this is bbc news. the headlines at five. the transport secretary accuses union leaders of "punishing millions of innocent people" by pressing ahead with rail strikes this week. itjust seems that the union is determined to go out on strike, the rmt, come what may, and i think it's a very sad situation and i call on them to reconsider. we won't settlement to this dispute but we _ we won't settlement to this dispute but we are — we won't settlement to this dispute but we are facing a crisis for our members. — but we are facing a crisis for our members, we are facing thousands of 'ob members, we are facing thousands of job cuts_ members, we are facing thousands of job cuts despite what grant shapps says. _ job cuts despite what grant shapps says, there have been no guarantees these _ says, there have been no guarantees these redundancies will not be compulsory. as the conflict in ukraine continues — the new head of the british army tells his troops they should be prepared to "fight in europe once again". dozens of people have died

and millions of others are stranded after floods in bangladesh and india. communities in finsbury park gather to mark five years since the terror attack — in which a van was driven into worshippers outside a mosque. it's two hours until voting closes in the final round of parliamentary elections in france, with president emmanuel macron facing an alliance of left—wing parties. a photo of the duke of cambridge with his children is released to celebrate father's day.

good afternoon. let us start with some breaking news. the international swimming federation has voted to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women's events. former world champion swimmer karen pickering mbe tweets on transgender ruling by fina. i was at the fina congress for the presentation, discussion and vote and i can vouch for the care and empathy displayed for any athletes who wont now be able to compete in the category their gender id may align to. they say a working group to establish an open group and some events as part of a new policy. this

decision has been made at the extraordinary general congress of the swimming body in budapest. it will require transgender competitors will require tra nsgender competitors to will require transgender competitors to have completed their transition by the end of the age of 12 in order to compete in women's competitions. so that is just in from swimming's world governing body and we will bring you the reaction to that as soon as we get it and some more details as well. the transport secretary says it's not for the government to intervene to try to prevent three days of strikes on the railways this week. grant shapps dismissed calls from the rmt union to get involved in the dispute as a �*stunt�* — saying it's for the employers and unions to reach an agreement. mr shapps says the strikes would be an �*act of self—harm'. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says the government wants the strikes to go ahead to �*sow division�* in society. here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas.

set to bring the rail network to a grinding halt from tuesday, they are the biggest strikes in decades. instead of 20,000 trains on a normal day, just one in five services may run. awful for people if they need to get to jobs and to work and to places. like, i've come to visit my son here and if i needed to come back again then, no trains — we're just going to have to put everything behind. i'm going to test cricket next week and to my grandparents and my dad, and i don't think i'll be able to go there any more, just because it's on the sunday, but because saturday's affected and monday's affected. it takes me about - one—and—a—half hours, but it takes me four hours due to this strike, - so it's disgusting for me. government says children heading to take exams or patients to medical appointments will face disruption. but, under pressure to take part in talks with the unions, it says it won't. train operating companies have to settle this. i don't think there's any need for the strikes at all and i appeal directly to people working for the railways — you are being led down a cul—de—sac by the union leadership telling you there's no pay rise when there is, trying to create

some sort of class war when there's none to be had. we want people to be paid more, we want sensible reforms and modernisation of our railways so we can run it for the passengers. the government says it spent billions propping up the railways in the pandemic. it now wants to see them modernised. the union, which was part of the cost—of—living march through london yesterday, says that means its members are facing a crisis. with inflation set to hit ii%, wages are falling behind — living standards, too — and the union says "modernisation" means fewerjobs and longer working hours. we're faced with thousands ofjob cuts, despite what grant shapps says. there's been no guarantee that these redundancies won't be compulsory, we have seen 4,000 or 5,000 jobs already go from the railway. they've told our maintenance staff on network rail that 3,000 jobs will go. they're going to cut back on the safety regime. they've told us that every single booking office in britain will close.

