tonight at ten: opposition parties at westminster move to block boris johnson's plan for a mid—october general election. labour, the snp, the lib dems and plaid cymru agreed not to back a snap poll, in case it leads to a no—deal brexit. we are not going to help borisjohnson shutdown parliament and try and drive us out of the european union over an election period — that's not going to happen. boris johnson had wanted an election on october 15th. he called the opposition‘s stands and"extraordinary political mistake." they don't trust the people, they don't want an election — 0k. perhaps it is that they don't think they will win — fine. i'll go to brussels, i'll get a deal. with the house of lords

today approving a bill preventing a no—deal brexit, we'll be asking if borisjohnson‘s tactics have misfired. also tonight... from independence icon to modern day tyrant — zimbabwe's robert mugabe, who led the country for 37 years, has died. the uk ship at the forefront of the relief effort in the bahamas — the islands devastated by hurricane dorian. might now it's launching a vessel loaded with heavy lifting equipment and vehicles to try to get to an area that was badly affected by the hurricane, but hasn't yet been reached at all. and late wickets dent england's hope for the ashes in the fourth test at old trafford. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, britain's dina asher—smith posts a season's best to win the 100m diamond league final in brussels.

good evening. the prime minister's demand for an early general election looks set to be rejected by mps after opposition parties agreed it shouldn't take place until after the eu summit in mid—october. labour, the lib dems, the snp and plaid cymru say they won't back the government's bid for an election declaring they wanted an extension to the brexit date of october 31st to guarantee that the uk won't leave the eu without a deal. mrjohnson, on a visit to scotland, accused them of making an "extraordinary political mistake". it came as the house of lords approved a bill to prevent a no—deal brexit. it will get royal assent and become law on monday. here's our deputy political editorjohn pienaar. much easier, this, than leading the country.

borisjohnson‘s trying to call an election before brexit to stick to his plan, leave on time — deal or no deal. but he's lost control and he wants it back. we must get brexit done, and that's my message to my colleagues. let's come together, get this thing over the line and unite our country, then get on with defeating the labour opposition. you know, when they finally have the guts to have an election. you can almost smell the election coming, but he's having to wait. a spectator, as his opponents try to force him to give up on a no—deal brexit, break his promise — maybe his premiership. you keep mentioning october 31st — you've made it abundantly clear that's your line in the sand. if you can't deliver that, you're going to have to resign, aren't you? that is not a hypothesis i'm willing to contemplate.

i want us to get this thing done. today in the lords, the legislation banning no deal was sent to become law, decreeing there would be no election until brexit‘s delayed. as many of that opinion will say "content". content! to the contrary, "not content". the contents have it. opponents had coordinated their plans. we've agreed that we're not going to give the prime minister the general election he is so desperate for until an extension is secured and the risk of no deal is completely eliminated. the prime minister is on the run. boris is broken. we have an opportunity to bring down boris, to break boris to bring down brexit. and we must take that. i want an election, the snp wants an election, but we will do that when we've made sure that the security of our citizens is determined. and you want to weaken borisjohnson ahead of that election by making him break his word? well, he has gone out with ridiculous promises of leaving the european union on the 31st october. borisjohnson, that's not going to happen. no sight ofjeremy corbyn,

though he gathered opposition leaders by phone. labour's brexit policy is still a work in progress. but the party's joined the alliance that's cornered borisjohnson. and in downing street they're searching for a plan, any plan, that'll somehow help the pm regain some kind of control. he's sworn he'll never seek an extension to brexit, but now a new law could force him to do just that. he won't break his word, he can't break the law. mrjohnson needs to find a way to force an election, or salvage his plan to deliver brexit, maybe without reaching an eu deal first, and in there there is no sign they have found one. are you asking for an extension, mr frost? what chance of a last—minute deal? britain's brexit negotiator david frost has been in brussels today, but the finnish pm, who is chairing the eu, suggested a no—deal brexit could be close. it seems very obvious that we are not yet

