this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: the fbi report into supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is to be handed over to the us senate. authorities in indonesia set a deadline of friday to find any more survivors following the earthquake and tsunami. footballer cristiano ronaldo "firmly" denies raping a woman in a us hotel room nine years ago. his alleged victim speaks out through her lawyer coming up in the business briefing — borderline disorder. how this 500 kilometre strip of ireland threatens to derail the brexit process. also coming up, how mercedes and audi are charged up to overtake tesla in the electric car market. we'll have more from the paris motor show. a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know

in global news, business, and sport. also in the programme, there's been a surge in use among british pre—schoolers of computers and smart devices with under fives spending on average almost three hours a day watching video content. so is this a good trend or not? tell us what you think — just use the hashtag bbcthebriefing. we start in washington where an fbi report on president trump's supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is due to be delivered to the us senate in the next few hours. the fbi has been investigating allegations of sexual misconduct made againstjudge kavanaugh. republicans are expected to push for a final vote on his confirmation by the weekend.

joining me now is our washington correspondent, chris buckler. tell us about the process. yes, the fbi report is now being delivered to the senate. we understand it will be taken to a place within the senate, at which stage they will be given a report, as such, to the senators, but the senators will go to the report. it will be given along the lines of seniority. essentially, the most senior members of the judiciary committee will go down and they will get the chance to see the report first. then it will be the other members of the judiciary committee, they will get the chance to read the fbi report. finally, the remaining senators will come and they will be able to see the conclusions of this fbi investigation into the

background of brett kavanaugh and, of course, looking at some of these allegations of sexual misconduct. from there they will make a decision on how they want to vote. and then the following day, tomorrow or friday, they will go to senate and they will have a vote. it gives them another 30 hours of debate before they have a final vote. that is on whether or not brett kavanaugh should be the next supreme court justice. that is should happen as early as saturday. how far, how vigorous was the investigation on the part of the fbi? do we know that oi’ the part of the fbi? do we know that or not? some reports in the press say it was not as thorough as hoped. it is always going to be limited in scope. this is not a criminal investigation. it is very much a background check into brett kavanaugh. it is not the first. it is the seventh background check into

audi brett kavanaugh. it looks at some of the things that were said in that controversial hearing. that is when they questioned christine blasey ford, who has accused brett kavanaugh of blasey ford, who has accused brett kava naugh of sexual assault. blasey ford, who has accused brett kavanaugh of sexual assault. we have at times is very angry denials. what we know from this fbi report is that they have spoken to some people who could be potential witnesses, including a man called mark starkey was a childhood friend of brett kavanaugh, who was a childhood friend of brett kava naugh, who christine was a childhood friend of brett kavanaugh, who christine blasey ford says it was in the room when she was sexually assaulted. we understand the fbi has spoken beyond him to a second woman who has accused brett kavanaugh of second woman who has accused brett kava naugh of sexual second woman who has accused brett kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. there is a lot we don't know about this fbi report. senators are waiting to see exactly what is inside it. i suspect into the weekend we will be having another debate on someone public saying it isa debate on someone public saying it is a very thorough investigation into brett kavanaugh, while some

democrats will be saying it has not been thorough enough. thank you. we will be talking to again soon. chris buckler, in washington for us. the authorities in indonesia have now set a deadline of friday to find any survivors of last week's earthquake and tsunami still trapped under rubble. after that they believe there is little chance of finding survivors in the city of palu and the surrounding region. so far, at least 1,400 people are known to have died. jonathan head is in palu and has been to some of the worst affected areas. even now, five days after the earthquake, the tsunamis, and the mudslides, the damage wrought on this part of indonesia still has the power to shock. some buildings crumpled... others were literally swallowed by mud. it was the mud that did for petobo, a neighbourhood to the east of the city.

fields of rice, shaken loose by the earthquake, that poured down the hillside. it buried the mother and baby sister of fiona, not yet two years old, who was pulled from the mud by her older brother. she's being cared for by her aunt. translation: she often asks, "where's my mum?" "where has my mother gone?" i tell her we're still looking for her, or i say, "your mother has gone on a long journey." if she has a loud noise or a plane going overhead, she's scared. she's still traumatised. over here, it was even worse. a road, and all the houses along it, obliterated by mud. astonishingly, this cornfield has travelled more than a mile. and this mad jumble of wreckage is the remains of at least two villages. they scarcely know where to begin recovering the bodies

