this is bbc world news — the headlines: a european union summit in brussels has backed the brexit deal. calling it a sad day, the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, said that it was the best and only agreement possible. it needs to be approved by the uk parliament, with many mps opposed. theresa may has insisted that the deal is the best way of implementing the referendum decision. the american space agency says its latest mars probe — insight — is on track to touch down on the red planet on monday. only a third of previous international missions have succeeded. one of the biggest football matches in argentina's history — the copa libertadores final — has been postponed again after the boca juniors team bus was attacked by rival fans in buenos aires. the latest headlines on bbc world news. the latest headlines on bbc world news. at 10 o'clock mishal hussain will be here with a full round—up of the day's news.

first, our world... every year, thousands of people come from thailand to work in israel, hoping to build a better life for their families back home. but what they find when they get here can be shocking. translation: for more than a year, we have been investigating the treatment of thai labourers working on israel's farms. their labour helps to produce fruit and veg sold across the globe, but they are anxious their work is damaging their health. and many deaths amongst the workers remain uninvestigated. in this film, we will be

asking who cares about israel's thai workers. they call it the land of milk and honey — a country rich in history and one of the world's wealthiest nations. despite being half desert, israel grows millions of tons of fruit and vegetables every year, and exports them to europe and russia.

a modern miracle of hydro—engineering, and an industry reliant on migrant workers. but everything is not as it seems. i'm issariya praithongyaem, a journalist with bbc‘s thai service in london. just over a year ago, i started to get worrying messages from thai workers in israel that were telling me that they were being abused and exploited. being from thailand myself, i wanted to find out what was happening. we are starting our investigation in southern israel after a tip—off about a farm not far from gaza.

agriculture in israel is organised into hundreds of gated communities, called moshavs. and each moshav contains dozens of farms and farmhouses. so this moshav, this actually looks nice here. big trees, colourful flowers, nice houses. this is the home of a well—established farming family on the moshav. the thai workers they employ live just a stone's throw away. 15 workers share this wooden hut. this accommodation isn't temporary. the work here isn't seasonal. these are the only homes these young men and women will know in israel. somkiet srisawat was 29 we met him. like most of the workers here, he's from the north—east of thailand. he had left his village three years

before because his parents and his wife were often going without food. he's agreed to show me around. many of these labouring jobs used to be done by palestinians, but not anymore. somkiet is in israel as part of an official government scheme. he is one of 25,000 thai nationals working and living here. this type of accommodation is sadly not unusual. workers here tell me that temperatures inside can reach more than a0 degrees, and they are scared that at any point the whole thing could collapse on top of them. we asked somkiet‘s boss for an interview. he refused. but he told us later that since our visit, he has made some improvements to the workers‘ home. investigating the lives of thai

workers on israel's farms is not easy. no answer. there is a climate of fear. few people will talk to us on camera. but over 14 months we visited more than 50 farms and spoke to hundreds of workers to get to the truth. we are heading to a small moshav called paran in the deep south of the country. there are several cowsheds on paran. the animals seem well—housed. the workers, less so. we have agreed to hide this worker's real identity

because he is frightened. he has lived here behind the cowshed for a year. translation: yod, like many of the other workers, he told us that if he was caught speaking out he would be sacked and leftjobless and homeless in a foreign land. the fear is palpable, and it wasn't long until i understood why. we have just arrived at a moshav.

we asked the shopkeeper inside to contact one of the farmers that we wanted to meet. over the phone, we told them were making a bbc documentary. he told us to leave the moshav immediately, otherwise he would call his friends to come and break our bones. agriculture in israel is a multibillion—pound industry. it's hard work, but for those farmers who make a success of it, the benefits are easy to see. this is lakhish, the most beautiful moshav we saw, and it's built

on revenue from grapes. we have come to take a closer look at one of the farms. this man has lived on lakhish for 20 years. he says he employs three workers, and was keen to show me where they live. then something strange happens. can we go to this place? at the back? why? he wouldn't let us take our cameras into his back house. what he didn't know at this point was five months ago we'd already filmed inside, and this is what we found. a man sleeping in what appeared to be a makeshift bedroom complete with kitchen, and it is alljust metres away from the chemical shed.

