just go through what arlene foster said in a bit more detail. on monday we had the prime minister and the taoiseach here as we thought a deal was in the air. as time went on we realised it would not happen, there was some talk of it perhaps happening this week but clearly now that is not going to happen with this statement from arlene foster. the big issues the irish language, the dup are absolutely insistent there will be no stand—alone irish language bill giving the irish language official status in northern ireland. sinn fein said they will not rejoin the power—sharing executive unless there is exactly that so clearly is pass are finding it difficult to read. and the statement from arlene foster said that in our view there is no current prospect of these discussions leading to an executive ping—pong. it is now incumbent on her majesty ‘s government to set a budget and start to make policy decisions about our schools, hospitals and infrastructure. for the past 13 months there has been no government here in northern ireland. the decisio

the leader of the democractic unionist party, arlene foster, has said there is no current prospect of a deal to restore power—sharing in northern ireland. mrs foster said attempts to find a stable resolution had been unsuccessful. the dup and sinn fein have been locked in negotiations in a bid to end the 13—month stalemate at stormont. let's get more now from our ireland correspondent chris page, who is in belfast. and entered this political crisis feels farther away than ever tonight. northern ireland has been without government for 13 months. today, arlene foster has been involved in negotiations for the last few weeks, she said there was no prospect of bringing back devolution. sinn fein blamed the dup per what happened, saying they had reached an accommodation with the dup leadership that they had failed to close the deal. i'm joined by a leader of one of the other parties, colum eastwood, from the sdlp. what are your thoughts on what has happened today? it is a serious and real crisis for our institutions, for the good friday agreement. we have had 13 months with the governme

you heard arlene foster there. just behind me a short time ago. it was interesting her saying that there is not a deal yet but good progress has been made. all day, there has been speculation that some sort of deal could be reached here. we had the two prime ministers, the taoiseach theresa may here sitting around and talking to each other, talking to the parties, and there was speculation that a deal could be made but clearly that deal could be made but clearly that deal has not been made. there is still more work to do and the two parties seem to be quite clear on that. sinn fein gave a statement here a short while ago. mary lou mcdonald, the new leader of sinn fein, said we believe we are close to an agreement we can put to our grassroots. we are not there yet, but there are no insurmountable problems. so clearly there is progress being made but we are not there yet. so when they say there are no insurmountable problems, clearly there are some problems we would have a deal today. what are we focusing on? at this later stage in the talks. well,

arlene foster, the leader of the democratic unionists, says attempts to find a compromise with sinn fein have failed, and that there is no prospect of restoring northern ireland's devolved power—sharing government. sinn fein has blamed the dup, saying it walked away after an agreement had been reached. let's go over to our belfast newsroom and get the latest from our correspondent keith doyle. yes, good evening. the dup and sinn fein shared power up to 13 months ago, when sinn fein knocked out of a bitter row. at the start of the week, the prime minister and the taoiseach came here, because at that like there were some sort of resolution in the air, but as the hours and the days went by, it seemed pretty clear that resolution was not going to come. there are still bitter divisions between the two parties, namely on the irish language. now the dup leader arlene foster ruled out any hope of an agreement, and a quote from her this afternoon, she has said unionists will not countenance a stand—alone 01’ will not countenance a stand—alone or freestanding irish language act. and sinn f

foster has announced there is, in herwords, no arlene foster has announced there is, in her words, no prospect of a return to devolved government at stormont following the meeting on monday between theresa may and leo varadkar of the irish republic. some optimism that either then or perhaps yesterday there would be some announcement on the restoration of a power—sharing at stormont which has now gone for more than a year without. there are some suggestions the prime minister‘s visit was an attempt to bounce the dup into getting into an agreement with sinn fein but this has come out of the blue to be honest. arlene foster announcing there is no prospect of a return to devolved government at stormont. she‘s just released a statement. almost four victory been in intensive negotiations with sinn fein, attempting to find a sustainable basis for restoring devolution. those discussions have been unsuccessful. despite our best efforts, she says, serious and significant gaps remain between ourselves and sinn fein especially on the issue of the irish language. i‘ve made it consistently

