in northern ireland, the cross—community alliance party, that also opposes brexit, won a seat for thearty that was set up just to push for another referendum didn't get far. change uk won't be changing much any time soon. but how far could he go? certainly never short on ambition. this melee might not last. remember, european elections don't necessarily translate into what happens at the next general election. but the success of parties with a clear message on brexit is enough to give the tories and labour a lot to worry about. nigel farage and the other smaller parties have humiliated the established groups, perplexed by brexit. voters rewarding politicians who have been willing to pick a side. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. turnout in the elections was just below 37%. that is the second—highest in any european election in the uk. our deputy political editor john pienaar has been analysing the results. well, depending on where you stand, these elections were mostly about who wants brexit, and on the other side, who would sooner remain, or at least get another the referendum

in northern ireland, the cross—community alliance party that also opposes brexit won a seat for the firstt was set up just to push for another referendum didn't get far. change uk won't be changing much any time soon. but how far could he go? certainly never short on ambition. this melee might not last. remember, european elections don't necessarily translate into what happens at the next general election. but the success of parties with a clear message on brexit is enough to give the tories and labour a lot to worry about. nigel farage and the other smaller parties have humiliated the established groups, perplexed by brexit. voters rewarding politicians who have been willing to pick a side. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. turnout in the elections was just below 37%, that's the second—highest in any european election in the uk. our deputy political editor john pienaar has been analysing the results. well, depending on where you stand, these elections were mostly about who wants brexit and, on the other side, who would sooner remain or at least get another the referendum. the resu

but the big story was that surge by the alliance party. community party which draws support from both catholics and protestants, mainly, it has its support in greater belfast, in middle—class areas. but in this election, it pushed its appeal far beyond that. for example, it has won a seat on the derry city council for the first time in a0 years. the leader of that party, naomi long, says what this indicates is that many voters in northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. i think what it is saying is that people want to see politics that are delivered. they are not interested in the tribal politics of the past, in terms of unionism and nationalism. what they want is the kind of politics that puts people first. that is what we have been offering. northern ireland politics is full of problems, whether it is stagnation in stormont, with the chaos around brexit. what alliance has been doing consistently and persistently is offering solutions. i think that is what people want to see from their politicians, and that is what w

the alliance party has been around for a party.lliance party has been around fora numberof party. the alliance party has been around for a number of decades but has struggled to cut through when politics is dominated by two big tribes. this is seen by a sign that there is a new centre ground pushing through in northern ireland politics but of course it also relates to brexit, too. the alliance party campaign very strongly for remain, for a second referendum and the result today is also being seen as a sign of the strong anti—brexit vote in northern ireland. this is a place which voted to remain. the dup have driven a hard time in the brexit negotiations, implications for them ? 0f negotiations, implications for them ? of course they have, the dup a party of brexiteer very much. there is if you like the dup picking up the vast majority of traditionally unionist votes here, being the biggest unionist party, but we know at the same time brexit is cutting a line through that, traditional unionist vote rs through that, traditional union

there, the alliance party are set to spring a surprise by winning a seat.big winners, coming second overall. labour knocked off its perch in london, including jeremy corbyn's islington constituency, by the way. just as the brexit party won in theresa may's seat in maidenhead. and we saw again younger voters and graduates more likely to vote for remain side parties — the lib dems, the greens, who had a good election too, and change uk, who had a bad one. 0lder voters generally lean strongly towards brexit. in scotland, the snp ended up happy, and here too, and in wales, labour is licking its wounds. will the brexit crisis put more strain on the union? very likely, yes. is the country deadlocked and divided? you bet it is. by region and nation, by generation. families and friendships split in a way we've never really seen before. what now? big two party politics may be shakier than ever. the tories‘ next leader, and all of our next prime minister, will have to deal with intense pressure to deliver brexit with or without a deal. 0r convince the party members,

alliance party leader naomi long. recorders from a military—chartered passenger jet that skidded off the runway and into the water after landing in florida. the flight was carrying 143 passengers. 21 people aboard were hurt — although none seriously. the commanding officer of the local naval air station says the cause of the incident is yet to be determined. it isa it is a miracle. it could have ended very, we could be talking about a different story this evening. i think there is a lot of to say about the professionalism of the folks that helped the passengers off the aeroplane. there's a lot of to say about that, because it very well could be worse. police are stepping up security at mosques across the uk in response to fears that they could be targetted during ramadan, which begins this weekend. there's been concern over safety among some in the muslim community. the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood has more. for mosques across the country, the focus on this year's ramadan is on worshippers' safety as well as sp

