hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. australia is facing a threat level of "catastrophic" — the highest level — from wildfires. three people have died and thousands have been displaced in new south wales and queensland, and there are warnings the worst is yet to come. in the uk, a boost for the conservatives after nigel farage makes a u—turn. he says the brexit party will not contest hundreds of seats the tories won in the last election. days after he said they would. two people are in critical condition after another day of violent demonstrations in hong kong. the territory's leader warns that it's being brought to the "brink of no return". and the co—founder of the white helmets in syria is found dead in the street

in the turkish city istanbul. it's the morning in sydney, and people are waking up to what authorities are calling a "catastrophic" threat it's the morning in sydney, and people are waking up of dangerfrom bushfires — that's the highest level of warning. and the day coming is predicted to be the worst since these fires began several weeks ago. hot temperatures and strong winds in new south wales are the reason why this threat level is being used in sydney. there are bush fires in queensland too. and we already know how desvtasting these fires can be. these are pictures from the last week. new south wales is already under a state of emergency. that gives the fire service special powers to evacuate property and turn off power. fire crews have come from all over

australia and new zealand to help. the fires escalated on friday. 150 homes were destroyed and three people died. this footage gives you a sense of the danger people and fire fighters are facing. this crew is completely surrounded by flames. and the fire service has posted these shots. the fires have already burnt 970,000 hectares of land. there are more tham 120 bushfires across queensland and new south wales. these five areas in and around sydney are now graded maximum level of danger. these areas highlighted in red are all under threat. the darker shade are at the highest level. and the smoke is so bad

you can see it from space. that is the situation in new south wales. the danger in queensland is less severe — but toxic smoke is affecting brisbane. to illustrate the severity — we're told air quality there is now worse than beijing which is ten times the size. and we have this stark advice from the fire service... if you call for help, you may not get it. and here's a spokesperson. a lot of these fires have been burning for weeks now. and we have more thani burning for weeks now. and we have more than 1 million burning for weeks now. and we have more thani million hectares of burning for weeks now. and we have more than 1 million hectares of this a light still. and our concern is where the people in front of these

fires. if we think back to last friday, but those fires did — they we re friday, but those fires did — they were spotted ahead sometimes a 6—12 km ahead of themselves and started new fires. so the capacity for these fires to move rapidly is absolutely extreme. this abc australia article explains why this tuesday may be particularly bad. a cold front is pushing hot air into the bushfire areas. it's not summer yet in australia — but it's already hot. this tuesday, sydney will reach 3a degrees celsius — it'll be 37 in surrounding parts of the state. then there's the unpredictability of the wind. australia's bureau of meteorology posted this video today. because the wind is changing direction a lot, people who think they are safe can suddenly find that they are not. many of these towns are surrounded by forests and grasslands — which means they're at risk.

phil mercer is in sydney. —— in maitland, about 100 —— in maitland, about100 miles north of sydney. he joins us live. tell us more about what's happening there, please? the catastrophic fire warnings are in place across a large swathe of new south wales. sydney is under this catastrophic fire warning, as where we are now. this is the hunter valley to the north of sydney, and these fire alerts also stretch down to the illawarra, which is another heavily populated region of sydney. they are driving to this area from the early morning, you can smell the smoke in the air. you can most certainly see the smoky haze rolling through the fields and into small communities. at the moment it is quite cool here, about 19—20dc. the temperature is expected to soar

to about 38 celsius. also strong winds are expected to conspire to whip up any fires that start, and there is a warning from the fire authorities that people living in bushfire prone regions, the emergency effort is being stretched so emergency effort is being stretched so thinly that anyone who needs help might not be able to get it. so the warning has been for the last 2a hours for people in fire prone areas to leave. and those people in town such as the one you're in, are they listening to that advice? 0r such as the one you're in, are they listening to that advice? or are already leaving? here in maitland, it is quite a big industrial town in the hunter valley. many people here seem the hunter valley. many people here seem to be going about their daily business. but i wouldn't take that asa sign business. but i wouldn't take that as a sign of complacency. i think that people are just waiting and watching, and hoping — the whole issue with these fires in australia and elsewhere is that they are so unpredictable, no one knows where

they will start. now many fires here are sparked by lightning, faulty power cables, accidentally by faulty cigarettes. and that is where these emergency powers granted to fire services come in. as you said earlier, they allowed the authorities to switch off power in various sensitive areas to order evacuations. so i think it is safe to say that parts of eastern australia or on a military style footing preparing for this expected onslaught. you mentioned the fire services are stretched. i've been having readings from elsewhere in australia and new zealand, do they feel they have the resources they need now? probably not, i'm not quite sure if anything would ever be enough. there is a warning from the authorities... if they need help,

