24/04/2017 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten, the final battle-lines are drawn as two

candidates fight for the keys to the Elysee Palace.

Macron and Le Pen will contest the final round in just under

a fortnight, pushing aside the traditional mainstream parties.

As Marine Le Pen promises a new start for France and a day

of reckoning for the EU the nation's leaders line up to back her rival.

TRANSLATION: The far right will deeply divide France. It would

stigmatise some of our fellow citizens because of some of their

origins of religion that would undermine our liberty and the

republic. We'll have the latest

on the campaign as Marine Le Pen steps down as leader

of the Front National to focus We'll have the latest

on the campaign as Marine Le Pen Jeremy Corbyn takes his election

campaign to Scotland; he tells trade union members that they're part

of Labour's DNA. A delay in plans to tackle air

pollution until after the election; ministers are accused

of 'pure political expediency'. A special report from the IS

stronghold of Dabiq where IS were right about one thing

though. This is a place of reckoning but it's a place of their defeat,

they are being driven 100 kilometres from here.

And, one of the enduring images of this year's London Marathon -

we speak to the runners who made their own headlines.

France has now entered a period of intense political campaigning

between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen the two remaining

It's a race that's already transformed the old patterns

of French politics with potentially significant consequences

The final voting figures for the first round released today

His rival Marine Le Pen of the National Front took 21.3%.

The outgoing Socialist president Francois Hollande said today that

only Mr Macron would defend the values of the French respublic.

only Mr Macron would defend the values of the French republic.

Our Europe editor Katya Adler has the latest.

Emmanuel Macron looking presidential last nights. A bit prematurely

perhaps. There's a lot of glad handing still to be done two weeks

to go before the final vote. Financial markets in Brussels mange

President Macron is a done deal. But she doesn't. Marine Le Pen, Macron's

rival for president, his rival for French voters' trust. A welcome

visitor on market day in the forgotten town. She's the people's

president, she says, with welfare policies to match. EU to the back of

the cue. Madam Le Pen wants out of the euro, she's anti-big business

too. It's exactly these images that Marine Le Pen will be chasing

throughout her presidential campaign. Her intended message -

she's a woman of the people. While her political rival, Emmanuel

Macron, is a remote Parisian elitist.

Last night's election showed a divided France. Marine Le Pen did

well in the north and south-east, areas with high unemployment and low

wages. Emmanuel Macron dominated in wealthy areas and large cities like

Paris and Bordeaux, where his probusiness, pro-EU liberal platform

resonates. Emmanuel Macron was in Paris today, keen to display his

statesmanlike credentials, remembering victims of mass killings

in Armenia. And while his rival hugged and kissed her way through

the crowds today, Mr Macron had onlookers behind cordons, only the

press allowed near. Political gloves are off for both

candidates, this is the fight of their professional life. They need

to win voters outside their true traditional support base to make it

to the top. Who can pull it off? TRANSLATION: I plan to abstain. I

don't like either candidate. I will vote for Macron even if I don't want

him as a President, but I want him more than Marine Le Pen. And

France's political establishment, including its current President, has

urged all voters, to do the same. TRANSLATION: The far right would

deeply divide France. It would stigmatise some of our fellow

citizens because of its origins. It would undermine the religion and

republic. Aware of her party's divisive reputation, Marine Le Pen

had a surprise announcement tonight. She said she was stepping aside as

President of the National Front to run for president of all of France.

Emmanuel Macron still has a race to win. This is an all-or-nothing

campaign for both candidates and in true French style, this promises to

be passionate and dramatic. Cat what, what about the rest of the

European Union? There is a lot at stake. France is a political and

economic heavyweight in Europe and outside as well. That's why there is

so much world attention on these elections. If Emmanuel Macron is

president, the international financial market love that idea,

they surged this morning. He's probusiness and pro-international

trade aGreen Parties and pro-EU, so Brussels is absolutely delighted. He

wants more EU integration. This could make him a tricky partner in

Brexit negotiations, of course, European Union for him coming above

all else, but he's a former Minister of The economy and he's unlikely toe

say no to a favourable trade agreement for the EU and Britain. If

we look at Marine Le Pen, a very different prospect. Of course if

she's president, she'd be the champion for Euro-sceptic pop list

nationalist movements across Europe and beyond but Brussels is afraid of

her. She wants to pull France out of the euro and hold a referendum on

France's European Union membership. She's a big fan of Brexit, but if

France leaves the EU, the whole European project could collapse.