of the victims. this was a christian study centre. there were 200 students there when it was torn from its foundations. just try to imagine the terrible force that uprooted these front pillars of the church and toppled them over, and that flattened this massive concrete roof here. even now, they don't know how many victims may still be underneath, and all of this was dragged by the mudslide, from right over there, behind those palm trees. one of the students was martin's 17—year—old son, gabriel. he's already resigned himself to the near certainty of his death. "every parent hopes for a son", he said. "now ijust want to recover his body, for a proper burial in my home town." the collective loss suffered by the people of this

city is incalculable. help is on the way now. it will be needed for a very long time. jonathan head, bbc news, palu, indonesia. we'll be going live to palu to hear from another of our correspondents there — that's in just a few minutes. she will give us the very latest very soon. the british government has accused russian military intelligence of a series of major cyber attacks around the world. the so—called gru is also alleged to be behind the nerve agent poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal in south—west england in march. caroline rigby has the story. russia stands accused of state—sponsored cyber attacks targeting political institutions, businesses, media and sport. 0rchestrated by its military intelligence service, gru, britain holds the kremlin responsible. in a statement, the uk's foreign secretaryjeremy hunt said... britain's national cyber security

centre has revealed it's highly confident a group of hackers belonging to the gru were responsible for a series of attacks. using names like fancy bear, bad rabbit and cyber caliphate, they are accused of numerous actions, including hacking the world anti—doping agency and exposing the confidential medical records of many high profile athletes, causing disruption to the kiev metro system and an airport in ukraine, and releasing materialfrom the us democratic national committee to influence the 2016 presidential election. they are getting good at attributing these attacks. i think that is the first step if you're going to retaliate. i think that is the first step for these governments striking back in some way for these attacks.

the evidence is mounting against the kremlin, and the international community is responding. the us is expected this week to become the latest country to offer its cyber capabilities to nato — part of a co—ordinated effort to strengthen defences against russia in this most modern style of warfare. caroline rigby, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. former peruvian president alberto fujimori has been taken to a clinic by ambulance, as a judge overturned a pardon granted to him and ordered his return to prison. he was freed in december, just after his supporters in parliament helped the then president survive an impeachment vote. he'd served less than half of a 25—year sentence for human rights abuses. rosmah mansor, the wife of former malaysian prime minister najib razak has been charged with money laundering and several other offences, after an investigation into billions of dollars missing from state funds.

najib razak was ousted in an election in may. he's been charged with stealing money from a government investment fund, which he denies. three out of four children under five now has access to a tablet, smartphone, or computer, according to a study. the market researcher childwise asked more than a thousand parents here in the uk about their kids' media habits. the report also says children are spending an average of two hours and 48 minutes a day looking at screens. it is the cheapest way to babysit, i have to say. mine were guilty of doing that under the age of five. we will discuss your thoughts on that. that is our social media

conversations morning. many of you have been in touch. we will share thoughts later on. let's turn to our top business story. irish prime minister leo varadkar will hold talks later with the eu's brexit negotiator, michel barnier. he'll be pressing his case for no change to the irish border when britain leaves the european union — a day after uk prime minister theresa may defended her so—called chequers plan at her party conference. jeremy cook, chief economist of the payments company world first, joins me now. good to see you. this is a really interesting and very important meeting. leo varadkar has always, from the beginning, said we don't wa nt from the beginning, said we don't want things to change. but things are changing. it is a question of how and where. he has been one of the most important people in the brexit negotiations because of the border issue. and as much as we can

talk about trade and sovereignty and taking back control, the thing that needs to be overcome most for us to get a deal by the end of the article 50 process is the relationship between northern ireland and ireland, a customs arrangement, don't call it a union, that is when brexiteers get annoyed, an arrangement with the rest of the eu and how long that last. a huge amount of goods flow freely at the moment across the border. food, agriculture, it is extremely important to ireland and to northern ireland and to the united kingdom, the relationship. from a trade point of view it has to remain a frictionless. people have used exa m ples of frictionless. people have used examples of borders between norway and sweden, for example, or france and sweden, for example, or france and switzerland that are deemed frictionless but have some elements of delay, whether checks need to be imposed on certain products, be it agriculture, vat checks, all of this

asa agriculture, vat checks, all of this as a result of the uk, great britain and northern ireland being no longer pa rt and northern ireland being no longer part of the european union, but the only land border that the uk would have would be with northern ireland. it isa have would be with northern ireland. it is a big political football. have would be with northern ireland. it is a big politicalfootball. the dup akiem theresa may's government and they don't want border checks or to be separated from the rest of the united kingdom. at the moment this is what the plan does. thank you for now. jeremy will be back. we have plenty to discuss, including the uk prime minister with her dancing shoes on. but let us move on. the footballer cristiano ronaldo has said he firmly denies raping a woman in an american hotel room nine years ago. the juventus striker says he feels tranquil about any investigations because he has a clear conscience. the claims against him were first reported in a german news magazine and relate to an alleged incident in a hotel in las vegas. ronaldo's lawyers say they will sue the magazine. correspondent james cook was at a news conference organised by the woman's lawers. kathryn mayorga says

