this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 8pm. a pause in the brexit negotiations — the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier says despite crunch talks with the brexit secretary in brussels today there are still key unresolved issues. as ambassadors from the other 27 member countries meet ahead of wednesday's crucial summit, cabinet ministers urge the conservative party to rally around theresa may. this is the crucial stage of the negotiations. we can get there, i believe we will get there, but this is the time to stand rock solid behind theresa may and back our prime minister. after the storm, the clean up — roads and railways continue to struggle after a battering from storm callum. france, germany and the uk issue a joint statement demanding a "credible investigation" in to the disappearance of the journalist, jamal khashoggi — who vanished after visiting saudi arabia's consulate in turkey. also in the news this evening: angela merkel‘s regional allies in bavaria look to have experienced their worst

election result since 1950. joy for the green party as exit polls suggest they have made big gains while the csu, mrs merkel‘s bavarian sister party loses its absolute majority. virgin trains and stagecoach shared more than £51 million worth of dividends from the west coast main line shortly before its other rail franchise, on the east coast mainline, collapsed. and with so much at stake on climate change — why the minister responsible won't be tellling us to eat less meat. minute. iam here. good afternoon

and welcome, you can hear me, pretended radio. —— the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has held face to face talks with his eu counterpart in brussels, as the government says it's working to resolve several outstanding issues for britain's withdrawal from the eu ahead of a summit this week. despite speculation a deal could be close — this evening the eu chief negotiator michel barnier, has tweeted, saying that "despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open", including measures to avoid a hard border between ireland and northern ireland. at home the prime minister is coming under intense pressure from leading brexiteers, with the — former — brexit secretary david davis enouraging a cabinet rebellion against the idea of a temporary arrangement which would see the whole of the uk remaining in the customs union until the irish border issue is resolved. our political correspondent vicki young reports. it's crunch time for brexit talks

and theresa may's leadership. further 18 months, she has argued with eu leaders. the last one ended with eu leaders. the last one ended with angry recriminations. at home it is no easier. some cabinet members have threatened to quit over her plans. loyal colleagues say it is time for unity. everybody needs to get behind the prime minister and pull behind her because she is trying to deliver the best deal for britain and that is the best way to take this forward. but the former secretary david davis says the cabinet must get therese me to change direction. disagreement is over the so—called irish backstop, how to avoid border checks between northern ireland and ireland if a suitable trade arrangement is not in place, with theresa may suggesting that the uk stays in the custom union. these concerns have to be made very clear to the prime minister.

this has to be a cabinet decision. the labour leadership is scathing about theresa may's plans. if she comes back with something that is just a fudge that she has cooked up with brussels we are not going to vote for it. the british people are not stupid and we are not stupid and we are not voting for a bridge to nowhere we need to know what our situation is going to be and a fudge will not fix it. but ministers are still working towards a deal. this afternoon, the brexit secretary made a flying visit to brussels for another face to face meeting with the eu's chief negotiator. our reporter, adam fleming, is in brussels. earlier he gave this assessment of the brexit secretary's unscheduled talks with michel barnier. it's not exactly unexpected, because the way that the brexit talks work is that the civil servants and the officials are locked in the room, working on the text, line by line, and they get as far as they can before they need their political

masters to come in and either solve really knotty political problems, oi’ to just sign off the final deal and get it over the line. i am told that today with dominic raab and michel barnier, it was a proper negotiating session as opposed to some sort of last—minute victory lap, because there are still some big outstanding issues, and we know from that michel barnier tweet from just a few minutes ago, it is issues plural, although the northern ireland backstop back—up plan for avoiding a hard border is the nottiest problem of all. tell us what the problem with that is, in terms of various players, what they are thinking? how long have you got? so, the backstop as it is called, is this back up plan which will go into the withdrawal agreement, that is the brexit treaty that seals the terms of the divorce. the eu and the uk have agreed that has to be something in there that will prevent the return of a hard border, if the future trade deal negotiated months and months on the line doesn't solve that problem, the eu has put

forward its version, which would be northern ireland remaining in the eu's customs union, its customs arrangement, and the elements of the single market where necessary to avoid a border. the uk has is ok with the principle of a backstop, but it doesn't like the idea of northern ireland being part of a separate customs territory from the rest of the united kingdom, so the uk has put forward a temporary customs arrangement, it's called its plan, which would be northern ireland and the uk in a customs arrangement, with the eu, it would prevent you having a border, and then they do something else, separate arrangements to deal with rules and regulations on products and goods and stuff like that. that's what they have put forward. but the eu says we're not too keen on the word temporary, and does your arrangement need to include the whole of eu trade policy as opposed to just tariffs, so it is a real head scratcher.

