theresa may is to tell eu leaders that the ball is in their court, in the brexit negotiations. the prime minister says she's confident the outcome of the talks with the european union will prove the doomsayers wrong. we all support the speech she made in florence setting out the government's approach to the brexit negotiations, and after last week's conference we're all getting behind her. the european commission has rejected theresa may's claim that the ball is in the eu's court when it comes to brexit. we'll have the latest from westminster and brussels. also this lunchtime: the independent inquiry into child abuse in england and wales has begun hearing evidence about the former liberal mp, sir cyril smith. the trial of an army sergeant accused of trying to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute hears more evidence about victoria cilliers‘ jump. the oscar—winning producer harvey weinstein has been fired by his own film company following allegations of decades of sexual harassment.

us vice president mike pence walks out of an nfl game — part of a continuing row about american football players about kneeling during the national anthem. and the pound coin cut—off — will companies ignore sunday's deadline for the old round coins, and continue to accept them? and in sport on bbc news, nothing to fear — manager chris coleman rallies his wales team as they prepare for a crucial world cup qualifier against the republic of ireland. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. theresa may is to tell mps it's time for the european union to show some flexibility, when she gives parliament

an update on the brexit negotiations this afternoon. the prime minister will say that the ball is in the eu's court — though a few hours ago, a spokesman for the european commission hit back, saying the ‘ball is entirely in the uk's court'. theresa may's statement comes as the fifth round of negotiations begin in brussels — the final set of talks before eu leaders decide whether enough progress has been made to discuss britain's future trade relationship with the eu. our political correspondent ben wright reports. staying put and ploughing on — theresa may arrived back in number ten this morning after a difficult few days but ahead of her statement in commons on brexit later cabinet ministers have denied rumours they are divided. i'm looking forward to the prime minister's statement, thank you. rumour is always

destabilising, but the cabinet is not divided. we are behind the prime minister, you will hear a report into parliament today. the prime minister is to say we can prove the doomsayers wrong when it comes to brexit and moving the talks on will require leadership and flexibility by both sides but the ball is now in the eu's court. it is bullish talk and the uk is currently frustrated about the refusal to start negotiating until the basic terms of divorce including the financial settle m e nt divorce including the financial settlement have been sorted out. in a speech in florence last month theresa may said eu countries would not lose money because of britain's exit. we will honour the commitments we have made... but the eu wants more details on this and other issues such as the rights of eu citizens in the uk before talks can move on. theresa may should take a

more mature approach and realise that from the point of view of the remaining 27 members of the european union, the uk created this problem and we should bear the heaviest responsibility to come up with solutions to it. at a time when the cabinet is in such chaos, brexit negotiations are too important to end up being drowned by the chaos we are seeing. the eu chief negotiator has said it could be weeks or months until negotiations turn to trade and eu leaders will meet in a fortnight to decide whether enough progress has been made. so could the uk walk away without a deal? some of the most enthusiastic brexit supporters in the conservative party are urging her to keep it on the table and refused to make any more concessions until the eu moves. refused to make any more concessions untilthe eu moves. either they come to the table and start to talk about long—term arrangements they want to have with the uk after we leave or there is no point in continuing discussions at all. but the tory

party is split on whether walking away is a viable route to take. no tory mp would want no deal, i haven't met a single colleague who would say that is a good thing to do, it isn't, but you cannot enter any negotiation not having the option to walk away. from her position in the commons later my theresa may will try to show mps she has a theresa may will try to show mps she hasa grip theresa may will try to show mps she has a grip on the government and the plan for brexit whilst sending a blunt message to other eu leaders. well, in a moment we'll speak to our correspondent adam fleming in brussels. first to westminster and our assistant political editor norman smith. there was quite a swift rebuttal from the european commission this morning, what's the response to that there? i suspect the mood in downing street is disappointment, anger, cold fury, blind panic, all of those things because the hope had been mrs may's florence speech would inject