and accusations it's failed to provide basic services the opposition leader from the democratic alliance party cost his votes as you can see as polls opened in the township of soweto so if we take a look at south africa's three main parties the governing african national congress is led by president cyril ramaphosa he's a former trade unionist turned businessman has promised to crack down on corruption and improve the stagnant economy and there's the opposition democratic alliance party has its first black leader. whole suggest it may be losing ground among its wealthier support base and the economic freedom fighters led by julius malema won six percent of the vote that was in twenty fourteen and is the third largest party in parliament its policies include nationalizing mines and taking land without compensation to give to the poor let's bring in malcolm webb following the elections joining us from johannesburg you are adding a polling station there malcolm tell us what you're seeing. in the township of alexandra in johannesburg where the housing in this area is quite school or in poor condit

represents the alliance party it wants to overcome what's often termed tribal politics the mainstream parties republicans and unionists. a few glances of some parts of belfast tell you how divided. catholics still remain particularly in poor areas physical divisions stays in place there's segregated public housing and segregated education as long as kids go to different schools as long as we go to different churches as long as that. bigotry nonsense is fed to children at their mother's nice this place will not change very much. apart from the kids who get out a look back but don't come back that's a level that don't come back. scott and others like him insist they'll carry on their push even though it's against the odds. radical political change here could be at least one more generation away. well with me right now to assess the situation with these local elections counting well underway now as david mccann political analyst welcomed news tell me this week we've heard there of the middle ground in politics right now this is a crucial moment because the the shooting dead of niram a ke

and northern ireland's newest mep, naomi long of the alliance party, joins us at 5.45pm. e o'clock. our main story — the two main westminster parties are in turmoil over brexit in the wake of their poor performance in the european elections. both parties are being pulled by their core vote towards a position which might alienate the other side of the party. for labour — jeremy corbyn is coming under mounting pressure from senior front benchers to come out, unequivocally, in favour of a second referendum. but one ofjeremy corbyn‘s biggest union backers, unite leader len mccluskey, says they are wrong and a second vote won't solve anything. meanwhile, the party has expelled one of the architects of new labour — former communications chief alastair campbell, who admitted to voting for the liberal democrats last week. for the conservatives, the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has said a no—deal brexit would be political suicide for his party. arriving in brussels, the prime minister said it was important to leave the eu in an orderly manner. ourfirst report is from our politic

the big story was that surged by the alliance party. was drawing support from catholics and protesta nts a nd drawing support from catholics and protestants and mainly has it support in greater belfast and middle—class areas. they push their appealfar beyond middle—class areas. they push their appeal far beyond that this election. they set the council for the first time in a0 years. the leader of that party says what this indicates is that many voters in northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problemslj northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. i think that people want to see politics that people want to see politics that delivers. they are not interested in the kind of tribal politics of the past in terms of unionism and nationalism. they want politics to put people first and that's what we have been offering. northern ireland is full of problems with her is the chaos around brexit or whatever and what they've been doing is offering soluti

the cross community alliance party has made significant gains in northern ireland's local government d sinn fein remain the largest parties, each taking around 25% of first preference votes. however alliance sharply increased their share of the vote to almost i2%. 0ther cross community parties, such as the greens, also made gains. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week. 0ur correspondentjohn campbell gave us this update. unsurprisingly the two biggest parties. accurate to the biggest unionist party and sinn fein the biggest nationalist party. the interesting and significant thing has been that surge for the centre ground alliance party. adding five percentage points to their vote and really pushing out beyond their traditional bounds of belfast. they won the dairy city council something they had not managed to do in a0 yea rs. they had not managed to do in a0 years. just the other parties such as the greens and the socialist people before profit picking up seats by belfast and derry. there's a really interesting result in t

