borisjohnson is in a race to try to persuade mps to back his new brexit deal, ahead of an historic vote in parliament tomorrow. the prime minister says he's very confident he'll win — the result is expected to be tight. of course, we're going to try to persuade and point out the real positives in this deal, on the substance, on the merits and i'm confident that that will help bring people behind it, and obviously it will be a close vote tomorrow but i'm confident we can get this done now. but opposition parties are set to vote against him, and northern ireland's ten democratic unionist mps won't support the deal. the deal is toxic as far as northern ireland is concerned. it does not meet the promises which the prime minister made, that the whole of the united kingdom

would be leaving the eu. we'll have all the latest from here in westminster. the other news this lunchtime... there's been sporadic fighting in syria, despite turkey's agreement to suspend its military offensive against kurdish forces. barcelona is brought to a standstill as a general strike is called over the jailing of separatist leaders. more than 700 people are arrested across the uk as police launch an operation to break the so—called county lines drug gangs. and in japan, excitement mounts as three home nations prepare for this weekend's quarterfinal matches at the rugby world cup. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news, good news for wales, dan biggar is fit and they'll be at full strength for their world cup quaretrfinal against france.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one from westminster, where the prime minister is in a race to try to persuade mps to back his new brexit agreement before tomorrow's vote in parliament. borisjohnson says he's very confident he'll win backing for the deal struck yesterday in brussels, but the result is expected to be tight. with opposition parties and the dup set to vote against him, mrjohnson is trying to convince labour mps to switch sides, while keeping his own backbenchers onboard. our political correspondent iain watson has this report. here is a turnup for the books, a conservative prime minister who actually seem to enjoy his excursion to brussels. backslapping all round, as borisjohnson secured a brexit

deal yesterday. but 2a hours, these days, is a long time in politics. and he is facing more difficulties backin and he is facing more difficulties back in tenure than in brussels, as he struggles to get enough mps on side. so, what kind of deal will they be voting on? much of it is similarto they be voting on? much of it is similar to theresa may's, for example, protecting citizens rights, eu residents here, uk citizens over there. the uk will also pay what the eu regards as its financial obligations, a divorce bill of around £33 billion. but the deal is different when it comes to northern ireland. there would be no border checks in ireland but there will be checks in ireland but there will be checks on some goods going from great britain to northern ireland, and this has cost the support of the dup. the deal is toxic as far as northern ireland is concerned. it does not meet the promises which the prime minister made, that the whole of the united kingdom would be leaving the eu. so, we will not be voting for the deal and indeed we will be voting against it and encouraging others to do so. boris

johnson has lost the dup, but he will be hoping to hold onto some of his sceptical mps who share their views. so, would the government discipline any of their own politicians who step out of line? of course, we're going to try and persuade and point out the real positives in this deal, on the merits, and i and confident that that will help bring people behind it, and obviously it will be a close vote tomorrow but i am confident we can get this done now. here is a measure of how hard the government is trying to get the deal through. conservative whips, those who try to keep party discipline, have been calling around their colleagues, including, presumably by mistake, an mp who had actually defected to the lib dems. ijust got a call saying, are you going to vote for this deal and is there anything i can do to help? and i told him that actually there is nothing they could do to help me, this is a lousy deal. meanwhile, the labour leadership are trying to keep their mps in leave areas from backing the deal. this is

what the shadow chancellor said when told that this mp, ronnie campbell, was likely to vote with boris johnson. i will have a chat with ronnie, because ronnie is a socialist, labour mp and the one thing he has stood up for all his life is the protection of workers' rights. this will undermine workers rights. this will undermine workers rights in our country. and how did that chat go? at the moment, i will be voting to support the deal. but i am getting a lot of pressure from the head lads of the labour party, jeremy corbyn and john mcdonnell, to abstain. because of the deregulation of workers' rights. if all these manoeuvrings weren't complicated enough, iam manoeuvrings weren't complicated enough, i am afraid i manoeuvrings weren't complicated enough, iam afraid i have manoeuvrings weren't complicated enough, i am afraid i have to tell you that something else is going to happen here at westminster tomorrow as well. a cross—party group of mps are going to try to change boris johnson's deal, to make sure it only comes into effective he is willing to extend the brexit deadline. they say this is an insurance policy

against leaving with no deal at all. if we don't need the extension, having asked for it, it should terminate immediately we leave the eu, and we are all in favour of doing this as abruptly as possible, if it can be done by 31st october, fantastic, but we want to make sure that we don't drop out by mistake in between now and then. and saturday is likely to be one of the most dramatic moments at westminster in recent yea rs. dramatic moments at westminster in recent years. the stakes are high and the key votes will be close. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. so, what do voters think of the agreement? in the eu referendum, more than two—thirds of people in barnsley voted to leave the eu. but the town is represented by two labour mps, whose party is opposed to mrjohnson‘s deal. our north of england correspondent, danny savage, has been speaking to voters about tomorrow's vote, and a question of divided loyalties.