there might not be an immediate response. that is why they are taking these precautions of urging people to leave, about 600 schools and colleges have been closed since, so and colleges have been closed since, so certainly the advice is to leave sensitive areas. but at the moment, we just sensitive areas. but at the moment, wejust don't sensitive areas. but at the moment, we just don't know where those sensitive areas really will be. of course fire authorities have an idea where the fires might start, but they can only start fighting them when they know where they are. phil, we appreciate the update, thank you very much. phil is a little way outside of sydney, and we are keeping an eye both on sydney and the surrounding area as that day goes on. it's not at all clear who's in charge in bolivia. there's a power vacuum and some are claiming that evo morales — the country's first indigenous president was brought down by a coup. he resigned on sunday after being encouraged to do so by the head of the armed forces, and is now urging his supporters to resist. this was the culmination of several

weeks of controversy and protest after an election last month and violent protests. this is mr morales has said. translation: we are resigning. iam resigning. so that my sisters and brothers who are leaders of the socialist movement are not harassed, persecuted, and threatened. mexico has granted asylum to bolivia's former president evo morales, mexico's top diplomat said on monday, after the south american country's veteran socialist leader resigned in the wake of a disputed election. we knew this had been offered to mr morales, but this is an exacerbation of the situation. it gives you an idea of the instability in bolivia.

mr morales has been the president for over 13 years. he says so—called "dark powers" have forced him out. some other world leaders agree. cuba's president miguel diaz—canel bermudez... mexico's foreign affairs secretary... "in bolivia there is an ongoing military operation, we reject it, it is similar to those tragic events that enshrined our latin america last century." then there's brazil's foreign minister... "there is no scam in bolivia. the attempted massive electoral fraud delegitimized evo morales, who had the right attitude to resign in the face of popular outcry." that's the view of some central and south american governments. but was it a coup? here's the bbc‘s vanessa buschschluter. well, if you listen to evo morales,

he definitely thinks it is a coup. and so do the leaders of venezuela and cuba, and russia. but if you listen to the opposition, specifically the people who have been protesting for three weeks ever since the election results account was mysteriously stopped for 2h hours, and when it resumed, mr morales had the 10% lead he needed to win outright. —— this was a victory. and they said that was fraud, and they've been protesting ever sense. what happens next is unclear. the constitution says the vice—president and head of the senate are next in line to take over. but they've also resigned. the second vice president has said she would ask parliament to approve her as the next president until new elections can be held. we don't know if that will happen. but this is not a crisis that will be easily solved. bolivia is south america's poorest nation. mr morales has taken significant measures to reduce poverty. this graph from bloomberg shows the proportion of the population living below the poverty line during his presidency.

you can see it has fallen throughout his presidency. you can see it has fallen throughout his presidency. and this one shows how much the economy has grown compared to other countries in the region. but he's also been accused of rigging last month's election. his main opponent was carlos mesa, who was president the organisation of american states monitored the election and said it found "clear manipulation" and called for the result to be annulled. here's katy watson. this is just one of many barricades that you come across here. you're driving along the road, and you have to do a u—turn to find another route, because these areas are blocked. now evo morales may have resigned, but the people here say they are standing up for democracy because they still haven't named an interim president here in bolivia, and neither do we know when there will be fresh elections to choose a new president. now i've been speaking to people further up, and they are blocking off the area to the presidential palace. they say they're not letting

any government members through because they don't want them to continue business. but the fact is a lot of government members have resigned in the past 2a hours. and there's been, if you like, a little bit of a witchhunt — a lot of the opposition have gone after government members as a form of retribution. and there is that division here in bolivia at the moment. speak to people here, and they will say they don't want to have evo morales, they feel that what he did to bolivia was divided. but actually, he looked after people in rural areas, not people in cities. and they felt that perhaps there was a lot of emphasis put on the fact that he was a good politician for all, but that was not necessarily the truth. speak to his supporters, and they will say what happened on sunday was a coup. the fact that the military called for his resignation put pressure on him to resign. and that is what we're seeing here in bolivia. i was speaking to people supporting evo earlier,

who felt that a lot of the good things he did here in bolivia, the fact that there was more social inclusion — he oversaw an economy with good, strong economic growth in the last decade, and that has been forgotten. so i think the question now for bolivia will be how to unite those two very different sides, and how to bring this country together. reuters is saying that mexico has granted asylum to evo morales, according to mexico's top diplomat. daniel pardo is in miami. what can you tell us about this? what can you tell us about thi57m seems like a major development, and not necessarily because we will see a picture of evo morales in mexico. but because this is one of the major, most important political countries of latin america backing him. and this is a country that is,

putting itself in the total opposite of donald trump 0zment policy of bolivia. so this is a shift in mexico's foreign policy, and it will change things a bit in the power struggle in latin america. do you think that mexico is expecting evo morales to arrive in mexico at any point soon? things are shifting very quickly in bolivia, we don't even know where evo morales is, and if you will be able to exit bolivia. we don't even know if he will be able toa don't even know if he will be able to a candidate in elections. we don't even know who is in power in bolivia. but again, what it means in practice is politically, evo morales has huge backing and latin america. and that puts mexico against donald trump and his foreign policy on bolivia. daniel, thank you very much

