after martin mcguinness‘s death in march, arlene foster shook hands with his successor, michelle o'neille two leaders haven't proved able to overcome their difference. the democratic unionists now hold the balance of power on the green benches at westminster, but back at stormont the blue benches of the northern ireland assembly remain empty, with civil servants running the administration on a day—to—day basis. there is a real imperative to get back to business, but we don't know what shape or form that will take, as neither sinn fein nor the dup see any sign of softening their positions, and the secretary of state has made no further moves towards impositioning direct rule. during stormont‘s year in the doldrums, the politicians who are meant to meet here have continued to get paid. recently, an official report recommended that those salaries should be cut by a third. however, what impact that might have on this assembly that never sits remains farfrom certain. mark devenport, bbc news, stormont. proposals to ban parents and carers in wales from smacking their children have been publish

after martin mcguinness's death in march, arlene foster shook hands with his successor, michelle o'neillthe democratic unionists now hold the balance of power on the green benches at westminster, but back at stormont the blue benches of the northern ireland assembly remain empty, with civil servants running the administration on a day—to—day basis. there is a real imperative to get back to business, but we don't know what shape or form that will take, as neither sinn fein nor the dup see any sign of softening their positions, and the secretary of state has made no further moves towards impositioning direct rule. during stormont‘s year in the doldrums, the politicians who are meant to meet here have continued to get paid. recently, an official report recommended that those salaries should be cut by a third. however, what impact that might have on this assembly that never sits remains farfrom certain. mark devenport, bbc news, stormont. england's head cricket coach trevor bayliss says he plans to step down after the 2019 ashes series. the 55—year—old, who was appointed in 2015, told the en

after martin mcguinness is's death madge arlene foster shook hands with his successor but the two leadersn't proved able to overcome their differences. the dup now hold the balance of power on the green benches at westminster but back at stormont, the blue benches of the northern ireland assembly remain empty with soulful servers running the administration on a day—to—day basis. running the administration on a day-to-day basis. there is an imperative to get back to business but we don't know what shape that will take as neither sinn fein or the dup will soften their positions. the secretary of state has made no further moves towards imposing direct rule. the politicians who are meant to meet here have continued to get paid. recently an official report recommended that those salaries should be caught by a third. what impact that might have on this assembly that never sets remains farfrom certain. that is how they got at this point. what about now? with me to discuss all of that i am joined by a columnist from the irish news and the political editor at the newsletter. there's talk about moo

yes, there was a huge amount of noise about brussels and that phone call from the dep leader arlene foster and mrs. may having to trudge back to the u.k. without having a deal and then there being weak telephone diplomacy before going out and getting a deal. then the embarrassments, they were in the house of commons but as she said in that newspaper articles wrote that she got to where she set out to get to at the outset. host: but it did take absolutely ages to get there. what does that tell us? >> it took ages, it took longer than originally thought because october was the first deadline which was broken, and crucially remember that everything in those discussions is resolved. the barrier was sufficient progress. it doesn't mean that it is all done. there are still huge questions around the irish border. there is the agreement at the border should be soft between the republic of ireland and northern ireland, but there isn't much of an agreement yet about achieving that. so what this tells you, it is a mighty complicated business trying to a not a relationship that has gone back a generat

let's join arlene foster. hi there, leave. all the action happening in australia, it seems? australia — they won by four wickets in brisbane, with five overs to spare. australia made 270—9 after winning the toss at the gabba. aaron finch made another century but they couldn't get a partnership going. and their were a couple of wickets each from adsil rashid and joe root and jason roy made a record 180 of the england reply. despite a quick wobble, they made very light work of the one chase. three to play they had to sydney. the british number two kyle edmund has equalled his best showing at a grand slam. he's reached the fourth round at the australian open on another day of soaring temperatures in melbourne. no wonder that he looked spent. 0n paper, he would've expected to beat his opponent, but he had problems to content with ali on. despite that, he looked in complete control when he looked in complete control when he led by a set and a break, only for his form to dip in alarmingly. he surrendered the lead, and his opponent showed ambition and aggression in what he said was