04/12/2017 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten.

No breakthrough yet in the latest

round of Brexit talks.

The future of Northern Ireland

is the main issue.

Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker

say good progress has been made

but more talks are needed

later this week.

Some differences do remain

which require further

negotiation and consultation.

This is not a failure.

This is the start

of the very last run.

I am very confident

that we will reach agreement

in the course of this week.

The Irish border is the big

challenge with the DUP saying

they'll resist any plans to align

Northern Ireland with

the rest of the EU.

We have been very clear,

Northern Ireland must leave

the European Union on the same terms

as the rest of the United Kingdom.

What does that mean for this 300

miles of border? What customs posts

were generally regarded as a thing

of the past.

And the Irish Government says it's

surprised and disappointed

at the outcome of today's talks.

We'll have the latest.

Also tonight.

The US Supreme Court allows

President Trump's travel ban against

six mainly Muslim countries to go

into full effect.

Yemen's former President,

Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been killed

after seeking a new alliance

in the country's

devastating civil war.

A plan for zero tolerance of plastic

waste in the oceans is being

discussed at a United Nations

summit on pollution.

And, Australia remain in command

of the second Ashes test in Adelaide

despite a fightback by England.

And coming up the FA Cup third round

draw throws up a Merseyside derby.

Everton will travel to neighbours

Liverpool in January.

Good evening.

There was no deal agreed in Brussels

today to move on to the next phase

of the Brexit talks,

despite all the expectation that

agreement was on the cards.

The Prime Minister is believed

to have broken off from talks

with the President of

the European Commission -

after an intervention

by the Democratic Unionist Party

of Northern Ireland -

Mrs May's parliamentary partners.

They were raising concerns

about a possible solution

to the issue of the border

between Northern Ireland

and the Republic.

Further talks will now take

place later this week,

as our political editor

Laura Kuenssberg

reports from Brussels.

Here to reveal the deal,

or was it slipping away?

The Prime Minister didn't

exactly look delighted,

but after weeks of trying to grip

a deal, it seemed it was on.

She'd only parked up for lunch,

but it turned into a long lunch,

and then later and later.

By tea-time, look at their faces.

It was off for today.

It's clear crucially we want to move

foort together but on a couple of

issues some differences do remain by

require further negotiation and

consultation and those will continue

but we will reconvene before the end

of the week and I am also confident

that we will conclude this

positively.

Didn't feel very

positive this afternoon.

Despite our best efforts

and significant progress,

we and our teams have made over

the past days on this,

there remain withdrawal issues.

It was not possible to reach

complete agreement today.

Despite all the hope and aefgs the

negotiating teams leave Brussels

today without a deal. So different

to this morning. Listen to this.

Sure-ish that the UK Government

would give enough to make it work,

even despite what's been described

as a contradiction

over the Irish border.

As long as we have the commitment

that there will be full alignment,

it's OK, there will be no border.

So, as far as you're concerned, sir,

the text includes a concession

from the British government over

the Northern Irish border?

Right, but is that

a surprise to you?

The British government created

for itself a contradiction.

Nothing today? No props peth today?

I'm optimistic that it is possible.

50-50 to have something.

But we have to be sure

that on citizens rights,

everything is OK.

But watch this.

As suggestions of a deal became

the accepted truth, the DUP,

whose support Theresa May needs,

slammed on the brakes.

We have been very clear.

Northern Ireland must leave

the European Union on the same terms

as the rest of the United Kingdom,

and we will not accept any form

of regulatory divergence

which separates Northern Ireland.

As time ticked on, 20 minutes later,

the Prime Minister broke

off her meetings in Brussels

to phone Mrs Foster.

I understand the DUP made it

plain they could not

support the proposed deal.

The precise opposite to the Irish

leader who has pushed and pushed,

and talked of his shock.

I'm surprised and disappointed

that the British government now

appears not to be in a position

to conclude what was

agreed earlier today.

I accept that the Prime Minister has

asked for more time, and I know

that she faces many challenges.

