hello there. this is bbc news. the this is bbc news. i'm lukewsa burak. the headlines at 6pm. the chancellor insists the government has no red lines in talks over brexit. headlines... the chancellor insists but labour says it's disappointed the government has "no red lines" in talks over brexit. but labour says it's "disappointed" that no compromise has been offered. that no compromise had been offered. —— waiting to see some movement from the key priority is to avoid the prime minister. crashing out of the eu with the key priority is to avoid crashing out with the eu with no deal, because of the disruption that would mean to industry and to the supply chains, and we are determined to make sure there's no crashing out without a deal. the defence secretary expresses horror at an alleged sexual assault of a 17—year—old female recruit by six male soldiers and orders an investigation. building developer persimmon has announced an independent review into its housing quality, after increasing concerns about the standard of its new builds. what we want? human rights! human

rights protests at london dorchester hotel owned by brunei, where a new law has made gay sex punishable by stoning to death. tiger roll seals back to nationals, first horse to do so back to nationals, first horse to do so since red rum in 197a. good evening. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, says he's waiting to see the governement‘s brexit red lines move, after talks this week with the conservatives, aimed at trying to end the political brexit deadlock. it comes as the eu considers a request from the uk to delay brexit until the end ofjune. as the parliamentary stalemate

continues. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, explained to me — how we got to this point. what we've seen over the last day or so is a bit of a standoff, i think, between the government and labour, after after two days of talks, which have produced frankly, very little, they broke up yesterday, with statements from both sides. labour saying they were disappointed at the governments apparent unwillingness to compromise, and change the detail of the political declaration, which sets out our future relationship with the eu. and the government saying they had put forward to serious proposals, and in fact they were open to pursuing changes to the political declaration. so it was a bit of a shrug shoulders all around frankly. today though, this morning, the chancellor who we will hear from in a second, struck an upbeat tone about these talks. this afternoon the labour leader jeremy corbyn though sounding far more circumspect, speaking out and about in plymouth, campaigning for the local elections

there, saying that he was yet to see any movement from the government. waiting to see the redlines move, and we have had two meetings this week, one with the prime minister, and a further meeting held with david linden and the team, and that was more of a technical discussion about the nature of the future relations agreement as well as with the withdrawal agreement, which has many many problems, and many flaws in it, as we've pointed out in parliament. the key priority is to avoid crashing out of the eu with no deal, because of disruption that would mean to industry, and the supply chains. so we're determined to make sure there's no crashing sure there's no crashing out without a deal, so next week, something will have to happen in parliament, and obviously labour will be our part. so i think in summary, that's jeremy corbyn saying theresa may, it's your move, and that is what labour sources are making clear, they feel it's now down to the government to come forward with the proposal, or a suggestion that they are willing to make changes to a deal that is already being agreed.

on the government side, they seem to see things very differently, the chancellor philip hammond to speaking in a meeting of eu finance ministers in bucharest this morning, saying we don't have any redlines, and we're willing to listen, and consider ideas. so a very different tone, let's have a listen to what he had to say. the conversations with the labour party or continuing, they were continuing last night, we are expecting to exchange some more text with the labour party today, so this is an ongoing process, and i'm optimistic that we will reach some form of agreement later. now, no talks have happened today, and as i things stand, there is nothing scheduled, but after two days, very little sign of progress, time is short for the government to come to an agreement, if they are going to do that, because that summit of eu leaders is in the diary for theresa may on wednesday, she's asked for an extension, shall have to demonstrate either some sort of clear progress in these discussions, if not the final agreement, i think. or the fact that parliament is going to vote on a series of outcomes,

if these talks come to nothing, that there is a majority in parliament for some kind of alternative to brexit, to the deal that she's already agreed with the eu. i mean the eu, speaking of the eu, we're starting to see over this weekend, even more signs of frustration coming from the 27. yes, i think it's fair to say that on the whole, there is a willingness to offer the uk some kind of an extension. it's really down to the eu leaders to decide how long that will be, and on what basis. i mean we've seen just in the last day or so, france saying that if the uk doesn't put forward a clear, credible, political, solution to this crisis, that they have to assume that the uk will leave without a deal. now what do they mean by that? do they mean an agreement signed and sealed with labour, to he mean parliament having back something, or do theyjust mean an indication that something would get through in the next few weeks? but then you have the irish taoiseach, saying that it's not the eu's intention,

