this is bbc news. the headlines... the irish border is the issue that has stymied every effort at agreeing a brexit deal — now the prime minister accepts there will have to be some customs checks. there will have to be a system for customs checks away from the border. now, we think that those checks can be absolutely minimal and nonintrusive, and won't involve new infrastructure. a show of military might as communist china turns 70 but they're not celebrating in hong kong — an actvist is shot in violent protests. the duchess of sussex has started legal action against the male of sunday newspaper over an allegation

it published one of her letters illegally. —— the mail on sunday. sir mo farah‘s former coach alberto salazar is banned for four years for doping violations. torrential rains sweep across england — there are flood warnings from cornwall to the isle of man one of britain's rarest mammals, the pine marten, has been re—established in the forest of dean and given protected status. good evening. after ten weeks in office borisjohnson now says he is days away from offering the eu a far reaching plan for brexit. as ever, it is the question of what to do about the border between northern ireland and the republic that holds the key to a deal. speaking to the bbc, the prime minister said that his plan would include some customs checks on the island of ireland after brexit.

but he insisted they would be minimal and would not involve new infrastructure. with more, here's our political editor laura kuenssberg — a warning her report contains flashing images. when is a crisis an opportunity? right now, borisjohnson seems to believe. prime minister, in the last few weeks you have lost major votes in the commons, you've thrown some mps out of your own party, the highest court in the land found you broke the law and gave the queen wrong advice. how do you think this is going? i think it is going about as well as can be expected if not slightly better. yeah? yeah. this was always going to be a really difficult time. what we have got, basically, is a situation in which the people voted for leaving the eu, and yes, there are many people in all sorts of positions, who don't think that was the right way to go.

and i am tasked with getting it over the line, getting brexit done by october 31st. and i think we always knew that, as we came up to that deadline, things would get choppy. if only we could all come together, get brexit over the line, i think that fevers would cool, tempers would come down, and it would be a great thing. so that is what i'm hoping to do. you're suggesting people ought to come together when, transparently, you have been trying to create this idea of them and us. the truth is, there is no way of getting brexit done without, as it were, displeasing people who don't want brexit to get done. under the proposals you're about to take to brussels, there would be extra checks on the island of ireland — how and where? if the eu is going to insist on customs checks, as we come out,

as it is, then we will have to accept that reality. and there will have to be a system for customs checks, away from the border. now, we think that those checks can be absolutely minimal and nonintrusive and won't involve new infrastructure. isn't this just you putting forward similar proposals to what had been suggested and turned down so many times before? let's see where we get to. we've made some constructive and far—reaching proposals. if there is not a deal, whose fault will it be? i don't want to get into a blame game, but the uk has really moved a long, long way. you really believe that what you're about to put on the table could win round the eu? you really believe that? i absolutely do, yes, and i urge you, laura, to keep hope alive. this is not about people being hopeful, this is about whether the government can come up with a deal with the eu

to protect the economy, jobs and livelihoods, this is not about telling people to cheer up. it couldn't be more serious. i know. it's also about getting brexit done on october 31, and in a way that protects the unity and integrity of the united kingdom, and we are entitled to protect our customs union and to exit as a sovereign state, so with great respect to all those who are currently anxious about the situation in ireland, we do think that our proposals are good and creative, but i accept also, laura, that there may be hard yards ahead. there are nerves here in manchester about what might come next. yet the prime minister largely has the tory crowd onside. yesterday you denied touching women inappropriately at a lunch, she said you did, is she lying? i don't want to minimise the importance of this issue or people's concerns about this kind

of thing, but in this case it is simply not true. so she's lying? i'm not going to go into whatever... when people make these kind of allegations, they must always be taken seriously, but in this case it is not true. do you worry about what female voters think of you? yes, of course. of course. and these are important issues. when i was running london we had an administration that was very largely women—led, and i was very proud of that. is the job harder than you thought it might be? it's a wonderfuljob. yes, it's a hard job but i think every day we are making progress. he cannot just bounce his way through this. boingy—boingy—boingy. the prime minister's behaviour and brexit plans are under pressure. i wish you all the very best. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, manchester. our political correspondent jonathan blake is in manchester.

at blake is in manchester. the centre of this, notjust trade at the centre of this, notjust trade and customs, this is about the good friday agreement, what happens at the border, that is a large part of the good friday agreement, is that now at risk? the arguments against the plan of the prime minister would say yes, but the trouble is, to have such a situation on the island of ireland where there is an all but invisible border is very difficult to maintain. if you have one set of rules on one side of the border and another set of rules on the other. if you get rid of the backstop from the withdrawal agreement which would protect the customs union, in the uk remaining inside it from the eu meaning there was no need for checks on goods passing across that, you have to got to replace it with something else, and how do you enforce different rules ? and how do you enforce different rules? you have to make checks at some point and the prime minister as

