this is bbc news, i'm kasia madera. our top stories: senators' ultimatum to the accuser of supreme court nominee — reach a deal to appear, or we vote without you. us secretary of state mike pompeo tells the bbc that north korea is still a nuclear threat — though plans for a second summit are under way. it's in the works, we're hoping everything falls together. it makes good sense here, before too terribly long. in a defiant speech, the british prime minister theresa may has drawn the battle lines on brexit, after her proposals were rejected by eu leaders. european council president donald tusk says he remains convinced they can still find a compromise. the messaging app used by paedophiles — how police are struggling to prevent grooming. hello and welcome to bbc world news. the woman who has accused us

supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of sexual assault has been given just hours to reach a deal to give evidence to a committee of senators. christine blasey ford has been told if she doesn't agree to appear on monday, the committee will vote on whether to back mr kavanaugh without her. it's the latest twist in a controversy that on friday saw president trump seek to discredit ms blasey ford on twitter. for more on this i was joined earlier by our washington correspondent chris buckler. essentially the big question remains, will christine blasey ford be prepared to testify to the senate judiciary committee or not? republicans who lead that committee, the chairman is chuck grassley, he'd set a deadline for a couple of hours ago in order for christine blasey ford's lawyers to come back and say she was prepared to testify. she didn't respond to that deadline and now they have set a deadline for the coming hours, and they have made very clear that, as far as they are concerned,

if there is no response, then they intend to press ahead with a vote on whether or not brett kavanaugh should be the next supreme courtjustice on monday. that would take it to the next stage of really confirming him as a member of america's highest court. but christine blasey ford continues to want a number of conditions for this hearing to take place in order for her to give testimony. she wants brett kavanaugh to give testimony first. she doesn't want him in the room when she gives testimony, and she wants no time limit on the opening statement that she gives. and it seems clear at this stage that the republicans on the committee are not prepared to accept all that she is requesting, which does leave a really difficult situation here, and one that senators themselves know they have to handle carefully. so we just have a few hours left to find out whether or not she is prepared to give testimony, otherwise republicans say they will press ahead. well, chris, as we await the deadline, we should speak about a developing story

that the new york times is reporting on, that the us deputy attorney general suggested secretly recording president trump to expose the white house. rod rosenstein denies the report, which cites anonymous sources, claiming he also sought to invoke the 25th amendment to remove president trump from office for being unfit. so, another development, another bit of news that mr trump will not welcome. yes, and it is alleged this conversation happened around the turmoil that followed the fbi directorjames comey being sacked from that position directly by president trump. it is claimed the conversation was had in which rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general for the us, made a statement in front of other members of the department ofjustice in which he seemed to say that perhaps they should consider taping president trump to use as proof that he was not mentally fit to hold office.

and even suggested potentially invoking the 25th amendment of the us constitution. that is a mechanism for effectively removing a president from office, although there are a lot of hoops to jump through. now there has been a very swift denialfrom rod rosenstein. he has said that the report in the new york times was inaccurate and incorrect. sources have said they were in the room when rod rosenstein spoke about taping the president, but it was clearly a jokey remark, a sarcastic remark, and there was never any intention to record conversations with donald trump. nonetheless, given the animosity between rod rosenstein, currently the man who is overseeing that investigation that's going on into potential russian interference in the 2016 election, and of course claims of collusion in it, there is a real tension. and it is likely to make relationships between rod rosenstein

and donald trump, if anything, even worse. the president, of course, has called that investigation of witch—hunt. and i suspect we might hear something from president trump as he speaks in missouri tonight at a rally about what he thinks of this latest development and these latest claims about rod rosenstein. we are monitoring the rally and we will bring it to you when he does speak. the european council president, donald tusk says he's still confident of reaching a compromise on brexit that works for everyone. it follows a defiant speech by the british prime minister theresa may who said europe needed to show the uk more respect in negotiations. our deputy political editor john pienaar has more. theresa may's in a hurry, some say getting nowhere fast landing a brexit deal. so, how to come back from her diplomatic battering — the chorus of eu leaders telling her her brexit plan wouldn't fly.

her answer in downing street? defiance — their turn to compromise. britain had rejected the eu's basic demands. uncontrolled immigration from the eu would continue. and we couldn't do trade deals we want with other countries. that would make a mockery of the referendum we had two years ago. she was prime minister of great britain and northern ireland. on no customs border with ireland or on the mainland, there would be no backing down. it is something i will never agree to. indeed, in myjudgement, it is something no british prime minister would ever agree to. if the eu believe i will, they are making a fundamental mistake. mrs may was prepared to walk away from negotiations, though eu citizens settled here would have rights guaranteed. but after the headlines reporting the prime minister's rejection and humiliation, she came back with her own final demand. throughout this process, i have treated the eu with nothing but respect.