the leader of the democractic unionist party, arlene foster, has said there is no prospect of restoring northern ireland's devolved government. mrs foster said attempts to find a stable and sustainable resolution had been unsuccessful. her statement has effectively torpedoed the power—sharing executive. on monday, the prime minister, theresa may, travelled to stormont to try and seek an end to the deadlock. 0ur ireland correspondent, chris page, is at stormont now what on earth happened next? yes, just a few days ago a breakthrough did seem like it was likely for the first time in more than a year. theresa may and the irish prime minister cain murtagh stormont and met the parties and said they thought the deal was doable. the process has fallen apart over the past 48 hours. arlene foster said there is currently no prospect of there is currently no prospect of the power—sharing executive being restored. sinn fein, the former partners in government, said unionists had failed to close a deal. the highly symbolic issue which has scuppered stormont again is the disagreement over whether

you could say the dup because it raises questions about arlene foster's ability to run her party. that is what i said, perhaps the personality issue. you can also say that sinn fein, but you know, they shouldn't maybe make such a thing of it and everything else but it is important that the irish language act is important that this is the thing, to go back to what you say, the dup want direct rule because they can then tell the tory government at westminster what to do, with a direct rule, but sinn feini do, with a direct rule, but sinn fein i think c in brexit the best chance they've had in a generation to push the united ireland agenda in all... said there are much bigger forces in play than the irish... also the big issue of ireland because ireland and brexit... if the irish don't get what they need to get. from these things in northern ireland. come back to that in a second but i want to pick a pollie's point because you say maybe neither side actually want to be ruling right now in devolved assembly but where does that leave the british government because bradley the secretary

you could say it is the dup's fault because it raises questions about arlene foster's inability to lead her party. you can also say sinn fein should not maybe make such a thing of it and everything else, but it is important that the irish language act be important... but he was the thing, to go back to what you say, the dup one direct rule because they can then tell the tory government at westminster what to do because they have direct rule. sinn feinl because they have direct rule. sinn fein i think c in brexit the best chance they have had in a generation to push the united ireland agenda. so there are much bigger forces to push the united ireland agenda. so there are much biggerforces in play than the question of the irish language act. also a big issue of ireland because ireland and brexit. .. also a big issue of ireland because ireland and brexit... if the irish do not get what they need to get, from these things in northern ireland, they can just... ijust want ireland, they can just... i just want to pick up with the point from polly, because you said... maybe neither side wants t

ultimately, arlene foster the dup leader couldn't sell it to her grassroots because they were afraid of things like road signs in two languages and quotas for civil servants speaking irish which michelle o'neill, her counterpart in sinn fein on the other side of the table said, well, the draft agreement doesn't even have that in it. so it is a question of trust and misunderstanding. is it a blip? they will come back to this, they will have to, because they cannot move forward — sinn fein will not allow power—sharing to move forward until it is... crosstalk. ..personalities in a way because... well, i was wondering, yeah that... i think not, i think the problem is profound in that it isn't clear that it is in either of their interest to actually run the province. in a time of extreme austerity, why do they want to be responsible for schools, for hospitals, for all of the everyday drudgery — which it is — to run a devolved government under westminster, where westminster has tightened the screw to such an extent you get nothing but blame? so there isn't really an incentive for e

the dup leader arlene foster said that one of the main stumbling blocks was sinn fein's desire for an irish language act. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page has the latest from stormont. a breakthrough seemed likely when theresa may visited northern ireland on monday. she and the irish prime minister said they were hopeful of a deal between the parties at stormont. now, the prospect of renewed power—sharing is disappearing. unionists have accused republicans of asking for too much. we have, as i've said before, run out of road in respect of this process. we're not going to be able to get the executive up and running because there is not a fair and balanced package available. but sinn fein say the dup are to blame for the collapse of the talks. a lot of expectation over the course of the last number of days where people were either briefed or discussing the fact there potentially was a deal on the table. i'm saying confidently we had an accommodation with the dup and they have failed to close on that accommodation. action! the most difficult disagreement to resolve has been over th

arlene foster said in december that any form of regulatory divergence between northern ireland and the rest of uk was unacceptable. this is going to be a big problem. and if you remember, she kicked up a bit of a stink to theresa may, which set back this issue of them finding agreement over its. also, rosalind andi agreement over its. also, rosalind and i were talking about eight twitter comments enda kenny from a viewer. talking about how maybe theresa may should take on the rambling border... —— a twitter comment came in from a viewer. lots of roads keep crossing over, was the points. and there are farmers would land on both sides and there are people that work on one side and on the other across over every single day. jeremy, thank you for your tweet. let's look at the times. embattled universities face limits on powers. they're really under the spotlight at the moment. and with good reason. all these vice chancellors arnie crazy 6—figure salaries. there is reason to think that we should look at many of these issues. however, iwould that we should look at many of these issues.

