hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. brexit is very much back as a story — the uk government is considering a law that would impact delicate customs plans for northern ireland. we've always been clear — this is not new — that we would guarantee unfettered access to the gb market for northern ireland businesses, and the bill will set out how that's going to be done. here are the uk's covid cases going up. the uk government wants to reverse that trend. don't kill your gran by catching coronavirus and then passing it on. and you can pass it on before you've had any symptoms at all.

this is california where there are wildfires and warnings. with just how dry conditions are, these fires are burning at just explosive rates. the uk government is reported to be planning new legislation that would override a part of the withdrawal agreement it signed to leave the eu. the context here is that talks over the future trading relationship between the uk and the eu are reaching the sharp end — and there's no deal yet. to sum up what this amounts to here's rob watson. it seems to me there may be three reasons for this tactic. number one, a sort of obvious one, to exert maximum pressure on the european union to do a deal. two, it may be about domestic consumption, it may be the british government tried to sound really tough before eventually giving way, as indeed happened last year with boris johnson and the withdrawal agreement.

and then the third possibility is that the british government actually rather wants a no—deal brexit. this law could impact northern ireland. and bear in mind that northern ireland became the single biggest obstacle to the withdrawal deal getting done. the issue was the border on the island of ireland. northern ireland is part of the united kingdom — it shares a border with the republic of ireland which is in the eu. and because of northern ireland's violent past and its successful peace process, the status of that border is highly sensititive. under the withdrawal agreement, northern ireland retains some of the eu's customs rules to ensure there is no hard border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. there would also be some checks on goods travelling internally within the uk between great britain and northern ireland. in other words, it effectively puts a customs border in the irish sea. that was hugely controversial, given some pro—brexit politicians had said that wouldn't happen.

well, this new legislation could see the uk remove its obligation to carry out those internal checks. if that happened, we'd come back to the same question everyone‘s been wrestling with — how to avoid customs checks on the border with the republic of ireland. that being something everyone says they want to avoid. here's ireland's former prime minister and now trade minister leo varadkar. international agreements, international treaties have to be honoured, and they trump any domestic legislation that any country may pass. that agreement is in place to make sure with that we don't see the emergence of a hard border between north and south, something we all want to avoid. the uk government has sought to downplay the significance of the proposed legislation. it says it's still committed to implementing the withdrawal agreement. and this is the cabinet minister george eustice on bbc radio. these are important but minor

technical details. the principal behind the protocol of checks on some of those goods entering through northern ireland ports is in the northern ireland ports is in the northern ireland ports is in the northern ireland protocol. at the moment the uk is in a transition period — it has left the eu but it is following the eu's rules. that transition period finishes at the end of the year. but borisjohnson says the real deadline for a trade deal is october 15th. here he is. that effectively means a no—deal brexit, something borisjohnson has previously said was a "million to one" chance of happening. here's george eustice again. what the prime minister is saying is eminently sensible which as we all need to know where we stand by the middle of october so that we know what we are planning for, and if we are planning for a canada style free trade agreement, type of agreement we think is eminently possible to achieve and makes sense for both

parties, then let's get that understood by the middle of october. if on the other hand there is not going to be a further negotiating agreement and we will be trading with the eu on terms similar to australia, businesses need to know that nowt so they can really plan for it. george eustice mentioned the possibility of trading on terms similar to australia. effectively, that means following world trade organisation rules. australia and the eu don't have their own free trade agreement. they put tariffs on imports and exports. there's also a difference in scale. australia exports about 8% of its goods to the eu, which is a decent amount. but last year the uk exported 46% of its goods to the european union — its biggest trading partner. our economics editor faisal islam picks up on this here.

here's our political reporterjessica parker on where things go from here. as we understand it, and ministers do not really have a lot of time, do they, because they need to get this all in place by the end of the transition period, we should see the details of this legislation on wednesday and that will be really important because we have had a flavour of what might be in it, say for example ministers being able to decide what counts as an at risk good, that is a good that they went from great britain to northern ireland but was likely to end up in the eu and would therefore be subject to european union tariffs. so there's kind of details hopefully we will get on wednesday. i think some critics of the government have suggested that what has happened over the last 2a hours, because not only have we had this emerging legislation coming forward, but also borisjohnson legislation coming forward, but also boris johnson saying legislation coming forward, but also borisjohnson saying look, if a deal is not in place by mid october,