cristiano ronaldo raped her here in las vegas in a hotel room in 2009. she says she reported that to police, and then the next year she reportedly accepted a settlement of 375,000 us dollars in exchange for remaining silent about the allegation. she is now trying to have that agreement declared void. at a news conference here, her lawyer, leslie stovall, said his client was fragile and was frightened by what had happened. he said she was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, and that she also suffered from severe depression. but he said recent events had given her the courage to come forward. the metoo movement and the women who have stood up and disclosed sexual assaults publicly has given kathryn a lot of courage and, to a great extent, has enabled her to come forward and to file several complaints and also go to the police department.

police here in las vegas have reopened the 2009 enquiry, but say that the alleged victim at the time did not state where she had been attacked, or by whom, and that they did not identify a suspect. that is disputed by kathryn mayorga's legal team. the lawyers for cristiano ronaldo say they will sue the german magazine, der spiegel, which originally published the claims. james cook reporting from las vegas. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: rockies on a high. colorado celebrate after beating the chicago cubs in their wildcard game. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this.

president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people had feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger, ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites — an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. you're watching the briefing.

0ur headlines: the fbi report into supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is to be handed over to the us senate. authorities in indonesia set a deadline of friday to find any more survivors following the earthquake and tsunami. let's stay with that now. let's go live to mariko 0i in palu. pa rt part of the bbc team covering this story. mariko, tell us the latest on the desperate need to find anyone who still buried under the rubble. —— who's still. indeed, sally. as you mention, the government has said friday as the deadline to find any more survivors. if you look this way, you can actually see those officers looking

for bodies. this shopping plaza, mall, where we'd been broadcasting from for the last few days, this mall just from for the last few days, this malljust got this heavy machinery yesterday, last night actually when we we re yesterday, last night actually when we were actually broadcasting, to start clearing up some of the rubble and immediately afterwards they found a body around here. of course, the earthquake struck around 5pm on friday when many people would have been shopping inside, so there are fears they will find possibly more bodies inside. that's why the officials continue to warn the officials continue to warn the official death toll is likely to rise. this mall has been pretty much quite literally crumbling every time we come here. another part of the building starts to fall apart. the rescue operation is continuing, but asi rescue operation is continuing, but as i said, friday has been set as the deadline. the government says there is no more hope after that.

as you said, the rescue effort is enormous, the task ahead for all those involved. in terms of aid coming through, food, water, are we seeing more supplies getting through? yes, ido through? yes, i do want to emphasise that, sally, because we've been talking about the lack of food and water for days and how very difficult things are here. but over the last... i guess yesterday we started to see some food and water trickling in, and this morning we saw people selling breakfast on the street. and if you actually see the street, it is the... the economy feels like it's moving again and we were struck by the fact that even though these survivors have been struggling to get hold of food and water, as soon as they got it they started to offer it to last. we've been struck by their generosity. i want to talk about this side of the building, because while this shopping plaza

has collapsed, all these other buildings are quite 0k and the rest of the city actually managed to withstand the earthquake quite well on friday as well, which means while the earthquake did a lot of damage, it was really the tsunami and mudslides which took many of those lives. all right, for now, mariko 0i, part of our team all right, for now, mariko 0i, part of ourteam in all right, for now, mariko 0i, part of our team in palu. all right, for now, mariko 0i, part of ourteam in palu. take all right, for now, mariko 0i, part of our team in palu. take a look at our website. a lot more detailed there. some incredible stories of survival so take a look when you have time. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm tulsen tollett. coming up in your thursday sport briefing: english golfer tyrell hatton goes in search of a third successive alfred dunhill links championship, the china open tennis continues and barcelona put four past tottenham in the champions league. tyrell hatton will look to build on his success having being part of the european team to win the ryder cup last

weekend when he begins the defence of his alfred dunhill links championship title shortly. the englishman is aiming for a third successive victory at st andrews in scotland. home favourite zhang shuai heads out shortly against wimbledon champion angelique kerber in the last 16 of the china open. on wednesday, the world number 45 made short work of timea babos, winning 6—1, 6—2. karolina pliskova and caroline wozniacki are also in action in beijing on thursday. the colorado rockies will take on the milwaukee brewers in game one of their national league division series in wisconsin. on tuesday, the rockies beat the chicago cubs 2—1 after 13 innings in the wildcard game. backup catcher tony wolters drove in the winning run. it was the longest winner—take—all playoff game in major league history. after wednesday's champions league games in europe, the europa league takes centre stage on thursday. among the group games, chelsea host hungarian side mol vidi, arsenal are in azerbaijan to play qarabag and milan welcome 0lympiakos. in case you missed it, barcelona held off a dogged