he said there conceded that the reality of the situation is that if the uk maintains different customs rules to the european union which borisjohnson rules to the european union which boris johnson believes rules to the european union which borisjohnson believes very rules to the european union which boris johnson believes very firmly it will have to, then you have to enforce those rules somehow. he's not talking, he says, back a series of checkpoints set back from the on either side, but rather minimal checks without extra infrastructure happening at some point along the supply chain. the detail of where this would happen and how it would be enforced will have to wait but thatis be enforced will have to wait but that is part of the basis of this offer that the prime minister is expected to make very soon to the eu, to provide the basis of what he would like the new deal to be. eu, to provide the basis of what he would like the new dealto be. his keynote speeches tomorrow, his first as prime minister at the conservative party conference, what can we expect? we have been overhearing him rehearsing his

speech in the last few minutes in the conference hall, and what i would say, we can expect very familiar messages and tone from borisjohnson familiar messages and tone from boris johnson and at familiar messages and tone from borisjohnson and at every turn he and other cabinet ministers have said at the conference that the priority is to get brexit done, that isa priority is to get brexit done, that is a very simple slogan and this is one which the party believes chimes with the voters especially those who voted to leave, but with the country more broadly who are frustrated with the lack of progress in getting brexit done, and moving on, i think that will form the basis of what the prime minister will say tomorrow because he has stated and staked his political survival on that basis, he says he will not ask for an extension of any kind to the brexit process the deadline of october 31, and with or without a deal, if he is in charge, the uk will leave, so it will be something of a rallying cry, i'm sure, to the conservative party faithful in manchester who love him

come up. he won the leadership contest by a convincing margin and i would expect him to rally the troops tomorrow and give something of a rousing speech along the lines of delivering brexit but also then focusing on what he wants to do sooner focusing on what he wants to do sooner rather than later and with the time running out for a deal to be done, if the deadline sticks, i would expect strong rhetoric from the prime minister, but also aimed at eu diplomats and other eu leaders. we will bring you the keynote speech on the prime minister tomorrow on bbc news. we can get some reaction to what he has said, that they will have to be a system for customs checks at the border of northern ireland and the republic of ireland. matt carthy is a sinn fein mep —

whose constituency is right on the irish border. hejoins me via webcam from brussels. can you give us insight into the strength of feeling amongst your constituents about what they have heard the prime minister say today? ican heard the prime minister say today? i can tell you categorically that their message is as clear as it was from the moment in 2016 when the people of england voted in favour of brexit, we will not and cannot countenance any physical manifestation of a border in ireland or anything that would result in a hardening of the border and the position we have has been vindicated by what boris johnson has position we have has been vindicated by what borisjohnson has said because the position of the british government has been from the outset, trust us, we will deal with the issues pertaining to the border when the time comes, but the eu at the behest of irish political representatives rightly said, no, theissues representatives rightly said, no, the issues pertaining to the border to become central to the negotiations before we started

talking about future relationships and trade, and that position has been vindicated as i say because borisjohnson has now confirmed that the british government were essentially lying to the irish people all along because what they have proposed is a definitive hardening of the border in ireland in breach of the good friday agreement and it would be catastrophic for my country and i can tell you that my country and the communities along both sides of the board it simply will not tolerate any notion of such a position. let me pick up on that, what we are hearing from downing street is that there will not be guideposts or blocks at the border, and it might even be checks on the internet, which might be a struggle for some small businesses but they will be no physical barriers on the actual border. does that put the good friday agreement in jeopardy? it is more paperwork and red tape but this is not a physical barrier. when we

say and have said that there can be no hardening of the board in our country, we do so because we have suffered the consequences of our country, the very fact our country was divided by a british government a hundred years ago led to the conflict we all know about. so a form that you have to fit out would be seen as a physical border? anything that makes it more difficult for businesses to operate and anything that makes it more difficult forfarmers and anything that makes it more difficult for farmers and communities to come together, and to secure eu funding, that is the hardening of the border and that is exactly what boris johnson is proposing and that is why it will be unacceptable. the worst thing about this, the british government knows it will be unacceptable so the reason they have put it forward is either because they want to put

forward a very bizarre off the wall starting point in a bid to bring negotiations back closer to their preferred centre or two the position they want a new deal brexit and they are putting forward this solution is are putting forward this solution is a view to be able to say it is the fault of the eu as to why these negotiations did not work out. i would be very concerned about that ifi would be very concerned about that if i was living in britain. i can tell you as someone living in ireland in living in the broader community, that is something which is deeply worrying. —— border community. one other answer, if there is a no—deal brexit or if this goes ahead, what borisjohnson is proposing, i'm saying that for arguments sake, what are you going to do, what of the people of northern ireland going to do?m borisjohnson at northern ireland going to do?m boris johnson at the british government moved to this type of

scenario, which would be directly in breach of the good friday agreement, it will be up to us to use another provision of the good friday agreement that is to allow the people of the north to have their say as to whether they want to remain of what will be undoubtedly a dysfunctional uk or whether they wa nt to dysfunctional uk or whether they want to reinforce their decision in 2016 and be part of the eu. can you do that? the road that is provided it in the good friday agreement, the route to remain part of the eu for the part of the northern ireland is to unify the country of ireland, we don't want that to happen in chaotic circumstances but if the british government are to pursue such a dangerous and reckless route that they have outlined over the last 2a hours, there would be no other option for us other than to try and minimise the damage that the british government will be inflicting. we would have a referendum as a result of this. we have got to leave it