indeed. a number of things worth reiterating there. we are in a situation where our pvc mundo colleagues... we don't know who is in power in bolivia, whether the man who was in president —— president for 13 years until recently is. we know that mexico is offering evo morales asylum and offering him safe passage to mexico, but such is the state of affairs in bolivia it is not even clear if the man who was president until sunday can actually get out of his own country and reach mexico, and all the while you have mexico, and all the while you have mexico lining up and taking a very different approach to what is happening in bolivia to donald trump and the administration in washington. more development on that in the coming hours and days. of course will bring you those here on the show. stay with us on 0utside source. still to come: the co—founder of the white helmets in syria is found dead in the street in the turkish city istanbul. spain's acting prime minister pedro sanchez has been meeting other party

leaders today to get them to tackle the political stalemate after the country's fourth election in four years again delivered a hung parliament. melissa kitson is a journalist with el pais in madrid. she's been telling us it's the gains of the far right, vox party, that have been causing shock waves in the country. it definitely has been the focus of the spanish media. this is a party that just until recently was really on the fringe of the political spectrum. in 2016, they won less than 0.2% of the vote. now flash forward to 2019, and they have 15% of the vote, and are the third most powerful political force in congress. so it is a huge, huge victory for the far—right, and has really struck alarm bells across spain.

this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story... australia is facing a catastrophic threat of danger from wildfires. three people have died and thousands have been displaced in new south wales and queensland, and there are warnings the worst is yet to come. tuesday could be more serious than any of the previous days. two people are in critical condition after another day of violence in hong kong. police and protesters clashed in a number of locations — and again rubber bullets and tear gas were used. also, a police shooting was filmed. i should warn you, this video is graphic. we see an office grappling with a protestor while his gun is drawn. another protester approaches, and the officer fires at him at close range.

the 21—year—old has undergone surgery and remains in critical condition. he's the third person to have been shot by police since the protests began almost six months ago. we should say though the violence wasn't only from the police. in this video, this man is pro—beijing — and got into an argument with protesters. they traded insults, before he was doused in flammable liquid and set alight. he is also in hospital in critical condition. stephen mcdonell is in hong kong. this is the scene here — we have here right police. —— riot police. as you can see, they have guns that fire both tear gas and also rubber bullets. there have been some clashes here, as evidenced by all the debris on the ground. tear gas has been fired here,

and absolutely, there is a lot of tension in the city tonight after this activist was shot. now we're having a police officer to ask us to walk towards the side road. and of course, this other terrible scene when a man, who was seen to presumably be pro—beijing, had some sort of accelerant poured on him, and then a more hard—core activist set that on fire. and the shocking scenes on the internet of a man on fire just from having a political argument has shocked a lot of people in this city. and these are the scenes now, where the police are sort of asking people what they are doing here, checking people's ids, making arrests. and this is going on all over the city tonight. the chinese firm jingye has signed a rescue deal with british steel.

it's promising to invest £1.2 billion — that's $1.5 billion — over the next decade. important news for the 4,000 staff who work for british steel in scunthorpe and teesside. bbc‘s business editor simonjack reports. this plant has been on government life support since it collapsed in may. technically in liquidation, it was offered a chinese lifeline today and workers on their way home welcomed it. well, it's been a big concern, hasn't it, people not knowing what is happening, whether they've got a job, can pay their mortgages, feed theirfamilies. it's great news. obviously there's been uncertainty around it but now we know, this close to christmas, that we've got a job. with 4,000 employees and 20,000 in the supply chain, the steelworks is the lifeblood of scunthorpe. my dad worked at the steelworks from leaving school, and did an apprenticeship until retirement just a couple of years ago. it's massive good news for lots of families and obviously for all the housing, jobs, for younger people

and older people alike, it's just great news that the deal's looking like it's going to go ahead. if the deal goes ahead, current workers' jobs are secure, according to company assurances to the government. well, i have been given reassurances that next to all current staff will be kept, and that in the medium—to—longer—term, they are likely to want to expand the workforce. so i have been given quite strong reassurances on that front. this is not a totally done deal yet — there are details to go through, investment plans to be pored over and we've had false dawns in scu nthorpe before. but folks here are encouraged that the prospective buyer is a steel—maker, not a financial investor, and one prepared to sink in much—needed money to this plant. however, there are still some concerns about the economic and strategic rationale of putting one third of britain's steel production in chinese hands. from nothing, injust 20—odd years... despite revenues of £10 billion, jingye is a relative minnow

in china's giant steel industry, which produces over 100 times more steel than the uk. how important will scunthorpe be? the main principle of the deal that i would urge the government to concentrate on is long termism. is this a company that will invest for the long term? that will ensure that british steel remains one of the linchpins of our industrial strategy? steel has been made here for 150 years. the prospective chinese owners are promising many years more — a message that's getting a very warm welcome tonight. simonjack, bbc news, scunthorpe. boeing says it expects is grounded 737 max jets to resume commercial flights in january. it says it hopes to receive approval from the us regulator — the faa next month. vivienne nunis in new york. why is it so confident? actually this is a date that has been pushed back by boeing. it had one of those

