to have been killed by wildfires burning out of control close to athens. a spokesman said most died in the coastal area of mati — east of the capital — where many people were trapped in their homes and cars. an american—based monitoring group says it appears north korea has begun dismantling a rocket—engine testing facility — seen as instrumental in the development of the country's ballistic missile programme. the group 38 north says satellite images show buildings at the sohae site are being taken down. did uk government is insisting it has not abandoned its opposition to the death penalty, even though it is not refusing to accept death penalty for two men the united states want to extradite. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone half past two in the morning. you up—to—date with the headlines. it is time for monday in parliament. —— you are.

hello and welcome to monday in parliament, our look at the best of the commons and the lords, on this final week of term before the summer recess. on this programme, accusations that the government is rowing back from britain's historic opposition to the death penalty. in this case the home secretary seems to have unilaterally broke up those principles on a friday afternoon in summer. the government explains why it's not seeking assurances over the application of the death penalty in the cases of two jidhadist fighters. we have been working closely with international partners to ensure that they face justice for any crimes they have committed. also on the programme. the row continues over the pairing of mps in commons votes. a pair is a pair, whatever its purpose. but first.

has the government dropped the uk's blanket opposition the daily telegraph has seen documents in which the home secretary sajid javid is reported to have said britain will demand ‘no assurances‘ from the us authorities that two jihadist fighters from the uk will not be executed if they are prosecuted in the us courts. the two jihadists are members of the brutal so—called ‘beatles‘ cell of executioners in syria and iraq said to be responsible for killing a series of high—profile western captives. the two were captured injanuary. when the shadow home secretary raised the issue in parliament, this was the reply of the security minister. this case is ongoing and is obviously sensitive. in handling this case, the government ministers have complied with the echr and due process and we must be mindful to protect the integrity of the criminal investigation. in this instance, foreign fighters could be released from detention without facing justice.

we have been working closely with international partners to ensure they face justice for any crimes they have committed. our long—standing position on the use of the death penalty has not changed. the uk has a long—standing policy of opposing the death penalty as a matter of principle regardless of nationality. the minister will be aware that the mother of one of the cell victims has said she is very against the use of the death penalty. i think diane foley said that you just to make them martyrs in their twisted ideologies. i would like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives. that would be my preference. this decision to abandon our principled opposition to the death penalty is a both abhorrent

and shameful and i call on ministers even at this late stage to reverse this decision. one must not forget that the crimes that we are talking about involve the beheading and the videos of those beheadings of dozens of innocent people by one of the most abhorrent organisations walking this earth. and simply to say if we were unable to prosecute them in this country, that we should simply let them free to roam around the united kingdom, because it would upset the right honourable lady opposite not to share our evidence with the united states is simply bizarre. and notjustice to the victims! the issue is why the united kingdom government is departing from its long—standing policy of opposing the death penalty in all circumstances? in using those words, i am reading from the uk

government's death penalty strategy which of course curiously was not renewed when it was due for renewal in 2016. i'd have no doubt that my right honourable friend who is a distinguished former soldier would have shot these two people had he gazed them on the battlefield. but these are not comparable circumstances. there are important and long—standing conventions at play here. will he bear in mind that on human rights we cannot distinguish between good and bad people. human rights are indivisible. and belong to everybody. what the minister has said today is a contradiction of the long—standing abolition of the death penalty strategy, words number ten have reaffirmed today to say it's the long—standing policy of the uk to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.

yet in this case, the home secretary seems to have unilaterally ripped up those principles on a friday afternoon in summer. why has the government decided to breach a long—standing policy against the death penalty in all circumstances in this case? we all want to see these individuals, if there is evidence, face justice. but it is precisely because of the barbaric nature of the crimes in which they committed that we as a country have to show that we are better than them and what they did. that is why there is so much unhappiness i suspect i'm many parts of the house about with the home secretary has done. i will not take a lecture about being better than him from a right member who sat where people were being rendered from libya and across to libya. i think that is outrageous.

