leo varadkar is under his own political threat from sinn fein. the corner any minute and he will lose seats to sinn fein who will beat him up unless he goes hard. if he goes hard and the eu decides to push for this hard border which she doesn't want, we end up with their hard border in northern ireland. will this ever happen? the problem is the policy aims can only be achieved with a hard border. if you leave the customs union, you have to have a border check. the fact that at some point there will be an election means it is never in leo varadkar's interest to turn around to the british government and go... you could have predicted in a way that this would happen because it was never going to fly? people did predict. and ever since the referendum people have been explaining it is not possible without putting a hard border in the irish sea or between northern ireland and ireland and that is politically unstable. theresa may is reliant on the dup for her majority and they have a fixed position. at the beginning there was no sense when theresa may c

exhibit leo varadkar, could not fightan exhibit leo varadkar, could not fight an election while...

exhibit leo varadkar, could not fightan exhibit leo varadkar, could not fight an election while...t border. two political crises, one in germany, one in ireland, from a british perspective is unseen. they are complicating factors. there is a national interest, and to some extent there is a united front on behalf of irish politicians who say it is britain's problem to sort out. you are saying they can have an innovative border where you can track everything and nothing passes beneath the radar. if you say that is possible, you sorted out, they are saying to theresa may. it may well keep that government going, but the chance of collapse would be stored in recent talks. not something that people had necessarily foreseen as you said. and maybe fianna fail will ease off the pressure on finer gales. —— finer. something that might become unstable, toxic, unprofitable come the day we do leave the eu. and protecting themselves against a potential no deal. this is been the week where we have perhaps in the first major and tangible impact that brexit could have on the economy. we have got the

what will leo varadkar make of that? well, in a sense, they know—it—all too well.t how vulnerable ireland is in this situation, particularly were it to come to that disaster scenario of a disorderly brexit, ie, one without a deal in march 2019. they also know, by the way and it's whispered here, that in that disorderly brexit scenario, eu rules lay on ireland the responsibility for putting that hard border into place. so before they get near that kind of situation, they want to use what leverage they v they believe that now is the moment, because theresa may wants to move the discussion on to the so—called phase two issues, get beyond those initial separation issues, citizens‘ rights, the budget and the irish border and get to the wider relationship discussions. they know that because of her desire to do that and the potential cost to the uk economy, if that doesn't happen in december, that now is the time to try and get the assurances they want on the border. they know they're not going to get a done deal on the border and that the wider relationship also has to b

and the irish prime minister leo varadkar says without a guarantee there'll be no physical border withiscussions on trade cannot begin. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports from berlin. here in berlin, where the decisions matter so much, there in dublin, this morning... and almost everywhere, the government mission to persuade the rest of the eu to please move on. the prime minister in sweden admits there is more to do. we are agreed that progress has been made but there is more to be done. we should move forward together towards the point where sufficient progress can be declared. but someone has to budge to get there. in the european capital that speaks with the loudest voice, the view is that britain must shift. the brexit secretary does not think it is down to him. so far we have made quite a lot of compromises. on citizens‘ rights, we have made all the running. we have offered some quite creative compromises. we have not always got that back. you have come to the powerhouse of the european union without an offer on what pretty much everybody on the other side agrees is th

that will put leo varadkar in a very difficult position. he is probably going to dig in, isn't he?the one thing on the irish side of this whole debate that has been clear is that there is no political division between any of the parties, be it the ones that are in government or the ones in opposition, on the need to avoid the ha rd opposition, on the need to avoid the hard border between the north of ireland and the republic. that in itself wouldn't be much of an issue, i think. pretty chaotic though. well, we have minority governments everywhere including in britain and we are actually used to them in a sense in the republic of ireland. we have had many of them before, several in my lifetime, but there is, as you pointed out at the start, there are negotiations going on tonight between leo varadkar and the leader of the opposition and their two main advisers. i am not party to them but the discussions have advised snick happens over the last few nights. nobody fancies the idea ofa few nights. nobody fancies the idea of a general election in the republic of ireland before christmas

