this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top story: still no progress in brussels on brexit and the uk's transition out of the eu could be extended for another year to the end of 2021. the us asks turkey to hand over a surveillance recording said to provide strong evidence that the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi was killed in istanbul. crimea begins three days of mourning after the gun and bomb attack at a college that left at least 19 people dead. in business, #metoo sweeps across india as women take to social media to speak out over workplace harassment. also coming up in the business briefing: a no—deal brexit will set britain's car industry back two decades, that's the warning from the sector's lobby group. lots more to come on those negotiations. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. also in the programme: stockpiling for a chaotic brexit, so—called brexit preppers fear chaos in march and have cupboards crammed with food and medicines. are you getting ready for a no deal? what would you stockpile? tell us what you think, just use #bbcthebriefing. it's emerged that the british prime minister, theresa may, is ready to consider extending the uk's transition out of the eu

for a further year, to the end of 2021. the proposal came from brussels, and would allow both sides extra time to come up with a solution to the irish border problem, but the uk would have to pay billions more into the eu's budget and follow its rules for even longer. let's get the latest from brussels and our europe correspondent, damian grammaticas. she delivered her 20 minute speech, don't know if the heads of government got indigestion or not, but not much progress at all is expected? good morning, sally. no. absolutely not. jihadist15—20 minute window where she addressed the leaders. we know she told them she believed a deal was possible and the thought it would take courage and leadership in order to reach that —— she had this 15—20. when the

leaders urged they said they heard nothing new from her. remember, that's what they were asking when they walked into the room, that she presents new thinking on the table ifa presents new thinking on the table if a deal is to be reached because the eu side has said at this stage now, at this late stage, good intentions aren't enough. the leaders themselves then took the decision, the other 27 eu leaders, to not schedule a special summit next month which would have been expected to sign off on any deal. that's now off the table and in some ways that's not a bad thing because there's not the time pressure of a new immediate coming up, but it does mean it's all over and back to the negotiators to try to find a way through this. this news of extending the transition period until 2021, perhaps news they liked in brussels but certainly won't go down well within the conservative party? no.

this is an idea that was floated... it has been discussed in the past and was floated in the negotiations last week, something the eu side appear now to be offering, which was, as you were explaining, the transition period, so after the uk leads in march next year, the period following that when the uk would effectively still followed... act as if it was inside the use. it would follow all the eu rules, still take pa rt follow all the eu rules, still take part in the customs union and single market. that could be extended up to another year, almost, even to three yea rs. another year, almost, even to three years. the reason that is that would give the three—year period in which they can work out a future relationship and future trade deal to solve the issues about the border with ireland and associated problems. the difficulty with that, as you're indicating, is political for theresa may. the leaders came

out and they say they appeared to be open to that at dinner, but the problem back at home, pro—brexit mps and pro—brexit politicians and supporters find that idea and a summer. supporters find that idea and a summer. they think that puts off the date the uk would finally be out of all eu structures, puts off the date the uk could sign its own trade deals and implement those, and would leave the uk contributing to the eu budget following eu rules, accepting free movement of all eu citizens who wa nt to free movement of all eu citizens who want to move to the uk to work, and that therefore they described that asa that therefore they described that as a kind of vassal state status, which many say they would not be prepared to accept. thank you so much, damian grammaticas in brussels with thelatest. we'll return to brussels in about ten minutes' time to talk to a leading think tank. we're asking what you would do to prepare for brexit, one viewer in

europe, not in the uk, has been in touch to say he is stockpiling whiskey, so keep your comments coming in. the washington post has published the final column written by jamal khashoggi before he disappeared two weeks ago. turkey says it has evidence he was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul. the united states has officially asked for the recording, said to have been made by turkish intelligence. from istanbul, mark lowen reports. at the home where diplomats entertain, police hunting the darkest of crimes. the saudi consul—general‘s residence in istanbul scoured by turkish and saudi teams searching forjust what happened to jamal khashoggi. it's over two weeks since the journalist disappeared after entering the consulate. turkey alleges murder by the saudi government. the american secretary of state shuttled from riyadh to ankara, promising turkey's president saudi arabia would investigate

but donald trump has taken a softer line, fuelling suspicions he is helping the saudis shift the blame. if you look at saudi arabia, they are an ally and they're a tremendous purchaser of not only military equipment but other things. when i went there, they committed to purchase $450 billion worth of things, and $110 billion worth of military, and those are the biggest orders in the history of this country, probably the history of the world. but i want to find out what happened, where is the fault, and we will probably know that by the end of the week. allowing the saudis to shield their leadership won't wash with mr khashoggi's friends and colleagues who know the arab world well. translation: nobody could have committed this slaughter without the permission of the crown prince. those involved were part of the government and they involved an order, and america's attempt to let the saudis off the book is disgusting. trump is rubbing salt into the wounds. last week, the bbc identified

this man, maher mutreb, as one of the 15 saudis accused of being part of the hit squad. photographs of him working as a bodyguard and travelling frequently with the crown prince have now emerged. evidence could unearth the grim truth of what happened here but politics mightjust bury it again in a cover—up. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. that article by jamal khashoggi is in our news briefing later, we'll look at what he had to say. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. twitter has released ten million tweets it believes are linked to russian and iranian state—backed accounts that were trying to influence political opinion abroad. some date back to 2009. the tweets were posted by 4,000 accounts affiliated with a russian agency believed to be behind an online campaign of misinformation. norway's prime minister erna solberg has issued an official

