the government says it's sticking to its brexit plans, despite a new law against no deal and a high profile resignation. amber rudd left the cabinet with stinging criticism that too little effort is being made to secure a new brexit deal with the eu. you might expect in the balance between getting a deal and no deal, 50—50 in terms of work. but it's not that, it's like 80—90% of government time going into preparing for no deal. we are working wholeheartedly, straining every sinew to get a deal and the prime minister is personally putting in all the significant effort you would expect. as borisjohnson‘s key advisers met today, ministers are looking for a way around the no deal law that enters into force tomorrow. we'll have the latest from westminster ahead of a fresh effort to call

an early election. also tonight: brace for a two—day pilots strike — affecting up to 300,000 british airways passengers. after an attack in kabul, president trump cancels the peace deal agreed in principle with the taliban. speaking out against elitism and social divides, as the pope visits madagascar. and defeat for england in the fourth test hands the ashes to australia. good evening. government ministers are insisting that their brexit plans remain in place, despite stinging criticism from their former colleague amber rudd, who's resigned her cabinet post. she said today that the vast

majority of brexit—focused work was going towards no deal, while there were no formal negotiations with brussels on securing a new withdrawal agreement. she also called the expulsion of 21 conservative mps "an assault on decency and democracy". ministers say they are sticking to plans to leave the eu at the end of october and are looking for ways around the anti—no deal law that comes into force tomorrow. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. 0ut out of government and free to speak her mind. amber rudd is convinced getting a brexit deal is not the prime minister's priority. she explained she could see little effo rts explained she could see little efforts of efforts to reach an agreement with the eu. there is this huge machine preparing for no deal,

which is fine. you might expect in the balance of getting a deal or no deal, 50—50 in terms of work. but it is not that, it is 80, 90% of government time going into get no deal. throwing out those mps going against the government was an act of political vandalism, according to amber rudd. clearly for her, a step too far. i couldn't carry on in the conservative party at such a high level anti—21 of my colleagues, who are good, moderate people who want a deal, excluded from it. i needed to move and stand by them. tonight, one cabinet minister who is staying put, urged the party to forgive and forget. i hope we can find a way back into the party, for some of those who had the whip withdrawn la st those who had the whip withdrawn last week and i very much hope we can then come together as a party to deliver brexit. while boris johnson has been campaigning this week for

the election he wants, opposition parties won't support until a no—deal brexit is ruled out. talks between the uk and the eu continue in brussels, there is little sign of progress, but the government insists it does want a deal. i am absolutely clear that we are working wholeheartedly, straining every sinew to get a deal and the prime minister is personally putting in all the significant effort you would expect from a leader to get this deal done. it is as plain as ever tonight, the prime minister has no intention of asking for an extension to the brexit process if he cannot reach a new deal with the eu in the summit in october. but the bill passed in parliament this week forcing him to do so, is due to become law. the government has made it clear, although it will follow the law, it will look for a way around it. we will test very

carefully what it does and doesn't require. that is not only the lawful thing to do, it is the responsible thing to do, it is the responsible thing to do, it is the responsible thing to do. despite these assurances, opposition parties are worried that the prime minister will not play by the rules.” worried that the prime minister will not play by the rules. i don't trust him an inch and i don't think anyone does. we have got a prime minister how does. we have got a prime minister now who is saying he won't even abide by the law, by the low! i have never heard that before. we are in a situation now no one can trust, while he is in place, what can happen. in kent, the prime minister met his closest advisers to work out what to do next. the promise is still to deliver brexit by the end of october, the unanswered question, how? jonathan blake, bbc news. among the other brexit—related developments today — the business secretary andrea leadsom says the conservatives will field a candidate against the commons speaker john bercow, at the next election. traditionally, the major parties don't contest the speaker's seat — but mr bercow has angered some

ministers by the way he's handled the recent brexit debates. the french foreign minister jean—yves le drian said today that france couldn't agree to another brexit extension, as he wasn't willing to go through the same process every three months. and therese coffey, the former environment minister, is to be amber rudd's replacement as work and pensions secretary. she backed remain during the eu referendum. we'll hear from our deputy political editorjohn pienaar in a moment but first a look ahead to what is expected to happen in the next few days. tomorrow, the mps' bill forcing borisjohnson to ask for a brexit extension in order to avoid no deal is set to become law. and the government is expected to introduce a fresh vote on a general election on october 15th, though that's not likely to be successful. and possibly tomorrow, certainly by thursday, parliament will be formally suspended or prorogued. john pienaar‘s with me.