if any proof was needed of its head scratching nature, it is today. officials have been working on this month, but when the politicians coming in, dominic raab coming in and saying that is not going to fly for the government. i am not entirely sure what happens over the next few days now. the choreography was to be an eu adviser go to brussels tomorrow afternoon to lay the groundwork for a summit, then you would have a british cabinet meeting on tuesday, and then eu leaders on wednesday. basically saying there has been enough progress, i don't know what happens now, that is the honest answer. downing street as saying that it is close, and dominic raab going there forjust that hour is a sign of the intense effort that they are making to get a deal. i am told that the reason he went was to convey face—to—face to michel bernier, about those issues, but the fact

that northern ireland cannot be treated differently, and beats the uk cannot be... we know the sector feeling, because we have members of the cabinet apparently considering their futures over it, and demanding that there is some kind of time limits, orat that there is some kind of time limits, or at least a clear way marked out of how the uk can get out of that customs arrangement. and the reason brexiteers and other conservative mps are so concerned about it, is it would mean that they cannot sign trade deals with other countries, for example. jeremy hunt has taken to twitter over this. he says that dominic raab's visit is a sign that read trying really hard. he did to twitter, this is what he said: transmit and then he said that he put all these foreign ministers in the mage, and you can see... it

sort of that to the brexit negotiations, soap there they all are. that has not been photo shop? i don't think it is. i think not. really making the point that attlee brexit negotiations are a bit of a maze, which theresa may has been trying for months and months to get around, and we are not there yet is the sign. but they are still being hopeful, but it is the same issue thatis hopeful, but it is the same issue that is big going on for months and months about the northern ireland backstop. this is a real pressure cooker at the moment, all these deadlines that are looming, and the pressure on the prime minister, people in the cabinets, backbenchers saying that we are not happy with what you are doing, and her future is in the balance. it is notjust the talks, it is her leadership, as well. if she can get a deal, against all the odds, it seems, well. if she can get a deal, against allthe odds, it seems, i well. if she can get a deal, against all the odds, it seems, i think there are many in her circle who feel that that changes the dynamic.

if she can come back with a deal, schubert put that to her cabinets, to parliament, it changes things, because you can say that she has worked, this is the only thing that we can have work. your choices to back this, or mass uncertainty. people are talking about leadership challengers, another referendum, may be no deal, maybe a general election, maybe extending article 50, and no one knows how it is going to pan out, because if you don't vote for her deal, they didn't like the idea that they are being threatened, but there would certainly be uncertainty. let's speak now to dr catherine barnard who's professor of eu law at cambridge university and a senior fellow for the uk in a changing europe. thank you very much forjoining us this evening. the 11th hour, how much data could they have left it? are you surprised that we have had to see dominic raab have this dash

to see dominic raab have this dash to brussels today? not at all. this really is the crunch moment for the uk and the eu. but in fact although we say it is a crunch, and this is the week from hell, soap theresa may, like last week, was the week from hell, this will be others, because actually this could all go on until right up till the real 11 hour which could be 28th of march 2019. we're trying to do this in an orderly fashion, if the european council is to sign off on the divorce, that is the withdrawal agreement which will include those controversial northern ireland backstop, and only then will they start of the about the content of the political declaration, which is not legally binding, which will give us some not legally binding, which will give us some indication of what the future relationships between the eu and the uk will look like. one of the hard choices that theresa may will have to make is the type of deal that you will finally present?

