this is bbc news, the headlines: polling stations have opened in this is bbc news. i'm martin stanford. our top stories: polls open in australia's election — australia's general election, a nalysts a re australia's general election, analysts are predicting x to be the closest in many years with climate prime minister scott morrison change in immigration being issues. is hoping to hang on to thejob, us and canada have scrapped aluminium and steel tariffs imposed against a challenger from the left. just under a year ago. it could pave i'm phil mercer. the way for the ratification of a new north american trade agreement. an attempt by britain's two main opinion polls are suggesting the parties to find a compromise that would break the deadlock of brexit opposition labor party will win the has failed after the main opposition election in australia. 16 million labor party pulled out. it came to voters are having their say. after six weeks of talks with the the us and canada agree to drop tariffs governing conservatives. in the us on steel and aluminium imports, state of missouri has become the after lengthy negotiations opening latest to take steps towards the way for a new trade deal. registry access towards abortion. cross party talks to find the state's republican governor is a compromise on theresa may's brexit deal with the expected to sign a bill which bans european union end in failure. terminations up eight weeks of divisions within the conservative party means the government is negotiating with no authority

or no ability that i can see to actually deliver anything. in particular, we haven't been able to overcome the fact that there isn't a common position in labour about whether they want to deliver brexit or hold a second referendum which could reverse it. was this the world's most famous frown? grumpy cat, the grouchy—looking internet superstar, has died. hello and welcome to bbc news. polls have opened in australia in a general election to choose the country's sixth prime minister, in as many years. a tight race is predicted in the fierce political battleground of its federal politics, with climate change, the economy and immigration among the major issues. a record 96.8% of eligible voters

are enrolled to cast their ballot. voting is compulsory. more than 4 million people have voted early. facing a tough fight to stay in hisjob, is the incumbent prime minister scott morrison of the liberal party. he took over the top job in august 2018, after the party ousted malcolm turnbull mid—term. standing against him is bill shorten of the labor party. he's been opposition leader since 2013. according one of the last polls labor is leading the liberals 51—119. currently, the liberal party holds 58 seats of 150 in the country's lower house. but they're in a coalition partnership with the national party which holds an extra 16 seats. labor currently has 69 seats. they would need 76 seats if they were to form a government. phil mercer is at

a polling station in sydney. many people turned up yet? they certainly have. the volunteers were here at the australia street polling station in the seat of sydney at 5:30am. it is just after 9am and the crowds are pouring in. 4 million australians have already voted. at the end of today 16 million australians would have had their say. what were the big issues for you? i think labour has been stable for six years and i do not like to vote forjust the leader but for the team and there are a lot of good people in the front bench. they would give the aboriginal people a voice in parliament so i do not see what there is not to love. bob hawke died just the other night and i

think that might rally the true believers and i think labour, i hope, mightjust believers and i think labour, i hope, might just get believers and i think labour, i hope, mightjust get in. what about climate change and the economy, these issues. what may sway the elections? the liberal saying it is about the economy whereas labour has been about climate change. the passing of bob hawke reminded us that labour knew how to deal with the economy. a lot of people are also looking at the future of their children and climate change. a bit of nastiness in it. bob hawke, the longest serving labour prime minister really had that common touch. how do you think the current crop of leaders compare to the charisma of the past? morrison is a

good campaignerand charisma of the past? morrison is a good campaigner and has had to do it oi'i good campaigner and has had to do it on his own... scott morrison the prime minister. bill shorten's approval rating have risen because people have got to knowing and he has shown his human side and i think it might turn out to be a good prime minister, i it might turn out to be a good prime minister, lam it might turn out to be a good prime minister, i am hoping. we will know in the next few hours. another perspective here. how are you feeling about the election and what other issues for you? for me it is mainly about making a real change on the climate so we can start making sustainable choices so we can all live in a future where we are equal and safe in our planet. i think that is really important. also giving a voice to people who have not had a voice to people who have not had a voice in the past. we have had a

