this key issue is from sinn fein, the call for an irish language act to give it an official status. n are deeply against it and status. the union are deeply against itand sinn status. the union are deeply against it and sinn fein sevigny to go back into government. the two parties have moved and last week the dup put forward the proposal that they will get into a power—sharing government and set a time limit for dealing with external issues which they can deal with in a parallel process. the reality is, sinn fein are not doing that and they want the issues addressed now otherwise they are not doing business with you. in the middle of this, james brokenshire is stuck in the middle and he accepts that the window to deal with this is closing. practically, he needs to act by the autumn otherwise there will be problems for budgets and the government here. thank you. downing street says the prime minister is ready to increase the pace of brexit negotiations, suggesting they should be continuous rather than for one week every month. mps will begin debating draft legislation on withdrawing f

her suggestion, sinn fein rejected her suggestion, sinn fein rejected her suggestion, sinn fein stormonteporters in belfast this morning. in regards to arlene foster's comments last night, and the offer of a parallel process, this is not a new offer. this is an issue, the issue of parallel process has been discussed and disregarded throughout the course of all of the negotiations which we have had to date. so, in essence, it was making an offer which they knew would be rejected. the people out there want government. they want locally accountable institutions. they want the institutions to work, but they have to work in the way in which they were intended. they have to work on the principles of through power—sharing. so, in terms of the offer last night in regards to arlene foster, it was an offer which they knew would be rejected, and it is certainly not a new offer. and, chris, i had part ofa discussion this morning where people we re discussion this morning where people were talking about, you know, if it was still peter robinson and martin mcguinness, would northern ireland be in this

today's statement by sinn fein indicates they want to get backin sinn fein indicates they want to geter—sharing cure in northern ireland. there has been no power—sharing government now for a matter of months, since january there has been no real government. asa there has been no real government. as a result they have said we have been talking to the dup behind the scenes of last week and we think some kind of progress has been made there. some kind of agreement could be possible. that is a big statement for them, it indicates some of the party negotiations going on behind the scenes have been successful to an extent. another indication of thatis an extent. another indication of that is that as soon as michelle o'neill, dystonic leader of sinn fein, stopped speaking, there was a steaming from the dup thing that had been involved in negotiations behind the scenes, there is a slightly more muted response from the democratic unionist party. they were saying, let's see if an agreement as possible before we start to get the parties on the table again. there has got to be compromise somewher

and caused the real problem between sinn fein and the dup. make it a bit more bitter.rish language act which would give the irish language official status before they go back into government with the dup, but the dup don't seem prepared to do that at this stage, so that is what we have, a stand—off. james brokenshire is caught in the middle, having to find a way forward, trying to get the parties round the table, but at the moment it is not looking good, frankly. even though he doesn't want to talk about this idea of direct rule, and wanted to talk about direct dialogue between the parties, you get the sense if things don't happen in the next couple of months westminster will have two step in. you are always worth waiting for, chris, thanks for joining you are always worth waiting for, chris, thanks forjoining us. we will have all the headlines and the sport when we come back, but now the weather forecast. we have a sport when we come back, but now the weatherforecast. we have a bit sport when we come back, but now the weather forecast. we have a bit of cloud around th

the dup and sinn fein have so far failed to to reach an agreement.focus is to re—establish the government at stormont. together with the irish government, we are continuing to support the party's effort to find resolution and reform the executive. however, time is short and i urge the parties to continue to work to reach an agreement. the prime minister has been in touch with the party leaders in northern ireland in recent hours and as she has heard from our party leader, a commitment to restoring devolution immediately with no red lines of pre—conditions, to get on the job of dealing with health education, jobs and investment in northern ireland. can the secretary of state indicate whether sinn fein continue to adhere to the these matters are not as important as seeking partisan political man to be fulfilled and whether any progress was made on that front? i welcome the statement that the honourable gentleman has made on behalf of his party and indeed the comments that arlene foster has made about seeing their desire to get back into an executive. i

sinn fein have pointed to the ulster volunteer force is the source of the threats.ilitaries. they need to get tough with the ulster volunteer force. be a operate with impunity in the area. the last thing they seem —— need to stand up to the thugs and bullyboys. back claim has been disputed by some loyalist. police are continuing to investigate who was behind the intimidation. we understand who is behind it. we do not want to speculate but whoever is involved, it is not what the people of east belfast wa nts it is not what the people of east belfast wants in terms of a working community. this is not the first time this place has been in the news. there was controversy last summer when ulster volunteer force flags appeared on lampposts in the area. i understand the flags are due to come down shortly, due to come down after ulster day, today. but this is beside the point. the reality of the situation is that there has been intimidation, the intimidation is wrong, and it has no place in the northern ireland we wish to build. the housing executive is now trying to re— ho