the uk expects the same. a good relationship at the end of this process depends on it. european leaders lined up against her this week. now she was keen to show she'd face them down. but there are potential dangers behind her, at home. brexiteer tories demanding no compromise. they are campaigning to dump the so—called chequers plan, which leaves the uk tied to some eu rules and standards. it was making it apparent that no deal remains better than a bad deal, and that she is not going to give in to the bullying by the european union, and that's very important. however, it's a mistake to persevere with chequers — that's not really brexit. the eu doesn't like it because it leaves us too tied in to their rules but without respecting their institutions. from my point of view and from the brexiteers' point of view, it isn't properly leaving the european union. the irish border and how to avoid border checks after brexit

is still a barrier to a deal. british proposals need more work and more negotiation, the eu council president donald tusk said in a statement tonight. he also called britain's brexit position this week surprisingly tough and uncompromising, though he shared the view of ireland's leader that agreement was still possible. i think we can have a deal, we're entering into a rocky patch over the next couple of weeks, but i'm determined to keep working and secure the deal that we need. in parliament they say your enemies are behind you, but here, mrs may's labour opponents are also preparing to defeat any deal she comes up with. their wish list — an early election, maybe another referendum. to them, every bad day for mrs may is an opportunity to make it worse if they can. the prime minister's negotiating strategy is collapsing around her, and now the country is staring down the barrel of no deal. the prime minister's chequers proposal was never going to be accepted either in the eu or by her own party, and so she's in denial. the prime minister's back

on her berkshire constituency. it won't count as an escape. she couldn't get away from her troubles over brexit if she tried. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has hinted another summit between north korea's kimjong—un and president trump could be on the cards. it follows a visit to pyongyang by the south korean leader — widely viewed as a step towards towards peace. mr pompeo told the bbc‘s state department correspondent, barbara plett usher, that all the leaders in the region were focused on working towards a long—term peace agreement. the two leaders are going to have to make lots of things happen. they are the decision—makers in each of the two countries. i'm going to visit pyongyang if the schedules or work. we will continue to solve this vexing problem and then the two leaders will continue to build

upon the negotiations that i had at other levels. so it's in the works? it's in the works. we are hoping everything falls together. it makes good sense here. before too terribly long. given the way that things are moving, do you think you can say there is no longer a nuclear threat from north korea? no, there is still a threat. we still have work to do. but the good news is the threat is reduced from where it was. no tests and no missile launches. to complete a nuclear missile programme, any good engineer will tell you you have to conduct tests. there is work to do. when we took office, the world was closer to war with north korea than it is today. that's a big step forward. but we are going to keep the economic sanctions in place until such time as north korea is fully and verifiably denuclearised. that's the agenda that president trump has set out. that is what he agreed to with chairman kim. he has set the agenda,

but it was he that tweeted that there was no longer a threat from north korea. i know the tweet well. the president was saying that the risk is reduced. that the effort that north korea had engaged in to rapidly seek to perfect their missile system and their weapons system, nuclear weapons system, that risk had been greatly reduced as a result of the efforts that this president undertook. but by expressing his views in real time publicly, everyone can see them, is there a danger that he gives away the game? kim jong—un seems to have picked on that, he gets ahead of the policymaker. that is the view of the allies. that is not what the allies tell me. let's step backjust one moment. whatever means, whatever modalities this administration issues to achieve denuclearisation of north korea, it has proven more effective than at any time in america's history, so one could critique my style,

the president's style, our different modes of operating — but this much you can say, for the first time, yesterday a north korean party paper talked about denulearisation and a peaceful, denuclearised korean peninsular. that is just one example. iam i am proud of what we have done and the means in which we have done it. donald trump is putting us in a position to get to the end that the world so richly deserves. you mention your position as cia director. in order to do a deal you will need to know when kimjong—un is lying. how will you know that? i'm not going to talk about what we know or don't know. the best way to know if we are at the end is what we have talked about, verification. this is the sine qua non of the discussion. when we can fully verify the north korean country has made

the strategic decision to end the nuclear weapons programme and stand it down, and at that time sanctions will be relieved. the us secretary of state speaking to barbara plett usher. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as a deal to avert a battle in idlib is agreed, we talk exclusively to a group of british extremists who have lived and fought there for years 30 hours after the earthquake that devastated mexico city, rescue teams still have no idea just how many people have died. well, there is people alive and there is people not alive. we just can help and give them whatever we've got. it looked as though they had come to fight a war, but their mission is to bring peace to east timor, and nowhere on earth needs it more badly. the government's case is being forcefully presented

by monsieur badinter, the justice minister. he's campaigned vigorously for abolition, having once witnessed one of his clients being executed. elizabeth seton spent much of her time at this grotto, and every year, hundreds of pilgrimages are made here. now that she's become a saint, it's expected that this area will be inundated with tourists. the mayor and local businessmen regard the anticipated boom as yet another blessing of st elizabeth. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump attacks the credibility of the woman accusing his supreme court nominee of sexual assault, as negotiations continue over whether christine blasey ford will testify to congress. and britain's prime minister warns that talks with the eu are at an ‘impasse' — accusing leaders in brussels of being dismissive of the uk.