let's talk about the politics and the practicalities about what happens now. is there going to be a continuing battle over this no deal law? yes, number ten downing st is resigned to losing this vote tomorrow, trying to force a quick election. the agonising now is about how to overcome this new law ruling out no deal, perhaps forcing a brexit extension which could cost the tory party the sport of vital brexiteer voters. 0ne the tory party the sport of vital brexiteer voters. one idea being canvassed as the prime minister resigning to try and force an election. we saw ministers, including the chancellor saying that wasn't going to happen. we did see the prime minister saying he was not contemplating suspending parliament, but then that did happen. what about the idea of breaking the law? the civil service are even saying don't think about it. the foreign secretary is saying it could be tested, which could point the way to a battle in the courts, may be the

supreme court and one insider said, downing street might even welcome losing in the supreme court because they could then go into an election saying it is borisjohnson against thejudges. extraordinary to saying it is borisjohnson against the judges. extraordinary to think ofa the judges. extraordinary to think of a conservative government on any such platform. the line between extraordinary and what is normal in british politics is being steadily erased every day. we are 24 hours on from a ministerial resignation, what is the effect of amber rudd's departure? it was symptomatic of a deeper struggle going on inside the government and the conservative party. whenever anyone says a number of ministers are considered to be privately unhappy with government strategy and contemplating the possibility of resigning in the wake of amber rudd's resignation, which would cause an obvious problem we have seen only magnified. philip hammond was saying the observers we re hammond was saying the observers were turning the tory party into an extreme right—wing sect and he was

referring to the primers‘s now famously abrasive adviser, dominic cummins. there is no sign of the inner circle in number ten repenting or relenting. look at the opinion polls, the tories are ahead, losing collea g u es polls, the tories are ahead, losing colleagues to him was collateral damage. we are heading into an election, which is notjust about brexit, it is about the definition of the tory party. an election, no one can say how it will shape the outcome it could leave the country as deadlocked and divided as before, but it will surely leave the country more bitterly divided than even so far. john pienaar, thank you. a major strike by british airways pilots will get under way in two hours' time, following an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. passengers are being told not to go to airports, with the vast majority of ba flights scheduled for monday and tuesday cancelled. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge is at heathrow for us.

pretty much british airways' entire fleet will be grounded over two days. they normally run about 800 flights a day and we are looking at about 1600 flights cancelled. this isa about 1600 flights cancelled. this is a long—running dispute between the airline and its pilots about pgy- the airline and its pilots about pay. the average pilot earns about £100,000 a year and a senior captain earns beyond that. what the pilots are saying is they want a deal that will give them a greater share of british airways profits, seeing as the airline and such a decent profit last year and they rejected an offer from the airline of 11.5%, a pay rise of 11.5% over three years. talks broke down, they went on for a long time but basically, over the last couple of weeks, british airways has been busy booking people onto alternative airlines with

alternative dates or refunding them completely. the biggest loser is the travelling public. a lot of people have lost days of their holiday and costs from changing their travel plans. british airways, we think will lose about £40 million per strike day. that is the financial cost. the hit to its reputation is impossible to quantify and going forward this isn't the end of it. there will be some cancellations of flights into wednesday after the two strike days as the airline tries to get the operation back up and running. but there is the possibility of a third strike day this month if they cannot reach a deal on the 27th of september. tom burridge at heathrow, thank you. police in country tyrone have arrested a man under the terrorism act, following the discovery of an improvised explosive device. people living near strabane police station had to leave their homes yesterday morning while bomb experts investigated. the chief constable said it was a callous attempt to kill officers. president trump has called off peace negotiations with the taliban, after they admitted being behind an attack that killed