planes to be flying again in december, we now hear this admission that it december, we now hear this admission thatitis december, we now hear this admission that it is looking like january instead. for that to happen, it needs the faa to give the plane the green light and recertify it. interestingly we've seen a couple of the biggest airlines here in the us a back the date they expect to bring the plane back into their flight schedules. southwest and american airlines are now expecting they don't expect the 737 back in their schedules until march. the faa has quite a lot to do, it needs to check the changes that boeing has made to the changes that boeing has made to the anti—stalling software and at the anti—stalling software and at the heart of those two fatal crashes. it also needs to check the new training updates that boeing has made, which have simulatorflights and test flights. all that must happen before the plane can be back in the sky. boeing thinks that happens next month. it will start delivering the plane around the world after that, and we will see them in the sky injanuary. world after that, and we will see them in the sky in january. how does this work was back if the faa says yes, can boeing get on with it the

next day? yes, but that is only in the us where the faa is giving their approval. europe has its own certification process. airlines around the world are waiting for when their own regulators give the green light. thank you very much for the update. i remind her of the story which we began talking about in the east of australia, particularly new —— new south wales and queensland. bushfires which present a threat level of "catastrophic" — the highest level — according to the authorites. we know bushfires there are common — but officials say they've never been this big before or so early in the fire season. and lots of australians are asking if this is connected to climate change. we will get into the details of that question in 3—4 minutes. we will also update you on uk politics as we do each day. nigel farage and his brexit party will not stand a

constituency that the conservatives currently hold —— and he constituencies the conservatives currently hold. hello there. we're going to start off with this look at our world weather stories in australia, where authorities continue to grapple with wildfires across parts of new south wales and queensland as well. now, on the satellite picture from nasa, you can see plumes of smoke extending well out into the oceans from these wildfires. there are a number of them already blazing, the problem comes, really, as we get into the forecast for tuesday. now, the bureau of meteorology forecast is the official forecast for australia, they are talking about catastrophic fire danger across parts of new south wales, including the greater sydney area. why? well, because the winds are going to gust to around 60—70 kph with winds over the mountains nearby gusting over 100kph. that's getting on for a 50—60 mph,

and that will fan the flames. so any wild fires that do develop could move and spread very very quickly, a very dangerous day coming up for australia for tuesday. this is the forecast now for north america. and we've got some unusually cold air streaming in from the arctic at the moment, effecting a good chunk of central and eastern canada and working into the north of the united states. along this corridor, some heavy falls of snow around as well, could see around 10—20cm of snow falling here and lasting through monday night and into tuesday as well. meanwhile, over the weekend, we had the landfall of cyclonic storm, bauble. now there are reports of a number of fatalities across west bengal and bangladesh as a result of that cyclonic storm, but the weather picture now is for quiet weather. we've got some thunderstorms across the northwest of india, some thunderstorms as well in kerala, and storms too for sri lanka. this area of cloud is worth keeping a very close eye on to the east of the philippines, why? well, because this is an area of low pressure and it looks set to develop into a tropical system as well.

this is going to be very slow moving. now, if it were to move across luzon in the philippines, that could bring some pretty nasty flooding later on in the week. meanwhile, in the mediterranean, we've got low—pressure firmly in charge. some very nasty thunderstorms heading into the northeast of algeria. these are capable of bringing some flash flooding. 50—75mm of rain on the way here. there will be some strong winds as well, gusting around 60—70 kph. nearby in tunisia, and also the northwest of libya, we also see some strong winds and some thunderstorm activity, but it's notjust north africa that will be impacted by the storms. the storms, if anything, will be even more severe across parts of italy and the balkans as well. now, we could see a lot of rain, and the heaviest storms may be 100—200mm of rain, so that poses the risk of some flash flooding problems. meanwhile, here in the uk, we've got a shower he kind of day coming up tomorrow, often quite cloudy, but there will be some limited bright spells from time to time. that's your weather.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. australia is facing a threat level of "catastrophic", the highest level, from wildfires. three people have died and thousands have been displaced in new south wales and queensland, and there are warnings the worst is yet to come. bushfires in australia are common — but they're not usually this big nor so early in the fire season. there are fears climate change is the cause — we'll look into it. mexico has granted asylum to evo morales, who resigned yesterday as president of bolivia. mexico's foreign ministry has demanded he be given safe passage out of the country. in the uk, a boost for the conservatives after nigel farage makes a you—turn. he says the brexit party will not

contest hundreds of seats the tories won in the last election. and the co—founder of the white helmets in syria is found dead in the street in the turkish city istanbul. lets return to our top story, and eastern australia is braced for bushfires which present a threat level of "catastrophic", the highest level, according to the authorites. we know bushfires there are common, but officials say they've never been this big before or so early in the fire season. and lots of australians are asking if this is connected to climate change. on sunday prime minister, scott morrison was asked aboutjust that. he opted out of answering the question and instead said "my only thoughts today are with those who have lost their lives and their families." his deputy — michael mccormack —

