thank you, mr speaker. erm... laughter the dangers of internet memes! at 4, theresa may arrived a bit too early for a big meetup with angela merkel, so here‘s an action replay. at 3, the world‘s biggest ever general election gets under way in india. 900 million people can vote. results are due on may 23. at 2, revealed in brussels, it‘s brexit — as seen from space. onlyjoking. this all—consuming vortex is, of course, a black hole. and at 1, once a speaker, always a speaker. order, order! baroness boothroyd greets a people‘s vote rally. selina seth. now for the last 50 years, the uk has had what‘s known as a continuous at sea deterrent — with one of four submarines armed with a nuclear weapon always on patrol. in 2016, the house of commons approved the decision to maintain the uk?s nuclear deterrent beyond the early 2030s, with the current vanguard—class submarines being replaced. the cost of the design and manufacture of a class of four new submarines has been estimated at £31 billion. the defence secretary reminded mps of the deterre

he's our europe correspondent across this summit it looks like not everyone is on the same page with mrs may's plea for extra time. no i thought it was going to come out that those pictures they were laughing at was from angela merkel's facebook photo album what happens in michael of stays in magaluf turns out not the way though anyway we have been hearing about the serious business that's been going on the first of the major e.u. leaders to speak has spoken out with antonio the e.u. parliament president he addressed the press after his meeting with the reason may put forward eight points from the e.u. parliament side i'm not going to go through all eight but the highlights of those were that a no deal breaker that had to be avoided at all costs that there had to be agreement between the two main parties in the united kingdom over how withdrawal agreement would be handled also there could be no reopening of the withdrawal agreement and most importantly and one of the most forcefully fired through points from the e.u. parliament president was that if the united kingdom has to field candid

we don't know what was said over that working lunch between the two leaders, but mrs merkel‘s europe minister this morning clarified germany's position, he said, yes, we would consider an extension, we would consider an extension, we would consider a longer extension too, although there would be conditions attached, and that means the uk would have to participate in the uk would have to participate in the eu elections, where the extension to go on for a certain amount of time. the reason germany is relatively relaxed about the brexit position is, i think, down to two perceptions. first of all, they believe that the impasse right is from a domestic political crisis. berlin thinks britain needs time and space to sort that out before progress can be made. secondly, berlin is looking to the future relationship, once brexit happens, if brexit happens, it still wants a good trading relationship with britain. that is behind angela merkel‘s relatively relaxed stance. one other thing, expect a message of unity to come from both capitals today, the eu knows its strength lies in sticking toge

or on the world including the chancellor merkel in germany that was made evident substantiated in the wiki leaks release is five five years ago and i assume eve the american intel had stumbled upon evidence of putin's wrongdoing they would not hesitate to release it would they know ordered i would simply be a practical calculation of whether it was seen to be the advantage of. you know of washington i said we want to. point all the. personal and all woods of was of cause is limited but they do have some indirect knowledge in fact this has been made public and there are very technically conversant people experts who have worked in the national security agency including a former technical director of the security security agency who are version that the forensic evidence makes it clear that there was no hacking that instead someone within their agency downloaded those files and pass pass them on and that has never been refuted and this is also that we kill leaks also alleges now the military port specifically states that in the view of the investigators russia perceived it would benefit

the prime minister is to meet chancellor merkel of germany and president macron of france tomorrow. this afternoon she spoke on the phone to the president of the european council — donald tusk — ahead of an emergency summit in brussels on wednesday — where eu leaders will consider the uk‘s request for another extenion. in a moment we will talk to emma vardy in dublin. but first to our political correspondent nick eardley at westminster. so more talks this evening between labour and the government? officials get back round the table later this evening to thrash out some of the remaining issues. we know the labour party is urging the government to go a lot further than it has so far on the idea of customs, to agree to a long—term customs union after we have left the eu. at this stage the suggestion is that the government has not got that far, it is not promising as much as the labour party wa nt promising as much as the labour party want on that issue and is more open to the idea of reopening the political declaration, that is the bit in my future relationship, not the liter

