this is bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: christine blasey ford, the woman who's accused us supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault, has agreed to testify against him next week. the end of a dramatic battle for control. america's biggest cable network, comcast, submits a $40 billion winning bid for british broadcaster sky — ending a dramatic two—year battle with 21st century fox. as iran's president promises a ‘crushing response‘ after 29 people are killed at a military parade, tehran accuses britain, the netherlands, and denmark of harbouring opposition groups. and britain's anthonyjoshua knocks out russia's alexander povetkin in the seventh round — to retain his world heavyweight titles. hello and welcome to bbc news. it's a case that has gripped

the united states this week, but now lawyers for the woman who has accused us supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault say she will testify against him, at a confirmation hearing next week. details of the allegations emerged when christine blasey ford told her story to us media last week of an incident which she says happened at a party in 1982 when they were teenagers. mr kavanaugh has denied the allegations. our washington correspondent chris buckler has more. the senate judiciary the senatejudiciary committee has set a series of deadlines to try to get a firm deadline from christine blasey ford as to whether or not she was owing to give evidence. we have had a letter from was owing to give evidence. we have had a letterfrom her lawyer to was owing to give evidence. we have had a letter from her lawyer to the committee and image is specifically she is prepared to provide what she describes as first—hand knowledge of

brett kava naugh‘s sexual describes as first—hand knowledge of brett kavanaugh‘s sexual misconduct. thejudge denies brett kavanaugh‘s sexual misconduct. the judge denies any suggestion that he was involved in section assaulting her some 36 years ago at assaulting her some 36 years ago at a party. but she continued to make these claims and she will now do so, it seems, at this hearing —— continues to. that has provided a number of terms and conditions are met. it is understood she is concerned that brett kavanaugh gives evidence before she does. she does not wantjudge kavanaugh in the room whenever she speaks. there is also this question about who will question her. we have had suggestions from republicans that they might bring in female lawyers to do that. that is because of a sensitivity that there are only male republican senators on this committee. they are concerned that they may not be seen to treated sensitively. however, from her point of view she wants to be treated only by senators. there are still some negotiation to do here. it does seem that she is prepared to go to the committee to speak. nonetheless, when you listen to the white house

there is some prostate and they are. certainly they believe that this could potentially be seen as another delaying tactic. and they want to push ahead with brett kavanaugh‘s confirmation as a supreme court justice as quickly as they possibly can. they have also been critical of democrats who they claim a play politics with all of this. but certainly there is a political element to all of this. brett kavanaugh element to all of this. brett kava naugh could potentially element to all of this. brett kavanaugh could potentially push the supreme court further to the right and that is something democrats are concerned about. but away from all the politics, this is a deeply personal issue. and all are aware it needs to be handled very sensitively and very carefully, particularly after criticism of a tweet by donald trump in which he questioned why christine blasey ford or her parents had not gone forward and is made a complaint to the authorities of some 36 years ago. republicans are that people will be watching carefully if and when this hearing finally takes place. mike pence says he is confident the

bret capper can be confirmed by congress. the president and i are confident at and republicans managers properly, with the utmost respect for all concerned. and i believe thatjudge brett kavanaugh will soon be just as believe thatjudge brett kavanaugh will soon bejust as brett believe thatjudge brett kavanaugh will soon be just as brett kavanaugh and take his seat on the supreme court of the united states of america —— justice. court of the united states of america -- justice. mike pence there. there is a lot of background on our website on judge there. there is a lot of background on our website onjudge kavanaugh‘s confirmation and all of the questioning that has been going on. it's a win that the us cable giant comcast hopes will help it compete against the new kids on the block — netflix and amazon. after a long—running battle, comcast has won control of the european television company sky by beating out rupert murdoch's 21st century fox at a high stakes auction. the us cable company's bid valued sky at $40 billion, as our business editor simonjack reports. it has been an epic battle between

