welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. our top stories: senators‘ ultimatum to the accuser of supreme court nominee — reach a deal to appear, or we vote without you. after the british prime minister's defiant speech on brexit, the european council chief says we can still find a compromise. 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. and new research suggests one in 20 deaths globally are caused by drinking alcohol. the woman who has accused us supreme court nominee,

brett kavanaugh, of sexual assault has been given an hour 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 kavanagh without her. it's the latest twist in a controversy that on friday saw president trump seek to discredit ms blasey ford on twitter. a short time ago, at a rally in missouri, mr trump said he was sure brett kavanaugh would eventually be confirmed. he was born, you talk about central casting, they were saying it ten yea rs casting, they were saying it ten years ago about him. he was born to the us supreme court. he was born for it. our washington correspondent, chris bucklerjoins us.

there is less than one hour to go for a response, so there is less than one hour to go for a response, so not much time at all. what are we actually waiting on, what hurdles need to bejumped through? we have had one deadline that has been passed within the last few hours, that was the original deadline for christine blasey ford's lawyer to come back and say that she was prepared to come back at some stage next week. the committee was suggesting wednesday, she was suggesting wednesday, she was suggesting thursday. the problem here is that they seem to disagree on the terms of what this proceeding will take. eventually she wants to be able to say that she will go after brett kava naugh, be able to say that she will go after brett kavanaugh, he will give testimony first, she does not want brett kava naugh testimony first, she does not want brett kavanaugh in the room, she feels strongly that she should have no time limit set on her opening statement and that there are a number of other conditions that she is demanding. we are getting the impression already from the committee, particular either republican senators on the committee that they are not prepared to accept

all the terms that she is asking for. they are now saying that if the lawyer representing doctor blasey ford does not come back within the next hour, as far as they are concerned, they will press ahead and have a vote on brett kavanaugh's confirmation as supreme courtjudge on monday. that is the first step in the process of getting him into america's highest court. this is a complicated one for those republican senators, because they have to be seen to handle this carefully. one of the big sticking point seems to be that they would quite like other people to interview christine blasey ford whenever she appears before the committee. that is partly because all of the republican senators who sit on thejudiciary committee are male. as a result they have been looking at the idea of having female lawyers, female council come in and do that to them, that is partly because of controversy around the way a female witness was handled in

the last 25 years or so. at this stage there is a danger that this deadline passes and we are looking at trying to work out exactly what happens next. thank you for that. in a separate development the us deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, has described a report as inaccurate that he discussed invoking a constitutional clause to remove president trump from office. the new york times, citing anonymous sources, also said that mr rosenstein had suggested secretly recording the president to expose chaos in the white house. lets go back to chris buckler. i should emphasise that these are reports in the new york times from anonymous sources that have been denied, but if they are true, more damage to the white house. the big issue here is causing a bigger divide. between the department of justice and president trump,

particular as this investigation and allegations of russian interference in the 2016 election continues. that is being run by robert mueller, but being overseen by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. the new york times believe this conversation happened shortly after james times believe this conversation happened shortly afterjames tony was fired by president trump as fbi director, and they said during this conversation rod rosenstein said he thought it would be a good idea to secretly record conversations with president trump to show that he was not fit to hold office, perhaps even to invoke the 25th amendment of the us competition —— constitution which isa us competition —— constitution which is a mechanism for getting rid of the president. we had a full statement from rod rosenstein. he says he never advocated for the removal of the president. we have been speaking to our own sources,

and someone within the department of justice who apparently was in the room when this alleged conversation took place said to us that it had been said, but in a sarcastic and joking way. rod rosenstein may have set about taking the president —— taping the president, but it was only intended as a joke and intention was that it was never happen, there was no suggestion that it could be taken seriously. president trump has been speaking about as that rally that you referenced, that he has been taking pa rt referenced, that he has been taking part in image it —— misery, he did not mention rosenstein specifically but he did talk about the fbi and department ofjustice. he said there we re department ofjustice. he said there were many good people there, but there is a lingering stench, and we are going to get rid of it too." as i say he did not mention rosenstein but he did mention the department of justice and it gives you a sense there could be further developments in what has been left by the new york times. thank you for keeping us up york times. thank you for keeping us up to date with those two

developments on two separate stories. returning to britain, 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. let's get some of the day's other news.

