this programme contains scenes of repetitive flashing images. tonight at ten, the prime minister accepts an extension to the brexit process, despite repeated pledges not to do so. he writes to the european council president accepting a three—month extension finally ruling out his promised brexit at the end of this month. mrjohnson went to ask mps to agree to a general election on december 12th, but labour wants a specific guarantee before it says yes. the ayes to the right, 299. the noes to the left, 70. despite today's failure for the prime minister, he says he'll try again tomorrow putting labour's position under pressure. we look forward to a clear, definitive decision that no deal is absolutely off the table. we will not allow this paralysis to continue, and one way or another,

we must proceed straight to an election. we'll have the latest from westminster and from brussels, and the likelihood of an election before christmas. also tonight... a lorry driver appears in court charged with the manslaughter of 39 people found dead in a container in essex last week. and we report from the district in vietnam, where it's thought many of the victims in the lorry came from. the death of a british teenager has changed the way social media firms deal with harmful posts, according to the head of instagram. and how one of the world's most powerful telescopes is unlocking the mysteries of "dark energy", the force that makes up most of the cosmos. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, the countdown is under way to the rugby world cup final. england get ready to face south africa in a repeat of the 2007 showdown.

good evening. the prime minister, who said last month that he'd rather ‘die in a ditch‘ than ask for another brexit delay, has written to the european council president, accepting a three—month extension to the brexit process. it's the formal confirmation that mrjohnson‘s pledge to take britain out of the eu by this thursday can't be delivered. the prime minister has again called for an early general election. he said this parliament had become "dysfunctional", but his plan for an election on december 12th was rejected by the house of commons tonight. another attempt is expected tomorrow. labour says it will not agree to an election unless a no—deal brexit is completely ruled out. this report, from our political editor laura kuenssberg, contains flash photography.

throw your hands up if you like. very short and efficient and constructive meeting and i'm happy that the decision has been taken. short and efficient? not how anyone could describe the brexit process. is this extension too long? full of missteps and stumbles. be careful, be careful, take care. but the meeting in brussels to give the uk another three—month delay was exactly that. the prime minister says the pause was imposed on the government against its will and, writing to the eu council, he says... he goes on to state that... despite borisjohnson‘s rush, he has broken his brexit

deadline and his promised to leave by halloween. instead, this afternoon, tried to push the mps to the ballot box. there is a widespread view that this parliament has run its course. and that is because i simply do not believe that this house is capable of delivering on the priorities of the people, whether that means brexit or anything else. technically, this session's only been going a couple of weeks but the current cast have been in place since 2017. there is nothing comfortable about this for labour. they won't agree a contest yet. he will avoid his responsibilities, break his promises to dodge scrutiny. and, today, he wants an election and his bill! well, not with our endorsement. there is a message to the people of scotland... the snp and the lib dems, though, were not ready to back the prime minister tonight but tomorrow when he will need

only to win by one might be a different story. we will not vote with the government tonight but make no mistake, the scottish national party are ready to give people back their say. the way forward now is to have an election but to do so responsibly, not letting the prime minister force through his bad brexit deal. there are doubts, though, about an election, even in tory ranks and among their natural allies. we are not wreckers. we do not want to see the united kingdom ungovernable. but the one thing we are not prepared to do is to see the united kingdom divided. division! clear the lobby! ultimately, the prime minister was miles off what he needed. the ayes to the right, 299. the noes to the left, 70. but, just when one vote has gone, along comes another round here. number ten will ask mps again tomorrow to back an election

on december the 12th. but they'll vow this time to ditch any effort to get their brexit deal through parliament. with that gone, the opposition parties may be more enthusiastic but suspicions of borisjohnson‘s motives are all around tonight. but tomorrow this parliament might call time on an era of short tempers and long debates and move swiftly into a ferocious campaign of short days and long election nights. laura is at westminster. we'll talk to her in a moment, but, first, to our europe editor katya adler in brussels. how does brussels view the prospect ofan how does brussels view the prospect of an election within weeks here? well, if we think about to when theresa may was prime minister, at the time eu leaders hope that if you got parliament involve that could help solve the eu's brexit question.