there, sorry to keep interrupting you, but we have got other people to speak to. matt, thanks forjoining us. speak to. matt, thanks forjoining us. matt mccarthy from sinn fein, there. you get a sense of the strength of feeling about this. also at the conference, the home secretary, priti patel, says the government will invest £20 million into identifying and dismantling county line gangs, criminal networks that deliberately target children and vulnerable adults to courier drugs from cities to users across the country. she was speaking at the conservative party conference in manchester on a day focused on law and order. earlier, justice secretary robert buckland promised the tories would "fix the sentencing system" and make sure serious criminals face "tougher" jail terms. the home secretary said the conservative party were the party of law and order once again — and pledged to do more to support the police. recruiting 20,000 police officers is just the start.

i'm equipping police officers with the kit and the tools they need to protect themselves and others from harm. i have created a new fund to give police chiefs the ability to train and equip police officers with tasers. it is a job of chief constables to make that operational decision. it is the job of the home secretary to empower them to do so. i am giving them that power. applause and today, i am announcing a £20 million package to roll up county lines drug gangs, to stop them from terrorising our towns and our villages, and exploiting our children. applause i'm also announcing a new £25 million safer streets fund for new security measures

for britain's worst crime spots. and as well as giving the police the kit and the powers they need, we must do much more to recognise their commitment, their bravery, and their professionalism. let's speak now tojohn apter, national chair of the police federation — that's the staff association for police officers in england and wales. this seems to be the end of cuts? i'm not cynical and i'm not going to throw this offer of support back in the face of the government but you have got to put this into context. we have had devastating cuts to policing for the last ten years and in addition to the cuts we have been treated with contempt by this government especially the former prime minister. when you put that in the backdrop, of course i welcome what the home secretary has said and i've worked really hard to build a more constructive relationship with

the chancellor and the prime minister and the home secretary, but my plea is, policing has been battered and bruised over many years and these warm words must turn into something positive, because if these are broken promises it will damage trust for ever. i welcome it, it is positive, but it must be followed through with action.|j positive, but it must be followed through with action. i get the sense that you are saying, they have been so many cuts, and the public know you have any got to go on the streets, the police are on their knees at the moment, that is because of years of cuts, so does this really change anything? are we going to see significant numbers back on the streets in terms of policing? is it getting back to where it was a few years ago? absolutely, you are absolutely right, my colleagues in many cases are broken, we are not providing the service we want to the public and crime has increased,

violent crime has rocketed, and we are not answering 999 calls, so of course we are angry because these we re course we are angry because these were predicted of these problems we re were predicted of these problems were predicted of these problems were predicted and we were ignored by the then prime minister. so, of course, we listened with interest to see what the home secretary has said, but she is only putting a sticking plaster over what has already been broken, so the extra 20,000 officers is in addition to those that we were already going to lose over the next three years to retirement or resignation so that will only take us to where we were previously, and i'm not going to throw that back in their face, but crime is changing the way we investigate crime is far more complex and we need even more police officers. if the conservative party are now the party of law and order and they are on probation, by the way, i have to see something tangible from their promises, but if they are truly the party of law and order they have to do much more in the sentencing is another thing.

those individuals who violently are some of my colleagues or any emergency workers, invariably they are walking away from court with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, i have been calling for harsher sentences and now the home secretary is, so let's see what happens. the taser announcement is also something i welcome, something we have been calling for for many yea rs, we have been calling for for many years, but it is only now we appear to be listened to. john, thanks for joining us. lots to digester on manchester. ——j and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 1040 and 1130 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are daily mirror columnist, susie boniface and katherine forster from the sunday times. sport and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. here's adam.

good evening. sir mo farah‘s former coach, alberto salazar, has been banned from the sport for four years, that's for doping violations that include the trafficking or attempted trafficking of testosterone. farah has always denied any wrongdoing and in a statement today says he has "no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules." salazar says he's "shocked" and will appeal. a doctor, jeffrey brown, who worked alongside salazar, has also been banned. farah spent six years working under salazar at the nike oregon project before leaving in 2017. athletes have to have complete and total trust in their coaches, and if they don't the relationship will fray, and when a coach is accused of something, an athlete has to ask detailed tough questions. i was in a great coaching relationship with my father but if those questions were being asked of him i would have

absolutely wanted to know what the background was if he was working with other athletes and you have to assume that athletes do that if they are challenged in that way and they makejudgments are challenged in that way and they make judgments accordingly. that news about alberto salazar, of course, comes as the world athletics championships continue in doha. on the track this evening this evening there was another hugely impressive performance from britains dina asher smith. she looked very comfortable indeed in winning her semifinal of the 200 metres. she will now be one of the big favourites for tomorrow nights final. the mens final goes off in the next half an hour, that features britains adam gemili. all the action over on bbc 1. to tonight's champions league matches... two english clubs in action, spurs and manchester city. i'll bring you up to date with those in just a moment but first to the early games where real madrid came back from 2—0 down at home to bruges. the match eventually finished 2—2. they were really made

