this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at seven... the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt criticises the way eu leaders treated the prime minister and has urged them to "step back from the abyss" of a no—deal bexit. of a no—deal brexit. brexit is set to be a key issue at the labour party conference, but today the focus was on equality. our party and our movement will a lwa ys our party and our movement will always have the very highest standards so that everyone is safe and secure in our movement, and sexual harassment has no place whatsoever in our movement. iranian leaders accuse us backed gulf states of being behind an attack on a military parade. 29 people are killed and dozens more injured. the bidding warfor sky draws to a close — as rupert murdoch's 21st century fox and the media giant, comcast, submit their final bids to take over the broadcaster. tributes have been paid to chas hodges —

one half of the musical duo, chas and dave — who has died. the singer passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of this morning. he was 7a. we'll have a round up all the day's sport in sportsday in half an hour, as well as a look ahead to tonight's big fight with anthonyjoshua and alexander povetkin. good evening. the foreign secretary has urged eu leaders to "step back "from the abyss" of a no—deal brexit, and engage with the british government's proposals. jeremy hunt said they had not given a detailed response to theresa may's plans.

the so—called chequers plan was largely dismissed by eu leaders at the salzburg summit on thursday. last night the european council president, donald tusk, said the british had already known about the eu's objections, but he insisted a deal was still possible. our political correspondent, matt cole, reports. international law, international commerce, and the media, what have we got to fear? at a rally today, the former brexit secretary david davis telling theresa may she's got it wrong and should seek a new way of leaving the eu. that we should only accept a clean and clear brexit. not some fudge, not some weak compromise. i have to tell you, i'm afraid that a weak compromise is exactly what i think chequers is. so, if leaders in europe have rejected her plans and she's being buffeted by backbenchers, who can theresa may rely on for support? step forward the foreign secretary, insisting she's right to demand concessions from brussels.

if the eu's view is that just byjust saying no to every proposal made by the united kingdom we will eventually capitulate and end up either with the norway option or, indeed, staying in the eu, if that is their view, then they've profoundly misjudged the british people. this social media post from donald tusk, the eu council president, has helped stir the bad blood, mocking mrs may for what he says is trying to cherry—pick the best bits out of the single market. mr tusk played host at the salzburg summit, where the so—called chequers plan was dismissed. but he's rejecting suggestions that the ideas were knocked back without explanation. in a statement, he said: trying to get beyond the growing acrimony, he continued, so, what next for eu negotiations?

who's going to blink first? theresa may says eu leaders have to come up with new counter proposals for future trading relations. but there's little sign of that. however, the prime minister says her officials are working on new proposals for northern ireland's border with the republic. if those plans can find a way to keep goods flowing freely after brexit, then perhaps they might be able to give some momentum back to the wider talks, too. in dublin today, ireland's foreign minister suggested a solution was doable. everybody has accepted, including the british prime minister, that unique solutions are required in order to put a backstop in place to ensure the border infrastructure between northern ireland and ireland cannot re—emerge. so, we need to get on now and negotiate that in a way that's acceptable to both sides. i believe it is possible to do that with an intensification of negotiations. but getting brussels to agree on britain's divorce is only half the battle.

theresa may needs the support of her own mps to get the deal through parliament, and a tricky conservative conference in just over a week might reveal just how hard it will be to unite the party behind her. with us now is catherine barnard , professor in european union law at the university of cambridge. thank you very much forjoining us. first off, i'd like to get your reaction to what's happened since salzburg, and of course, all the commentary and reactions we have had from the various parties over the last 2a hours. well, it was a public breakdown. it is absolutely clear. the impression had been up until salzburg that there would be some gentle words from the eu, encouraging words, to try and help theresa may a bit before the tory party conference. in fa ct, before the tory party conference. in fact, that didn't happen. there was some bad choreography and both sides, and what we have seen is the

eu is beginning to call a spade a spade and say, actually, we will not accept checkers in its current form. chequers is the arrangement she has negotiated with her cabinet to offer asa negotiated with her cabinet to offer as a kind of compromise between, on the one hand, in norway style arrangement, and on the other, canada arrangement, and on the other, ca na da style arrangement, and on the other, canada style deal. do you fully understand why that was not a cce pta ble understand why that was not acceptable to the eu? what risks did it bring to the eu 27? the eu is really concerned about the integrity of the four freedoms, and those are the freedom of movement of goods, persons, services and capital. what the eu is worried about is, chequers says, the uk will have free movement of goods, but not the rest. that is complicated, because of you think about an example, take the purchase of the left. they purchase of the lift is a good, but the maintenance and installation contract, they are all

