reporting, the irish foreign minister‘s comments come as the new northern ireland secretarey, julian smithn londonderry and told us about the biggest challenges that await mr smith. the northern ireland briefers got to be one of the most cabinet positions to ta ke be one of the most cabinet positions to take on. the biggest challenge facing her to start with is trying to restore devolved government here, because northern ireland hasn‘t had a government at stormont for 2.5 yea rs a government at stormont for 2.5 years now. the dup and sinn fein are the two largest parties and have spent so many there long arguing over issues that they still have not been able to resolve. julian smith will come in as an impartial broker, if you like, but the immediate problem he faces is that the democratic unionist party having this relationship in westminster. he is already under a cloud with the nationalist parties at westminster who believe he is already in bed with the dup and therefore cannot be impartial when the two sides get round the table. there are of course many issues to deal with as well. forj

julian smith will come m, to resolve.alist parties here and with sinn fein who believe he is already in bed with a dup and therefore can't be impartial when therefore can't be impartial when the two sides get round the table. so that is just one thing. but of course many other issues to deal with as well. legacy issues, still many of those for deeley and smith, legacy issues from northern ireland's 30 years of conflict which are still played out here day—to—day. and also of course the controversial votes which took place in westminster recently over legislating to decriminalise abortion here in northern ireland, and legislating towards legalising same—sex marriage. big controversy over these issues here and julian smith will also have to look at how he progresses the legislation for that in parliament. and of course he a lwa ys that in parliament. and of course he always has to deal with the very delicate balance between the political parties here, you have nationalists, the sinn fein party, the biggest nationalist party

julian smith was doing his best to be positive about his hopes of finding a solution to the irish borderday, saying you can leave in october the 31st and that that very difficult situation will get sorted out but for all of his optimism and, you know, which is coming off the back of borisjohnson's new, fresh, optimistic driven approach to sorting the border out, that is in the face, of course, in the last few days we have heard the irish prime minister saying borisjohnson days we have heard the irish prime minister saying boris johnson in days we have heard the irish prime minister saying borisjohnson in in the real world and this, the foreign mr nurse said his comments have been very unhelpful so it is not easy to come here to northern ireland and face the cameras are local politicians and say it will all be fine, but that is the linejulian smith has been having to hold since he has come here. he met all the parties at stormont this morning. his big challenge there will be trying to get sinn fein and the dup to broker a new power—sharing agreement because northern ireland has been witho

the new appointment of julian smith now, we think this offers opportunities and the issue offers opportunitiesd many people who follow events in ireland very closely and they are worried that they are seeing some signs, we hope that mr smith will also call for the restoration of the devolved government at stormont. these are critical issues. i'm told he will come to washington soon and the group has asked to meet with him and talk about these issues. when you have someone like richie neilfrom massachusetts who is the chair of the ways and means committee and committee through which all trading agreements would have to go has been outspoken about keeping the border open. to what you have to do on brexit, they do not take a position on the issue. because closing that border is the new prime minister seems to indicate will create serious problems. on agricultural issues as you said, one of the markets could be north america but that would not go through conquest if you have a hard border. are you putting the same pressure on the irish taoiseach, it is a democratic decision and no government would

relationship between ireland and britain is exceptional good, the irish government have welcomed julian smithnd so on. and there are sign up progress on getting somewhat up sign up progress on getting somewhat up and running. —— stormont. the devolved assembly that has not been sitting for 2017, two years and. however, on the issue of the backstop giving the border open and everything else, —— keeping the border open. the irish have no room to move except to increase their no deal preparations which they are doing. we have for quite a long time been talking openly about what they have been doing on the east—west axis, dublin, they have in talking less about the north—south border because it is more politically sensitive but that work has been going on quite intensively. the problem with the whole thing is that the backstop cannot taking out or overwritten simply because it is the guarantee, and i know there have been other proposals that involve the provision whereby the backstop would be negotiated further down the line, the free trade agreement, but it has been made very clear by barney bra