at another time they thought a second referendum or a general election, definitely when they'd been renegotiating the brexit deal of late eu leaders had hoped this could bring the issue of brexit to a conclusion in the uk. certainly the prime minister promised eu leaders it would and coming out, look where we are right now. there have been so many false storms when it comes to the brexit process. that's why the panellist asked them, yes, you accept the extension but could you, the eu, make it clear this‘ll be the very last brexit delay? this is not something eu leaders are prepared to do because what happens if it comes toa do because what happens if it comes to a general election and it proved inconclusive when it comes to brexit? what happens if the new brexit? what happens if the new brexit deal comes again before parliament and mps reject it? eu leaders, their main focus throughout all these months of negotiation has been to avoid a damaging no—deal brexit. they want to keep in their

back pocket the possibility of another brexit extension if need be to avoid an odious scenario, even if the idea of even more brexit delay really does not to make you happy. laura kuenssberg is in westminster. what about a vote before christmas because you are the chances are good in terms of getting what they desire. the idea of getting that clarity that katya adler was talking bad, of getting to the country in a way they hoped would work out for them. just because the chances are better than they have been in terms of getting to the ballot box, it doesn't mean whatsoever this will be a slam dunk. remember, he has tried before and failed, tried again and failed to tried again tonight and failed to tried again tonight and failed again. it seems tonight the lib dems and the snp are pretty much on board but pretty much is very important. they will be waiting to

see precisely in black—and—white what the terms of the vote the prime minister wants to have tomorrow and don't underestimate for one single second how other mps from the labour party or the dup might try to get in there and amend or change what has been put forward in front of them. so, certainly, it seems things could be stacking up for the prime minister but it doesn't mean he will reach this goal in 2a hours' time. it seems, though, parliament has been inching towards this moment for many weeks now. it could be that we are now in the final strides. laura, thank you. once again laura kuenssberg in westminster and katya adler in brussels. a lorry driver has appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of 39 people who were found dead in a container in essex last week. maurice robinson is accused of being part of a global network of people—smugglers. earlier today, the prime minister visited the scene were the bodies were found, and left flowers in memory of those who died,

as our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. the prime minister and the chief constable remembering the 39 people who died in the refrigerated trailer at a simple ceremony in grays in essex today. in the book of condolence, boris johnson wrote that the whole world had been shocked by the tragedy and said the government would do everything in its power to bring the perpetrators to justice. a message the chief constable repeated. we will continue to try to bring justice for these families to bring these people, put them in front of the court to answer for their crimes, wherever they might be. at chelmsford magistrates, in front of the world's press, the first person to be accused was in court. 25—year—old maurice robinson of craigavon in northern ireland, appeared by video link from grays police station. the list of charges he faces includes 39 of manslaughter. he is accused of killing

an unknown person one, because no victim has been identified yet, through to an unknown person 39. he is also accused of people trafficking over an 11 month period. at the end, districtjudge timothy king told maurice robinson that he would be remaining in custody until his next court appearance at the old bailey in london on the 25th of november. the home secretary, secretary priti patel! mps were warned this would be a long investigation. the organised criminals who drive this practice are dynamic, they are unscru pable and they are highly adaptable. but failing to confront them comes with a terrible, terrible human cost. we must be ruthless fiow in our response. the cargo in the refrigerated trailer that became a death trap was officially registered as cookies. the man suspected of driving it to zeebrugge was detained in dublin on saturday, and is currently being held on unrelated charges.

detectives believe he used this blue cab, which has now been seized by irish police. daniel sandford, bbc news. let's stay with this story. in vietnam, the families of people who may been among the victims in the lorry container are urging british investigators to identify the dead as soon as possible. 0ur correspondentjonathan head is in the district of yen thanh, where many of those who died are believed to have come from, and has spoken to some of the families still waiting for news. in a vietnamese front room, a family enduring an agonising wait. it's ten days since they last heard from their 26—year—old son. "a month ago i heard him talking of a business idea with a friend," says his father. "but he never asked for money, so i didn't think he was going overseas." "he called us several times after arriving in germany", explained his uncle. "but not in the past ten days."

they began to hear news that something had gone terribly wrong. then the police came, asking for samples of fingernails and hair. the awful possibility that he was inside the container is beginning to hit home for this family. his mother pleads for the british authorities to be quick. "please help us, and find my son", she says. most of the victims are thought to come from this part of vietnam. there are many other families here caught in the same misery of not knowing for sure. it's been said that it's poverty driving young people to leave here and go overseas, but that's not quite true. much of vietnam is poor, but here they've seen just how well you can do after only a few years

living in britain. they've seen the new houses and the shiny cars, and it's that that's inducing the bright and ambitious young people to make thatjourney west. it's a journey this man made more than more than ten years ago. cutting open the tarpaulin of a fruit and vegetable lorry, he says, to smuggle himself into britain. his stay was not a success. recruited to work on a farm growing marijuana, he was arrested, spent seven months in prison, and then deported. yet even now, he says, he longs to go back with his family. there is an unexpected bond between britain and this quiet part of rural vietnam. 0ne forged by dreams of better lives, and now, by tragedy. jonathan head, bbc news, yen thanh, vietnam. the labour mp keith vaz is facing

a six—month suspension from parliament after he was found to have breached the house of commons code of conduct by expressing a willingness to buy cocaine for others. it follows newspaper allegations published in 2016 that he met two male prostitutes. in a statement today, the mp for leicester east said he'd been treated for serious mental health problems since then and that he'd been admitted to hospital today. one of the men convicted of murdering the soldier lee rigby has admitted assaulting a nurse at broadmoor, the high security hospital in berkshire. a court heard how michael adebowale punched the health care assistant in july last year. adebowale is serving a as—year term for the killing of fusilier rigby in woolwich, south—east london, in 2013. the head of instagram has told bbc news that the death of the british teenager molly russell has changed the way the social media world deals with posts showing people how to hurt or even kill themselves.