. -- leo varadkar.that a free and frictionless border will work is if we all remain within the single market and customs union. —— the observer said that the only way. but also ireland's european union commissioner said the border would be in the sea. and they do want that. so we see a whole lot of problems to which it is very difficult to see any solution. this goes back to the fact that a lot of the referendum was a referendum where we did not get a lot of information. i think there were things that should have been known, for instance, about ireland, which contains the uk's land border with europe. that is an important thing. also, northern ireland voted to remain. this is not a simple issue, it is not funny, nor something to throw away. this is a cast—iron issue. the eu are saying this is europe, you need to figure out what to do here. and one thing you can do is to keep northern ireland in the eu, which they would not... the uk would not accept that. is it. it mail change if there is an election in

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northernreland after brexit. in around ten minutes‘ time, it's newswatch. before that, time for this week's click. just across the water from hong kong, on the chinese mainland, lies a city at the heart of the country's technological revolution. welcome back to shenzhen. this is where stuff gets made. when you think of china's electronic scene, this might be what you think of. more than 70% of the world's mobile phones are manufactured in china. but all that industry is taking its toll on the city. as the buildings go up to accommodate the influx of businesses, the smog has come down to remind everyone of the price you pay for a rapidly expanding industrial economy. the middle—class here is also consuming more power, as well as demanding something else — good quality home—grown products. and chinese brands are rising to the challenge, with names like zte, xiaomi and huawei even breaking out of china and becoming recognised and desired worldwide. one such brand is oneplus. now, despite only bei

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northernreland after brexit. a military dog who helped save the lives of british and afghan troops has received the animal equivalent of the victoria cross. mali was seriously wounded in 2012, when he entered a building in kabul under fire, to sniff out explosives and insurgents. our reporter chi chi izundu has the story. this is mali, the eight—year—old belgian mellonwah, who's been awarded the dickin medal, the highest honour for an army animal. in 2012, he was helping british troops in afghanistan when they came under attack. while searching for insurgents, mali came under direct fire as he sniffed out explosives and searched for a safe exit. his special forces handler during the operation is anonymous for security reasons. from operations that we had been on previously, he had really sort of shown his bravery and built a reputation amongst all of the guys. by the time we launched onto this operation, we really felt that we had a guardian angel among us. the mission lasted 7.5 hours. mali's

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northernreland after brexit. now on bbc news, it's time for click. this week, a phone is born and we are exclusively behind the scenes. can artificial intelligence block the bullies? and driving monsters. just across the water from hong kong, on the chinese mainland, lies a city at the heart of the country's technological revolution. welcome back to where stuff gets made. when you think of china's electronic scene, this might be what you think of. thousands of factories and millions of people mass—producing billions of devices. more than 70% of the world's mobile phones are manufactured in china. their components, also made locally, as aust from the city's famous giant electronics markets, where everything is for sale. but all that industry is taking its toll on the city. as the buildings go up to accommodate the influx of businesses, this mob has come down to remind everyone of the price you pay for a rapidly expanding industrial economy. the middle—class here is also consuming more power. as

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northerneek's click.

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northernn troops has received the animal equivalent of the victoria cross.

leo varadkar has said that britain has to put in writing that it will ensure there is no hard borderdone to ensure that he will agree to move onto the next age at the european council. interestingly, no member state has a veto over the article 50 process. but there are three areas, northern ireland, citizens' rights and money and it is ireland's moment in the sun and it is difficult to see how donald tusk could move on without the agreement of ireland. one area where the chancellor is widely expected to make an announcement in the budget is the rules for the government's flagship welfare programme, universal credit. labour forced a vote yesterday in the commons on cutting the initial waiting time for universal credit from six weeks to four. it won, though conservative mps abstained and the government has yet to respond. critics argue that the inequalities and delays in the system have created new hardships for people. newsnight filmmaker stuart denman went to newcastle, one of the trial areas, where he spoke to three people who say it doesn't work for them. he began his quest at a fo

opposition party tabled a no confidence motion in the deputy prime minister arlen's prime minister leo varadkar is standing by his deputy he says if the demand for a no confidence vote is not was drawn by tuesday the motion will go ahead in parliament triggering snap elections before christmas. you council president says britain has just ten days to deliver on its divorce terms with the e.u. if london wants to move to the next phase of negotiations in december as planned and he made those comments after meeting with britain's prime minister trees in may on the sidelines of a brussels summit may spoke of progress at the meeting but conceded there are still outstanding issues the biggest bone of contention between britain and the e.u. remains the amount of money the u.k. should pay to fulfill its obligations. a cost of housing has shot up in many european countries in recent years with britain leading the way the comas is a topic of hot debate some say the market decides others say property speculation by the nega which is to blame whatever the cause it's driven some britons back to living off th