barnsley, a traditionally labour supporting town which voted out in the referendum. so, how do people here feel about their local mps being ordered to vote against the brexit deal tomorrow?|j being ordered to vote against the brexit deal tomorrow? i think that labour ought to go with the deal, it is time it was sorted out. after three years it has dragged on and dragged on. i voted to leave. so you would want your mp to vote for this deal a few probably, yeah. but he has been told not to?|j deal a few probably, yeah. but he has been told not to? i know! what do you think of that? i don't know, it is theirjob to do it, i am so undecided, i am up in the airway it all. i think they should vote to leave because the country voted to leave. simple as that? simple as that. david and i voted differently on the brexit thing and it is the only thing that we would argue about so we try not to talk about it too much. which is why you didn't want to talk to me when i stop to! most

people here think there is nothing difficult about the conundrum facing mps tomorrow. people of barnsley voted to leave, 68%, simple. you would be very happy if you see your labourmp would be very happy if you see your labour mp defying what he is being told to do by his party? you have got to ask yourself, where do your loyalties lie, do they lie with the party or with the people that voted you in, hence that is why you are getting a big salary as an mp, to represent the electorate? so you think your local labour mp should d efy think your local labour mp should denyeremy corbyn tomorrow? think your local labour mp should defy jeremy corbyn tomorrow? yes, he should, get it over and done with, we want to come out, most of barnsley wants to come out anyway, so barnsley wants to come out anyway, so why would they not vote to come out? simple, really, out. but outside barnsley college, there was a note of caution. a deal, yes, in my opinion, because then at least we can have something and plan with it. if they keep changing from no deal to this deal, it makes businesses more confused and annoyed at what they needed. barnsley feels no less pro—brexit than it did when we

reported from here the day after the referendum. it will be watching what labour mps referendum. it will be watching what labourmps do referendum. it will be watching what labour mps do tomorrow. danny savage, bbc news, barnsley. our political correspondent iain watson is with me. ahead of that crucial, special setting on saturday tomorrow, the first since the falklands conflict ata first since the falklands conflict at a weekend, can you crunch some numbers for us, how many votes does borisjohnson numbers for us, how many votes does boris johnson need and numbers for us, how many votes does borisjohnson need and how many at the moment does it look like he is going to get? he has got a target of 320 mp5 going to get? he has got a target of 320 mps he has got to get onside. we already know he's lost the dup, that's ten votes gone. it is likely, iam told, that's ten votes gone. it is likely, i am told, that he could pick up ten oi’ i am told, that he could pick up ten or ii i am told, that he could pick up ten or 11 labour i am told, that he could pick up ten orii labourmps, who i am told, that he could pick up ten or 11 labour mps, who are i am told, that he could pick up ten orii labour mps, who are in i am told, that he could pick up ten or 11 labour mps, who are in leave areas and who are worried about their constituents if they do not back a deal. that would cancel all of that out. but my assessment at the moment is that he is still short of that magic number. one reason for thatis of that magic number. one reason for that is that some of the long—standing leave campaigners, the brexiteers, are taking their lead

from the dup, they have got the concerns about the border in the irish sea. one of them, marc francois, was going into downing street this morning when we caught up street this morning when we caught up with him and he said he still had concerns, and this vote is going to be on an absolute knife edge. a senior mp said to me before we came on air, this is going to be nip and tuck, it could be a few votes either side, so it is absolutely crucial that he can at least keep his own conservative mps onside. he also needs to bring back some of those who he basically chucked out of the party because they were against no deal. i think he will get most of them but not all of them, used and there is going to be strong arm—twisting by the whips today, the cabinet is going to discuss the numbers this afternoon. on the labour side, numbers this afternoon. on the labourside, in an numbers this afternoon. on the labour side, in an attempt to keep the number of rebels down, people who might vote borisjohnson, a leader leading member of the nec, the person who set up the left—wing group mantom, said today that he believed that mps who vote for boris johnson's deal should be chucked out of the labour party and replaced. iain watson, thank you very much.