let's return now to the meeting between german chancellor angela merkel and the irish prime minister, for talks about the brexit deadlock. it comes just days after leo varadkar held discussions with his french counterpart emmanuel macron in paris. in a news conference, mr varadkar stressed it was down to the uk to bring a credible solution to next week's eu summit in brussels. matters continue to play out in london. and i think we need to be patient and understanding of the predicament that they are in. but of christ, any further extension must require and it must had but of course, any further extension must require and it must had a credible and realistic way for it. eastside has said that withdrawal agreement is closed and not up for negotiation. and i believe that is now well understood. it's a compromise in itself and represents a fair and balanced outcome, after two years of negotiations and agreed to by 28 governments. however, we have also always said should united kingdom change its redlines, that we would be prepared to amend that political declaration and a future relations

mrs merkel is going to wa nt to attached. mrs merkel is going to want to know what mrs may's planning, how she will get that deal through the house of commons or for what purpose does she want an extension to article 50, so she will wa nt extension to article 50, so she will want some answers from mrs may. there has been a lot of talk of course about the potential or display of unity among the eu 27 when it comes to brexit. potentially starting to fragment. we know germany is in favour of giving britain as much time and space as it needs, we know that france is taking a rather harsh stance. i am told that mrs merkel has spent time on the telephone to emmanuel macron trying to convince him to be more patient with britain. what you should expect to see today from both berlin and paris later in the day is a message of eu unity, whatever those differences might be between member states and the eu, berlin and paris know that it is very important if they are to retain their strength on the side of the bargaining table, they must at

she met mrs merkel urging her to back the request to delay brexit until the 30th ofjune. after those talks, mrs merkel said a delay that runs to the end of the year, or the start of 2020 was a possibility. but, that‘s a sin. they are moments away, i think, from burr‘s arrival, so we will take you straight back for that. egon is here. in a moment, hew ill be telling us what‘s hot and what‘s not in the business news. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. theresa may is due to arrive at the elysee palace in paris where she‘s meeting president macron in a last minute effort to get a brexit extension. the prime ministerflew there from berlin where she held talks with the german chancellor, angela merkel. dr hadiza bawa—garba,a doctor convicted of the gross negligence manslaughter of six—year—old jack adcock, who died of sepsis, has been told she can return to work. harder to change a mobile phone contract — criticism of the changes in the divorce law allowing couples to split faster and, it‘s hoped, with less acrimony. here‘s your business hea

speaking after their brexit talks, mrs merkel said the european member states will stand together until the very last hour and that she will do everything she can to prevent a no—deal brexit. everything she can to prevent a no-deal brexit. translation: we want to stand together as 27 until the very la st to stand together as 27 until the very last hour. i can say this with the german side, we will do everything we can to prevent a no—deal brexit, britain crashing out of the european union but we have to do this together, with britain and with their position that they will present with us. in the event of a fio present with us. in the event of a no deal where the uk crashes out without an agreement, it is not possible quite frankly to have a clear plan because there are so many different contingencies and hypotheticals and a lot will depend on what the uk decides to do, whether it will still uphold its commitments on the good friday agreement. let's speak now to dearbhail mcdonald, the irish author and journalist, who attended this afternoon's roundtable with the irish prime minister

mrs merkel has pledged to do all she can to prevent a no deal brexit. our correspondent, jenny hill has been assessing the mood in berlin. perhaps it's no wonder she seems preoccupied. angela merkel promised to fight to the last hour for an orderly brexit. she's running out of time. and still no—one knows how to secure what could be a new external eu border on the island of ireland. "often," she said last night, "we say europe is a matter of war and peace, and in this case we see that. it is a question of violence or nonviolence." spring has brought no brexit breakthrough to europe's capitals. the british talk of a softer deal has cheered up the government in berlin. if there were a majority for something and an outcome which would go into the european direction, it would certainly be appreciated. would the eu reopen the withdrawal agreement under those circumstances? i imagine it would not be that language, but on substance we then would have another new agreement on a newly defined relationship. germany — europe — would like to get on with other