tottenham to win their champions league group b match 4—2 at wembley stadium. a wonder goal from ivan rakitic in the first half was the highlight as spurs are now winless in two games and sit third in the group after inter won their match 2—1 against psv eindhoven. last year's beaten finalists, liverpool, were beaten in italy after lorenzo insigne scored the winner in the 90th minute. we didn't create a lot of chances to be honest. first half was still kind of 0k, but second half was not good enough. it's always a bad sign if you have to say that your goalkeeper was your best player. it was obvious tonight. i have to accept and i can accept that i have a big part of that performance. it's my fault for sure. kashima antlers scored two goals in the last six minutes to beat suwon bluewings of south korea 3—2 and take the lead

after the first leg of their asian champions league semi—final. the japanese side looked like they were heading for defeat before serginho equalised, and atsuto uchida grabbed the winner with ten seconds of stoppage time remaining, having earlier provided an own goal with the second leg in suwon on the 24th of october. there's been a big shock in the men's draw at the china open. third seed grigor dimitrov is out after losing to qualifier dusan lajovic. the serb finished with an ace, in marked contrast to dimitrov, who'd served nine double faults. lajovic will play britain's kyle edmund in the quarter—finals on friday. manchester united captain antonio valencia has apologised for liking an instagram post which called for manager jose mourinho to be sacked. after tuesday's goalless draw with valencia in the champions league, he liked a picture of himself which had the caption, "time for mourinho to go." he later said on twitter, "these are not my views and i apologise for this. "i am fully supportive of the manager and my team—mates." you can get all the latest sports

news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the team, that is your thursday sport briefing. thanks, tulsen tollett. there's this report i mention that preschoolers in the uk are watching more video online and they're looking at the ta blet online and they're looking at the tablet more and more, the under fives apparently. should there be restrictions? this is a radio station in london, lovethebeat radio. they should being gauged with purposeful activity to stimulate the brain or reading. 0thers purposeful activity to stimulate the brain or reading. others say access should be limited, kids should enjoy old—fashioned should be limited, kids should enjoy old —fashioned boa rdgames should be limited, kids should enjoy old—fashioned boardgames or time with theirfamily old—fashioned boardgames or time with their family —— should be engaged with. keep them coming. i'll

see you shortly. week neighbour nine note before something more active pushes in from the atlantic to bring some quite a bit of rainfall —— we begin the week neighbour nine note. increasing wind, outbreaks of rain to the north—west corner —— neighbour nine note. we start variable cloud, some sunshine and mist and fog, clearing away but into the afternoon, with light winds, not feeling too bad. we could be looking at the high teens celsius quite widely, but cooler and fresher in the far north—west with stronger winds. into thursday night, that weather front sinks south—eastwards, grinds to a halt somewhere through central areas. northern england, parts of wales could be quite wet early on friday. behind it, something more cold and clear. ahead of this weather front, a mild

something more cold and clear. ahead of this weatherfront, a mild night to come with temperatures in double figures. 0n to come with temperatures in double figures. on friday, a 3—way split. that weather front will live through central parts, a bit of rain in wales and northern england —— will lie through. given sunshine again we could look at temperatures reaching 20 or2i. to could look at temperatures reaching 20 or 21. to the north of that rain band, bright conditions, largely dry with the odd shower and temperatures only 10—12. in the weekend —— on the weekend, a bit of uncertainty to it but it looks like this area of low pressure will develop and bring some areas wet weather. england and wales bearing the brunt of heavy and persistent rain, especially central, southern and eastern areas during the day where some places could see more than an inch. many northern and western areas having a dry, bright and sunny day. feeling cool here but turning chilly where we have the rain in eastern areas. that area of low pressure will slip away to the near continent through sunday to allow this red rock point pressure to build in, but another wet ——

allow this area of high pressure to build in. some areas of sunshine around. a much quieter day. temperatures ranging from around 12-15 in temperatures ranging from around 12—15 in the south—east. quite a mixed weekend coming up. certainly going to be somewhat weather around, thinking saturday with some sunshine around too. this is the business briefing with me, sally bundock. borderline disorder — how this 500km strip of ireland threatens to derail the brexit process. plus, charged up to overtake. mercedes and audi take on tesla at the paris motor show. and on financial markets, asian stocks are not so attractive today. the japanese yen is stronger. return on us bonds is going up, so investors see that as more attractive as chinese markets are

closed today.