la dolce vita into negotiations, make eu leaders more accommodating. more than that mrs may believes she has offer genuine concessions, talking about the two year transition period, we are prepared to pour billions into the eu during that period, and on top of that downing street announced this lunchtime we will announce the crucial trade and customs paper setting out trade arrangements we wa nt setting out trade arrangements we want with the eu after brexit. in other words saying we are getting on with it, here are our trade plans. it may be eu leaders take the view mrs may is so enfeebled at the moment they can just push her around, they don't have to give ground, but the one consequence of all this i think is that it markedly increases the possibility of a no deal outcome. already we are seeing leading tory brexiteers saying no

panic, relax, we can walk away without a deal. others in her party warning that would be catastrophic for the economy. norman, thank you. let's had to brussels, where the fifth round of talks gets under way. adam, what is the mood music there? the eu diplomats don't like these sporting metaphors of tennis or card games, where it suggests someone will win or lose. having said that the european commission chief spokesman did use the tennis metaphor, batting it back saying the ball is in the uk's court. in other words they seem to be expecting the uk to make the concessions this week in the fifth round of brexit talks which we are expecting to be very technical. i have just which we are expecting to be very technical. i havejust heard david davis will arrive in brussels tomorrow. there is cautious optimism on the issue of citizens rights, the

rights of eu nationals living in the uk and uk citizens living elsewhere in the continent, where they may be some progress this week particularly on the issue of who guarantees those rights and whether there is a role for britishjudges at rights and whether there is a role for british judges at the european court ofjustice. however there is deep pessimism about the financial issue and coming to an agreement about financial obligations. diplomats are concerned mrs may's warm words in the florence speech have not been converted into hard negotiating positions that can be talked about around a table in that building. thank you. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has begun hearings to examine historic allegations of abuse in a children's home and residential school in rochdale. the inquiry will investigate an alleged failure to prosecute the late liberal democrat mp cyril smith. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. in the 1960s, they called him mr

rochdale. he became mayor of the town for labour but defected to the liberals, the forerunners of today's liberals, the forerunners of today's liberal democrats. do you want a man to represent you? but in the 60s it was never revealed he had been accused of sexually abusing deprived boys. after nearly six decades, what started as rumour has led to this — three weeks of public hearings at the child abuse inquiry to finally get to the bottom of it. the decision to embark upon this investigation was in part in response to the public concern that some politicians, including cyril smith, were involved in child sexual abuse and able to abuse with impunity because they were protected by the establishment. it is claimed cyril smith later abused boys at this school for troubled children but in 1970 police were investigating allegations about him

ata investigating allegations about him at a hostel for young men, cambridge house, when he came to see them. a transcript of the meeting records a police officer saying... you want to see what we know. smith started laughing at that. fishing, i think that's fair comment. fishing because cyril smith was hoping to move from local politics to national. he told the police... in three weeks i've got to give a decision on whether i'm going to fight the next parliamentary election as a liberal in rochdale. and if i'm going to be charged, i'm not going to accept, guilty or not guilty it would be unfairto guilty or not guilty it would be unfair to the party. he wasn't charged. years later the press started to get wind of the investigation that had taken place and now the inquiry has found new evidence of a cover—up. and now the inquiry has found new evidence of a cover-up. this inquiry made a request to m15, the security service, to see if it had any

information that was relevant to this investigation. it did. secret files from mis‘s archives suggest in 1979 prosecutors lied to journalists and denied smith had been investigated. smith was re-elected in greater numbers than before and farfrom diminishing him, the allegations appear to have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. cyril smith will be at the centre of these three weeks of hearings but these three weeks of hearings but the allegations are much wider, that paedophiles had easy access to children in rochdale and that it was covered up. tom is with me. what will these few weeks of hearings actually achieve? the inquiry is focusing itself on the failures of institutions primarily, councils, the police, prosecutors, that sort of thing. i think that will be the focus but the evidence we have heard this morning