And I acknowledge that she is

negotiating in good faith.

UK Government sources are eager to

play down the idea that a deal today

was ever a dead cert. But a document

had been put together and accepted

by officials on both sides. Senior

politicians here in Brussels and in

Dublin had gone on the record to

suggest it was pretty much done. It

was only when it became clear that

the Prime Minister's allies found it

unpalatable that suddenly the deal

was off. There is no question that

it's suddenly all over, tonight

there is no clear way back.

Those close to her claim it's not

just the Tories reliance on the DUP

that sunk the deal for today. Yet

she leaves having taken so many

steps, but not moved very much

further forward.

Today's intervention

from the Democratic Unionist Party

was the latest reminder

of the extreme difficulty

of resolving the question

of the future border

between Northern Ireland

and the Republic.

The DUP said it could not accept any

solution which meant

Northern Ireland would be treated

separately to the rest of the UK.

In Dublin, the Taioseach Leo

Varadkar said he was

surprised and disappointed

at the British

government's approach.

Let's join our correspondent Chris

Buckler on the border tonight.

All along this border you will find

old huts that were once customs

posts. No one wants a return of them

or what sometimes is called a hard

border. However, the DUP has become

concerned about what it sees as the

potential price for keeping these

roads completely open. It's worried

that trading ties with the Republic

of Ireland are prioritised over

those with the rest of the UK and

they could put in place difference

and division between here, Northern

Ireland and Great Britain. That is

extremely politically sensitive and

it's also extremely awkward for

Theresa May who relies on the DUP

support in the Commons.

The journey to a Brexit deal

is proving far from easy.

The UK and the EU still have to find

a way through the many problems

posed by these border roads.

The Irish government are insisting

that there should be no change along

the 310 miles that connect

Northern Ireland and the Republic,

that this should remain

an invisible border.

South of that dividing line

in Dundalk, which will stay a part

of the European Union,

people started the day believing

there was a prospect

of a December deal.

And for owners of shops like this,

keeping trading rules

and regulations the same across this

island would be quite a gift.

There's no restrictions at all.

If you take stuff down, you can take

it with you in the morning,

you don't have to go

through the customs.

I remember what it was like,

you lost a day going the customs

in Newry and then to Dundalk.

After a while, it's

like everything else,

when it's gone a while,

you forget how bad it was, you know.

But the DUP hold quite a few cards

in what is proving to be

a grown-up game of poker.

They worry that the trade-off

for ensuring customs posts don't

return to this island's roads

could be new divisions and trading

differences within the UK.

Potentially even new checks at ports

for ships travelling

between Northern Ireland and Britain

- what has been called

a border in the Irish Sea.

And north of the Irish

border in Newry, many felt

the Conservatives had no choice

but to listen to the Democratic

Unionists, because they hold

the balance of power at Westminster.

May needs the DUP at the moment.

Could that scupper this deal?

I think it might, because

if they pull the plug,

it will be a general election.

Still part of the UK,

so that's the way it will work.

But these are towns which rely

on euros as well as pounds.

And they worry that any

border could put off

visitors and their cash.

You see, if they put a hard border,

it would more or less destroy towns

like Newry and Enniskillen,

the border towns.

Currently, there appears

to be a stark choice

of a border on land or sea.

To avoid that the whole UK could

agree to follow the EU's rules,

but the Government are desperate

to avoid any commitments ahead

of discussing trade,

and despite talk of technology,

it's becoming difficult

to see a simple solution.

Chris Buckler, BBC News, Newry.

We'll talk to our political editor

Laura Kuenssberg who's in Brussels

tonight but first to our Europe

editor Katya Adler.

What is the view there in Brussels

tonight as about what happened there

today?