chance to introduce new ideas. we have just had the hottest summer ever documented in australia. the two major parties have promised action of various degrees on the environment. do you think australia has been too slow in addressing the issue of climate change?” has been too slow in addressing the issue of climate change? i think so. i think we should have been making choices about solar and wind power much sooner so that we are not having to do it so rushed because we have 11 years left to really make a solid choice and ijust think we need to get our act together. solid choice and ijust think we need to get our act togetherlj need to get our act together.” really do. this is the australia street polling station. the seat of sydney. a pretty safe labour territory and as you can see behind me, lots of people turning up now and one of the features of the

australian election, the sausage sizzle. this is the democracy sausage sizzle. this is the democracy sausage which is pretty popular at polling stations up and down the country. a bit of a festival atmosphere here in australia and you have to remember that voting in this country is compulsory so the authorities have to make it easy for people to vote. compulsory voting came in in1924 people to vote. compulsory voting came in in 192a so, when all is said and done, at six o'clock this evening county begins and by this time tomorrow australia should know who its next prime minister will be. on the issue of climate change, as you mention talked a lot about on the campaign, which party is thought to have the stronger offering? of the two major party, analysts would tell you the opposition labor party has a stronger suite of measures for

addressing the climate. the central right prime minister scott morrison is also promising action as well but when you speak to voters, they do say that many of them think the government has been remiss, with an addiction to coal which is a cheap and plentiful in australia and generates the lion share of this country's electricity but you get the sense that, according to voters, the sense that, according to voters, the climate is the number one issue in this election. of course, we have many, in this election. of course, we have any in this election. of course, we have many, many candidates and parties to choose from and also, australians have two votes — one for the house of representatives, the lower chamber of the australian parliament and also the senate and it is also worth noting that the senate ballot paper is a bigger than the ballot booth itself so it has the wingspan of your arms stretched out wide so lots and lots of choices for australians to make today. enjoy the

sizzle and the sausages. the united states and canada have agreed to drop tariffs on steel and aluminium imports imposed just under a year ago. it follows lengthy negotiations and a telephone call on friday between president trump and the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau. it could pave the way for the ratification of a new north american trade agreement. both leaders have been speaking about the deal. we have just reached an agreement with canada and mexico and we will be selling our product into those countries without the imposition of major tariffs. cheering and applause. as you know, canada has spent four years — and we have a great relationship with canada and the prime minister — we have a great relationship but they have been charging at extremely high tariffs

for our agricultural products. obviously the tariffs and counter measures represent a significant barriers to moving forward with a new laughter agreement now we are going to work with the united states. —— going to work with the united states. — — nafta. going to work with the united states. —— nafta. we are optimistic we will be able to move forward in the coming weeks. lawyer and a former canadian foreign affairs minister, peter mackay, says the development provides some clarity on the road to ratifying the new trade agreement. this was a very punitive sanction taken under what was called 232 into the united states around national security and i think, frankly, there was leveraged exercised by the president of the united states and that negotiators so it has lifted effectively today and it will take away some of the uncertainty around

having the us — canada free trade agreement, and mexico as well, ratified but that is not a certainty either. it is still going to require some significant negotiations in the us because of the republicans have lost control of the house of representatives so a lot of political intrigue and dynamics in that united states and we are still a long way from finally realising a replacement dealfor a long way from finally realising a replacement deal for nafta. willoughby in the democrat's interest to dig holes? it is not but the bigger issue is they do not want the bigger issue is they do not want the president to get away in advance of the 2020 presidential election and while there are concerns on all three sides of the border about ways in which we might have tried to improve the deal in certain ways, particularly around labour, agriculture products in the case of