an american soldier. the taliban condemned the decision to withdraw from talks that come after 18 years of war — warning america would lose the most. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports from kabul. a busy kabul junction. the attack, said to have changed president trump's mind. a young us soldier died here and ten afghans, aged ten to 70. the president vented his fury on twitter. if they cannot agree to a ceasefire, they don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. how many more decades are they willing to fight? there is not a day without violence. there is not a day without violence. the taliban also struck the kabul neighbourhood last week, the very day diva said it had reached a deal in principle with the taliban to

start bringing its troops home. they've been negotiating for nearly a year in the gulf state of qatar. and the taliban almost hit the diplomatic jackpot — a trip to camp david to talk to president trump — his classic, high—stakes summitry, but now it's off. a taliban spokesman sent us their response. a few days ago the peace agreement was concluded with the us negotiation team and it was initialled by heads of both negotiation teams. the tweets by president donald trump is astonishing and i think it harmed his reputation. a peace process that may have consequences for the security... the afghan government, the taliban still refused to talk to, welcomed the move. i think it was the right move, at the right time and a genuine reflection of the concerns, that not only the afghan people, but many in dc raised of the threats

of the consequences of any deal that could be harmful to all of us. was it this one terrible attack in kabul which provoked president trump's dramatic move, or was it the rising chorus of anger and anxiety in kabul and washington over peace talks which only seemed to bring more war. america's longest war has lasted 18 yea rs. america's longest war has lasted 18 years. launch to topple the taliban, doing battle as they rebounded with global strength. all sides are fighting hard now. their casualties mounting. many fear taliban at the table don't speak for fighters on the ground. until they put down their guns, their commitment to peace won't be clear. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. in hong kong there have been violent clashes between pro—democracy protesters and police, after demonstrators marched to the us consulate to call

for american support. crowds then gathered in central hong kong, where an entrance to a subway station was set alight and shop windows were smashed. police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. iran says the oil tanker at the centre of a diplomatic row between britain and tehran has reached its destination and sold its cargo. iranian state media didn't say where the tanker had gone, but satellite images appeared to show the ship near a syrian port yesterday. the tanker was seized by british marines near gibraltar in july on suspicion it was bound for syria, in breach of eu sanctions. around a million people have attended an open—air mass in madagascar, celebrated by pope francis on the final day of his visit there. he called for for the protection of the environment, and against privilege and elitism in society. 0ur religion editor, martin bashir, sent this report. braving blustery conditions

on the outskirts of the capital antananarivo, crowds were overflowing for an open—air mass. quoting from the gospel of luke, pope francis said christ demands respect for both people and the planet. an urgent message for this part of the world. translation: this demand encourages us not to dilute and narrow the gospel message, but instead to build history in fraternity and solidarity in complete respect for the earth and its gifts as opposed to any form of exploitation. across the landscape of this country, the world's fourth largest island, 40% of its forest has disappeared in the last 60 years. the environmental danger is aggravated because 80% of madagascar‘s plant and animal species are not found anywhere else on the planet. and it isn'tjust foreign companies

who see money in hacking down madagascar‘s trees. conservationists say local businesses are also to blame and welcome the pope's intervention. it was a very good and strong message. the civil society was there, felt very encouraged and invigorated in listening to the pope. this visit has come at a moment of rapid growth for the catholic church in africa. the pope's trip to africa was intended as a pastoral visit, to encourage the growing churches here. but it quickly became political, with his condemnation of the plundering of natural resources. and for the thousands who came out to greet him, they encountered a pope who's as much a conservationist as he is a christian. martin bashir, bbc news, in madagascar.

