where they believe the journalist jamal kashoggi was murdered. president trump has sent his secretary of state to meet the saudi king. he also suggested that rogue killers could be responsible for the disappearance. just two days before the crucial eu summit, britain's prime minister has insisted a brexit deal is still achieveable. the sticking point still is the future of the irish border. the president of the european council, donald tusk, says the eu should prepare for the possibility of a no—deal brexit. the duke and duchess of sussex, harry and meghan, are expecting a baby in spring next year. the couple were presented a few gifts in sydney to celebrate the news. they're on tour in australia and will visit new zealand, fiji and tonga. it is just after 2:30am in the morning, you are up to date on the headlines, it is time now for monday

in parliament. hello and welcome to monday in parliament, the main news from westminster. as brexit negotiations stall over northern ireland, the prime minister calls for cool, calm heads. i continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the uk and for the european union. i continue to believe that such a deal is achievable. the government's urged to act on reports of contamination at the grenfell tower site. i understand the soil has been contaminated. and that it is not only by a inhilation that people become poisoned, but skin absorption. and some claims that universal credit is forcing someone women into forced prostitution. it is not going as well as we are being told in the house of commons where some women have taken

to the red light district for the first time. but first, the brexit secretary dominic raab made a last—minute trip to brussels to talk to the eu chief negotiator michel barnier but the discussions broke down over how to manage the northern ireland border after brexit. the uk and eu can't agree on the best way to avoid a customs border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, a member of the eu. the mood at westminster was jumpy with talk of resignations if the uk agreed to different brexit agreements to northern ireland, so theresa may tried to calm nerves. we are entering the final stages of these negotiations. laughter this is the time... laughter. this is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. and it's the time... laughter jeering

and it's the time for a clear—eyed focused on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed. yesterday the secretary of state for exiting the european union went to brussels for further talks with michel barnier. there has inevitably... ..there has inevitably been a great deal of inaccurate speculation. so i want to set out clearly for the house the facts as they stand. mrs may said the uk and eu wanted life in northern ireland and the republic to continue, with people and goods moving freely. she's proposed keeping the entire uk in a customs union on a temporary basis while a new trade deal is put into effect. the european union have responded positively by agreeing to explore a uk—wide customs solution to this backstop. but, mr speaker, two problems remain. first the eu says... laughter. first the eu says there is no time to work out the details of this uk—wide solution in the next two weeks.

—— of this uk—wide solution in the next few weeks. even with the progress we have made, the eu still requires a backstop to the backstop. effectively, an insurance policy for the insurance policy. and they want this to be the northern ireland—only solution that they have previously proposed. we have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our united kingdom. we cannot let this disagreement derail the process of a good deal and leave us with a no—deal outcome that no one wants. i continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the uk and for the european union. i continue to believe that such a deal is achievable and that is the spirit in which i will continue to work with our european partners and i commend this statement to the house. as we reach a critical point in this nation's history, we need a prime minister

who will for once make the right decision. and put the country before her party! and stand up to the reckless voices on her back benches and within her cabinet. for too long, this country has been held hostage to those in her party who want to drive through a race to the bottom brexit deal that lowers rights and standards, sells off our national assets to the lowest bidder. labour's plan is for britain and the eu to negotiate a permanent customs union to protect jobs and manufacturing. we want a deal that allows us to strengthen rights and working standards so we can avoid a race to the bottom. will she say that she got it wrong, will the prime minister commit

to a damage limitation brexit? will she accept that the significant consensus in this house and the country is to remin the single market and a customs union? can i say to the prime minister, ignore her own career prospects and ignore the career ambitions behind her and look instead at the hundreds of thousands of people'sjobs, will she take her head out of the sand and all those in this house... can we stay in the single market and customs union? she confirmed single market and customs union, the uk leaving the eu together, with no part hived off either in the single market or customs union differences. when the uk leaves the united kingdom... when the uk leaves the european union, it will be the uk that leaves the eu. we will be leaving the european union together. i am clear that should be no hard bar on the border between