and it will be better —— bad for the eu to leave without a deal. so there's going to be i think, differing opinions among the 27 member countries when they meet next week, but as for the length in terms of any extension, theresa may will have to take what she can get. i was jonathan i wasjonathan blake speaking to me earlier. the defence secretary has ordered an investigation in the military, after it emerged that six soldiers were arrested following an allegation of sexual assault. it's claimed a teenage female recruit was assaulted by male colleagues. the head of the army, general sir mark carleton—smith, said the allegations were being taken very seriously. simonjones reports. a damaging week for the army. in the words of its leader, general sir mark carleton—smith. responding to allegations of a sexual assault by troops. the sun newspaper says a female soldier woke to find a group of men standing over her. they had reportedly been drinking. she screamed. six men from an army sports club have been arrested.

the chair of the general staff in a message to his troops said, where serious allegations are proven against members of the army, including allegations of a violent or sexual nature, the defence secretary gavan williamson wrote on twitter, horrified to hear of these allegations. there is no place for these kind of actions in the military and if true, those involved must be dealt with. i have commissioned a review into inappropriate behaviour in the military with a view to stamping it out. that review will also look at this footage. in an unrelated incident, soldiers in afghanistan filmed apparently using an image of the labour leaderjeremy corbyn for target practice. condemned by the mod as totally u na cce pta ble. the head of the army says each and every soldier needs to do better to take pride in what the military represents. simon jones, bbc news.

the developer persimmon has announced an independent review into the quality of its housing, after increasing concerns about the standard of its new builds. but the property advice group the homeowners alliance, has told the bbc that issues with new homes aren't limited to just one developer. here's our consumer affairs correspondent, colletta smith. this was supposed to be justin's dream home. door bell rings. he'd saved up for a new build... good morning. we've got zero insulation. ..thinking he wouldn't need to do any work to it. we've moved out twice. every ceiling in the entire property has been removed. justin bought his house from one of the biggest developers, taylor wimpey, under the help to buy scheme. it's well below standard, and trying to negotiate with the builders has been

an endless trauma from day one. insulation issues, damp issues, cold—bridging issues. a couple of doors up, lynn lives in an identical home with her partner and three daughters. this is not isolated to this particular property or this estate. it's got to be national. the developer taylor wimpey say they sincerely apologise to justin and lynn and have taken action to put things right. more generally, they say... at this solicitors‘, timothy takes new calls nearly every day from people battling against a host of different developers right across the country. he thinks the problems with new builds are down to lack of skills in the workforce. people are making mistakes, potentially because they don't realise the significance of what they're doing due to a lack of training, a lack of experience and a lack of supervision overall. developers are under pressure to build lots of homes, and quickly. on top of that, every building company i've spoken to in recent

years have told me that it's a nightmare trying to get hold of enough staff with the right level of skill. what new—build homeowners are now living with is the consequences of that. taylor wimpey say, last year, they increased the number of workers they hire directly by nearly 30%. the government say they're trying to tackle the issue by creating a new homes ombudsman and spending more on new construction training hubs. but there are now calls for a new law to let owners hang onto some of their final payment for a couple of years. coletta smith, bbc news, in norwich. well a little earlier i asked the housing minister, kit malthouse, what he thinks about persimmon‘s announcement. first of all, i obviously welcome this news from persimmon, as a constituency mp, i've dealt with a significant number of problems with persimmon developments in my patch. and this comes off the back of them also being the first large household to introduce the idea

of a retention, an amount of money that homeowners retain at the end, you know, a few thousand pounds to deal with any snags. gives them an incentive, if you like, to come back and do the work. so it's critical that we get the quality rate, and we are spending significant amounts of money on infrastructure across the board. whether it's roads, schools, hospitals, whatever it might be, and we are writing significant checks to local authorities across the country, who are showing housing ambition, and need infrastructure first. we've written carlisle, exeter, we've announced intramural come across the country to make sure we get it right. but that's not necessarily going to solve this quality problem, and fundamentally what we want to try and do is give new homeowners significant legal redress against developers who produce stability products, and so we are legislating to bring in a statutory new homes ombudsmen shortly, which will be somewhere for homeowners to go if they are unable to get the result they need from the person

