into the deaths of four soldiers in niger earlier this month. donald trump has had to deny being insensitive to the widow of one of the serviceman, after she claimed the president forgot her husband's name, during a condolence call. the united nations says the global community must pledge more money to help hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees, who have fled myanmar, which has been accused of ethnic cleansing. bangladeshi officials say they are now housing almost one million refugees but the burden has become untenable. china's communist party congress is coming to an end with xijingping exerting a tighter control on power that ever. exerting a tighter control on power than ever. the president is expected to consolidate his position for a second 5 year term. now on bbc news it's time for a look back at the day in parliament. hello and welcome to monday

in parliament, our look at the best of the day in the commons and the lords. on this programme... another day, another prime ministerial update on brexit. i am ambitious and positive about britain's future and these negotiations. but the labour leader isn't impressed. i'm now beginning to feel a very worrying sense of groundhog day here. warnings for britons who're returning home after fighting with is terrorists in iraq and syria. we have to make sure that if they ever do return from iraq and syria, they do not pose a future threat to our national security. and a former labour leader is fearful of what will happen if interest—rates rise. will the ministerjoin others in strongly urging the bank of england not to increase interest rates, which would devastate families, businesses

and the economy? but first — theresa may has told mps "important progress" on brexit was made at the recent eu summit meeting. but the labour leaderjeremy corbyn said it sounded like groundhog day. the prime minister must have been hopeful of at least a speeding—up in the brexit talks process, when she sat down with negotiators and the european council president donald tusk in brussels last week. in the end, mr tusk said although not enough progress had been made to begin trade talks, reports of deadlock may have been exaggerated. the leaders of the 27 remaining eu nations did agree to discuss arrangements on future talks amongst themselves. reporting to mps in the commons, theresa may said she had a "degree of confidence" of making enough progress by december to begin trade talks. so, mr speaker, i am ambitious

and positive about britain's future and these negotiations. if we are going to take a step forward together, it must be on the basis ofjoint effort and endeavour between the uk and the eu. but i believe that by approaching these negotiations in a constructive way, in a spirit of friendship and cooperation, we can and will deliver the best possible outcome that works for all our people. and that belief was shared by other european leaders. mr speaker, i'm now beginning to have a very worrying sense of groundhog day here. well, here we are again, after another round of talks and we're still no clearer as to when negotiations on britain's future with our largest trading partner will actually begin! the brexit secretary still maintains no deal must be an option. while the secretary of state for international development says that leaving without a deal would not be the armageddon that some people project.

does the prime minister believe the outcome that is not armageddon might be setting the bar a bit too low? he talked about us making no real progress. well, we haven't reached a final agreement but it's going to happen. i have a degree of confidence that we'll be able to get to the point of sufficient progress by december. after the florence speech, there is a new momentum, the florence speech was a step forward and it should be a positive response to the willingness to work in the interim period and there has been established a momentum. now, as it happens, those aren't my words, they are the words of chancellor merkel, the taoiseach, the swedish minister, the italian prime minister, the polish prime minister and the danish minister. so, i can assure the right honourable gentleman that progress was indeed made.

with the tenor of the prime minister's negotiations last week and her statement to the house today, is very much to seek a creative and pragmatic approach to a new deep and special partnership. partnership is the keyword, is it not? because no partnership is possible without dialogue within this house, with the european neighbours and fellow member states and in the cabinet. so, can the prime minister assure us that those talks will continue and that she will not listen to those, unfortunately on these benches sometimes, who want talks to stop and us to go on to wto rules? i can assure my honourable friend that negotiations are continuing. as i said, we'll want to ensure we have worked to, it's what we're doing, we're working to get a good deal. can i reassure my right honourable friend that anyone who is suggesting she is weak is seriously underestimating her. mps: here, here! seriously underestimating this party, which supports her. and underestimating the importance of the referendum mandate

and the fact that she personally obtained more conservative votes than any other conservative leader for 30 years. and will she stick to her guns, follow—through and have confidence that unfortunately the only people undermining her from this side, are people threatening to go into the lobbies with the labour party? would she clarify, is she saying today that if we haven't got a long—term trade deal agreed by this time next year, then there won't be any transition deal at all and britain will end up on wto terms by march of 2019? can i say to the right honourable lady, as i havejust responded to my right honourable friend, the member for chingford, an implementation period is about a period which is adjusting to the future of relationship. that's the basis on which i have put it forward to the european union