to fight for it, though, 21—year—old emmanuel dennis with both bruges goals before sergio ramos and casemiro levelled things. so here are those results and fixtures this evening. spurs took the lead against bayern munich, but it didn't lasted long — it's now one all there. elsewhere manchester city against dynamo zagreb is goalless. all those matches on the bbc sport website. johnny sexton will captain ireland for the first time in their rugby world cup pool match against russia on thursday. the returning fly—half is one of 11 changes to the side that lost to the hosts japan on saturday. ireland's fate is still in their own hands, they'll be sure of a quarter—final place if they record bonus—point wins against russia and samoa in theirfinal game. something i've thought about since i was a kid, something i've made a lot of decisions around, trying to get

there, and it's taken a while, but it was worth the wait and am feeling quite proud. i want to be captain now with a good performance and a good win in a world cup game so that's my main focus. towcester racecourse in northamptonshire is going to close permanently. there's been no racing there since may last year and it went into administration a few months later with debts of over £1 million. the first meeting took place there in 1876. it's 10 fixtures in the jump racing calendar will be moved to other courses that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at half past ten. the duchess of sussex has started legal action against the mail on sunday newspaper over an allegation it unlawfully

published one of her private letters. lawyers for the duchess, who is in southern africa on a royal tour, say it concerns the alleged misuse of private information, infringement of copyright and breach of the data protection act 2018. in a personal statement on the royal couple's official website, prince harry says they were driven to take legal action after what he called the "painful" impact of " relentless propaganda" against his wife from the british tabloid press. tributes have been paid to the bbc journalist hanna yusuf, who has died at the age of 27. hanna was a talented producer and reporter and during her career was part of the team here on the news channel, and on the six and ten o'clock news. among her recent projects was an investigation into working conditions at costa coffee stores. she also wrote for the bbc news website. the bbc‘s director of news, fran unsworth, said she was a great investigative journalist and widely admired by colleagues. an estimated 726 homeless people died in england and wales in 2018, it's been announced this morning.

it's the highest year—to—year increase since records began — and an increase of over twenty percent since last year. 88% of those who died were men. hannah gousy is the head of policy and campaigns for crisis, a national charity for homeless people. why do you think we are seeing this rise? the statistics are absolutely devastating, the fact that 726 people have lost their life is extremely tragic, it is awful. u nfortu nately for extremely tragic, it is awful. unfortunately for those of us working in the homelessness sector, it is not especially shocking because we know that the numbers of people who are experiencing homelessness has risen significantly in the last five or six years. we understand a lot of these drug—related deaths are because of the drugs or how they have been made or what they contain, so is it not

necessary drug use, but bad drugs? yes, in terms of why they find themselves on the streets, we know from our own research, we know from evidence and the people we are working with up and down the country, it is primarily driven by a lack of affordable accommodation, and we also know in terms of drug use that homelessness itself is a devastating experience, isolating and very dangerous, and that experience of homelessness itself is often something that triggers homelessness and drug and alcohol use and it can make it much worse, andi use and it can make it much worse, and i can't imagine what it is like to sleep rough on the street and i can't imagine what it is like to live in homelessness accommodation, the idea that you would be in that situation and forced to battle a alcohol or drug addiction would be unimaginable. the escape from life

on the streets is killing them, really tragic, so what needs to be done? to bring down the numbers of homelessness and also a lot of that is because people can't afford to live and pay the rent? one of the things we should be doing right now off the back of these statistics is making sure that every time somebody dies on our streets, every time somebody dies in homelessness accommodation those deaths are investigated, and at the moment 726 people, we will never know directly what led to their deaths, so we can say, yes, it was caused by a drug and alcohol problem, caused by this and alcohol problem, caused by this and that, but we will never know what actually lead to them are dying in the first place. it is absolutely essential that we learned lessons because without doing that we will never be able to prevent somebody from dying in the future, so we must learn lessons and that is why we're calling on the government to put in a system to make sure that

investigations are always carried out. thanks forjoining us. the weather is pretty crazy. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. if you are really fed up of all this rain, particularly across england and wales, you will be pleased to know that wednesday is looking drier and brighter. but colder for many of us. now, this evening and overnight, those heavy showers and thunderstorms will clear away from central and southern england, it will be replaced by some drier, clearer air, but much colder air. as you can see, those temperatures into low single figures for many, a touch of frost for parts of rural northern england and into scotland. that's because we've got a ridge of high pressure moving in, but also a run of cold arctic air. so it's going to be a crisp, chilly start to wednesday, but dry and bright with lots of sunshine. winds still quite a feature across the north of scotland, the northern isles, and down the east coast of england too, it will feed in a few showers here,

some of these will be wintry over the tops of cairngorms and highlands, but elsewhere, it will stay dry all day. temperature—wise, 111—15 at best, for most though, temperatures into the low teens in celsius. but it turns unsettled again for thursday and friday, with wind and rain spreading into the south.

