The woman nominated to head the European Commission says shed be willing to extend the brexit deadline. I stand ready for further extension of the withdrawal date. Should more time be required for a good reason. Facebook launches a new tool to target scammers and encourage the reporting of fake adverts. Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. The words of Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the moon, the Mission Launched 50 years ago today. Well be at the National Space centre in leicester to mark the anniversary. Good morning. Welcome to bbc newsroom live. Iamjoanna i am joanna gosling. The number of people whove died in scotland because of drug use has risen to over 1,000 in a year, for the first time, according to new official figures. It means the countrys drug death rate is now nearly three times that of the uk as a whole, and is higher than that reported for any other eu country and the United States. 1,187 drug deaths were recorded in scotland last year. Thats a 27 increase on the year before, according to the National Records of scotland. It marks the largest number of drugs deaths ever recorded in scotland. 0ur correspondent james shaw reports. When i think of all the drugs ive taken over the years, theres no crying left. Ive run out of tears. An open mic event for drug users in dundee. Sylvia fox started taking drugs at the age of 1a. Now she only uses the heroin substitute methadone, and recognises that her addiction caused a lifetime of risk taking. Once, i was found in the street, just in the middle of the road. I mustve just been walking and collapsed. And the other time i was in the house and i had again injected, i think it was morphine at that stage, and i had 0dd. Last year, dundee had the highest rate of drug deaths, but the problem affects all scotlands major cities. In areas like this piece of waste ground in the centre of glasgow, the chaotic nature of drug use does start to become apparent. The boss of one organisation which supports drug users is a former deputy chief constable, and now wants some decriminalisation. Enabling some of the things that at the moment we cannot do around drug testing, around indeed treatment centres, and the like, would be sensible, progressive measures that would enable us to have a more effective approach to drug harms than we are currently able to do under the current framework. That may be a controversial view, but demands for change are likely to become harder to ignore. We can talk to james now in glasgow. James, these figures are shocking, apparently . They are extremely alarming, disturbing figures for anyone who is involved in helping people who are using drugs in scotland. The worst that weve ever seenin scotland. The worst that weve ever seen in this country. In one of the organisation is deeply involved in policy on drug use and also training people to help drug users is the Scottish Drugs Forum. I am joined by a representative. Kirsten, first of all, what is your Immediate Reaction to these figures . I guess the Immediate Reaction is that there are literally no words to describe the faces behind the numbers, and while this is a day where a lot of attention is on the figures, ultimately, family, friends, communities and the general population are living with that toll every day, so it is horrific for a small country to have over 1000 preventable deaths every year. It is just terrific. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, the deaths. It does not include the lives affected, the families, as you say. This is touching a lot of people in scotland 110w. Touching a lot of people in scotland now. For sure. We saw a really tragic tale in the news yesterday, some of these stories from people across scotland, the amount of loss they face in their lives from losing close family members and friends. It isjust huge. We are talking about generations, arent we . We are talking about parents who use drugs and their children are using drugs as well. This could become intergenerational, three or possibly four generations . Absolutely, and everybody who has lost to somebodys mother, father, son or daughter. Huge repercussions, and ultimately awful. So why is it so bad in scotland . It is a really complex issue. People are using multiple substances. What we see now is that people over 35 are likely to have a huge amount of Health Related problems, and that increases their risk of a drug death, so the drug gas report that came out today highlights that again, that people over 35 think there is an increase, but ultimately, there is an increase in those deaths as well. Lots of physical and Mental Health conditions and social factors can contribute to this picture we are seeing today. You hear international comparisons. We have apparently the worst figures in the whole of the European Union. There is also the suggestion it may even be worse than the United States, which is recognised as perhaps the developed country with the biggest drug problem. They talk about the opiate crisis in the United States. Is that what we have in scotland . Are useful comparisons to be made . what we have in scotland . Are useful comparisons to be made . I dont think it is all that useful to compare to other countries, because the way that data and information is collected can be different, but ultimately, doesnt really matter about which country is worse . This isa about which country is worse . This is a huge issue in scotland, over 1000 people dying of preventable causes year. I think what they are seeing in those countries