then said this on abc radio. we don't need... capital city... at this time, when they are trying to tie their hands, when in fact they are going out and sing and other political terms and leaving their own homes... in april, 23 former fire chiefs and emergency leaders issued this letter, warning the government about the increasing chance of catastrophic weather events. they asked for a meeting, which the government declined. the former fire and rescue commissioner greg mullins had a similar message in an editorial in the sydney morning herald today. in the article he says... also relevant to this, australia is the world's largest coal exporter. and according to the un, is not on track to meet its commitment to climate targets under the paris climate accord. here's the deputy prime

minister defending his government on abc again. we are doing the responsible end right thing when it comes to climate action, and we are making sure that we meet all of our international obligations, but at the same time, we are not going to shut down and industry, say coal, 50,000 jobs, $52 billion, 60% of australia's energy needs. we are not going to change and shut down an industry like that... despite that defence the deputy prime minister is still facing significant criticism for what he said. here's abc reporter richard davies. it does cause quite a bit of consternation among people, especially among rural mayors, mayors are towns that have already been impacted by fire, saying, this isn't the situation. climate change is really impacting on their communities. so there is a bit of a change of feeling among people. it's notjust something that people can dismiss very easily, because the fire services, a lot of other authorities are saying that this is a real situation.

they've never seen conditions like this. the area is bone dry, there hasn't been rain in such a long time, and the climate is changing, and it's really causing concern for firefighters and how they plan in the future. so how unusual is this weather, and what can we expect to see today? here's bbc weather presenter stav danaos on that. it is pretty severe, we are looking at extremely dry, hot and dry conditions, notjust for a few months, for years, it's been dry across large swaths of australia for the last three years. this is the last 12 months. you can see the oranges and reds indicating where it has been extremely dry. rainfall amounts from a low. temperature wise, we are looking at 2—2.5d above the average, western australia and this is into new south wales interior parts of queensland as well. so we've got the set up there for extremely dry conditions. usually after winter, you would expect some rain and some clear conditions to allow for some relief, but these fires have been

cooler conditions to allow for some relief, but these fires have been starting since august — september, which is really their winter, the end of their winter. so these fires have been ongoing for a long time, so there's no surprise after such a dry period that we are seeing very very severe fires now. this isjust what's happening in the next few days, high—pressure of the tasmanian sea from a very strong winds blowing in from the interior. this is a cold front, there is some cooler and more moist air moving in behind it. the rainfall amounts, unfortunately, just going to be reserved for parts of southern victoria and tasmania. as this goes through, we will see extremely strong dry wins for a while, and then they will switch to a south—westerly, lighten up a little bit, but unfortunately, there isn't rain in the forecast for the sydney area. talking of temperature is 3a degrees, this is well above the average this time of year. it should be in the mid—20s. and of course, the question you are getting asked all the time at the moment is how do we connect this with the broader climate change situation? we can't really attribute one incident to climate change, but if you consider an ever warming

climate like ijust showed you across australia nearly two and half degrees warmer, longer block patterns, because of a more undulating jet stream, so for months, even years, of a blocked pattern of warm and dry, then it stands to reason we will see more cases like this, more severe long lived wildfires are possible, and reaching areas that they never reached before, such as the edge of large cities like sydney and also the edges of rain forests. those detailed forecasts for eastern australia via the bbc weather act. nigel farage, the leader of the brexit party, says he won't run candidates in seats won by the conservatives at the last election in 2017. that means all these constituencies in blue. this is the same nigel farage who condemned borisjohnson's proposed brexit deal — as not brexit at all. and promised to contest every seat. so that's quite a shift. here's the explanation.

borisjohnson boris johnson last night borisjohnson last night said there will be no extension beyond 2020, and he said he is going for a simple canada plus style trade deal. last week, one of nigel farage's demands was that borisjohnson ditch his withdrawal agreement altogether. but now he says the prime minister has given enough guarantees on brexit to satisfy him. mr farage insists he's putting country before party. here he is again. so what we will do is fight against the labour seeds and fight against the labour seeds and fight against the remainder parties, focus our efforts, i want to get the party mps into westminster to make sure that borisjohnson into westminster to make sure that boris johnson those into westminster to make sure that borisjohnson those promises. —— borisjohnson those promises. —— borisjohnson those promises. —— borisjohnson keeps those promises. this is all particularly important because of the uk's first past the post system.

the winner in each constituency goes to parliament to represent all of the voters within that consituency. it's a system which means that bigger parties normally have a high percentage of seats in parliament than they do of the national vote. the reverse is also true — smaller parties struggle to come first in constituencies, and so often have a lower percentage of mps in parliament than their share of the national vote. and this will be part of mr farage's calculations. here's the bbc‘s poll tracker. that light blue line is the brexit party. it suggests their support has been falling. but they're still strong enough that they risk taking some votes off the conservatives, and allowing pro—remain candidates to come first — and so take the seat. the risk is just the same for parties that want to stop brexit. some have already made a pact. box two this was the "unite to remain" group launching this was the "unite to remain" group launching its alliance on friday. it includes the liberal democrats, the greens, and the welsh party plaid cymru. they won't run candidates aginst in each other in around 60 seats. here's the most high profile green candidate caroline lucas.