two heavyweights of the media world. in the final rounds comcast delivered a knockout blow, offering £30 billion, 10% more than the disney backed 21st century fox was prepared to pay. sky's 23 million customers across europe, 10 million in the uk. the bid has come in at £17.28, a 17% increase on the previous offer for sky. for comcast, sky is a very strategic asset, it will help them diversify outside of the us where they are seeing the pressure of cord cutting, consumers are pressure of cord cutting, consumers a re less pressure of cord cutting, consumers are less and less painful big expensive cable passenger —— packages because they prefer things like netflix. comcast is suffering dwindling cable customers in its us domestic market. disney wanted sky

asa domestic market. disney wanted sky as a platform to distribute its own films like star wars, the avengers, as well as the x—men and the sentence it acquired when it bought debbie klus you. so why are all these megadeals happening our? —— 110w. these megadeals happening our? —— now. both are winning new subscribers around the world, both are putting billions into making their own original content. in the short—term, sky customers will little difference. both bids had agreed to fund lossmaking sky news for the next ten years. putting up prices will be hard given me read what condition for eyeballs. comcast may have won, but they had to pay 30 million —— £30 billion. the real winners are the sky shareholders, including the family of one of rupert murdoch. he may not have succeeded in buying all of sky, as he once wanted, but he will not be going home and he handed. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei has blamed middle—eastern allies of the united states for a deadly attack on a military parade which killed 29 people. the incident took place

in the south—west of the country, in the city of ahvaz, near the iraqi border, when gunmen opened fire near a stage set up for the parade. alanjohnston has the story. a warning, though, you might find some of the pictures in his report distressing. fear and chaos amid the gunfire. moments ago, these soldiers would have been in the parade, marching proudly. now, suddenly, they are under attack. they are desperate for cover, scrambling to survive. bullets whistle overhead, and there are dead and injured all around. then, in the thick of the danger, terrified civilians run for their lives. the gunmen had attacked as officials would have been watching the parade. anyone in this place filled with troops and spectators was at risk. inevitably, there were women and children among the dead and wounded.

but the security forces fought back, and four militants were killed. local ethnic arab separatists say they carried out the attack but the islamic state group has also claimed responsibility. 0n the streets, there was anger. translation: in the middle of the parade, we realised there was a group wearing fake military clothing. they attacked our children from behind us and then fired on women and children. they fired completely blindly, meaning they weren't taking targets, just firing. meanwhile, iran's foreign minister said the gunmen had been armed by a foreign regime and its us backers, an apparent reference to either israel or saudi arabia, but he produced no evidence of this. another parade, in the capital

tehran, passed off peacefully, watched by president hassan rouhani. he has promised what he called a "crushing response" to the attack in ahvaz. let's get some of the day's other news. the chinese communist party and the vatican have signed a landmark deal to co—operate over who has the right to appoint the country's bishops. in future, china will propose candidates and the pope will approve them. the accord could work to unify china's 12 million catholics who are currently split between state—supervised churches and underground congregations loyal to rome. meanwhile, pope francis has started a baltic tour in lithuania. he honoured victims of the region's nazi and soviet occupations. the pontiff will travel to latvia on monday and estonia on tuesday as all three baltic states mark 100 years of independence this year. more than a quarter of a million

people will vote on sunday for the next leader of the indian ocean nation of the maldives in an election criticized internationally for a lack of transparency and suppression of government critics. president abdulla yameen is seeking a second term and is being challenged by the opposition candidate ibrahim mohamed solih. an engineer on the ferry that capsized on lake victoria in tanzania has been rescued, two days after the tragedy. divers looking for survivors heard a knocking sound and discovered the man, who had shut himself in a small cabin. so far, rescue teams have pulled more than 200 bodies from the waters. aboubakar famau has this report. an anxious wait from the shore. relatives unable to hold back their tears. (sobbing) the ferry capsized two days ago.

