this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12pm: the foreign secretary urges eu leaders to "step back from the abyss" of a no—deal brexit and find a way to make theresa may's proposals work. the shadow chancellor says his party would completely renationalise the railways — as labour party members gather for their annual conference. supermarket chain co—op is to scrap millions of plastic carrier bags — replacing them with an environmentally friendly version the battle for sky. rupert murdoch's 21st century fox and media giant rival comcast‘s bidding war for the broadcaster draws to a close tonight. also coming up this hour: a shake up for army training. a gender neutral fitness test — as press—ups are replaced with battlefield exercises for new recruits. she's entered this exam and she's done well and she claims her rightful prize. she single—handedly has sent the rhs into a bit of a tailspin. the search for miss harrison —

the royal horticultral society appeals for help in solving the one—hundred—and— twenty—year old mystery of a woman refused a scholarship because of her gender. and coming up at 12.30, the click live show goes on the road to india — meeting the ceo of india's first billion dollar company. the president of the european council, donald tusk, has defended the eu's approach to the salzburg summit, insisting britain had known for many weeks about the eu's objections to the chequers proposals. mr tusk said the prime minister's plan had been treated with "all seriousness" , and that it was theresa may who had appeared surprisingly uncompromising.

however, he added that he believed a deal was still within reach. this morning the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt has urged european leaders to "step back from the abyss." our political correspondent leila nathoo reports. eu leaders had turned on theresa may at a summit this week, giving her brexit proposals the cold shoulder, bluntly saying they wouldn't work. and so, on her return to london, the prime minister sought to get back on the front foot, striking a defiant tone in a televised statement, saying talks were now at an impasse. at this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side's proposals without a detailed explanation and counterproposals. so we now need to hear from the eu what the real issues are, and what their alternative is, so that we can discuss them. until we do, we cannot make progress. it's the plans agreed by the cabinet at the prime minister's country residence of chequers injuly that

theresa may is determined to stick with, but she's yet to convince her own party of their merits, let alone brussels. chequers is neither acceptable to the european union, nor actually to parliament, therefore we need to get on as fast as possible with negotiating a full free trade agreement with the closest possible relationship, because time to achieve a deal is running out. the president of the eu council, donald tusk, responded to theresa may, saying her stance this week had been surprisingly tough and in fact uncompromising, but he remained convinced a compromise was still possible. the prime minister is under pressure from all sides. it's just weeks before the next summit when a deal is supposed to be reached, and she has what is sure to be a tense gathering of her party to get through too. leila nathoo, bbc news, westminster. our political correspondent matt cole gave us more on the pm's downing street speech after the summit in salzburg. donald tusk, the president of the eu

council, after that salzburg summit where theresa may was pretty much told, "no thanks, we don't want your proposals, come up with something else," he tweeted a picture of some cakes with no cherries on, a picture of theresa may looking at some cake, no cherries here, the idea being they are accusing the british plan of cherry picking the best bits of the single market and trying to junk the rest, something they said from the start is not acceptable. that tweet has gone down very badly, and i think that has fed into this idea that the eu is being perceived as being discourteous. some in europe might perhaps think that tweet was ill judged and miss timed, but the problem remains that we have two sides, theresa may, who doesn't want to see any deal done that could affect in her words the integrity of the united kingdom, that carves northern ireland off. on the other side, the european union don't want a deal that sees their single market unravel, and at the moment they would say theresa may's plan will do that and say,

"we will say no." where the compromise can come, donald tusk says one can still happen, but where and how, that's not very clear. there is a sort of inevitability about this, one might suggest, because of domestic politics, theresa may has her party conference coming up, and this will play well among pro—leave conservatives. she's entered this exam and she's done well the one thing you learn when you are negotiating with the eu, it goes down to seconds before midnight, and then something gets done. that said, no one has ever left the eu before, and we are breaking so much new ground here that perhaps the old rules that we just look to and think, "it will be fine," will be broken finally, and that will be