sinn fein calls for new talks to try to restore a power—sharing government in northern ireland.nd the unmistakeable voice of football for 50 years, john motson, says he's hanging up his sheepskin coat and retiring next year. i did my first ever commentary for bbc tv from this very gantry and in those days, nobody had heard of the internet, although i can vouch i did say at the time "it's in the net." good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the atlantic has been battering the caribbean islands of antigua, barbuda and anguilla causing major damage. the category 5 storm, with sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts of up to 225mph, is now heading towards the british virgin islands, puerto rico and then may hit florida by the end of the week. airports have closed on several islands and people have flocked to shops for food, water, and emergency supplies before taking shelter. french ministers says it's already caused major damage in french—run saint martin and st ba rts. in st martin, government buildings, the most sturdy there, have bee

sinn fein has dismissed a call by the dup to resume power—sharing.uring talks about forming a government. sinn fein said establishing an executive before they'd resolved their disputes would lead to a collapse and fail the people of northern ireland. sales of the noisiest and most powerful vacuum cleaners will be restricted under eu rules from today. machines using more than 900 watts and emitting more than 80 decibels will be banned from sale when existing stocks run out. 0ur environment analyst roger harrabin explains. some of these vacuum cleaners will be on the banned list from today. they guzzle too much energy. cleaners like this sebo automatic gobble 1100 watts. that's too high for new european standards, so this model is on the way out. anti—eu campaigners say europe should have no say in the sort of vacuum cleaner that you buy. but experts say households can save a small fortune on electricity bills if only the least efficient machines can be driven off the market. there's no dispute that eu standards are forcing down energy use and cutting

sinn fein's demand for an irish language act.ry and sort out those other issues on the sideline. at that stage if they couldn't agree then all of this would cease and the second it would end. sinn fein rejected that and said it was nothing new. it does leave you wondering where these negotiations can go and the pressure is on the northern ireland secretary because he should be under some kind of obligation to call fresh elections or put in place direct rule were effectively westminster ta kes rule were effectively westminster takes over the running of northern ireland. increasingly there is public pressure that something should be done because there are issues as far as public services are concerned, issues with budgets and issues when it comes to the health service. questions are being asked. he will be asking the parties which he is meeting individually what the future of these power—sharing negotiations should be. you will be asking each party what he thinks happened next and try to weigh up whether there is a potential deal.

sinn fein has called for the resumption of formal negotiations to try to form a power—sharing government months of talks have so far failed to overcome a series of disputes between unionists and republicans. however in a speech this morning sinn fein‘s stormont leader michelle 0'neill said that she believed progress was possible. in the past fortnight, i have met with all of the party leaders and with both governments. and the sinn fein and dup leaderships have, for more than one week now, been engaged in intensive dialogue to determine whether political progress is possible. we do believe progress is possible and therefore are ready to re—engage in a formal negotiation, together with all the other parties, and both governments, to try and reach an agreement in a short, sharp and focused negotiation. this process should begin now and without delay. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: caribbean islands are being hit by hurricane burma, one of the most powerful storms in a century. it is causing damage. parts of florida have ordered a m

to an extent, james brokenshire is caught in the middle of a dispute between the dup and sinn fein. try to sort the party to see if there is a potential compromise, especially on the issue of official status of the irish language. sinn fein basically wants an irish language act, but dup activists say they do not want that at this time. it's they do not want that at this time. it‘s proving to be a difficult crunch issue. secondly, at what point does it become unsustainable here? working without a government. he gave an indication it would be october, set in the autumn time, where he may have to step in and make a budget or even have a return of direct rule ministers whether uk government ministers would effectively have to run northern ireland. that is something he said he does not want but when you listen carefully, it is also something that may need to happen if the parties cannot agree here... studio: chris buckler, thank you. the queen has officially opened the new queensferry crossing over the firth of forth. she unveilled a plaque on the bridge, 53 years to the day since she op

sinn fein calls to resume talks to try to restore a power—sharing government in northern ireland anditionalfishing methods are in decline and need more support. after 50 years, the football commentatorjohn motson has decided to hang up his microphone. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. theresa may will take the first prime minister‘s questions of the new parliamentary session shortly. let‘s head to the house of commons now. a packed house. we wait for questions to start. norman joins us. i know it is going to be noisy outside with the nurses outside protesting against the pay gap. outside with the nurses outside protesting against the pay gapm may be the issue thatjeremy corbyn chooses to raise. i think he will ta ke chooses to raise. i think he will take a body swerve from trying to tackle theresa may over one of the two political issues of the moment, mainly grexit and immigration. —— brexit. also there is the approach to immigration. jeremy corbyn did not get stuck into the proposals for a clamp—down on unskilled eu migration. it was left to the mayor of london, siddiqu