in twenty fourteen but i think it is noteworthy that we are seeing the middle ground party the alliance party as it is set to do very well in these elections the green party which is another cross community pro environmental party is also set to do very well too so it's not just a case of the two kind of more established parties doing well you're also seeing more middle of the road parties like the alliance party like the green party also making gains in this election what we were getting out of that report is this fake hope that the could be a change in the so cool tribal type of politics do you think it could really get off the ground most people here still do vote on constitutional lines so if you're unionist you're more likely to vote for the d.v.r. you be on if you're a nationalist you're going to vote for shouldn't be and or the s.t.l. be it's just a case of which is to you go for i am there is a growing section of people who are kind of voting along cross community lines also tonight is an important thing you know in northern ireland the biggest. the biggest egg group of voters are tho

the cross—community alliance party were the biggest winners, largely at the expense of unionist parties number of seats remained static. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week — john campbell has more. there's no real surprise in the dup, shin pain does sinn fein, being the two largest parties. its votes year the smoke vote show. but the big story was the surge by the alliance party, drawing support from catholics and protestants. only it has its supporting greater bell first, middle—class areas. it mainly —— had its support in greater belfast, middle—class areas, but here it was far beyond that, for example, it won a seat on derry. sitting on the council for the first time in a0 years. the leader of that party, says that this indicates many voters in northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. i think what it is saying is that people want to see politics that delivers. they're not interested in the kind of tribal politics of the past in terms of unionism and nationalism, they want the politics that put peo

we have seen a big surge for the alliance party. community party which does not identify as either nationalist or unionist. it has done very, very well in greater belfast and perhaps even more importantly for that party, it is picking up seats in areas where it had no real presence in years. for example, alliance will have a councillor in derry city for the first time in almost 40 years. we also see the green party doing well in belfast, picking up seats they have never won before. and the socialist people before profit party also picking up a couple of seats in belfast. the biggest council in belfast. the biggest council in belfast is going to be a more plural council. speaking of pluralism, we also see the dup returning their first—ever openly gay councillor. this is a woman called alice pennington, elected in greater belfast. in most parts of the uk, an openly gay councillor is not an issue, barely a new story. in northern ireland it is because the dup isa northern ireland it is because the dup is a very conservative, religious, f

the biggest gains were for the alliance party in yellow. they gained 17 seats.ondent, john campbell is in belfast. john, the surprises, really, do you think mainly focused for the alliance party? yes, a search for the centre ground. it describes itself as a shared society party. it looks for votes right across the catholic and protestant communities. is doing very well, it is on course to double its share of the vote. this time it has expanded beyond its traditional base. we see some of the other cross community parties doing well. the green party doing well in belfast. several parties picking up seats. the final analysis is the dup will still dominate. sinn fein will still be the largest national party. none of the councils will actually change hands. we also saw a first. anywhere else, it would not make the news, but it is a first for the dup party and the election of the first openly gay candidate. tell us about the significance of this. yes, he has been elected —— she has been elected in one of the councils. as you say, this would not be a story and many par

northern ireland a slightly different game being played there what's exciting there is the the alliance party a normal sectarian party for the 1st time in its history picked up european seats now far beyond just the remain debate that must have been a massive factor it means you can get elected without coming from one of the tribes in northern ireland that bodes well for the instability we've been worried about which is what happens with the backstop what happens with the border enough people voted for a rational party their stable party to say sectarianism doesn't always rule the roost so in a world well 2 will go down to 2 questions firstly scottish independence next year and secondly how does the u.k. political long jump get broken as a referendum on a general election the 1st one no referendum next year unless it becomes a bargaining chip in a forced general election otherwise we'll have to wait for 5 years in terms of referendum or general election i don't think a referendum is a player here i don't think a referendum would deliver a different result it's got to be a general election but

some of those votes have gone to opposition parties such as the democratic alliance and the economic freedom fighters. others have been lost to people who just don't want to vote anymore a lot of people don't find the opposition politicians any more convincing than those who are in power in this election only about three quarters of eligible voters have registered to vote and of course not all of them are going to turn up but over the coming days as the ballots. counted up we're going to find out quite how high or low that turnout has been the a.n.c. is expected because they empower him to keep its majority according to the opinion polls but he's expected to win with a smaller majority that it's ever had before the taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack in afghanistan's capital one of several happened close to the attorney general's office in downtown kabul and there are also reports of gunfire. and a faction of the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast at a popular shrine in the city of lahore at least eight people including five police officers hav

