who i'm babita sharma in london. the headlines a last—minute plea from an embattled prime minister to a divided parliament as britain prepares for an historic vote, on brexit i say we should deliver for the british people, and get on with building a brighter future for our country by backing this deal tomorrow. it's clear, if the prime minister's deal is rejected tomorrow, it's time for a general election, it's time for a new government. a canadian national is sentenced to death for drugs smuggling in china. could his case be part of a growing diplomatic row between the two nations? i'm rico hizon in singapore. also in the programme: up to a million dead fish and possibly more to come. what's gone wrong on australia's darling river? and andy murray puts up an epic struggle,

in what may be his last ever professional tennis match. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's 9am in singapore and 1am here in london where the british prime minister, is just hours away from learning the fate of her controversial plan for britain leaving the european union. she warned members of parliament that they will be letting the people of the country down, if they do not vote in favour of her brexit deal. opposition parties are expected to vote against it — so too are about 100 mps from mrs may's own conservative party. here's how the prime minister pleaded to parliament earlier and how the opposition leader reacted. when the history books are written, people will look

at the decision... jeering. people — people will look at the decision of this house tomorrow and ask, did we deliver on the country's vote to leave the european union? did we safeguard our economy, our security and our union, or did we let the british people down? i say — i say we should deliver for the british people, and get on with building a brighter future for our country by backing this deal tomorrow, and i commend this statement to the house. given the lack of support for the prime minister's deal, you might have thought she would try to reach out to mps. instead, the prime minister is claiming that, by failing to support her botched deal, members are threatening to undermine

the faith of the british people in our democracy. mr speaker, the only people who are undermining faith in our democracy is the government itself. mr speaker, i can think of no greater example of democracy in action than for this house to reject a deal that is clearly bad for this country. during the past two years of shambolic negotiations, the prime minister has failed to listen. that was the corbyn, the leader of the opposition. the cross live to parliament because the debate is continuing. this is john parliament because the debate is continuing. this isjohn mcdonnell, the shadow treasurer. the debate continuing because we are mere hours

away from the official boat when we find out if members of parliament will support the deal or not. to be honest, when we were looking at the house of commons before christmas it was thin on the ground so it looks easy for iam let's have a listen to whatjohn is saying. easy for iam let's have a listen to what john is saying. with some courage express their views in opposition to their own party's position. the right honourable member was expressly setting out his views and concerns about the impact that this deal would have on his constituents and also in his view the need to go back and get a better deal. we had another member on behalf of the dee u p expressed the concern. . . “— behalf of the dee u p expressed the concern... —— behalf of the dup. that will continue for some time. what was happening before christmas

is nowhere near as crucial as what we see happening here. by by nine o'clock this evening we should have an idea of how this vote has played out. if the prime minister's deal is rejected by parliament, she has just three days to present an alternative plan of action. more on that analysis later in the programme. but first, john pienaar has been looking at what will happen if she loses the vote. while theresa may prepares to try again, labour will pick its moment for a vote of no—confidence in the government they know they are most unlikely to win. plotting will be about who takes control of brexit. most mps will oppose no—deal. several ministers would resign, and now there is an alliance of mps hoping to seize control after any defeat for mrs may, rule out a no—deal brexit, and mobilise a majority across the main parties behind the new plan, backed by law. their aim, and the aim of many other

mps, may be to delay brexit until there is a fresh plan, maybe a softer brexit deal, closer to the eu, similar to norway's, or maybe a new referendum. it could end in no brexit at all. now, talking up the chances of no brexit may get brexiteer rebels on—side. but the danger to mrs may — mps might succeed in seizing control. her best hope of scaring rebels into line could become her worst nightmare. how does it all end? that is anyone‘s guess. the next big scene in this drama will be played out in westminster. let's take a look some of the day's other news. president trump has denied ever working for russia. it follows media reports over the weekend that the fbi had investigated whether he had any links with the russian state. other reports said he had confiscated the notes of his own interpreter

after a meeting with russian president vladimir putin. i never worked for russia, and you know that answer better than anybody. i never worked for russia. not only did i never work for russia, i think it's a disgrace that you even ask that question, because it's a whole big fat hoax. it's just a hoax. tributes have been held in the poland, for the mayor of gdansk who died after being stabbed during the country's biggest charity event. surgeons operated on pawel adamowicz for five hours, but he died of his wounds. his attacker has been detained. fifteen people are reported to have been killed, after a cargo plane crashed, near the iranian capital, tehran. the boeing 707 reportedly overran the runway, and hit a wall, while trying to land in bad weather. the iranian army said, only one person — a flight engineer — survived. the canadian prime minister justin trudeau says

he is extremely concerned after a canadian man was sentenced to death in china on drug trafficking charges. 36—year—old robert lloyd schellenberg was given a 15—year prison sentence last november, but following an appeal, a high court in liaoning has ruled the sentence was too lenient... and given the death penalty. the sentencing comes amid a diplomatic rift between canada and china. it's of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that china has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply death penalty in cases facing — as in this case, facing a canadian. earlier i spoke tojoanna chiu, the deputy bureau editor of star vancouver, who was previously a journalist based in beijing, for here reaction to the ruling. this wasn't surprising to me.