although he won't let us film inside the warehouse today, i did manage to take a look, and the man we had seen sleeping there five months earlier was still there. we asked mr mardi about him. translation: thai workers are allowed to stay in israel for a maximum of five years.

during their stay, they are entitled to expect a reasonable level of comfort and safety. according to the workers handbook, they should be provided with suitable housing, including at least four square metres of sleeping space, personal cupboards, bedding, heating, ventilation — everything is laid out in black and white. in the dozens of farms we saw, there weren't many examples of good practice, but we did see some places that measured up. these homes are on moshavs in israel's central arabah district. they are solid — no rotten walls, or leaking ceilings here. the workers are employed by a date farmer who has a very different take on the situation.

what i see in my place and in other places in israel, the place is very good in the beginning, but after three months the place is a disaster. this is not the farmer, this is the worker — he need to care about this place he sleep. he doesn't care. you see the kitchen, i show you. it looks disgusting! his staff seemed to be safe. they are paid fairly, and they live on this idyllic farm, but not many are this fortunate. just when i thought i had seen it all, another tip—off. this one is about moshav ami'oz. these homes became known to us

as cardboard city, and it's easy to see why. workers here are sleeping in rooms made out of packing boxes. but right now, that is the least of their problems. translation: you the owner of this farm confirmed to me via his lawyer that he hadn't been able to pay his workers due to financial problems. he refused other requests for an interview. a few months later, the workers told me they did eventually get paid, but only half of what they were expecting.

with very few farmers willing to speak to us, i have come to tel aviv to take our findings to avshalom vilan from the israeli farmers federation. there are problems, but looking at the big picture, so more or less, the system is working. at any moment when there is problem, they can tell us, they can call the embassy, they can call the israel authorities and we take care of it. we showed mr vilan our footage of cardboard city. i don't know where the place. i don't know where the place is. if those other conditions, they have to complain.

it is against the law. nobody will support such a kind of condition, and people that fulfil the law, they have to pay for it. so far, workers have told me they are underpaid, overworked, intimidated and living in squalor. but the story doesn't end there. spraying pesticides without proper protection seems to be common. we happened upon this worker going about his daily work, and his boss had no problem with us filming. israel's use of pesticides is amongst the highest in the world.

long—term low—level exposure has been linked to respiratory and neurological illness. and this is why the rules are so strict. workers should wear a mask with filters as well as special boots and clothes. but a recent online survey of over 150 workers found that fewer than 50% had received protective equipment. i've been sent videos on facebook which appear to show thai workers on a number of farms across the country spraying chemicals without safety equipment. these men, who wish to remain anonymous, work on a pomegranate farm. they claim unprotected spraying has

made them so ill that they have, at times, been frightened for their lives. from spraying chemicals to living standards and pay, thai workers on israel's farms are protected by a range of laws. but, from what i've seen, that's little comfort. i went to meet sophie shannir, a representative of kav laoved, an israeli ngo which supports migrant workers in the country. the fact that there is law doesn't mean people follow it. when inspectors come to check the complaint, they don't come with a translator. the inspectorjust goes to speak with the employer, and the employer will show in the way that he wants it to be seen. the israeli government

did not want to give us an interview, but the ministry of labour told us 400 inspections are carried out every year, and interpreters are available. more than 1,500 investigations have been launched into and working hours since 2013. 200 fines have been issued totalling more than £3 million. a finaljourney in the north of the country where we made our saddest discovery yet. these friends have gathered to say goodbye to their colleague, who died suddenlyjust a few days before, despite the farmer's attempts at resuscitation. monks have arrived to perform a cleansing ceremony. wicha was 45 years old.

he had been working on a tomato farm for the last two years. on the night of the 9th of october 2017, wicha went to bed in this room and never woke up. wicha is not the only worker to have lost his life. since the thai—israel agreement began in 2012, there have been more

than 170 deaths. and many of those, like wicha's, are unexplained. the thai embassy in israel told us medical postmortem examinations are not carried out on thai workers. it took more than a month for wicha's body to arrive back in thailand. he won't be building the farm he dreamt of, or helping his wife through her treatment for cancer. thai workers are the backbone of israel's agricultural industry, but their existence here is precarious. they rely on their bosses for food, shelter and work. so is it any wonder they are scared to demand their rights?

