return to a hard border and we are able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between northern ireland and the republicontinue in the future. today's document also calls for the protection of the common travel area. which allows people to travel between the uk and ireland without passport control. crossing time today is two hours and 25 minutes. and the government says it has ruled out the idea of a customs border being placed between the islands of ireland and britain as unconstitutional and not economically viable. this position paper repeats phrases that have been used by government ministers countless times in recent months. like "there should be no return to the borders of the past, there "should be a frictionless and seamless border. " but there remain real questions about how that can happen, particularly as some within the eu have described the idea of an invisible border as fantasy. i think it is important to say this, this is welcome today, we have more clarity than we had yesterday in relation to the british government approach towards brexit as it relates to northern ireland and ireland. bu

between northern ireland and the republic of ireland running for 310 miles. sings between northern ireland and the republic. the british army shut down, spiked or cratered the rest. but following the good friday agreement there‘s been rapid change. now there are more than 260 public roads that cross the border. the centre for cross border studies, has estimated that between 23 and 30,000 people cross the border daily for work. while around 170,000 lorries and 1.85m cars are recorded crossing the border each month. which means that every year 31% of northern ireland‘s exports go to the republic, and 27% of its imports come from the republic. so there‘s a lot at stake — delays could lead to huge costs for business plus there‘s the risk of tax evasion, and various types of smuggling — both of goods and people. but above and beyond that there are massive political issues — creating any kind of hard border would be incredibly sensitive politically — and could do serious damage to the peace process. so what are the possible solutions? well, some new technology that

of the east—west relationship. mostly the trade goes through gb and to the continent. the northern ireland and the republic these sectors are actually based in ireland. if we look at agriculture, a lot of milk produced in northern ireland is then sent south on the border to be protest in most of that comes north again. it will be sold in northern ireland or sent to the uk. so this issue of the border in the real tricky thing is where will the real tricky thing is where will the government be when it gets the special customs agreement. what is certainly clear is, there has to be some form of checks. there will be some form of checks. there will be some sort of check of the border and that's when it becomes costly or more costly to businesses but also politically divisive and problematic. thank you very much indeed. today, representatives from canada, the united states and mexico will begin to renegotiate the north american free trade agreement— also known as nafta. for us timber workers, the trade pact has long been a source of tension. the bbc‘s samira hussain reports. there is a lot of uncertainty. nobody

here it is — between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, running for 310 miles. he troubles, there were just 20 official border crossings between northern ireland and the republic. the british army shut down, spiked or cratered the rest. but following the good friday agreement there's been consierable change. now there are more than 260 public roads that cross the border. the centre for cross border studies has estimated that between 23,000 and 30,000 people cross the border daily for work, while, each month, around 170,000 lorries and 1.85 million cars are recorded crossing the border. which means that, every year, 31% of northern ireland's exports go to the republic, and 27% of its imports come from the republic. so there's a lot at stake. delays could lead to huge costs for business, plus there's the risk of tax evasion, and various types of smuggling — both of goods and people. but above and beyond that there are massive political issues. creating any kind of hard border would be incredibly sensitive politically, and could do serious damage to the peace proces

where some kind of barriers could divide towns like belcoo in northern ireland and blacklion in the republicside of this bridge and people in areas like this havejobs, businesses and friends that require them to cross this border regularly. i cross this border quite easily 15, 20 times a day, moving goods sometimes, sometimes just to manage staff, meet people, whatever is involved in daily work. if there is any sort of checks that slow that down or anything else, it is going to create a lot of logistical difficulties. the government wants to return to the days when border huts the government wants no return to the days when border huts and customs posts marked where northern island meets the republic. this paper seems to dismiss the idea of a return to infrastructure or cameras at the border. and ministers say they are determined to protect the common travel area. allowing the free movement of people across ireland and britain. ideas and aspirations that will be welcomed beyond these islands and brussels, but ones which raise political and practical difficulties, with claims that it could al