hello this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines. borisjohnson says there will have to be some customs checks on the island of ireland after the uk leaves the eu. a show of military might as communist china turns 70 — but there's clashes in hong kong as demonstrators defy a protest ban. the duchess of sussex starts legal action against the mail on sunday newspaper over an allegation it unlawfully published one of her private letters. sir mo farah‘s former coach alberto salazar is banned for four years for doping violations.

let's return to our main news now, and the issue of the irish border, which is at the heart of the brexit negotiations. once the uk leaves the eu — the border between northern ireland and the republic could separate two areas with potentially different rules, different regulations and different taxes. after the troubles in northern ireland ended, all check points between northern ireland and the republic of ireland were abolished. what many fear is that a brexit deal could be a return to those days. emma vardy reports. how does the border work now? well, that is easy. it doesn't look like a boarder at all, just a bump on the tarmac. and it's an open border, because the rules on either side are the same. so there are cars and lorries passing here all the time without the need to stop any checks. but it wasn't always like this, though. during the 30 years of conflict here, the border had militarised

checkpoints which often came under attack and because a large part of the population believe that the island of ireland as a whole should be one country, ending the violence meant removing any physical sign of a border, at all. what might the border look like in the future? that's the key question that's been holding up brexit. and causing uncertainty for thousands of businesses here, north and south. anything entering the eu has to meet its rules, so after brexit, goods will have to be checked somewhere. but the idea of customs posts are hated by many people who want the border to continue to look and feel invisible, as it is today. the prime minister, though, believes technology can help, such as using gps to track goods but the eu doesn't believe that technology is quite ready, yet. are there any solutions? there is one idea when it comes to farming and food. these cows in northern ireland, well, they could all be

treated as irish cows. following the same food standards and regulations across the island of ireland. that would mean no need for checks on beef products crossing the irish border, but this kind of idea doesn't work for all products, so another option is moving that irish border into the irish sea, having the whole island of ireland following the same eu rules and regulations across all products. but this would be deeply unpopular with unionists, who don't want to see any differences between northern ireland and great britain when it comes to doing business. emma vardy, there. let's discuss this further. i'm joined from belfast by tina mckenzie, chair of the northern ireland federation of small businesses. high of small businesses. to you tina. is this border purely high to you tina. is this border purely political, or is it about business as well? well, i think it's political, social, it's business. i mean ultimately, we know that after

the good friday agreement, we have had the most peaceful time in the last 20 years, and we really don't wa nt to last 20 years, and we really don't want to see thatjeopardised. equally, we are a small economy, and to start putting restrictions and time pressures and extra costs on small businesses, fundamentally we area small businesses, fundamentally we are a small business economy here in northern ireland, it would just be so detrimental to the wider economy into the citizens that live here. have small businesses done a lot better since the good friday agreement was implement itabsolutely. if you look at the northern ireland economy, it still in terms of gdp per head across the united kingdom, we are still small and still trying to develop our productivity. but we have definitely grown. with around 130,000 firms in northern ireland, and we have been having some very good investment recently. with all of the brexit talk, that slow down, and we certainly know our small businesses are feeling real pressure, and real uncertainty about the future, and lending has dropped. orders are dropping. people are just

unsure about what's going to happen, and that's having a real impact today. today, as businesses are out there trying to earn money and keep people injobs. there trying to earn money and keep people in jobs. surely you would welcome some kind of deal, some kind of clarity, so you know what you are dealing with. in the prayer ministry did tell laura goons bird, this is going to be minimal. you are not going to be minimal. you are not going to be minimal. you are not going to notice much of a change. i think the challenges, for these negotiations, is actually finding out the plans are, and i know there was some talk yesterday about some plans, about having this extended border, we need to see what the plans are, and what are we expected to do? fora plans are, and what are we expected to do? for a number —— we are a number of days out from the deadline, and as businesses, we have to get ready for whatever this plan may be. so, ultimately, the business community in northern ireland supported theresa may's withdrawal agreement, although it wasn't perfect with the backstop, so we wa nt to perfect with the backstop, so we want to work with governments, we wa nt to want to work with governments, we want to work with governments, we want to work with governments, we want to work with brussels. we want

to work with london, and we want to find solutions, but we are really not hearing much about what the detail is, so we are up for working with the governments, but we need to know what it is they want. ok, hopefully we will get more details tomorrow, there has been a lot of lea ks tomorrow, there has been a lot of leaks that have been dismissed by downing street, but there has been talk of forms having to be filled in on the website, perhaps, you know, no actual physical borders, may be some checks on businesses as well on both sides of the border. that doesn't sound come it's not perfect, we know that, but it doesn't sound that disruptive. and if it was that simple, i don't think anybody would really have a problem with filling in an extra form somewhere. your challenge really is, when you think about what is going on across this border, the amount of time, never mind goods, but people are going back and forth, you know, it'sjust not as simple as filling in a form. because we all understand that in terms of getting goods from eu into the united kingdom and back through again, the northern ireland, in a