services, so it is rather artificial to distinguish between goods and services, and the eu says you're not going to do it. why do you think, then, they left it until salzburg to voice their objection to chequers? actually, the eu has rather quietly been consistently saying they do not like chequers in its current form. but they haven't said it quite so publicly. salzburg, it all came out very publicly in a rather more frantic way than had been intended by either side, i think. what options are on the table now? not a lot at the moment. the uk has basically said, at the moment, we are putting the talks on hold. it is up are putting the talks on hold. it is up to the eu to come up with some alternatives. remainer iss would say it is actually the uk that is leaving, so the uk should come up with alternatives. as we just heard in the package, theresa may is

exploring some other options over the border with northern ireland, because that is the fundamental sticking point. if you can come up with a solution to the border in northern ireland so that there isn't a hard border there, thus being compatible with the good friday agreement, then that unlocks a lot of the future negotiations. you are a professor of european union law. is there a solution to the northern ireland border problem? no. if there was a simple solution, it would have been found already. the fact is, the alternatives that have been suggested, whether it be a future deal, like chequers, ortechnology, they are both extremely problematic, which is why the eu have said, the backstop is that northern ireland stays in the customs union and the single market, but not the rest of the united kingdom. for the uk, that is totally u na cce pta ble, the united kingdom. for the uk, that is totally unacceptable, because it is totally unacceptable, because it is essentially putting a border down the irish sea, and as theresa may said so clearly yesterday in her speech in front of downing street, i am not going to lose part of my

territory. so then, we are heading for a new deal brexit. that is the risk, and what we saw in salzburg as there is something of a dialogue of there is something of a dialogue of the death going on. each side is talking past the other. there is, however, a common agreement that there should not be a hard border in northern ireland, so that is positive. it is also positive that the draft withdrawal agreement, 80% of it is pretty much agreed, so there is quite a lot of scope for progress. the question is, how much wiggle room is left on each side? do you think there is... it is more likely we are now heading towards brexit than not? we are talking about a second referendum, a people's vote, we're talking about a no—deal brexit. which is the most likely outcome? so we are closer to a no—deal brexit than we had been, and if the current impasse

continues, we will be heading towards a no—deal brexit. however, it is in the interests of both sides, particularly the uk, but also for ireland, because ireland is going to be most affected by the situation of a no deal, that there should be some sort of deal. the interesting question is whether there will be a second referendum or what is sometimes described as a people's vote, and much turns on what the labour party says at their conference next week, but having a second referendum is extremely difficult for a number of reasons. first of all, there needs to be an act of parliament, and it is not clear at the moment whether there is a majority of mps in favour. secondly, even if there was an act of parliament to say there could be a second referendum, what would go on the ballot paper? is the ballot paper going to say two questions? if so, what would they be? would they be remain or theresa may's deal? or should there be a third question, remain, leave under theresa may's

deal if there is one, and leave. if you go down that route, you have quite a lot of difficult decisions to make about what would be a sufficient vote to get through, and which one would be acceptable. if remain were to win, be leaves would say, let's have another referendum, we will have the best thank you for your time. thank you very much. —— we will have the best—of—3. brexit will be one of the key issues on the agenda at the labour party conference , which begins in liverpool this weekend , with the shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell, accusing the government of being out of its depth, in its handling of the uk's withdrawal from the eu. our political correspondent, vicki young, reports from liverpool. stop brexit! vicki young, reports from liverpool. a call from outside this conference that will be echoed by many inside. some labour mps and unions are putting pressure on the labour leadership to change its approach to brexit and back the people's vote campaign for a new referendum. arriving in liverpool, the shadow chancellor said the government was falling apart and it was time for

labour to step in. we have to respect the referendum result, that's democracy. i want a general election, i'd rather have a general election. we're not taking the people's vote off the table, it's an option we'll consider. but i want a general election. i want the government held to account for what they've done over the last two years. activists here are gearing up for what is likely to be a lively argument. i'm not sure about the idea of a second referendum. i think it's so unlikely that we'd get one. we need to make sure that labour stands for a referendum on the final deal. it's really important that we make sure that brexit doesn't harm hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the country. whether there should be a second referendum or not is irrelevant, because where we're going now is total chaos. for some, though, labour's brexit policy is unclear. what we've got to make sure is people understand what their view is. and i'm not absolutely convinced that people do know what their view is. i certainly don't. the government's woes over brexit have given labour an easy target these past few months.