tanzania's president has ordered the arrest of those responsible for ferry sinking on lake victoria that's killed at least 136 people with scores of people still missing. john magufuli said the vessel appeared to have been overloaded — and negligence was to blame. the bbc‘s senior africa correspondent anne soy has more. they stand and watch, helpless. just a few hundred meters away, the upturned hull of the mv nyerere. rescuers who arrived by boat recovered bodies from around the capsized vessel. back on shore, relatives waited anxiously for news. translation: i was told that i lost my aunt, my father and my younger sibling.

—— we can't reach my brother. yesterday morning he spoke to my mum. we haven't been able to reach him since. translation: my nephew is on the island. he told me the news that his father, my brother, was on the ferry. the ferry was on its usual route. it is unclear how many people were on board. witnesses say it could have been as many as 400, four times its official capacity. translation: when the captain was trying to slow down and about to dock, the passengers were already running to the other side, ready to get off. so, now, the weight was too much on one side of the ferry. so, it capsized and sank. although accidents aren't uncommon on africa's biggest lake, this latest sinking was particularly deadly. but ferries are central to the lives

of people here. many were back on the water even as rescue teams continued their search. anne soy, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the vatican has confirmed that pope francis has accepted the resignation of two more chilean bishops, in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal. the pontiff attended an emergency meeting in chile in may, after vatican investigators alleged senior church officials in chile had failed to act on abuse claims and had hidden some of them. police in the south indian state of kerala have arrested a roman catholic bishop, who has been accused of rape. bishop franco mulakkal denies repeatedly raping a nun over a two year period. severe storms have caused widespread flooding in mexico's sinaloa state. videos posted on social media show homes and businesses submerged, and cars floating through streets in culiacan city. according to local media, the state's governor has asked for a state of emergency to be declared. a bbc news investigation

here in the uk has found that police are struggling to combat child grooming taking place on a smartphone messaging app called kik which is popular with teenagers. kik has played a part in over 1,100 police investigations into child sex offences over the past five years. but officers say the company won't help identify predators unless they overcome major bureaucratic hurdles. angus crawford reports. mark, you're wanted. not the wake—up call he was expecting. hello, are you all right? mark kirby is about to be arrested. under his duvet, two phones — from his bed, he's been sexually grooming children using kik, a messaging app — free to download and popular with teenagers. you're under arrest... he was sent to prison for more than three years, but kik‘s users are often anonymous,

so police can't trace and help his victims without help from the company. there's a child that is probably going to be abused for another 12 months before we know who that is. and kirby's case is not the only one. look — these diagrams show other offenders northampton police need to track down. so each one of these could be a predator? yes. abusing children? yes. but kik won't help unless officers start a formal international legal process, taking months and costing money the force doesn't have. it's a bureaucratic nightmare. it was abuse, yeah, sexual abuse — the worst form of hurting a person, really, is hurting a child. vulnerable and lonely, taylor was first groomed on kik at the age of 13. it started with a lot of selfies, but then, yeah, it would escalate to underwear photos, like naked photos, and videos, yeah, bad — they ask you to perform sexual acts, film them and send that.

how many men do you think may have tried to groom you? over 100, possibly up to 200, yeah. that's shocking. yeah. and it's still rife. posing as a child, within seconds we get this message from a 42—year—old man. then this. and there's more. we also find sexualised images of children, and users offering to share them. kik refused our request for an interview, but in a statement said, "we take online safety very seriously, and we're constantly assessing and improving our trust and safety measures. " it says it will continue to, "provide resources to parents and strengthen relationships with law enforcement and safety focused organisations." safety focused organisations — what do you think of that?

i think if that was the case, i probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you now, because there's clearly a problem. leaving offenders at large and victims unprotected. it's all going on behind closed doors, but there you can see it, that they're not doing anything about it, because at the end of the day it makes them money. angus crawford, bbc news. the deal to avert an all out battle in idlib in syria hangs now on the reaction of the 10,000 or so extremists, including foreign fighters, who are still backing the assad regime. on monday, turkey and russia agreed to set up a demilitarised zone in the region, to try to avoid further bloodshed. a deadline has been set, for what russia insists are terrorists to leave idlib by mid—october. but will they? the bbc‘s quentin sommerville has spoken exclusively with a group of british extremists who've lived and fought in syria for years. these are two of the last british