labour, meanwhile, is trying to maintain a tricky balancing act. sir keir starmer doesn't want the strike to go ahead, but does he support the unions? he says the government wants a conflict. conservatives see political benefits. the strike should not go ahead — but here's the truth. borisjohnson and grant shapps want the strikes to go ahead. they want the country to grind to a halt so they can feed off the division. instead of spending their time around the negotiating table, they�* re designing attackers. instead of grown—up conversations to take the heat out of the situation, they're pouring petrol on the fire. and labour says the government hasn't engaged in talks since march. if no agreement is reached this week, it's possible the strikes won't be the last. damian grammaticas, bbc news. scotrail say 90% of trains will need to be cancelled during the three days of action by the rmt union.

the dispute does not involve scotrail staff, but it relies on network rail workers to operate signal boxes and maintain track. 0ur scotland reporter, alexandra mackenzie, has the latest from glasgow queen street station. there's going to be a lot of disruption here across scotland. there are some passengers here today, but it is looking quite quiet already, and, yes, ithink you just got it right there — lots of frustration here, and i am joined by someone from scotrail. phil campbell, you're head of customer operations. you're not out on strike, but it is going to affect scotrail. just how much, how many of your services will you be cutting? so the uk—wide strike will have a significant impact on scotrail and on the days of the strike, which is the 21st, 23rd and 25th, we'll only be able to operate a very limited service in the central belt, and that will be across five routes.

so our advice to customers is to plan ahead, only travel if it's really necessary, and nothing further out operating than the central belt. so, when you talk about the central belt, you're talking about that area around edinburgh and glasgow, so what areas will be covered and how many services will still be running for customers going between the two cities? so there'll be five routes, so we'll connect edinburgh and glasgow. some of those services will run via shotts, falkirk high. we'll also see a service from edinburgh to bathgate, and we'll see larkhall and lanark serviced. so that's around 180 services, so around 10% of what we've been operating, so quite a significant drop. and, as i've said, we need customers to plan ahead, understand it's a very limited timetable. it also finishes earlier in the day as well, and to make sure that they have not got themself in a position where they can't travel. and what about commuters around the rest of the country? dundee, inverness, aberdeen? just no trains for anyone north

or south of the central belt area? yeah, it's very unfortunate. this uk—wide strike is affecting all train operating companies up and down the country. those roles who will be on strike from network rail are safety critical, so roles like signal people, so we just can't get that service to operate without people being there, and that's why we're seeing such a reduction in the services from network rail. and it is over three days with a day in between, so what are the chances of getting services up and running on the days when there isn't a strike? yeah, so the days in between the strike action, we'll start to see the timetable return. however, there'll be services that'll start later in the day than they traditionally would, and that's just to allow the train service to get back into service, so, again, we ask people to go onto the website, plan their journey, speak to our teams in the stations, and understand what services are running where and when, but the days between strikes will see a slower start—up in the day, roundabout 7am as opposed to earlier in the morning.

and your advice to customers, briefly? plan ahead. pop on and look at the website. it'll give you all the details that you need. if you need to speak to staff in the stations, please do so. 0n the days of the strike, we will have staff available in stations. they will still be here — scotrail are not on strike and we'll do all we can to help people and advise. that's great. appreciate your time. thank you very much. and apart from scotrail, cross—border services will also be affected, and the caledonian sleeper, as well. it will run tonight but that will be the last one this week, and customers are being advised to check the website, and caledonian sleeper customers will get a refund if they were planning to travel later this week. alexander mackenzie reporting from glasgow. alexander mackenzie reporting from glasgow. just a handful of train routes will run in wales during the strikes. although transport for wales are not involved in the dispute, the vast majority of lines rely on network rail signallers. these passengers in wrexham

shared their thoughts on the strikes it's a pain. it is a pain, to be honest. so...nothing, really, i can say. yeah, ifeel sorry for them — they want a pay rise just like the rest of us, but what can you do? we were going to go and visit grace's family. yeah, so we've kind of had to cancel that one, - cos we can't get down. i get the bus to work every day to the court, so... and it goes under the tunnel — i guessing it will be packed with everyone off the trains and on the buses, but you'vejust got to muck on, haven't you? earlier i spoke to steve montgomery, chair of industry body the rail delivery group — which is made up of train operating companies, the rail supply group and infrastructure owners network rail. he's also managing director of first rail. i put to him that these strikes were a failure of both sides to reach an agreement.