Well, Brussels has been left

really rather open-mouthed. I have

been told by sources close to the

commission President as far as they

were concerned Theresa May came here

to do a deal, all of the details

were on the table and EU pens were

poised to sign off on that next

phase of Brexit talks. Of course at

the back of negotiators' minds was

this idea that the Government in

Ireland might try to slam on the

brakes of a breakthrough on Brexit

today but the DUP's actions took

everyone here completely by

surprise. This all played out in

this building behind me where

Theresa May was having a high

powered lunch with the EU Commission

President, an EU diplomat described

the scene and said she was put in an

impossible position with what he

said was a domestic political gun to

the head as she realised her

Government could collapse all around

her. There is brave talk here

tonight in Brussels that the drama

today was not a failure, that the EU

and the UK are closer than ever

before on key Brexit issues. But

while that may all be true, it's

also true that there is a return to

frustration in EU circles that the

EU feels once again that it's having

to tread Brexit water while waiting

for UK domestic politics to play

out. If Theresa May can find wording

over Ireland that is acceptable to

the DUP, that doesn't ailianate

Dublin she's been invited back here

to Brussels by the latest on Monday

I am told to try once again to firm

up this deal to widen Brexit talks

ahead of a key EU leaders' summit

here in mid-December.

Laura, can we talk about Theresa

May's position. How much of a

setback was today for her?

Well, is

it a complete disaster? No. Does it

mean this process is totally doomed?

No, it does not. Is it a significant

disappointment? Yes, it is.

Officially the line out of

Government tonight is that Number 10

was not taking a deal for granted,

they did not believe that it was

completely nailed on, that it was

all in the bag. But a Government

source has told me that as recently

as this morning the Prime Minister

was told that the DUP had been

squared off, that essentially the

road was clear for a deal. We know

that all the mood music from this

end and from Dublin crucially was

heading that way too. I think what's

difficult for Theresa May tonight is

it's not as if the EU are the ones

who seem to have thrown a spanner in

the works. The kind of thing that

could easily be dismissed by

claiming that Brussels was playing

hard ball. The impression rather is

that she has been wrong-footed by

the DUP, a group that is meant to be

on her side. Tonight things are left

with this contradiction in place

with no clear way back to really

find an answer. Perhaps the broader

difficulty that this issue really

highlights is what the UK really

wants in terms of the future

relationship. Do we want a situation

where we are still mirroring the EU,

where we are still highly aligned to

use that jargon? Or do we want what

others around the Cabinet table

want, something much looser where we

can strike out on our own? That

question has not been satisfyorily

resolved over Northern Ireland but

arguably the bigger problem is that

it hasn't been resolved for the

whole country either and Theresa May

has only got a few days to make some

progress.

Thank you.

The former President of Yemen,

Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been killed

just days after abandoning

an alliance with a rebel

group at the centre

of the country's civil war.

The current crisis started in 2015,

when Houthi rebels, believed

to be backed by Iran,

took control of parts

of the country.

A coalition, led by Saudi Arabia,

then began a campaign of airstrikes

to try to oust them.

Saleh ran the country for more

than 30 years and had been

seeking talks to bring back

the internationally

recognised Government.

Our Middle East editor

Jeremy Bowen reports.

Ali Abdullah Saleh's

house has been destroyed

by the Houthis.

They might not be able to break

the power of his extended family

and the tribal network that

helped him hold power

in Yemen for 30 years.

A Houthi tank crew near

the house celebrated.

A fighter said, "Thank God

for the great victory and the

end of the most corrupt leader

in the Islamic world."

Houthi fighters killed

Saleh as he tried to flee

Sana, the capital,

for his home town.

Mobile phone video of his corpse

had echoes of the downfall of

another long

serving Arab leader,

Libya's Colonel Gaddafi

six years ago.

Since Saleh's death people have

been running for cover,

as Saudi-led air strikes

hit Houthi targets.

Sana's hard-pressed hospitals

took in more patients.

The war was already

a man-made catastrophe.

The UN fears that new political

uncertainty after Saleh

could make it worse.

Key components such as fuel and food

are in short supply.

We need those to maintain our

support to seven million people

who are in a really bad state.

With famine round the corner

and the cholera re-emergence again

makes it a very tragic future

I think.

For almost a week

Sana has been rocked

by yet another front in Yemen's war,

as Saleh's men and the Houthis

fought for the city.