shows the inquiry is trying to look very ha rd shows the inquiry is trying to look very hard at the detail of allegations against in this case cyril smith, an individual, and is prepared and it seems able to get hold of new evidence. it is significant i think that m15 we now know has provided these files. the inquiry has the power to pull this information from the security services and that's the power in action we have seen today. but i think there will be a long—standing criticism of this inquiry as it develops over the years to come and that is that these are events that happened more than half a century ago and the question will be how valid are any lessons you can 110w be how valid are any lessons you can now draw from what happened in the past? tom, thank you for now. there's uncertainty about whether catalonia's leader will declare independence from spain following the recent disputed referendum. the region's president will address the catalan parliament tomorrow, with some politicians in his party indicating he will make a symbolic statement, rather than calling for a total

breakaway from madrid. the snp leader, nicola sturgeon, says she won't consider a second independence referendum until there is greater clarity on a brexit deal. scotland's first minister acknowledged the snp still has to build its case for a second vote. ms sturgeon suggested she'll instead focus on a domestic agenda, and hinted that she'd be prepared to raise taxes in scotland to pay for public services. our political correspondent, iain watson, reports from glasgow. the focus of today's conference will be on westminster, there will be attacks on what the snp describe as tory austerity and the effect of spending cuts on scotland. the critics say the scottish parliament has more power to raise tax rates so if the snp want better services they should raise taxes to pay for them and today the party leader strongly hinted she might do that. in the light of further austerity the tories appear ready to do, the

implications of brexit and changing demographics, yes i think it's time to look at how we progressively use limited tax powers to protect our public services. the snp are the largest party in scotland and the largest party in scotland and the largest party in the scottish parliament but they don't have an overall majority so, as i understand it, they will be entering negotiations with labour and the greens not over whether to raise taxes but which taxes to raise. but some of the delegates here are wary. it isa some of the delegates here are wary. it is a bit ofa some of the delegates here are wary. it is a bit of a trap i think that we need to watch we don't fall into. some delegates say if nicola sturgeon increases in contacts she will give the leader of the scottish conservatives a powerful weapon. the first thing ruth davidson will say is we are the highest taxed part of the uk, but she's forgetting about free prescriptions, free tuition. and other delegates complain scotla nd

and other delegates complain scotland still doesn't have enough powers over its own finances. the scottish parliament doesn't have enough hours, 15% of the welfare powers, it is not enough. we want full powers, full independence. we wa nt full powers, full independence. we want the power of looking after our own people and our own country. so far the own people and our own country. so farthe snp own people and our own country. so far the snp have used their powers to stop the cut for those on the higher rate, and building a truly progressive tax system they prove a bigger political challenge. the trial of an army sergeant accused of trying to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute has heard more evidence about victoria cilliers' jump over salisbury plain. mrs cilliers suffered multiple injuries when both her main and reserve parachutes failed to open. emile cilliers denies the charges. duncan kennedy is at winchester crown court. the main witness has been the chief instructor at this parachute centre

in wiltshire and also one of those who investigated the accident later. under cross—examination from emile cilliers' defence barrister he admitted he had not seen victoria cilliersjump admitted he had not seen victoria cilliers jump out of the aircraft and did not see the accident itself. emile cilliers is accused of two count of attempting to murder his wife, won by sabotaging her parachute and the other by tampering with a gas fixture at their home. victoria and emile cilliers were both keen parachutists but the buzz edition claimed he wanted her to die so edition claimed he wanted her to die so he could claim insurance money and because he was having an affair with another woman —— with the prosecution claimed. it was at this airbase in wiltshire that the alleged incident took place. the basic seed around 25,000 jobs a year and victoria and emile cilliers were regular visitors. it was here she fell 4000 feet when both her main and reserve parachute did not open properly and she suffered multiple injuries. the gentleman on the right

is the chief instructor of the base and today he gave more evidence about the accident. emile cilliers defence barrister asked him if he actually saw the accident himself and whether victoria cilliers main chute had opened and he said he had not. he was also asked if he saw mrs cilliers cut away the main chute when it failed to open and again it was others who had seen her fall. the court has already been shown in these pictures of the kitchen at their home. the prosecution said mr cilliers tampered with this gas fixture a few days before the parachute accident in a separate attempt to kill his wife. emile cilliers denies all the charges against him in a trial that is expected to last up to six weeks. the man you saw in the report will continue giving evidence this afternoon and tomorrow the jury will