i have spent the majority of my constituency in this country perfectly comfortable with the position of the home secretary. these people are not united kingdom citizens and they are owed nothing from this government. so can i urge him to ensure the unrepresented grandstanding we've seen will not knock the government office course of assisting the us in prosecuting this murderous terrorist? the reports in the press that these people are responsible for beheading 27 western hostages with a serrated knife. if the evidence is not available in the united kingdom, but it is available in the united states, can i tell him it is absolutely right that they be tried in there, because the last thing we want

is these people being tried here, and then due to lack of evidence, being found innocent and allowed to roam free in this country! my honourable friend makes a really important point. at the end of the day, this is about the security of our country and aboutjustice being delivered were that can be done. the government's announced it'll publish a blueprint for the eu withdrawal agreement bill on tuesday. the introduction of this bill will ensure that eu law will still apply in the uk during the transition period due to start in march next year. it'll enshrine citizens‘ rights in uk domestic law, and give ministers power to make payments under the financial settlement. the announcement was made by the brexit minister in the lords. domestically we are continuing to prepare the legislation needed to implement the withdrawal agreement in uk law. and we will publish a white paper tomorrow setting out more details on this. on the future relationship we believe the white paper we have published is a principled and pragmatic plan for the relationship we wish to build. an ambitious and inhibitive proposal that respects position, interests and concerns of the european union.

it is all going so well, isn't? labour welcomed the publishing of the new policy document — and, indeed, also the one that emerged after the cabinet meeting at chequers. however, it is a white paper unacceptable to two cabinet members who agreed it. and unacceptable to the eu who rubbished it. an unacceptable to the government which accepted the erg amendments that undermined it. unacceptable to much of industry, the city and business. unacceptable, lam, guessing to this house. the bishop of leeds was worried about the culture generated by brexit. he took aim at boris johnson and the leading brexiteer, jacob rees—mogg. how are the people to read a former foreign secretary who resigned immediately from a newspaper column or an mp for north east somerset moving his business investment interests abroad while telling the rest of us that we will experience the benefits

of brexit over the next 50 years. which by my reckoning, means we have another ten years to work out the benefits of eu membership. neither of these men will suffer the negative consequences of any form of brexit. one tory grandee and remainer complained that there was no plan for brexit. if this house cannot tell me what brexit is, if the government cannot tell me, if the newspapers cannot tell me, and if everybody has their own version, 600 versions here, another 600 versions there, thousands outside, what did the people vote for? what was in their mind? and how will we know as servants of the people, people wishing to implement the referendum campaign, to do with the public? how do we know what they want when we don't know ourselves?

so, it is no surprise to me that growing in volume and in articulation is the demand, let the people have another choice. a labourformer eu trade commissioner said there was a choice between staying in the european economic area or crashing out with no deal. perhaps it is a choice that parliament should not make by itself. because it goes to the heart of the original referendum decision. when this unpalatable choice that we are facing was neither revealed or properly debated. nobody is advocating a peoples vote on the final deal as a sort of rerun fixture because the first result was disappointing. that is not my view. it is because the whole process surrounding the referendum was flawed. and handling the brexit ever since totally chaotic. the reason people voted leave are notjust economic.

although i believe a bright future for our country once we are unshackled from the european union. it was about being free again to make in and make our own decisions and hold the government to account for rules or regulations that dominate our lives. to decide for ourselves our immigration policy and how our money is spent and to be free to the jurisdiction of a foreign court. to control our own natural resources and to offer markets to developing countries around the world. and there was a plea for unity from another conservative. as for that pesky voice shouting too loud that a 4% majority is not good enough and we must rerun the entire thing, do we assume they disregard

the previous nationwide referendum that decided that the first post in which votes are counted should we rerun that referendum ? that is not going to happen. not now, or in the future. so let's make friends again, not with just the eu, but with ourselves. we are in parliament to serve the british people and to enhance our nation in her post—brexit new clothes. lady nicholson. the prime minister has been out and about, holding a cabinet meeting in gateshead and visiting an engineering firm in newcastle. theresa may said she was determined to make sure the brexit deal "delivers for the north east". at the same time local government leaders had travelled to westminster, to share their concerns about the impact of brexit on councils. the government has said that they are going to make available £3 billion for consideration of what will happen in the future as we leave the european union. what we have here from other witnesses, we have not seen a penny piece of that funding.