we are doing it, i have to say, not to because we do it lately, but because we have a horrible undemocratic, unfair electoral system, that means that we have to try to gain the system in that way. every single candidate for whom people are standing aside is committed to going back to parliament in fighting for electoral reform. there is however one party that's notably absent from that alliance — labour. it's promising to renegotiate the brexit deal then put it to a referendum. so while labour isn't a remain party as such, they do offer a path to stopping brexit. and that means there are lots of seats where labour and the liberal democrats could split the remain vote and help a conservative candidate to win. both parties have insistsed they won't do a deal with the other. but today's move by nigel farage cranks up the pressure for them to find a way to co—operate. here's ed davey from the liberal democrats.

it was an organisation called unite to remain who helped broker that agreement. they approach the labour party come in the labour party didn't want to take part. we were not that surprised by that, because the labour party has some good remain people in the party, i'm not suggesting otherwise, but the leadership, jeremy corbyn, is a brexit year, and basically wants brexit. >> we —— the other big party that's not part of the remain alliance is the scottish national party. it may well be calculating it doesn't need to be. polls suggest snp will win the vast majority of scottish seats. and we've heard from its leader nicola sturgeon. i think today's announcement really proves beyond any doubt that boris johnson and nigel faraj are joined at the hip, any form of brexit that is acceptable to nigel farage is going to be deeply damaging to scotland and i suspect that there are many traditional tory voters in scotland and across the uk that are opposed to find that their party has effectively become the brexit party.

let's bring in chris mason come alive from westminster, hello chris, good to have you on. one thing i'm a bit confused about, why is nigel farage dropping out of the conservative seats when you might think actually dropping out of the ones held by labour would be more helpful to the conservatives? it's a good question. i do wonder if we've heard the last of nigel farage about where his party is going to stand and where it isn't going to stand, because as you say, whilst on the face of it this was a big announcement today, and it was, given where he was just a week ago, the key seats, the absolutely key seats that borisjohnson, the prime minister, would have to win in order to secure a majority which is the whole point of having this selection from his perspective are ones in which the brexit party are still saying that they will contest. known nigel farage will argue that he thinks that he can beat more —— be more devastating to labour than

conservatives, particularly in those seats held by liberal, but where there was a majority for brexit in there was a majority for brexit in the 2016 referendum, but yeah, the essence of your question still stands in terms of why he's decided to draw that line, particularly there, rather than someone else. to draw that line, particularly there, rather than someone elselj know we all thought we were taking a breakfrom know we all thought we were taking a break from talking about new deal brexit for a while, but i thought his comments about a trade you were interesting and that obviously he thinks borisjohnson interesting and that obviously he thinks boris johnson is interesting and that obviously he thinks borisjohnson is willing to walk out of the eu without a deal if these trade talks don't go very quickly. yes, this is the basis upon which he has made this announcement saying that look, the government and the conservatives are saying that if they are elected with a majority, yes, they will deliver brexit by the end of january, but yes, they will deliver brexit by the end ofjanuary, but crucially, also arguing that by the end of next year, 2020, which is the current time at which the transition period after brexit, where legally, the uk will have left, but in reality, very little will have changed, expires, in other words, setting a deadline ofa in other words, setting a deadline of a year to sort out the long term relationship. now, every president

suggests that that is an incredibly ambitious timetable. now, the conservatives are saying they are going to a stick to that timetable, sceptics will say they have set in the past they will stick to every other brexit timetable and every other brexit timetable and every other brexit timetable and every other brexit has been smashed to by reality. but that is the pole, if you like, down which nigel farage has slid, that is how he has a justified about this u—turn he's done. the question that's going to be of course in that scenario is is it realistic for the government if it realistic for the government if it is the conservative to deliver that premise, and if it isn't, do they backtrack again because mike thanks chris, could you talk to has always, chris and westminster, don't forget, if you aren't signed up to brexit to cast which he features in, sign up now, it's a fantastic podcast that will take you through all the details, and also a tv show now and bbc news and bbc world news. now come in a few minutes on the programme, move. . . we now come in a few minutes on the programme, move... we must turn to a story that has shocked many people today. the co—founder of the white helmets

in syria is found dead in the street in the turkish city istanbul. the oscar—winning british film director, steve mcqueen, opens a new exhibition at the tate gallery in london tomorrow. called "year three", the project saw him and his team photograph more than three—quarters of a million seven and eight—year—old children across london's schools. he was inspired by looking at his own school photo. brenda emmanus went to meet him. three, two, one, big smiles! cheese! for the last year, this has been happening at schools across london. class photos of seven and eight years old ds that are part of one of the most ambitious arts exhibitions ever staged. it's the brainchild of this man, steve mcqueen, an award—winning artist and hollywood director. now going back to his own childhood for his latest work. this was his class photo back in the late 70s, his plan, to turn that image into a picture of london in 2019. my first ever visit to britain