That would impact the UK as well at the very least leaving Brexit talks

and talks of a future trade deal hanging in the air.

Jeremy Corbyn has been campaigning in Scotland today where Labour held

just one seat in the general election of 2015.

Mr Corbyn was addressing the Scottish Trades Union Congress

where he said a Labour government would repeal trade union

legislation passed by David Cameron's government.

He told union members that they were the DNA

The same audience heard the first minister Nicola Sturgeon insist

the election in Scotland was a two-horse race between the SNP

Sarah Smith our Scotland editor has more details.

All these Labour supporters know Jeremy Corbyn has to win back huge

numbers of voters from the SNP if he's to stand a chance

Do you want to vote for the SNP, who want to fight for another

unwanted and unnecessary referendum but have failed abysmally

in the fight against poverty and inequality?

An SNP who've failed in government in all policy areas,

as they systematically forget the day job, and obsess

A springtime fall of snow greeted Mr Corbyn earlier today,

when both he and Nicola Sturgeon came to the Scottish trade union

Jeremy Corbyn says he's fighting for every seat in Scotland.

The reality is, they'll have to fight hard to keep the one MP

they have in Scotland at the moment, having lost 40 seats

There will be no deals with Nicola Sturgeon

and the SNP after the election, Mr Corbyn said today.

While she claims her party provide the only effective opposition

The SNP simply cannot form a government in Westminster.

The only wait to get rid of the Tories that you so despise

would be with a Labour government, wouldn't it?

Well, look, I can read the polls as well as anybody can.

And the travails of the Labour Party I think tell most people that

Labour is not on course to form a government.

So, people who don't want to see Theresa May

with a strengthened hand, to impose more welfare cuts,

to damage the economy, to do further damage to our society,

The SNP regard the Tories, not Labour, as their real

The fact is, it's never been more important for people across Scotland

to think clearly and ask ourselves this question - how can

we best protect Scotland from the hard-line Tories?

The truth is, the Tories are starting to think that they can

do whatever they want to Scotland and get away with it.

The Scottish Tories believe they could win up to 12 seats

in Scotland, and say only they can stop an independence referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon is going to use all means possible,

including this election, to try and further

her aim for another, second independence referendum.

The last time Jeremy Corbyn was in Scotland, he said a second

independence referendum was absolutely fine with him.

So, people across the country don't want it, and they want someone

That's what me and my Conservative team will do.

The SNP claim this is a two-horse race between them

And in a campaign dominated by arguments over independence,

Labour often struggle to get their message heard.

While Jeremy Corbyn was campaigning in Scotland, he was being accused

by the Conservatives of being a security risk

because of his long-standing views on nuclear weapons.

The day's campaigning also saw the Ukip leader Paul Nuttall giving

the strongest hint yet that he may not stand in the election

as the party unveiled its policy on integration which opponents said

Our political editor Laura Kuenessberg reports.

Putting his name to long deeply held principles or signing

Sign away the Trade Union act, all right...

Jeremy Corbyn ain't changing, not on nuclear weapons,

despite his party's official support for Trident, nor staunch

backing for trades unions around the country.

You are our DNA, you are our family, we will never ever apologise

for the closeness of our relationship with you.

That's why one of the very first things we'll do

when forming our Labour Government will be to repeal the

Corbyn supporters would be aghast at anything else but the Tories

believe he's out of touch with the majority.

Content today to make that case, not their own, not even a sign

of the Prime Minister, only her Defence

He's already now said he wouldn't necessarily endorse

That means Labour is a security risk to this country.