be taken to the airfield in wiltshire to see where this accident happened in 2015. thank you. the time is 17 minutes past one, the top story... as the latest round of brexit talks begin, the european commission hits back at theresa may, insisting the ball is entirely in the uk's court. and coming up, i am in cardiff as the wales footballers look to keep their world cup dream alive against their world cup dream alive against the republic of ireland. coming up in sport, having missed castleford tigers‘ grand final defeat, zak hardaker has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for cocaine. he will not be included in the england squad for the rugby league world cup. the oscar—winning hollywood film producer, harvey weinstein, who's behind a string of hits including shakespeare in love, the king's speech and pulp fiction, has been sacked from the company he co—founded.

he's been accused of sexually harassing women for nearly three decades. david sillito reports. pulp fiction, shakespeare in love, the king's speech. harvey weinstein is a true hollywood bigshot. the boss of the weinstein company, the business he set up with his brother. and now, in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual harassment, his brother has, with the support of the board, sacked him. a statement was released saying... that is a very significant move they have taken that is a very significant move they have ta ken and that is a very significant move they have taken and certainly a damage control situation to try to limit what could potentially happen with the company in the future. he has also lost his lawyer, lisa bloom, seen here on the left. she is best known for her work

representing women, making claims of sexual harassment against powerful men such as bill cosby and donald trump. and talking of donald trump, he had this to say on the matter. i've known harvey weinstein for a long time. i'm not at all surprised to see it. the actress ashleyjudd was one of the first to speak out publicly against harvey weinstein. she has now beenjoined by many others but although harvey weinstein had admitted he has caused a lot of pain, many allegations are, according to the lawyer now representing him, false and defamatory. but, for the people who were closest to him in hollywood — his own company — they have heard enough to make their minds up. david sillito, bbc news. a woman is launching a legal claim to argue for workers' rights for foster carers. sarah anderson, who's been a foster carerfor ten years, is used by hampshire county council, but does not have the rights of a worker such as holiday pay

or discrimination protection. our legal correspondent, clive coleman, is with me. how significant is this case? if she wins it is very significant. there are around 55,000 fostering household in the uk and foster carers tend to work for local authorities or charities or private companies acting on the hub of those authorities but they had not been traditionally regarded as workers which is a specific legal category and its derives in part from eu law. it falls short of employees. they do not get the full set of employee rights but they get significant rights but they get significant rights like the right to paid holiday and protection from discrimination. the english court have traditionally ruled that the agreement they have with the local authorities or fostering agencies is not a legally binding contract and such a contract is a requirement in order to be classified as a worker also i spoke to sarah anderson and i

asked her white foster carers should be recognised as workers. —— y. —— i asked her why. i don't think anybody really understands the vulnerable and exploited workforce that we are. we would like to have the rights that go alongside workers because we consider ourselves workers. there is no doubt about it, we have the fostering agreement which is a contract, we are controlled, all the things that determine a worker. does that mean we don't love and adore and cherish our children? no, it doesn't. but it means the workforce looking after them would be better respected. hampshire county council maintain that the law is very clear, foster carers are not in law workers. thank you. now, if you still have some old pound coins in your purse, a warning that in a week's time, businesses will be able to refuse to accept them. from next monday, the old pound will no longer be legal tender, although it's been reported that thousands of shops and businesses will ignore the royal mint‘s deadline, to give people more time

to spend the coins. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz, reports. the days of the old round pound are numbered. from next monday shops will not have to accept them and they will not be allowed to give them in change but some shops like pound land are happy about the investors being encouraged to think they can't come and spend their old pound if they still have them. and here is the cause, the new 12 sided pound coins being struck in their hundreds of thousands at the royal mint. the royal mint and the treasury wanted a clean switchover between the two. pound land is rejecting the idea of a shop cut off, saying it will accept the old pound until the end of the month, something businesses can do if they wa nt something businesses can do if they want to. at the shop is within its rights to say it is no longer legal tender and they will not accept the