in brexit agreement. on with the whites and off to peterhead market — campaigning keeps you busy. haggling is part of the job. £50 per fish. good god, expensive fish! borisjohnson is famously upbeat, but his premiership could still end badly. that wasjohn that was john pienaar that wasjohn pienaar reporting. well, the high court has rejected a legal challenge to borisjohnson‘s decision to suspend parliament. the case was brought by the businesswoman gina miller, who argued the move was "an unlawful abuse of power". she has been allowed to appeal. the case is expected to be heard at the supreme court on september 17th. a similar legal challenge was rejected at edinburgh's court of session earlier this week. that case is also being appealed. the chief constable of west yorkshire police says he's "disappointed" that his officers were used as a "backdrop" to a political speech by borisjohnson on brexit yesterday. john robins said it was the understanding of the force that

any involvement of their officers was "solely" about the government's police recruitment drive, and that they'd had "no prior knowledge" the speech would be broadened to other issues. well, let's go live to downing street tonight and back to our deputy political editor, john pienaar. an extraordinary week in politics by any measure, but have the prime minister's tactics this week misfired? boris johnson's borisjohnson‘s hadda boris johnson's hadda wearing, torrid week by any standards. the teen here still seem bullish enough but i have watched borisjohnson closely for many years —— the team here. he seemed more uncharacteristically subdued today than i have ever seen him certainly and nps publicly and privately have their worries about government strategy. some of them are worried to see those —— some of them want to see those tory members sacked on

wednesday given a reprieve. the move on monday to try again to get an early election is sure to fail and the ideas that have been chewed over inside number ten include for example leaving office, so to come back after an election in a stronger position, or hoping that the eu denies britain the brexit boris johnson is so keen to avoid. on all sides of this argument it is calculated that if there is an election after an extension of brexit the tory party would suffer, would lose brexit support and be more vulnerable to the brexit party. with the country so split, the politics so polarised, no government majority at all, there was never going to be much breathing space for borisjohnson, let going to be much breathing space for boris johnson, let alone going to be much breathing space for borisjohnson, let alone any kind of honeymoon, but i struggle to believe he ever really expected the premiership he has wanted for so long to turn out to be quite so tough fight so quickly. john, many thanks. john pienaar there in downing street. —— quite so quickly.

the former president of zimbabwe, robert mugabe, has died at the age of 95. mr mugabe dominated his country for decades leading the independence war against white minority rule and then himself ruling zimbabwe for 37 years in a regime marked by violence, corruption and economic collapse. he was ousted in a military coup in 2017. our correspondent shingai nyoka's report contains some flashing images. he was once zimbabwe's liberator, leading a war against white minority rule, but by the end of the adulation —— end, the adulation president mugabe once enjoyed was gone. he cemented his power winning overwhelmingly at elections in 1980. as leader of a new nation he set about creating a better country than the one he inherited. there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before oui’ armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the

democratic process of election under the lancaster house agreement. he spent massively on education and infrastructural development, building a thriving black middle class and one of the most literate population is on the continent. but there was a vicious side to the statesman. just three years after taking office mugabe deployed a military unit trained by the north koreans to deal with his political opponents in the south of the country. thousands were murdered. the world turned a blind eye. but as the 1990s ended, the economy was in trouble, facing new political opposition robert mugabe made a fateful step. he gave the go—ahead for the seizure of white owned land, knowing this was fertile ground, fanning the fires of discontent for those who had fought against white minority rule, the so—called vetera ns. minority rule, the so—called veterans. but this land was what the country's wealth was built on. the

white farmers fled. the western world took note. they broke diplomatic ties and imposed economic sanctions. as the economy faltered and the violence grew, the ruthless strea k to and the violence grew, the ruthless streak to cover. former allies condemned him as opponents were tortured. we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow africans, in ourown of violence against fellow africans, in our own country. and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring zimbabwe. in 2008 in the midst of 1,000,000,000% inflation and widespread unemployment, mr mugabe suffered his first electoral defeat, which only lead to more violence in the second round of voting. britain stripped him of his knighthood. mugabe began well. he promised to bring everybody together, but then later he became