the chief financial officer of huawei technologies, meng wanzhou, was arrested in vancouver on 1 december at the request of the us authorities, on financial fraud charges, and as we know, china is extremely angry about this case. and about two weeks after her arrest, we found out that two canadians including a former diplomat, michael kovrig, were arrested in china, on what is widely considered to be retaliation following the arrest of the cfo, meng wanzhou. so i heard that same week that chinese officials were considering putting a death sentence on a canadian as part of retaliation. i was not able to confirm this, but we — it was announced that a new trial of robert schellenberg was announced, so the timing of it is quite in line with retaliation, as far as the arrest of the two canadians. we also know that it's quite rare for canadians to be facing the death penalty in china, even though he does have the opportunity

to appeal the sentence. yes, we know this retrial was ordered on the basis of new evidence, which would suggest that perhaps there was a case to make this sentence less harsh, if you like. for it to go the other way, then — what do you think is going to be the next step now? yes, yes, so now chinese prosecutors are accusing him of being part of an international drug trafficking conspiracy. ad they made the decision very quickly for the death sentence, so that again is unusual. so it seems, if this is political, then either he could be being used as a potential pawn, in that china may be able to decide to pardon him, or he could go ahead and get the death sentence. he only has ten days to appeal. so, in terms of relations between china and canada, would you say that this is an all—time low?

this has been quite low. in the past, canadians have been arrested in china on what seems like political issues, like in 2014, there were two canadian christian aid workers who were arrested and accused of spying, shortly after canada also arrested a chinese citizen, on the request of us authorities, for extradition. so there seems to be a pattern here. it seems like it has been raised that the chinese ambassador in canada has pretty much onlyjust stopped short of admitting that the detentions of canadians in china were retaliation. things are very tense right now, and i know a lot of canadians are worried about living in china, working in china and travelling to china, because they're worried that they could be potential targets, as the diplomatic dispute continues. and the huawei executive, meng wanzhou, she is facing her next court hearing in vancouver

here on 6 february. though analysts have said that china feels like it has a really short window of time to push canada to release meng. if she is extradited to the us, china will feel it is too late then. as many as one million fish are believed to have died in the murray—darling river system in south eastern australia, with authorities warning of more deaths to come. the australian prime minister scott morrison has blamed the deaths on a drought — but, there's been a national outcry, with allegations that government policies have caused the systematic depletion and pollution of the river system. it's a devastating ecological event, and i think particularly for those who live throughout the region, just the sheer visual image of this is just terribly upsetting. there's a drought, and this is one of the consequences of drought. there are many, and my focus on drought has not shifted one inch. stuart khan is a professor

at the university of new south wales, here he is explaining the cause of these fish deaths. it's a combination of many things. it's a worst—case scenario, really. we're dealing with a very severe drought at the moment. there's been very little water falling, very little rainfall in the catchment of this darling river system. we're going through a heat wave, and there's almost certainly an underlying contribution from climate change to that heatwave. but there's also been a lot of tension between how we use the water resources in the river, and there's been conflict between water that's been allocated for irrigation, for industry, and water that is allocated for actual river flows, for the environmental health of the river system itself. professor, this occurrence is not unprecedented. no, we've had many droughts in the past, and we've had fish kills in the past,

but it is unprecedented in its scale. we're talking about potentially around a million fish have been killed in this particular incident. so we're used to droughts, we're used to this river drying out in parts — it happens. but we're not used to this massive scale of de—oxygenation within the river. and this is a very contentious political issue in australia. critics are saying government policies have caused systemic depletion and pollution of the river system. yes, i mean, ten years ago, i think we had our eye on the target here, and there was a lot of money starting to be spent on allocating water for the environment, identifying that as an important, legitimate role for water in the river, as opposed to just irrigation and industry. but, since about 2014, i think that it's arguable that we've lost that focus, and we have not had the same oversight managing that river, making sure that we're understanding

how much water is needed for the environment, and looking for opportunities to be able to pull some of that water back, where it's available. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: andy murray goes out of the australian open in a four—hour, five—set thriller, which could be his last professional match. also on the programme: away from the politicians, what do ordinary british people make of brexit? we've been finding out. confused. appalling. messy. confused. appalling. messy. confused. childish. unsettled. confusing. confused. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people

want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished, as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws passed by the country's new multiracial government and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play the mousetrap. when they heard of her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. thanks forjoining us.