could i ask each of you if any funding has come your way towards this contingency plan? from the blank looks, i assume no. yes, go on. no, we haven't. in fact, until fairly recently, we were unaware of this. i think the ministry of housing and local government did not bid for any of the £3 billion, but, yes, certainly on the transport front, we are now having a serious look at what extra additional resource kent police might need and other parts of local government trading standards and others in making sure that we are properly resourced to meet all eventualities and that is part of the contingency planning that is going on at the moment. whether or not that money will come out of £3 billion pot, or they bid for it, i do not know

the answer to that question. i want to ask about workforce issues now. how would you see employment restrictions on european union citizens affecting rural local authorities? can i start with that, then? representing the district council network, a lot of very rural areas and my own area is very rural. what we have found in recent years is that there have a large number of people from the european union who came in and had taken some up as you will appreciate some of these very lower paid jobs. if they were to be removed from the country, and that is not the current government thinking, it would give us a significant issue, so food production for example in selby is a very big employer of people. and the number of people working in that industry who have come from europe in the last

four or five years is a very significant. in fact, the food production would be almost halted i think if we lost them. paul carter said kent's fruit producers were heavily dependent on overseas workers. stanage is the largest producer of vegetables and the largest greenhouse i think in mainland europe. probably 80 to 90% of the staff there are eastern european in origin. that is a massive concern. everybody is hoping that be introduced to replicate what went before. most of the farming community believe that to be a good way forward. the other issue, of course, is in health and social care, particularly in social care, where 10% of our workforce is from europe. that is for the employers? the kind of work that involves residential care workers as well. and indeed, the health economy, we are struggling to recruit consultants into many of our hospitals in east kent.

we are 65 gigabytes short of the average of what we should have in kent to man the primary care facilities. what we haven't mentioned, why do employers not just start increasing their pay to attract more people locally? i have the keys in my constituency of the 2 sisters food group factory, back to the food processing point, where, over recent years, the availability of agency employed european employees on contracts has driven down the pay and conditions of long—term permanent employees, which is not fair whereas if there is that process might get some more local labour

involved, i do not know if you have had the same experience in yourarea? i think we have had a degree of that, perhaps not as much as you have seen there. the other thing that i would say is that following the introduction of the minimum wage that some of that issue has been dealt with, i would suggest, via that and we have seen an increase in the minimum wage. i am sure that if you had some of the employers of selby district in front of you, they would tell you that they are competing certainly on a national, if not the global market, and the more that the people — the key people, the same problems they would have. there is a price above they cannot get for pickers and they have to keep the cost down as far as they can. within reason. you're watching our round—up of the day in the commons and the lords. still to come: legalised truancy? or a vital arrangement? the practise of "pairing" mps in commons votes stirs up more debate. it's beginning to look

like a record—breaking summer, with much of the uk sweltering day after day in above average temperatures. but as large sections of the population lap up the sunshine, many others hunt for the best spot to find some shady relief. so, is britain a nation that's any good at coping with hot weather? are the health and safety rules adequate for helping us to avoid the adverse effects of high temperatures? at question time, one mp thought the regulations needed looking at. today, the met office for public health england has issued a level three amber heat health alert. the environmental audit committee has been holding an inquiry into degrees and we have felt that it is children, older people who live alone and people with heart and kidney most at risk from illness and death during this hot weather. currently, there are no building regulations to prevent homes,

hospitals and schools being built and from overheating. what plans does he have to change building regulations and the national planning framework to ensure that the nation's buildings and cities are resilient to warmer summer temperatures? i will certainly look into the point that the honourable lady has raised. we have promised guidance around some of the building regulations and to provide a simplified version of this some part of that in the following week and that would reflect further on the point that she has raised. james brokenshire. the row over allegations that the government "cheated" during key commons votes on brexit has intensified. last week, the conservative party chairman, brandon lewis, apologised after voting when he shouldn't have done. he had been "paired", as it's called, with an absent liberal democrat, jo swinson. she's away on maternity leave. the practice of pairing means her non—vote on the opposition side is cancelled out, or should have been cancelled out, by a non—vote on the government side. despite an apology from the prime minister,

the lib dem chief whip claimed mr lewis‘ vote had in fact been a deliberate act to protect theresa may from defeat. we now understand that the instruction to the right honourable gentleman that he should the vote came from the chief whip himself. the explanation that the chief whip from the chief whip that he did not know that this was, had the turns it, a pregnancy care, mather clarifies no excuses what is an act of bad faith. a pair eddie pair, whatever its purpose, and if this is the mr watt, then it should be honoured and not broken at the 11th hour. an error was made within the government web's office for which my right honourable friend the chief whip as responsibility, hence his public apology to the right honourable gentleman as liberal democrat chief whip and to the honourable lady, the member of east dunbartonshire. every other pair that evening was honoured.