corrupt, self—serving, despotic, unleashing violence and terror against anybody who didn't agree with him. today his successor, his former right—hand man, who effectively ousted him in a coup, paid tribute. comrade mugabe leaves a rich legacy on adherence to principle on the collective rights of africa and africans in general, and in particular the rights of the people of zimbabwe... and in particular the rights of the people of zimbabwe. .. and in harare people of zimbabwe. .. and in harare people chose to remember the liberator rather than the tyrant. he was the first president, so to me he deserves a great honour. sad news. a good father. mugabe was all right.

light mike but the truth of his last years in power what it —— light might but the truth of his last years in power was his country was collapsing around him, increasingly frail, he lent on his younger wife, grace who had ambitions of her own, but the rising discontent in the party continued and fuelled the demise. there are reminders of robert mugabe everywhere but on the streets there are no visible signs of mourning. that is because he lived out his last years cut off from political and public life, in an opulent mansion far removed from the struggles of many zimbabweans. many will remember him as a gifted orator and visionary, who liberated zimbabwe, but who turned his back on the high ideals he had originally believed in. studio: robert mugabe, who has died at the age of 95. our world affairs editor john simpson is here. how will historyjudge him?

i think it will be pretty harsh on him, to be honest. he had the enormous success of bringing down through his controlling and leadership qualities the flight government, and that was a huge success , government, and that was a huge success, and then immediately he started talking about reconciliation which was what everybody wanted. but within three years he was attacking his political enemies in matabeleland, savage attacks which we re matabeleland, savage attacks which were led in fact often by a north korean army, and army advisers. altogether, i think, korean army, and army advisers. altogether, ithink, it korean army, and army advisers. altogether, i think, it is fair to say that something like 20,000 people were murdered there. a woman took me to the punishment camp where she had been held and after that she showed me where a large number of bodies had been buried from people who had been victims there. but britain and the west didn't want to

know because they were so pleased at the thought that zimbabwe had been sorted out, they didn't want to hear about these things. and in 1994 robert mugabe was invited to britain ona robert mugabe was invited to britain on a state visit, and he was given a knighthood by the queen, which was actually later revoked, although he was very angry about that. and soon his position was starting to be really challenged, back in zimbabwe, and his way of getting round that, distracting attention, was to stage the attacks on the white farmers, who actually were the mainstay of zimbabwe's who actually were the mainstay of zimba bwe's economy. and who actually were the mainstay of zimbabwe's economy. and so, perhaps not surprisingly, the economy went into a downward spiral, and by, i don't know, about two i suppose, the

whole level of inflation was quite grotesque —— by about 2008 i suppose. i in fact went undercover to zimbabwe hoping that a cap would disguise me, and also we went to a restau ra nt, disguise me, and also we went to a restaurant, a really expensive restau ra nt, restaurant, a really expensive restaurant, where mugabe's people tended to go, and at the end of the meal i left a $10 million tip. so you can see the level to which this had reached. and mugabe responded to that by greater and greater corruption, with his wife grace leading the way, and the economy was starting to go really seriously bad, which was why he was overthrown. so the three things. corruption, economic collapse and all the repression under his rule. i think

it's going to be a bad record. john, many thanks. the prime minister of the bahamas says hurricane dorian has caused "generational devastation" to the islands. it's left behind what officials say could be a "staggering" death toll although there are only 30 confirmed deaths so far, mainly on the abaco islands. the focus now is on the aid effort to help those who survived. aleem maqbool has been aboard the british ship rfa mounts bay and has just sent this report. heading out to try to find more survivors of the hurricane. this military helicopter is from a royal fleet auxiliary ship that tracked right behind dorian as it smashed into the bahamas. last night the helicopter was used to reach people who had been cut off with no communications for five days. we delivered the aid first thing in the morning, this morning, to give them more food, so, basically, we are the emergency response, so to speak.