but it is going to have to come up with answers itself. labour says that it opposes a no—deal situation, it wouldn't vote for theresa may's current compromise and it is keeping the option of another referendum open. this week, though, they will come under pressure to provide more clarity. jeremy corbyn‘s been accused of keeping his brexit policy deliberately vague, to mask divisions in his party. as he calls for a general election, he'll need to make sure labour looks like a government in waiting. we arejust going we are just going to bring you some breaking news regarding the auction of —— quite a rare event, taking place between comcast and 21st—ce ntu ry place between comcast and 21st—century fox place between comcast and 21st—ce ntu ry fox for place between comcast and 21st—century fox for sky, the british broadcaster. it appears that comcast, a us cable giant, has

beaten 21st—century fox in that bidding battle for sky after making a bid of £17.28 per share. that was the offer that was put forward, and it won the bid for sky. the auction actually started on friday, and it went to... it was run over three rounds. rupert murdoch's fox offered £16 per share in absorption. we will find out more about the indications for media, just how valuable sky is to comcast with our media editor later in the programme. stay with us for that. comcast, then, later in the programme. stay with us forthat. comcast, then, has later in the programme. stay with us for that. comcast, then, has won the bidding battle for sky against 21st century fox. let's now return to political events. our political correspondent ian watson is in liverpool for us. you are monitoring the conference. take

us are monitoring the conference. take us through what has happened so far today. yes, what we have had on the eu but the official labour party conference is the women's conference, which was addressed by the shadow ministerfor conference, which was addressed by the shadow minister for women and equality is, dawn butler. she had to me, that if labour get elected, they will be a new equalities minister, and also, victims of domestic abuse would be able to get time off work. but what really causing a stir here in liverpool are the comments she made praising a previous labour council here and they —— council here on merseyside. but not any council, the one that was under the control of derek hatton and the militant tendency. she praised them for standing militant tendency. she praised them forstanding up to militant tendency. she praised them for standing up to us is that, but also their slogan, that it was better to break the law than to break the poor. this has had quite a negative reaction from labour councillors and some labour frontbenchers, including shadow altmann estate glynis thornton, who said that back in the 1980s, the people that ran liverpool at that

time, the militant, where misogynistic bullies, and there was no place in this party for praising them. so dawn butler has had a bit ofa them. so dawn butler has had a bit of a reaction there. we try to find out whether she wanted to clarify those comments. a labour spokesman said she was actuallyjust trying to draw attention to the comparisons between the cuts and mrs thatcher and the cuts under theresa may, particularly how they impacted on women. but what is interesting is thatjeremy corbyn, almost three yea rs thatjeremy corbyn, almost three years ago, wrote to the currently dissolved local authorities, telling them not to be tempted to set a legal budgets, something which the militant tendency did here in liverpool 30 years ago. so it looks like dawn butler is at odds with her party leader in praising the militant tendency‘s rule here in liverpool, and secondly, of course, all the viewers may remember right back at that time, there was a defining moment for the labour party when it is then leader neil kinnock talked about bigger task chaos caused by that council, and ended up expelling members of the militant tendency. but there, we have a

frontbencher, shadow cabinet member, effectively saying that it was very good. indeed, that these people stood up to the conservative government of the time. 0k, thank you very much for that, iain watson in liverpool. let's get back now to our breaking story and that comcast has won the bid against 21st century fox for sky. our business editor has joined us. sky. our business editor has joined us. first off, how significant is this? it is probably the most epic, protracted boardroom battle i have ever witnessed. it has been going on for months. both of these companies wa nt for months. both of these companies want sky very, very badly for different reasons. if it was going to be very close, i would have expected fox and disney to carry on and fight this, but sources tell me that comcast are now offering 10% more than fox and disney. fox is now predominantly owned by disney. and this is a knockout blow which will see comcast win this very big