molly was 1a when she took her own life after viewing graphic content on instagram. in an exclusive interview, adam mosseri says the platform will extend its ban on such images to include drawings and cartoons. but he admits harmful content still remains on the platform. you may find some of the material in angus crawford's report upsetting. she went to bed the night before we found her dead the next morning. talking to america, coast—to—coast, on breakfast tv, with other parents bereaved by suicide, ian russell has a message about big tech and its duty to protect children. it's not right. why? because the kind of graphic material molly saw on instagram, though more difficult to find, is still there. that, and the dark, depressing videos, pictures and even cartoons. ian's campaign, molly's story, forced instagram to change.

he simply wants them to keep their promise. moving forward, actually, we're going to change our policy to not allow any graphic images of self—harm. that is instagram headquarters, and ian russell has said he would love to get inside to meet staff and senior managers. the leadership of the company wants to meet him, too, but until the inquest into the death of molly is complete, that's just not legally possible. i'm holding you to your words of eight months ago, "we will remove graphic images of self—harm". it is still there, though. it feels to me like you have failed. we do remove more than twice as much content related to self— harm and suicide as we did before we made these changes. we find roughly three quarters of it, that gets taken down proactively, before anybody reports it. but there is very clearly still work to do. this work never ends. that is one side of the picture. i think there's another side which is possibly equally disturbing, the dark, the sad, the depressing, the endlessly, relentlessly

miserable material. what we announced in february was content that was graphic images of self—harm were no longer allowed. we have expanded that to include images of methods and materials used in self—harm. that is a significant step forward. molly looked up things on the internet. .. ian's hope? that social media becomes a safer place for all young people, like this group, who lost a friend to suicide. i think it's bad when people use it in the wrong way, and use it for cyber bullying, when that is not what it's for. ijust don't really want to be a part of it. i don't want to risk anything. you can do something when you are about 12 on social media and it can ruin yourentire life. it's really only bad if you use it in the wrong way. molly's death, and more specifically, the work that her parents have done in the wake of that tragedy, which...

i honestly can't begin to imagine what they have gone through, i have children of my own, but the work that they have done has raised an immense amount of awareness of an important issue, for me personally, and for instagram more broadly, but also for the industry. and it has translated into a lot of concrete changes, changes in policies, changes to what shows up where on instagram, more investment in finding people who might be at risk. and those effects are real and they are important. so her legacy may be to make social media a safer place? i...iwould... i would deeply hope so. "i would deeply hope so". absolutely sounds sincere. ijust hope he delivers. because every week that that content is still there, and in the uk, there are four more school—age children who are dying by suicide, for example, it is... there is the pressure of time.

there is the pressure of time and the price is the price of children's lives. lives like molly russell's, cut short far too soon. angus crawford, bbc news. if you are affected by that report or emotionally distressed and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline, or you can call free at any time to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066. officials in the us defense department have confirmed that the remains of the islamic state group leader, abu bakr al—baghdadi, have been disposed of, but they refused to confirm that he was buried at sea. earlier today, president trump said al—baghdadi had been left "dead as a doornail", following the us special forces operation in northern

syria two days ago. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin has been speaking to one syrian victim of islamic state, and sent this report from the turkish—syrian border. i should warn you, it contains testimony some viewers may find upsetting. a scar on the landscape, scorched earth after the us raid. this is where the islamic state leader met his end, in a tunnel beneath the soil of syria, a country he terrorised. in chicago today, president trump regaling police chiefs with his war stories. he's dead. he's dead as a door nail. laughter. they'd walk into my office. "sir, we killed this leader at a low level, this..." i said, "i've never heard of them. i want al—baghdadi. that's the only one i know now. i want al—baghdadi. get him." and they got him.