we can only apologise that customers are going to get inconvenienced as they have been but we have to be clear here, we have been talking to the trade unions over a year since the pandemic started and then the industry started to see a significant drop—off of customers and we try to look at how we work together with the trade unions and carry out modernisation and reform of the industry so we can then take less money from the taxpayer and ultimately we do want to give our people a pay increase, of course we understand the difficulties people are experiencing at that moment of time. that helps us deliver the next phase of giving people a pay rise. what the rmt would say to that, we heard from the general secretary, they have not had a pay offer or pay rises, faced with thousands ofjob cuts and they want to rip up our terms and conditions

in a form of hire and re—hire. first of all, we have been in a lot of formal talks with trade union. we are now meeting them again tomorrow. we want to carry out reforms. we need both parties to be at the table, we really require details and acceptance that reform can go ahead and that allows us to work on how to get a settlement for our staff and make sure we move the industry forward. the strikes are very damaging for a number of reasons, obviously to customers but also to the industry's finance. we will lose 150 million for strike days. thatjust makes the gap even bigger so how do be trying to stop taking taxpayer money to keep paying for rail strikes. i hear what you're saying for the need for reform and change but equally workers are facing inflation. we are told it is going to rise for ii%. a cost of living crisis, surely you should offer some sort of pay rise. we understand how difficult is for

people at this moment in time. we do want to offer them something. but we have to have reform, we have to understand how far the trade unions want to work with us and take the industry forward and modernise the industry. we have to look at the future of the industry. we have outdated practices over the years and the industry has been very successful over the years doubling passenger numbers, we are now in a crisis and we'll have to give something back. if we bring in modern working practices, we will help stabilise the industry and then move forward again. so you're saying if they do not play ball with what you want, they won't get any kind of pay offer? what i am saying is we have to work together. we have to sit down and have meaningful discussions and we have to come to some form of conclusion that we can get the strikes away and allow us to rebuild the confidence in the railway, bring people back and then we can obviously make sure that we have an industry for the future. but the strikes are actually going to affect the very confidence you are trying to get in the railways, aren't they?

people are going to be put off using the railways by what happens this week when they try to get to glastonbury or try to get this week when they try to get to glastonbury or try to get or get up and down the country to see loved ones after the pandemic, they cannot because of the railway strike. that will shatter confidence in the railway. absolutely. that is why it is so important to understand why the rmt are doing this. , ., , ., this. this will not help them. no one wants _ this. this will not help them. no one wants a _ this. this will not help them. no one wants a strike _ this. this will not help them. no one wants a strike so _ this. this will not help them. no one wants a strike so we - this. this will not help them. no one wants a strike so we really l this. this will not help them. no - one wants a strike so we really want to try and get this reform done which will ensure rmt members can get a fair deal. that is what we want to sort out.— want to sort out. you say it is difficult to — want to sort out. you say it is difficult to understand - want to sort out. you say it is difficult to understand their i difficult to understand their position and they say they cannot understand your position, it does not look like there is any room for compromise but it looks like we will face a summer of discontent on the

railways, this could go on for months? i railways, this could go on for months?— railways, this could go on for months? , ., ., months? i disagree, there is room for compromise. _ months? i disagree, there is room for compromise, we _ months? i disagree, there is room for compromise, we can _ months? i disagree, there is room for compromise, we can work- for compromise, we can work together. there are people from the rmt who understand the finances of how businesses work. they have to understand we cannotjust take taxpayers money and expect the railways to receive continuous subsidies. we have to help ourselves as an industry and involve the trade unions as part of the industry, we have to work together but we can resolve it, this is resolvable. that was chaired _ resolve it, this is resolvable. that was chaired a _ resolve it, this is resolvable. that was chaired a very _ resolve it, this is resolvable. that was chaired a very real _ resolve it, this is resolvable. that was chaired a very real delivery group talking to me earlier on. —— chair. and the biggest teaching union, the neu, has said it will ballot its members on strike action in england unless the government offers a pay rise of more than 3%. 450,000 members, will write