eu leaders meeting for a summit in brussels are now waiting for tomorrow's vote. our europe correspondent adam fleming is there. if borisjohnson loses tomorrow, from an eu perspective, adam, what happens then? well, ben, that is not a subject which is being discussed publicly here because the eu is throwing everything at making sure this deal gets through. in that sense, they've signed up to that infamous boris johnson phrase sense, they've signed up to that infamous borisjohnson phrase of, get brexit done by 31st october. that means the lawyers and the translators are working overtime to get the revised deal into the 23 other eu languages and all sorts of bureaucratic procedures are being ditched to get the deal through on this side by 31st october. it might not sound like a big deal but these quys not sound like a big deal but these guys are bureaucrats, so, ditching bureaucratic procedures and cutting corners is a big sacrifice for them.

in terms of what actually happens, there is a meeting pencilled in here in brussels on sunday for ambassadors from the eu member states to chew over whatever has happened at westminster on saturday. if that is a thumbs down to the deal from mps, then i imagine they will start talking about the process of another delay to brexit, another extension of article 50, which, article 50 of the eu treaty does allow them to do. they would probably wait for the uk to ask for an extension and then they would be talking about how long it would be, which would be related to what the purpose of the extension was, was it to solve a small problem or a big problem, and what conditions might be attached? but i come back to my first point, this is not something they want to contemplate at the moment because they want that deal to go through. adam, thank you very much, adam fleming there. lots of numbercrunching and arm—twisting here at westminster, but that is it from me. back to the studio.

there has been sporadic shelling and gunfire in northern syria, a day after turkey accepted a us demand for a temporary halt to its offensive against kurdish targets. yesterday, president erdogan agreed to a five—day pause to allow kurdish forces to withdraw from a swathe of territory along the turkish border. barbara plett—usher reports. bombing. there is a ceasefire in place but not all is quiet. in the syrian border town of ras al—ain, the sound of artillery shattered the morning, sporadic gunfire continued. kurdish forces have accused turkey of shelling civilians. the turkish president has denied it. the kurdish militias are deeply entrenched in the city. just a day earlier they were still fighting hard to keep it. turkey says they are a terrorist threat and is determined to expel them away from the border. what happens here will likely be an early test of the accord. what the americans brokered was a pause in the violence,

but it was enough for president trump to declare victory. he needed one — his decision to withdraw us troops has been strongly criticised as abandoning america's kurdish allies and paving the way for turkey's incursion. we've all agreed on a pause, or a ceasefire, in the border region of syria. and it was unconventional what i did. i said, they're going to have to fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight a little while. it's like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then pull them apart. this was definitely not a victory for the kurds. ankara has agreed to suspend the military operation for five days and to eventually make that permanent, but only if the kurdish fighters pull out and give up their heavy weapons. you cannot solve your refugee problem by making new refugees, by displacing people from their homes. so it's a really serious humanitarian problem, which requires more deliberation, because these people have nowhere to go, because

these people are the local people of these people are the local people of the region. in fact, the americans have essentially accepted what the turks were trying to achieve with the military operation, a buffer zone on the syrian side of the border that they will control with their armed forces. already, the human cost has been great, some 300,000 people displaced. kurdish civilians are wondering what will happen to them, even if the fighting stops. and we can speak to barbara now. as we were hearing, there has been that sporadic shelling and gunfire during what was supposed to be a pause,is during what was supposed to be a pause, is there much hope that the ceasefire will work? well, i think initially, we have to see whether it will work in the first five days, which is the period of quiet during which is the period of quiet during which the kurdish fighters are supposed to withdraw. you're right, there has been sporadic gunfire and shelling but nothing like what we have seen over the past couple of days. perhaps it will quieten down even more, the kurdish fighters will leave, and the turks well, then, and their military operation, that is

what they say. but the reality has changed, for one thing, the turks will be able to stay in the zone. at least the agreement with the americans didn't say that they couldn't. the other thing is that they want a much bigger area along they want a much bigger area along the whole of the border. the kurds are in this area, but so are also syrian forces and their russian backers, and those people were not at the negotiating table. so it is really quite a complicated situation, and the turks, having entered northern syria in the way that they did, although they did it for their own security needs, they say, will have created more security complicated in how it plays out in the longer—term. our top story this lunchtime... the prime minister is racing to convince mps to back his new brexit deal before tomorrow's crucial vote in the commons. and crucial vote in the commons. how satellites in spa to and how satellites in space may help to protect whales at risk of becoming stranded. coming up in the sport, no room for racism. the

premier league campaign returns this weekend with fans asked to report discrimination if they see it at matches. there have been fierce gun battles in northern mexico after security forces seized a son of the jailed drugs kingpin, joaquin ‘el chapo' guzman. heavily armed members of the cartel exchanged fire with police and troops for several hours after ovidio guzman lopez was picked up in the city of culiacan. police later withdrew without him. our south america correspondent will grant reports. sustained gun fire. culiacan is a city at war. not a conventional war perhaps, but an intense and violent conflict all the same. heavily armed gunmen from the powerful sinaloa cartel exchanged sustained gunfire with the police and the military