armed jihadists still fighting in syria. they have aligned themselves with some of the most notorious extremist groups. this is idlib. amar is from brighton. he turned his back on britain five years ago. there is a belief in idlib that an onslaught has been averted. he is taking a break to go shopping. in britain, he is a wanted man. in syria he is free. he came into wage holy war. in the meantime, got married and have a do it at —— daughter. i have been speaking to them, via skype, four months. no longer wanted at home in britain, they are increasingly unwelcome in syria, too. you and yourforeign

islamist friends say you went to syria to help. a loss of syrians would say you made things worse and it is time for you to go. no one has told me to leave a set i have made it worse. it sounds like the only options left for you and other foreign fighters our death or ca ptu re. foreign fighters our death or capture. is there a third option?m i believed what you said i would have been gone a long time ago. for me, syria, there are always changes, a lwa ys me, syria, there are always changes, always obstacles, there is always difficulty. but the difference between me and you is i have belief. a fundamentalist belief is what still powers these men, even as they are losing the war. these men won't give up support for the al-qaeda—linked group. he says he will never leave syria, but he still wa nted will never leave syria, but he still

wanted identity disguise. isn't it the case that you and other foreign fighters to just reconcile with the rating, began your weapons, and leave. so if i'd lay down my weapons now, what kind of insurance too i have that the regime doesn't continue raping and killing? of course there is no assurance. no superpower is going to come in. you say even if we die here we are happy. that is fine for you. that is your choice to make that sacrifice. what about the civilians, what if you are sacrificing them, that is not their choice. here they balance family life with armsjihad. they here they balance family life with arms jihad. they have here they balance family life with armsjihad. they have married syrian women. but still they don't truly belong. on the hills outside idlib, yet another british fighter is on

patrol. some foreign fighters have cut their ties over the past few weeks. others are secretly making preparations for their families. he says he is staying. these may be the last moments of what counts for ordinary life for british armed jihadists. they had never been more isolated. their next move and that of their extremist allies has never been more important. the fate of 3 million people trapped in idlib may depend on it. quentin sommerville, bbc news. time to remind you of our top story that president trump attack the credibility of the woman accusing his supreme court nominee of sexual assault, as negotiations continue as to whether christine blasey ford is will testify to congress. lots more on our website. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @bbckasiamadera. hello.

very mixed weather for this weekend, some improvements on the way to next week. for all of us, it will be quite a chilly weekend on the way. storm bronagh has been battling scandinavia recently, and the cooler, showery air stream has been replaced by all this cloud that is coming in from the atlantic. we have seen bronagh heading up towards scandinavia, battering here with gales and severe gales, the cool showery airflow being replaced by this cloud coming in from the atlantic. quickly that cloud is coming into england and wales and northern ireland. biggest cloud in the south—west. —— thickest. outbreaks of rain in the south—west into wales, perhaps into the south midlands and later into the south—east of england as well. sunny spells and a few showers to scotland, but not very warm anywhere really. 13— 14 degrees at best. under that rain in the south—west it will be a miserable day, could get more rain through the midlands,

east anglia during the evening before it fades away and then more rain returns from the atlantic and this time it moves further north. still cold air to scotland and northern ireland, temperatures in scotland down to 2— three degrees. into sunday sunshine and showers to scotland, improving in northern ireland but rain for england and wales, miserable day, as it clears away we get the sunshine, watch out for the strengthening wins on the back edge of that rain, it could be gale force, and it will be a cold day. 11—12 degrees in some places. that area of low pressure deepens as it leaves our shores, takes the wind and rain with it, and allows high pressure to build in from the atlantic. that means the weather is going to settle down. there will be showers across northern scotland where it will be quite windy still on monday, then some showers. away from here, light winds, a fair bit of sunshine around. pleasant enough on monday

but still not that warm, 16 degrees at very best. we are getting high pressure building on across the uk because the jet stream is moving north. as we saw over the past weekjet streams pickup areas and these areas of low pressure will be steered to the north—west of the uk. that is where the wind and rain is. on tuesday the wins will be lighter everywhere but after a chilly start, some sunshine, temperatures rising in the south, we may see some rains arriving in the north—west. later on tuesday and beyond tuesday as well. the centre of the high—pressure drifts further south allowing that bridges to rise in the southern parts of the uk, but towards north and northern scotland in particular we could get some wind and rain. this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has sought to discredit the woman who accused his us supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of sexual assault. christine blasey ford said judge kavanaugh tried to rape her when they were both teenagers. british prime minister theresa may has delivered a defiant statement about her plans for brexit. she has called on the eu to show britain more respect. european council president donald

tusk said he remains convinced they can still find a compromise. a bbc news investigation has found that police are struggling to combat child grooming taking place on a smartphone messaging app called kik which is popular with teenagers. kik has played a part in over 11—hundred police investigations into child sex offences over the past five years. but officers say the company won't help identify predators unless they overcome major bureaucratic hurdles. we will have more news at