the cross—community alliance party increased their share of the vote to nearly i2%.so increased their number of seats. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week. earlier i spoke to our correspondentjohn campbell, who told me what the results meant for those talks. well, there's no real surprise in that the dup and sinn fein are still the two largest parties. the dup is to the right a little, sinn fein is the biggest national party, so really, the story was that surge by the alliance party, during support from catholic and protestants. it mainly hazard support in greater belfast, middle—class areas, but here it was far beyond that, for example, it won a seat on derry. sitting on the council for the first time in a0 years. the leader of that party, says that this indicates many voters in northern ireland are looking to new solutions to its problems. i think what it is saying is that people want to see politics that delivers. they're not interested in the kind of tribal politics of the past in terms of unionism

the extreme sides that breaks a tierce and that has moved to cork rock into the more moderate alliance party we saw. the democratic unionist party you were the brakes to your party or. you know how to kill it off some of the more rate we know minutes and moderate people within the agonising morrow voting for the alliance harpy particularly people who support remaining in the e.u. so we do see i came to the ship to a caller in on the ground ok. tell me if i'm making typically here the violence that seems to be bubbling up right now in northern ireland seems that they coinciding with the black that and go sanctions is that the impact of bright think on nov an island that's. a leap i think that's certainly feel that people who. are exploiting a political vacuum. but let's be fairly clear i don't believe there are politically motivated i think there thought i don't think we should be treated as much. they are exploiting so to asians and it's always going to be a difficult. time for the u.k. they're exploiting it if it was a break that they would try and find some other. situation to try and expl

naomi long, alliance party, 170,307.ged in the announcement of those results in northern ireland. iamjoined in ireland. i am joined in brussels by a couple of guests. camino mortera—martinez, senior research fellow at the centre for european reform. valentina pop, reports for the wall streetjournal. when you hear of the brexit party sending all these representatives to parliament was really that is a cause of concern here? yes, emmanuel macron was opposed to the extension of the deadline, saying we do not wa nt of the deadline, saying we do not want representatives having an influence over who is going to lead the eu institutions in the next five yea rs. the eu institutions in the next five years. and how the programme of the commission will unfold. is there anything that european parliament can do about that? they are at all elected and entitled to come along. they have decided to allow the uk to ta ke they have decided to allow the uk to take part in the european elections are now they have to respect the outcome. howe

promised to crack down on corruption and improve the stagnant economy the opposition democratic alliance party has its first black leader musi the main. polls suggest that it may be losing ground amongst its wealthier support base so enter the economic freedom fighters led by julius malema now they won six percent of the vote in twenty fourteen and it's the third largest party in parliament its policies include nationalizing mines and taking land without compensation to give back to the poor for me to miller is following the election forests in the cape town of course cape town on the eastern cape for me to opposition strongholds and given the complaints against the ruling a.n.c. is life any better the people there. well sale i suppose it depends on who you speak to here in the western cape at the moment we enquire leecher one of the biggest townships in this province in fact across south africa and people here are living in conditions that they see a very difficult there are roads that are on target there are many people here who don't have electricity and running water and as you mentioned t

the extreme sides that breaks a tierce and that has moved to core cross into the more moderate alliance party saw . the democratic unionist party who are the breaks to your party or. you know how to kill it off some of the more rate we know minutes and moderate people within you know some are no voting for the alliance harpy particularly people who support remaining in the e.u. so we do see i came to a shift a caller in on the ground ok. tell me if i'm making typically here the violence that seems to be bubbling up right now in northern ireland seems that they coinciding with the black that and go sanctions is that the impact of bright think on nov an island that's. a leap. certainly feel that the people who did it are exploiting a political vacuum. but let's be fairly clear i don't believe that there are politically motivated i think there thought i don't think we should be treated as much. they are exploiting so to asians and it's always going to be a difficult. time for the u.k. they're exploiting it if it was a break that they would try and find some other. situation to try and exploit be

do that and i know that this mean oms what's important is that in our program we took the term alliance party. with the mind storm it and we did that in order to underline the ability to take action of various political groups that want to take action usually and. we want to make sure the focus is on the issues and it's not about having some sort of vague eclectic mix of party. it's a by recognising the magnitude of the challenge is finding the political answers and to do that we have to come up with a new form of before a political capability and that is why. i'm not concentrating on whether we're going to become a national party it's about we have to think about it to a new approach to the vote and i think this is a clear mandate that we've been given. and. in i'd like to just add because you mentioned the. actual issues and. with him do you have more in common in terms of political issues with the s.p.d. or with the city even if it's yes you would be so good well. against as it works on you when i think the whole situation is quite. certainly will. and if you've gotten the story what i mea