the stumbling block at the moment is of course the northern ireland border. there are two totally inconsistent positions that theresa may has taken. one is that she wants to leave the customs union and the single market, said that the uk is free to negotiate trade deal with the rest of the world, and on the other hand, she says she doesn't wa nt other hand, she says she doesn't want a hard border in northern ireland, just respecting —— thus respecting the good friday agreement. these are mutually inconsistent positions today, because if the uk wants to do it own trade deals, and so for example, reduce tariffs are a particular product coming from another country, therefore, if the uk has different ta riffs therefore, if the uk has different tariffs to the tariff that the eu levies on that same product, there isa levies on that same product, there is a difference, therefore the eu has got to collect those tariffs, and that will be done at the border. and also, of course, if the uk wants

to depart from the eu standards, those goods will need to be checked. and so for these reasons, there will need to be a hard border, if the uk does trade deals, so what's the uk is saying at the moment is that for a period of time, we will stay in the customs union, therefore, that will tie our hands on trade deals with goats, and that cause upset the brexiteers very much you want to do trade deal, and it is not binary, though, is it? theresa may has also got her own leadership to think about, how does she get a deal, while still remaining in her current role? she has got to get what ever deal is struck through parliament? that is her problem. this is a multifaceted problem, because she is not only negotiating with the eu, but she has already got an

essentially negotiating with her own party, and crucially with the democratic unionist party: which is the party which is keeping her in government at the moment. and the democratic unionist party: want different rules applying in northern ireland, to the rest of the united kingdom. and then the eu 27, they have got a huge amount of sway, and a meeting at the same time in parallel, what is the sense that you get from their side of the negotiations about how michel barnier is hardly for them? what is really striking to me is they very much still speak with one voice. there has long been hope on the uk site that the uk would be able to separate off the more sympathetic states from the less empathetic states, the scandinavian states, the netherlands, and so forth, but that has just not happened. i was at an event recently, where it was very

clear that even the sympathetic state said we are behind michel barnier. we think he is doing a terrificjob. barnier. we think he is doing a terrific job. good to talk to you. i'm sure we will speak again. thank you very much, thank you. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are martin bentham, who's the home affairs editor at the london evening standard, and martin lipton, who's chief sports report for the sun. that will be also difficult. the headlines on bbc news... a pause in the brexit talks — the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier says despite a crunch meeting with the brexit secretary in brussels today there are still key unresolved issues. after the storm, the clean up — roads and railways continue to struggle after a battering from storm callum. france, germany and the uk issue

a joint statement demanding a "credible investigation" in to the disappearance of the journalist, jamal khashoggi — who vanished after visiting saudi arabia's consulate in turkey. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn watson. after an embarassing defeat to israel in the nations league, things didn't improve for scotland in tonight's friendly with portugal. the european champions, who were without cristiano ronaldo, won 3—1 at hampden park, a result which will only increase the pressure on scotland manager alex mcleish. david ornstein reports. it is 20 years since scotland's last reached a major tournaments, and if that which is to end, this is the level of confidence in that we should expect to face. portugal were missing a number of star names, but their status as european champions remains, and initially, the scotts

rose to the challenge, and early period of dominance nearly paying dividends. but a run of five defeats the alex mcleish‘s silent points to problems. scott mckenna wasted a glorious chance to equalise, and that proved all the more costly when adair shows how it should be done to double portugal's lead. a lead that would again be extended as bruma sleightholme a spectacular third. there were still time for scotland to snatch something, by way of consolation. the steven naismith‘s goal did little to raise the gloom over hampden park. saracens opened up their european campaign with victory over glagow in the champions cup. there were also wins today for gloucester, cardiff and newcastle.

