hello. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: the man accused of the mass killings at two mosques in new zealand has appeared in court. the man accused of a mass shooting he's been ordered to at two mosques in new zealand last undergo psychiatric tests. month has been ordered to undergo psychiatric testing by a judge to boeing says it will take all determine if he is fit to stand necessary steps to make its aircraft trial. boeing says it will do safe, after a preliminary investigation into the ethiopian airlines crash. everything needed to regain people's as anti—government protests continue trust after two fatal crashes of the in sudan, we meet some of the women at the forefront, who are fighting boeing 737 max eight aircraft. that for a different future. is after the report into last and renewed fears for month's ethiopian airlines crush australia's great barrier reef. experts say the number of baby coral found that the crew were not able to has plunged dramatically due to bleaching. control the plane despite repeatedly following the procedure. the leaders of ireland and germany say they are up of ireland and germany say they are up determined to avoid a no—deal brexit. germany's chancellor angela merkel and the irish prime minister leo varadkar have been holding talks in dublin.

now on bbc news, it's thursday in parliament. hello and welcome to thursday in parliament, as the brexit battle moves to the house of lords. we have the most critical situation this country has faced in decades, and the commons had to do what it did. there has never been an instance of constitutional vandalism of the scale that we are witnessing today. also in this programme — why are women still paid less than men? the pay gap is getting worse, and i'm sure once we start looking at the race pay gap, we will see that that's even more distressing. and the leak mps weren't

allowed to photograph. so the sitting is now suspending, and no photographs, please. all of that to come and more. but first, brexit, obviously. in whitehall, negotiating teams from the government and labour spent hours in intensive talks to try to find a way out of the current deadlock. downing street said the talks were detailed and productive. labour said they were detailed. and both sides plan to meet again. but in the commons, there was unhappiness for the prospect of a further delay to brexit. the conservative party national convention, the meeting of all local party chairmen, made it clear in february that if brexit were to be delayed to take part in the european elections, that would be a betrayal of the referendum result and inflict untold damage on the reputation of the conservative party. isn't that right?

and doesn't he agree? so i agree with my honourable friend that to have european parliamentary elections three years after the country voted to leave will be damaging for our politics as a whole, but he would have also seen in the vote in the house last night, which sought to the option of leaving without a deal off the table, and he'll also be aware that the house has today refused to back an option for a deal of the options that have been put into it. that division saw the commons vote narrowly for a bill that would delay brexit by forcing the prime minister to ask the eu for a longer extension to the article 50 process. despite the opposition of the government, the bill was rushed through the commons in a single day, which meant on thursday, the lords took centre stage. the clock may be ticking on wednesday's emergency brussels summit, but the lords spent most of the day in a prolonged and heated procedural tussle as labour peers spearheaded an attempt to push it through. it may have been approved in a day

by mps, but the lords don't work in the same way. point of order. with great respect, sit down. i must remind the noble lord he is not in the house of commons, we do not have points of order in this house. just an indication of the increasingly testy exchanges that marked a lengthy battle, as eurosceptic peers, largely conservative, tried to prevent the lords considering all the stages of the bill for the commons. the lords operates by conventions, with no time limits on debates. so, opponents of the measure used a series of motions and amendments to try to block or delay its consideration, when labour put forward a plan to get it through in one sitting day. a small group of unelected peers, in an unelected house, firstly try and stop us considering the bill today, and then trying to talk it out. and no doubt, seeking to go

through the night to halt the commons's desire to prevent a no deal. because, of course, they can't win this by the strength of their arguments. theycan‘t win it by the strength of the support, but only by those tactics. those opposed accused labour of playing fast and loose with the constitution, and the house of lords's own rules. unless the government enjoys the initiative of formulating and imposing policy, the country cannot be effectively governed and the relationship between the political authorities and the people will break down, if mps act in mutually inconsistent ways in performing their dual role both as an electoral college to government and exercising oversight in the conduct of public affairs. what a mess we are in, what a mess we are in. this debate can be solved so easily. over the last two and three decades, the house has developed an extremely successful practise

for dealing with urgent bills. we do second reading on one day, and we take the committee stages and the remaining stages either the next day or the day after that. this legislation is needed urgently because, my lords, we do not have a functioning executive. my lords, we have the most critical situation this country has faced in decades, and the commons has had to do what they did. that, my lords, is why it's urgent, surely my lords can see that. parliament, we here at the house of commons and in another place, voted for a referendum, and yet, what do the country see? they see an elite in both houses, an elite in london, blocking the decision democratically made by the electorate in the referendum. shame on you if you would do anything to let that reality happen. we should get on and consider the merits and the demerits of this bill. there are 49 noble lords who have