officials say it was filled four times its maximum capacity, and it tipped to when passengers moved from one side to the other. divers resumed their search for survivors today after hearing knocking from inside the vessel, rescuing an engineer. he's said to have survived in an air pocket inside the mv nyerere ferry and is in a serious condition. while some families wait for the news, others have started a difficult process of collecting their relatives and preparing them for burial. angelina mtesigwa's daughter emilliana died on board the boat. translation: she was waiting for employment. i educated her with difficulty. i was relying on her to come and help me financially in my old age, but these are god's plans. the government is already making plans for the bodies that have not been claimed or identified, digging graves just metres from the site of the accident ahead of a burial tomorrow. an official investigation into what happened will take place

once the rescue effort to find any survivors has ended. abubakar famau, bbc news, ukerewe island in tanzania. the british foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has urged eu leaders to "step back from the abyss" of a no—deal brexit and engage with theresa may's plan. he was speaking a day after she said the talks were at a standstill. the president of the european council, donald tusk, has defended the eu's approach, saying she knew well in advance about european objections. 0ur political correspondent matt cole reports. international law, international commerce and the media — what have we got to fear? at a rally today, the former brexit secretary david davis telling theresa may she's got it wrong and should seek a new way of leaving the eu. the european union has not accepted chequers. that the next option is to find a new strategy.

the new strategy ought to be a free trade plus strategy complete with our own irish strategy, northern irish strategy, and that's the way she should go and that's way she will carry the tory party with her, and a goodly part of the labour party, too. so if leaders in europe have rejected her plans and she's being buffeted by backbenchers, who can theresa may rely on for support? step forward the foreign secretary, insisting she's right to demand concessions from brussels. if the eu's view is thatjust by saying no to every proposal made by the united kingdom, we will eventually capitulate and end up either with a norway option or, indeed, staying in the eu — if that's their view, then they've profoundly misjudged the british people. this social media post from donald tusk, the eu council president, has helped stir the bad blood, mocking mrs may for what he says is trying to cherry—pick the best bits out of the single market. mr tusk played host at the salzburg summit where the so—called chequers plan was dismissed. but he's rejecting suggestions the ideas were knocked back without explanation.

in a statement, he said: "the results of our analysis have been known to the british side in every detail for many weeks." but trying to get beyond the growing acrimony, he continued: so, what next for eu negotiations? who's going to blink first? theresa may says eu leaders have to come up with new counter—proposals for future trading relations. but there's little sign of that. however, the prime minister says her officials are working on new proposals for northern ireland's border with the republic, and if those plans can find a way to keep goods flowing freely after brexit, then perhaps they might be able to give some momentum back to the wider talks too. in dublin today, ireland's foreign minister suggested a solution was doable. everybody has accepted, including the british prime minister, that unique solutions are required in order to put a backstop in place to ensure the border infrastructure

between northern ireland and ireland cannot re—emerge. so we need to get on now and negotiate that in a way that's acceptable to both sides, and i believe it is possible to do that with an intensification of negotiations. but getting brussels to agree on britain's divorce is only half the battle. theresa may needs the support of her own mps to get the deal through parliament, and a tricky conservative conference in just over a week's time might reveal just how hard it will be to unite her party behind her. matt cole, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: politics in the family — we look at how democrats and republicans are taking each other on with a unique political ad attack for the upcoming mid term elections. ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games.

i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. and so the british government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: christine blasey ford, the woman who has accused us supreme court nominee

brett kavanaugh of sexual assault, has agreed to testify against him next week. america's biggest cable network, comcast, submits a $40 billion winning bid for british broadcaster sky, ending a dramatic two—year battle with rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. the venezuelan authorities have welcomed a chinese hospital ship, which will be docked for the next week attending local patients. the defence minister thanked china for the gesture of friendship and said that both countries would benefit. lebo diseko has more. some welcome help from a powerful friend. the chinese hospital ship docking in a venezuelan port. for caracas, this is a chance to say to

the world, we do not stand alone. translation: starting now, they will be here this whole week, attending to and receiving patients of all nationalities. i have spoken to the state governor and there are people who are interested. . on-board, there are 300 words, eight operating rooms and a medical helicopter. it isa rooms and a medical helicopter. it is a lifeline for the government in caracas in more ways than one. it is a political gesture from an ally helping to rebuild a venezuelan‘s crumbling economy. a week ago, venezuelan‘s residents nicola madeira visited ageing, where he signed a number of trade and investment deals, and it is a reply of sorts of the united states sending its own hospital ship going to colombia in august to help venezuelan migrants who had fled to that country. this is what is pushing those people to leave. hyperinflation, food and medical shortages, families struggling to eat. and in this country, with the

