welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. 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. hello. the woman who has accused us supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of sexual assault has yet to agree a deal to give evidence to a committee of senators. two separate deadlines for christine blasey ford to confirm whether she would testify on capitol hill have now passed. the head of the senatejudicial committee says the panel will vote

monday on whether to back mr kavanagh. speaking at a rally in missouri, president trump said he was sure brett kava naugh would eventually be confirmed. and he was born... you talk about central casting, he was born... they we re central casting, he was born... they were saying it ten years ago about him, he was born for the us supreme court. he was born for it. applause and it's going to happen. in a seperate 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. washington correspondent chris buckler has more. it seems from what the new york times is reporting that they believe

that this conversation happened shortly afterjames comey was fired as fbi director by president trump, and they say during this concentrate, conversation, rod rosenstein said he thought it might bea rosenstein said he thought it might be a good idea potentially to secretly record the conversations with president trump to try to show he was not fit to hold office, perhaps even invoke as what is known as the 25th amendment of the us constitution. that's effectively a mechanism of getting rid of a president. now, we've had a fuller statement from rod rosenstein. he has said, i never pursued authorised recording the president and any suggestion i have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false. chris buckler keeping across developments across in washington for us. to the uk now... 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.

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. at this late stage in the negotiations, it is not a cce pta ble stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side's proposals without a detailed explanation and counterproposals. so we now need to hear from the counterproposals. so we now need to hearfrom the eu counterproposals. so we now need to hear from the eu what the real issues are, and what their alternative is, so that we can discuss them. until we do, we cannot make progress. donald tusk is far from the only eu leader to be really taken aback at how the salzburg summit was interpreted in the uk. they say they absolutely did not go out to ambush the prime minister or to humiliate her. but donald tusk was the only eu leader to be name checked

by theresa may in her brexit statement this afternoon, as the president of the european council, the representative of all eu countries who publicly dismissed key part of the chequers brexit proposal as unworkable. now, he said in his statement he was simply matching strident tone for strident tone. he described theresa may as "surprisingly tough and uncompromising" at the salzburg summit. it is clear now that both of them misjudged the mood and the political sensitivities of the other. there haven't been any other official reaction from eu leaders to theresa may's statement this afternoon. they basically see it as directed more at a domestic audience, and trying to bolster the position at home. but eu leaders want a deal. and donald tusk said in his statement that he still thinks a compromise deal, good for both sides, is possible. and he signed off as a close friend of the uk and a true admirer of theresa may.

that was katya adler. and you can keep up to date with all the latest twists and turns in the brexit negotiations on our website. there's an entire section on this subject which you can easily access by following the link — bbc.com/brexit. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: a sobering thought. new research suggests one in twenty deaths globally are caused by drinking alcohol. -- 20. 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 1,100 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: it says it will continue to: 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. let's get some of the day's other news. a male model has beenjailed for at least 2a years for murdering a rival model in a row about a girlfriend. george koh stabbed harry uzoka outside his house in shepherds bush in west london injanuary. a third man, who was convicted of manslaughter, will serve 1a years in prison. the coroner overseeing the inquests into the grenfell disaster has said people exposed to smoke and dust should be seen by nhs specialists. dr fiona wilcox warned that those

who survived the fire, including residents and emergency responders, may have inhaled asbestos, which causes cancer. nhs england says it will respond in the next couple of months. a woman dubbed the snapchat queen has been jailed for 1h years for manslaughter after posting a video of her boyfriend dying in a pool of blood on the social media platform. the old bailey heard fatima khan had grown tired of her boyfriend khalid safi, an afghan asylum seeker. she plotted with another man, raza khan, who carried out the knife attack in december, 2016. he is still on the run. 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. lebo diseko has this report. it is the worst kind of weight.

hundreds of families desperate for news of their loved ones who'd been on board the boat. with no transport to get to the island closest to the scene of the disaster, they're stuck. as much as they hope for the best, some are already preparing for the worst. grieving and burying their relatives. 0n the shore nearest to the disaster, the trauma is just as nearest to the disaster, the trauma isjust as plain nearest to the disaster, the trauma is just as plain to see. the community watches as the rescue effort continues but hope is fading fast. translation: we can't reach my brother. yesterday morning, he spoke to our mum. we've not heard from him since. i was told that i lost my aunt, my father and my younger sibling. it's a huge loss to us. this is what is left of the mv

nyerere, it's overturned hull floating on the water. like victoria is africa's largest and the ferry was travelling between these islands, ca psizing around was travelling between these islands, capsizing around 15 metres from the shore. it operated a busy schedule, taking people to and from the market. it's thought it was particularly full because it was market day. and while it's not clear exactly how many were on board, witnesses say said it could have been up to 400, that's four times its capacity. it's thought many of the passengers couldn't swim. when the passengers couldn't swim. when the captain was trying to slow down, and about to dock, the passengers we re and about to dock, the passengers were already running to the other side ready to get off, so now the wait was too much on one side of the ferry, so it capsized and sank. this is not the first disaster on like victoria but the death toll has shocked the country. the president has declared four days of national mourning and a number of arrests

have been made, including the captain, who apparently wasn't on board at the time. the president also says the government will cover funeral expenses for all of the victims, a small comfort in such a huge tragedy. lebo diseko, bbc news. german chancellor angela merkel has agreed to reconsider the promotion given to the former head of the domestic intelligence agency, hans—georg maassen. he was removed for casting doubt on reports of far—right demonstrators chasing immigrants in the city of chemnitz. andy beatt reports. it's a row which catapulted germany's spymaster from the shadows into the spotlight, and persian angela merkel‘s fragile coalition into crisis —— pushed. hans—georg maassen was told to quit thisjob as chief hans—georg maassen was told to quit this job as chief of domestic intelligence after he challenged reports of far right arm rest in the eastern city of chemnitz. —— quit