northern ireland and ireland. but as put forth proposals we can deliver on that and maintain the integrity of our union. there is a real fear that the government will delay any deal until the last possible minute so that it can try and bounce parliament with the threat that it is her deal or no deal. she knows that would be unacceptable to parliament but she also knows how damaging no deal would be in terms of security as well as jobs in the economy. so will she confirm that it will be better to apply for an extension to article 50 to thrash out with no deal? amid the tensions of brexit one mp mentions and cheerier news. next spring when the duke and duchess of sussex are having their first baby, i want this country to be at a time of economic stability. a no deal is unpredictable. so, can i encourage my right honourable friend to continue pressing the case for innovative custom solutions that deliver the frictionless trade whilst

listening closely to the concerns of other eu member states about the risks that they face? because it is only when we make progress on finding the long—term solution with the difficulties of the backstop this verse. solution will the difficulties of the backstop disperse. mr speaker, this gives me an opportunity as i am sure was said earlier, to give my personal congratulations on the duke and duchess of sussex on the great news we heard today. i reassure my honourable friend that absolutely it is concentrating on the long—term solution that will deliver not only the good economic future for this partnership with the european union for this country but will also ensure we deliver on our commitment to leave with northern ireland. theresa may updating mps before her meeting with eu leaders on wednesday. now dangerous toxins have reportedly been found at the grenfell tower

site and less to london. a report by a professor which is not made public yet has talked about the health of survivors and emergency workers as well as local residents. in the house of lords a labour peer tried to establish the facts about the so—called grenfell cough. did the professor urge public health and then and the department of health to organise a range of tests to ensure no potential health risks have been assessed and that they will not do so until they receive a report which we expect sometime next year and is he also aware of the report? and what has been called the grenfell cough which the professor says seems to indicate that high levels of atmospheric contaminants the mr burton plied that the london

air quality network had been producing weekly report. providing information about particular asbestos and other contaminants in the air, they have found that there was no evidence that there were above—average levels for london. but i can tell them that monitoring continues. public health inman is in discussions with the local authority and the local nhs to make sure that any signs from whichever area they emerge of public health threats are looked into seriously. we have not yet had those findings from the professor and public health england is keen to see the information as soon as possible. doesn't the lord appreciate that there are thousands and i mean thousands of chemicals involved in furniture and furnishings being burnt? and whilst the air may be clear, i understand the soil has been contaminated that it is notjust by inhalation that people become poisoned, it is by skin absorption. can the noble lord please ensure that people being treated from this area are closely monitored, not a survey being tested, but that as much is done

as possible to help them? i completely agree with the noble lady of course. there can be toxins found in a number of different media and soil is one of them, as well as the air. that's why public health england is keen to see the results from the professor's work and she herself has said that it is not yet finished. we do need to see that and that is one of many pieces going on. but if there are any concerns, that they are spotted and dealt with before they turn to public health threats. the minister has indicated that we should wait for the formal publication of her report. however, she has briefed officials in a variety of agencies about dangers that she thinks are apparent. the minister said that public health england had asked to see the professor's report and reassured him that no one

was waiting around for information. the work and pensions secretary has been told the government's flagship welfare programme is forcing women into prostitution. ministers are under growing pressure over the roll out of universal credit which combines six working age benefits into one payment. labourformer prime minister gordon brown has warned it could create poll tax style chaos. a few days later the conservative former prime ministerjohn major also likened it to the policy that helped and margaret thatcher's time in power. millions of people are due to be switched over to universal credit in the coming months. experts say that while there will be winners, others will be worse off. the chair of the work and pensions committee said it was already forcing women onto the streets. it is not going as well as we are being told in the house of commons, were some women have taken to the red light district for the first time.