world's the guest oil reserves, petrol shortages mean queueing for days just to fill up a tank. president the bureau says the problems in his country are the result of engineering by hostile forces, but he is almost completely isolated on the international stage. the issues in his country are increasingly affecting his neighbours, with thousands pouring into colombia, peru and brazil. for nicola madeira's government, this very public showing is some ring of a boy, a gesture in relationships he hopes will keep this nation afloat. now we all know that politics can divide families, but rarely to this degree. republican congressman paul goser is standing for re election in arizona. but he's having to contend with opposition from his own siblings who are campaigning for democratic rival. rylee carlson has the story. paul gosar the congressman isn't doing anything to help rural america. they're presented as average arizona residents with regular concerns — nothing you haven't seen before

in a political attack ad. but in a surprise twist, the six people here asking for voters to not re—elect congressmen paul gosar are his own siblings. paul gosar is my own brother... my brother. it's a knockout punch as far as campaign ads are concerned, and it's going viral online. but it isn't the first time mr gosar‘s siblings have taken issue with his politics. seven of them once wrote him an open letter in a local paper, but two more have stayed mum throughout his tenure. mr gosar has since responded on twitter, saying in part: and while this add is generating a lot of buzz for his opponent, dr david brill, mr gosar has held his seat since 2011, and own his district with 71% of the vote in 2016. he's considered likely

to keep it again. at least one person has been killed in severe flooding in texas. the worst affected areas were arlington in the north of the state which saw 20 centimetres of rain fall overnight. police say they rescued dozens of people who were trapped in their vehicles. weather forecasters say the area has received more than four times the normal amount of rainfall so far this month. and more rain is forecast next week. a lot of companies and organisations have had to take a long, hard look in recent years at the way they recruit and treat female employees. but britain's presitigious royal horticultural society is looking into an incident of sex discrimination with a difference. it took place 120 years ago. helen briggs has more. the turn of the century, queen

victoria is on the throne, but women still cannot vote, serve on juries, 01’ as still cannot vote, serve on juries, or as it turns out, wind a prize to train asa or as it turns out, wind a prize to train as a gardener. this 0x revealed the prize that had been won but never given, for one simple reason. “— but never given, for one simple reason. —— box. but never given, for one simple reason. -- box. the winner was a woman. clearly a very determined young woman. she has entered this exam, she did well, and she claims her rightful prize. she single—handedly sent the rhs into a bit of a tailspin. her name was miss harrison, and after getting top marks, she should have been given the equivalent of £5,000 and a training scholarship. but that's never happened. scrawled over the document, the words of reverend wilkes, then leader of the rhs, it was never contemplated that a female might claim the scholarship. although she might not personally have succeeded, she is chipping away at that sense that women cannot do these things. if she had been

awarded a prize today she would have trained here at rhs wisley, and who knows where her career might have taken her? a pit is starting to emerge of the mysterious miss harrison. -- picture. winner from the syllabus of the exam she took that she was well versed in all the main principles of gardening, from the names and orders of plants, to growing fruit. and student gardeners say it is hard to imagine women being excluded. it makes me feel very frustrated and angry. i would have hated to be restricted in that way, and i am gratefulfor the people who went forward to make it possible. but we still need to go further to make sure everyone is included. miss harrison paved the way for a new generation of gardeners. the rhs wants to make sure her name is not forgotten. they think herfamily sure her name is not forgotten. they think her family may have letters that can tell them more about her.|j would really love to know what happens next. it she carry on fighting? did she carry on into a

career in horticulture and make a living that way? i am just really curious to know what happened to miss harrison, which is she is clearly a character. did she prevail? and with your help, maybe they will finally solve the mystery. in boxing, britain's anthonyjoshua has retained his three world heavyweight titles with a win over his russian opponent, alexander povetkin, at london's wembley stadium. joshua knocked povetkin out in the seventh round extending his unbeaten professional record to 22 fights. here's the bbc‘s boxing correspondent mike costello. stunning in the end, and impressive. the most impressive performance of his career so far, the end coming at one minute and 59 seconds of around seven, the first time that alexander povetkin has been stopped in a 36 fight professional career. it was hugely competitive and it was a contest that shows why anthony joshuais contest that shows why anthony joshua is the draw that he is,