in the state capital, spreading panic in the city's main commercial district. gunfire. their demand was simple, they wanted their leader, ovidio guzman, the son of the most notorious drug lord, joaquin "el chapo" guzman, to be released immediately. once the fighting subsided a little, the government gave its version of events, saying a routine police patrol had been attacked from a home and the officers went in to take control. translation: during this incident one of them was identified as ovidio guzman lopez. as a result, several organised crime groups surrounded the house with a force greater than that of the patrol unit. given the cartel‘s greater force and the potential harm to the civilian population, the authorities later said that the police decided to turn the wanted drug lord over to his men. if that is in fact what happened, and in mexico moments like this are generally very murky,

it will be a huge embarrassment to the state and federal governments. at the same time there was a prison break in the city involving as many as 20 inmates who escaped in the chaos. el chapo guzman was recently sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in the united states on drug trafficking charges. his sons have partly inherited the family business. the government of president andres manuel lopez obrador has been accused of failing to create a coherent security strategy on the drug war since coming to power nearly a year ago. this latest violence will only serve as further evidence to his critics that his administration needs to get a grip on the problem still sweeping much of the country. will grant, bbc news, mexico. the catalonia region of north—east spain is in the grip of a general strike, called in protest at the jailing of separatist leaders. demonstrators have blocked at least 20 major roads,

and barcelona has been brought to a standstill. more than a0 people were hurt in disturbances overnight. let's speak to our correspondent in barcelona, damian grammaticas. what is the latest? well, those protests are building up today. we are right in the centre of barcelona and you can see the street is ram packed with protesters. the reason they are here is that these are the officers of the spanish national police and you can see the officers have already been targeted with paintand have already been targeted with paint and eggs and flour. the protesters are very angry about the jailing at the beginning of the week of cata la n jailing at the beginning of the week of catalan separatist leaders. we have a shot from a helicopter to give you a sense of the scale of what is building up here. tens of thousands already, hundreds of thousands already, hundreds of thousands predicted to gather by the end of the day here in barcelona. it has been a week of sometimes quite violent clashes where the protesters

have confronted the police and the police have responded in the evenings, often with rubber bullets and truncheons to drive those protesters back. what the protesters say is the jailing of those independence leaders for organising a bad referendum two years ago and trying to declare independence for the region, they say those leaders are political prisoners and their drive for independence will not let up. this is not supported by eve ryo ne up. this is not supported by everyone in catalonia, there is a 50-50 everyone in catalonia, there is a 50—50 split in the region. many people do not support the bid for independence but nevertheless have been angered by the severity of the jail sentences handed out this week and that is why the general strike gold today is expected to draw out so many on the streets. back to you. a churchwarden has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted

of murdering a university lecturer. he killed him in order to inherit his house and money and the murder followed a campaign of physical and mental torture. police have arrested more than 700 people across the uk during a week—long operation to tackle so—called county lines drugs crime, where gangs from cities expand their operations to smaller towns. in total, drugs with a street value of about £400,000 were seized, as well as guns and other weapons. here's our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. in the worcestershire town of droitwich, covert police officers have been waiting to move in on a suspected county lines drugs gang, tracked on automatic number plate cameras from birmingham. these men appear to have been switching cars to avoid detection. the gangs move their drugs out of cities to smaller towns like this, but it means urban and rural police forces, here west

midlands and west murcia, have to work together. for the drugs gangs cou nty work together. for the drugs gangs county lines gives them a bigger market across the country. for the police it means they have to coordinate their efforts, forces talking to forces, different types of units, uniforms and plain clothes, using technology, all has to work together and it means a big operation like this. it seems to be working. in the week long push 743 people were arrested. more than £420,000 worth of drugs was seized, and 49 phone lines used for deals we re and 49 phone lines used for deals were disrupted. but county lines do not just harm the were disrupted. but county lines do notjust harm the drug users, these officers are heading on the rail network looking among the regular passengers for people forced or groomed by the gangs into moving the drugs around, a crucial part of this criminal business model. so officers fighting organised crime also have to deal with these vulnerable victims. you get to the point where you understand exactly how heartless