let's move on and face the fact we will not get one. some are suggesting this is a bit of sabre rattling by downing street ahead of the talks tomorrow. but of course that can be a risky strategy. just one question of the dynamics in westminster, when we're talking a little way back when theresa may was trying to get her proposed withdrawal deal through, it was all the numbers game, wasn't it, because she did not have the numbers in the house of commons? presumably boris johnson has more freedom to go whatever he wants at the moment? yes, an 80 strong majority, you're absolutely right to talk about this. had something been planned like this in theresa may's time in terms of legislation that was causing some contention, one of the questions we would be discussing tonight is whether theresa may would even be able to get that through the house of commons and that would be a big question, but for boris johnson, of commons and that would be a big question, but for borisjohnson, an 80 strong majority elected, his mps would argue on a mandate to get brexit done. of course, the uk has

left the eu already, but we were following eu rules since the end of january during the transition period, but really not long now until that transition period is over. not talked much about brexit recently, obviously there have been other stories very much in the headlines, but i think as we head towards that october summit, it will be something that is discussed more and more. the latest round of trade talks start tomorrow. here's the president of the european commission. our europe editor katya adler has more on the reaction from brussels. there has been plenty of fuming behind closed eu doors, but in public eu leaders have been keen not to be seen to be fanning the political flames of the last 2a hours or so and why is that?

basically because they have their eyes on the prize. that eu uk trade deal. negotiations are ongoing. the eighth round of talks starts in london tomorrow and they do not want a further poison the atmosphere and we had this afternoon from the french president. he said he had a really good conversation with the prime minister about a number of subjects, including that both men believe it is in both of their interest to get a trade deal agreed as soon as possible. but here they are not sure about that is going to be possible with the uk. they are saying that the uk will have to make some concessions and eu diplomats have privately rubbished that the prime minister wants a new deadline for the trade deal in mid october. there is still a belief here that a deal is more likely than no deal, but only just. deal is more likely than no deal, but onlyjust. compromises will be needed on both sides and they will be politically uncomfortable in the

eu and the uk. much more on brexit on the bbc news website. russian opposition figure alexei navalny is being removed from a clinically—induced coma. last week, doctors treating him in germany said he was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok while on board a plane in russia. now they say his condition is improving and he's able to react to people speaking around him. here's more from damian mcguinness in berlin. the hospital says that his condition has improved. however, they cannot rule out long—term damage, but he is on the road to recovery. we just do not know how long this will take and whether there will be any lasting damage after this, what appears to be poisoning and certainly that is what the german government are saying. last week, scientists and doctors here in germany and scientist are independent labs as well, it is important to point out, not just at the hospital, well, it is important to point out, notjust at the hospital, said they had definitive proof this was a

novichok group toxin and they said this indicates poison. the government here has supported this evidence, said this is in disputed. it is quite clear, according to the german government. what russia responded was first to say that actually it is not true, that russian doctors had not found any evidence of poison. there have been conflicting signs coming out of the russian government and the latest is that russia has now accused the german government, german authorities of not cooperating with an investigation which berlin has rebuked them on. the uk government has removed some more holiday destinations from its safe list of places that don't require quarantine. here's the transport secretary. we are now in a position to remove greek islands where holiday makers are at risk of spreading the infection back home, and seven greek islands will therefore be removed from travel lists at 4am

on wednesday the 9th of september, while maintaining mainland greece. the westminster government's policy on the greek islands follows a similar move by wales last week. scotland has gone further and applied quarantine to travellers returing from anywhere in greece. here's the detail on the westminster government's announcement today, in a tweet from the foreign office advising against... grant shapps said the government will no longer impose blanket quarantine restrictions on entire countries — instead adopting a more flexible approach — allowing for islands to be treated differently. various people from the travel industry have been giving their reaction to that, this from the ceo of easyjet pretty much sums it up. this is something that we have argued for a long time, that it should not have been a blanket instrument when it comes to this quarantine. it should be based on risk and

on a much more targeted approach. but i think now, this is too little, too late, and we have just seen the majority of the peak summer season had just gone by. so if this was introduced earlier, you would have allowed many more people to go on holidays without having to quarantine, and it would have been also providing a tremendous support to what is a very suffering industry in the uk. here's theo leggett with more on the story. the idea of regional travel corridors has been something that the travel industry has wanted since quarantine was first introduced. you might remember that when restrictions were first introduced on travel from spain, the industry was saying, why the balearics and the canary was saying, why the balearics and the ca nary islands, was saying, why the balearics and the canary islands, which are a long way off shore from the spanish mainland, being subject to quarantine, when the problem is in northern spain? but the first impact of this change is in fact to increase restrictions, because there will be no relaxation for people

travelling from the balearics or the ca nary islands. grant travelling from the balearics or the canary islands. grant shapps made that very clear in his statement to. what we will see is seven greek 245.19? a}; 2.59 as; is. eggs". 52:22: islands, which 2245.22 2.12 22d! 222 is. 2222"; 5222: islands, which were not subject to any restrictions, becoming subject to restrictions.