i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: with decision day looming for brexit, theresa may has made a last—ditch plea to mps to back her deal. canada has condemned the death sentence passed against one of its citizens, convicted of drugs smuggling in china. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the international edition of the new york times leads on child suicide bombers in afghanistan. the paper features a 14—year—old boy who is being held with 47 others in a juvenile detention center in kabul as national security threats. the japan times is covering russian president vladimir putin's visit to japan in june. it says the japanese foreign minister announced the news while on a visit to moscow. prime minister shinzo abe and president putin agreed in november to step up talks based

on a 1956 joint declaration. and toyota's new supra car features on the business pages of the south china morning post. the long—awaited latest model was unveiled at the detroit car show tracing its origins back to the late 19705 and is powered by a six—cylinder bmw engine. and those are the papers. let's take you back to the house of commons. debate continues before the crucial vote later on tuesday. we are going to listen in to philip hammond, the chancellor of the cabinet in government. we have heard arguments in favour of the full range of options, both for exit mechanics and

for the future relationship between the eu and the uk this evening. indeed, in the speech for the honourable member for brent northug thing i heard pretty much the full range in that one speech. i did at one moment think he might be on the brink of applying for a associate membership of the erg. senior cabinet ministers at the house of commons as it approaches 1:20am in the morning and it will continue into the early hours on till the last person has had their say and would like to do so. our eyes will be on what happens later in the day on tuesday at westminster when we will find out if theresa may's brexit plans have been successful or not. our political correspondent iain watson gave me this update a short time ago from westminster. theresa may met her own members of parliament tonight, most of them thought she gave a pretty good performance but in terms of substance, she didn't make any of them change their minds

if they were sceptical towards her deal, so she is still facing defeat. so what we will see most likely in the next 2a hours are attempts to diminish the size of the defeat, including an amendment that would try to some extent mitigate the fears around the northern ireland backstop, this attempt to avoid a hard border in northern ireland. there will be an attempt to try to say this will come to an the end in 2021 but the snag is the european union has not negotiated that, and has resisted negotiating that, but if this was successful, and helps to get a deal over the line in parliament, theresa may could return to brussels and say, are you prepared to live with this in order to get this deal through, to get brexit to happen, according to the pre—agreed timetable? but it looks as though at the moment, even that will not succeed. there are too many of her own politicians who are sceptical, who still believe that in terms of international law, britain will effectively be kept far too close to eu regulations after we leave the eu, unless the northern ireland backstop

is struck out or there are guarantees from brussels. you will see a range of things coming forward in the next 2a hours to try to get this deal either over the line or diminish the size of the defeat, but so far, from where we're looking tonight and from talking to members of parliament, it looks as though the prime minister is on course for a defeat and potentially, possibly, a challenge to her government by the opposition. analysis there from our correspondent iain watson in westminster. so what are people outside westminster who voted in the referendum making of it all? mark easton has been to york, in the north of england, which voted to remain, to gauge views there. when politics got to hostile in london, charles i moved his court here to york in 1642. the current parliamentary deadlock and public divisions over brexit are said to have echoes of the national schism that led to civil war. so we've come to the merchants hall, a building that has hosted debate in the city for centuries, and asked eight local people, four who voted to leave, four to remain, for a one—word description of the state

of british politics. confused. appalling. messy. confused. childish. unsettled, confusing. confused. it's an absolute shambles, nobody knows what they're doing, they're arguing. it makes us look a complete embarrassment, if i'm honest. i totally agree with that, it is an embarrassment to be british, really. these people have been tasked with getting the future of the entire country going forward from now and all they seem to be doing is fighting among themselves and not pulling together. i voted remain, but rather than arguing, just get on with it and crack on. a majority in york voted to remain at the referendum, but passions run deep on both sides. it's as if somebody has opened the box and it's ok to say these awful things because it relates to this, the whole shambles that the country is in because of brexit. i think a lot of people who voted to, maybe, leave thought the immigration would stop, we would open the gates and say "bye, see you later."

where i work, we've got teenagers with those views who don't understand what they're saying. some people have said, if we were to have a second referendum, the reaction of voters who voted to leave could be, could be violent. yeah. i think there would be a lot more tension in the country if there was a second referendum, definitely. yes, i do. definitely. where do we end up? i can personally see it going to another general election at the moment the way it's going because there is so much fighting within parliament. the country is still half and half, thereabouts. either way, it's going to go... a general election will solve nothing. we should go to no deal, in my humble opinion. no deal. i voted leave, i feel i was totally uninformed and if there was a referendum again tomorrow, it may be different. mark easton there, talking to people in york about brexit. and i'll be following that vote live from westminster on tuesday. it all takes place from 1900 gmt, and there will of course be full coverage throughout the day on bbc news. stay with us for that.