the us operation to capture or kill al—baghdadi was codenamed kayla mueller, in honour of the american aid worker he enslaved and raped. but most victims of is were muslims in the middle east. like ibrahim abdelkader, a young activist from raqqa who dared to oppose them and was slaughtered in 2015. they tried to kill his brother, ahmed, who had to go into exile. we reached him today in paris, where he is still getting medical treatment. but some traumas may never heal. translation: i carried ibrahim. his head was separated from his body and he had 160 stab wounds. i was shot three times but i don't think there's a worse pain than the one i had when i carried

ibrahim in my arms. how do you think ibrahim would feel if he was alive today, knowing that al—baghdadi has gone? he would have celebrated in the street and shouted, "we are still here and you died. your state collapsed". he always used to say that we will survive and al—baghdadi will die. his death was quick. as us forces closed in, he detonated his suicide vest. is will outlive al—baghdadi and some fear that under a new leader, it could re—emerge from the ruins. 0rla guerin, bbc news, on the turkey—syria border. wildfires are continuing to spread across northern california boosted by strong winds. one of the fires already covers

an area of 100 square miles. around 200,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes, including many celebrities living in an exclusive part of los angeles. among them is arnold schwarzenegger, who's had the la premiere of his new film postponed because of the fires. the famous getty center is also under threat. it's called "dark energy", defined by scientists as the force which causes the universe to expand at an ever—increasing rate, and it makes up most of the cosmos. how it functions is still shrouded in mystery, but one of the world's most powerful telescopes, in arizona, is to start measuring the movements of 35 million galaxies, scanning 5,000 every 20 minutes. it's hoped that the results will give researchers a much deeper understanding of dark energy and how it affects the universe. 0ur science correspondent pallab ghosh has more details.

this telescope in arizona is about to begin the most detailed study ever carried out of an invisible force that dominates our universe. what we see here on earth and in the stars and galaxies are made of atoms. that accounts for just 5% of the universe. the rest is mostly dark energy. it is just embarrassing to live in a universe where we only understand 5% of it, wouldn't you agree? i mean, how could we live in a universe knowing only 5% and not knowing about the other 95%? this is human curiosity. the nature of that dark energy, what is it, may well lead to a whole revolution in physics, in the whole of physics. in order to understand what this force is, we have to go back all the way to the beginning of the universe. after the big bang, according to the current theory, the expansion of the universe ought to be slowing down and eventually collapsing back in on itself, under the pressure of gravity. but instead, the galaxies are flying

apart faster than ever. scientists call the force behind this expansion dark energy, but they haven't got a clue what it is. this telescope will track the position and acceleration of 35 million galaxies. inside are 5,000 optical fibres. each one is a mini—telescope trained on a galaxy. they are able to swivel round to focus on another set of targets. by measuring the exact rate of expansion, astronomers will be able to tell which theory of dark energy is correct. one of them is this idea that we are not the only universe, that there is a multi—verse out there of many different universes with different properties. and dark energy may be something that is leaking from these other universes into ours, through the different dimensions, and driving this expansion of galaxies in our universe. these are pictures of real

galaxies, hurtling apart. images from the new instrument will be much sharper, and transform our understanding of how the universe works. pallab ghosh, bbc news. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to sportsday. it isa hello and welcome to sportsday. it is a final week for england at the rugby world cup, so you'd expect eddiejones to play some mind games, but with the wrong coach? guys, can you just send my best wishes to warren and make sure he joins the third and fourth play—off? tiger woods might have to build another trophy cabinet. he equals

the record with his 82nd pga tour win. and we speak to an ambassador for next yea r‘s and we speak to an ambassador for next year's rugby league world cup, who says the women's super league is going from strength to strength with the tournament just under the tournamentjust under two years away. welcome to sportsday here on bbc news. tonight we begin the countdown to england's rugby world cup final. and it won't be the only time we'll be looking forward to the saturday's match against south africa, in the company of eddiejones. england's head coach is known for his mind games... even an incendiary comment or two... but apart from indulging himself with a little dig at his welsh counterpart... jones actually kept it pretty straight today in toyko. 0ur sports correspondent andy swiss is there.

for england and south africa, the build—up to the world cup final is under way. so the figure spent the day recuperating after their hard —fought win over wales, but we have heard from the england head coach eddiejones. england are the favourites to lift the world cup after their superb victory over new zealand in the semifinals, butjones says there can be no room for complacency against the power of the springboks. the only thing we're really worried about is how the springboks turn up on saturday. you know, they won a tough semifinal, and when you're in the final of the world cup, you've done a lot of things right. there are massively aggressive physical forward pack. they probably play their stronger team in the second half as opposed to the first half, and they will be a difficult side to beat. eddiejones says he believes his team can play even better than they did on saturday, but others have been raising a few questions.

the wales coach warren gatland said after his team's defeat to south africa that he believes some teams peak for the semifinal and then struggle to match that level in the final, a comment which produced a typically lively response from eddie jones. guys, can you just send my best wishes to warren and make sure he enjoys the third and fourth play—off? said with a smile squarely on his face... the two go back a long way... they have a very rivalry. sale sharks are sending flanker ben curry to watch his brother tom in japan. ben was scheduled to play for sale on friday, but is flying out thanks to twitter. thousands of the clubs followers responded to posts which carried the hastag #getbentojapan. i think it was something that was engraved in us from a young age,

whether it was rugby,