customs border at all between the uk and ireland, enabling goods to flow freely between the republic of irelandorthern ireland. protecting the common travel area is key. thanks to the current arrangement, people can move freely between northern ireland, the republic and the rest of the uk without passport checks. this is important because, according to the centre for cross border studies, up to 30,000 people cross the border every day for work. and the central statistics office estimates the value of ireland's exports to britain has grown by 14 % to $8.5 billion so far this year. with us is dr paul breen, senior lecturer, university of westminster. good to see you. welcome to the programme. it is hard to overemphasise how important politically and economically there is an invisible border on the free flow of people and goods between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. in ait is absolutely essential there is a detailed plan in place well in advance of march, 2019. here in london, where we are now, we can get on the london underground march 2019, the morning after brexit. for people liv

the hard border, and that we are able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between northern ireland and the republicontinue in the future. we are quite clear and i think everyone is clear on both sides in northern ireland that there must be no hard border. there never has been a hard, physical border. though clearly there have been controls in the past. nobody wants to see a return to that, that would just damage the peace process. today's document also calls for the protection of the common travel area, which allows people to travel between the uk and ireland without passport controls. crossing time today is two hours and 25 minutes... and the government says it has ruled out the idea of a customs border being placed between the islands of ireland and britain as unconstitutional and not economically viable. this position paper repeats phrases that have been used by government ministers countless times in recent months. like there should be no return to the borders of the past, there should be a frictionless, seamless border. but there remain real questions about how that can happen, particularly as

of the matter. that's because when brexit happens, the uk will suddenly have a major land border with the eu. here it is, between northern ireland and the republic just 20 official crossings between northern ireland and the republic. the british army shut down, spiked or cratered the rest. but following the good friday agreement, there has been considerable change and now there are more than 260 public roads that cross the border. the centre for cross border studies has estimated that between 23 and 30,000 people cross the border daily for work. while, each month, around 170,000 lorries and 1.85 million cars are recorded crossing the border, which means that every year 31% of northern ireland's exports go to the republic, and 27% of its imports come from the republic. so there's a lot at stake. delays could lead to huge costs for business, plus there's the risk of tax evasion and various types of smuggling, both of goods and people. but above and beyond that, there are massive political issues. creating any kind of hard border would be incredibly sensitive politically and could do serious damage to the peace process. so what are the possible sol

serbia and republic of ireland. top team are guaranteed altercation. second place is not likely to be good enough for the play—offs. since making his full baby one day regale, chris gunter has not missed many games. —— his full debut one decade ago. he is going to be only the sublet a beach 80 caps. 0nly gary speed and neville southall had reached more. today, he backed the managed to stay in a job long term. coleman said last week he would be open to discussing his future, having previously said this campaign would be his last. he has done a really good job for us. as long as he wants to stay, if you ask every player, we would say we would love him to stay. definitely. good news that aaron ramsey is back in training but there will be selection issues ahead for manager chris coleman. neil taylor the suspended, so coleman. neil taylor the suspended, so isjoe allen. 0ther midfielders, dave edwards and andy king, have had limited game time this season. plenty to ponder ahead of two potentially defining matches, after w

of ireland, and the european court of justice the republicbrexit, itjust went be a direct influence. so for the european officials i talk to and not particularly impressed by the position papers coming out of the british government. they think that the british government is trying very ha rd to the british government is trying very hard to unify itself around a common position which is fair enough andi common position which is fair enough and i think the british government is sticking to a british audience trying to show it is making progress in the talks but on substance as far as the eu is concerned the british papers are not substantive enough to really m ea n papers are not substantive enough to really mean that the talks could move ahead. but is because the eu wa nts to move ahead. but is because the eu wants to focus on its priority issues of agreeing a way to calculate the uk's debts, protecting the rights of eu citizens living in post— brexit britain, and what to do about the irish border. so far, no agreement on any of them. behind t