my she come to birkenhead and meet those women's organisations and the police, who are worried about when in process security been pushing to this position? we need to work with those ladies and seek what help we can give them from the work coaches, write the way through to the various charities and organisations. in the meantime, and i add that perhaps he could tell these ladies that now we have got record job vacancies. 830,000 job vacancies and perhaps there are otherjobs on offer. one of the fundamental principles of universal credit was to design a welfare system where people would choose to always be in work. now the money transferred in 2015 undermined that principle. will the secretary of state speak to her now, right honourable friend the chancellor of the exchequer, about the plan? a call echoed by an snp mp.

has she requested additional funds ahead of the budget? of course i don't let people know what we do in private meetings. old—fashioned as that might be, mr speaker, i don't, but what he can know is that i am championing universal credit to make sure it works the best that it can work. the professor announced austerity is over. but only a few days later it was reported that it required the transfer over could lose up to £2000 a year. there is a real danger that hundreds of thousands of people will fall out of the social security system altogether and be pushed into poverty and even

the risk of this. with the government step back from the brink and stop the roll—out of universal credit? the minister described that as some of the worst scaremongering she had ever heard. we talked difficult decisions as to the country in 2015, 2016 because we had it benefits and that had grown by 60, over 60% under labour. so now that it is on a sustainable footing so it is fair to the taxpayer and fair to the claimant, we knowi million more disabled people will be getting on average £110 more a month and 700,000 people who were not getting their full amount of benefit now will. she insisted the government was listening and learning and would adapt. you are watching but in parliament with me kristiina cooper. coming up, spark struck the flight during a debate on horse racing. —— sparks start to fly. give me the whip you go and stand summer and let me hit you with it and see if i hurt you. it's green gb week, designed to celebrate clean growth

in the economy. the energy minister told mps the government had sought advice on how the uk would achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions and whether was the right time to do so. the pace of innovation means we cannot predict with certainty the path to our long—term carbon targets, but i can predict this. from how we travel to how we build oui’ from how we travel to how we build our home is willing to make profound strength —— changes in our strategy sets out the parts we will need to ta ke to sets out the parts we will need to take to do so. i am pleased to be responding to the news today that she has written to the committee on climate change asking for advice for setting a date on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions. however, despite any good intentions she may have had in writing that letter, she must understand that government policy as it stands is demonstrably incompatible with that goal. labour

also expressed concerns about fracking, the process by which shall gas is recovered from drilling down into the earth. this government has pursued a policy of fracking at any cost, overruling local planning decisions and reportedly even considering relaxing earthquake regulations. we want to rapidly decarbonise gas, that we will continue to do. it is entirely consistent with all of our low carbon pathways and is even consistent with the honourable lady's proposals for the renewable economy because she will need 40% to come from some sort of generation, and it seems crazy to me not to soberly explore the science of exploiting a resource beneath our feet and could create thousands of jobs, rather than importing it from an extremely unstable... well, don't listen to me, listen to your union paymasters. words are great, mr speaker, but back on planet earth reality is somewhat different. what happened to the big leap forward the uk had with green power until

recently? does she think the present huge decline in renewables investment is anything to do with the government? the ban on onshore wind, for example? how does she square that mad policy with the climate change challenge ? square that mad policy with the climate change challenge? there is no ban on offshore wind. he was the minister who led so many of those fights about offshore windfarms, fights about offshore windfarms, fights which frankly led to derail many of the conversations about clea n many of the conversations about clean growth because they were so terribly controversial. there is no ban on onshore wind. onshore wind is still operating. what we were elected on in our manifesto, the government manifesto, is that we didn't think onshore large—scale wind developer was right for england, and i believe in carrying out a manifesto commitments. mps also offered the minister suggestions the greener living. alternatives to meet are available. very tasty neo—chicken stirfry is in my fridge every day. you don't have to do it every day but she is welcome to try out what's going meat free would do. the serious point, mr speaker, is going meat free or