who built their home. and what power would that home ombudsman have? like other people across the piece, they would have the power to compel developers, effectively, to put in an agreed set of rectification in a home. now what i've generally found, in my own experience, and i am seeing a significant amount of house building my own constituency, is that most developers do eventually come and rectify problems, but it's a helluva job to get them to come and do it in time, it can be pulling tooth for a lot of people, very stressful. often, a lot of people give up and just pay and have the work done themselves. and that's simply not acceptable. particularly given, as you well know, we have a very significant and ambitious housing target in this country. i've got to get to something like 300,000 homes a year by the mid—20 20s, and if we are going to see that huge volume of new homes achieved, these buildings have to be of the highest quality we can manage. alongside that of course, the building regulation system

also has a part to play, and we are starting now on a major revision of the system of building regulation, both the regulations themselves, but also how inspectors operate, and what, if you like, what discipline there is in the system to make sure that those are adhering to regulations, and we hope in time it will add up to a significant increase in quality. i was the housing minister from mulhouse there. a woman from kent, who imported medicinal cannabis into the uk from the netherlands, for her daughter, knowing it was illegal to do so, has had it confiscated by officials at southend airport. she says it was for her daughter, and knows it's illegal to be bringing it into the country, emma appleby paid a pharmacy in the hague, 4000 pounds for a three month supply of the medicine, for her daughter teagan, who has a rare form of epilepsy that leads to hundreds of seizures every day. jon hunt reports from southend airport. mrs appleby purchased a three—month supply of medicinal cannabis at a pharmacy in the hague yesterday for her daughter teagan. it cost her the equivalent of £4,000

— money raised through crowdfunding. as she prepared to board her plane back to the uk, she knew the home office had threatened to confiscate it. nervous, obviously. but ready. see what happens. if they take it i will fight to get it back. mrs appleby says she was forced to make this trip because doctors in the uk, while legally able to prescribe medicinal cannabis, are generally refusing to do so because of a lack of evidence. our general position is we practise evidence—based medicine, so we are interested in other cannabis—based medicines as to whether they may be helpful. but we really have to acquire the evidence that they are effective and safe. so our advice would be, until we get that evidence, that we would not prescribe them. on arrival at southend, mrs appleby and her family were met by border force officers who interviewed them and confiscated the drugs. absolutely gutted. they just took everything. they asked me at border control how

long i was away for and i thought they are asking questions because someone has notified them. they asked if i had anything to declare. there were loads of them waiting so i knew if i said no, i would get myself in deeper, and ijust said yes. the government said new guidance for doctors will be available in the autumn, and it is encouraging further clinical research. john hunt, bbc news, south end airport. it's a court of past six, time for the headlines here at bbc news. the chancellor insists the government has "no red lines" in talks over brexit. but labour says it's "disappointed" that no compromise had been offered. the defence secretary expresses horror at an alleged sexual assault of a 17—year—old female recruit by six male soldiers, and orders an investigation. the developer persimmon has announced an independent review into its housing quality, after increasing concerns about the standard of its new builds.

hundreds of people are protesting in london against brunei's strict new laws on homosexuality. the demonstrators, led by activist, peter tatchell, have been gathering outside the dorchester hotel in central london, which is owned by the brunei investment agency. brunei has increased the punishment for sex between gay men to stoning to death, while lesbian sex will be punished by a0 lashes or ten years in jail. our reporter, jon ironmonger, asked mr tatchell to explain why the campaigners chose to protest outside the dorchester hotel. our beef is not with the dorchester and its staff, our beef is with the sultan, and we urge the british government to suspend diplomatic economic and military ties with that regime, and we also appeal to the queen to stop her close contact with