canada, it protection — all of those issues were hopefully ironed out in this new deal but the deal is never done until it is ratified and canada did make significant concessions. what about the mexicans, how soon can they be folded into the deal?” think they are ready to go as well. the aluminium and steel tariffs were significant burdens for them. the concern has been around dumping of steel in north america, particularly from china, and one of the requirements reached today to drop the tariffs was to have a committee that would monitorfor the tariffs was to have a committee that would monitor for impurities to ensure there is complete transparency with the steel coming into the united states is in fact canadian or mexican product. let's get some of the day's other news: sudanese protesters have gathered outside the army's headquarters after clearing roadblocks at the demand of the ruling military. talks to finalise the new body

to govern sudan were suspended on wednesday after demonstrators put up roadblocks. this comes after the ouster of president omar al—bashir last month. international powers including the un have called for an immediate resumption of talks between the two sides. in algeria, protestors have clashed with police in the capital, algiers, during another friday of demonstrations — the 13th in a row. they're demanding the departure of key figures from the regime of the former president abdelaziz bouteflika who was ousted last month. new presidential elections are due to be held injuly although the reuters news agency is reporting that they might be delayed. rohingya refugees in bangladesh have been issued with their first ever identity cards. more than a quarter million people have been registered by the un which says the cards will safeguard the rights of the refugees when they return to myanmar. rohingya muslims are a minority in rakhine who are denied myanmar citizenship and face

severe restrictions. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why the birth of these raven chicks is good news for the future of the tower of london. this morning the plane carrying mr gundy arrived in delhi. they solemnly witnessed his final return from the political battlefield. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage and in doing so favour of gay marriage and in doing so approved the change on a national referendum. it was a remarkable climate to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a p0p extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. suddenly the police are to gassing the crowd. we do not know why. said to be in good spirit

but a little apprehensive. and the last hour, east timor has become the world ‘s newest nation. the challenges i had are daunting but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the polls open in australia, after a close—run election contest where climate policy became the defining campaign issue. the us and canada agree to drop tariffs on steel and aluminium imports after lengthy negotiations. in the uk, prime minister theresa may and opposition leaderjeremy corbyn blaming divisions on each other‘s parties for the breakdown in talks to end the deadlock over brexit. jeremy corbyn pulled the plug on friday after six weeks of

discussions between his labor party and the conservatives. odd to see them talking at all about a brexit compromise, but still bad news for mrs may when they broke down. these talks have now reached what i believe to be a natural conclusion. the prime minister has announced the date she's leaving, there have been increasing noises offstage by conservative cabinet ministers and others who don't agree with much of the talks, or any of the discussion we're holding, so we are concluding the talks. so, no comfort here for a prime minister on borrowed time. helping her was hardly mr corbyn‘s priority anyway. what a time to promote the tories‘ faltering euro election campaign. no cheering crowds, not many there in bristol for her stock message. next thursday, we will be holding european elections. the conservative party didn't want to be fighting these. we wanted to be out of the european union. indeed, if parliament had backed our brexit deal, we could already have left the eu. and the breakdown of brexit talks?

all labour's fault. we haven't been able to overcome the fact that there isn't a common position in labour about whether they want to deliver brexit or hold a second referendum, which could reverse it. six weeks these talks went on. some concessions, but labour is split on a new referendum and the tories on sharing eu customs rules. there may soon be commons votes on brexit options and an attempt to pass legislation to leave. i think it's important that parliament takes a decision and i think that means every mp thinking in their conscience that perhaps they're going to have to accept their second or third preference, to find the right compromise. but the pressure is intense. those tories who are campaigning at all — and many aren't bothering — expect a bad euro election night next thursday. reporter: do you think you're too divisive a character to be tory leader...?