the exception that proves the rule. i think at the moment theresa may has a difficult few days coming up, because she has been welcomed by pro leave mps in her own party, but many of those are saying well done for standing up to the eu, now drop your chequers plan because we don't like it either. and she has said there is no other alternative. there is no other credible deal on the table, so she says now it is for the eu to explain why and then come up with something else. from the start, the eu have said, we are not the ones leaving, why should we come up with the plan? so, there could be tension. but remember we have a number of different bits of agreement to be done. the divorce deal needs to be done, then a future trading relationship. if you could get a deal done on how northern ireland will work or at least a backstop as to what we would fall back on if it can't be done, you could get through the divorce, then the future trading relationship, which is still difficult, could be dealt with later in a transition period. earlier we spoke to mrs may's former

speech writer, chris wilkins, about yesterday's speech and its implications. i think it was a statement that she had to make, she had to say something after thursday, and she achieved what she wanted to. firstly she clearly had a message for the party, for the conservative party, and particularly for those who are concerned about the future of brexit and whether it will happen. she was very uncompromising, it was a strong message for them, and they responded well. but more than that, i think it was also talking to the country at large, and really reflected what a lot of people now think, because i think however people voted two years ago in the referendum, a lot of people are nowjust thinking, let's get a deal done and get it over the line, because we want to move on and we are a bit bored, she was talking to them and i think probably reflecting a lot of what they think, and it will have

gone down very well with a lot of people across the country as a result. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has said a future labour government would be ready to start nationalising key industries from the day it takes office. speaking on the eve of the party's annual conference in liverpool, mr mcdonnell said a new unit would be established in the treasury to oversee the process, and in some cases investors might not be compensated. he predicted that nationalisation of rail services could be completed within five years. meanwhile the shadow equalities minister, dawn butler, will use labour's national women's conference this lunchtime to outline plans for supporting victims of domestic abuse. she will say the government is not taking equality seriously — and labour would create a stand—alone department for women and equalities. the supermarket chain co—op is scrapping plastic carrier bags from 1,400 of its uk shops today, and replacing them with a compostable version.

it's the latest retailer to cut down after the government laid out plans to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in britain within 25 years, as emma simpson reports. plastic waste — we're drowning in it. around a million tonnes of plastic is generated by uk supermarkets every year, and they've been coming up with a host of measures to try to stem the tide. take iceland, where plastic packaging is on the way out, from fruit and veg to plastic dishes for ready meals. all its own branded products will have paper or biodegradable packaging within five years. at morrisons, you can take your own container when you buy meat and fish, and there are now paper bags, not plastic, for loose fruit and veg. black plastic is difficult to recycle, but asda has replaced it for all its fruit and veg. now the co—op has an environmentally friendly alternative for carrying shopping home.

these bags will be rolled out in 1,400 stores. all of the major retailers have signed up to a really ambitious commitment under the uk plastics pact, and that's to make 100% of plastics packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. and so, all of them are working incredibly hard and fast to meet those objectives. it's notjust retailers — all businesses are now under pressure to act since the world has woken up to the scourge of plastic pollution. emma simpson, bbc news. the british broadcaster sky will be auctioned off today — in a dramatic end to a two—year £26 billion takeover battle. the broadcaster has been subject to rival bids from rupert muroch‘s fox and the us company comcast. the auction begun on friday at 5pm and the takeover panel said all parties had agreed to the process, which will have a maximum of three rounds. well, a little earlier i spoke to independent media

analyst alex degroote, who explained how rare the auction process is for a takeover. it's extremely unusual. i think there have only been four or five occasions in the past where we've had a similar procedure, very unusual for business to be conducted on saturday. i think it's a suitably dramatic end to what's been a fascinating and dramatic saga all along. why are these two bids different and what are the implications for sky? as it stands, the sky share cast is voting 15.75, comcast 111.75 and the fox bid is the lowest on the table. the significance for the ownership of sky is that the sky as we know it, sky plc, will going forward be in the hands of a us domiciled media giant. we will lose one of our iconic uk media names. it's a name most associated with rupert murdoch. fox is the lowest bid but what sort of different experience,