there, the alliance party sprung a surprise by winning a seat.cond overall. labour knocked off its perch in london, including jeremy corbyn‘s islington constituency, by the way, just as the brexit party won in theresa may's seat in maidenhead. and we saw, again, younger voters and graduates more likely to vote with remain—side parties — the lib dems, the greens, who had a good election too, and change uk, who had a bad one. older voters generally lean strongly towards brexit. in scotland, the snp ended up happy, and here too, and in wales, labour is licking its wounds. will the crisis put more strain on the union? very likely yes. is the country deadlocked and divided? you bet it is — by region, by nation, by generation, families and friendships split in a way we've never really seen before. what now? big two—party politics may be shakier than ever. the tories‘ next leader, and all of our next prime minister will have to deal with intense pressure to deliver brexit with or without a deal, or convince the party members who will elect him or her it

some of those votes have gone to opposition parties such as the democratic alliance and the economic freedom fighters. others though have been lost to people who just don't want to vote anymore a lot of people don't find the opposition politicians any more convincing than those who are in power. six am to have read is to make sure that every month they have been able to assure you i am only avoid true for every time they said they had a god just get a jobs. have our country a big government. don't have some water. and let alexandra and the township industry. to yak so in this election only about three quarters of eligible voters have registered to vote and of course not all of them are going to turn up but over the coming days as the ballots are counted up we're going to find out quite how high or low that turnout has been the n c is expected to stay in power and to keep its majority according to the opinion polls but he's expected to win with a small. majority than it's ever had before. a christian woman who spent eight years on death row in a blasphemy case has left the country. sh

but the success story of the day is the alliance party. ting party, and they have doubled their share of the votes from 2014 from the last european elections, doubled their first preference votes here. a big success story for that emerging centre ground party because for so long politics in northern ireland has been dominated by the unionist and nationalist divide. brexit has thrown a lot of that up in the air. but it is also a sign of people changing here. voters' habits are changing, not wanting necessarily to be defined by that unionist or nationalist voting pattern, and an emergence perhaps of the centre ground. a big result then for alliance. still none of those three seats of northern ireland confirmed, those three candidates so far out in front, it will take another few rounds of counting to look at second preference votes and so on, because thatis preference votes and so on, because that is the voting system that is used in northern ireland. but sinn fein, the dup and the alliance party taking votes, we expect the result slightly ea

it represents the alliance party it wants to overcome termed tribal politics the mainstream parties republicans and unionists. a few glances at some parts of belfast tell you how divided protestant and catholic still remain particularly in poor areas physical divisions stays in place there's segregated public housing and segregated education as long as kids go to different schools as long as we go to different churches as long as that. sick bigotry nonsense is fed to children at their mother's nice this place will not change very much. apart from the kids who get out a look back but don't come back that tell them they don't come back. scott and others like him insist they'll carry on their push even though it's against the odds. radical political change here could be at least one more generation away. there's another important aspect to this which may explain why the alliance policy of the middle of the road cross community party is making gains and that is the warning by a catholic priest aimed at all politicians every party including the the british prime minister of the irish t. shirt was pr

the cross community alliance party has made significant gains in northern ireland's local government e dup and sinn fein remain the largest parties, each taking around twenty five per cent of first preference votes. however alliance sharply increased their share of the vote to almost 12%. 0ther cross community parties, such as the greens, also made gains. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week. joining me from our belfast newsroom is our correspondentjohn campbell. just take us through those figures and what that says about the political environment in northern ireland. unsurprisingly, the dup and others remain the biggest parties. sinn fein is the biggest nationalist party. they have been a surge for the centre—right alliance party. adding 5% and pushing out beyond belfast. they want a seat on the derry city council. so that they have not done in almost a0 years. the greens in a socialist people before profit before belfast and derry. that's the really interesting result i think in this election. the alliance leader would

