brought to one of these specialist isolation rooms, and this has an air filtration system that means no virus can get out of this room, and this is where they will be kept until they can be moved somewhere else. at the euros, wales have made it through to the last 16 of the competition, despite losing 1—0 to italy in rome. our wales correspondent hywel griffith has the latest they came, they saw, but conquer? well, the welsh fans arrived in rome with expectations tempered. their hosts had not lost a competitive match

at home this century. we are here and having fun, that is the main thing. a draw, wales finished second, lam happy. italy lined up with eight changes from the last game. if they were weakened, they were not showing it. belotti was acrobatic in attack and the manager seem to be working his magic. italian pressure soon paid off, the precision from pessina giving them the break. worn down, wales enjoyed a little luck. but their judgement wavered. relief all round at the final whistle, from rome to back home. outclassed, but out of the group and into the next round. wales now head to amsterdam, still believing. forget the result, as long as we go through, that is all that matters. it will be a good night out. i think we will play even better. - i will close by telling you

that the spanish golferjohn rahm has won the us open and has become the world number one. hello. like it or not, we've reached that turning point in the year — summer solstice, the longest day — on monday with nearly 19 hours of daylight in shetland. just over 16.5 across the channel islands. but across some southern areas, you will be lucky to see sunrise oi’ sunset. it is going to be a fairly cloudy and wet start to the week here. brightening up as the week goes on as things turn a bit cloudier and more showery further north as we go through the week and to start with, rather cool, too. an area of low pressure to the south—west of us which has thrown up some weather fronts to take us into the start of monday across southern counties of england. it's here where there will be more persistent rain on the south coast first thing. not a cold start here, but chillier elsewhere with clear skies away from this zone of thicker cloud in southern scotland,

producing one or two showers. that will push into northern england slowly as we go through the day, sunshine either side of it. but notice how the rain develops more widely in southern counties of england as we go through monday, inching up close to the south and east midlands, parts of east anglia, too, maybe even close to south east wales. but much of wales and the midlands stays dry and bright. still got the north—easterly breeze here and, where the rain is falling, temperatures will struggle to get above the mid teens. a few showers in northern england but towards the western coast here, west wales and western scotland, we could get to around 19—20 celsius during the afternoon. now, through monday night, rain still at times across these southern counties of england — that will stop temperatures from falling — but clearer skies midlands, wales northwards means it's going to be a chilly start to tuesday morning. the first night after the summer solstice, we could even see a touch of frost through some shelter valleys in the grampians — that's because we've got an area of high pressure building up from the azores. wrong side of us, though, because around it, we're bringing in some cold air from the north as we go through

tuesday. cold relative to the time of year, of course, but it will help to clear away the rain eventually from the southernmost counties of england. long, sunny spells for most to begin with, clouding over a touch through the afternoon across england and wales as the cloud builds up and spreads out. not as chilly for some of you as monday will have been. another cool night across england and wales as we go into wednesday. here, the best of the dry and brighter weather, but clouds spitting in from the north—west will bring in a few spots of rain or drizzle. even with that cloud, though, slightly milder air, 18—19 celsius across the north, but 21 further south. thursday will bring that cloud further south. in fact, the end of the week cloudy for most with a few splashes of rain at times, but temperatures near average forjune.

this is bbc news. the headlines: voters in france have delivered a rebuff— voters in france have delivered a rebuff to _ voters in france have delivered a rebuff to both _ voters in france have delivered a rebuff to both president- a rebuff to both president macron_ a rebuff to both president macron and _ a rebuff to both president macron and his _ a rebuff to both president macron and his far- a rebuff to both president macron and his far right l a rebuff to both president. macron and his far right rival marine — macron and his far right rival marine le _ macron and his far right rival marine le pen— macron and his far right rival marine le pen in— macron and his far right rival marine le pen in the - macron and his far right rival marine le pen in the first. marine le pen in the first round _ marine le pen in the first round of— marine le pen in the first round of regional- marine le pen in the first. round of regional elections. marine le pen in the first- round of regional elections. in a round of regional elections. a vote marred by record level of abstention, ms le pen's national rally party failed to make it's pretty big gains. ten people, nine children, have been killed in a road crash involving 18 vehicles in the us state of alabama. the coroner says the vehicles were likely to have hydroplaned after tropical depletion claudette —— depression caused flooding. talks aimed at reviving the nuclear deal have been adjourned in vienna with no agreement. israel's new prime minister earlier said world powers should not negotiate with tehran after the election of the new hard—line president ebrahim raisi. those are your headlines.

now on bbc news, hardtalk.