ireland over to the mainland. but of course northern ireland, sorry, the republic of ireland is not part of schengen anyway, so itking too much of it. let's look at the observer, we mentioned david miliband, who lost out to his brother ed for the labour leadership and is now in america. he has some things to say about brexit. he's been praising philip hammond, he says i never thought i would say this but philip hammond is also playing an important, even valiant role, the transition of the county advocates is vital. perhaps we should have done this before the telegraph what he's advocating we are now learning from the telegraph has been agreed in two loose way. we have remained voters and leave vote rs have remained voters and leave voters coming together to stayed there should be a transition period, dependent on how long it will be but david miliband, obviously, is massively against brexit. and you know, no doubt would support any kind of anti brexit parties should there be one but it's quite interesting, he has almost foreseen what was going to be said this weekend and said he approves of that. there has been q

set out the government's plan and there is talk of perhaps a showing in style zone within the republic of irelandwhere people are able to move between those countries free but not to the rest of the european union, because of course freedom of movement will end. some interesting comments in the paper today from david miliband, the defeat at —— defeated labour leadership contender? the government that's right, former foreign secretary and one—time labour leadership contender. he is saying in quite strong terms that the vote to leave the european union was an unparalleled act of economic self harm he is calling on politicians from all sides to try to stop the worst from all sides to try to stop the woi’st consequences from all sides to try to stop the worst consequences brexit. they should be another vote on it, he says, on the final deal that britain negotiate with the european union. he says whilst we should respect the result of the referendum, democracy did not end onjune the 23rd, 2016. we will have to see how much support he gets for this call for unity to stop what he sees the worst impact f

the republic of ireland is an eu member. northern ireland is pa rt an eu member. is part of the uk, so soon will not be pa rt part of the uk, so soon will not be part of the uk, so soon will not be part of the uk, so soon will not be part of the eu. so this will be the only land border between the eu and the uk. there are around 300 public road crossings on this border. in the paper the uk government says it does not want any new physical infrastructure on them. when i asked our reality check correspondent chris morris how this would work in terms of trade. in an ideal world the british government doesn't want to have a customs border at all, a bit like it is at the moment, after brexit. but it might be the eu doesn't agree to that. if that would be the case then the second option is to give an exemption to a lot of local traders and set up a scheme for bigger traders where they have a trusted trader scheme. if you are registered and you put in your customs documents online then there will be no physical border. but it will be no physical border. but it will be no

, it will go through some detail about firstly how the border with northern ireland and the republic of irelande of the first issues that has to be negotiated by david davis, the brexit secretary, and his team, and the eu officials in brussels, and it has proved a sticking point so far. there has been frustration from the eu side that the british government hasn't been clear enough on what it wa nts to hasn't been clear enough on what it wants to happen. this paper will set out the government plan, and there may be something like a schengen area agreement within the uk where people can move freely within the british isles and the republic of ireland, but not within the eu more broadly. wets david miliband has been speaking this week. he has come out and said —— been speaking this week. he has come out and said -- david miliband has been speaking this week. he is calling on politicians on all sides to try to stop the worst consequences of brexit. there should be another vote on it, he says, on the final deal that britain negotiates with the eu, and he says that whilst we should respect the resul

that sets out the government plan, and there is talk perhaps a schengen— style zone within the republic of irelandpeople are able to move between those two countries freely, but not to the rest of the european union because, of course, free movement of people will end. some interesting comments today from david miliband, the deflated legally —— labour leadership contender who is now in america? one-time leadership contender before losing to his brother, ed miliband. he has come out and said in quite strong terms that the vote to leave the eu was an unparalleled act of economic self harm, and he is calling on politicians on all sides to try to stop the worst consequences brexit. there should be another vote on it, he says, on the final deal that britain negotiates with the eu, and he says that whilst we should respect the result of the referendum, democracy did not end on the 23rd ofjune, 2016. we will have to see how much support he gets for this call for unity and for politicians on all sides to stop what he sees as the worst impact brexit coming true. athletics now, and bitter disappointment las