the dup leader, arlene foster, said that one of the main stumbling blocks was sinn fein's desire for an irish language act. our ireland correspondent, chris page, has the latest from stormont. a breakthrough seemed likely when theresa may visited northern ireland on monday. she and the irish prime minister said they were hopeful of a deal between the parties at stormont. now, the prospect of renewed power—sharing is disappearing. unionists have accused republicans of asking for too much. we have, as i've said before, run out of road in respect of this process. we're not going to be able to get the executive up and running because there is not a fair and balanced package available. but sinn fein say the dup are to blame for the collapse of the talks. there was a lot of expectation over the course of the last number of days where people were either briefed or were discussing the fact that there potentially was a deal on the table. i'm saying confidently that we had an accommodation with the dup and the dup leadership have failed to close on that accommodation. action! the most diffic

arlene foster of the dup speaking briefly outside parliament after the talks. speaking a short time ago, the sinn fein president mary lou mcdonald said... the government of westminster did not appear to have a plan to restore power—sharing at the moment. i have to tell you that we can only surmise from the meeting with the british prime minister that the government year doesn‘t have a plan. doesn‘t have a plan, a viable plan for carving a pathway to the restoration of the institutions. with disappointed the government seems wedded to what we are calling a reflection period. the opening up of any political vacuum is extreme and dangerous. that was the statement earlier. and we saw the vice president of sinn fein in that clip. she joins we saw the vice president of sinn fein in that clip. shejoins us now. thanks for coming in. when you said they didn‘t have a plan, you mean any type of plan? good evening. we came today in the backdrop of a long, protracted box process were ourselves, the two governments and the other previous partners in government, the d

the republic while currently northern ireland what the leaders of the ulster unionist anderson fein arlene foster and michelle neil i women this is the case in scotland when a question is first minister is opposed by this davidson as leader of the opposition conservatives in wales in westminster women leaders are heavily outnumbered with only pride come easily and would carling because of the greens and of course trees and me the prime minister however even more important than me to lose gender or to other political changes. really mcdonald is the first in finley's or not to be associated with the armed struggle this may well remove the political ceiling which has previously districted their support in the republic secondly and this is equally important the election of this dublin born woman represents a move of leadership from the north of ireland to what may be termed an all ireland approach it could well be that after a full century since at last happened the next elections will see should find challenging for the leading position and irish politics both north and south the consequences

the dup leader arlene foster said that one of the main stumbling blocks was sinn fein‘s desire for an irish language act. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page has the latest from stormont. a breakthrough seemed likely when theresa may visited northern ireland on monday. she and the irish prime minister said they were hopeful of a deal between the parties at stormont. now, the prospect. renewed power—sharing is disappearing. unionists accused republicans of asking for too much. we have, as i've said before, run out of road in respect of this process. we're not going to be able to get executive up and running because there is not a fair and balanced package available. sinn fein say the dup are to blame for the collapse of the talks. there was a lot of expectation over the course of the last number of days were people were either briefed or were discussing the fact that there potentially was a deal on the table. i'm saying confidently that we had an accommodation with the dup and the dup leadership have failed to close on that accommodation. the most difficult disagreement to resolve h

foster wants london to take back financial control the region which is part of the united kingdom has had no devolved government for over a year the irish republican party fein pulled out of power sharing with the p over a financial scandal talks have since founded over demands by shane fein for a law to give official status to the irish language shia muslim protesters in bahrain have fought with police one marking the seventh anniversary of a failed uprising security forces fired tear gas in a number of villages while reinforcements were deployed to stop protesters blocking main roads the country has a shia majority but the ruling monarchy is sunni. police in iran have arrested dozens of unlicensed money traders as concern grows about the falling value of the rain in rio the president is under pressure to stop the currency slide against the dollar which business people say is doing serious harm to the economy has our report from tehran every morning iranians wake up to find the money you look pockets is worth less than when they went to bed that's because the iranian rio has been on