reducing meat, one day a week, would make a huge contribution to reducing out make a huge contribution to reducing our emissions. what i would like to see, if people are eating meat, they should be looking for locally sourced meat raised with the most ethical welfare standards, and of course we should all be having a healthy diet because it reduces the burden overall. so perhaps she will bring me in a takeaway version of one of the specialties at some point, mr speaker. with around 150 horse fatalities every year at racing events, is it time to set up a new organisation with responsibility for the welfare of racehorses? a petition demanded such a body has secured the support of 105,000 signatures. triggering a debate in westminster hall. representing york, home to the uk's second oldest race course. from the 1300 horses that have raced this season, there has been a fatality. in 2016 there were three fatalities, 2014 two, 2013 two, 2012

three and 2011, at one. 12 in seven yea rs. clearly three and 2011, at one. 12 in seven years. clearly this is devastating and while york has racing, this is 12 horses too many. and i would also make the point that this is all to feed a gambling industry. much more research is clearly needed around animal welfare and horse welfare. one mp and former horse owner said that the horses were well treated. i often wish i was as well pampered as racehorses are in the stables. no stone is left unturned looking after them. saunas, swimming pools, you name it, horses are treated rightly. rightly, like kings and queens in those stables. i think we should be immensely proud of our race horses are looked after. and i would suspect that compares well with any other country in the world.

i would be amazed if any other country had as proud a track record of looking after race horses as we do in this country. mr davis also said that whipping horses does not hurt them. i would encourage somebody to actually get a hold of a whip and actually hit themselves with a whip and hit themselves quite hard with that. they will find that actually, doesn't actually hurt at all. it was not done for that. if you want a horse to run faster, you don't hurt it! a hurt horse is not going to run faster. by that definition, if you are injured, you are not going to run faster as a result of being injured and hurt. i have to say, in my opinion, and we have heard glowing references to the british horse racing association from other honourable members, in my opinion, as long as animal welfare is concerned. it has proven itself to be singularly useless since it was founded in 2007. and why do i say that? well, this is a body which has presided

over in that time 2000 horses that have died in horse racing. and the barbaric use of the whip, is in the order of 500 abuses, recorded, there is no sign that it is reducing. i've got to say, mad a rather absurd intervention when he suggested that the whip doesn't hurt. he said, get a whip and hit yourself with it and it won't hurt. let me put a challenge to the honourable member, give me the whip, you go and stand somewhere and let me hit you with it and see if i can hurt you. i think you'll probably find i will be able to hurt you. unless you've got very strong... of course i will give way, yes. i know the honourable member has a reputation for spouting off without knowing the first idea of what he's talking about.

as he has demonstrated again for us today. but the whip is cushioned. he clearly has never come across the whip in horse racing. he hasn't seen the design of the whip. he never feels the need to know anything about a subject of what he comes and tells us about it, but i advise him to actually try finding something out about something, and racing stables for example, if you see the whip, it is cushioned, it does not hurt. older whips may well have had problems. the new, latest whip does not. he should know that. i think many people would beg to differ i think many people would beg to differ with the honourable member, and the challenge still stands whether or not i can hurt him. we could perhaps get some witnesses to see whether it is possible. but maybe he's tougher than me. the government has launched a strategy to tackle loneliness, inspired by the work of the murdered mpjo inspired by the work of the murdered mp jo cox. some

inspired by the work of the murdered mpjo cox. some of herfamily members are watching from the public gallery as civil society member tracey crouch briefed mps. i am standing here at the despatch box with a clear line of sight to the coat of arms representing our colleague who took this issue of loneliness and catapulted it into the stratosphere. i've dedicated a short nine months of developing this strategy but mr speaker, jo cox dedicated her whole life to tackling loneliness. and this strategy which bears her photo, a copy of which i kept aside forjo's children, is dedicated to her and i hope she would be proud. the key that is published today outlines the government's vision for england to tackle loneliness, and amending the work being done in the devolved administrations, creating a place where we all have strong social relationships. where families, friends and community support each other. where organisations promote people's social connections as a core part of their everyday rule. the minister was quite right to observe that this is a very emotional moment because we are all of course thinking about our former colleague jo cox who set up the loneliness commission before