both of us were very much of the view that what is required here is that the dup and sinn fein come togethergether and come to work agreement to restore the institutions to get the executive assembly back up and running. in the past that has required external interventions from the government or outside and at this stage the most important thing is that the dup and sinn fein come together and give the people of the northern ireland the devolved government which is what they want to give northern ireland a unique voice when it comes to brexit which is something that i think would be very important. neither of us at this stage are contemplating a failure of the talks. certainly i don't see any particular advantage in having another election in northern ireland and i did express a very strong view of the government in ireland that we would not favour a return to direct rule and we would see the good friday agreement continuing to be implemented. what would be a personal recommendation to your fellow european leaders when you meet them in italian as to whether we should progress to stage two of

the dup leader, arlene foster, wants ministers to return to stormont during talks, but sinn fein say—in schemes aimed at persuading customers to upgrade to more environmentally—friendly vehicles. volkswagen, toyota, kia and renault—nissan havejoined other manufacturers who say they will offer discounts for trading in more polluting models registered before 2010. aid agencies are describing flooding across south asia as one of the worst regional crises in recent years. more than 1,200 people have died in india, bangladesh and nepal, and millions have been affected. many people are sleeping on roadsides and in makeshift shelters. angus crawford reports. once a main street. the only traffic now, makeshift canoes and boats. look at the pole he‘s using. it almost disappears under the waters. across bangladesh, almost a third of the country has been affected. heavy monsoon rains making this the worst flooding in decades. the whole region has been hit, with more than 1200 dead, and more than a0 million forced to leave their homes, affecting india, nepal, bangladesh, and now pakistan. the le

but sinn fein said that theresa may‘s remarks today were incompatible with protecting the good fridayland, citizens rights and the need to protect the good friday agreement in all its parts. guy verhofstadt, the parliament‘s negotiator, the eu parliament‘s negotiator, the eu parliament negotiator, has been an island for two days this week and is still sticking to this special status where there would be no border and perhaps there would be a line of control between ireland and britain, somewhere in the irish sea. so passport controls between ireland and britain. i‘m not too sure that the loyalists think that is a good idea. plenty of raised eyebrows from the dup who, of course, are in cahoots with the conservative party. let‘s get our view from adam fleming. he is in bruges, that was the sight of another important keynote speech in 1988, margaret thatcher expressing concerns about a united europe. apparently he has been at the college of europe today, speaking to students? absolutely right. bruges is famous in eurosceptic history because of that speech in 1988. also famous because the

mr brokenshire says a deal between the dup and sinn fein remains ”achieveable” but that pressures onlitical parties here in northern ireland. i have continued to urge them to find a way forward to restore an executive. devolved government in northern ireland is in the best interest of everyone. the key policy and budgetary decisions need to be taken by locally elected and locally accountable politicians. all party leaders have made clear that they agree that there is a need for an executive to be formed to make key decisions for the benefits of all of the people of northern ireland.

there's riot police french riot police on to the teeth ready to respond should disturbances get sinn fein's of course all of this in protest against the changes that emanuel wants to make to the labor laws here in france and he really did himself no favors here during the week last week when he referred to all of his opponents as lazy take a listen to what he had to say. and that phrase appears to have really galvanized a lot of people to come out on to the streets a lot of people here waving banners saying we all the slackers slackers of the world unite but really people very unhappy head the trade unions with these changes to the labor laws that meant to liberalize the working market head that meant to make it easier for firms to hire and fire personnel which emanuel my son seems to think is going to change the pretty dire situation here with the unemployment rate front has a stubbornly high unemployment rate it's double bottom of fronts of the u.k. and germany but the trade unions are all dead set against it take a listen to what the people we spoke to had to say. this lowers anti social

northern ireland secretary, james brokenshire, says agreement between the democratic unionist party and sinn fein he'll have to legislate at westminster for a new budget for stormont. a major search is underway in north cornwall after two fishermen were swept off rocks while fishing near treyarnon bay. one of the men was rescued by a coastguard helicopter and taken to hospital. the search for the second man stopped at around dusk this evening. it will continue in the morning. staff at two branches of mcdonald's have gone on strike for the first time in the company's history in the uk. workers in cambridge and in crayford in south—east london began the disruption at midnight, demanding higher pay and more secure working hours. mcdonald's say only ia workers took part and say the action is related to internal grievance procedures and not pay. a bbc investigation has been told that the poor level of health care provided to people in police custody has harmed patients and led to preventable deaths. currently, most health care provided to people in custody in england and wales is provided by private c