and that's the basis on which we will be negotiating an agreement on it. ernst and young have warned that 83,000 cityjobs could be lost if the uk loses its denominated clearing rights. mr speaker, businesses need certainty and we need to know the details of our future trading relationship and any transition deal before the end of the year. it is absolutely critical that we stay in the single market and the customs union. will the prime minister end government's catastrophic ideological flirtation with a no deal scenario, take this off the table and do it today? i welcome my right honourable friend's update and indeed the tone and manner with which she is representing the uk during these negotiations. whilst no deal is obviously better than a bad deal, does my right honourable friend agree that according to reports now, the german foreign ministry is preparing a draft trade accord and the swedish national board of trade is drawing up trade plans, there are real grounds for optimism that a mutually beneficial trade agreement can be struck which honours the instruction the british people made last year?

when is the prime minister going to face down the ideologues in her party, on her back benches and indeed in her own cabinet, who from the safety of their stately homes and chateaux, their trust funds and their inherited wealth, clamour for a no deal that they know would do huge damage to the just about managing? leave the uk weaker and make her position in the world much smaller. when will she stand up for remain voters and indeed the leave voters against the economic catastrophe that the eurosceptic obsessives on her benches want to inflict upon us? will the prime minister pay the eu what is legally due to them, not a penny less, but not a penny more either? if the government has got their tens of billions of pounds in its coffers, i'm not sure it has, then that money should be used to pay for things like social care

and pay rises for public sector workers, not to give in the bottomless pit of the eu and into jean—claude juncker‘s wine cellar, which i'm sure is rapidly diminishing as we speak, we can't look public sector workers in the eye if we give tens of billions of pounds to the eu that is not needed to be given to them legally. did she hear the foreign secretary's attempt to be helpful following european council this morning by quoting shakespeare, including, "there is a tide in the affairs of men. which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," from julius caesar, uttered by brutus, who went on to stab his leader and subsequently came to a sticky end himself? isn't that a perfect metaphor for her predicament? i always welcome the literary and classical references that my right honourable friend brings to bear in his speeches and statements and he and i are both working to ensure we get the right

deal for the uk when we leave. theresa may. there's been a reaction in the commons to the dramatic comment of a former minister that the only way of dealing with british fighters for the so—called islamic state terror group would be "to kill them in almost every case". rory stewart told bbc radio the fighters for is had moved away from any kind of british allegiance and were now a serious danger to the country. around half of the 850 britons thought to havejoined is, or daesh, in iraq and syria are now believed to be back in the uk. mr stewart's remarks were raised at defence question—time. one of the consequences of the success of the operations against daesh has been the dispersal of many of their volunteers, including the united kingdom citizens. yesterday, the honourable member for penrith and border, the minister of state for the foreign office

and for dyfed, said that as far as uk citizens were concerned to have served in crisis, the only thing to do, with one or two exceptions, was kill them. is that now government policy? my honourable friend has made clear and i have made clear that those who have travelled to fight with daesh in either iraq or syria, will have been committing a criminal offence. daesh is a proscribed organisation and we have to make sure that if they ever do return from iraq and syria, they do not pose a future threat to our national security. but they have made their choice, they have chosen to fight for an organisation that uses terror and the murder of civilians as a modus operandi. my constituent hasjust returned to newark after fighting with the turkish peshmerga and helped them to defeat is in syria in northern iraq. he's one of hundreds of british citizens who have done the same.

will the defence secretary note the contribution and bravery of these british citizens? but also strongly dissuade other young people from taking this extremely dangerous course in the future? i certainly know that and i would advise any british citizen intending for wanting to go to fight against daesh, isis, the way to do that is to join our armed forces and get the professional training necessary and the respect for international humanitarian law that goes with it. sir michael fallon. the top civil servant at the ministry ofjustice has said that security and stability in prisons is being affected by current staffing levels. richard heaton, permanent secretary at the mo], was giving evidence to a public accounts committee inquiry into mental health in prisons. the level of staffing has been detrimental to the security and stability and good order in the prison, including the self confidence

and ability to be resilient amongst offenders. so it was the case that offenders had a regular human contact with prison officers more often than has been the case in the last three years. so, bringing some prison officers back into the wing and establishing a proper one—to—one engagement with prison officers is incredibly important, partly because you can pick up on problems, partly because conversations can happen and the human space can operate whereby people don't feel alone. so, i mention staffing as my other one and as michael says, as mr spurr says, erm, no, he hasn't said, so i'll say it, responding better to recommendations made by the ombudsman, by the inspector and by this committee and others, we haven't been as good as we should be on responding, keeping up—to—date with the recommendations against us, the ones we've accepted, so we're working very hard to make sure that when observations are made about failures, that they are acted on.