The fighting followed months

of tension between them

World then on Saturday, he announced

it was time for a new page, with the

Saudi-led coalition, that since 2015

has been bombing Yemen to try to

destroy the Houthis. Saleh had been

a force in Yemen, usually a dominant

one, since the 1970s. He was a

president for 34 years. World

leaders courted him as a necessary

man in a highly strategic place.

Saleh called governing Yemen,

dancing on the heads of snakes. He

was very good at doing deals with

Yemen's tribes. But it looks as if

he tried to make one deal too many,

switching sides in the war and to

stop it happening, the Houthis were

prepared to kill him. The Houthis

are a powerful Yemeni faction. They

swept into Sana in 2014 in alliance

with Saleh and his men. It's about

more than who controls these streets

for Saudi Arabia and its allies.

They say the Houthis take orders

from Iran, so the conflict here

became part of the bigger

confrontation across the Middle East

between the Saudis and the Iranians.

Yemen was the poorest Arab country

before the war pushed it to a new

level of misery. Saleh's killing

could create more chaos, making the

lives of Yemenis, who've become

pawns in the quarrels of much bigger

battles, even more hellish.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.

Within the past hour,

the US Supreme Court has allowed

President Trump's travel ban -

against people from six

mainly-Muslim countries -

to take full effect,

even though legal challenges

continue in lower courts.

Let's join our North America editor,

Jon Sopel, in Washington.

Is it all over now?

What does it mean now, is the the

travel ban in place forever?

This is

going to grind on for some time yet

as lower courts make their

judgments. The really significant

part of this, as far as Donald Trump

is concerned, is the first time that

one of the travel bans will come

into force in its entirety. The

nine-person Supreme Court, roughly

speaking five conservative, four

liberal, has voted 7-2 in the

president's favour. That's a pretty

strong indication that when the

process has ground on for months or

even years, it will come down in the

favour of the president. A lot has

been made of Donald Trump's reveils

over the Russia inquiry, over his

spat with Theresa May last week, but

at the weekend, his tax reform

proposals were passed in the Senate

and now, the Supreme Court has taken

a big step in allowing the travel

ban to go ahead. For that, Donald

Trump will be immensely happy.

Jon, many thanks.

Earlier today, President Trump faced

criticism for his decision to reduce

the size of two vast preservation

areas, which contain some

of America's most stunning scenery.

The parks in Utah were designated

as national monuments

by presidents Clinton and Obama.

Some critics say the move could pave

the way for mining and drilling.

Mr Trump was speaking

in Salt Lake City, from where our

correspondent James Cook sent this

report.

Nothing on earth prepares

you for the Valley of the Gods.

It looks like another planet.

But this is the heart

of the Bears Ears nature reserve

in Utah, although it seems not

for much longer.

For Bruce Adams, victory is at hand.

Come on!

The rancher has been fighting

to return federal lands to state

control for years and now he's

found his champion.

I am just so grateful

to President Trump because he's

not your ordinary politician.

He believes in rural people.

He believes in local

decision-making.

Hundreds of miles north,

this was the welcome

for Mr Trump in Salt Lake City.

He confirmed he was slashing

the Bears Ears preservation area

by 85% and cutting another protected

area in half.

Some people think that the natural

resources of Utah should be

controlled by a small handful

of very distant bureaucrats

located in Washington.

And guess what?

They're wrong.

In one of the poorest counties

in the country these

residents back the decision.

Some see an opportunity to mine

for minerals or drill for oil.

Whether or not there are valuable

resources under this landscape

is controversial and contested.

But above the ground,

there are many treasures.

These are hollows where

the native people of this

land ground their corn,

perhaps 1,000 years ago.

And this is where

they stored that corn.

But unfortunately, there's also

evidence here of looting.

The battle to save sacred sites,

like this ancient dwelling,

is being waged by Native Americans

who are now a minority in this

mainly Mormon state.

This is a struggle since the day

the white people came here.

The Mormons came

to this area in 1879.