because he has such power, but he also has vulnerabilities. the way joshua stayed composed and eventually started to read what povetkin was doing was mightily impressive. then, halfway through, the seventh round, he connected with a pulverising right hand over the top of the shoulder of povetkin, straight onto the russian's chin, followed up with a left hook. povetkin, as expected, came right back at him, only to open with a left hook and another right hand. he went down in his own corner, the red corner, just in front of us at ringside. bravely, somehow, he got up. the referee allowed him to continue. he walked into another flurry of punches which finished with a crisp right—hand, and was almost sent crashing through the ropes, at which point the referee waved it. bbc boxing correpondent mike costello reporting from wembley stadium. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @regedahmadbbc. hello there.

we've already seen some big contrasts in the weather north to south through the first half of the weekend and that will continue on into sunday too. now, this was the scene as we ended the day near leeds. some clear skies around there. under those clear skies, it is set to be a fairly chilly rest of tonight. those temperatures certainly well down in single figures. during the day on sunday, a mix of sunshine and showers for many areas. but there will be some heavy rain and more cloud across the southern half of the uk, and that's all down to the fact that we have got this frontal system shifting its way eastwards across england and wales too. higher pressure holding on towards the north. so, for sunday morning then, initially, a soggy start to the day for much of wales, central and southern england too. to the north of that, though, much clearer skies after that chilly start. there'll be some sunshine and a peppering of showers working in particularly for northern parts of northern ireland into the north—west of scotland too. eventually, this rain willjust start to push towards the south—east and it's not going to be just heavy rain to contain with, but also, some brisk winds blowing in from the north or the north—west.

we could see gusts of around 50mph around the english channel coast for instance. further north, though, still that breeze coming in from the north, blowing in one or two showers across wales and northern england. but some sunshine in between. the showers moving through quite quickly on that breeze. a similar picture across northern ireland. and for the bulk of scotland too, a real day of sunshine and it's sunglasses one minute, brollies up the next minute, i think, with those showers moving through, as well. but with that northerly breeze, it's not going to feel particularly warm. temperatures at best only around about 11 to 15 degrees for the rest of us. could be that little bit warmerjust down towards the channel isles. now, later on sunday, eventually we will lose the wet weather from the south—east, then most places are largely dry as we end the day. just still one or two showers continuing in the north. but under those clearer skies, it's going to be a chilly night, chilly first thing monday, but high pressure moving in, so that should quieten things down as we start the new working week after that fairly chilly start to monday. should be some sunshine for many of us. an improved day, particularly in the south after a pretty soggy weekend.

more sunshine. still a few showers on the map, especially for parts of northern and western scotland, but under those lighter winds with a bit more sunshine, temperatures should start to creep up a little bit. so, we're looking at highs for most places around 14 to 17 degrees or so. then heading on into tuesday then, a largely dry day once again with some sunshine, fairly light winds. more rain, though, works into the north—west later in the day. so this is another approaching frontal system. some rain for northern ireland and scotland later on. further south, though, a brighter picture and top temperatures around about 16 or 17 degrees. bye for now. this is bbc news. the headlines: lawyers for christine blasey ford — the woman who has accused us supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault says she will testify against him next week. she gave details of an incident which she says happened when they were teenagers. mr kavanaugh has denied the allegations. iran's supreme leader has ordered

security forces to find the people behind the attack on a military parade that left at least 29 people dead. the state news agency says tehran has summoned the envoys of britain, the netherlands, and denmark, accusing their countries of harbouring iranian opposition groups. the american cable giant, comcast, has won its fight for control of the broadcaster, sky, after beating 21st century fox in a blind auction. the $40 billion bid will make comcast, which owns the nbc network and universal pictures, the world's largest pay—tv operator, with around 52 million customers. chas hodges, one half of the musical duo chas and dave, has died. he was 74.