12/03/2017 BBC Weekend News

Tonight at Ten - Westminster prepares for a Brexit Battle

as ministers tell MPs, don't stand in the way

Labour says it will fight for changes to the bill

in the Commons tomorrow, putting them on a collision

What we can't have is either House of Parliament reversing the decision

On the front line in Iraq - as the Iraqi Army makes more gains

We've heard three car bombs going off in the distance.

We've also had a lot incoming mortar fire.

You can hear now the sounds of battle.

Violent clashes in the Netherlands between the police and Turkish

protesters, as the diplomatic row between the two

And Tottenham on their way to an FA Cup semifinal -

The Brexit Secretary, David Davis, has called on MPs to back

the Government's Brexit bill when it returns to the Commons tomorrow,

after the Lords twice went against the Government.

Peers voted to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the UK,

and to ensure that Parliament has a vote on an eventual deal.

But Mr Davis said it would not be acceptable

for Parliament to try to reverse the will of the British people.

If MPs do pass it, Theresa May could trigger Article 50 -

that's the formal process of Brexit - this week.

Our chief political correspondent Vicki Young reports.

For months she has vowed to kick-start Brexit talks

But some here in Parliament are fighting to get safeguards

written into law before the negotiations begin.

Today, the Brexit secretary tried to reassure MPs and peers that

they would get a vote on the Prime Minister's

What we can't have is either House of Parliament reversing the decision

Peers have defeated the Government twice, and Labour's standing firm.

What we say to the Prime Minister, and I wrote to her on Friday,

reflect on what the House of Lords has said by majorities

They have sent back two really important issues.

This issue of the EU nationals, and the issues of the vote.

Don't just have this obsession with getting Article 50

The two line Brexit bill is still making its way through Parliament.

Last week, the House of Lords made their changes.

The Government will try to overturn these in the Commons tomorrow.

If they succeed, the Bill returns to the Lords almost immediately,

and if they give way, the final stage of Royal Assent

So the Government has some Parliamentary hurdles

but ministers seem confident that Theresa May will be able to stick

formally telling the rest of the EU that the UK is ready to start

negotiating its exit, and attention is turning

to exactly what kind of deal, if any, the UK can get.

The Prime Minister has said publicly that no deal for the UK

is better than a bad deal, but that would mean

tariffs on exports under World Trade Organisation rules.

My fear is that what this is really about, is us deliberately,

not the Prime Minister, but others deliberately ensuring

And no deal pretty soon, and in that event, we jump off

the cliff on to WTO tariffs and nobody in this country,

the people of this country don't have a say.

Some Cabinet Ministers seem relaxed about the possibility. As it happens

we would be perfectly OK if we weren't able to get an agreement,

but I am sure we will. Mr Davis admits the Government

is preparing a contingency plan in case there's no deal,

but he doesn't think Let's make no bones about it,

there will be tough points in this negotiation,

but it is in everybody's interest Parliament's debate about this bill

isn't quite over, but after months of talking about the talks,

formal negotiations We can join Vicki

in Westminster now. How likely is it that the

Parliamentary rebellion will continue? First of all tomorrow, the

eyes will all be on Tory MPs in the House of Commons, they want more

verbal guarantees from ministers, the rebellion could well be bigger

but I don't think they have the numbers to defeat the Government.

Talking to both sides it is clear Cabinet Ministers are confident

about getting their way. If they do the action moves to the House of

Lords. There the Liberal Democrats have promised to dig in their heels,

the question is whether Labour peers will join them. I guess the sense

they don't want to prolong this. It It could be be by tomorrow the

rebellion has melted away and it is hard to find anyone who thinks that

Theresa May will be prevented from thing what she promised to trigger

Article 50, to get those formal Brexit negotiations under way, and

it could come as early as Tuesday. Thank you.

Iraqi forces have made more gains in west Mosul -

the largest city still under the control of the

Government troops, backed by a US-led coalition,

recaptured the east of the city in late January, after more

Now they say a third of the west, which is almost completely

Around 600,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside.

Our Middle East correspondent, Orla Guerin, and cameraman

Nico Hameon have been travelling with the Iraqi forces.

You may find parts of her report distressing.

Caught below, hundreds of thousands of civilians.

This is the place where IS proclaimed its Caliphate.

Here it was born, and here, Iraqi forces say, it will die.