if comcast won, would it bring to sky, do you think? comcast is not very well known outside of the us, it's a very good player in the us. it's a very big player in the us. i think they would want to own sky in europe because it would give them access to homes in the uk, in italy and germany. importa ntly, to stress for the viewers, sky is a big player in broadband and mobile telephone as well as tv. for comcast, that's really important. it gives them a foothold for fox, a continuation of the relationship with rupert murdoch or not, but i would rank comcast as the slight favourite. notjust because they have offered slightly more? notjust that but i think they have slightly more headroom, possibly the asset purchasing means more to them. the bigger picture standing back from the specifics from this auction

and this company is the challenge that new ways of providing content to viewers, and listeners and people going online, is challenging traditional models of broadcast. bskyb is only 30 plus years, the bbc is nearly 100 years old, itv has been around for 60, 70 years. the way they do their stuff is really under challenge. it really is. what consumers expect from broadcast in the mobile age is changing. ten years ago, who had heard of netflix? who would have considered amazon to be leading the way with amazon prime? who would have thought we would have other platforms acquiring sports rights? globalisation is of course a factor. incumbents like sky and itv and even the bbc must adjust to this new environment, a streaming environment, let's remember sky really got off

the ground through satellite. that was their core platform. going forward, subscribers will be consuming their media more through streaming than satellite. gunmen have opened fire on an iranian military parade in the south—western city of ahvaz, killing at least 2a people including civilians, and injuring more than 50, state media say. the attackers shot from a park near the parade and were wearing military uniforms, reports say. iran's foreign minister said "terrorists" backed by "a foreign regime" were behind the attack. we are also being told that they believe the gunmen involved in that attack were trained by two gulf arab states and they have ties to both the us and israel, perhaps not surprising they would make those allegations because those of course are the countries that they regard as being their big enemies. the question is what evidence there is the back that what the circumstances

might be. we still do not have further details of the attack but we will bring them to you as soon as we as we get them. the president of tanzania has ordered the arrest of managers of a ferry which capsized on lake victoria, killing over 130 people. it is thought the overloaded vessel tipped over when crowds on board moved to one side as it docked. lebo diseko reports. it is the worst kind of wait. hundreds of families desperate for news of their loved ones who'd been on board the mv nyerere. and as much as they hope for the best, some are already preparing for the worst. a community watches as the rescue effort continues, but hope is fading fast. translation: we can't reach my brother. yesterday morning, he spoke to our mum. we've not heard from him since. translation: i was told that i lost my aunt, my father and my younger sibling. it's a huge loss to us. this is what is left of the mv nyerere, its overturned hull floating on the water. lake victoria is africa's largest,

and the ferry was travelling between the islands of ukerewe and ukara, capsizing around 50 metres from ukara's shore. it operated a busy schedule, taking people to and from the market. and while it's not clear exactly how many people were on board, witnesses say it could have been up to 400 — that's four times its capacity. it's thought many of the passengers couldn't swim. the president has declared four days of national mourning, and a number of arrests have been made, including the captain, who apparently wasn't on board at the time. lebo diseko, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... "step back from the abyss" — the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt's warning to european leaders following the eu leader's meeting in salzburg. a future labour government could renationalise the rail industry within five years according to the shadow chancellor. and supermarket chain co—op vows to scrap plastic carrier

bags and replace them with an environmentally friendly version. for the first time in 20 years the british army is introducing new physical tests for soldiers. press ups, sit ups and eight mile marches are out, and exercises replicating the battlefield are in. the changes also coincide with a lifting of the ban on women serving in close combat roles. so are the new tests any easier? our defence correspondent jonathan beale went to find out. the old test was carrying a big weight like this, 25kg over eight miles in under two hours. the new test, we are told, to simulate conditions in battle, and they are meant to be harder, not easier. so, i'm about to have a go. 0h! the telegraph's beating me! the idea of this is to simulate extracting a casualty after a firefight. piece of cake. what i've got here is

a repeated lift—and—carry. it's similar to a replenish task, moving a 20kg obstacle from one site to another site over a distance of 30 metres. what you're going to do, pick the 20 kilos up, run round the cone and back, placing it onto the platform safely. from there, all you're going to do is place it on the floor, turn round and run back, simulating running back to the start position to grab another obstacle. combat is gritty, it's dirty, it's hard work, and running one and a half miles in trainersjust doesn't represent what i do on the battlefield. whereas lifting, carrying ammunition, sandbags, dragging casualties, moving underfire, that's all things we expect our ground close—combat troops to deal with. i do think it's probably difficult for a lot of females. those choosing to go that route, then i am sure they would be fit enough to pass the tests. this is not a test, you don't think, that's designed to make it easier for women to join the infantry? definitely not, no.