the new northern ireland secretary julian smith says he does not believe the uk is on a collision courseth made the comments on a visit to belfast and londonderry, and said the priority was to solve the issue of the irish backstop and to get a deal through the house of commons. he earlier met with the main political parties at stormont as he attempts to reopen talks between the dup and sinn fein in an attempt to restore power sharing at stormont. two premier league footballers have been the victims of an attempted carjacking, by an armed gang in london. arsenal players mesut ozil and sead kolasinac were targeted last night this video from social media appears to show saed kolasinac chasing off the armed robbers. the cloud said both escaped uninjured. there have been no arrests so far.> a british computer hacker has escaped a jail term in the united states over malicious hacking charges. marcus hutchins pleaded guilty to two charges of making malicious software, or malware, and faced a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. he successfully helped to stop a major hack which affected the nh

they say how could julian smith be an impartial broker in restoring power sharing when the tories have dup in westminster. but such is the political arithmetic in westminster, of course the tories need to keep the dup on site to get anything done. butjulian smith has tried to reassure the parties that he has to be evenhanded and fair. he has huge challenges ahead, taking on the northern ireland brief, one of the northern ireland brief, one of the toughest jobs the northern ireland brief, one of the toughestjobs in cabinet. he has to try to resolve the tensions between the two big political tribes of the nationalist parties, unionist parties, because the only way to have a devolved government for northern ireland, the unique set up it has here because of the history of this place, is for the largest unionist and nationalist parties to have a power share. he has to find a bid to break the deadlock between sinn fein and the dup. northern ireland hasn't had a government for more than 2.5 years. but there are a whole host of other challenges. brexit going on, the controversial issues here o

julian smith is expected to make his first visit to northern ireland today as the new secretary of staterestoring devolved government at stormont. there's also continuing uncertainty about arrangements for the irish border after brexit. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast for us. an awful lot on that to—do list, he start? he started early already, he is meeting the parties at stormont in belfast. the five main parties at stormont will be going in to meet him. we have heard from the nationalist sdlp and ulster unionist party, expressing concerns nationalists have had concerns over the arrangements with the democratic unionist party at westminster meaning he may not be able to approach the problems of northern ireland ina approach the problems of northern ireland in a way he otherwise could do if he was free from that arrangement, the ulster unionist is calling on him to take action in areas like the health service, education, since power—sharing hasn't been up and running where civil servants have been running this and because they are not elected politicians they cannot ma

him here and take an early opportunity to engage with all of the parties in northern ireland and julian smiththat so strongly country to the good friday agreement, clearly they will not wa nt agreement, clearly they will not want to have anything with a future dublin government which they describe as fickle guarantors of the agreement, or perhaps they are being somewhat selective in their approach to this particular issue. —— cole guarantors. it is a matter of discussion for another day in those discussions will continue in the coming weeks but they are about delivery for all the people of northern ireland, on infrastructure, health, education, mental health, guaranteed support for our farmers, security, the winter fuel allowance and on nato defence spending on security for our country. these are vital issues we do not believe jeremy corbyn would be able to deliver on in the same way as a conservative and unionist government in the current circumstances. we will continue those discussions, confident that we could get a good outcome for the whole of the united kingdom and for northern ireland

. >> guy smith, julian zelizer, we appreciate you.ill not ban a pesticide linked to serious health problems in children. this is a victory for the chemical industries and farmers, both have lobbied to continue using the product. renee marsh has the full story. >> reporter: two big wins for chemical manufacturers in just the last two weeks. this week the epa decided not to ban a widely used pesticide that scientists say is associated with neurological problems in children, potentially resulting in lower iqs, disorders like a.d.d. and autism. the epa says environmental groups actually failed to provide sufficient evidence to support banning this pesticide. the agency said it will continue an ongoing review and make its next determination about the pesticide by 2022. the epa banned it for household use. that was back in 2000, but it was still allowed for agricultural use. this pesticide is already being used on our fruits and vegetables. a ban was initiated under the obama administration, but that was then reversed once president trump t