sense, actually has an opportunity, if we could set it up properly, where we could potentially have an enhanced economic zone, but ultimately, we are 30 days out. it's just so late in the day, ultimately, we are probably going to need an extension. we are probably going to need some time to consult, and ultimately, the future agreements, when we look at this future agreement, the future political partnership, then that is the piece that we need to start building together. what actually this could look like, and that, unfortunately, ta kes look like, and that, unfortunately, takes time. it's never going to be donein takes time. it's never going to be done in the next few weeks. tina, i wish we had a glass bowl —— glass ball, don't you? we can all follow it with absolute fascination, i suppose. many things for taking the time to talk to us. thanks so much. there've been violent clashes in hong kong between police and pro—democracy demonstrators. more than 50 people have been taken to hospital and at least one person is in a critical condition after officers used live ammunition. at the heart of the protests

is the fear that the freedoms hong kong currently enjoys are threatened by a powerful china, which today has held celebrations om beijing to mark seventy years under communist rule. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from hong kong. they had been told to stay home, that any protest this was hong kong's birthday present to china. they had been told to stay home, but any protest today would be illegal. any hope the protests would pass peacefully were quickly dashed. this was central hong kong this afternoon. and this, police and protesters fighting running street battles. in the middle of one such battle, this happened. as a young protester tries to strike a policeman with a metal bar, the officer shoots that almost point—blank range. the 18—year—old protester is expected to survive.

but news of his shooting only increased their fury on the streets. we will get angrier and angrier. we have to, especially this, we have to stay in the front line and support more people to save the future for hong kong. as night fell the streets of hong kong began to burn. protesters began targeting chinese state—owned banks with molotov cocktail. as police reinforcements arrived, the protesters decided it was time to retreat. this is the middle of causeway bay on hong kong island and here come the riot police and the water cannon. they are going to start clearing this street. this is only one of six different protests taking place, here. with the water cannon speeding after them at the right police close behind, the protesters fled into the back streets.

and so, began a game of cat and mouse. on the street corner we found a group of angry local residents cursing the police. up above, they had a suspected protester corner. as the police marched him away, the crowd screamed at them, "gangsters, we curse your whole family!" this is how deep the divisions have now become, here. this is now the new normal. much more in that story on our website. four romanian men and a woman have been sentenced to a total of 27 years and 4 months, after breaking into around 400 homes in the west midlands, and stealing 850,000 pounds in jewellery and cash. police suspect they've committed more offences and the valuables could be worth millions of pounds. police only caught the gang, after one of them was discovered to have a very small footprint. sian lloyd has more.

draped in cash, 28—year—old florina spiru was even photographed wearing some of the jewellery she helped dispose of. stolen from homes across the west midlands by a group led by her husband, catalin zaharia. this security camera footage shows him clambering up bed sheets. the group often entered and exited houses through upstairs windows to avoid ground—floor alarm systems. david and norma richardson's home was one of the last to be burgled before the gang was caught. i think ijust... ijust could not accept it, i couldn't take it in. i didn't realise that somebody had been in there and taken everything. when we started looking, everything had gone. an earring, that had been worn by the bride. just some of the items yet to be reunited with their rightful owners, found at a house rented by the gang and described as an aladdin's cave of stolen jewellery. they evaded capture for years

until a footprint left by zaharia tripped them up. we had noticed from the start of this series, whoever was committing these offences, had very small feet. they were leaving a footprint impression, consistently the same trainer, the same pattern, but very small, round about a size five. when police stopped his car for a separate offence they found his footprints matched. it led them to the other gang members. today they have been sentenced to a total ofjust over 27 in prison. the massive task of bringing home the 150 thousand thomas cook holidaymakers is almost complete. the travel company collapsed last week after being unable to raise emergency funds. now there's going to be an investigation into how the company was audited. our correspondent tom burridge was on a government funded flight back from mallorca. inside the biggest repatriation operation in living memory.

this airbus a380 left manchester early this morning to pick up thomas cook customers who were on holiday when the firm went bust. assembling a fleet of aircraft hasn't been easy. there aren't very many aircraft available around the world, so the aircraft we have been able to get don't mirror the thomas cook fleet. that gives us problems, for example, in the greek islands where the runways are quite short. you can only send in small planes and we don't have enough small planes just for the sheer volume of people. the planes leave uk airports empty. the total cost of the operation to the taxpayer is £40 million. once in mallorca, all aboard the 546th rescue flight in just nine days. before the company went bust, there were seven thomas cook flights scheduled to leave palma today for uk airports. with this giant aircraft, those seven flights become

one into manchester. on the journey back, the plane was half empty. people clearly making their own way home. and that brand reduced just to the paper cups. but some went back in style. i never thought i'd see the day we would be sat in business class. i think it's ace. we saw thomas cook's scandinavian airline still operating in mallorca today but on arrival at manchester, the firm's planes are grounded. when the operation to get people home is over, the uk crews who man those aircraft want a public enquiry into how thomas cook went bust and why the uk airline couldn't be saved. tom burridge, bbc news, manchester airport. the headlines on bbc news...