battle. comcast at the biggest pay—tv provider in the us. their market has been dwindling. they want to reach out and expand into other markets. they are up against netflix and so on. so this, they had, gets 23 million subscribers in a stroke. they have paid quite a for it. £17.28 is more than they came in at. they had closed bidding, basically, where they had to put their operas in an envelope and go through three different rounds bidding. i think they have done enough to win this. this will be a disappointment to fox disney, who, remember, rupert murdoch, owner of 21st century, it is quite come to a gated, this, i beg your pardon next macro rupert murdoch always wanted to sell 21st century fox to disney. he would have liked to do that, including 39% of sky, and indeed, all of sky. will viewers notice an enormous difference? probably not immediately. but we don't know what comcast pot plans are for, for

example, charging, and what fees they will charge. they are also very keen to get hold of premiership football, which sky has the rights to. they will then acquire those. that may be interesting in terms of rolling that out to other markets. was it one of the most drawn—out boardroom battles in history? absolutely. i think comcast have landed this knockout blow, and finally, that is the end of it. how could fox have got it so wrong? i'm just looking at the bids that we re i'm just looking at the bids that were put in. so the market price on friday closed at around £15.85 to stop they only put in £50.67. —— £15. one thing that happened recently, when they bought fox, they ended up paying more for that than they would have liked. so in they would have liked. soina they would have liked. so in a way, they had wasted some of their financial ammunition, or use it up, in buying fox. that left them less a ble it up, in buying fox. that left them less able to be able to offer more

money for sky. so i think they have constraints on what they were able to offer. comcast knew that if they did not bid much more than disney and fox, then basically, because disney fox already owns 39%, their shareholders of sky could still recommend that fox disney going. so they had to come up with a knockout blow. in a way, disney were trying to hold the line and wholesome discipline. comcast knew they would have to come in big if they were going to knockout fox disney. a while ago, the head of disney describes sky as a real crown jewel. apart from the 23 million subscribers you mentioned, how big a prize is this? it is a very big prize, and the reason fox disney wa nted prize, and the reason fox disney wanted it, because you have 21st century fox merging with disney, you have got lots of contents, you know, you have got lots of new content, and they saw this as a very big way of rolling out something, a

distribution platform, if you like. for comcast, they wanted it for different reasons. they have seen their market share dwindling in the united states. netflix has been very successful over there. so theyjust needed some scale and international expansion. they need it for quite different reasons. both of them really wa nted different reasons. both of them really wanted will stop comcast, i think, were able to bid a little bit more, the cars as i say, disney had spent quite a lot of money acquiring fox and did not have the financial firepower that may be comcast did. so what happens next? is the deal done rather technical details to iron out? there are technical details. the board of sky will have to make a recommendation. i think it will be very hard for them not to recommend that shareholders take 10% more money than they would have otherwise, so that recommendation will come out. i think there will be a lot of shareholders who wanted to go with foxes me. i think this price, this premium comcast is offering, is enough to silence any further doubts, and i imagine that on monday morning, the shareholders will start being contacted about how

to sell them, and so comcast then moves on. and sure we will talk about this later. it is terrifically completed! well, it is rare that it went to an auction? yes, very rare indeed. thank you, simon. the time has just gone 7:22pm. time for the headlines. as we have just heard, comcast has outbid 21st century fox for control of sky after a dramatic behind closed doors auction. step back from the abyss. foreign secretaryjeremy step back from the abyss. foreign secretary jeremy hunt's warning step back from the abyss. foreign secretaryjeremy hunt's warning to european leaders following the eu leaders' meeting in salzburg. iranian leaders accuse us backed gulf states of being behind an attack on a military parade. 29 people are killed and dozens more injured. we're going to carry on and stay with that story. so iran's supreme

leader has ordered security forces to find the criminals responsible for that attack on a military parade. the incident took place in the south—west of the country , near the iraqi border. gunmen opened fire near a stage set up for the parade. videos posted on social media show soldiers crawling on the ground and other people carrying the injured. alanjohnston has the story. a warning, though, you might find some of the images in his report distressing. fear and chaos among the gunfire. moments ago, these soldiers would have been in the parade, marching proudly. now, suddenly, they are under attack. they are desperate forcover, scrambling to survive. bullets whistle overhead, and there are dead and injured all around. then, in the thick of the danger,