the united nations aid chief has warned that more than a third of yemen's population now face starvation. mark lowcock told the un security council there were already pockets of famine—like conditions in yemen, where a saudi—led coalition is fighting the houthi rebels backed by iran. police in brazil have arrested a man accused by the us of being one of the main financiers of the lebanese militant group, hezbollah. paraguay had issued an international arrest warrant for assad ahmad barakat for identity theft. he was detained near the border with paraguay and argentina. 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. 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 all work. we will continue to solve this vexing problem and then the two leaders will continue to build upon the negotiations that are 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. we are on our way to achieving that. 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 very 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, their 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 policymaking. 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 denuclearisation and a peaceful, denuclearised korean peninsular.

that is just one example. i am proud of what we have done and the means in which we have done it. president 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: the messaging app used for grooming children

which the police are struggling to stop. 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. more than 130 people have drowned after a ferry capsized in lake victoria close to the tanzanian shore. it's thought around 400 people were on the vessel, meaning it was heavily overcrowded, so there are fears the death toll will rise. 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: we can't reach my brother. yesterday morning, he spoke to our mum. we've not heard from him, since. translation: my nephew's on the island. he told me the news that his father, my brother, was on the ferry. translation: i was told that i lost my aunt, my father and my younger sibling. it's a huge cost to us. the ferry was on its usual route, taking people and goods from two of lake victoria's islands, ukora and bugolora.

it's unclear how many people were on board the mv nyerere. witnesses say it could be 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. 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 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. so when you ask kik, you get an automated response? yes. so you, the police, get an automated response, saying we can't provide that information? yes. 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 in moments, but lasted years. 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. our research found kik featured in more than 1100 police investigations into child sex offences across the uk in the last five years. 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. i've clearly got cases, as any other police officer, that we're banging our heads against a brick wall. 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. alcohol kills three million people worldwide each year, more than aids, violence, and road accidents combined. that's

according to a new report from the world health organisation which says men are particularly at risk. katie silver has the details. in much of the world, as we enter the weekend, many people's attention turns towards getting a drink. but the world health organization says this is a problem, with alcohol responsible for one in every 20 debts. —— deaths. there is no percentage of safe alcohol consumption, any consumption is associated with some risks. these risks are increasing substantially when a person is even in a state of mild intoxication. their 500 page report details a huge number of ways that alcohol is killing us. from drink—driving to alcohol induced violence to 200 different health conditions including liver cirrhosis, cancer, and stroke. drinking also makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hiv and pneumonia. the world health organization says for governments, the benefits of alcohol don't measure up. these figures show that the cost of alcohol consumption to societies

are much bigger than the revenues that the governments and societies received from alcohol taxes. this is not a problem across the globe. as more than half the population over 15 does not drink at all and there has been some good news. heavy episodic drinking and alcohol related deaths have both dropped since 2010. europe, which drinks the most, has dropped 10% in these eight years. but in all other regions, alcohol consumption is on the rise, especially in asia, with china and india seeing significant hikes. and the problems are much worse than men, who account for more than three quarters of alcohol—related deaths. experts are calling on governments to do more, to come up with creative solutions to save lives. you are watching bbc news.

hello. very mixed weather for this weekend, some improvements on the way for next week. storm bronagh swept away and following that we had a cold blustery wind on friday with some showers and plenty of rainbows. this weekend it is going to be wettest across southern parts of the uk at cool for all of us. 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. thickest cloud in the south—west. 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 two or 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 of low pressure 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 winds 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 temperatures 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. alcohol kills three million people worldwide each year, more than aids, violence and road accidents combined, that's according to a new report from the world health organization, which says men are particularly at risk. the report also stresses that harm from drinking is greater among poorer consumers than wealthier ones. it was the programme that some parents didn't want their their children to watch because of its real to life gritty storylines.