borisjohnson says there will have to be some customs checks on the island of ireland after the uk leaves the eu. a show of military might as communist china turns seventy — but there's clashes in hong kong as demonstrators defy a protest ban. the duchess of sussex has started legal action against the mail on sunday newspaper over an allegation it unlawfully published one of her private letters. one of britain's rarest mammals is once again living in the forest of dean in gloucestershire. pinemartens, which are about the size of a cat, were hunted to extinction there a hundred years ago — now 18 have been relocated from scotland. sally challoner reports, this is the moment the wild pinemartens were released from their secret holding pen into the forest of dean. transported the 200 odd miles from scotland last month, it's hope they'll establish, breed, and spread here. so when they come down from scotland, you put them in here for a few days, they are going to climatise

to their surroundings, and when they are ready to go, and we are happy that they are safe and healthy, we open the gates, and out they go. this is everything a pinemarten needs. it's got a den box to sleep in, it's got a feeding station, and lots of cover as well to hide away. but it basically helps them get set up in the dean. habitat loss and over hunting meant pine martens disappeared from these woodlands completely. our hopes hang on the success of this project. each of the pinemartens has a collar attached to it with a leather strap, which falls off naturally, if it gets caught on anything, they can pull it off. so it's really safe, you it's been used a lot for different mammals, and every night, we go out, and we basically worked out where they are going, where they are establishing territories, where they are denning down, just to keep an eye on them, so we know how they are doing. pinemartens aren'tjust an iconic native species, they'll also help to control the population of the non—native and very destructive grey squirrel. they are damaging our native broad leaf. so you can see here, this young oak that we've planted, this will never become a healthy

tree, because it's been severely damaged at this early stage in its life. so you hope the pinemartens will predate on the grey squirrels? so evidence from scotland and ireland suggest that the pine martens, almost introduce this climate of fear, so they, the breeding success of the grey squirrels is impacted, and they are also directly predated on by the pine martens too. it's hoped another 40 pine martins will arrive here over the next two years, 100 years since they first disappeared. sally challoner, bbc points west, in the forest of dean. the winner of the royal institute of british architect's most prestigious award, the riba stirling prize, will be announced a week today. there are six nominations for britain's best new building of 2019 which include a railway station, new council housing and a property made entirely of cork. we will be taking a closer look at each of the nominated buildings over the next week. today we look at the nevill holt opera building.

the 400—seat opera house is tucked away in the leicestershire countryside. it's located in the stable block which is attached to a grade i listed building that dates back to before the year 1300. opera singing. this is originally a stable block courtyard. we've converted this beautiful historic building into an exceptional but intimate theatre. you can't see it at all from the outside, you enter the building and this remarkable space is revealed. in contrast to many opera theatres which have gold and red velvet seats, we wanted to retain some of the character of the stable yard. we already had these rich ironstone walls, timber and felt it a natural material to go to.

our first task was to make a new floor, to bring the stage at ground level. we then created a new roof over the courtyard to make the room. but we wanted to keep a memory of the courtyard, and so we introduced a large roof light over the space. singing. we have a mission at nevill holt opera to encourage young artists and young performers and we want them to excel and sound excellent in this acoustic. the building is a little like an instrument, and we had to tune it to ensure that the young performers can hear their own voices when they're performing. we did this with adjustments to the form of the balcony, ensuring that there were reflective surfaces which bring the sound

back to the performers. and the wooden material very carefully designed and selected by the acousticians, make sure that the sound resonates but also is absorbed by the stone walls. so the whole building works in harmony — we get resonance and absorption. i can safely say there is not a bad seat to be had in this house and everywhere, the music in this building sounds fantastic. you can find out more about all of the nominated buildings on the bbc arts website and watch this year's riba stirling prize live here on the bbc news channel next tuesday evening from 8:30pm. dozens of flood warnings have been issued as torrential rain sweeps across parts of england. roads have been closed

and landslides have blocked the railway line between carlisle and newcastle. a major incident was declared in the isle of man when people were trapped in their homes by rising water. dan johnson reports. he hasjust sent he has just sent this update for us. you can see the water here is still flowing really quickly this evening, and the recovery effort is really under way. you can see they are trying to shore up the flood defences here alongside the river, laying these bags, but in truth, i think it's too late, because the flooding has already happened, this was a flash flood, returns, you can see how forceful it was. you can see this in the river, that something that will have to deal with tomorrow, but for now, the real impact here is on homeowners. homeowners like gilles ackley who lives just across the road from the river. how badly things this morning? absolutely terrible. when the river started bursting its banks, all i did was