terrified civilians run for their lives. the gunmen had attacked as officials would have been watching the parade. anyone in this place filled with troops and spectators was at risk. inevitably, there were women and children among the dead and injured. but the security forces fought back, and four militants were killed. local ethnic arab separatists say they carried out the attack but the islamic state group has also claimed responsibility. on the streets, there was anger. translation: in the middle of the parade, we realised there was a group wearing fake military clothing. they attacked our children from behind us

and then fired on women and children. they fired completely blindly, meaning they weren't taking targets, just firing. meanwhile, iran's foreign minister said the gunmen had been harmed by a said the gunmen had been armed by a foreign regime and its us backers, an apparent reference to either israel or saudi arabia, but he produced no evidence of this. another parade, in the capital tehran, passed off peacefully, watched by president hassan rouhani. he has promised what he called a "crushing response" to the attack in hawaz. a man has been rescued from a ferry, two days after it capsized on lake victoria in tanzania. he's thought to have survived in an air pocket under the upturned vessel. more than 200 people are now known to have died in the accident. jessica parker has more. an anxious wait from the shore, relatives unable to

hold back their tears. divers and rescue teams braving the waters of lake victoria to attempt to bring more bodies to shore. the ferry capsized two days ago. officials say it was filled to four times its maximum capacity and tipped when passengers moved from one side to the other. divers resumed their search for survivors today after hearing knocking from inside the vessel, rescuing an engineer. he's said to have survived in an air pocket inside the mv nyerere ferry and is a serious condition. while some families continue to wait for news, others have now begun the difficult process of collecting their relatives and preparing them for burial. translation: most of the bodies have been identified by theirfamilies, so all the necessary arrangements have been made. the next step is to allow family members to start collecting their beloved ones ready for the burial ceremony. the government is already making plans for the bodies that have not yet been claimed or identified,

digging graves just metres from the site of the accident, ahead of a burial tomorrow. an official investigation into what happened will take place once the rescue efforts to find any survivors has ended. chas hodges, one half of the musical duo chas and dave, has died. he was 7a. known for their "rock and cockney" style, chas and dave enjoyed the height of their fame in the 1970s and ‘80s, with hits such as rabbit. david sillito looks back at his life and music. # with your incessant talking # you're becoming a pest # # rabbit, rabbit, rabbit #. when they emerged in the late ‘70s, the age of punk and disco, chas and dave rather stood out. # you're a wonderful girl...# chas hodges' music was a unique mix of rock and roll with old—school cockney singalongs. # no, you won't stop talking # why don't you give it a rest?#

he'd grown up in north london, his mum made ends meet playing the piano in local pubs. and in the ‘60s and ‘70s, he played in bands such as mike berry and the outlaws, and heads, hands and feet. what troubled him was the way he sang. i remember ringing up dave, i said, let's go out for a pint. i said, i've got an idea of writing songs about things that i know about and singing them in my own accent. # when the kids are swinging on the gate... what followed was a series of hit singles and dozens of tv appearances — and then a fall from fashion. # everything i ever done... 20 years on, their career picked up again. this was no novelty act. chas hodges was a talented musician and songwriter. # i'll be around! chas hodges, who's

died at the age of 7a. now it's time for a look at the weather. we can speak to sarah keith lucas. sarah, autumn storms, have they stopped for now? it isa it is a bit ofa it is a bit of a case of mixed fortunes. we have some stormy weather on the way, but not everywhere across the country. abta the north— south split. across northern parts, we see clearer skies today and some sunshine. further south, though, more cloud and outbreaks of rain. that theme stays with us through the day on sunday. so sunshine and showers, but there will be more cloud and some pretty heavy rain as well in the south. we have still got some rain with us across parts of the south—east of england. it is slowly clearing it with through tonight. clear skies for many parts of the country tonight. still a few showers in the far north—west, and

during early sunday, more rain works into the southwest too. pretty mild in the south end the cloud, but under clearer skies, you can see a touch of frost and one or two rural parts of scotland first thing. first thing tomorrow, the next batch of wet weather works its way used words, combining with some pretty strong, gusty winds. 50 miles an hour possible in the south. come the afternoon, more sunshine quite widely across the country, with a few scattered showers around as well. temperatures 11—111. drying up and turning less windy and the new working week. —— into the new working week. —— into the new working week.