mr brokenshire says a deal between the dup and sinn fein remains achieveable but that pressures on public westminster to make sure services have the budgets they need. the policing minister has told the police superintendents conference that the government is not deaf to their concerns over increased workload and stress. nick hurd said in the light of recent budget cuts he realised there was a limit to how much more officers could do. a survey of superintendents found half were suffering from work—related anxiety, and a quarter had signs of depression. staff at two branches of mcdonald's have gone on strike — the first time a walkout has hit the fast food chain in the uk. workers in cambridge and south—east london began the disruption at midnight, demanding higher pay and more secure working hours. mcdonald's say only ia workers took part and say the action is related to internal grievance procedures and not pay. a man, who served almost three years in prison for a rape that never happened, has given his first television interview. mahad kassim was one of 15 men who were falsely accused b

speaking to party members, she appealed to sinn fein to go back into power—sharing at stormont immediately sort out their differences in parallel negotiations. northern ireland has been without a devolved government since january. the trump administration has selected four companies to build concrete prototypes for the president's much—publicised wall on the mexico border. the wall was the subject of one of president trump's first executive orders and has prompted protests on both sides. thousands of muslims have carried out the "stoning of the devil" ritual to mark the beginning of eid al—adha celebrations in saudi arabia. the celebration also signals the end of the annual hajj season. pilgrims threw stones at three walls in mina, east of mecca, in one of the main rites of the hajj. more than 2.3 million pilgrims will participate in the five—day ritual. the united states has ordered russia to close one of its main diplomatic missions by saturday. the state department said it was shutting the russian consulate in san francisco, as well as diplomatic annexes in washington and new york. it's

it follows sinn fein's rejection of a dup proposal to restore power—sharing.nning of they year during a scandal over a botched renewable heating scheme. the first pedestrians have walked across the queensferry crossing, the new bridge over the firth of forth. by the end of the weekend 50,000 people are expected to have made thejourney, taking in magnificent views. the bridge, will officially open to traffic next week. 0ur correspondent catrina renton has more. this is something we won't see again, for two days only, 50,000 people are getting the chance to walk over the new queensferry crossing, chosen in a ballot from almost a quarter of a million people who put their names forward for this moment in history. this is something isaac can tell his family about. yes, we have taken lots of photos, if he doesn't remember himself. the forth road bridge opened in 1964. this is a new crossing for the 21st—century, a chance to sample this feat of engineering, 1.7 miles long and the tallest in the uk. these are the people who have been lucky enough to walk over the brid

this is where the sinn fein meps sit, and they think that the republic of ireland should be given threey believe should be of the vote in the european elections. we're calling on the irish government to make that case and make it possible there should be three meps elected from the north. so would notjust the 13 seats for the south of ireland, it would be an additional two if the allocation went through. but it would also be another three on top of that. it's reasonable that we would make that case because of the fact that, as eu — or technically eu citizens, we have got rights that are absolute. and the french president emmanuel macron has started a new argument by supporting an old proposal: international cross—border constituencies, where people vote as europeans. i think it will make us, so to say, "more european," bringing debates of european level, rather than having separate national debates. i think it would be a good step forward, towards a more european democracy. if you're elected on a transnational list, who is your electorate? to whom are you responsible? to whom are you ac

westminster all making decisions where people in northern as a contradiction and their stance but then sinn féinare so contradictory in many other things i mean one of the things which they are demanding to get back into government is that policemen and army men be prosecuted for things which happened thirty years ago in the same week of course gerry adams is saying under no circumstances must the murderer the murderers of a farmer in his own constituency be brought to justice because it would be unfair that we return. disturb the priest of the peace process considers them a freedom fighter but hasn't seen fame go to result already go use saying on a curve of minutes his request was you don't be running the north of us there should be a united they've got a result you will know their way or that's not a result i mean as far as we're concerned we we want northern are to be governed by the people who were elected to govern northern ireland i.e. the assembly members but if that doesn't happen then the only alternative is to have direct rule and of course for unionist perspective that draws northern

