welcome to bbc world news. i'm reged ahmad. 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 senatejudiciary committee had set a series of deadlines to try to get a firm answer from christine blasey ford about whether or not she was prepared to give evidence. now, we have had a letter from her lawyer to the committee and in it she says specifically that she is prepared to provide what she describes as first—hand knowledge of brett kavanaugh's sexual misconduct. now, judge kavanaugh denies any suggestion that he was involved in sexually assaulting her some 36 years ago at a party.

but she continues to make these claims and she will now do so, it seems, at this hearing. that's provided a number of terms and conditions are met. she's understood to be concerned, first of all, that brett kava naugh 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 the 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 might not be seen to treat her sensitively. however, from dr blasey ford's point of view, she wants to be questioned only by senators. so, there is still some negotiation to do here. but it does seem like she is prepared to go to the committee to speak. nonetheless, when you listen to the white house, there is some frustration there. 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 courtjustice as quickly as they possibly can. they've also been critical of democrats who they claim are playing politics with all of this. and, certainly, there is a political element to all of this because brett kava naugh 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 that 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 made a complaint to the authorities of some 36 years ago. republicans know that people will be watching carefully if and when this hearing finally takes place. let's get some of the day's other news. 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 opposition groups. the incident took place in the city of avahz, near the iraqi border, when gunmen opened fire near a stage set up for the parade. the american cable giant, comcast, has won its fight for control of the broadcaster, sky, after beating rupert murdoch's 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 paytv operator with around 52 million customers. venezuelan authorities have welcomed a chinese hospital ship, which will be docked in the caribbean port of guaira for the next week, attending local patients. venezuela's economic crisis has led to severe shortages of food and medicines, and the collapse of public services. more than 250,000 people will vote on sunday for the next leader of the indian ocean nation of the maldives in an election

criticised 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. let's get more on our top story, christine blasey ford's announcement that she will testify before the senatejudiciary committee this coming week. she says the us supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. kathleen peratis is a partner in the new york law firm 0utten & golden and chair of the sexual harassment practice group. thank you very much forjoining us. this is testimony that we are hearing, it is not caught. what other possible outcomes that we could get given it is not an

official legal setting? it is an official legal setting? it is an official legal setting in the sense that everybody is supposed to tell the truth and could be subjected to penalties if they don't. but it could not be of more highly significant political ramifications, and also for a american democracy. this person, this one or the next one, whoever is confirmed, will serve for a generation, will serve for 20 years, maybe more. it is of enormous consequence, and what is going to be consequential is whether what he says sounds believable and whether what she says sounds believable. is the outcome effectively the court of public opinion rather than an official verdict? it is definitely not an official verdict and it is for sure the quarter public opinion, but on a narrower at aspect, there are two or three senators, maybe for why the real audience for this testimony.

there are two or three at least republican senators whose voice or whose vote is in play, and if he comes across as evasive as he did in the opinion of many in the first set of hearings, then this nomination could be in real trouble. of hearings, then this nomination could be in realtrouble. the us president has questioned in this case the delay of christine blasey ford coming forward with her story. how unusual is that, or how consistent is that with some historical cases of sexual assault? first of all, the president's statement is ignorant, it's much more likely than not that a woman who was a victim of sexual assault will not report it right away or if at all. the young woman may or may not tell friends and family, going to the police is less likely to happen than more likely to happen. i have represented many clients who never went to the police. i have a client right now who went to hospital and had a rape kit done. it

happened six months ago. and this day she will not go to the police. women know what a ring that is to go make a police report, and be subjected to what this woman is now being subjected to. thank you very much, kathleen. thank you for that analysis. the british foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has urged eu leaders to "step back from the abyss" of a no—deal brexit and engage with the british prime minister's plan. he was speaking a day after theresa may said the talks were at a standstill. the president of the european council, donald tusk, has defended the eu's approach. 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 now, and that's way she will carry the tory party with her, and a goodly part of the labour party too. 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 is 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: 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. the shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell has accused the government of being out of its depth in its handling of brexit. he's been speaking as the labour party conference got underway in liverpool. meanwhile, the deputy leader tom watson, in an interview for a sunday newspaper, says labour should back a second referendum on any final

brexit deal if members want one. here's our chief political correspondent vicki young. familiar scenes and a guaranteed rapturous reception forjeremy corbyn. his grassroots supporters propelled him to the top of the party and new rules could soon be agreed that give them more power in the future. but on brexit, is mr corbyn listening to labour members? we will challenge this government on whatever deal it brings back, on our six tests, onjobs, on living standards, on environmental protection and protection of those jobs and the ability of an incoming labour government to invest and intervene in an economy, to bring about decent wages, jobs and full employment! if in power, labour says its brexit position would be to ask brussels for full access to the single market.