Since the day they came,

it has been destruction,

destruction, looting,

looting, looting.

Some of the rock art here may date

back 10,000 years or more.

But it was just 12 months ago

when President Obama declared

this a protected area.

President Trump's fans say his plan

to reverse that gives

power to the people.

His opponents call it

cultural vandalism.

James Cook BBC News,

Bears Ears in Utah.

A brief look at some of the day's

other other news stories.

The Metropolitan Police

Commissioner, Cressida Dick,

has suggested that two retired

officers, who alleged pornography

was found on a Cabinet

minister's computer,

could be prosecuted,

if it's found to be untrue.

She said Bob Quick and Neil Lewis

breached confidentiality rules,

when they made their assertions

about Damian Green.

Mr Green denies watching

or downloading pornography

on the machine.

Six former Catalan ministers have

been released from prison,

but a Spanish supreme court judge

has refused to grant bail

to two others and to two

activists, who were arrested

after the region

declared independence.

Their leader, Carles Puigdemont,

has attended an extradition hearing

in Belgium with four other former

ministers.

Ten people - including two brothers

- have been arrested in Malta

in connection with the murder

of the journalist,

Daphne Caruana Galizia.

She died when her car

was blown up by a bomb.

Her family believe she was

killed because of her

investigations into corruption.

There's been a significant increase

in the number of children

and pensioners in poverty,

according to the Joseph

Rowntree Foundation.

The charity says that over the past

four years an extra 700,000 children

and pensioners in the UK fell

into what's called

"relative poverty".

That's defined as households with

less than 60% of the median income -

the middle value of all incomes.

The foundation says it's the first

time in 20 years that these groups

have seen sustained rises.

Our social affairs correspondent,

Michael Buchanan, reports.

Here you are, Francis,

haven't you had any yet?

This drop-in centre is a second

home to Flo Singleton,

a source of friendship,

laughter and warmth.

The 84-year-old has seen her pension

increase in recent years,

but pension credit, a benefit paid

to the poorest pensioners,

has not been similarly protected.

She lives on £160 per week.

It's a struggle, says Flo.

If you go out, you don't have

to have your heating on, do you?

Trouble is, once it's dark

in the evenings now, and cold,

you have to put your heating

on, don't you?

So you go on the bus

just to keep warm?

Yeah.

Well, you know!

Yeah!

It's lovely and warm on the bus.

And then you sort of try and extend

it as long as you can.

Even though you've

got to nowhere to go?

Yeah.

It's mad, isn't it?

The number of people

in absolute poverty,

not having enough food or water

to live on, has fallen by 500,000

since 2010, say ministers.

But today's figures refer

to relative poverty, having a lot

less than most other people.

Since 1994/95, the number

of people in relative poverty

has fallen slightly.

For pensioners, the decrease

was quite dramatic, then

recently started rising.

Child poverty also fell,

albeit more slightly.

Then it too began increasing.

From around 2012, we finally saw

wages start to outstrip

inflation once more,

so that meant incomes, particularly

middle-income households,

started to grow in real terms.

That meant they started

to pull further away

from those on low incomes,

who, over the same period, were also

affected by cuts to benefits.

The mantra has long been,

if you're poor, get a job,

and for most people,

that is indeed the case.

But increasingly for

the poor, it is not true.

Today's report finds that one

in eight workers don't earn enough

money to avoid being in poverty.

When Cameron was born, his mother

Karla had to give up work.

Living on basic benefits

has been trying.

She has sometimes had to skip meals.

But now he's six months old,

the single mum would like to return

to work, but she fears being unable

to find flexible childcare

for a zero-hours job as a learning

disability support worker.

I really did want to be

able to go back to work.

It just isn't reliable

enough and secure enough.

I need and he needs

security, stability.

We need routine.

And without that, it's never

going to be a settled life.

The Government say they're spending

£90 billion a year supporting

working-age people in need.

Such sums are not, however,

preventing increasing numbers

of people from falling into poverty.

Michael Buchanan, BBC News.