and the military here was helping some communities even as others close by were still feeling the brunt of the storm. this british ship really has been at the forefront of the international emergency relief effort. right now it is launching a vessel loaded with heavy lifting equipment and vehicles to try to get to an area that was badly affected by the hurricane but hasn't yet been reached at all. and they have often been the first outsiders to get to the most devastated areas. but new affected communities are still being found, like one we headed to, in the north of great abaco island. there, kirk sawyer had just left his house when dorian tore through. sheltering with a friend, debris flying around and huge waves coming in, he thought he wouldn't make it. i told my friend, i said, hey, you've been my friend for almost 40 years. we ride together, we are going to die together here.

and not being able to tell his family outside he's alive has been tough. for them, he had a message. he is alive, he made it through this. so, i'll see you all soon. thank you all for being concerned about me. i love you all. the reality is, many didn't survive. in marsh harbour we saw more bodies being removed, and the signs are the recovery effort will go on for many days yet. i honestly believe abaco is finished. i think abaco will not recover until the next ten years. like, fully recover, because everything is gone, absolutely everything is gone. the uk is distributing shelter and ration packs across affected communities. but even those of them who have been doing this through powerful hurricanes of recent years, told us they'd never seen needs as great as this.

aleem maqbool, bbc news, the abaco islands. less than half of eu citizens currently living in the uk have so far applied for the right to live and work here after brexit. but there are concerns that some people have encountered problems with the scheme, and alex forsyth has been talking to some of those affected. lily bourrier has lived and worked around bristol for more than 15 years. originally from france, she married an englishman and has two children both born in the uk. with brexit on the horizon, she applied under a government scheme to make sure she could stay here after, but more than two months later hadn't had a yes. i love my life here. i got my working life here and i love myjob. and my children are growing up here. i believe they've got their future here, but i'm not sure about mine. the home office says lily's application wasn't fully submitted and they will help her resolve it,

but even a technical glitch has had an impact. the feeling of being rejected to the country you call home. around 3 million eu citizens live in the uk. all are being urged to apply to guarantee their rights after brexit. if you're an eu citizen living in the uk... the home office has been promoting the scheme. anyone who's been here more than five years should get what's called settled status, meaning they can stay indefinitely. those who've been here less than five years should get pre—settled status, which protects their rights but means they'll have to apply again for full status in future. so all you need is your passport. very simple. this charity in leeds is helping people with the process. there are concerns that some people are getting the wrong status, others are having technical problems, and some aren't applying at all. there are a lot of people from vulnerable communities

with a low level of english or no english at all who do not know about this. ministers say more people are accessing the scheme and there is help for the most vulnerable. it works really well. it's not dissimilar to if you and i were renewing our passport, a driving licence. a very clear and simple system. people can apply and we get that system processed — and actually often in just a few days. some charities and migrant support groups have told us in most cases this scheme is working. but when it doesn't, it causes real stress and, more broadly, many eu citizens say the continued uncertainty over brexit is creating huge anxiety. these three women are all eu citizens who live in leeds. beatrice is spanish and is in the process of applying to stay in the uk. i don't think it's going to be an issue for me to stay because i'm almost five years and i've been working all this time in the uk. but there is that little feeling

that, "what happens if they say no?" others want an id card or document to prove they've been accepted, like zara, who's italian. no proof to live here. but i am worried about that. eu citizens like these have been promised time and again their rights will be protected, but until that happens they're left with worry. alex forsyth, bbc news. a series of mass shootings in the united states over the last year has increased pressure to reform gun laws. but those high—profile and shocking attacks make up a fraction of gun violence deaths in the us. this week the number fatally shot since the start of the year 10,000 people with more than 20,000 injured. chris buckler reports from washington. the cordons and closed off streets have become too familiar. they mark the spot of the latest drive—by shooting

