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0650

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party has been campaigning on the strength of the influence it may wield in the next Parliament, if, as predicted, there is no clear winner. It has the potential to secure ten seats, but in one constituency, which it has held for ten years, the party could face a stiff challenge from both the Ulster Unionists, and Sinn Fein. However, one of the main issues in Upper Bann is perhaps slightly removed from the old conflict-related problems. Andy Martin reports.

0655

This is the most closely fought election since 1992. Many voters are still undecided and do not have the strong tied that used to exist to a particular party. In recent years we have also seen the growth in smaller parties. So this time around will we see more tactical voting? Typically around 8% of voters vote tactically. And how will the growth of the internet and the possibility of tracking what is happening more closely than ever on the ground make a difference to numbers voting tactically? Professor Steve Fisher is a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Trinity College Oxford and Tom De Grunwald is co-founder of ‘Swap my vote’ – a website designed to tactical voting.

0710

As part of our round of final interviews with the party leaders ahead of the General Election we speak to Leanne Wood, leader of Plaid Cymru.

0715

It's nine days since a massive earthquake hit Nepal. More than seven thousand people are known to have died so far and there are still many areas where thousands of people are struggling desperately to survive: little food or shelter or medical help. The focus of the relief operation is the remote, mountainous districts to the north and west of the capital Kathmandu. As our correspondent Richard Galpin reports, delivering emergency supplies to these regions is still proving to be a slow, difficult process.

0720

Sesame Street is one of the world's longest-running television children's shows still on television after 46 years. The undoubted star is Big Bird; an 8ft tall primrose bird that lives in a nest on the street. Caroll Spinney, now 81, has played him since the programme began and he's made a film called "I am Big Bird". Sima Kotecha spoke to him.

0730

What better vantage point for the election climax could there be than the border between England and Scotland? On one side, a campaign electrified by a nationalist surge and its parliamentary and constitutional consequences; on the other a feeling that the tumult to the north is both remote and significant, because it could shape the next UK parliament. James Naughtie went to Berwick upon Tweed to watch the 'riding the bounds' of the town, a ritual common throughout the Scottish borders. In Berwick's case the riders and their horses patrol the defences once erected against the marauding Scots, which they've been doing every spring for more than 400 hundred years in a celebration of a common history.

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The artist Adam Dant was commissioned by the House of Commons to document the 2015 election campaign. He has been out on the campaign trail and at the manifesto launches, making sketches of the main political protagonists, and the public, and the interactions between the two. These sketches will in due course help him put together one large work – he is known for monumental narrative ink drawings – which will join the Parliamentary Art Collection later in 2015.

0750

Pledges being made by industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions are unlikely to be enough to avoid dangerous climate change, according to a paper by Lord Stern, published today by the Grantham Research Institute. The pledges are being made ahead of UN climate talks in Paris at the end of the year which aims to secure a new global deal to tackle climate change. Other climate experts have come to the same conclusion, since the USA made its pledge last month. Lord Stern is calling on countries to be more ambitious in the scale of their intended reductions.

0810

The Italian coastguard has said that it coordinated the rescue of more than two thousand migrants yesterday – the total number of people rescued at sea this weekend was 5,800. Smugglers appear to have taken advantage of fine weather and calm seas to set boats to make the crossing from North Africa across the Mediterranean. Dr Erna Rijnierse is a doctor with MSF which is running its own rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

0815

Around a hundred US marines have arrived in Nepal to help transport aid to the more remote communities stricken by last weekend's earthquake. They were accompanied by six military aircraft, including a Chinook helicopter, and will begin work today.  More than seven thousand people are now known to have died in the disaster. Minendra Rijal is the Information Minister of Nepal.

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Radio 3 is taking a spring moment to salute some of the new and upcoming talent active in the arts today under the age of 25. As well as hearing from young choreographers, composers, musicians, photographers, video artists and writers throughout the day, programmes will be playing music of great composers in their youthful periods, alongside recordings of seminal performers made when they were young. Lloyd Coleman is a 22-year-old composer and is taking part today.

0825

The Arctic is entering what's being described as "a new era" as temperatures rise and the ice covering the ocean becomes thinner. That's the view of scientists taking part in an expedition run by the Norwegian Polar Institute. Since the start of the year, a research vessel has been drifting in the ice-pack to give scientists the chance to investigate how this region is changing. Our science editor David Shukman was given rare access to the project.

0835

As part of our round of final interviews with the party leaders ahead of the General Election we speak to the leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband.

0850

The artist Adam Dant was commissioned by the House of Commons to document the 2015 election campaign (see 0740).

All subject to change.