you could say it is the dup because it raises questions about arlene foster's ability to lead her party. that is why i say personalities coming here. but you could say that sinn fein maybe should not make such a big thing of it and everything else. but the irish language act is important. but here's the thing, to go back to what you say, the dup want to direct rule because they can then tell the tory government at westminster what to do in that direct rule. sinn fein see in brexit the best chance they have had ina in brexit the best chance they have had in a generation to push the agenda of united are in. there are much biggerforces agenda of united are in. there are much bigger forces and agenda of united are in. there are much biggerforces and play. agenda of united are in. there are much bigger forces and play. also the big issue of ireland, because ireland and brexit. if the irish don't get what they need to get from these things in northern ireland... we will come back to that in the moment, but i want to pick up on polly‘s point. you said maybe neither side wants to be ruling ri

foster called for britain to take financial control of the region british province has been without a devolved government for more than a year since irish nationalists shin fein withdrew from a compulsory power sharing government with. a financial crisis in gaza is forcing hospitals and clinics to close intensive care bed to lie unused to save electricity and patients with contagious diseases are forced to stay in overcrowded rooms that are in the us a provided emergency funding for the hospital generators but it could be another week before this filters through and smith reports from gaza. mohamad also he has severe epilepsy this machine delivers a precise dosage of a drug every hour to control the two year old seizures. for thirteen days now the electricity the power as it has come from solar panels the hospital like all in gaza has not been give money for generator fuel embodied but i was astonished how long in the power goes off for one minute my son loses his life he should be in the i.c.u. he needs an x. ray well he couldn't do that. much of the rest of this pediatric hospital

foster call for london to take back financial control from the belfast administration the region which is part of the united kingdom has been without a devolved government for over a year the irish republican party sheen fane withdrew from a power sharing government with the over a financial scandal talks have since founded over demands by shin fein for legislation to give official status to the irish language. international aid has begun arriving in parts of tongo that were hit by psycho on monday military aircraft from all from australia and new zealand have flown in emergency supplies to the pacific nation the cycle in which has caused widespread structural structural damage is one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the island it's. now again i'm fully back to bill with the headlines on al-jazeera jacob zuma has resigned as south africa's president reluctantly heeding orders from his party the a.n.c. has gone with immediate effect ending almost nine years in power frequently mocked by scandal the ruling a.n.c. told him to quit or face moves in parliament to force him out at lea

foster said the time had now come for ministers at westminster to set a budget and make decisions about public spending. i believe, whether intentionally or not, theresa may is actually facilitating the dup blocking advancement and resolution on these core issues. we're concerned about the fact that we have this instability, that we don't have proper governance in northern ireland and it's incumbent upon the uk government to come forward and to fill that gap. 0ur ireland correspondent, chris page, is at stormont. where do we stand after today's talks, chris? well, huw, the parties at the centre of the stormont stalemate have continued to trade blows even on the other side of the irish sea. sinn fein's criticism of the government was particularly strong, i thought. the government was particularly strong, ithought. this the government was particularly strong, i thought. this was mary lou mcdonald's first trip to london since she took over from gerry adams as sinn fein president a few weeks ago. she pointed at the conservative pa rty‘s ago. she pointed at the conservative party's relianc

arlene foster said respect for the union and british identity has to be in there, it cannot be a one—way street. is there any trait to be done there? clearly they have tried and failed, but is there anything you could think that you could offer that would satisfy her? i am not offering anything, i am just advocating for the irish language. but it's worth remembering the compromise was made. but it was made in the st andrews agreement, the very firm commitment around the irish language and that was already made in 2006. what we need is implementation of that deal. we need citizens here to be afforded rights and the dup refer to this very strongly as the uk and how we are in tune with the rest of the uk, but when it comes to different speakers of the language, there is a marked difference on how they are treated and that cannot continue and there will not be another assembly here that facilitate the discrimination against irish speakers. large swathes of society here, they look at the case of irish speakers as a litmus test to see how serious the dup are about our future. we will leave new