of fresh airfor the republic party. he has been a breath of fresh air for the republic of ireland. thank you very much indeed. ireland secretary, lord hain, who says the irish prime minister's intervention is very welcome. here's jay with a look at this morning's weather. a beautiful sunrise somewhere? yes, beautiful in east yorkshire. a lovely start here, but that is not the full story. in bristol, cloudy skies. early showers dotted around. a mixture of sunny spells and showers through the weekend. with the north—westerly breeze, it is going to be very warm. showers early on across wales, heading towards east anglia and the south—east. a few ru m bles east anglia and the south—east. a few rumbles of thunder. further north, sunny spells and a scattering of showers. some rain at times across scotland and northern ireland. temperatures only around 16- 17 ireland. temperatures only around 16— 17 degrees. dry and bright spells, rain and sunshine as well in wales. the south—west of england, a pretty reasonable afternoon. showers moving through on the breeze towards the london area, 20— 21 degrees. a shower or two

they have to talk about the border with the republic of ireland and plenty of other things too,

hard—fought, —— had border. and that we're able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between northern ireland and the republic again blaming both sides for violence in charlottesville. you look at both sides, i think there is blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it and you do not have any doubt about it either. the unemployment rate falls to the lowest level since 1975, but real wages also drop.

to a hard border and that we are able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between northern ireland and the republice in the future. some have raised doubts about the uk's ability to forge trade deals with other countries if it agrees to meet the eu's standards for food and agriculture. and if a customs deal cannot be agreed with the eu, there are questions about what will happen to the billions of pounds of trade carried along these busy border roads. the british government believes technology and online declarations could be used to monitor goods carried by biggerfirms. but there are concerns about smuggling, and the irish government has other doubts. i don't believe the island of ireland issues will be resolved through technology and i think this paper probably also accepts that, which is a step forward, and i welcome that. it does leave you wondering what the border is going to look like and if you are outside of the customs union how you police that. we are no clearer as to knowing what that is going to be, are we? that is because the negotiation now needs to take place. and there is a will to

we don't have any close and neighbours than the republic of ireland. ith the republic of ireland and we want to keep it going. we wa nt to and we want to keep it going. we want to conclude a free trade deal with the european union. make sure thatis with the european union. make sure that is all done in a tidy manner so that is all done in a tidy manner so that there are no problems, such as he has mentioned. the problems he has mentioned are all super bowl with modern technology. thank you very much for your time and sorry about the communication difficulties. thank you for your time this morning. the royal bank of scotland, which is still predominantly owned by the taxpayer, has reported a substantial profit after a £2 billion loss for the same period last year. the bank made almost £940 million in the six months to the end ofjune. they also announced they were in talks to move their european headquarters to amsterdam after brexit. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. it's been posting annual losses almost a decade but today at least, it can s

they have to talk about the border with the republic of ireland and plenty of other things too, but andnty of other things too, but a trade deal is quite far down their list of priorities. i think we will get this batting of heads anyway. they will say, you can't get past that, but we have to settle on the bill first we don't even know what the deal is. they haven't got a figure. we had a british trade negotiator earlier, a former one, who said no one will tell us these end points in the middle of a negotiation. you could argue, everything is moving to plan. except the tone is problematic. true. i think the uk should have started, given that we kind of came quite hostile to the table, and the history was not a good one, we could have tried at the beginning to foster better relations there, and we didn't. the times angle, the eu wa nts we didn't. the times angle, the eu wants billions in foreign aid. we didn't. the times angle, the eu wants billions in foreign aidm we didn't. the times angle, the eu wants billions in foreign aid. it is pa rt wants billions in foreign aid. it is part of t

where some kind of barriers could divide towns like belcoo in northern ireland and blacklion in the republict either side of this bridge and people in areas like this havejobs, businesses and friends that require them to cross this border regularly. i cross this border quite easily 15, 20 times a day, moving goods sometimes, sometimes just to manage staff, meet different people, whatever is involved in daily work. if there is any sort of checks that slow that down or anything else, it is going to create a lot of logistical difficulties. the government doesn't want to return to the days when border huts and customs posts marked where northern ireland meets the republic. this position paper seemed to dismiss the idea of a return to infrastructure or even cameras at the border. and ministers say they are determined to protect the common travel area. allowing the free movement of people across ireland and britain. ideas and aspirations that will be welcomed beyond these islands and brussels, but ones which raise political and practical difficulties, with claims that it could allow a back door fo