these new army tests make no allowance for gender or age, which is a shame for me. i managed to complete just a quarter of the test. yes! jonathan beale, bbc news. impressive! i've been speaking to james przybek — a former royal marine — who now runs a crossfit gym. he explained to me why these new tests will help soldiers train for front—line combat. the modernisation of these tests has been a long time coming and it's recreating the beer list of battle environment than carrying a little jug. environment than carrying a little jug, if you like. presumably as a former marine job required jug, if you like. presumably as a former marinejob required level jug, if you like. presumably as a former marine job required level of fitness was that bit higher than is required routinely of soldiers. how far away from these sort of conditions you had to work in were

the fitness tests that the army was pursuing? do you think they did in any way prepare soldiers for active engagement in battlefields? no, not at all. the continuation training would go deeper into that. creating situations in that environment but the basic tests, more a test of endurance, press ups, how many can you do, can you run somewhere at a certain time, but there was never a time where i was seeing how many press ups i could do in afghanistan. that was not much use. but it was about maintaining gym all levels of fitness? i think it needs to move as it is going towards this functional style of fitness, this sort of training is getting bigger and bigger in everyday life, specifically with services, army,

navy, being able to carry loads, carry a casualty. that is the job, so why not test for that. a lot of companies and organisations have had to take a long, hard look in recent years at the way they recruit and treat female employees. but the royal horticultural society is looking into an incident of sexual discrimination with a difference. it took place 120 years ago. helen briggs has more. the turn—of—the—century — queen victoria's on the throne, but women still can't vote, serve on a jury, or, as it turns out, win a prize to train as a gardener. this box revealed the prize that had been won but never given for one simple reason — the winner was a woman. clearly a very determined young woman. she's entered this exam, she's done well and she claims her rightful prize. she single—handedly has sent the rhs into a bit of a tailspin. her name was miss harrison, and after getting top marks,

she should have been given the equivalent of £5,000 and a training scholarship, but that never happened. scrawled over a document, the words of reverend william wilkes, then—leader of the rhs, "it was never contemplated that a female might claim the scholarship." although she may not personally have succeeded, she's chip—chip—chipping away at that sense that women can't do these things. if she'd been awarded that prize today, she would have trained here at rhs wisley, and who knows where her career might have taken her. a picture's starting to emerge of the mysterious miss harrison. we know from the syllabus of the exam she took, that she was well versed in all the main principles of gardening, from the names and orders of plants to growing fruit. and student gardeners say it's hard to imagine women being excluded.

it makes me feel very frustrated and angry. i would hate to have been restricted in that way, and i'm grateful to the people who've gone before that made it possible. but we still need to go further to make sure everyone's included. miss harrison paved the way for a new generation of gardeners. the rhs wants to make sure her name's not forgotten. they think her family may have letters that can tell them more about her. i'd really love to know what happened next. did she carry on fighting, did you carry on into a career in horticulture and make a living that way? i'm really curious to know what happened to miss harrison, because she's clearly a character and did she prevail? and with your help, maybe they'll finally solve the mystery. helen briggs, bbc news. return now to the tanzania ferry disaster. the president has ordered

the arrest of the managers involved. we have some good news from the location, that is a diver who heard a knocking sound while they were in the process of mainly retrieving bodies from the capsized ferry discovered that the engineer had shot himself into a small cabin. it looks like an air pocket had formed inside there and he was able to breathe and as a consequence has stayed alive two days after the capsized off the ferry on lake victoria. so, some good news. —— the engineer had cabin. the news that the engineer from the ferry has survived and has been brought safely to the surface of the divers heard in knocking sound and found he had shut himself inside a