try to barricade the house as best i could, and then, i heard a terrible bang. the river bank had collapsed, andl bang. the river bank had collapsed, and ijust ran straight upstairs and got me animals upstairs, i've got three pets, and got them all upstairs, and water just three pets, and got them all upstairs, and waterjust came ripping through the house. we were in six feet of water. it's just devastation. every thing downstairs is run. everything is completely and utterly ruined. everything from the forest to the furniture, and everything. i just thankfully, we are here, it's all material, really. you know, can all material, really. you know, can all be replaced. these are your car is? they are just driving away... they've been com pletely driving away... they've been completely submerged. that's got to 90, completely submerged. that's got to go, that's completely gone as well. three cars gone, completely. is the insurance committee being helpful? they are. they've been in touch, they are coming first thing tomorrow morning. so hopefully, then

we can move on with our lives. get everything back to what it was, you know? because if you don't laugh, you are going to cry, you know because my i can stand here and cry, which i really want to do, but i'm not going to. i understand. the mac i'm going to be strong you know? you have to be strong, you know? you have to, thank you we wish you all the best. that's thejob you we wish you all the best. that's the job that people here are facing, there's about a dozen houses along this road that are being flooded out. there downstairs being com pletely out. there downstairs being completely ruined. a lot of work to do here tomorrow. the islands chief minister is actually flying back early from the conservative party conference so that he can come and see the damage for himself tomorrow. danjohnson see the damage for himself tomorrow. dan johnson reporting there, see the damage for himself tomorrow. danjohnson reporting there, just devastating, isn't it? to get your house flooded like that. just going to bring you a bit more now on that statement by prince harry tonight about what he feels is very poor treatment of his wife by the tabloid press here in the the uk. they have announced that they are launching legal action against the

newspaper. they say over an allegation unlawfully publishing her private letter, but when you read the statement which is a buzz on social media tonight, it's much more than a private letter. it's about continued treatment of his wife. that he talks about, he says my wife has become one of the latest victims ofa has become one of the latest victims of a british tabloid press, that wages campaigns against individuals, with no thoughts of the consequences. a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, and throughout her pregnancy, and while raising our newborn son. he said he could no longer sit and stand in silence, and watch his wife suffer. very moving paragraph at the end of the statement, when prince harry writes... that there comes a point when the only thing to do is stand up to this behaviour, because it destroys people, and destroys lives. put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. and he also refers to his mother, he

saidi and he also refers to his mother, he said i lost my mother, and now i watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces. more watch my wife falling victim to the same powerfulforces. more on that on the bbc news website, by the way. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. hello there. it's been a very wet 24—hours or so, particularly across england and wales, when we started tuesday off with around 74 flood warnings. however, that number did start to fall through the course of the day. but i'm pleased to say, if you're fed up of all this rain, about midweek it is looking drier with some sunshine. now this evening and overnight, the showers and thunderstorms will clear away from central and southern england and wales, we will start to see a colder and drier air mass moving south with largely clear skies. a few showers will still affect northern scotland ,where it will be windy, but a cold night to come with a touch of frost for northern england and central and southern scotland. that's because we are importing our air all the way down from the north. not far from the artic, in fact. you can see the blue hue right across the uk, so it means it is going to be

a really chilly start to wednesday. in fact, the coldest start we have had of the season so far. however, there will be plenty of sunshine around, and for many it will stay dry and sunny all day. quite a keen wind blowing across northern and eastern scotland down the eastern side of england, that will feed in a few showers here, but elsewhere it should be dry. top temperature around 14—15 degrees, but generally in the low teens for most. now, just want to draw your attention to hurricane lorenzo, which was a major storm a few of days ago. it is now continuing to weaken fairly rapidly, as it is moving closer towards our shores. there has been a bit of uncertainty as to where it would end up, but it is now looking like it will arrive across western parts of ireland through thursday to bring some gales and heavy rain. and then push across the british isles, it'll also introduce much milder air right across the board, you can see those blue colours being pushed back northwards. so this is how thursday is shaping up. it looks like it will be a dry start, plenty of sunshine across much of the country, but heavy rain and gales across ireland will push into northern ireland and then into irish sea coasts, into western parts of britain

by the end of the day. those temperatures will be creeping up ever so slowly from the south. it still could be quite a cool one across the north—east. it looks like the remnants of hurricane lorenzo continue to ease down. in fact, it fizzles out quite quickly, as it pushes across the uk during friday. we'll start off with some fairly strong winds and outbreaks of rain, which will tend to ease away southwards, many places becoming drier and the winds also becoming lighter as well. still mild in the south, little bit milder in the north too.

with wind and rain spreading into the south. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. borisjohnson says his new brexit plan will involve customs checks on the island of ireland — but he tells the bbc he's still confident the eu will agree to a deal. we do think that our proposals are good and creative but i accept also that there may be hard yards ahead. the new border proposal gets a cool reception from dublin, we'll discuss whether it's likely to be a way to avoid a no—deal brexit. us secretary of state mike pompeo weighs in on the impeachment inquiry into president trump, trading accusations