with all the sport now, here's lizzie greenwood—hughes at the bbc sport centre. good evening. england's hopes of reclaiming the ashes are over. they lost the fourth test by 185 runs after almost forcing a draw on the final day at old trafford. australia will now keep hold of the famous urn, as our correspondent andy swiss reports. it was a day english cricket finally ran out of miracles. more nerve shredding drama, but it was ultimately australia's ashes. england began knowing they would have to bat the entire day to keep their hopes alive but as the wickets started to tumble, including ben stokes for just started to tumble, including ben stokes forjust one, a chances seemed even more remote. then some timely resistance, a gutsy 50 from joe denly. after tea, jofra archer was the eighth man out, it was surely all over? not quite. enter

england's new hero, jack leach. for over an hour, he and craig 0verton kept australia at bay. each defensive prod greeted with a roar and with time ticking and light fading, the fans were starting to believe. when his long vigil was finally ended, australia needed just one more wicket and at 615 pm... gone! australia retain the ashes. cue the delirium for australia and utter despair for england. after the incredible comeback in the last match, not this time. a few nervous moments, coming from headingley. i thought again, we learn from that and we held our nerve. the guys fought extremely bravely, made it very difficult for australia and put a strong price on a wicket. it almost makes it a little bit harder

to take. another enthralling finish then, but for england that will not be much consolation. some of which began with the world cup triumph is ending in ashes disappointment. andy swiss, bbc news, old trafford. there were more record—breaking crowds on the opening weekend of the women's super league season as chelsea played at stamford bridge for the first time. nearly 25,000 people watched them beat tottenham, as natalie pirks reports. a familiar rivalry inafamiliarsetting. with chelsea handing out free tickets, 24,000 fans turned up at stamford bridge, eager to see this opening day derby. they didn't have long to wait before they saw some action. here's england. a stunner! last season's top scorer starting where she left off with a worldy, just one week after making her england debut. it's spurs' first season in the top flight, but they were determined to leave their mark. chelsea needed to exert their dominance, but the woodwork, well, it was having none of it. despite a great atmosphere, 2018's champions felt a little flat.

but in front of a crowd five times bigger than the previous record, chelsea's win was all the more special. in front of this crowd and on this pitch, it's unbelievable. i'm so proud of the girls. we came here, we wanted the three points, we got them. the world cup made new fans of women's football this summer. now the trick is to keep coming. natalie pirks, bbc news. ferrari's charles le clerc won a dramatic italian grand prix — his second win in a row. holding off intense pressure from lewis hamilton, who later accused him of dangerous driving. hamilton finished third and still leads the drivers‘ championship by 63 points with seven races to go. mo farah won today's great north run for a record 6th successive year. the four—time olympic champion ran the half marathon course in a personal best time of 59:07. there were also british wins in the wheelchair races. that's it from me, but there's much

more on the bbc sport website, including rafa nadal in the us 0pen final, and an emotional win for pippa funnell at burghley. back to you, mishal. a first look at tomorrow's newspapers is coming up on the bbc news channel. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are.

hello. this is bbc news with martine croxall. more now that both the united states and the afghan taliban have left the door open for further peace talks after president trump abruptly announced that he'd called offa summit secretly planned for today. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, said the conflict would ultimately be resolved through dialogue. the militants said they were committed to continuing negotiations.

michael kugelman is an afghanistan expert at the wilson centre in washington. he told me that president trump and the taliban were on the cusp of a deal. well, one reason why it is so surprising that trump made this announcement to call off talks for now is that the talks had got further than they had ever got before. the two sides, the us and the taliban, were on the cusp of a deal and it was at the point where the chief negotiator was trying to get buy—ins from kabul, which had been shut out of the negotiations, and from others in washington, so clearly we had never got to the point where we had been over the last few days and that makes it all the more incredible, to put it mildly, that president trump decided to call off talks for now, if not permanently. how hopeful are you that they will start up again and why? i think at the end of the day both

sides, the us and taliban, have a similar goal, which is to make a plan for a withdrawal of us forces. i do think eventually there will be a deal. trump, of course, has been very clear about how he wants to get out of afghanistan and certainly he would like to be able to make some sort of decision or announcement well before the us presidential election and bring the troops home. the taliban has said for a long time it wants the us troops out, so that suggests to me that eventually the two sides will come back together and clearly a major blow has been dealt to this negotiation process. however, give it time. as you indicated, the administration officials in washington have suggested that there were plans to try and set up new meetings, so i think it will happen. and at the end of the day, what happened here is that the trump administration was uncomfortable with the deal and it suddenly became uncomfortable thinking that there weren't enough assurances that the taliban would be willing to lay down arms after signing the deal with the states.