the chief executive of the prison and probation service was challenged about cases of self harming and suicide. self harm incidents have increased by 73%, we've had the highest numbers on record taking her own life in prison, that's a pretty damning indictment of mental health within our prison system, especially when you consider 70% of those who took their own life were known to have a mental health condition. would you agree that is a damning indictment of the state of mental health services within our prison estate? i think the level of self harm and the deaths in prison are a dreadful thing. and yes, it is a damning indictment that anybody takes the life or dies in prison. levels of self harm going up by this is something that worries all of us who work in prisons and actually every time i hear of a death, which i do every single one, of is dreadful. it's more than dreadful, it's a sign that the system has utterly failed, isn't it, mr spurr? where 70% of these people are known

to have a mental health condition, it is a sign that mental health services in prison have utterly failed. i think, as was said earlier, it is a sign of a whole range of things that aren't working how we would want them to work and i think there's a whole range of factors that have led to increases in self harm and suicide in prisons. and some of them were referred to earlier in your evidence. a lot of those things are in your control. some things are in our control, absolutely. i am not denying the issue about the changes in the prison regime and the number is of staff, but there is an issue, as we just described, about changing drug use, changing the nature of people that come into prison as well. in particular, i would say from my experience that psychoactive drugs have had a wider impact, as is mentioned in earlier evidence, then you are reflecting on. there was no question that the level of self harm going up as been an issue. effectively, 12% of men in the system are self harming. 28% of women are self harming. that is a significant proportion of people.

the incidents have increased significa ntly. in terms of deaths, 2016 was a horrible year in terms of the number of deaths. thankfully, the figures released injune for the year from june 2016 to 2017 are better. we are working hard to address and reverse the increase in the numbers of deaths. those figures injune were better but not where we would want them to be. the rate of 1.1 per 1000 is much too high. we're working hard to do that. you're watching our round—up of the day in the commons and lords. still to come — a familiarfigure in the house of lords bows out at the age of 95. last week, mps voted 299

to zero to support a demand for the controversial new benefits system, universal credit, to be paused. the new system's come under fire for the long payment waits inflicted on claimants. the vote was not a binding one on the government, as it came at the end of what's termed an opposition day debate at westminster, not during legislation. the shadow work and pensions secretary applied for the matter to be given an urgent commons debate. thank you mr speaker for allowing this important application which rises, as you know, after a decisive vote on a motion to pause universal credit roll out, supported by this house last week by 299 boats to zero. all previous governments have recognised that the failure to carry the house against the motion is a rebuke, and has been treated accordingly. it could magically affect the lives of up to 7 million people. they are the people who will be subject to the flawed universal credit programme. i thank you once again, mr speaker, for considering this application. i have listened carefully

to the application from the honourable member. i am satisfied that the matter raised is proper to be discussed understanding order number 24. does the honourable member, the leader of the house question the honourable member has obtained the leave of the house. the debate will be held tomorrow, tuesday 24th of october, as the first item of public business. and that debate will last three hours. meanwhile, in the lords, an independent or crossbench peer has claimed some people have

resorted to burglary to pay off debts caused by the long waits for universal credit payments. lady meacher said delays in the system were leading to rises in levels of personal debt. the issue of debt was discussed at question—time in the house of lords. personal debt will increase to unprecedented levels. the they are not the fault of the individuals. they have to wait for seven or eight weeks to get a payment, and then they get a painfulfour weeks. it is not possible for them to survive. we heard this morning that these people are resorting to burglary in order to pay their debts. can the minister help them by consulting with his colleagues? no need for people to engage in any of those kinds of activities

from stop help is there. it is there in the shape of the advance, which is deep percent of people take advantage of. universal credit was brought in with cross—party support because with the very purpose that what it would do is it would stop the perverse incentives that meant under the previous benefits system, people would work more hours and be worse off than being in a system where it was better to work. a former labour leader was also concerned about rising debt levels. personal debt is back over 200 billion. council tax and utility bills are at record levels of default, and 40% of mortgage borrowers in our country have no experience of dealing with an interest—rate rise. in those perilous circumstances, will the ministerjoin others in strongly urging the bank of england not to increase interest rates, which would devastate families, businesses and the economy and do nothing to diminish inflation, which is largely in any

case the result of the post—referendum devaluation of the pound ? he will know that it is difficult and impossible for me to comment on that, which is set by the monetary policy. they are areas of concern because they are happening at a time when we have historic low interest rates. the crisis is upon us and it is evident that it is. will the minister recognise that the government has got