borisjohnson has now declared himself a candidate to succeed mrs may. other potential runners would also like to see brexit delivered first. reporter: do you want the top job, mr gove? hello, good morning. i think the most important thing that we all need to do is to focus on the fact that the government is bringing forward the withdrawal agreement bill, which will allow us to leave the european union. if theresa may's last effort to get brexit passed here ends in failure, the next tory leader may well take office having promised a sharper break from the eu. the ca rd—carrying conservatives who will choose britain's next prime minister are by and large brexiteers. senior conservatives are convinced that the chances of britain leaving with no deal are as high now as they've ever been. parliament might oppose that, but constitutional experts say only the government could at a single stroke stop it happening. the us state of missouri is the latest to pass strict anti—abortion legislation. doctors could face up to 15 years in prison for performing

the procedure, after eight weeks of pregnancy. the bill was overwhelmingly approved by the republican—led legislature, but sparked fierce criticism from democrats who say an abortion is a woman's "constitutional right". chris buckler is watching events from washington. we spend so much time talking about how divided american politics are. i don't think there is any issue which is more divisive and emotive than abortion. certainly when you take a look at republicans and president john's based support, there are many evangelical christians among them who feel very strongly about this law should be challenged and changed. —— president donald trump's base support. they want to see it in the supreme court, partly because the supreme court, partly because the supreme court has changed. new justices have been appointed by president trump and there is now a conservative majority in the court. they believe they can potentially change the law which offers abortion to women right across america. there isa to women right across america. there is a backlash as well, coming from

others. they feel very strongly that some effort should be taken to challenge the states. in georgia, there are television film production companies which have said they will not film there. that industry is very important to this day. this weekend there is a music festival taking place in alabama and there are taking place in alabama and there a re calls taking place in alabama and there are calls for a boycott. it gives you a sense there is a real battle taking place between conservatives and liberals which will feed into 2020. iam not and liberals which will feed into 2020. i am not saying it will be settled in 2020, but you can be sure that in that election it will be discussed and strongly debated. there's an ancient legend dating back to england's king charles ii that if the ravens that live at the tower of london ever leave the tower will crumble, and the kingdom will fall. so it's come as something of a relief that, for the first time in 30 years, the tower has welcomed four new arrivals. chris skaife, whose been the ravenmaster at the tower of london for 13 years, says he feels "like a proud father".

early morning, late february, i went around to the enclosure and they we re around to the enclosure and they were being quite protective. i wondered why. within 2a hours they had built this huge nest, and that is when i realised something spectacular was going to happen. we had a vision to produce ravens for ourselves for the future and so we needed to find a quiet area. i identified a little area in the moat where the ravens could do the natural thing. and luckily, we got four beautiful, magnificent checks out of it. i was totally surprised, to be honest. i didn't know. i was like, they are there! i saw the female raven starting to sit on the nest and i realised we had chicks. i can see how many we had, or how many eggs, because we hadn't prepared, we

didn't have any cameras or anything like that, because we didn't think they were going to breed. they did, and it is fantastic. we had not had and it is fantastic. we had not had a breeding ravens here at the tower of london for nearly 30 years. the last one was born in 1989, and it was called the ronald reagan. —— ronald raven. i feel like was called the ronald reagan. —— ronald raven. ifeel like a proud dad. somebody called me a proud granddad today, which i'm not too happy about, actually. i think puppy is to bite my ankle. the famous feline, grumpy cat, who became an internet sensation and sparked thousands of memes, has died in arizona. photos of the cat's permanent scoul went viral, leading to television appearances, lucrative advertising deals and millions of adoring fans. tiffany werthamar reports. #no # no maria, turn yourface to # no maria, turn your face to the

moonlight... she was born tartar sauce but became an online phenomenon as grumpy cat, practically overnight, when photos went viral in 2012. the expression makes you smile, you can't be grumpy. i try to have a grumpy face, but you can't. on friday her owners shared the sad news to grumpy cat's 4 million social media followers. some days are grumpy than others, they wrote. grumpy cat encountered complications from a urinary tract infection that became too tough for her to overcome. she was seven years old. the news has prompted grumpy cat's fans to remember her life, and maybe there were nine of them, because her success was extraordinary. aside from the thousands of online jokes, grumpy cat travelled the world. there was merchandise, sponsorship, book deals, celebrity meet and greets. she has even been immortalised as a waxwork figure at madame tussauds in san francisco. she was thrilled, as