it's failed to provide basic services the opposition leader musi my money from the democratic alliance party cast his votes as you can see right there at the polls opened in the township off so let's hope malcolm webb has more from a polling station in johannesburg. well we're in the township of alexandra in johannesburg where the housing in this area is quite small or import condition other people in this area live in shacks made of iron sheets it's high unemployment it's not a wealthy area to be in people at this polling station which is in a school since before the polls opened you can have a little walk around historically there's been quite some enthusiasm for voting in south africa since it became a democracy in one thousand nine hundred four and one of the key reasons for that is the legacy of apartheid that came before it and the hard struggle that was fought over generations for people to have the right to vote many people were killed and democracy eventually came in one thousand nine hundred four and initially a very high voter turnout but that turned out it's been steadily decreas

the cross—community alliance party has made significant gains in northern ireland's local government remain the largest parties, each taking around 25% of first preference votes. however, alliance sharply increased their share of the vote to almost 12%. other cross—community parties, such as the greens, also made gains. talks aimed at reviving northern ireland's power sharing administration are due to be held next week. the metropolitan police says a leak of information from a meeting of the national security council about the chinese tech giant huawei did not amount to a criminal offence. gavin williamson was sacked from his job as defence secretary after reports about the discussions appeared in the media. he has strenuously denied he was behind the leak. our correspondent simon jones is here. what light does this shed on what actually happened? there has been some sharply differing versions of events. on the one hand, you have the prime minister saying there was compelling evidence that gavin williamson was behind the leak. he has insisted it was nothing to do with him. opposition

accusations that it's failed to provide basic services the opposition leader from the democratic alliance party cast his votes as polls opened in the township off so well so let's bring in malcolm webb is joining us from johannesburg to talk us through the polling malcolm and where you are. in the township of alexandra just down the road from a polling station is another one just up the road. but this township has been one of the hot spots for protests ever since the early two thousand but it was a series of protests just in the last month or so leading up to the election residents here been complaining for years about poor housing poor delivery of public services low employment and over successive elections here in south africa the first a turnout has been increasing also the ruling a.n.c. . has been steadily decreasing the turnout has been going down one election after the next the people in this township won't be going to the polling station today and with me is one of them thomas. who's not voting today you told me that your parents were involved in the struggle for democracy but you don't

represents the alliance party it wants to overcome what's often termed tribal politics the mainstream parties republicans and unionists. a few glances of some parts of belfast tell you how divided protestant and catholic still remain particularly in poor areas physical divisions stays in place there's segregated public housing and segregated education as long as kids go to different schools as long as we go to different churches as long as that. bigotry nonsense is fed to children at their mother's nice this place will not change very much. apart from the kids who get out a look back but don't come back that's to level the calm but. others like him insist they'll carry on their push even though it's against the odds. radical political change here could be at least one more generation away and do simmons al-jazeera northern ireland. and the president of the european council has warned of the rise of uncontrolled spontaneous empire of tech giants donald tusk compared the power of companies like google apple and facebook with countries like china speaking in his native poland to set the

the smaller parties have made the biggest gains with the cross community alliance party nearly doublingre of the vote from six point seven to ii.5%. our correspondent, john campbell is in belfast. looking at those numbers so far, what does it tell us about the current political landscape in northern ireland 7 current political landscape in northern ireland? unsurprisingly the dup and sinn fein art still the dominant parties. dup is a unionist party and sinn fein is the nationalist party. i think the real big thing is the surge in the middle ground. felines party traditionally does really well in what we call middle—class communities pay we are seeing some of the other smaller ci’oss seeing some of the other smaller cross community parties doing well. the green party picking up seats in belfast in a way it has not before he. i think that is the real story of the selection. yes, that does big blocks still dominate, but we have seen the centre ground open up a little bit more. what about support for militant republicanism? is there something we can read into that? there is very tiny on the

the cross—community alliance party increased their share of the vote to nearly 12%.also increased their number of seats. the former defence secretary gavin williamson has described a government investigation into a leak of information from a high level security meeting as a "shabby and discredited witch hunt". scotland yard said today the leak about the chinese tech firm huawei didn't amount to a criminal offence. mr williamson was sacked after theresa may said there was compelling evidence he was behind it. he has strenuously denied the allegation. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is here. is sounding ever more personal, this? it really is and it is not going away. this is all about the national security council, this forum deep within government that is meant to be secret. there is an account of a row at one of those meetings about the chinese tech firm huawei and how it ended up in a newspaper. the prime minister was livid and determined to get to the bottom of it. those present at the meetings signed the official secrets act so any leak is potentially a cr