an opportunity tomorrow to accept an amendment tabled by the opposition for a breathing space for debtors in circumstances where the government, during the general election of course, the conservative party was in favour of this proposal. can he not see that the urgency of the situation demands that they act tomorrow, positively? i think on this particular bill, which is meant to be improving the level of debt advice, it has been brought in welcomed. this is about debt and the horrible situation that people get into because of debt. it is wonderful that the government are trying to do something to reduce this and to make people more aware. but what incentive will they give to people to save? debt is being addressed but there is no incentive at all to save stop certainly in the report that was referred to earlier, one of the staggering statements that was made their was that in over 40%, britons have over less than £40 buffer in savings before

they trigger into debt. that is one of the reasons why my honourable friend will be happy that we have established a help to save scheme, which will help people save £50 a month. if they do that for two years, the government will receive a 50% grant, to encourage saving. the government plans to promote electric and driverless cars by requiring petrol stations and motorway service stations across the country to install more charging points. mps debated the measures in the automated and electric vehicles bill, which has passed

its first parliamentary hurdle. the bill also aims to specify who is liable for damages following accidents involving automated vehicles. over the next decade, cars will change more than they have for life times. there will be changes to the way with power and fuel our cars and even changes to the way we pay for motoring. it is notjust happening in the united kingdom, it is happening around the world. just as henry ford proved a century ago, there are huge chances for innovators to realise the revolutionary potential of new automotive technologies. exports from vehicles are already worth 2.5 billion to our economy. it is estimated the market for autonomous vehicles could be worth 28 billion by 2035. i bought a nissan leaf last month and i was struck by the fact that you have your own charging point, you need off—street parking. obviously, that is not possible for anyone with a flat

or a terraced house. will ministers please consider, in all new housing developments, changing the planning rules to require charging points to be put into new roads, as well as at railway stations and in all publicly owned car parks, as in france? that is a very good point. i will happily have discussions with my colleagues. finally, at the age of 95, the conservative lady trumpington has announced her retirement from westminster — she's made a final appearance in the lords in order to take her oath. in a long and varied career, lady trumpington worked at the bletchley park code—breaking centre during the second world war, served as mayor of cambridge, and was a government whip and a minister in margaret thatcher's governments of the 1980s. lady trumpington, a great character in the lords. and that's it for this programme.

mandy baker will be here for the rest of the week. but for now, from me, it's goodbye. hello there. if you are a fan of the mild air both by day and night you will be glad with this week because we will have south—westerly wind. that is going to feed in a lot of moisture. and we get a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain at times. today it is looking rather cloudy. there will be further rain across central and northern parts. wet weather will push into many western areas as we

start this morning. across the south—west it is generally dry. low cloud, mist and south—west it is generally dry. low cloud, mistand murk south—west it is generally dry. low cloud, mist and murk and very cloudy here to begin the day. further north it will be quite wet and a poor morning commute into work. the rain clearing northern ireland and it will be quite a wet start across much of scotland. quite breezy across the south and west. then as the day progresses it is an improving picture. skies should brighten in northern ireland. and some bright weather into scotland, with some showers around. the weather front holds on across northern england, into wales. it will be very mild in the south and south—east. temperatures of 18 or 19 degrees. here is the weather front ross the uk. it looks like it my sync across central and southern parts on wednesday. here we might see most of the damp weather. further north bright skies and sunny

spells around. quite breezy across scotla nd spells around. quite breezy across scotland with showers around western areas. temperatures around the midteens. further south it will be very mild and 16 to 18 degrees. and on into thursday it looks like the weather front moves further north. the damp weather could be across central areas. it is breezy to the north with showers around. very mild to the south and south—east. in the sunshine we might even see 20 degrees in places. then we see a change on friday. the weather front here is pushed to the near continent. high pressure builds in. and what that does is it brings cooler air across the northern periphery. that will come down across the uk on a north—westerly wind as we heading to the weekend. soa wind as we heading to the weekend. so a change to take place. it will be bright with sunshine and it will be bright with sunshine and it will be noticeably cool particularly in the north. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories:

donald trump denies being insensitive to the widow of an american serviceman. she claims the president struggled to remember the soldier's name during a condolence call. it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. the un says the global community must pledge more money to help hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees, who've fled myanmar. xijinping is confirmed as china's most powerful leader in decades. on the final day of congress he consolidates his position for another five year term. one of the world's most polluted cities introduces