and now to possibly the best clip you'll see all day from republic of ireland assistant manager roy keaneees for what he calls average players. he also went on to say former team—mate ryan giggs would be worth £2 billion in today's market. which players were you talking about? you played with some great players. van nistelrooy. .. 0n the market now ruud would probably be worth £1 billion. david beckham ? £1 billion. ryan giggs? £2 billion. roy keane ? £3.75 billion! britain's chris froome has maintained his 36 second lead after stage ten of the vuelta a espana. after 102 miles in the saddle italy's matteo trentin held off spain's jose joaquin rojas to claim victory. froome crossed the line four and a half minutes later alongside his main rival esteban chaves. although the colombian is nowjoint second with ireland's nicolas roach who made up time on the final descent. british boxer peter mcgrail is guaranteed a medal from the world amateur championships in hamburg after he won his ba ntamweight quarterfinal today. the liverpudlian european champion beat leonel de los santos from the domini

will have is that northern ireland will have to have a sort of separate brexit arrangement to the rest of the united kingdom, because it has that land border with the republicause there is no appetite for customs checks on the border, then it will effectively maintain or continue as it is now worth scotland and wales will not. they tend to brag about with there will be systems for doing it. there are roads, border which crisscross the border of three or four times. the border is madness. some people are suggesting that the uk will have this back door into the eu or vice ve rsa . this back door into the eu or vice versa. if you wanted to come illegally into the united kingdom and you are an eu citizen, come on a tourist visa and then overstayed legally rather than going via ireland where it will be more difficult. let us move on, the daily telegraph, they have moved very specially because we were here just this evening about events at buckingham palace. you were close to it. i was. you do not know much about it. on my way to the studio, all i saw was what is in this picture, lots of blue flashing lights, the police cordoned off the whole area and we were div

no wonder the uk currently sells more to the tiny republic of ireland. of british empire and engineering, now it's china's great age of the railways, carrying uk hopes for post—brexit markets. from one end of the new silk road back to its start. three weeks later and those british goods from the train are on display at a chinese trade fair. no one but me showing an interest. it's a local stir—fry which captures the crowd. so how are other european exporters doing? there's certainly a lot of curiosity about the european products in there, but i didn't overhear any huge deals being done. i think there's still a long way to go. the ancient silk road was driven by private traders from many countries. the new version is chinese state money and muscle. china has the most ambitious plan for our century. if it succeeds, it will make china superpower again, even mightier perhaps than the empires of old. but if it fails, it'll leave a legacy of bad blood which poisons china's future, and taints even the grandeur of the past. low. after the weather this weekend on t

of northern ireland. we represent all sections of society. leo varadkar shows the change which has happened in the republic of ireland. state he leads voted to allow same—sex marriage two years ago, but in northern ireland, it is still outlawed. he said he had come to this event as a gesture of solidarity and expected the law will change here. i think it's only a matter of time. it's a decision for the northern ireland assembly, but i'm confident that, like other western european countries, they will make that decision in due course. those comments were welcomed by pride organisers. northern ireland is still lagging behind the rest of the uk in terms of laws enacted there but not here. it's time we as a community demand change, we demand the same rights as the rest of the united kingdom. the devolved administration, which will have to make a decision on marriage laws here, is currently suspended, because of a dispute between the dup and sinn fein. but during the last period of government, the dup were able to veto the measure which would have led to same—sex marriage. mr varadkar‘s intervention may increase the pressu

republic of ireland assistant manager roy keane believes the fees demanded by what he describes as "averagehis is his assessment of what some of his former team—mates would be worth in today's market. it is mind—boggling. mind—boggling for the figures for these players, it is not their fault obviously. it is the market, the market value of players is mind—boggling, the figures for players especially for the average players. the time to be a professional footballer is the average players. the time to be a professionalfootballer is now, average players going for 35 million. but it is not theirfault, there are not that many top players out there. the brilliant players are going to the big money but that is filtering down and average players going for 30 million, a0 million, filtering down and average players going for30 million, a0 million, it makes you scratch your head. but if clu bs a re makes you scratch your head. but if clubs are prepared to pay it, it is not the fault of the players. right some news on the home nations now ahead of the world cup qualifiers next week. first england becau