to the education secretary, nadhim zahawi, this week. any strike would take place in the autumn. the new head of the army has told british troops they should be prepared to "fight in europe once again" as the conflict in ukraine continues. in a letter addressed to all ranks and civil servants, general sir patrick sanders, said there was a �*burning imperative' for the army to be ready to fight "alongside allies" to defeat russia in battle. 0ur correspondentjoe inwood has more from the ukrainian town of irpin, outside the capital kyiv. you only have to look around me to the town of irpin, the destruction here, to see why feelings are so strong. it was really remarkable language, i thought. it was talking about the need to be ready to engage on the battlefield. it mentioned russia by name. now, we should say this was a letter that was not intended for public consumption, but it was said very widely so really they must have known this might have come out. in terms of how this will be received, i think here in ukraine, well, they've been calling for nato involvement in this war, but i don't think they're going to view this as a clear indication that the british army will be getting involved. how would the russians view it? well, i think they will probably

take it much the same way, but if this is seen as something as a threat, and it could be, then maybe sergey lavrov would echo the sentiment he expressed in an interview last week when he was talking about britain's desire to bring russia to its knees and he said, "well, bring it on." all in all, the mood music we're getting from across western capitals is that this is a conflict that is going on for the long term and that they need — boris johnson said it himself today — they need to offer military support on an ongoing basis to the ukrainians if they are going to be able to hold on and win this war in the east, but, also, as you can see here, rebuild their country, because economically they're on their knees. flooding and landslides triggered by monsoon weather have left dozens dead and millions stranded in bangladesh and india. rescue teams have been trying to bring people to safety. forecasters are warning the situation is likely to get worse. 0ur correspondent in the bangladeshi capital dhaka — akbar hossain — told us why the floods have been

so devastating for the country. bangladesh's north—eastern region, sylhet and sunamganj district, is underwater for the last three days. the whole area has been cut off from the rest of the country by floodwaters. flights to and from in sylhet have been suspended. local people say there is no way to get safe shelter in the area. people are suffering from food and jinking water shortages. people are suffering from food and jinking water shortages. there is hardly any housing in the region which is not many people have taken refuge on the rooftop due to floodwaters. cattle and poultry are floating on the water. to rescue those trapped in the floods. that is why people cannot go to the

shelter. that is why people cannot go to the shelter. bangladesh's vulnerability to flood is well—documented. people are usually used to the situation. people are usually used to the situation. but this time, the ferocity of flooding in sylhet and sunamganj the army has been deployed to rescue people trapped in the floodwater. shelters have been opened. in all government offices and many private buildings. this is the second flood in a month. rainwater from india's meghalaya state has come down to sunamganj very fast. that's why the floods have taken a terrible turn akbar hossain, bbc news, dhaka. the indian government has said it is issuing 100 emergency visas to sikhs in afghanistan — a day after their last place of worship in kabul was attacked by islamic state militants. reports say around a0 other

applications are being reviewed. at least two people were killed in the attack on saturday — a sikh worshipper, and a taliban fighter who confronted the militants. india's prime minister narendra modi condemned the attack as barbaric and cowardly. voting is under way in parliamentary elections in france, with president macron's party facing the prospect on being unable to command a majority — limiting his ability to enact his polices. he faces a broad left—wing alliance of parties backing jean—luc melenchon. the turnout, at 4pm uk time, is 38%. hugh schofield reports. it's the fourth time in two months that the french have been called out to vote. two rounds of presidentials that returned emmanuel macron for a second term, and now this — a chance at the parliamentary elections for his opponents, especially those on the left, to get their revenge. man of the hour is jean—luc melenchon, the 70—year—old veteran of the

far left who's forged a new alliance out of four separate parties, including the socialists and the greens. un, deux, trois. cheering his tactical flair and savage and sarcastic attacks on macron have, in a few short weeks, transformed the left�*s chances. now, it's an invigorated left and far left, rather than marine le pen's far right, that's become the main opposition. applause for emmanuel macron, this week playing up his presidential role in ukraine, today's vote is crucial. his centre—right coalition should still beat melenchon's left into second place, but will he get an outright majority? with turn—out once again set to be extremely low, president macron risks losing a lot of his seats in the parliament to the point of having to make deals with other parties like the conservatives if he wants any of his reform programme to get through.