the ulster unionist party has tried to distance themselves from an election leaflet which the alliance partyt it's early days here. the full picture expected to be complete actually tomorrow. emma vardy, thank you, our ireland correspondent. and for more coverage of the election results, with some councils still counting, huw edwards will back on bbc one this afternoon at 3:30. and we'll be back with norman smith in westminster later in the programme. a look at the day plus my other news now. new research has found that taking anti—hiv drugs stops gay men passing on the virus to sexual partners. a study published in the lancet looked at nearly 1,000 gay male couples — and discovered no cases of hiv transmission over a period of eight years. richard galpin reports. 26—year—old matt stokes is hiv positive. the diagnosis was a huge shock and don't worry he'd infect others. but this latest study, that taking anti—retroviral drugs prevents taking anti—retroviral drugs p reve nts a ny taking anti—retroviral drugs prevents any chance of transmitting the virus, is for him and his partner a game chan

the really interesting story here of the last couple of days has been the performance of the alliance partyy cross community, it does not identify as either nationalist or unionist, and we have seen nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real surge nationalist or unionist, and we have seen a real surge in support. particularly in greater belfast, but even more importantly for that party it is picking up seats in areas where it has not had representation in years. it is also going to have a seat on derry city council, and allies is not how they see their own almost a0 years. middle ground parties are doing well, green party also doing well, socialist party also doing well, socialist party also picking up seats in belfast and derry. particularly in belfast city council, it will be a more pluralist council with a broader range of parties that it has had in the recent past. thailand's king maha vajiralongkorn has been crowned in an elaborate ceremony to mark his ascendancy to the throne. today is t

represents the alliance party it wants to overcome what's often termed tribal politics the mainstream parties republicans and unionists. a few glances of some parts of belfast tell you how divided protestant and catholic still remain particularly in poor areas physical divisions stays in place there's segregated public housing and segregated education as long as kids go to different schools as long as we go to different churches as long as that. bigotry nonsense is fed to children at their mother's nice this place will not change very much. apart from the kids who get out a look back but don't come back that. they don't come back. and others like him insist they'll carry on their push even though it's against the odds. radical political change here could be at least one more generation away. so now we're waiting not just for the results of this election started the counting now two hours in but also for a crucial meeting next tuesday between all of the parties the main parties and indeed the irish and british governments the executive is going to try to get the power sharing on again

want what does you know his popularity mean for europe well he essentially wants to form an alliance with parties across the continent that could have similar views for example when it comes to immigration that's at least his stated goal he wanted to become as well the biggest political group in the european parliament the big questions to me is whether he will achieve those goals given the fact that many of the parties elsewhere do not share all of the same views when it comes to russia for example when it comes to the economy different parties described as populist across the continent have very different views so what might be has said he wants to do and he will probably do it as well with this result if you try and forge alliances with other similar movements the big question is whether he will be successful in doing so given those differences across the continent now thomas as we heard the 1st results coming in there it looks like the lead party my test of his party poised to be the biggest in italy our correspondent thomas sparrow in milan we'll talk to you a little bit later. well let's lo

promised to crack down on corruption and improve the stagnant economy the opposition democratic alliance party has its first black leader you see my money poll suggested maybe using ground among its wealthy a support base the. economic freedom fighters led by julius malema won six percent of the vote in twenty fourteen and as the third largest party in parliament its plans include nationalizing mines and taking land without compensation to give to the poor while opposition parties say they expect to gain because the a.n.c. has failed to deliver on its promises to grow the economy and create jobs fundamental reports now from cape town south africa's governing african national congress says it's confident it will win its six democratic national election and it's likely to pull that's despite internal splits factionalism the resignation of a president and a swarm of corruption allegations that stated the party. out of this election is to lead up the process of growing our economy on an inclusive braces so that we can address the why and the needs of poor people in our country the money we are get

share of vote since the end of apartheid twenty five years ago the main opposition democratic alliance party has almost a quarter of the vote the cia has warned friends and colleagues of murdered journalists. that their posts targets of the saudi government the report by time magazine says three people have been given security briefings in recent weeks hundreds of protesters have tried to stop the transfer of french weapons to saudi arabia the demonstrations were organized by rights groups following an investigation that says french weapons have been used by saudis against civilians in yemen. and the co-founder of facebook says it's time the company was broken up and regulated chris hughes says chief executive mark zuckerberg has a social media monopoly after the acquisition of whatsapp and instagram writing in the new york times he says facebook's problems include sloppy privacy practices and the inability to stop spreading of misinformation and fringe political views those are the headlines this story is coming up next on al-jazeera. as u.s. sanctions are levied against iran we last want t