as i leave this country, i am reminded of the old saying — you don't bite the hand that feeds you. i think there is kind of an approach or attitude among the workers themselves that they are being seen by the farmers as actually tools, not as people that came here to work, but as tools to provide the work. they are not humans with needs that can be harmed. like, nobody care enough. like, nobody cares enough. hello. for a while now the uk's usual

weather pattern of atlantic westerlies has been blocked by high pressure in scandinavia and some chilly air coming in from the east. and that's how we're still looking for monday. but there are big changes to come as the week goes on. a deepening area of low pressure in the atlantic will feed wet and windy weather our way, but the wind is changing direction to a south—westerly, and as you can see there's mild air coming in but the weather will be much more active as we're about to find out. but we are still in that fairly benign flow of air coming in from the east from monday. that does mean further showers to eastern scotland, eastern england. and some to northern ireland. but for western scotland, wales, western parts of england, dry and in fact sunnier on sunday for many, though temperatures still stuck in single figures. some frost around for some of us on monday night, and some mist and fog as well, but going into tuesday this

is the first of these atlantic weather fronts to shake up our weather and bring us back to that usual weather pattern of atlantic westerlies, bringing in rain to northern ireland, wales, western and southern areas of england, and a bit of snow to the higher ground, and briefly as this pushes its way north—eastward, with milder airfollowing on behind, the wind is picking up as well. but still chilly for much of scotland and north east england. that weather front picks up through into wednesday, and there are more to come. in fact, come wednesday, this deepening area of low pressure will feed more weather fronts our way, and also the isa fronts our way, and also the isobars closer together mean it will be a lot windier and a stormy day for some of us as well. bands of heavy rain sweeping north eastwards. the wind picking up across all areas. there will be gales widely in the north and west.

these are average speeds, and of course gusts are much higher, and there could be some destructive gusts in excess of 70 mph in parts of scotland, especially in the north—east. the milder air continues itsjourney right across us, so we are bouncing back to double figures. this first set of weather fronts from this area of low—pressure clear through going on to thursday, though there may be just a little ripple the front to watch the far south and south—east of england. some uncertainty about the detail here, but it could be another pulse of heavy rain before that clears away. then for the rest of us on thursday, sunny spells and showers, most frequent in the west, and heavy ones around it. still blustery but not as windy as wednesday. still widely into double figures. notice this out to the west, another area of low—pressure coming through on thursday night and into friday morning, taking a more southerly track going right across the uk, so it's southern parts of the uk that could well see the stronger winds for a time and gales in places, before that clears on friday. sunshine, showers and some feeding east on the south, south—westerly, and a cool breeze, so temperatures could come down a few degrees on friday. so a big change in our weather patterns this week. we will see some wetter, windier weather, potentially destructive winds. so if you are travelling,

especially midweek, keep an eye on that. but milder. although offset by the stronger wind, but it will feel very different compared with what we have at the moment. just taking a peek to next weekend, the weather pattern still has low—pressure in control. we will see spells of wind and rain, although perhaps not quite as windy as it will be midweek, but with the jet stream targeting right at the uk here, you know the weather's going to be unsettled, but we are still into the weekend in the mild air. so from the east to the west our weather goes, and something more typical for autumn to see out november. a dealfor the uk's departure from the eu is approved by leaders in brussels. the prime minister says it's an agreement that delivers for britain, but acknowledges what lies ahead at westminster. i will take this deal back to the house of commons, confident we have achieved the best deal available, and full of optimism about the future of our country. in parliament, and beyond it, i will make the case for this deal with all my heart. with the uk set to leave in four

months, eu officials call it a "sad day", and have a warning for mps. this is the best deal possible for britain, and this is the only deal possible. so if the house would say no, we would have no deal. we'll be assessing the contents of the agreement, and the chances of parliament passing it.