the prime minister, leo varadkar, has vowed to stand by frances fitzgerald, even if that leads to the suggests people with schizophrenia can benefit from a new therapy that gets them to talk face—to—face with a computer representation of the voices they hear. the study, published in the journal lancet psychiatry, found that the therapy was more effective at reducing hallucinations than supportive counselling. tom baker has returned to the tardis to film part of an unfinished dr who episode from 1979. wearing his trademark long stripy scarf and coat, the 83—year—old actor shot the scene on the original set at the bbc‘s television centre. the episode, shada, wasn't made at the time because of an engineering strike. definitely one for the fans to watch out for. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 9.30am. do get in touch with us throughout the morning. use the hashtag victorialive and if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. time to get some sport now and quite a day in the first ashes test match with the advantage swinging between england and australia

officer who was smeared and victimized after blowing the whistle on corruption prime minister leo varadkar had been standing by her prompting the threat of a no confidence vote on tuesday by the second largest party for oil this could have pulled down the government weeks ahead of a key e.u. summit on breaks in the gauche ations between the u.k. and e.u. central to those talks are the status of the border between northern ireland which is in the u.k. and the republic of ireland which remains in the european union and the bark as more on this now from dublin. the last thing the irish government wanted right now was for political instability that would come with a general election ireland wields a tremendous amount of political clout over breaks it talks at the moment they say that they will veto the possibility of negotiations going to the next level all important trade talks with the brussels until ireland has a clear cut idea of what will happen to the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland a part of the u.k. there's a border that seen decades of bloodshed in the past

and the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, says without a guarantee of no physical border with northern, discussions on trade cannot begin. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports from berlin. here in berlin, where the decisions matter so much, there are in dublin, this morning, and almost everywhere, the government mission to persuade the government mission to persuade the rest of the eu to please move on. the prime minister in sweden had met there is more to do. we are agreed that progress has been made but there is more to be done. we should move forward together towards the point where sufficient progress can be declared. but someone has to barge to get there. in the european capital that speaks with the loudest void, the view is that britain must shift. the brexit secretary does not think it is down to him. we have made quite a lot of compromises. one citizens‘ rights, we have made all the running. we have not always got that back. you have come to the powerhouse of the european union without an offer on what pretty much everybody on the other side agrees is the biggest probl

the irish prime minister leo varadkar also wants a guarantee there'll be no physical border with northernland after brexit. now on bbc news, time for a look back on the week in parliament. hello and welcome to the programme in a westminster week dominated by one big event. european union withdrawal bill, committee. order. how are we going to leave the eu? i will be reporting on the big debates in the commons. mps keep up the pressure on the government to cut payment waiting times for claimants being switched to a controversial new benefit. universal credit has forced them into debt, made it harder for them to stay in work and left many of them facing eviction. i have been talking to the conservative mp in elected to chair the liaison committee, but what does it do? we are there because we are used to cross—party consensus working and we want to develop ideas, influence and understand what policy is. also on this programme: but first, on the long road to brexit, this week will go down as something of a parliamentary milestone, as mps held their first two days of line—by—line scrutiny on th

and the irish prime minister leo varadkar says without a guarantee there'll be no physical border withn ireland, discussions on trade cannot begin. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports from berlin. siren. here in berlin, where the decisions matter so much. there in dublin, this morning. thank you very much, thank you very much. and almost everywhere, a government mission to persuade the rest of the eu to please move on. the prime minister, in sweden, admits there's more to do. we are agreed that good progress has been made, that there is more to be done, but we should move forward together towards that point where sufficient progress can be declared. but someone has to budge to get there. in the european capital that speaks with the loudest voice, the view is that britain must shift. but the brexit secretary does not think it is down to him. so far, in this negotiation, we have made quite a lot of compromises. on the citizens' rights front, we have made all the running, offering some quite creative compromises. we haven't always got that back. but you have come to the powerhou