is a powerful opiate called fe nta nyl, that we have not thankfully seen yet in scotland, but it would be naive to think that we wont see fentanyl here, and if we did get fence and a lens of the drug market here, it would just be ten times worse for people who are at high risk. If we did get fentanyl on the drug market. Can you briefly say what you think the answers might be to this crisis . There will be lots of discussions today about Different Services we could introduce in scotland, and we need a package of lots of different things. Some of those things we do not yet have in scotland, but the things we do need massive improvement, and one of those things is our treatment service, our opiate replacement therapy programmes, and in particular our methadone programme. Asa particular our methadone programme. As a country, we have managed to heavily stigmatise a life saving medication, so people on a methadone prescription are being made to feel like they are a failure for receiving medication. So ultimately, out receiving medication. So ultimately, our services need to be much better at retaining and engaging people when they need or want treatment and we need to make sure those services are accessible and that they are meeting peoplesneeds. Thank you very much indeed. Well, a huge amount to think and talk about there. In this crisis, it is a hugely complicated situation, not something that the Scottish Government, the Scottish Drugs Forum 01 government, the Scottish Drugs Forum or anyone else will be able to solve in the short term. Thank you very much, james. The four democratic congresswomen told by President Trump to go back where they came from have held a joint News Conference to hit back at his comments. Representatives alexandria 0casio cortez, ilhan 0mar, Ayanna Pressley and rashida tlaib, said he was using racism to deflect attention from his failing policies and urged americans not to take the bait. Heres our washington correspondent, david willis. Facing accusations of racism and xenophobia, President Trump is not backing down. Spelling out his message in capital letters, let anyone be in any doubt, and going on to attack the democrats for closing ranks around the four women. The dems were trying to distance themselves from the four progressives, he wrote, but now they are forced to embrace them. That means they are endorsing socialism, hate of israel and the usa. Minutes later, at a joint News Conference, the congresswomen three of whom were born in the usa hit back. Hes launching a blatantly racist attack on four duly elected members of the United States house of representatives, all of whom are women of colour. This is the agenda of white nationalists. Some people think its controversial. A lot of people love it, by the way. Downing street has called the president s language completely unacceptable. But while some republican lawmakers have been critical, the silence from Senior Party Members has been deafening. The question now for more moderate republicans going into next years president ial election is what constitutes a crossing of the line. David willis, bbc news, washington. Both conservative leaders have confirmed that the so called they believe that the so called irish backstop will need to be removed from any future deal with the eu. They were speaking during a Leadership Debate organised by the sun newspaper. Any such move would mean ruling out a fundamental part of theresa mays deal that would keep the uk closely aligned to eu customs rules, so that the border between ireland and Northern Ireland could remain open with a frictionless border in the absence of an all encompassing deal. 0ur assistant Political Editor norman smith is at westminster for us. Norman, if they are both ruling the backstop out, what does that mean . That is not going to go down very well at all in europe, is it . I think it means the prospect of having to leave without any agreement increase, because i think agreement increase, because i think a lot of people had hoped it might be possible to secure some sort of time limit to the backstop, and some brexiteers have even mooted the idea of trying to get an end date for the backstop. The eu have said it is only a temporary arrangement, so if we can only agree a date. But that might have been a way to get the deal over the line. Last night, both borisjohnson deal over the line. Last night, both Boris Johnson and jeremy hunt rejected that idea outright, with jeremy hunt even saying it was dead. Another possible compromise was creating some sort of mechanism which would enable the British Government to unilaterally leave the backstop. That also has been rejected, so we are in a position really where both men, whoever is successful, they are going to have to negotiate an entirely new deal in a very, very to negotiate an entirely new deal in a very, very narrow to negotiate an entirely new deal in a very, very narrow window, because there would only be three months from when they take office to the deadline of october 31, and that is presuming the eu is even prepared to consider another deal, and it has fuelled the fears of former remainers and opponents of Boris Johnson that we are now heading towards a no deal. The attorney general suggested that Boris Johnson seem general suggested that Boris Johnson seem to be eternally knocking down all the possible compromise options. The moment you solve one problem, they will put up another obstacle. Ina funny they will put up another obstacle. In a funny way, Boris Johnson absolutely confirmed this in