thisjob. the biggest and most violent protests in decades erupted last month after a german man was fatally stabbed in a fight with migrants. along with the protests, xenophobic assaults described as anti— migrant hunts. footage emerged of demonstrators apparently chasing down foreigners to attack them. maassen, though, questioned the video's authenticity, claiming he had no reliable information about such hunts taking place. as critics accused him of failing to stand up to the far right, and even harbouring extreme views himself, angela merkel oversaw this removal and subsequent appointment to a senior post at the interior ministry. now that move, seen by many as a promotion, and criticised by some of mrs merkel‘s coalition allies, is in question. translation:

we've agreed to reassess the situation. i think that's right and necessary because people in our country have a right to have their concerns and problems resolved. we want to find a common, sustainable solution through the course of the weekend. talks are now under way at the top tier of german politics to try to decide what to do with macro, mr maassen and diffuse a row that is exposed painful fault lines maassen and diffuse a row that is exposed painfulfault lines in german politics and society —— to do with mr maassen. andy beatt, bbc news. it is just it isjust gone it is just gone 3:15am, thank you very much for your company. 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. staying with that story, with six months to go

until britain's meant to leave the eu, many are uncertain about the future. the bbc‘s deputy political editor john pienaar has taken to the rails to find out what might be next. how will trade work after brexit? will we be rich or poor? how long have we left? where is the brexit journey leading? the leavers slope was about taking back control, so the promise is a return trip to the way things used to be, a more british way. but from here britain's post—brexit journey could take british way. but from here britain's post—brexitjourney could take a number of directions. there is the unique bespoke trade deal that theresa may wants, or a free—trade agreement, maybe like the deal the eu has with canada, or talks could end with no deal at all. and the

truth is the prime minister can't know where we will end up. her plan for a common rulebook for trade in goods and a free market in services goes against the eu system of a single market and brussels is saying no. it is too close to the eu for tory brexiteers like borisjohnson who quit the cabinet right after david davis and others could go too. forformer tory david davis and others could go too. for former tory remainers they would like a closer relationship with the eu. the fact is that there is no majority in parliament for any outcome. just now and no one is sure country will be all where we will be heading when the uk enter the eu journey that started when britain joined in 1975. it is maybe likely the pm's own future depends on reaching some destination on the country stepping off the eu train on schedule as she pledged on march 29 next year. could britain somehow walk away from the eu and put off the really big decisions about the

future until after brexit des? came down the road again, something that is possible. and britain's long brexitjourney faces another big obstacle. thank you. thank you very much. on the island of ireland, all sides are committed to avoiding a hard irish border when the uk leaves. there is no agreement on how to do that. and there's no clear way to fudge that question just to keep brexit moving. in the end, there will be more big decisions to take at westminster by our politicians. the pm needs to win a vote here on any deal, if there is one in october, or likely later. lose it and anything could happen. mrs may might have to go, so an immediate tory battle for number ten. supporters of an eu referendum are hoping deadlock could lead to what they're calling people's vote and mrs may and brexiteers say would be a betrayal of democracy. the labour leader is not convinced it could ignite fury among brexit supporters and as for reversing brexit, the cries of betrayal would be deafening.

but some mps on both sides are hoping for even that. this row has the capacity to split the tory party and labour too. and who knows, deadlock and crisis could conceivably lead to an early general election. brexit is the biggest question facing britain since world war two. if no clear way through is found, you might just end where it started — with the people. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster. 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 kim jong—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're the decision—makers in each of the two countries. i'm going to travel to pyongyang if the schedules all work. we will continue to work to solve this vexing problem and then the two leaders will continue to build upon the negotiations that are had at other levels and through other channels. 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 out 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're 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 end state. 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. the previous administration left the world in a dangerous place and our allies knew that and they are thankfulfor allies knew that and they are thankful for the new approach that

president trump has brought to american foreign policy. 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're at the end is what we have talked about, verification. this is the sine qua non of the end of the discussion. when we can fully verify that the north korean country has made the strategic decision to take their nuclear weapons programme and stand it down, and at that time sanctions will be relieved. and as president trump has said, there will be true, bright future for the north korean people. 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. —— with alcohol responsible for one in every 20 deaths. there is no such 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 world's 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 for 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. first, the weather with darren bett.

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 here 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 for scotland, but not very warm anywhere, really. 13—14 degrees at best. under that rain in the south—west, is going to 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 easily down to two or three degrees. into sunday sunshine and showers to scotland, improving in northern ireland but we've got this rain for england and wales, quite heavy rain, a miserable sort of day, as it clears away we get the sunshine, watch out for the strengthening winds on the back edge of that rain, it could well be gale force, and of course it is going to be a cold day. maybe only 11—12 degrees in some places. now, that area of low pressure deepens as it leaves our shores, takes the wind and rain away with it, and it allows high pressure to buildin quickly from the atlantic. and that means the weather is going to be settling down. there will be a few showers across northern scotland, where it will be quite windy still on monday, and some stronger winds down these north sea coasts. away from here, we'll have 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 further north. as we saw over the past week, jetstreams pickup areas of low pressure and these areas of low pressure are going to be steered to the north—west of the uk. so that's where the wind and rain is. on tuesday, the winds will be lighter everywhere, plenty of sunshine. after a chilly start, temperatures rising in the south, we may see some rain 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. coming up in around 10 minutes' time, newswatch. but first on bbc news, click.