The Tories believe Ukip's on the run too.

Since the referendum, their main reason for being has gone.

So they're arguing for a burka ban, no more Islamic schools -

They call it integration, their rivals say it's Islamophobia.

What we want to see is people sign up to British law,

sign up to a British way of life and indeed enjoy the full fruits our

The Ukip leader less keen to chat about his own future,

chased by reporters for an answer on whether he will stand as an MP.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Lib Dems think there's hope

They believe they can gobble up votes in parts

They're promising a second referendum on the final Brexit deal.

We have, if you like, a coalition of chaos.

All lined up backing the hardest of all Brexits,

exit from the single market, cutting off all our ties with our

Yet even among usually mild mannered Lib Dems,

there were heckles today, as Tim Farron faced

It's fair to say that I've answered the question.

It's still a scramble for all the main parties

to get their machines up and running.

No one's campaign is yet running at full pelt but the broad thrust

of having one to get you on board, their strategies, well

those are crystal clear, Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News Vauxhall.

Police in Greater Manchester are questioning a 21-year-old man

about the murder of a former Royal Navy officer who was run

over as he tried to stop his car being stolen.

Mike Samwell who was 35 was found with serious injuries

during the early hours of Sunday morning and died later in hospital

as our correspondent Danny Savage reports.

Mike Samwell, a 35-year-old former Royal Navy officer.

He and his wife were asleep in their home in Chorlton

in the early hours of yesterday when they were awoken by intruders.

What happened in the following few moments saw Mr Samwell run over

The high-powered Audi S3 was soon found abandoned a few miles away.

Where Mike Samwell was fatally injured is now the scene

of a murder inquiry, leaving neighbours

He was very friendly, always talkative, funny...

Mike Samwell was a weapons officer on a nuclear submarine.

He left the Navy a few years ago and then worked as an engineer.

Police initially appealed to the criminal fraternity

for information, saying that this crime had crossed the line.

Then this morning, they announced that a 21-year-old

man had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Neighbours say they heard Mike Samwell's wife, Jessica,

shouting his name and screaming for help after he was run over.

She returned to the scene today, escorted by police into her own home

which is now a crime scene, as investigations continue

into what happened in this quiet suburban street.

In Syria, the battle against so-called Islamic State

is gathering pace as forces move towards the group's

Territory which has been under IS control is being retaken

including the northern town of Dabiq, which featured heavily

in the group's propaganda as it was the town where

the British-born militant known as Jihadi John carried out

Our Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville and camerman

Fred Scott have been to Dabiq and sent this report.

In northern Aleppo, the so-called Islamic State

The tiny village of Dabiq was a beacon, drawing in foreign

Dabiq was a great symbol for the Islamic State group.

It's here, the Prophet Muhammad said, that Muslims

This is also the spot where Britain's Jihadi John murdered

the American aid worker Peter Kassig.

IS were right about one thing, though.

But it's the place of their defeat, and they've now been driven more

And these days, they don't make much mention of Dabiq.

IS are gone, but there's another enemy for the Free Syrian Army -

There's a weary truce on these front lines.

Air strikes are no longer a threat, but the Islamic State's roadside

bombs and booby-traps are everywhere.

The FSA, they're mostly ethnic Turks in this part of Syria,

try drive out IS but also to stop their blood enemies,

The rebuilding of al-Bab is already under way.

In Syria, it takes a lot of confidence to replace your windows.

But the damage done here isn't just to buildings.

It extends deeper, into Syria's ethnic fabric.

Amid the ruins, this was an IS headquarters.

You find reminders of the victims, the disappeared,

New and rich wells of hatred are being formed.

Inside these four walls, the country's hopelessness is revealed.

Rare access to enemies and sometime allies locked up together.

In these cells, the prisoners agreed to speak to us.

Others, no more than boys, fought for the Kurds

And some for President Assad, helped by Russia.

TRANSLATION: Because of the joblessness in Syria,

I had no salary to look after my children.

Foreign interference here has only caused more destruction.