cabin. racing driver billy monger is preparing to return to donnington park today, less than 18 months after a near fatal crash there cost him both of his legs. aided by a specially adapted car which hits speeds of up to 150mph, the 19—year—old is hoping to finish on the podium. our reporter angela rafferty has been to meet him. it's hard to believe it's been just 18 months since the horrific crash that almost cost him his life and left him a double amputee. billy monger‘s recovery has been truly remarkable. this weekend, he returns for the first time to race at the track where this life was changed forever. my memories of the accident and from donington are quite strong. like, i remembera lot. i don't tend to really think about it too much nowadays, which is quite nice. the motor racing world rallied round the teenage driver, but support for billy came from far and wide. £800,000 was donated to his fund within days of his crash, an outpouring of affection that meant so much. for me, at that stage, mentally was probably the toughest time, so to have that sort of positivity keep coming through the whole time

i was in hospital meant a lot. his determination to return to racing saw him back behind the wheeljust 11 weeks after his accident. in his first season racing in formula 3, he's already made the podium, and celebrated in his own inimitable style. it might come back out if i win races, that's what i'm going to say. if i win races this weekend, for sure, you'll see it again. billy's boyhood dream of racing in formula 1 remains the same, and back at the track where everything changed, he's focused on just one thing. for me, it's all about getting the results this week. as much as this place has a special and weird emotion that it brings out in me, when i get in the car, it's all about driving as fast as i can. angela rafferty, bbc news. a baby meerkat stolen from a zoo in western australia has been found. the four—week old disappeared from its enclosure at

perth zoo on wednesday. police are speaking to a man and a woman after it was found in a town 80 miles away. vets say the animal was tired and hungry. zoo staff are preparing the animal to be reintroduced to its family — as there's a risk they won't accept it back. now it's time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. the wettest of the weather this weekend across central and southern areas of england and wales, we've already got outbreaks of rain working eastwards. the northern extent of this probably from northern parts of wales to northern parts of east anglia, with lots of cloud ahead. some bright, sunny spells across scotland but quite a few showers feeding into northern and western areas of scotland. temperatures not much higher than 12 01’ temperatures not much higher than 12 or16, temperatures not much higher than 12 or 16, still quite gusty winds for the western isles of scotland and

later for south—west england. overnight rain eases away from the south moor arrives from the west. clear skies for many many though still showers peppering northern parts of scotland and quite a chilly night away from the far south. more rain to come tomorrow across central and southern parts of england and wales, easing away eastwards through the afternoon, still some showers further north and west, gusty winds for a time as that rain clears eastwards, temperatures 12 to 16. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, urges european leaders to "step back from the abyss" — a day after theresa may demanded more respect from brussels in the brexit talks. a future labour government could renationalise the rail industry within five years, according to the shadow chancellor. the supermarket chain co—op vows to scrap plastic carrier bags and replace them with an environmentally

friendly version. sport, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downs. fans are expected to fill up wembley stadium for anthonyjoshua's latest world title defence. he looks in pretty decent shape too ahead of his fight with russian alexander povetkin. joshua weigh in more than a stone heavy their his opponent. pre fight talk has been about povetkin‘s two doping convictions. we have a growing problem in boxing, just like cycling had in the 70s and 80s and athletics also had in the 80s and athletics also had in the 80s and athletics also had in the 80s and 90s, we have a growing problem with guys are failing tests for steroids, these are not fancy steroids, these are steroids straight out of the east german laboratories in the 60s and 70s and

these guys are failing tests, serving six or 12 months bands and coming back. it is something we will have to look at. at the moment he is clea n. have to look at. at the moment he is clean. he has been tested seven or eight times in the last ten days since arriving in this country, and at the moment that is the best we can do. there has been a lot of focus on what might be next forjoshua. tyson fury and wbc world heavyweight champion deontay wilder will be on a list of possible opponents. they have confimed their fight will take place on the 1st december in the united states. contracts have been signed with the venue for the bout expected to be announced next week. manchester city will look to bounce back from their champions league defeat to lyon later when they travel to cardiff city. the hosts have yet to win a game since being promoted. city will be bouyed by sergio aguero having signed a contract extension which will keep him at the club until 2021. today will be his three hundredth game for city.