the sultan. she and the sultan have been very, very closely allied for many years, even though he was a dictator way back, i think that's quite wrong, the estate should reflect human rights values of our country, and not collude with dictators like the sultan. country, and not collude with dictators like the sultanlj country, and not collude with dictators like the sultan. i was just told you there peter, and we are going to take another look back at the crowd actually, because i think in the past few moments you can have a look yourself as well, it looks like the protesters have managed to jump over the looks like the protesters have managed tojump over the railings, and crowd around the front of the hotel. i'm not sure if this is an attempt to actually get inside. peter, will bring you back in at this point. tell me, were you aware that they were going to try to get inside the hotel? the plan was for a peaceful protest from a think it's still peaceful, but they haven't gone inside the barriers. which i should say are not normally there, but our messages that the whole world, including the

commonwealth of brunei in the past, must take a stand, and it's reg retta ble must take a stand, and it's regrettable that brunei has not yet been suspended from the commonwealth, even though it signed the commonwealth charter, which pledges to uphold universal human rights. way back the foreign office has at its had assurances from brunei that these laws, these new laws will work in conjunction with common law, and actually the risk of them being enforced is low, is that not good enough for you? the very fa ct not good enough for you? the very fact that these laws have been introduced strikes terror into the hearts of lg bt introduced strikes terror into the hearts of lgbt pupil in brunei, they will now live in fear of the policeman is not on their door in the middle of the night, to be dragged off to a police style, taken to court, convicted, and be at risk of stoning to death. so these assurances are not worth the paper they're written on. peter tactual speaking to our reporterjohn ironmongers earlier. gkn aerospace has announced it will close it's kings norton factory in 2021 —

which means around 170 people will lose theirjobs. gkn was bought by the melrose group in a hostile takeover last year. a statement from gkn says it has regrettably concluded its site in kings norton did not have a sustainable future — but unite union said the closure decision flew in the face of assurances given at the time of the takeover. our business correspondent rob young has been following the story. the history is that, a year ago, melrose industry, which specialises in buying poor performing companies and turning them around bought gkn, an old british engineering company, for £8 billion against huge opposition. to try to make this deal go ahead, melrose entered into a series of undertakings with the government to reassure mps and unions and one of those promises made was it would not sell the aerospace part of gkn for five years.

now millions of workers will see a bigger chunk of their wages automatically diverted into a pension, starting with their next pay packet. from today, the minumum contribution rate goes up from 3% of earnings to 5%. employers and the government will also pay more. simon gompertz has the details this is a tale of two hairdressers. one, chloe, full—time and ready to have 5% clipped off her wage for her work pension after today's increase. i just think that a little bit of money that i don't see, you know, it goes straight out of my wages before i even see it, and ijust think, well, for the future you may need it. cause you won't be working. and you'll need to top up for your old age and enjoy doing things as you get older. and this is taneika, who's been blown out of the pension scheme after having a baby and coming back part—time. pensions are tricky for new parents to afford. i think once you've a baby you put kind of it to the side

and that's how it is. you don't really have much say. it's like you've had a baby, you don't want to do this, you are on a lower wage, and that's it. and then there's a danger you get a lower pension. yes. it's notjust the cost. employers aren't obliged to sign up people like taneika, who earn less than £10,000 a year. to be fair, it's a challenge to the boss as well. the business has to contribute a top up, which has gone up to 3% of pay. for the majority of small businesses it is an onerous burden that's just going to get worse and worse and worse. and i think something like 70% of people work for a small business in this country, so it'll have an impact on the employment of whether people will actually take people on. right now the challenge for savers like chloe how to afford today's higher pension payments. the government says it's letting us earn more before income tax kicks in and raising minimum wages and that should help. simon gompertz, bbc news.

the aircraft manufacturer boeing says it's temporarily reducing production of 8737 airliner after two crashes. production will be cut from 52 planes a month to 42, while the firm works on changes to its max variant. it was involved in both crashes. the max 737 is currently grounded, after preliminary findings suggested it's anti—stall system may have been at fault. the demostrations are taking place just days after france's constitutional council struck down a measure that for another weekend of antigovernment rallies. the demonstrations are taking place just days after france's constitutional council struck down a measure that would have let authorities ban certain individuals from protesting, a key element of the government's plan to crack down on violence at "yellow vest" demonstrations. algeria's president abdelaziz bouteflika has stepped down after 20 years in charge, but the protesters who forced his

resignation say it's not enough. they continue to fill the streets of algiers, demanding an end to the regime that stood behind him. the mood among demonstrators is positive but the country's path ahead is still unclear. sally nabil reports. the long—time leader has resigned, but algerians continue to protest. it's the seventh week in they take to the streets. they say abdelaziz bouteflika has gone, but the regime is still in place. they accuse the ruling elite of corruption and repression, and they want to dismantle the entire system. the mood on the street is hopeful, and expectations are high. but underneath, there is a lot of anticipation for how to bring about a transition towards democracy.