leo varadkar, the irish prime minister, put it pretty clearly a nd irish prime minister, put it prettyk, i sometimes wonder so far into the brexit process whether the people who were so process whether the people who were so keen on the brexit project had really thought everything through. so there is no guarantee that the progress of the eu —— that the eu wa nts to progress of the eu —— that the eu wants to see by december is going to be there, no guaranteed the uk will get that shift onto talks about trade in the future. kevin, thank you. let‘s talk to ben wright as well. when you listen to that, that is precisely the tone and language that theresa may, david davis and others do not want to hear? they don‘t, but listened to david davis speaking to the bbc and he has an undimmed, affable swagger as he approaches negotiations and he said again that in his view the uk had made compromises, they have moved faron made compromises, they have moved far on the question of guaranteeing the right of each use it isn‘t in the right of each use it isn‘t in the uk, for example, and he said smaller

prime minister leo varadkar who's standing by his embattled deputy now faces the prospect of a no confidence vote next week by the second largest party fianna follow and that could pull down his minority government and lead to snap elections just as the u.k. e.u. and then to discuss what will happen with british controlled northern ireland and britain leaves the e.u. well earlier we spoke to. bracken who is director of research at dublin city university school of law and government and he explained what effect the political standoff in ireland could have on bret's it. i think what it does is it creates further instability further uncertainty we don't have if we don't have to go to the doctor to compliment the situation we don't have to go on to belfast and of course we have a chaotic and divided government a lot and so from the u.s. perspective using with bribes and cheating with the irish issue which is that force a very important part of the people's issues it means. for us perspective it's very difficult to know who to negotiate and do the people they negotiate with have authority to make

did youjump for the leading party and leo varadkar. did you jump or was sheepish?s ever. after last night, this letter emerged which put her in deeper trouble than she has been. privately, members of the fine gael party were saying to their favourite journalists that this really is not good and we can't believe she would stay on. but up until this morning, indications from the government would be that she was not planning to resign. however, it looks like over the course of the cabinet meeting, things did change. this fitzgerald has released a statement in the past half hour so she said she believes is necessary to ta ke she said she believes is necessary to take this decision to avoid an unwelcome and potentially destabilising general election at this historically critical time she has put the national interest are ha rd of has put the national interest are hard of her personal interest. 0ver the weekend with the prospect of a general election looming, constituents were giving feedback that they did not want a general election at a time when people were thinking a

would your prime minister leo varadkar survived if he made significant concessions on the position youin the republic at the moment. would he survive, would he be able to command majority support if he made concessions? i do not propose to speak for other parties but i am certain there is 100% agreement across the political divide on the issue of the border between the republic and northern ireland. this is a really, really critical issue. it is far, far more important than the trade context between north and south on the island of ireland. it has to do with the difficult historical lessons we have learnt, which have been born out of a hard border, and we certainly want to avoid that, and that is our primary motivation. obviously, trade issues that arise and costs associated with the border are important, but they are secondary to the lessons of history. thank you. so, if you didn't see the news, donald trump's morning twitter flow included three retweets — each an anti—muslim video posted by the deputy leader of the far right group britain first. for example, one purported to show a m

however, the prime minister leo varadkar is saying he is standing by her.eps aside, ireland could be heading for aside, ireland could be heading for a snap general election. but news just coming to us in the last few minutes. a key part of youtube's system for reporting people who leave sexualised comments on videos of children has not been working for over a year. volunteer moderators have said up to 100,000 predatory accounts could be leaving comments on videos. meanwhile, a bbc trending investigation has found a flaw in the system that allows the public to report abuse. the nspcc says more needs to be done to protect children online. we think it's really important the government now steps in to require all social media firms to take consistent steps to make children safe. what should that look like? that should ensure that children have the highest privacy settings established as default. that should mean that the social network employs specialist people to moderate reports that come through from children and that those reports are prioritised. they shou

question of whether it's a caretaker prime minister or have the full support of the government leo varadkaras full support, but they have the ability to slow down the agreement and saying there is not sufficient progress on the issue of the irish border we are heading up there in the next couple of hours to see what impact that is having on business but this is a difficult situation for theresa may back in london. she has her own party saying she cannot buckle. the dup of northern ireland saying she cannot agree to anything about the border that does not involve them as part of the union. and then the irish government saying there's no chances of no hard border. >> willem, thank you very much i guess by the end of the week you'll be able to give us your best irish and northern irish accents. >> i don't know what you're talking about wilf, no problem at all >> fantastic stuff >>> up next, president trump talks taxes. jay powell gets grilled. we are setting up for a huge day ahead in the nation's capital when "worldwide exchange" returns. it can detect a threat using ai, and respond 60 times

