Le Pen ‘Steps Aside’ as Front National Leader

Marine Le Pen, French presidential candidate for the far-right Front National party has announced she will step down as party leader. Le Pen is due to face centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron in the run-off election for the presidency of the republic next month.

Also in the programme: Afghanistan’s defence minister and army chief of staff resign following an attack by Taliban fighters which killed at least 100 Afghan soldiers; Dr Peggy Whitson , the American astronaut spending a record-breaking 534th day in space.

(Image: National Front leader Marine Le Pen addresses activists on 23rd April 2017 in Henin Beaumont, France. Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images)