was on a school bus and they brought us out here, dumped us over and we walked in, so it'sjust about reflecting london. with so many schools signing up, the challenge has grown and grown. three weeks later, they are ready for the grand reveal. what do you think is going to happen when these kids come in here and see them, what do you hope will be their response? that they are important. that they, you know, they are on the walls of great britain, and that they are important. the first visitors, children from steve mcqueen's old school, little ealing. here to find their picture among the many thousands. it's hoped close to 80,000 young people will see the exhibition over the next six months. brenda emmanus, bbc news.

this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is? australia is waking up to the most serious day yet of wildfires, with the official threat level set at "catastrophic". three people have died and thousands have been displaced in new south wales and queensland. the un's nuclear watchdog says iran has resumed enriching uranium at one of its underground sites. the watchdog says inspectors also found particles of un—enriched uranium at another location which iran hasn't previously declared. enriching uranium puts iran in breach of its commitments under a deal it signed with world powers in 2015 — a deal which the us subsequently pulled out of. turkey says it's started to deport suspected islamic state militants to their countries of origin. the interior ministry said

an american and a dane had been repatriated, while germany confirmed one of its citizens had been returned. a us financial regulator has opened an investigation into claims apple's credit card offered different credit limits to men and women. it follows complaints — including from apple's co—founder steve wozniak — that algorithms used to set limits might be inherently biased against women. now we turn our attention to istanbul in turkey, because james le mesurier, the co—founder of the white helmets in syria, has been found dead in the street in istanbul. these pictures from earlier show the area, he was found outside his office, where he also lived. from here he ran an organisation that trained white helmets volunteers who would then work inside syria. this is archive footage of the white helmets working in areas in syria controlled

by opponents of the assad regime. they were nominated for the nobel peace prize for their work treating and evacuating civilians caught up in the conflict particularly in areas hit by bombing. however, the white helmets also became part of the battle for information war in syria. the syrian government and its allies russia and iran have repeatedly accused them of aiding terrorist organisations. last week the the russian foreign ministry tweeted. .. his connections to terrorist groups were reported back during his mission in #kosovo. well the uk permanent representative to the un responded to that accusation today. the russian charges against him that he was a spy are categorically untrue. he was a british soldier.

now the cause of james le mesurier‘s death is not known. here's our world affairs correspondent caroline hawley on what we know. we know that he was staying in his offices and we know that his body was found in the early hours of this morning on the street just outside his office, just below the building where he worked and it sometimes stayed. turkish police have not given any official statements, although some security officials have been quoted as saying he was under stress, that he fell off of a balcony, that it may have been suicide. but i think because of the background to this, because of the disinformation campaign you spoke of, there are some of course who speculate on whether foul play was involved, and i think that is why the uk's representative to the un who we just heard from said that there must be a thorough investigation.

she said the causes of his death weren't clear, and that the turkish authorities needed to really investigate the death properly. and speaking of those allegations, is there any evidence that the white helmets may have worked with jihadist groups in syria? well, we know that the white helmets operated in areas that were rebel held, and they didn't operate where the regime was, they were essentially the ambulance service for rebel held areas. as you know, there are a whole array of different militias and rebels who are in those areas. what they were trying to do is save anyone, and it is thought that they did really save countless lives, tens of thousands of lives, possibly, those images, horrific images, aren't they? of the white helmets going into flattened buildings and pulling people out of the rubble, retrieving bodies and trying to rescue survivors. did they ever speak about what drove him to create a civil defence force like this? he was moved by the plight of the syrian people,

and he said he was very, very proud of the white helmets who he basically helped set up the white helmets, he helped get them funding, get them training, get them equipments, and he was very very proud of them. i think it's clear from speaking to friends of his, and i spoke to someone who works with him in syria in the humanitarian field that he was under some stress because of the propaganda against him, but people want to know exactly what happened, but clearly he was motivated by humanitarian concerns and it felt it very very strongly and hamish, who we have interviewed many times on the bbc said that he was one of the few people who had left a humanitarian footprint in syria. there is more live on the bbc news website. now, let's look at the latest entrant into what's being described as the tv streaming wars. disney+ will take on apple tv+, netflix, amazon prime,

and the recently—launched britbox. disney's offer is already available in the netherlands and is coming to uk and other european countries next year. sophie long reports from los angeles. it may be coming late to the party, but it's coming in style. disney's streaming platform will be a formidable force in what's becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace. their mission? quality, not quantity. of course, you can't only make great stuff, we try, but that's our philosophy. so we don't want to take on too much, bite off more than we can chew, creatively, and really make sure that we have the best chance to create something really spectacular. ahead of the launch, disney removed its content from its main competitor and then banned netflix adverts on its entertainment television channels. seen by some as declaration of streaming war. this is the latest netflix premiere, they already have a library of thousands of films,