On the ground, they are advancing, but struggling to hold

Then frantic gunfire towards the threat overhead.

An IS drone, maybe carrying explosives.

Well, this is as far as we can go for now.

As you can hear there is a lot of gunfire in the area.

There are snipers in position on this street.

We have cover here, so we won't be moving from this position,

but within the last half an hour or so, we've heard three car bombs

We've also had a lot of incoming mortar fire -

you can hear now the sounds of battle.

The IS fighters that are in this area are putting

The man who didn't flinch is Major Alani.

Hours later, he was wounded in battle.

Troops using every weapon, even home-made rockets.

Then the rush to retrieve a casualty.

We can't say how many have paid with their lives, Iraqi forces don't

But they have the extremists outgunned and encircled.

They believe victory is guaranteed in Mosul, in time.

But ending the Caliphate may not end IS.

General Abbas is in the thick of the battle.

He told us the narrow streets and civilian presence

In front of us is all city, it is very hard because we need

to keep to take care for the citizen.

We need to be aggressive against IS guys, we need

to put a very clear plan, to clear the area.

That means we need to put a plan to survive our citizens.

And as the fighting rages, more weary civilians leave

Where they have been caught between the militants and the army.

Few may have endured more than this man.

IS put an anti-aircraft gun near his house.

An air strike targeting the extremists brought

"Three of my daughters are dead", he says.

"My daughters were under the concrete of the house."

"They didn't let me see them before they were buried."

As well as losing his daughters, and his home, he lost his leg.

He prays God will destroy IS, as they have destroyed Iraq.

Orla Guerin, BBC News, western Mosul.

Turkey's President Erdogan has called for sanctions

against the Dutch government, after it prevented two

of his ministers from making political speeches in Rotterdam

Last night Dutch police broke up a rally by Mr Erdogan's

The speeches had been intended to bolster support among Turkish

expatriates with voting rights in Turkey.

Our diplomatic coreespondent James Robbins has more details:

Our diplomatic coreespondent James Robbins has more details.

Not our usual image of the Netherlands.

This was the wound the dog left behind as riot police

used considerable force against Turkish demonstrators.

They were angered by the Dutch government's refusal

to allow their politicians to attend a campaign rally in support

He is counting on the backing of more than a million Turkish

citizens living in Europe to expand his powers back home

But his minister for families wasn't allowed to address them.

The second Turkish minister turned back by the Dutch government.

TRANSLATION: In Holland - Holland as a country that speaks

of freedom and democracy - we were faced with very

we should treat women in Turkey. about women's rights and tell us how

All this followed President Erdogan's far stronger

language at a rally, denouncing the Dutch as "Nazi

Those words have infuriated several European governments,

including Germany's, mindful of the Nazi

occupation of Holland during the Second World War.

We are absolutely willing to deescalate, but of course these

utterings of the president of Turkey Republic do not help and

But this is also the collision of two electoral campaigns in Turkey

The Dutch go to the polls first on Wednesday.

It's been a tense campaign, dominated by the anti-immigration

He blames the Prime Minister for allowing immigrants in,

It's unclear how the weekend violence and the extraordinary

diplomatic crisis with Turkey will influence Dutch voters, making

big choices against a background of rising populism across Europe.

The intelligence services are to provide the political parties

with advice on protecting themselves against Russian hackers.

The advice will come from experts at GCHQ's

Several politicians have been calling for more assistance,

saying they fear that hackers might try to influence future elections.

Rail workers in three parts of the country

go on strike tomorrow, as the dispute that's caused months

of chaos for Southern Rail commuters spreads to the north of England.

Conductors working on the Merseyrail, Northern

and Southern services are walking out in a row over their future role.

Our correspondent Danni Hewson sent this report from Liverpool.

It may have been business as usual today, but here in Liverpool

and right across the north, commuters are bracing

From midnight, rail workers with the RMT union will begin a 24

hour strike, affecting thousands of passengers.

I don't know how I am going to get home.

We'll just have to see what we can sort out tomorrow.

A lot of people will be stranded and won't know where to go.

Especially if you are not from the area.

The companies affected are Northern, the UK's second largest operator

which serves passengers across the north, including Leeds,

Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Merseyrail, which serves mainly Merseyside, will run trains every

half an hour, rather than every 15 minutes,

The row was triggered by proposed changes to the role

of the onboard guard, changes the union says

We believe that services operated on a driver only,

driver controlled operation are fundamentally less safe,

and every train in the UK should retain a second safety

Efforts to resolve the dispute in recent weeks have broken down.