translation: we are all united here, what we need is change, absolute change. translation: we want the entire regime to leave. not just the president. for us, they are all the same. they're all corrupt. the youth have been the driving force behind this protest. they have been emboldened by the success in unseating a president who ruled this country for 20 years. they're sending a clear message here. they want a new phase with new faces. senate chief, abdelkader bensalah, a long—time bouteflika ally, is now acting president. and the constitution has set the path for the conditional period. the current political system should remain in place for 90 days, until new elections are held.

but some of the protest leaders here disagree with this plan. opposition figures like mr mustafa bouchachi believe the country needs a political solution, not a constitutional one. translation: the transitional period must see a caretaker president of those who haven't been part of the system in the past 20 years. the other thing we need is a national unity government of technocrats, who don't belong to any party. but there are fears algeria might fall into chaos if these masses fail to agree on who to leave the country during the transition. for now, the streets are full of enthusiasm and positive energy. but there's also a state of uncertainty looming on the horizon.

would stay in the north of africa, there has been widespread condemnation... of tripoli. security council and the g—seven group of countries have criticised the attempt by the self—described libyan national army to take control of the country's capital from the internationally recognised unity government. un troops in tripoli have been placed on high alert. new york's philharmonic orchestra has down the years, performed works from some of the greatest composers of all time. we're talking about the likes of beethoven, mozart and bach. well — two new names can be added to that illustrious list, but these composers are putting youth before experience, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. this piece of work is called rising.

and the singer is 11—year—old, paloma donal chess gang, this isn't her first appearance with the new york philharmonic. she's practically a veteran these days. but this time she also composed the song, every lyric, and every note. applause you know how it is, you wait ages for a young musical prodigy, and then two come along at once. this is mack stocker, also 11 years old, and he has a composition of his own. both children are part of the new york philharmonic‘s very young composers programme. open to children between the ages of 10—12, itaims to children between the ages of 10—12, it aims to promote talent, and instill a love of music. every child in this room has, and will create at least three or four pieces during the course of this. unedited, the child writes every

note, so we get an actual voice of the child. of course the prospect of seeing divorce on stage, in front of a full house, can be pretty daunting. full orchestra, one month, first time ever, never done this before. new york philharmonic, playing the piece, you have so many different emotions in your head. after the performances, the applause, quite the experience for such a young talent. it's incredible, just to have my composition here, and have me on stage singing. it's amazing. and after hugs from the family, one last question. will you keep composing you think? yes. that's pretty much a given. to moment, bbc news. how old does that make you feel? whether time now with darren bett

hello there. it's been a much warmer day today across northern ireland, wales, and western parts of england in the sunshine. further east though, quite chilly underneath all that cloud, and across scotland we had cloud and open exit rain. —— oh breaks of rain. that's pushing its way east to west. it should become a little bit drier across scotland overnight, still some pockets of rain and drizzle. maybe a few spots of rain from this card pushing its way in from the north sea, and a few showers just clipping the far southwest. it shouldn't be as cold as last night in scotland, too much cloud around, and temperatures typically will be 6—7d, we start the second half of the weekend fairly cloudy. still some drizzle around in scotland, particularly in the morning, and we should see some brightening and some sunshine developing elsewhere. we're also going to introduce a few heavy showers, pushing into eastern parts of the uk, heading the midlands. a small risk of a thunderstorm as well. these are the temperatures, but warmer across much of england and wales, 15—17d, still chilly 00:29:52,982 --> 2147483051:51:41,206 for much of scotland, 2147483051:51:41,206 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 and northeast england.