. >>> irish prime minister leo varadkar is set to announce a new deputy prime minister today after the incumbent, frances fitzgerald resigned amid a scandal of a police whistle-blower >>> speaking to willem marks, micheal martin of fianna fail said core issues like brexit could be pursued we had a shaky week, damage was done, but we are determined to rebuild that trust and that engagement in the interest of the country. that will happen there's no medial sense of general election or anything like that now. so the government is free to pursue the core issues that bedevilled the country, housing and health issues. domestic issues that are there in a lot of countries and the brexit negotiations that are ongoing. that represents such a threat to ireland into the future and to the island of ireland as a whole. >> you had several days of direct talks with mr. varadkar, do you have personal trust in the man? >> in the midst of the crisis, through our discussions, i think we reached better understandings but there is no doubt that emotions in both parties are bruised. that said, i think we are

the irish taoiseach, leo varadkar, has insisted his deputy, frances fitzgerald, shouldn't resign. would be forced to call a general election next week if the motion isn't withdrawn by tuesday. a judge at leeds crown court has ordered that a teenager who killed a seven—year—old girl in york be detained for life with a minimum term of five years. katie rough was smothered and stabbed in a playing field on the edge of the city injanuary. her killer, who was 15 at the time of the attack, has been described as an extremely troubled and damaged child with severe mental health issues. phil connell was in court. the north yorkshire police in legal terms at least, today's sentenced as the end of the case they describe as one of the most tragic there have ever dealt with. for the parents of katie rough, though, the circumstances of the doctor's death is something they will live with for the rest of their life. today, the investigating police officers but on their behalf. today is the end of their behalf. today is the end of the process, and is a release relief, but that is not the end of ou

leo varadkar has said the only way to avoid a hard order in ireland is to apply the rules, to continueinue to apply the rules, eu single market and the customs union. that is something the british government have said they do not want to do. i'm very well aware of what the uk is saying and has said repeatedly, buti of what the uk is saying and has said repeatedly, but i had a meeting in brussels on evening with james brokenshire, secretary of state for northern ireland, a good meeting but idid northern ireland, a good meeting but i did say, the way to avoid problems around a border is to make sure the uk stays in the customs union and single market. i think we have to keep saying that so there is an understanding of what the consequences are, and invitations for the uk living the customs union and single market. national politicians like myself have to keep saying it. we said it about this conference, knowing that the uk ta kes a conference, knowing that the uk takes a different view, so that's why there is quite a gap in understanding of this situation. but there is a verbal commitmen

this will create more of a vacuum and the irish issues mean leo varadkar is not here, angela merkel isues given the follow pa rt domestic issues given the follow part the coalition talks. suddenly theresa may has more time with donald tusk and she can talk, we are told it will not be numbers, the reports of £110 told it will not be numbers, the reports of £40 billion being offered to the eu... but last week it was clear there will be more money going forward. does that bring them to make the eu more satisfied with the next phase? donald tusk is one of the key figures, you have mr brexit, shell barnier, but when it comes to the other leaders, donald tusk is a central conduit. this is why they must have these regular meetings. for anybody who suggests the problems with the political situations in ireland and germany might help britain's position, if there is chaos in those countries, you will not get 27 other countries agreeing to anything, if there is chaos at the heart of it? it is a balance. to have an issue where there have been reports that the eu would deny that sometimes when you

some breaking news from the world of irish politics, the irish pregnancy, leo varadkar, has named hisnvolved in the brexits negotiations, so let's see what impact that will have if he moves over to the deputy pm role, which the irish prime minister hasjust announced. we will be looking at the border question, hard day of special coverage on brexit on the border question injust a coverage on brexit on the border question in just a few minutes. but first, some of the day's other news... net migration has fallen by nearly a third in a year — the largest annual decrease recorded. official figures for the twelve months tojune show 230,000 more people arrived in the uk than left it — down more than 100,000 from the year before. three quarters of the fall is down to changes in eu migration in the 12 months since the brexit referendum. 572,000 people arrived in the uk during those 12 month period and over that period, 342,000 people left the uk. the ministerfor in a grey, brandon lewis, is in westminster. good afternoon. —— minister for westminster. good afternoon. —— ministerfor in westminst