Operators say they need to modernise and safety won't be compromised.

We put safety at the heart of everything we do.

The Independent Rail Regulator has the indicated this is as safe

The Independent Rail Regulator has indicated this is as safe

This isn't about who opens and closes the doors,

this is about giving customers what they want.

For now, both sides are at an impasse and few expect

tomorrow's disruption will be the last.

For commuters, the focus is is now on tomorrow's rush hour, and how if

it all they will make their journey to work.

Now, this weekend the United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian

crisis, with 20 million people facing famine.

Its experts say that without urgent help,

There's growing concern about four countries

in particular - Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen and Somalia -

and our correspondents in the region have been to some

We begin with Andrew Harding in Somalia.

The southern town of Baidoa is at the heart of Somalia's

Thousands of families are on the move here.

These people arrived this morning, looking for food, looking for water.

Now half the population of this country is in need

Drought is the main problem, but so is conflict.

In the countryside around here, for instance, al-Shabaab,

the militant Islamist group, is still in control.

Aid agencies say they desperately need more funds.

They only have a fraction of what they need and what

And of course remember this is just one of four countries currently

Famine has already been declared in parts of South Sudan,

but this is a man-made crisis and those fleeing war come here,

Around 2000 people cross the border daily.

This has become Africa's biggest refugee crisis

and the world's third-largest after Afghanistan and Syria.

People can no long stay in their villages and towns,

because of fighting between the government and rebels.

Those who come here bring with them harrowing tales

of violence and a desperation to avoid starvation.

But it's not just east Africa that is struggling

Here in Nigeria in West Africa, mass hunger has been fuelled

by the brutal seven-year insurgency of the Islamist group Boko Haram.

In the north-east of the country, where so many people have

had to flee their homes because of the fighting,

it's estimated 8.5 million people are in need of food aid,

and 75,000 children are at risk of dying in the coming months.

All this week on BBC News, we'll be taking a look at the hunger

crisis of four badly affected countries and asking what can be

done to help 20 million people facing famine.

My colleague Clive Myrie there, reporting from Nigeria.

Now, with all the sport, here's Karthi Gnanasegaram

Tottenham Hotspur are through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup

after an emphatic 6-0 win over League One side Millwall.

South Korea's Son Heung-Min scored a hat-trick but the Football

Association is expected to investigate allegations of racist

Tottenham were already on their way to Wembley -

it is where they will play next season while their

But here was their chance to travel there early for an FA Cup semifinal.

First, they had to get past League One's Millwall,

a team on a 17 match unbeaten run, and when Harry Kane limped

off after six minutes, they looked like it could be

The England striker was replaced by Christian Eriksen,

who with one swing of his boot, turned the momentum

In their rush for a second goal, Son fumbled his first touch,

He makes amends with an absolute beauty.

Son has played in the shadow of Kane for much of the season,

but his movement was too much for Millwall, and he scored

Viewing wouldn't get much easier for Millwall's manager

There was time for more, after Son completed a somewhat

This was the last FA Cup tie to be played

at White Hart Lane, but Tottenham's

It's time to pop out of the room if you don't want to know

today's other results, as Match Of The Day and Sportscene

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side beat Burnley 2-1 to put them just one

point behind Manchester City, who are in third place

Leicester City have confirmed the appointment of Craig Shakespeare

as their manager until the end of the season.

He's led them to victory in his two games as the caretaker boss

following the sacking of Claudio Ranieri.

While a late equaliser for Rangers from Clint Hill denied Celtic a 23rd

consecutive league win, but they are now 25

points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

World number one Andy Murray suffered a shock second-round

defeat at the prestigious Indian Wells Open, beaten

Dan Evans has also been knocked out, while world number 11 Johanna Konta

lost her third-round match this evening in three sets

And Britain's Elise Christie has become a triple world champion

at the Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Rotterdam.

And tributes have been paid to the singer Joni Sledge -

of the group Sister Sledge - who's died at her home

The band - four sisters - achieved fame in 1979

with their signature track "We Are Family".

Other hits included the disco classic "The Greatest Dancer".

A statement from the family said Joni Sledge had

You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel.

Now on BBC one it's time for the news where you are.