put their names down for a second reading, including the noble lord, lord forsyth. there will be ample time for the second reading for all of these points to be explored. i suggest we get on and do it. i have served in parliament for 45 years and there has never been an instance of constitutional vandalism of the scale that we are witnessing today. my lords, this collapse of government is unprecedented, and it would be slightly surprising if parliament did not respond to it one finds government. i simply do not believe this is a sensible or desirable process. so on that basis, the government's position is the same as that stated by the secretary of state for exiting the european union

yesterday. we will be opposing this bill again today. time and again, the attempt to draw out the debate were closed down. i think the mood of the house is that we should move as expeditiously as possible through these motions, and so that we can — so that we can consider the substance of the eu withdrawal bill number five as quickly as possible. i therefore urge to the house that the question now be put on this particular motion. is the noble lord moving that the question be now put? he is, indeed. and each time the question was put, the same answer was returned. there have voted, contents 227, not contents, iii.

but the process went on for many hours, with some anticipating many more hours ahead. i look forward to the second reading, i look forward to amendments at committee and reports. i've brought my toothbrush, it won't be the first time that i have spent the night in your lordships's house. many of my colleagues have done the same. and later, peers agreed to postpone the final debates on the bill until monday. you're watching thursday in parliament with me, david cornock. don't forget that if you want to relive all the brexit excitement around westminster, you can find us on the bbc iplayer. parliament was supposed to begin its easter break on thursday, but both the commons and the lords will be sitting as usual this week. you can guess why. but when the leader of the commons announced the parliamentary business, there was no mention of any more big brexit votes. mr speaker, as colleagues will be aware, discussions between the two main parties on the subject

of eu exit are ongoing. subject to the progress of those talks, there is the possibility that business will alter, and i will, of course, update the house as soon as possible on such an eventuality. as this stand, the uk is due to be leaving the european union on friday, april 12. the brexit process has been in shambles. no solution. ministers are resigning, and the prime minister has decided now that she wants to stop speaking klingon to the erg group, and is instead speaking to the opposition. it was a statement at downing street, not to the house, the prime minister failed at meeting the eu

with no deal explicitly. i think this is something that should be commended and we should be proud that we delivered a piece of legislation within a few days that will underpin the seeking of an extension of article 50. most curiously, the take back controllers who didn't want to take back control, and who wanted the government to continue to ignore the decisions of this house. what the prime minister is seeking to do is find a way to leave the european union. but what's extraordinarily apparent to everybody is that so far, the house has not agreed a way in which to leave the european union. it is right that the prime minister continues to seek on that referendum. that is why she is talking to the leader of the opposition. conservative brexiteers are already unhappy with the talks of labour, but also annoyed by the bill to delay brexit. yesterday, there was a conspiracy

to defraud parliament itself, on a huge constitutional issue, we rushed it through in a day, there was no time for proper debate, there wasn't even a third reading. the amendments went down. it was a farce and an abuse of parliament. the article 50 revocation bill contained 58 words, and it went through the entire parliamentary business process, it was consulted widely, and it had five days of debate in this chamber, compared to the one hour of second reading for yesterday's bill. so i agree with him that it was damaging to the way in which we carry out our business in this place. andrea leadsom. more from her later. now, by law, companies, charities, and public sector organisations but 250 employees are marked, must publish their gender pay gap figures every year. the deadline to report

the numbers is eminent, the thousands of companies still have not submitted their statistics. labour asked an urgent question in the commons to see the action the government is taking. the minister is saying that that mass majority of firms are taking action to tackle the gender pay gap. the inequalities and gender pay cannot be tackled overnight. there will not be reduction overnight, but what matters is that they are taking the right action for change in the right direction, and progress is being made. they missed the earlier deadline to submit their figures on the 30th of march, and looking at the numbers, labour criticises the government for not leading by example. in an analysis of this report, it shows the pay gap has not been narrowed, and shockingly, the department of culture and sport reported a 22.9% pay gap compared to just 8.2%

in 2017, and that department we just heard from, the department for exiting the european union, the gender pay gap increased to 14.5% in 2018, and i could go on, but basically, the pay gap is getting worse. i'm sure that once we start looking at the race pay gap, we will see that that's even more distressing. the minister agreed for the public sector to lead the way by example, closer to home. ijoin her in admonishing those who have not yet reported. i think it is disgraceful, not complying with the law and meeting their deadline on saturday last week, and i am sure in that case that after this urgent question, she will be straight on the phone with the chief executive of her own council, brent council, because as of this morning, brent council have not reported. the deadline was saturday,