we are of course only a few days away from the anniversary of 9/11 and a lot of people will be rightly remembering those who died in those atrocities. for many people it was an apparent idea to have the taliban at camp david. why would president trump want such a thing to take place? this is really, in my view, this idea of the taliban coming to camp david is widening the wheelhouse. it would have been a dramatic affair with a lot of pageantry and photo opportunities and media attention, much like a reality tv show. but i think the timing of it is what would have been so tasteless. as you noted, we are coming up to the 18 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks carried out by a group that was sheltered by the taliban. i think that simply would have been a dreadful idea. so in that regard, it's possibly a good thing that this is not happening and the taliban will not be coming here.

setting that aside, the fact that, as trump said, it wouldn't have just been the taliban leadership, also the afghan leadership, would have been at camp david and they would have been separately —— meetings between him and the us and the taliban and the us but it would have been significant given that the taliban has reputedly been refusing to be involved in negotiation with the afghan government in terms of a deal with the us, which is another key factor, that the taliban would probably never have been comfortable with participating in this type of meeting at camp david so long as you have the afghan president there. what is the minimum the united states needs from a deal with the taliban? it's hard to say. at first, it was basically an assurance from the taliban to not provide any space to international terrorist groups like al-qaeda and isis. but i think that has changed. the expectations of the us will be that they want more from the taliban. when negotiations resume, the us will want to see some type of clear indication that the taliban would lay down arms, even if only temporarily,

before there is a deal between the us and the taliban, and i also think the us government would like to see some sort of assurance from the taliban it would be willing to start negotiating formally with the afghan government before there is a final deal between the us and the taliban. the problem is there is no way to measure that. there is no way to trust that the taliban will do those things, even if the us gets those assurances, so this is really a very complicated process and when the talks do resume, and i think they will, it will be a very long process to get to any kind of resolution. time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. we have sunshine, wind, rain and even tropical air heading our way next week. today, the weather has been very pleasant. we had a few showers yesterday across kent, no sign of those today. indeed we have been enjoying some

healthy spells of sunshine. after a really cold start in the north—east of scotland, we have seen some blue skies here as well for a while. there is more cloud coming in from the north—west, this weather front waits in the wings to bring rain overnight tonight. a fine end to the day with sunshine around, but the cloud continues to thicken across scotland and northern ireland. going to turn wetter overnight and the rain spills into wales and western parts of england, could be quite heavy. more cloud tonight, not anywhere near as cold as last night, except perhaps across east anglia, where we have clearer skies for longer. tomorrow's a bit of a messy day, the weather front bringing rain, not one of the weather fronts sweeping across, no wind to move it. instead, the wetter weather drifts south. patchy rain developing across eastern parts of england, outbreaks of rain and lots of cloud in the morning, the rain tending to ease in the afternoon for northern areas, turning brighter

but towards wales and the south—west, we keep the rain going. it could be heavy and thundery, and it really is going to be chilly, temperatures only 14 or 15 quite widely. that weather front pulls apart, most of the rain continuing south towards iberia. this ridge of high pressure building in, but we have a weak weather front on the scene, bringing us this band of cloud, and it could produce one or two showers but dry on the whole. some sunshine around, too, and it will feel a lot warmer, especially for central and eastern parts of england, where temperatures could be up to 20 degrees. but there's wet and windy weather arriving in north—west later. that is on the weather fronts there and it will turn wet and windy across northern areas overnight, around an area of low pressure which contains remnants of ex—hurricane dorian, no longer a hurricane by this stage, but it will bring and windy weather overnight. and through wednesday, it sweeps towards southern parts of england,