she was so tragically taken from us. she said, "i will not live in a country where thousands of people are living longer lives forgotten by the rest of us." — — living lonely lives. she recognised that loneliness does not discriminate between young and old. it can affect anyone at any time and jo's commission set out to find a way forward and we all echo the minister's very generous and heartfelt tribute to her. i would also like to recognise the outstanding work of the honourable members. now how about this for dedication to the job? the mp for north swindon and work and pensions ministerjustin tomlin was in the commons chamber at the start of the day. nothing unusual about that except that he got married on the weekend. several mps offered their congratulations. but one had a question. what sort of honeymoon is this? laughter.

it is a great honour to share my honeymoon with so many wonderful colleagues! the honourable gentleman almost kept a straight face. well, that's it for monday in parliament, david kornock on his honeymoon period for this programme will be here for the rest of the week. but from me, kristina cooper, an old timer, goodbye. hello there. it was a lovely day on monday across scotland and northern ireland, with plenty of sunshine, but a different story across england and wales, rather cloudy skies for most with some mist and murk and a few spots of drizzle. the reason for it is this weather

front here, which will still be there on tuesday morning. this weather system will bring a change to scotland and northern ireland through the course of tuesday. but, for the start of tuesday, it looks like we'll hold on to this cloud across england and wales. some mist and fog developing too. the breeze tending to pick up across this north—west corner. these are the temperatures to start this morning. single—figure values in the north. just about making double figures further south. a bit of a grey start up and down the country, winds really picking up across the north—west corner of scotland with some gales here, 50—60mph gusts. band of rainjust pushing in here. but for england and wales, a much better day than monday with the cloud breaking up, plenty of sunshine developing, particularly across the south—east, where we could make 21 to 23 degrees. even further north, despite the wind and the showers, it's going to be pretty pleasant. temperatures around the seasonal average. on into wednesday, a bit more of a complicated picture. we've got a tangle of weather front is moving in from the north—west. one of them grinding to a halt across parts of england. so it looks like for wednesday we could see a band of cloud from lincolnshire, through the midlands, down into the south—west, there could be some patchy

rain on it. to the north and the west of this weather front, a little bit cooler and fresher, sunshine and one or two showers but a pleasant enough day. into the far south—east, after a misty, foggy start, we should see some sunshine there. top temperatures, again, 15—18 celsius. pretty average for the time of year, or maybe just above. on into thursday a ridge of high pressure builds in, but there will be some cool air associated with it this. a cold start on tuesday, particularly in the northern half of the country. a touch of frost. again, there could be some mist and fog patches pretty much anywhere. but actually, because of that ridge of high pressure, it's going to be a fine day with light winds, plenty of sunshine up and down the country. could see a little bit of fairweather cloud further south, but most places should stay dry, and these temperatures, ranging from 12 to maybe 17 degrees across the south—east. it's a similar sort of picture on into friday, although this weather system begins to push into the north—west corner of the country, so i think it turns a bit downhill there.

although high pressure whereas high pressure holds on across england and wales. so a windy day for scotland and northern ireland, we'll start to see showers or longer spells of rain pushing particularly in the north and west of scotland, whereas further south again underneath that ridge of high pressure, once we lose any mist and fog patches through the morning, it's going to be another fine day. plenty of sunshine. those temperatures range from 12 to maybe 17 degrees. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: turkish police enter the consulate where its feared a journalist was killed two weeks ago. the pressure increases on saudi leaders to explain what happened to jamal khasshoggi. uk prime minister theresa may calls for calm ahead of crucial brexit negotiations, despite differences over the future of the irish border. the endless queues in venezuela — we report on the humanitarian problems brought about by economic collapse. as the royal couple meghan and harry confirm they'll be parents in the spring, australians welcome the happy news with a few special gifts.