hit by a series of corruption scandals in recent years opposition leaders from the democratic alliance party the economic freedom fighters have also voted. excitingly on. this board people voting is just amazing. the day should not be blocked and. they can see that. they are doing and you do all you will be giving. you. that speech malcolm webb who's at a polling station in johannesburg the president says people are energized this election. definitely not for others in the township of alexandra. you can see the some of the neighborhood here typically people living in quite the conditions for housing a lot of people don't even live in houses they live in shacks made of metal sheets and ever since the early to thousands have been protests. against the government you see the government is being very poor at delivering public services but similar protests have been seen in townships across south africa since about that time there was actually a spike in the protests here in alexandria coming up to the election you're one of the reasons why there's some police here. small. disputed and keep votin

number of small parties are emerging good is led by patricia dillo who form the party after splitting from the democratic alliance a n c one of the old parties they have perfect accord option the d. . they only need the all party to probe take that really they don't care about the poor and what we need you need an alternative in this country that stand up for the poor in their fight for social justice the a.n.c. spent much of the campaign like managing its mistakes and asking its supporters for forgiveness commentators expect the party the hang on to power but it's not clear how comfortable a majority it will have. al-jazeera caped on. still ahead for you on this news hour . cultures on the streets but turkey's president defends the decision to hold a rerun to elect istanbul's mayor after the death of a journalist last month a new round of talks begin. again in northern ireland and in sport australia's biggest rugby star learns his fate at a disciplinary hearing santa will have a story like. hello there we're expecting more severe storms over parts of north america over the next few days so thanks to this weather

nationalism at the european level it's also a boost to he's a plan of creating a pun european alliance of like minded parties but there are still some questions that are being raised about this alliance the 1st question is a 1st for how are these the parties that are on board to going to work together when they are a nationalist party is by definition they stand for their national interests and some of these interests are in conflict or they have also different affiliations for example towards a russia so how are they going to work together how are they going to show a united front. ok federica with this type of resoundingly victory what effect is this going to have on a national politics where you are heavily. well this election marks really a dramatic shift in power and here in italy because the the senior coalition partner in italy's government of the populists a 5 star movement that did not only been outperformed by their junior coalition partner the legal. that they've also not even come in 2nd place they've come in 3rd place with about 17 percent of the vote that is really a dramatic loss for them and

it and see that time when ending white minority rule you still very much see the democratic alliance as a party that is too strongly connected with white minority rule of apartheid also there isn't a vast policy difference between the african national congress and the democratic alliance so the losing votes is not the case in its own position of picking up all of those votes that's one of the reasons why wednesday's election most people south africa on. any drastic change. still widely expected. smaller. than it's ever going to. come thanks for that malcolm webb in some way for a spot. the u.s. has tightened restrictions on iran's nuclear program by failing to renew two key sanctions waivers they were in place to allow some countries to do business with iran iran will now be in violation of the curbs if it continues to ship surplus heavy water to arm on the u.s. has also made it harder for iran to dispose of any in reached uranium it's renewed some sanctions waive is that allow russia china the u.k. and france to work with iran on civilian nuclear projects iran's president has says the u.s. is

ramaphosa who's promised to tackle corruption and the stagnant economy the opposition democratic alliance party has. me its first black leader. poll suggests it may be losing ground zero among its wealthier support base the economic freedom fighters party led by julius malema won six percent of the vote in twenty fourteen and they are the third largest party in parliament. now its policies include my nationalization and taking land without compensation to give to the poor and we have correspondents across south africa covering this in a moment we'll hear from malcolm webb in johannesburg but first for me to miller has this report now from cape town. on prime real estate along cape town's waterfront is a building that was once a medical residence it became fake and when the city moved its nurses out in twenty fifteen two years later people who had nowhere else to live moved in one of them a sixty nine year old sicilian mother bella went to sit in a classroom you can give it wherever you would like to be. there's no rich or poor people we are all the same and it allowed to stay in the city. in a