with all the details, here's adam wild. as your‘s elite sides enter the bright lights, it was hard to see anything but a saracens win. glasgow do have a impressive home record against being the initial position, but the champions were proving impossible to stop. early inroads we re impossible to stop. early inroads were made by michael rhodes of saracens. whilst glasgow demanded more comments never quite came. that tried the only one of the game. saracens begin with a win. visitors to toulon always guaranteed a warm welcome. the newcastle, it was a welcome. the newcastle, it was a welcome back, theirfirst champions cup game in14 welcome back, theirfirst champions cup game in 1a seasons, and if they had forgotten the size of the task, it took less than 20 seconds for them to be reminded. still, toulon and the side that they once were, newcastle keeping in touch thanks to the strength of kyle cooper. the second half, things opened up a

little, newcastle break, and sinoti not quite in the corner. this judged a high tackle, a penalty try awarded for his efforts. whilst the lead changed hands again and again this policy was just enough to secure newcastle a well earned win. amidst the rain at kingsholm, boston were taking on french champions, with just days before he names his english squad, coach eddiejones saw danny cipriani ‘s buckle in his audition. his delayed's pass helped... it was enough to give his side a 19—14 victory. a french test to fit the cardiff blues, back in this competition after four years away, this was quite some time. gareth askham taking the ball from within his own half to weave his way through the lyon mac —— lyon

defence. adam wells, bbc news. englishman eddie peperell has won his second european tour title at the british masters. he held a three shot lead heading into the final day. but he only won by one shot in the end finishing level par for the day but nine under for the tournament. sweden's alexander bjork finished two shots behind — the win means pepperell moves into the world's top 35 as well as putting another title alongside the one he lifted in february at the qatar masters. that's all the sport for now. albee back with another update later on this evening. trains are being disrupted along the devon coast, afterflood damage from storm callum caused a large hole to open up beneath the line between exeter and newton abbot. the west of britain has been worst affected by torrential rain, with homes flooded and people left without power in parts of south—wales. tomos morgan reports from carmarthen. the basement at number six, southern

terrace, carmarthen. injust underfive hours last night, jason discovered his home was decimated by the heavy rain. i have lived all my life and i have never seen a flood like this. i know it does flood in the surrounding area but this has not happened in 30 years. christmas is coming. halloween is around the corner, fireworks. there will be none this year, do you know what i mean? south wales has borne the brunt of storm callum. 30 minutes north in this village, corey sharpling, who was 21—years—old, died in a landslide. the weather is also affected in other areas across the uk. in devon, flooding has destroyed this railway track. repairs are expected to take at least the rest of the day. if a hole opens up, we cannot run the trains. i'm going back to cornwall

because that is or my university is. i am going to be back very late. this is the first of two buses. there is nothing you can do about it. you have to be philosophical, haven't you? such was the chaos caused by the torrential downpour that emergency services have had to help deal with the aftermath. last night, a river broke its banks and there was pressure from all of the extra water. the heavy rain has caused flooding across the whole town. the clean—up operation has begun but the effects of such devastation will be felt for some time to come. storm callum has also caused problems for many farmers across wales. becky eardley filmed this footage of a horse rescue in gilwern in montmouthshire. two men swam out in to water six—feet deep to lead the animal to safety. no—one was injured in the rescue and the horse is said to be recovering well. germany, france and britain

have issued a joint statement urging a credible investigation into the disappearance of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi saying that saudi arabia needs to provide a full and detailed response to allegations that he was murdered inside its consulate in istanbul. but amid reports that the uk and the united states could boycott a forthcoming business conference in riyadh, the saudis have said they'll retaliate to any sanctions. our diplomatic affairs correspondent paul adams gave us this update. for all the lurid details associated with this story, we simply do not know what happened to jamal khashoggi 12 days ago. we don't want to get ahead of the facts but the facts do not look good, and that is why we are seeing this pretty strong statement about utmost seriousness and a hint in the wording that officials do believe something pretty awful happened. if relevant, the ministers say that the saudis should identify, and those responsible should be held to account. that is a fairly serious warning. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt,

was asked about this just a short time ago and he said it really is more than ever up to saudi arabia, up to them to come clean. what happens from now on is absolutely up to saudi arabia. they must have seen the huge national concern from the united states, now from britain, france and germany, and what they need to do is co—operate fully with the investigation, the turks are asking us to do that and get to the bottom of this. jeremy hunt, the foreign secretary. the traditional governing party in bavaria — the csu — has lost its absolute majority in state elections, according to exit polls. the csu regional premier, markus soeder, has acknowledged the result. he said he was ready for coalition talks with any of the democratic parties except the populist, anti—immigrant, alternative for germany. the greens emerge as major winners and could have doubled their share of the vote. the poor performance in bavaria of chancellor angela merkel‘s sister party,