one issue is the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland.sh citizens the right to move freely into the uk after brexit. ministers will also said they thinking on how a new customs arrangement with the eu may work after brexit. and more position papers will follow through the summer ina papers will follow through the summer in a clear effort scots criticism that ministers don't have a plan and are divided. it is also intended to put pressure on brussels to crack ——. we are talking about britain's future relationship with eu sooner rather than later. the clock is ticking. the two—year window for doing the deal is already slipping by fast. 17 former army instructors will come before a court martial next month, charged with assault on recruits. the group from the army foundation couegein the group from the army foundation college in harrogate will appear at a court—martial centre. they face 40 charges, including battery and actual bodily harm. learning drivers are to be allowed onto motorways in england, scotland and wales for the first time nex

return to a hard border and that are able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between northern ireland and the republicble to continue in the future. some have raised doubts about the uk's ability to forge trade deals with other countries if it agrees to meet the eu's standards for food and agriculture. and if they customs deal cannot be agreed with the eu, there are questions about what will happen to the billions of pounds of trade carried along these busy border roads. the british government believes technology and online declarations could be used to monitor goods carried by bigger firms. but there are concerns about smuggling and the irish government has other doubts. i don't believe the island of ireland issue's will be resolved through technology and i believe this paper but we also acce pt believe this paper but we also accept that, which is a step forward andl accept that, which is a step forward and i welcome that. it does leave you wondering what the board it is going to look like and if you are outside of the customs union how you police that. we are no clear as to knowing what that is goin

it's almost a century since the republic of ireland was formed but it's still a matter of dispute whon the uk and ireland were inside the european union. but with a brexit break—up coming, these issues could be important again. in places like warrenpoint, people have become very used to living without any sign of borders. in their recently published proposals, the british government made clear that it does not want that to change. eu leaders share that desire but they have concerns about how practically that is possible if the uk is outside of the customs union. from this point, negotiations are expected to heat up. but until there is some agreement on issues like the border, there will continue to be a certain uncertainty here. just being so close to the border, a lot of people travel to the south every day for work. so if they're putting the border back—up, it will be mayhem, won't it? it does worry me because my son is in farming and i think, with the brexit, there will be a big, big change for the farming community. but the uk believes it has started to plot a course for brexit in

ireland's prime minister warns that time is running out for a brexit agreement. one of the key issues that hasn't been resolved is keeping the border between northern island and the republic of ireland. resolved if the u.k. joins a new custom union with the european union after leaving the block. in one of there tallest residential buildings has been put out the the blaze and cold as many as if the of the torch towers 86 stories. authorities say there were no injuries. fire ate second major the skyscraper since 2015. global news 24 hours per day powered by 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am mark crumpton, this is bloomberg. the u.s. labor market hit its stride with a jobless rate at a 16 year low. national economic council director weighed in on this earlier. >> the president is completely right. unemployment rate, down to four point 3%, down to a 16 year low. we are bringing americans back into the workforce and that is what the president said to do and the objective. we did that without the major policy initiatives taking place. most of haven't gotten our nominees through the regulatory process. we are continue today regulate theo invest capital i

it is called a physical border infrastructure with the republic of ireland and the united kingdom. rn to the reality and symbolism of border checks and customs searches? and chaos within the trump administration in a frenzied and impromptu press conference within the walls of his new york city tower. the president revisits, defending the actions of supporters of white nationalism and supremacy. this is "bloomberg surveillance ." i'm tom keene in new york and guy johnson in for francine lacqua. we will have taylor riggs without first word news in a moment. tell me about the european gdp data. we see it there at 0.6%, the advantage of the bloomberg data screen. when you look at that, guy, is it a recovering europe? guy: it is, 2.2% is the number on the european basis. this is a reasonably broad-based recovery, spurting out from core to periphery in italy. so, a reasonably broad based recovery coming through. and the data is supporting that. will a strengthening euro start to eat into that story going forward? the firstee, this is day where we seriously consider jackson hole. right now