that has left a man and woman in hospital. it happened on people's doorsteps and was just one of half a dozen shootings in washington, dc on this single evening. this is one of the cities that symbolizes this country's problem with guns. a very huge problem that america has with guns and something does need to be done about it, because we are going to continue to keep losing people. some mass shootings here in the united states attract a huge amount of attention, but the more regular, almost routine gun violence goes ignored. this is just another night in america. the police in dc are desperate to get illegally—held weapons off the street. they have had to deal with a summer of shootings. and they know guns are being used to terrorise neighborhoods. among the victims of the last few months of violence was karon brown, an 11—year—old who loved american football.

he was apparently murdered in a territorial dispute over selling water and cookies. karon was loving, funny, everybody loves him. he was the joy of our lives. the new football season is just beginning, but it's notjust a player missing from this team — an assistant coach of the woodland tigers was killed just days after karon, murdered in a drive—by shooting. you know one day, a player, and then the next day the coach. so it is like just heartbreaking. every parent shares a struggle. away from the pads and helmets of the football field, how do they protect their child? our children aren't able to be children. they should be able to be free and learn from their surroundings. but the things that's being taught

out right now in the streets is not safe for them. it is really... it is reallyjust messed up. it's ok. does it make you worried? yes. like america's debate about guns, little of this is new for the woodland tigers. of 19 boys who played here in 2001, 11 are dead. that's the majority of the team who would not even be close to 40 years of age. and as each evening comes, the sirens and searches are a regular reminder of the presence of guns. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. football now, and it has been a mixed night for scotland and wales in their qualifying matches for euro 2020. our sports correspondent joe wilson has been watching. to look at the nation's footballers and hope —

it's natural, but as you grow, well, you can't live on hope alone. a big result was overdue — scotland's manager said it, the players knew it. it took them nine minutes, 58 seconds. john mcginn's first goal for scotland and they led against russia, but by half—time the russians were level. djuba is their danger man. that is him and scotland sparked it seems a lifetime ago when russia scores their second winning goal, another night to test that hope. this nation is ranked 109 and the world, azerbaijan began with an own goal in cardiff, strange one too. but imagine the embarrassment which loomed for wales when azerbaijan equalized. seven minutes left and wales needed a winner, a saviour and isn't that what gareth bale is for?

superman in wales. joe wilson, bbc news. cricket, england's ashes hopes have been hit after a late flurry of wickets which saw them close the third day of the fourth test on 200-5. andy swiss was watching the action. oh, the joys of cricket in september. a morning wash—out at old trafford, but it wasn't just the skies that looked a little gloomy. england's ashes chances were fading fast. they had to bat well, and for a decent while, they did, as rory burns and joe root combined to impressive effect. together, they shared a stubborn century stand, and it was australia fluffing their chances, much to their very obvious frustration. but, once burns was snaffled for 81, suddenly the pendulum swung. moments later, joe root followed, trapped leg before for 71. that brought in the hero of headingley, ben stokes, to a predictably raucous reception. cheering but, at the other end, there was rather less to cheer. jason roy emphatically

dismissed by josh hazlewood. that late clatter of wickets leaving australia in control and england still trailing by a hefty 297. while stokes is still there, england fans will believe anything is possible, but they know they face a huge battle to save this match, and their ashes hopes. andy swiss, bbc news, old trafford. that's it now on bbc one. time for the news where you are. have a very good night.

hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm chetan pathak, coming up... bale to the rescue, wales leave it late to beat azerbaijan in their crucial euro 2020 qualifier in cardiff... but who can rescue england? as wickets fall to leave australia in control of the fourth ashes test at old trafford. england thrash italy in their last warm up game before heading off is clear for us that there is a score to get as close as we can come i think we're only a couple partnerships away from that. england thrash italy in their last warm up game before heading off