from brexit to tennis, and andy murray is out of the australian open after losing a five—set thriller, which could be his final match. the grand slam champion announced on friday that he would retire this year because of a chronic hip problem. there was a standing ovation from the crowd and tributes from fellow players at the end of the game. from melbourne, hywel griffith reports. the beginning of the end, or a finalfarewell? not even andy murray knows if this was his last match. but just in case, he gave everything. initially that wasn't enough, as roberto bautista agut gave him the run—around, but then somehow he fought back, fist—pumping points as if a grand slam was at stake. incredibly he took the next two sets on tie—breaks, until eventually the pain

and his opponent were too much. afterwards he told us he still struggling to decide if major hip surgery is the right route to help him make it to wimbledon. it is difficult because i always wanted to finish playing at wimbledon, if tonight was my last match, like i said, it would be a great way to finish. it was an amazing atmosphere, it was a really good match against a quality opponent. but then yeah, there is a bit of me that... obviously, i love playing. i want to keep playing tennis but i can't do it with the hip i have just now. we wa nt we want you to keep playing tennis. there will be more on today later this a stop rico, did you watch? yes, idid. i this a stop rico, did you watch? yes, i did. i reckon he will last until the end of the year. let's hope so. i'm babita sharma in london. thank you forjoining us, see you

$0011. hello. by the end of this forecast we will be talking about something much colder, but in the short—term it's relatively mild. west or south—westerly winds across the uk. the cold air is behind this cold front and that'll be sinking its way south and eastwards as we go through wednesday and into thursday. but on tuesday, the front is draped across the north of scotland, the heaviest and most persistent of the rain here slowly pulling its way slowly northwards through the day. the south, mainly dry and cloud with drizzle particularly for western hills. a few breaks in the cloud mainly east of high ground, and it's quite a breezy day for tuesday. this is an idea of wind speeds, average wind speeds through the afternoon. but it will mild, temperatures between 9 and 11 celsius. the cloud will be fairly stubborn across much of the uk through tuesday evening and will start to thicken. outbreaks of rain arriving into south—west scotland, northern ireland, sinking its way down into parts of northern england, maybe the far north of wales and parts of south—west england

by dawn on wednesday. further south, mainly dry, still a lot of cloud, still mild. temperatures not much lower than five or six celsius. but as we go through wednesday, this cold front continues to slide its way south and eastwards. as its name suggests, behind it is some colder air. some rain on the front itself, and behind it some showers, which will be wintry of scotland, mainly over higher ground but some of that snow could get down to lower levels as we head down towards the central belt. outbreaks of rain across central and south—east england through the afternoon. behind it, some spells of sunshine. much coldeer feel across scotland, four or five celsius, hanging onto milder conditions across southern south—east england, nine or 10 here. that front finally clears away as we go through into thursday morning. we pick up a brisk north or north—westerly wind, that's going to feed further wintry showers across and that's going to lead to some icy stretches first thing on thursday morning, particularly across scotland and northern england. further south, still having a lot of cloud, and for a time

some milder conditions. but not for long. by thursday, that cold air digs in across the uk. it will feed some wintry showers down across eastern coasts, but for most, some crisp sunshine, but a much colder feel on thursday, temperatures not much higher than six or seven celsius. as we go into friday, under clear skies, a widespread frost across the uk, a really cold start to the day on friday, but for many crisp with some sunshine, however, there is a front to the west, could be just sliding its way eastwards, bringing more cloud, some outbreaks of rain for western fringes, a chance, as it bumps into the cold air, of seeing some snow, but for many, dry with sunshine on friday but feeling much colder. bye— bye. i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story. the british prime minister theresa may has been making a last ditch plea to mps to back her brexit plans. speaking in the house of commons, she urged them to take a second look at the deal, before the vote on tuesday.

a former canadian oil worker has been sentenced to death in china for drug trafficking. robert lloyd schellenberg was originally given 15 years in prison. his sentence was increased to the death penalty on appeal. andy murray's valiant struggle to stay in the australian open has been trending on line. the tennis star bowed out of the tournament, after losing what could be his last professional game. he was beaten by the spanish player, roberto bautista agut who pushed him to five sets, despite being in pain from the hip injury that threatensto end his career. that's all. stay with bbc world news. also making news in the uk: the husband of a british—iranian woman detained in tehran claims she's been asked to spy on the uk in exchange for her freedom.