you can see. she is still thrilled. there was also a cameo appearance on the bbc. who is this? this isn't my account. this is grumpy cat. they are like grumpy cat. her owners say that grumpy‘s unique facial expression is due to a form of dwarfism, but it has made her one of the richest animals in history. grumpy cat's network is estimated to be in the millions of dollars. but now the internet is saying goodbye toa now the internet is saying goodbye to a cat that taught us it is ok to be grumpy sometimes. 0k, ok, well, that is farewell to grumpy cat. a whole new future for australia, and who knows? maybe a new government and a new leader. the voting is under way in the national poll and we will take you to some pictures coming in from sydney. still relatively early in the

morning, 9:30 a.m., ten o'clock or thereabouts, in most of these territories. it is mandatory to vote, of course, so australians tend to get out and go do it so there saturdays are not to interrupt that by this. two parties in contention to do the leadership of government. one of them is the liberal party, current prime minister scott morrison. but it is the labor party with bill shorten as leader. in the final days of the campaign, the opposition has got ahead with a narrow lead in the opinion polls. we say the narrow lead, the feverish atmosphere of a national election like this, probably too close to call. so it is all the seats in a 151 seat house of representatives up forgrabs, and 151 seat house of representatives up for grabs, and half the upper house, the senate, as well. under the australian voting system you get a piece of paper literally as long as your arm piece of paper literally as long as yourarm and a piece of paper literally as long as your arm and a bit, if you are voting in the senate. that is the way the voting is going in australia. full details of that in

the next ten or 12 hours or so, we should have some guide as to how thatis should have some guide as to how that is going. tanks were watching bbc news. there hello. much of this week has been gloriously sunny, dry and reasonably warm. things turned a bit cloudier and cooler. this was a picture taken by one of our weather watches in kent. a bit of sunshine across scotland. through the course of the weekend the sunshine will be in shorter supply, and on settlement shall restore it. some sunny spells, upper —— especially across parts of the uk. scotland will see the bulk of the rain on saturday morning because we have this fairly weak front coming and which is introducing a lot of low cloud, mist and fog as well. outbreaks of rain across northern scotland. a soggy start to saturday here was rain affecting parts of northern ireland.

a future was popping up for northern england. further south, dry a future was popping up for northern england. furthersouth, dry weather through the morning, one or two of those showers just bubbling up in the afternoon. i don't think anywhere will be immunity catching a passing shower the afternoon. it will be hit and miss, some sunshine in between. temperatures in the south likely to hit 19 also. further north, equal the picture, just 13 or 14 north, equal the picture, just 13 or 1a celsius. a different feeling in scotla nd 1a celsius. a different feeling in scotland compared to what we have seenin scotland compared to what we have seen in the past few days. moving through into the early hours of sunday, quite a lot of cloud in general across the country, especially in the north and patchy outbreaks of rain to scotland and northern ireland. drier further south and we are looking at a frost free night with temperatures generally holding up into mid—single figures. this is how we are heading into the second half of the weekend on sunday. a big area of low pressure a cross on sunday. a big area of low pressure across central parts of europe. a bit in an easterly flow bringing that cloud off the north sea to parts of eastern scotland. eastern england could see one or two showers popping up, and some patchy rain moving into western scotland and northern ireland. in the afternoon, more of the show was

bubbling up. you will really notice that mix of sunny spells, scattered blustery showers, one or two on the heavy side, could be happy they are —— heavy hail and the rumble of thunder. a bit warmer, 20 degrees or so the top temperature by the time we get to sunday. heading into the new working week, not a great change in the pressure set up. a bit of a slack flow, things not moving very quickly, patchy cloud around, some sunshine through the day on monday, and a lot of dry weather in the morning but again, it will be the afternoon with the daytime heating where we see those showers developing, particularly for eastern scotla nd developing, particularly for eastern scotland and eastern england during the day on monday. temperatures not too bad. the outlook is a fairly settled one through much of the week ahead. there will be some showers around and spells of sunshine as well. temperatures 15—20. goodbye for now. in the morning