cause but they do have this question for a brief period where, if they wa nt for a brief period where, if they want to, the owner can accept them and give them to their bank instead. the treasury said... another problem is that in some places and with some parking machines for instant if you try to use the new pound coin, itjust gets rejected because they have not adjusted the machinery yet. hammersmith and fulham council in london said it will have the job done later in the year. meanwhile, tesco and sainsbury still have some coin operated trolleys which have to be modified with just days to go before the deadline. however, if you have old pound left over afterwards, banks are saying they will accept them indefinitely from the own customers and when that stopped the bank of england will take them for ever. the best thing to realise is

that there is no need to panic some shops will still take them and if not, take them into your own bank and pay them in and you will be able to get credit for those coins. one niggle for businesses is that hsbc, lloyds and some other banks will customers to sort the old and new court in two different bags of aborting them in so it is goodbye to the round pound —— before paying them in. simon, but, bbc news. after a weekend of ups and downs for the home nations, wales play the republic of ireland this evening in their attempt to qualify for the football world cup for the first time in nearly 60 years. our sports correspondent, andy swiss, is in cardiff. it should be some night in cardiff, it is make or break as far as wales are concerned. the permutations are pretty complicated also i will try to keep them as simple as possible.

victory would guaranteed wales at least a play—off place but it could even see them top the group and qualify automatically if serbia slip up qualify automatically if serbia slip up in their match which would be dreamland for the fans here. a draw tonight might be enough for a play—off place but they would have to rely on other results going their way. defeat and their world cup hopes would be over. as far as the republic of ireland are concerned, if they win tonight they are guaranteed at least a play—off place so guaranteed at least a play—off place so it should be a real nailbiter. as far as wales are concerned, they will have to be without star player gareth bale who is injured and they don't have a great record against the republic of ireland, they have not beaten them in 25 years. but wales did look very impressive last week in beating georgia awaits and they obviously have the crowd on their side. and they have not reached a world cup since 1958 so the fans will be hoping that long

wait might soon be over. thank you. now, the ongoing row between the white house and american football players has seen the vice president walk out of a game. president trump tweeted to say he's proud of mike pence, after he left a match in indianapolis when some players knelt during the national anthem. kneeling at nfl events has become a form of protest against racial injustice but it's been strongly criticised by the president. paul adams has the details. two very different responses to the national anthem. shortly after these photos were taken, mike pence and his party left, missing the game. as the vice president boarded his plane, he explained his actions. he said: but was this an honest protest or an expensive stunt? a tweet from mr trump suggested the whole thing was planned. there was never any doubt players would kneel at the game.

to make his point, mr pence flew across america twice, at considerable cost to the taxpayer. it is really disheartening when everything that you were raised on, everything i was raised on, i wanted to be the best person i could be, to help people that need help and the vice president of the united states is trying to confuse the message we are trying to put out there. taking a knee, a protest against the killing of african—americans by police officers, has now turned into a political row. thanks in part to donald trump's typically direct intervention last month. wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, just say, get that son of a bleep off the field right now! out! he's fired!" but now the president is making enemies much closer to home. over the weekend, washington was treated to an extraordinary public spat between mr trump and a senior member of his own republican party. mr trump lashed out at retiring tennessee senator bob corker,

suggesting he was desperate for the president's endorsement, politically ambitious and ultimately weak. the senator's response was scathing, saying the white house had become an adult daycare centre. last week, he said it was only a handful of senior officials that prevented mr trump from running amok. secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. from capitol hill to the stadiums of america, the trump administration is picking one political and cultural battle after another. the president's list of enemies, just a little longer every day. paul adams, bbc news. he may dominate the tennis court, but roger federer has been getting attention for some other moves too. the current world number two entertained fans with his dancing

when he wasjoined on court by mickey mouse at the start of the atp masters tournament in shanghai. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. maybe he should stick to the tennis! the thing as exciting as that with the weather, a pretty great affair and this is what most of us woke up to on monday morning and this is what most of us would like. there are some breaks in the cloud in sheltered eastern areas with some sunshine and this afternoon it should improve a little. a great start, some brighter spells coming through that cloud and in the afternoon it will be quiet and a reasonable afternoon for many. pleasa nt reasonable afternoon for many. pleasant in terms of