Some say they came to fight for IS, others to destroy it.

TRANSLATION: The different people and groups here despise each

War only increase and hatred, it never lessens it.

All the prisoners, IS included, have had regular contact

These men will likely be exchanged in a prisoner swap.

The war with IS may be approaching an end,

but there will be no rest in Syria, and the people who make up this

country will likely find themselves pushed even further apart.

Campaigners for better air quality have accused ministers of "pure

political expediency" and of "presiding over

It follows a decision to delay publishing plans

to tackle air pollution until after the general election.

Ministers had originally been given until today

to publish their proposals, following growing concern about the

Our science editor, David Shukman, has the story.

It begins with one small cloud. But multiply that by the millions of

vehicles on the roads, and you can see how pollution builds up in our

cities. There is growing evidence now of the impact on our health, and

successive governments have been under pressure to clean up. This is

all about a gas called nitrogen dioxide which is given off by

traffic tapes it is invisible but damaging. The European Union says

the airway breve should not contain more than 40 micrograms of it on

average over the course of the year. Well, here are some of the most

recent figures... The pollution is so bad in this town in Cornwall, the

council even considered moving people away. Nottingham is building

an express lane for electric vehicles, all this as the Government

have been told to publish a new clean air plan today. One

environmental group went to court and won. Ministers now say they will

have to wait until after the election. Campaigners are not happy.

We've been breaking the law on air pollution now for seven years and

the government has had five months to find policies to sort it out.

Now, they're leaving it to the last minute to try and get out of it.

It's not acceptable. In the Commons, Labour accused the Government of

using the election as an excuse for delay. Isn't it the case that the

Government is doing everything it can to avoid scrutiny because it is

missing its own commitments, has no strategy and wants yet again to kick

this issue into the long grass? The Environment Secretary said the

Government WAS ready to fact but could not do so right now because of

election campaign rules. Clean air is an absolute top priority for this

government. We have been working on our new proposals for the last five

months and we are ready to go with our proposals. We are now seeking a

very short deferral to meet the propriety rules around purdah. When

it emerges, the clean air plan will have to tackle vast numbers of

diesels. All than a third of all cars in Britain are diesels. The

last Labour government encouraged people to buy them. One option now

is a subsidy to scrap the dirtiest ones. But that's expensive. Another

idea is to have taxes to deter diesel drivers from entering cities.

Choices which are very difficult at any time.

A brief look at some of the day's other news stories...

The law firm Leigh Day and three of its solicitors have appeared

before a disciplinary tribunal on misconduct charges over legal

claims they brought against British troops during the Iraq war.

They are accused of making allegations that soldiers murdered

Two men - Arthur Collins, pictured here, and Andre Phoenix -

have been remanded in custody after being charged in connection

with an alleged acid attack at a London nightclub over Easter.

More than 20 people were injured, with two of the victims

Tougher punishments for the most serious cases of speeding have come

Drivers may now be fined 1.5 times their weekly wage

for the worst offences, including driving over

50mph in a 30mph-zone, or 100mph on a motorway.

James Mattis, the US Defence Secretary, has warned that

Afghan security forces and the international troops

supporting them face "a tough year" because of the threat

Mr Mattis is in Kabul, where the Afghan defence minister

and the army chief of staff have resigned following Friday's Taliban

The assault near Mazar-e-Sharif killed more than 140 people,

after militants disguised as soldiers stormed an army base.

Our correspondent Justin Rowlatt has been to the camp,

This is the route the Taliban attackers took.

The guards waved them through, believing they were

We're the first journalists invited onto the army base, the first to see

A suicide bomber blew himself up in the dining hall,

as hundreds of soldiers ate their lunch.

Others were mown down as they left Friday prayers,

the Taliban shooting fellow Muslims dead as they worshipped.

Once inside here, they just opened fire, and if you look around here,

you can see the walls are pocked with gunshot fire.

And outside, one of the vehicles the Taliban used.

There are suspicions the attackers had inside help,

TRANSLATION: Investigators from Kabul have been here.