they want the uk to be in a customs union with eu. but labour says it wants to manage migration fairly with a flexible work visa system. stop brexit! labour's been accused of keeping its brexit policy deliberately vague to mask divisions in the party. especially on whether to back another referendum, a so—called people's vote. arriving in liverpool earlier, the shadow chancellor said the government was falling apart and it was time for labour to step in. we have to respect the referendum result, that's democracy. i want a general election, i'd rather have a general election. we're not taking the people's vote off the table, it's an option we'll consider. but i want a general election. activists here are gearing up for what's likely to be a lively argument. i'm not sure about the idea of a second referendum. i think it's so unlikely that we'd get one. we need to make sure that labour stands for a referendum on the final deal. it's really important that we make sure that brexit doesn't harm

the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the country. do you have a referendum to say, shall i go on with chaos? the temptation for labour is to sit back and watch theresa may's brexit plans unravel, but some in the party want mr corbyn to show more leadership on the issue. 0ur headlines this hour: 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. the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt says eu leaders must engage with the government to solve questions over the irish border. more now on what's being seen as a critical win for the us cable giant comcast in its bid to compete against netflix and amazon. after a long—running battle, comcast has won control of sky, defeating 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 round, us cable giant and universal studio's owner comcast delivered a knockout blow, offering £30 billion, 10% more than the disney—backed 2ist century fox was prepared to pay. the prize — sky's 23 million customers across europe, 10 million of them in the uk. the bid has come in at £17.28, which is a i7% 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, that is consumers are less and less paying for big expensive cable packages because they are preferring to watch the likes of netflix. comcast is suffering dwindling cable customers in its domestic us market. this deal brings not only new ones, but international diversification. disney wanted sky as a platform to distribute its own films like star wars, the avengers, as well as the x—men and the simpsons it acquired when it bought fox last year. so why are all these

megadeals happening now? look no further than the new kids on the block, netflix and amazon. both are winning new subscribers around the world, both are pouring billions into making their own original content. in the short—term, sky customers will notice little difference. both bids had agreed to fund loss making sky news for at least the next ten years. putting up prices will be hard given the redhot competition for eyeballs. comcast may have won, but they had to pay £30 billion. the real winners this weekend are the sky shareholders, including the family of one rupert murdoch. he may not have succeeded in buying all of sky, as he once wanted, but he won't be going home and empty handed. simon jack, bbc news. as we've been reporting 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 avahz, 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 hawaz. 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. venezuelans have been struggling to access food and medical care in the current ecnomic crisis. lebo diseko has more. some welcome help from a powerfulfriend. the chinese hospital ship, the peace ark, docked in the venezuelan port of of la guaira. for venezuela, it is a chance to say "we do not stand alone." translation: starting now, there will be here this week, attending to patients

of all nationalities. i've spoken to the state governor and there are people who are interested. on board, there are 300 beds, eight operating rooms, and a medical helicopter. but it's a lifeline for the government in caracas in more ways than one. it is a political gesture from an ally helping to rebuild that is rebuild venezuelan's crumbling economy. last week, president nicolas maduro visited beijing, where he signed a number of trade and investment deals. and it is a reply, of sorts, to the us sending its own hospital ship to neighbouring colombia in august to help venezuelan migrants that fled their country. this is what is pushing people to leave: hyperinflation, food and medical shortages, families struggling to eat. and in this country, with the world's biggest oil

reserves, petrol shortages mean queuing for days, just to fill up a tank. president nicolas maduro says the problems in his country at a result of a plot engineered 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 maduro's government, this very public show of friendship is something of a bouy, a gesture in a relationship it hopes will keep this nation afloat. lebo diseko, bbc news. 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 new high—speed train service

linking china with hong kong has opened for business. the massive project has been eight years in the making, and cost $11 billion. but with beijing now just nine hours away, some fearfor the territory's freedoms. andy beatt reports. launching hong kong's fast track to the future. the bullet train riding the future. the bullet train riding the rails for the first time, as much a symbol of political power as transportation. 80,000 people per day are expected at west kowloon's sleek new station, housing 15 platforms and the world in the way of —— array of shops and restau ra nts. of —— array of shops and restaurants. translation: in the long run the railway will make life in hong kong easierfor everyone, especially young ones, to work on

the live, invest and as this is inland. the high—speed railway will bring us all closer. the new line stretches just 26 kilometres, but connects the territory to china's avast 25,000 kilometres rail system. its fleet of trains travelling to more than a0 destinations at up to 380 kilometres per hour. first on board, hong kong's chief executives. it really makes it far more convenient to travel, so it may way, and you can say that in the short term, the distance between the two places or the two people, the communities, so i am expecting there will be far more exchanges, operations, in all respects, with the commencement of the high—speed train. the railway and ridge will transform the travel infrastructure that already sees more than half a million people shuttling between the

two sides daily. but it has also raised fears for some of hong kong's cherished freedoms. part of west kowloon station and its trains will be under chinese law, with mainland chinese police and immigration officials. pro—democracy campaigners say it gives up part of the city's independence. the high-speed rail, violates hong kong's basic law. too many hong kong people, this has damaged one country, two systems, and the rule of law. the long-term master plan, to serve 68 million people living in china's greater bay area, and boost a local economy worth about $1.5 trillion. and there is more to come. 0ther massive infrastructure projects in the pipeline include a $20 billion road bridge and pioneering high—tech border controls. critics say they arejust more border controls. critics say they

are just more signs of ageing's tightening grip on the city. —— beijing's tightening grip. 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 twenty two 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 round 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 anthonyjoshua is the draw that he is — because he has such power, but he also has vulnerabilities. the wayjoshua 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 off. bbc boxing correpondent mike costello reporting from wembley stadium. now, the weather, with sarah keith lucas. 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 1a 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. 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 $a0 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. a lot of employers have had to take a long, hard look in recent years at the way they recruit and treat female employees.