yesterdays debate. When challenged and confronted, he radicalised even further and excluded any possibility of trying to negotiate some way out of trying to negotiate some way out of the backstop at all. It had to go in its totality. You could argue that mrjohnson and mr huntarejust you could argue that mrjohnson and mr hunt arejust taking you could argue that mrjohnson and mr hunt are just taking this tough line as a sort of marker ahead of the negotiations. The trouble is, once you have said you will not tolerate the backstop, it is very ha rd to tolerate the backstop, it is very hard to back down from that, and it seems very hard to back down from that, and it seems very hard to sell that to their own Party Members now. Thank you very much. The leading candidate to be the next European Commission president says she stands ready to further extend britains withdrawal from the eu if there is a good reason. The European Parliament votes later today on the nomination of ursula von der leyen for the job of president of the European Commission. Meps will take part in a secret ballot, and ms von der leyen will need an absolute majority. Lets talk to damian grammaticas, whos in strasbourg for us. There was quite a response in the chamber when she said what she said. I could not hear what she said. It sounded like boos initially, and then cheers. What went down . When mrs vander der leyen addressed the parliament earlier, she came to brexit, and when she came to brexit, she said that would be the decision of the uk, but she regretted it and respected it. At that point, there we re respected it. At that point, there were cheers from the brexit party meps. She went on to talk about the current Withdrawal Agreement and her views on an extension. There were cheers at that point from the meps, the pro europea ns of cheers at that point from the meps, the pro europeans of the block in the pro europeans of the block in the centre when she was talking about the possibility of extending, and this is what she said. The Withdrawal Agreement concluded with the government of the United Kingdom provides certainty where brexit created uncertainty. In preserving the rights of citizens and in preserving peace and stability on the island of ireland, these two priorities are mine too. However, i stand ready for a firm extension of the withdrawal date should more time be required for a good reason. Applause in any case, the United Kingdom will remain our ally, in any case, the United Kingdom will remain ourally, our in any case, the United Kingdom will remain our ally, our partner, and our friend. Applause well, what she did not mention was that backstop issue that norman smith was just talking about. I think you can take from what she says about ireland that the eu is sticking to its guns and she is sticking to its guns and she is sticking to its guns and she is sticking to that eu position that there has to be that backstop or something similar in the deal. She also laid out a broad swathe of her priorities if she is in charge of the European Commission, things that greater ambition and climate change, greater ambition and climate change, greater efforts across the eu for things like a minimum wage, and an employment scheme, a carbon board attacks, and all of those were things that drew a pretty sharp response from the Brexit Party Leader nigel fire raj. This is what he said after she spoke. I come back to a place that has been humbled and humiliated. The European Council stitch up as vendor displays impotence until today, when you have got some real power if you choose to use it. What you have seen today is an attempt for the European Union to take control of every single aspect of our lives. She wants to build a centralised, undemocratic, updated form of communism that will render nation state parliaments, where the states controls everything, where nation state parliaments. Where nation state parliaments. Where nation state parliaments will cease to have any relevance at all. I have to have any relevance at all. I have to say, from our perspective, in some ways, i am really rather pleased, because you have just made brexit a lot more popular in the United Kingdom. Thank god we are leaving. Ms von der leyen had just said she wa nts to ms von der leyen had just said she wants to give the European Parliament more powers to initiate legislation. Her vote will be later today at the end of the day, and it is not yet clear whether she has enough votes in the chamber to be passed. Thank you very much, damien. The headlines now. The number of people in scotland dying from taking drugs hasjumped bya dying from taking drugs hasjumped by a quarter, giving scotland a higher drugs death rate than the United States and any other eu country. For american congresswomen attacked by President Trump say he is using racism to distract from his failing policies. The woman nominated to head the European Commission says she would be willing to extend the brexit deadline. And in sport, the head coach of new zealand says the cricket world cup should be shared at future tournaments of the final is decided by such fine margins again. The kiwis lost to england because they scored fewer boundaries in sundays final. Arsenal captain Laurent Michel knee is very hurt over his stand off with the club. He has refused to travel on the clubs preseason tour of the us after his transfer request was refused. And england are on the verge of a semifinal spot at the net bill world cup semifinal spot at the net bill world cu p after semifinal spot at the n