They confirmed there are no indication that there has been any

But just hours after our interview, he was suspended.

Eight army personnel are under investigation, and today,

both the Afghan Defence Minister and the Army chief

There could scarcely have been a worse day

for the US Defence Secretary, James Mattis, to visit the country.

He met the Afghan president to discuss US strategy in Afghanistan.

I'd say that we're under no illusions about the challenges

2017's going to be another tough year for the valiant Afghan security

forces and the international troops who have stood and will continue

to stand shoulder to shoulder with Afghanistan against terrorism.

But as they begin to clear up the wreckage, the Americans

were still making no promises on what the Afghans really want -

additional US troops to assist Afghan forces.

The American astronaut Peggy Whitson has broken the record for the number

of days spent in space by an American.

President Trump telephoned her to congratulate her on beating

Commander Whitson is also the first woman to command

the International Space Station on two missions.

Newcastle United have been promoted back to the Premier League

at the first attempt following their

United beat Preston 4-1 at St James' Park this evening to secure

the second automatic promotion spot behind leaders Brighton.

The season hasn't been the procession many expected

at Newcastle United, but then life is rarely

With regular crowds of over 50,000, this is a club that feels like it

Much of this is down to Rafa Benitez, the Champions

League-winning manager who chose to stay in the Championship,

believing he could take them straight up.

And the prize was in sight after just six minutes.

Newcastle beat Preston 6-0 in October, but this time,

their opponents were far more resilient.

Jordan Hugill made sure it would be no walkover.

At 1-1, nerves were starting to build at St James' Park.

In such a cauldron, what was needed was a cool head.

For Newcastle, that came from Christian Atsu,

After the break, Newcastle were back on the attack.

Preston were forced to take drastic action.

Now down to ten men, Matt Ritchie punished them further.

It was so close, they could taste it.

Newcastle would score a fourth before the

Often described as sleeping giants, maybe now they've found the right

So, a a year after they were relegated, Newcastle are promoted at

the first time of asking, something that doesn't happen all that often.

It looks like with two games to go, bright and will pip them to the

title. Although given the way everyone celebrated here, second

placed does not seem like a bad price.

The runner who provided the defining image of yesterday's marathon

when he sacrificed his own race time to help another competitor

says it was the perfect ending to his race.

The actions of Matthew Rees in helping David Wyeth to reach

the finishing line have been described as a great example

Our correspondent Dan Johnson caught up with the two runners today.

COMMENTATOR: David Wyeth goes down...

After 26 miles, a helping hand summed up the spirit

But there'll be guys who'll help him to the line -

I was just trying to get to the line, and my body went.

It was desperate, really - really desperate.

He was saying that he was determined to finish.

And I helped him up and his legs went again, so I realised that

I was going to have to stay with him to make sure that he did get

..to see it through to the conclusion of this 26

I was like shouting in his ear, saying, "Come on, on,

you can do this, it's 200 metres, we WILL finish, I'll stay with you!"

Maybe I was a bit overzealous because of my support, but, er...

Maybe I was a bit overzealous with my support, but, er...

No, it was wonderful, it was needed, it was needed to kind of hit home.

Matthew was clear in knowing, if he leaves me, there's a chance

that they will just whisk me off, they won't get me along the finish.

And that's just, you know, it's just so nice, he's such

The killer question - roles reversed, would you have

You're the first person to ask me that today,

I haven't given it a moment's thought.

You can see Prince William and Prince Harry looking

What the general public see there is the spirit

And this happens all over the place, it just happened that there

were quite a few cameras trained on that, at that point in

And it was even the wobbly pair of legs that officially

David's club has offered to pay Matthew's entry entry year,

David's club has offered to pay Matthew's entry year,

with first-class travel and accommodation -

recognition of a new friendship forged in a selfless

Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

In the aftermath of the first round of the French presidential

elections, will be joined by Peter Mandelson, who talks about his new

cross-party moment to defeat pro-Brexit MPs in the election.