the csu, could further complicate her federal government. our correspondent jenny hill is in berlin, and she explained the significance of these results. broadly speaking, this is a terrible night angler merkel‘s bavarian sister party. the csu are the bavarian branch of her cdu party. it has had historic losses if these polls are to be believed. it looks as though they have not done this badly since the 1950s. the csu is traditionally a part, it is used to reigning supreme. it looks to have lost its absolute majority. interestingly, the csu picked fight over migration policy, it shifted itself to the right both in terms of rhetoric and policies over migration, and it seems to have backfired. voters have been deserting the party in droves, and

they have gone to the far right, but in more significant numbers into the arms of the green party. they are the real success story of this election in bavaria. the reason that all of this really matters, and angler merkel will be —— angela merkel will be watching very closely, is what happens in bavaria brilliant mirrors what happens at federal level here. voters are starting to walk away from the old traditional centre right and ce ntre—left traditional centre right and centre—left parties. mrs merkel‘s party is losing voters, but so morkel and seven —— significantly are her coalition party. they have done really badly in bavaria, really badly. they are down to about 10% of the vote. they are also doing really badly at federal level. just listen to what their leader had to say. this is andrea nall to what their leader had to say. this is andrea mall is giving her reaction to the terror will result in bavaria, giving the reason of the bad performance of the grand coalition in berlin, the fact that

there was a lot of infighting between angela merkel‘s cdu and the sister party the csu. there is speculation that the tonight is a big blow. there are state elections in another german region ina state elections in another german region in a couple of weeks' time, and mrs merkel‘s party secretary said today what has happened in bavaria is a warning farce. —— a warning for us. a british cyclist has been shot dead by a hunter in the french alps, police have confirmed. the 34—year—old restaurant owner was riding a mountain bike in woods near the town of les gets on saturday evening when he was shot dead. the victim who's been named locally as mark sutton had lived in the area for several years. it's emerged that sir richard branson‘s virgin — and stagecoach — shared a payout of more than £50 million from their profit—making west coast mainline, just months before handing the financially troubled east coast line back to the government. here's our business correspondentjoe miller. it carries passengers along the main corridor between london and glasgow

and makes a tidy profit along the way. virgin's west coast franchise did so well in the last financial year that owners sir richard branson and stagecoach‘s sir brian souter received a dividend of over £51 million. butjust a few months ago, the very same owners dropped out of a contract to run the troubled east coast line, the government was forced to step in and was left with a £2 billion shortfall. there is of course nothing to stop a private company rewarding its owners, but these large payouts will add to concerns that billionaires are cherry picking the most profitable parts of the railways. that's certainly labour's view. it says any money made in the west could be spread around the country if the railways were re—nationalised. buying a ticket is so extortionate these days that many people can't afford simply to travel by rail. so we want to see that investment

being pulled back into a good, publicly owned railway system which really does put the passenger at the heart. virgin says passengers are satisfied with its west coast service and in a statement, the department for transport stood behind the company, saying that privatisation had transformed railways and improved customer service. commuters caught up in this year's summer of chaos may well beg to differ, but one passenger group says it's the management rather than the owners that make all the difference. whoever is operating the railway, regardless of who owns it, is to manage it in a way that delivers excellent customer service, and i think there is evidence to suggest that passengers would appreciate greater value for money. the west coast franchise is up for tender again soon, but with rail fares set to rise further injanuary, the next operator will need to prove that travellers‘ hard earned cash is being put to good use. joe miller, bbc news. now we're being told

to eat less meat to help tackle global warming. but it seems our sunday roasts and steak dinners are safe in the hands of the government's climate change minister. claire perry has told the bbc that politicians telling people to eat less meat smacks of the worst kind of "nanny state advice." here's our environment analyst roger harrabin. burping farm animals are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, so cutting down on meat is one of the simplest things we can do to protect the climate. one report advises no more than one meat portion a week, either as steak are cut into strips to flavour meals like stir—fries. will the government pass on that advice?