macron's second presidential victory in april was a high point in his career, but is it about to take a downhill turn? hugh schofield in paris. today marks five years since the finsbury park terror attack — when a van was driven into worshippers outside a mosque in north london. one person, makram ali, was killed and nine others injured. makram's daughter — ruzina akhtar — has been speaking exclusively to our home affairs correspondent sonja jessup about her memories of her father — and the impact of the attack on the community. this is how makram ali's family remember him, a loving father and grandfather with a sense of fun. he was just a very lively, happy, bubbly person. i don't know anyone like him who's always 24/7 happy. makram ali was murdered five years ago, targeted because of his muslim faith.

the attacker drove a van into worshippers outside a mosque in finsbury park. nine others were injured. all i could hear was my sister crying and shouting, "dad, dad!," trying to wake him up. at first it wasn't clear what had happened. when police moved ruzina away from the scene, she thought her father was still alive, and waited for news. i stayed out that whole night, whole morning, just waiting for someone to say, "he's at this hospital," but obviously, that wasn't the case. makram's killer was taken into police custody, restrained until officers arrived by the worshippers he'd just attacked. the imam was dubbed a hero but he believes that's because many expected muslims to react with anger. what myself and others did on that night was what any sensible and normal law—abiding citizen would have done. it's a religion that is not one of chaos, not one of — not one of vigilante justice,

but one of respect of the law. but london's muslim community felt fear. many had worried islamophobia would increase following the westminster and london bridge terror attacks. after finsbury park, many mosques tightened their security. i was always wary. my mum was scared to go out of the house. she didn't want to go out of the house because she's like, "0h, iweara headscarf, what if i get attacked?" the number of islamophobic hate crimes recorded by the met police have fallen over the last five years, but one group who monitor incidents say most are never reported. we have seen an increase of 45% of anti—muslim reports _ coming into us in london, | and these reports have got abusive behaviour as the number one category reported into us, _ but threats, assaults, threatening behaviours and discrimination - are the categories that follow. five years on, the memories

and the fear remain, but there's also been love and support. people are quick to let you know that they stand with you and that these actions are not supported, and that's comforting and that's consoling. in the park where makram ali used to play with his grandchildren, there's a plaque that bears his name. it's been difficult but we move on and we just create better, happier memories as a family, and just do what my dad would have loved. i want to go back to the breaking news at the beginning of the bulletin. fina, swimming's world governing body, has voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

the new policy requires transgender competitors to have completed their transition by the age of 12 in order to be able to compete in women's competitions. fina will also aim to establish an �*open' category at competitions for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their birth sex. the new policy, which was passed with 71% of the vote from 152 fina members, was described as "only a first step towards full inclusion" for transgender athletes. let us tell you what sharron davies, the former swimming champion has been saying, in the past she said transgender athlete should not compete in female sport. she has tweeted in the last few minutes....

it is clearly going to be a controversial decision and it will have major ramifications. last year the international olympic committee announced guidelines but asked separate sporting federations to come up with their own sport specific rules, that is a background so fina which is the world swimming governing body set up three expert committees, a medical, legaland athletes committee to look at this vexed issue and the medical committee found that men who transition do retain advantages so the upshot is that, just to sum up, fina governing body has voted to stop transgender athletes from convicting in women's elites races

if they have gone through any part of male puberty. so transgender competitors would have to complete their transition before the age of 12. more on that throughout the evening. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. the really hot and humid air has now finally left our shores, but heatwave conditions do still persist across europe and for central europe they are going to carry on at least into the early part of this week. we are now in cooler, fresher air marked by the yellow colour. the boundary between the two takes the form of this weather front and this front will sit to the south of the uk through the remainder of sunday, keeping the skies rather more overcast here and producing some showers on into the evening. winds fall light across scotland and temperatures could dip as low as three or 4 degrees. a fresh and light across—the—board. first thing monday, a lot of sunshine, the winds in the east will continue to follow

light, towards the north—west, more cloud for scotland, rain in 0rkney and shetland, temperatures at 15 at best, elsewhere the low 20s. with a lot more fine weather to come especially across england and wales, we could reach the mid to high 20s yet again.