of last week were saying that you mess with the timetable at your peril. they say that if you leave big sensitive issues like northern ireland and the border between northern ireland and the republicsettlement, the so—called brexit bill, to the end of the talks, you risk there being no deal at the end of the process, so that is their reason for why they want to deal with those issues upfront. so will david davis get his wish about discussing things for the future instead of just discussing things for the future instead ofjust the withdrawal issues? i guess we will find out by the end of this week. and as ever, there is always the backdrop to what is going on politically here, and the political talk here around labour shifting its stance on brexit. how much does that filter through to what is happening there? things that happen in the uk do filter through. people here in brussels read the british press, listen to the today programme, watch this to see what is happening. i think they will be slightly less interested in labour's shifted position on things like a transition deal than they will be about the hardening up of the position in the government, because after all, that is who

the i claims the government is to announce there is be to no land border with the republic of irelanditain leaves the eu. the guardian reports that a government plan to mirror european customs controls after brexit is being ridiculed in brussels. the ft carries a picture of the indian prime minister celebrating the 70th anniversary of his country's independence. the mirror headlines calls from campaign groups for the government to freeze rail fares after an increase of 3.6% was announced for january. the telegraph claims the number of babies left brain damaged following nhs blunders has increased by almost a quarter in one year. the daily mail says mps could review plans to restore big ben, after claims that some weren't aware the famous bongs would be silenced for a total of four years. now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. when the aljazeera news network was launched in qatar in 1996, it had a seismic impact on the media landscape in the middle east. here was an arab broadcaster refusing to play by local rules. it was ambitious, punchy and provocative

on the issue of the northern ireland border are the republic of ireland, which the uk published a paperk by an eu official in private. 0n the financial settlement, the so—called brexit bill, what‘s going to happen this week is that the uk side is going to pick apart the eu‘s legal case for asking for a bill at all. in their words, legal case for asking for a bill at all. in theirwords, michel legal case for asking for a bill at all. in their words, michel barnier has massively overegged his demands for money. that‘s why both men today saying they want to get down to work, but not suggesting there‘s going to be any dramatic breakthroughs by the end of this third round of official brexit negotiations. thanks very much. the headlines on bbc news: the authorities in houston have warned that the severe flooding, that‘s forced thousands of people from their homes is likely to get worse. the third round much brexit talks are taking place in brussels this afternoon, with british negotiators urging the eu to show flexibility and imagination. a lorry driver has been remanded in custody in connect

services might be traded across the border once britain is out of the european union and the republic of irelandemains and the customers that land border. the europeans said we're not talking about that because that is the relationship. in a sense, their distinction is a little artificial, isn't it? let's not pretend that either side is a paragon of virtue in this discussion. both sides are trying to stake out a maximalist position is, which is part and parcel of a negotiation. this reminds me of the presidential campaign when people said we should not take donald trump literally be taken figuratively, or make the mistake of doing it the other way about. with negotiations like this we can get stuck on certain literal statements that perhaps figuratively mean something else. i agree with eunice goes, there is a sign of moderation, of more realistic notions of what the relationship could be. in terms of ireland, that is such a vexed situation from its political and religious and sectarian history that has to be grappled with by both the eu and britain. it is not in the interest of the eu that ther

be traded across the border once britain is out of the european union, and, of course, the republic of irelandemains in because there is that land border. and the europeans said, we are not talking about that because it is about the trade relationship. in a sense, their distinction is artificial, and we must talk about the divorce before we talk about what comes after. let's not pretend either side is a paragon of virtue in this discussion. both sides are perhaps also trying to stake out maximalist positions, which is part and parcel of the negotiating process. this reminds me in some ways of back in the presidential campaign in the us, when people said, we shouldn't take trump literally but figuratively, or make the mistake of doing it the other way about. sometimes, with negotiations like this, we can get stuck on literal statements that perhaps figuratively mean something else, and so i agree with eunice, in that there is a sign of moderation, of more realistic notions of what the relationship should be. in terms of ireland, you know, that is such a vexed situation from its political and re