hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. swimming s world governing body, fina, 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 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 want a settlement to this dispute but we we want a settlement to this dispute but we are we want a settlement to this dispute but we are facing a crisis for our members. but we are facing a crisis for our members, thousands ofjob cuts, no guarantee members, thousands ofjob cuts, no guarantee these redundancies won t 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 eur
knowing what we did, but with hindsight, that is the moment we should have done it, three weeks earlier, and it would have saved many, many lives. alistair darling, the labour politician who was chancellor during the 2008 global financial crash, dies at the age of 70. members of the rmt union except a pay deal ending their involvement in a long running series of rail strikes. hello, i m matthew amroliwala. hello, i m lewis vaughanjones. welcome to the programme. the pogues frontman shane macgowan has died at the age of 65. he was discharge from hospital last week. his wife confirmed he had died in social media. macgowan fronted the pogues from 1982 until their break up in 2014. the band are best known for the christmas hit song fairytale of new york. our arts correspondent david sillito reports. # it was christmas eve, babe # in the drunk tank # an old man said to me. # happy christmas, your ours, i pray god it s our last. fairytale of new york, a bleak, drink sodden duet
we want a settlement to this dispute but we we want a settlement to this dispute but we are we want a settlement to this dispute but we are facing a crisis for our members. but we are facing a crisis for our members, thousands ofjob cuts, no guarantee members, thousands ofjob cuts, no guarantee these redundancies won t 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 . 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. now on bbc news, martin hibbert was one of the closest people to the manchester arena bomb to survive the blast, but was left paralysed from the waist down. bbc breakfast reports on his epic five day charity climb to the summit of kilimanjaro in a specially adapted wheelchair.