so, the mistake meant that the right honourable gentleman was not notified beforehand because there was not some sort of deep laid plot to deny the pairing arrangement. the answers and the statements made by the prime minister and leader of the house onjuly 18 confirms that the government chief whip was less than candid with his fellow ministers, including the prime minister. by not declaring that he actively instructed conservative mps to break pairing arrangements. it is clear that the prime minister and the leader of the house have unwittingly misled the house by characterising the government chief whip‘s action as an honest mistake. this is a serious breach of the ministerial code. the chief whip really does need to come to this house now and explain himself fully,

because with all due respect to the right honourable gentleman, we have heard from them is what the chief whip has given him. and after all of this, surely he should be considering his position today. we, any scottish national party, are just so grateful that we absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this broken pairing arrangement, and the more we learn about the insidious workings of this broken arrangement, the more pleased we are that we have nothing to do with it. when sports stars are given their obes and mbes they should be expected to undertake work to stop young sportsmen and women from turning to drugs. that was the proposal of the former lib dem leader lord campbell when lords‘ question time focused on performance—enhancing drugs in junior and amateur sport. lord campbell was part of the great britain athletics team at the tokyo olympics 5a years ago. my lords, the government doesn‘t recognise the vital importance of protecting the integrity of the sport and that

includes keeping spot free from the scourge of doping. uk anti—doping, and arm‘s—length body, supports sports bodies with a wide range of measures. the minister aware of the work of the useful trust in this area which is particularly valuable ? because nowadays, as we know, sports men and sportswomen frequently appear in honours lists twice each year. it would be impossible to impose a condition, but might one impose an expectation or suggest an expectation that those who are honoured that we should offer themselves as role models, particularly in the field of discouraging performance enhancing drugs? well, my lords, i cannot think of a better example than in 1964 olympic sprinter than the noble lord. and i think he proves the point that role models are very important, and as far as the honours list is concerned, i think it is important that those who receive honours are suitably checked so that they behave correctly, not only legally, but also in an ethical and moral sense.

would the government consider putting pressure on certain tv programmes, like the all pervading love island where lots of young naked bodies are shown to the general public and to make sure that these are all down to hard—working diet and not drugs? i do not think that love island has officially been cast as a sportjet! —— i do not think that love island has officially been cast as a sport yet! this is not the first time that i have had to answer questions on that programme either, but i do take the noble lord‘s point. the image of performance enhancing drugs are a problem and one of the things that uk anti—doping anti—government,

and educational and sports governing bodies have to do is educate young people from a very early age on the effects of these drugs and to explain a value —based system so that healthy nutrition, exercise and healthy training, if you like, is the most important thing and not drugs. lord ashton. and that‘s it for this programme. dojoin me for ourfinal westminster round—up before parliament‘s summer recess. until then, from me, keith macdougall, goodbye. hello there.

temperatures have been rising and monday was the hottest of the year. this was the scene in dorset on monday. beautiful blue skies. and for many it is a dry day on tuesday. the hottest weather in central and eastern england. further north west across the country we have some fresh conditions. scotland and northern ireland have some sunshine. temperatures not as hot as recent days. up to 20 or 21. chance of a show of southern scotland, and into northern england and wales with a little bit more cloud. it is dry and settled overnight into wednesday. we are still looking at those conditions holding on in the south and east. north—west, fresh conditions, more comfortable for sleeping as we move into wednesday morning. then it looks like some hot weather through wednesday in into thursday. then things will turn a little bit fresher as we look towards the weekend. goodbye for now. a very warm welcome to bbc news,

broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: officials in greece say at least 20 people have been killed as deadly wildfires burn near the capital, athens. translation: we will do whatever is possible in order to control the fires. i‘m very concerned about the outbreaks around athens. north korea appears to de dismantling part of a key rocket testing site in the north west of the country. the uk government sparks a political row, saying it won‘t object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they‘re convicted in america. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, donald trump‘s former press secretary denies undermining the importance of truth in politics.