they had some time to realise the deadline has passed, and they have not yet reported. so, i hope she will be communicating the very strong message she has communicated just now at the dispatch box to her own counsel. the snp feared the current rules on reporting did not go far enough. we need to go further in urging larger companies. the real action needs to be taken to make sure that larger companies are leading the charge. to 150 employees? will she match this commitment? of reporting is now. she will note that the gender pay gap figures, the first year of reporting is now. i am impatient to get this got close, but we do have to acknowledge

that it is going to take time for businesses and employers to close. so i would like to the data to settle for another year or so before we start looking at reducing the number of employers where businesses have to start reporting because we acknowledge that this is an extra bureaucratic responsibility for businesses. we want to make sure the large businesses are doing their best before moving down. but what about the earlier accusation that it has not reported its figures? ijust contacted the ceo of brett council and she informed me that she indeed submitted the gender pay gap report on friday the 29th of march via the government's own portal. i would like you to make an apology to brent council. that was not the information i had when ijust walked into the chamber. it was not on that gender pay gap portal. of course, if she did what she was supposed to, i am just pleased that she is following the law.

equality and human rights commission says that it will take enforcement action against all firms that missed the deadline. labour have called on the prime minister to apologise at emerged after a video emerged, showing soldiers firing atjeremy corbyn poster. the army has said that it's taken the matter extremely seriously as the video shows unacceptable behaviour and falls below expected behaviour. mod has instigated an inquiry into the use of a picture of the opposition leader as target practice. i am sure we all condemn this. could she ask about the investigation is ongoing, can she ensure that the following questions are asked to the secretary of state for defence, what actually will be taken under section 19 of the armed forces act 2006 against the soldiers on the matter of good order and service discipline? will the commanding officers

and those officials higher up the chain in the ministry of defence take responsibility and how will they prevent this from happening further? can they confirm who supplied the image? can they can find that there were no such other photos circulating amongst other armed forces? if the secretary of state would like to apologise to leader of the opposition, that will be welcomed. in the meantime, we would like a response of those questions. that is utterly unacceptable, i condemn it in the strongest times. i would add that it is vital that anybody who leads any type of role in public life is extremely careful of the sorts of images and portrayals that they put forward, and i understand that my right honourable friend, the secretary of state, has written to the shadow secretary of state to respond to the point that she has raised to him. the government has been urged to take action on brunei

on new laws. the country has introduced strict islamic laws about homosexuality, stoning those to death. other crimes, including punishment of death by amputation. —— other crimes, including punishment of theft by amputation. i want to be absolutely clear this government considers it appalling that in the 21st century, people anywhere are still facing potential persecution and discrimination because of who they are and whom they love. he said that deep concerns have been expressed to the government of brunei. we have a close friendship for ongoing reasons with brunei, and i have to say for my own experience, notjust going out to brunei, but when they were here in the country, they regard themselves with good cause as generous, friendly and tolerant people.

and they do not like to see the tarnishing of their own people. notjust here in the uk but across the world. we have an important relationship with brunei and with our security. this has, and never has, prevented us from raising difficult issues sometimes with them. for them to take such a backward step, a step back into the darkness, with these horrific proposals for people to be stoned and whipped to death, just because of their sexuality, it is truly heartbreaking and fundamentally evil. but madame deputy speaker, it is also a clear breach of brunei's obligations under the commonwealth charter. he said there should be immediate consequences for brunei. he said progress on tackling discrimination was being made. we will continue to work with a broad international community in the commonwealth to try to ensure that countries come on board. the best way, rather than making

threats of kicking out countries, expelling them from the commonwealth, a more positive way is to hold them close, recognise their strong connections that are there. i have to admit as a gay man, it comes to no surprise me. we live in a world where members of my own identity can be stoned, hung oi’ my own identity can be stoned, hung or murdered for the cause of their having sex with someone of the same gender, also lesbian women who are to be whipped. but it is notjust with lgbtq issues, they are also directed at children that can be amputated. we need to put our money where our mouth is. the minister was on a trade visit to brunei in august last year and his honourable friend was on a trade trip to brunei at the end of last year. we have open trade talks with this government. can we not bring those to an end as a clear signal that we will put our support for human rightand that we will put our support for human right and our opposition to human right and our opposition to human rights abuses above trade

links, brexit or no brexit? we should never forget that it was not international outcry which defeated apartheid, it was action. and maybe action is what we need here. i accept that there needs to be action on this matter. i am not trying to belittle the seriousness of the situation, the likelihood of any of these punishments being carried out, the code that's been put into play. she makes a perfectly strong point and we will try to work closely with the commonwealth. you may have noticed that as the brexit saga continues, patients tend to rise on both side of the divide. cooper's bill went through the commons after one day on wednesday. one conservative mp said that was a constitutional outrage. it went through in the end by one vote.