A plan for zero tolerance

of plastic waste ending up

in the oceans is being discussed

at a United Nations

summit on pollution.

It's estimated that as much

as eight million tonnes of plastic

enters the seas every year,

and to limit that flow,

governments are being asked

to consider a new treaty.

Scientists say they're

shocked to discover plastic

is killing marine life,

even in the remotest

corners of the planet,

as our science editor,

David Shukman, reports.

It's an ugly but familiar

sight around the world -

plastic waste is now on every

shoreline of every ocean.

Consumer products, used once

and then thrown away,

but creating a lasting

impact on wildlife.

In Britain, the Marine Conservation

Society says litter on beaches

here is actually increasing.

No marine creature is safe, even

a wandering albatross in Antarctica.

The next episode of Blue Planet II

shows how these magnificent birds

scour the oceans for food but often

collect plastic instead, which they

then feed to their chicks.

Scientist Lucy Quinn found one chick

that had died after swallowing

a plastic toothpick.

All kinds of plastic waste turns up

in what's meant to be

a pristine wilderness.

Whenever you see a chick that has

been bringing back plastic or has

been killed because of the ingestion

of plastic, it's really hard not

to be affected by that.

Clearly, you feel angry and it's

horrifying that this

plague of plastic is now

in amongst our marine environment.

What's depressing is that

all of this waste was,

at some stage, thrown away,

but then found its way

to Antarctica, where adult birds

fed it to their chicks.

It's things we're all

familiar with - clingfilm,

plastic food packaging,

even a lightbulb.

Even if this doesn't

kill seabirds outright,

it's definitely making them weaker.

There's an obvious threat from

plastic waste and also a hidden one.

That's because plastic

contains toxins.

It also binds with chemical

pollutants in the ocean.

If animals like seabirds eat it,

their health is put at risk.

A sperm whale toys with

a piece of a bucket.

David Attenborough says we've never

been so aware of the problem

and have never had so much power

to tackle it, which comes down

to how we all use plastic

and what we do with it.

David Shukman, BBC News.

The veteran Indian actor,

Shashi Kapoor, has died in hospital

in Mumbai at the age of 79.

From one of India's greatest acting

families, he appeared

in more than 150 films,

including a dozen in English.

He starred in some of the biggest

Bollywood blockbusters

of the '70s and '80s.

Cricket, and Australia remain

in command of the second

Ashes Test in Adelaide,

despite a fight back by England.

Australia bowled England out for 227

but were then reduced to 53-4

at the end of the third day.

Our correspondent, Andy Swiss,

reports from Adelaide.

When it comes to batting,

Adelaide has seen the best.

The home of the great

Sir Donald Bradman.

But the fans descending on the Oval

were about to see how not to do it,

as England threw away their wickets,

their hopes and perhaps the Ashes.

James Vince and Joe Root

both went tamely -

hardly the captain's innings

he'd hoped for.

And when Alastair Cook served up yet

more catching practice,

England were staring at humiliation.

But if they were brittle,

Australia were brilliant.

Nathan Lyon's dazzling

caught and bowled followed

by an even better one -

Mitchell Starc showing

the reflexes of a juggler,

as Australia tightened their grip.

By the time the final

wicket fell, England

were still a massive 215 behind.

Game surely over.

But then a twist.

Australia could have made

the visitors bat again,

but decided not to.

Bad choice.

Under the floodlights,

England's bowlers sparkled.

Two early wickets for Jimmy

Anderson, two for Chris Woakes,

including the big one,

captain Steve Smith.

Australia 53-4 at the close.

It may be faint but England finally

have a sliver of hope.

Obviously we're behind

in the game but at the same

time it's really good,

the fact that we fought back

and showed good character to get

ourselves back in the game.

I thought we bowled really

well tonight, as a unit.

And we've put some pressure

back on Australia.

A tense end, then,

to a dramatic day.

Verbals exchanged as

the players left the pitch.

England will be hoping

they could yet have the last word.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Adelaide.

Australia will resume here in a few

hours'