scrutiny committee, the man who runs the committee has rejected apparently, according to he and sinn feinat britain put in over the summer. he has rejected those papers. not at all. we are discussing first in a paper relating to a withdrawal agreement. as everybody knows, the future will be discussed in the second stage will do we have to make sufficient progress on the main details of the agreement. for citizens rights, we have differences with the uk position but we are discussing and we want to arrive at an outcome which will safeguard the rights of european citizens living in the uk, or having lived and uk citizens living in the union. i think the two sides are very close. eu citizens will want recourse to be cj goes that you are quite clear that sovereignty is an absolute red line. 0n the substance of not challenging not only the right of residence but the right to health care and to work, that was clear to rout the referendum and has been confirmed by the government. if you want to write it into a treaty, fine. no one thought we were going to start deporting people who have made the

let's talk about ireland with sinn fein saying it does nothing to protect the good friday agreement andtail for irish citizens. absolutely, all she did was reiterate the position of the irish government, the british government and eu but the eu and irish government asked the uk, you want to leave, what will you do about the border? 0n ireland, nothing. leave, what will you do about the border? 0n ireland, nothingm leave, what will you do about the border? on ireland, nothing. it is almost as if we have glossed over it and perhaps it is one of the trickiest issues, going to the issue of peace in ireland? without a unique status, special status for northern ireland that makes it a special region between the uk and the eu, there will be trouble in ireland and anyone in the other ireland and anyone in the other ireland who thinks they should take this lightly are fooling themselves. the problem of course for the dup, if you have no border between north and south, you have more europe, more ireland and the connections with the uk start to disappear, which is what they are worried about. if y

some warm words from the two main parties in northern ireland, the democratic unionist party and sinn feintirety of this year and we basically for the entirety of this yearand we are basically for the entirety of this year and we are still so see any specifics on a compromise which would allow them to overcome their differences, particularly on a crunch issue to do with legislation covering irish language speakers in northern ireland. the boss of the taxi service uber has apologised for the "mistakes" they've made after the company was refused a new licence to operate in london. transport for london said it had concerns over the company's conduct. uber is appealing against the decision but admitted it had "got things wrong". sadiq khan has asked efl to make themselves available to uber. —— tfl. let's speak to our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz. last week uber was told it was not fit to have a licence to run mini—cabs on grounds of the way it reported serious criminal offences, amongst other things also the background checks, the way they were being done. uber reacted to that

mr brokenshire says a deal between the dup and sinn fein remains ”achieveable” but that pressures onto restore an executive. devolved government in northern ireland is in the best interest of everyone. in northern ireland is in the best the keep policy and budgetary decisions need to be taken by locally elected and locally accountable politicians. all party leaders have made clear that they agree that there is a need for an executive to be formed to make key decisions for the benefits of all of the people of northern ireland. now is the time to give effect to this desire. through political leadership on all sides. to better understanding the issues from others' perspectives, and to see where the space for resolution exists. this means direct and honest dialogue between the parties to reach resolutions without a running commentary. for this reason, i am keen the parties are given a structured space within which to engage with one another and address their differences in a free and frank way. while the uk government has responsibilities, and will support the parties to reach agreement,

sinn fein says it's ready to restart formal talks with the democratic unionists about restoring the devolveding government collapsed injanuary over a number of issues — including the dup's handling of a botched green energy scheme. devon and cornwall police and dorset police have announced they would like to merge. the two forces have been working closely for the past two years. they say formally amalgamating would make them more effective and efficient, given the backdrop of "significant funding challenges." if approved by ministers, it would be the first merger of english constabularies since the current a3—force structure was put in place 50 years ago. david george reports. the chief constables chose the seafront at exmouth to announce what they have called a closer relationship but which most of us would probably call a merger. necessarily they say because new threats like cyber crime and terrorism are expensive to deal with. there is an economy of scale, it is not always better, but size and resilience matters, and size of budget helps you keep those pressures neighbourhood local polici

how this is being taken here in northern ireland, the leader of the two main political parties, sinn feinthe us vice president expressing their concern about the outcome. the blessing of theresa may can find some way forward with justin theresa may can find some way forward withjustin trudeau in their talks today. political unity showing just how far and that is it important to belfast. angie. wayne rooney has apologised this is unforgivable lack of judgment wayne rooney has apologised this is unforgivable lack ofjudgment in being guilty for drink—driving. he is been sentenced to a hundred hours of community service. he was arrested by police earlier this month. the liberal democrat leader, vince cable, has insisted that his party will be putting forward radical policies that will be popular, despitejust having radical policies that will be popular, despite just having a radical policies that will be popular, despitejust having a dozen mps popular, despitejust having a dozen m ps after popular, despitejust having a dozen mps after the general election. the leader has said they can become