the dup leader arlene foster has been urging the government to set a budget and take key decisions about the region's infrastructure. sinn fein leader mary lou mcdonald has again warned direct rule is not an option for northern ireland. we can cross now to stormont and our ireland correspondent chris page. we heard in the house of commons this afternoon from karen bradley the northern ireland secretary. she had hoped to go back this week to talk about the restoration of devolved government 13 months after it collapsed but instead was updating mps about the collapse of those negotiations between the dup in sinn fein. that has meant she had major decisions to make. the civil serva nts major decisions to make. the civil servants have effectively been running the stormont departments for a yearand running the stormont departments for a year and they have said they need a year and they have said they need a budget for the next financial year just a few weeks from now. she indicated that she did intend to bring forward a budget for northern ireland in westminster. things in northern ireland ca

foster has already tweeted that this this text is constitutionally unacceptable she said it would be economically catastrophic for northern ireland very hard words but what mr bunny says he needs is concrete proposals concrete solutions the opposition leader jeremy corbett in parliament not to reason may because mr corbin has now shifted his stance saying that britain should be in a customs union so now that he's got this new approach he's able to say worldly the conservative government really don't have a coherent plan i think everybody though will be left in no doubt after mr barr mr bonny is a reminder that with thirteen months away from march twenty ninth the leave date that the clock really is taking a there are so many issues that still need to be hammered out in the name thank you it's a final day of high level discussions on the global stage of human rights representatives some countries around the world and spoken at the un human rights council in geneva it's painted a dire picture of the situation millions of facing the changes more from geneva. it was meant to be a celebra

foster's d u p was staunchly probe rex it the new text could still be changed significantly but it's acted as a reminder of how much progress needs to be achieved between now and march next year the al-jazeera. a supermarket in amsterdam is taking action to stop plastic polluting the world's oceans the eco plaza store has opened the world's first plastic free aisle more than seven hundred products including meat there e fruit and vegetables are available in packaging made from compostable biomaterials eco plaza will roll out plastic free aisles to all seventy four of its stores across the netherlands by the end of this year well the plastic free i was the brainchild of international environmental campaign group a plastic planet the group's co-founder sean sutherland joins us now live via skype from amsterdam thank you so much for joining us here on the program and congratulations for getting your plastic free considering it's your brainchild how difficult was it to make this a reality. well to be honest when we started troubles ago and really our idea was simply thinking isn't it cra

i will meet michelle o'neill and arlene foster early next week. translation: my second point on the draft agreement, after the question of ireland, our text also includes our proposals on the other separation issues. again, there is no surprise because we have translated in legal terms the union position as expressed in our essential principle papers, with which you are familiar. 0n essential principle papers, with which you are familiar. on several of the subjects, negotiations have effectively begun without our yet having reached an agreement at the moment i speak to you. that is the case with your tone or the question of goods placed on the market. regarding intellectual property public procurement, we have not yet received a proposal for the public procurement, we have not yet received a proposalfor the british position. and so on those points the negotiations have not been able to start. so on those subjects in the d raft start. so on those subjects in the draft treaty which you have in your hands, we have indicated the european union positio

listening to arlene foster over the weekend, she was seeing progress had been made. the deputy in dublin stressed this week was a decisive move forward. there was a decisive move forward. there was a decisive move forward. there was a clear warning from the head of the civil service in northern ireland that unless there was an agreement, he suggested by february eight, then he would have to set the budget for the forthcoming year. that means a whole raft of decisions which may be regarded as political decisions, such as reform plans for the nhs, simply will not be taken. all the big debate —— spending decisions will be on ice for another year. that will focus minds and sinn fein and the dup so that both sides really do have to get some sort of agreement nailed down quickly. give us agreement nailed down quickly. give us your thoughts, there are lots of detailed issues in northern ireland that need to be sorted out like legacy and irish language for instance, in terms of the deal between the dup and theresa may, in terms of the border question in the big sick nego

foster. to the democratic unionist party leader, she says the key sticking point is the demand to give the irish language official status. sinn fein have accused the dup of collapsing the process. this is what people from all sides of the political spectrum in belfast made of the news. i think it's a big disappointment and i'd just wish she could get over the line and get things up and running. sometimes you'll have to think if we vote to someone they don't get on each other and think of different parties. certainly i'm looking at different parties to make a right choice but unfortunately we will send a future that something has to change. i think she isjust right. we don't even know what the irish act means. on the cards, no way. when two prime ministers come together. i hope that they would find some kind of solution. when i first heard about it over a year ago. but the longer it goes on, i believe the worse the situation we may find ourselves in. believe the worse the situation we may find ourselves inlj believe the worse the situation we may find ourselves in. ijust believe the wor