that, to me, does not represent the long—term will of the house of commons. someone shouted from 50 to a8, there is a difference between a majority of 1.4 million and one. what i would say to the honourable gentlemen is that the public will not be impressed by this. forgive them father, for they know not what they do. and labourmp and labour mp was so offended by that language he raised it with the leader of the commons full up can we talk about the way we treat each other? in the language we use? can we have a debate about that?

can we bear in mind something offensive said last night by the member of parliament when at this time as we are in lent and approaching easter when he used the phrase forgive them, father, for they do not know what they do. i'm a former parliamentary churchwarden and it was deeply offensive to use that phrase in the context of a debate on brexit. it was offensive andi debate on brexit. it was offensive and i do hope that we can have a discussion about what is and what is not appropriate to say in this house. as i have always said, it is vital that everybody in this place and palace of westminster, treat each other with courtesy and respect. i completely uphold that. as the honourable gentleman will be aware, behaviour in the chamber is a matter for the chair and on the other hand iam sure for the chair and on the other hand i am sure mr speaker will also agree that it

i am sure mr speaker will also agree thatitis i am sure mr speaker will also agree that it is vital everybody is treated with courtesy and respect. that is absolutely fair and reasonable. i did not intervene at the time as the honourable gentleman will know. he felt quite strongly and expressed himself forcefully and i respect that member's sincerity and integrity. i make no bones about that. however moderation in the use of language and the importance of trying to keep the temperature down can hardly be overstated. ...discovering something they can both agree on. you might think parliament has had enough, for one week or even a year, but in the afternoon, mps struggle to be heard over that of rushing water. is that water escaping from in there? some might say... it seems there is a leak... we might ta ke it seems there is a leak... we might take it from there. i am sure many

cabinet meetings have similar difficulties mr deputy speaker. even the deputy speaker had to give up. i need to suspend the setting. the bells will ring two minutes before we restart. the sitting is now suspended and no photographs please. these days it never rains but pours. that is the end of thursday in parliament. i hope you canjoin me on bbc parliament for the week in parliament on friday. hello.

we have had plenty of downpour dodging to do over the last few days and some of what has fallen from the sky has been a little wintry with some cold air in play. the satellite picture shows these lumps of cloud circulating around, right on top of the british isles, bringing those heavy downfalls but the area of low pressure driving the turbulent weather is sidling subtly westwards. further east, something drier and for all of us as the wind switches around to south—easterlies, some milder air being pulled in our direction. this is how it looks in more detail through the day ahead. rain where we are closest to the area of low pressure, across the south—west of england and wales, maybe west midlands, parts of northern ireland parts of rain at time. further north and east we will see more on the way of dry weather and spells of sunshine. with the south—easterly wind, temperatures higher than they have been.

1a degrees in london through the afternoon but at the same time rain splashing its way back into the south—west, parts of wales. more cloud for north—west england and south—west scotland but for into the north and east of scotland some good spells of sunshine with double—digit temperatures. the far north plagued by extra cloud and some spots of rain at times. we go through friday night and we continue to take our area of low pressure a little further west taking the rain with it. more of us will see dry weather but with cloud feeding in from the north sea. most of us frost free on saturday morning, maybe dropping to freezing across some parts of scotland. the weekend will be relatively mild however often cloudy. some sunny breaks here and there equally a little rain where the cloud is at its thickest. easterly wind blowing across the british isles meaning the thickest of the cloud will be focused across eastern and then central areas with some spots of rain maybe the odd shower.

further west, the best chance of seeing sunshine, generally a mild day on saturday but some of these north sea coast will find it chilly with the wind coming in off the sea. on sunday we keep easterly wind, a lot of cloud on the odd spot of drizzle but as we go through the afternoon there is a potential that we will see some sharp showers breaking out through the south—east, may be in two parts of north—west england, driven by some high temperatures. 15— 17 degrees. monday will be another mild day but as we get deeper into next week, the wind shifts around to north—easterlies and the temperature will drop again.