and cruel these individuals are. they do not see these children as vulnerable children, they see them asa vulnerable children, they see them as a commodity and a way of using them to make them more money. we know more than we have ever known about the gangs and the people exploited as part of county lines activity because we have real coordination now between different forces up and down the country. just as the police have changed their tactics, it is likely the gangs will as well. they have shown they are prepared to protect their trade, worth half year, and they seem to be here to stay. a six—year—old boy seriously injured after allegedly thrown from the viewing platform of the tate modern in london has been moved out of intensive care. the french child is now in a rehabilitation centre. his family say he looks like "a little knight", with splints keeping his limbs in place as he recovers. 18—year—old jonty bravery is due to appear in court next month for allegedly throwing the boy

from the 10th floor of the art gallery. he will be charged with attempted murder. he will be charged with attempted murder. scientists say they've developed an effective technique to spot the mass stranding of whales from space. high resolution satellites orbiting the earth can now be used to scan coastlines, zooming in on the animals' positions. being able to detect strandings more quickly will help the conservation of whales as well as other animals and could become a powerful tool to assess the state of the marine environment. rebecca morelle reports. they are the giants of the deep roaming the world is‘ oceans, but when things go wrong it can happen ona when things go wrong it can happen on a huge scale. last year in australia, there were more than 150 wales washed up. by the time rescuers got there, most were dead. with events like these time is vital, but scientists have found a new way to attract strandings, from

space. using powerful satellites they can scan thousands of kilometres of coast, zooming in on the animals until a body of a beached whale is revealed. satellites can enable us to take pictures and see whale stranding is much more rapidly than people have capacity to do on the ground in remote areas, and they will give us that extra opportunity to react quickly and learn from stranding events and hopefully do better with how we manage them in our oceans. this skeleton fills the hole at the natural history museum and it is the sheer size of these animals that makes them easier to spot from space. but there is still so much we don't know about wales, how they live and how they die. if we can spot how many are stranding and where, it could help us to better understand why it is happening. strandings are complex events. the animals might be ill or lacking food, but issues like pollution, boat strikes and climate change are

causing problems as well. they are amazing animals, they are top predator turns and they are involved in the marine ecosystem and if they are suffering because of any actions of humans, then we need to monitor that and mitigate that if possible. satellites are helping conservationists more and more. they are now tracking albatrosses from space. the wildebeest migration has been monitored as well and the technology is helping to establish the size of penguin colonies. the satellites are the size of penguin colonies. the satellites a re really the size of penguin colonies. the satellites are really powerful and the resolution means automating the process , the resolution means automating the process, and it means machine learning and intelligence to pull out the information we require. these animals were once hunted to the brink of extinction, now their numbers are growing again, but it is a fragile recovery and using technology to monitor this will be key.

it's crunch time this weekend at the rugby world cup, as the competition reaches its knock—out quarter final stage. the three surviving home nations are all in action, with england taking on australia tomorrow, followed by ireland facing the favourites new zealand. wales play france on sunday. our sports editor dan roan has been looking at their chances. here in the south ofjapan the pressure is rising. the volcanic town of beppu, famous for its numerous hot springs, is where england have been preparing for a defining moment. earlier they let off steam themselves here in nearby oita, where tomorrow they will play their first world cup knockout game for eight years. straight through the middle... england go into the match on a six—game winning streak against australia, but there are painful memories too, having been eliminated by them four years ago on home soil, and nothing is being taken for granted. we have the best eight teams now in the world playing four games, so we have worked four years to get here, we have done a lot of hard work, the players have been absolutely brilliant in terms

of their preparation on and off the field, and we feel like we have prepared well for this game. but england aren't the only home nation in action here in oita this weekend. six nations champions wales are also in town and ahead of their quarterfinal against france on sunday. plenty of time then for the welsh fans to make more friends in oita, having already tasted victory here earlier in the tournament. it is a huge game for us, there is no underestimating that. but we are confident. the welsh boys, what they have done in the past, they are not going to take france lightly, but it is a massive game and we can't wait for it. you are grand slam champions, you must be very confident of victory against the french. you never know how the french are going to turn up, do you? we've got faith in the team. but it's ireland who face the toughest challenge this weekend, taking on reigning champions new zealand in tokyo.

but having beaten the all blacks twice in their last three encounters, the underdogs will believe they can reach the semifinals for the first time. the all blacks are always raising the bar and everyone else is chasing the bar and trying to get to the same height. i guess it is genuinely something we will find out on saturday. but the action starts here, 600 miles away where two world cup quarterfinals will provide a new attraction this weekend and with the losers going home the heat is on. dan roan, bbc news, oita. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller you can tell us how it is looking for the rugby. last week there was a major typhoon, but this week it is quieter. it looks to be clearing away in time for the england match. it is new zealand against ireland and there

may be a few showers around in