tens of thousands of episodes, and a base of more than 150 million subscribers worldwide. but they are also facing competition from apple, amazon, and several streaming services that have yet to launch. so, who will survive, who will thrive? it's insane what's happening. it's a huge you know, battle royale, a fistfight, but to beautiful content happening on tv will stop so it's very exciting. but to beautiful content happening on tv so it's very exciting. is a good for you as an actor? it's amazing for me as an actor. netflix does a phenomenaljob, and disney has their niche of what they do, so they are not necessarily trying to complete with netflix directly. they have their own brand. streaming has changed the way that hollywood works, increasing the economic inequality between those at the top and the bottom of the industry. they are not paying people great wages across the board, they are just paying people at the top of the bill well, and minimum wage for actors isn't raising enough, so people can't live.

this is the jewel in disney+‘s crown, the very first live—action star wars series. are you going to play obi—wan kenobi again? yes. and a familiar face will be picking up his light sabre. you ready? yeah. but netflix has not taken the challenge lying down, so for viewers, the increasing competition could be a good thing. there is never too much content. the ones who don't manage the content in a particular way of excellence, that content will disappear. so what's wrong well will do well. so what's run well will do well. and what is conscious of where we are in our sociopolitical environment and tide of today will hit it out of the park. because that's the opportunity that's there. so whoever triumphs in the streaming war, it seems the audience will win.

sophie long, bbc news, los angles. sophie finishes this addition of outside source, see you tomorrow, bye— bye. hello there. it's been a pretty miserable november so far, in terms of flooding rains, hasn't it? but i'm pleased to say that sunday and monday, we had a brief lull in proceedings for the remembrance services. we actually had some sunny spells, but it was on the chilly side. now it's notjust the uk that's cold at this time of year. some of that cold air is pushing all the way into northwest europe. and for parts of northern scandinavia, we see temperatures well below where they should be at this time of year. low—pressure across the uk, still a dominant feature, meaning it is more likely to stay pretty unsettled for the next few days ahead, and still on the chilly side.

this is our outlook — if you haven't already guessed it, more rain to come. and because it is cold, with any elevation, we will see some snow on the tops of higher ground. so on tuesday, low—pressure setting into the north sea, and we have these weather fronts spiralling in around that low. it means we start off with more frequent widespread showers through scotland, northern ireland, northwest england, and wales. some of these, as we go through the day, some of these will drift further south. lighter winds potentially on tuesday, meaning if you catch a shower, some of them could be pretty slow moving. but there will be some sunny spells as well, but still on the cold side, 5—10 degrees at the very best. that will be very miserable if you're courting those very hefty showers. now as we move out of tuesday, we see this little ridge of high pressure building for a time, allowing those temperatures tuesday night into wednesday to fall away. so the blue tones denoting where we are likely to see a frost. so likely a cold start in scotland and perhaps northern england —

low single figures generally into central and eastern areas. so a touch of frost first thing in the morning, maybe some fog around, but it won't last because, yes, more wet weather is on its way. another area of low pressure set to push and from the west, bringing a spell of heavy rain to southwest england, wales, and northern ireland by the end of the afternoon on wednesday. ahead of it, it stays cold but dry with some sunshine. however, as we move from wednesday into thursday, this weather front potentially could bring some prolonged spells of wet weather across england and wales. now, there is still a level of uncertainty just exactly where that front is likely to sit, it may well be a bit further north or south. but that could have an impact yet again on those well affected areas. again on those flood affected areas. keep abreast of the forecast, england and wales seeing some rain. but in scotland and northern ireland, cold, dry and sunny. we still have those blue tones sitting across the uk as we go into friday. friday though, another ridge of high

pressure builds and quietens things down a little bit, so that will certainly come yet again. the best of the drier, sunnier weather, scotland, northern ireland, northern england, a few scattered showers running off the coast. again, those temperatures struggling to get into double digits. but as we move out of friday into saturday, we have got this weather front pushing in. but it is a weak affair, a band of cloud and rain as high pressure builds in from the west behind it. so we are not expecting much in the way a significant rainfall for the start of saturday. elsewhere, dry with just a few isolated showers. and then it looks likely that high—pressure is set to build in behind. so for the early half of next week, things can actually quite and down. there is an area of low pressure pushing and threatening from the west, but there is still a level of uncertainty. so we could see the battles of low—pressure out to the west with high pressure in the east.

tonight at ten: a new twist in the election campaign, as nigel farage's brexit party decides not to fight in any seats won by the conservatives last time. mr farage, who once said he'd put up 600 candidates, claims that borisjohnson has changed his brexit stance, and says he'll now focus on labour—held seats. the prime minister has now moved to a position that looks a bit more like brexit. and for once, let's forget about left and right, let's think about putting country before party. nigel country before party. farage trims his ambition giving nigel farage trims his ambition giving borisjohnson a clearer path in some parts of the country. we'll be asking about the potential impact of the brexit party decision on the election outcome.