government apology to norwegian women who were mistreated over world ii—era relationships with german soldiers. up to 50,000 norwegian women are thought to have had intimate relationships with german soldiers. the first group of around three thousand honduran migrants who want to get into the united states has arrived at the border between guatemala and mexico. president trump has threatened to cut us aid to central american countries that fail to stop the caravan. three days of mourning have been declared in crimea, after a gun and bomb attack at a college left at least 19 people dead. dozens were injured. russian investigators say the assault in the city of kerch was carried out by an 18—year—old student at the school. lebo diseko has more. tributes in crimea to those who died in the attack

on the technical college. and in russia, which annexed crimea from ukraine four years ago, flowers laid near the kremlin wall. the tragedy of events one thing on which people in both places can agree on. it's not clear precisely how things unfolded, but here is what we do know. at least one explosion inside the building and then shooting, with reports of the gunman going from room to room, targeting students, then turning the weapon on himself. at first it was thought this was an act of terror. this woman is one of the college staff and says she saw many bodies, children's bodies. "it was a real act of "terrorism, she says. but russian authorities are now simply calling it mass murder carried out by an 18—year—old student who has been named as vladislav roslyakov. his motives aren't clear, but it is thought he developed a hostile attitude to his college.

speaking in kiev, ukraine's president petro poroshenko called the victims ukrainian citizens and said the killings were a tragedy. russia has started an investigation. earlier, president putin held a moment of silence for those who died. after dark at a hospital near the school, relatives of the injured waited for news. hospital workers say there are four unidentified people in intensive care. the russian—backed head of crimea's administration says the gunman acted alone. they're still trying to establish why he did it. translation: most important is to find out reasons. what pushed this inhuman person to commit this crime? we don't understand that yet. he had all the positive characteristics. the director of the college says he always behaved himself. he was very calm. he never caused any trouble. the murderer has killed himself. i saw his body. there are many more questions

being asked about what happened. it's thought the attacker used a hunting weapon. how did he get a license for it? and just how was he able to carry out such a deadly attack on what was his place of learning? lebo diseko, bbc news. a story we're going to cover in more detail in business briefing. in india, junior foreign minister mj akbar resigned on wednesday amid sexual harassment allegations by more than a dozen of his former colleagues. mr akbar denies the accusations and has filed a criminal defamation lawsuit against one of the women. in the past two weeks, india has witnessed a wave of allegations on social media about harassment and assault in the workplace, naming senior figures from business to entertainment and journalism. priya lakhani is founder and ceo of education technology company century tech and advises the uk government on entrepreneurship. in her previous career, she was a lawyer specialising in defamation. good to see you, priya lakhani. this

is close to your heart because you we re is close to your heart because you were a barrister, an area of law you specialised in, but you've experienced this? yes, in the tech community but this wave is travelling through india, and that's what the story is about, incredible given social media is so prominent there. what's interesting, and what's not mention, he is a powerful man and 21 women have accused him and this is a defamation suit —— mentioned. a year ago when the weinstein scandal broke, said if people started bringing defamation suits against alleged victims, that can suits against alleged victims, that ca n stifle suits against alleged victims, that can stifle the entire campaign. imagine being a powerful man with 97 lawyers bringing a suit against this accuser and having to defend yourself in a sense. there's huge implications with this case and i'll be watching it closely. in terms of the #metoo campaign, has it lost some momentum? it keeps coming back. it translates from sexual harassment

to bullying, which we've seen recently in westminster, and i think it will continue. these brave women are coming forward and everyone is encouraging them to do so. priyai, thank you for now. priyai will be back and we have great stories to discuss later in more detail in the news briefing. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the duke and duchess down under. royal fever reaches melbourne. we'll be live with the latest. parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life. but in the marina area, where most of the damage was done, they're more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here, he's gone from being a little—known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. it was a 20lb bomb which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken. democracy will prevail. it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have

been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. this catholic nation held its breath for the men they call the 33. and then... bells toll ..bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue, and chile let out an almighty roar. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: the us has asked turkey to hand over a recording, allegedy detailing the final moments of journalist jamal khashoggi. meanwhile, turkish investigators have completed a search of the saudi consul‘s residence in istanbul. theresa may has refused to rule out extending the uk's

transition out of the eu for another year, to the end of 2021. let's stay with that story now. let's go to brussels now and pieter cleppe with the open europe group. it isa it is a broadly eurosceptic think tank. welcome to the briefing. the heads of government in brussels at that dinner last night with theresa may said that she had nothing new to present to them. they cancelled the special summit in november, give us your take on this process. nothing new in deed, theresa may has repeated the red lines for the uk, so repeated the red lines for the uk, so the uk is against carving up britain's customs territory, that's very important, and britain also wa nts to very important, and britain also wants to make sure that, if it

enters a status whereby it would be under the european union's customs regime, that this would not be an indefinite period and the crux of theissueis indefinite period and the crux of the issue is that the british reviews to give the european union veto over when britain can regain its trade policy. this is a huge issue, certainly in the uk for those who are for a clean brexit, the likes of iain duncan smith and other politicians, they're likes of iain duncan smith and other politicians, they‘ re angry likes of iain duncan smith and other politicians, they're angry about the fa ct politicians, they're angry about the fact that transition period will continue now possibly until 2021. so indeed there are strong rumours that britain would be open to extending the so—called transition stage, under which everything would remain the same. now, the idea is to get a little bit more time to them agree what is called a tca, a temperate

customs arrangements, whereby at the british would align themselves to the eu's customs, but whereby they would have a say over when to effort that arrangement. now, the thing is, evenif that arrangement. now, the thing is, even if there is an extension, it doesn't mean that the eu side has to agree such a temporary customs arrangement and that would mean if they wouldn't agree that britain would slip into backstop status, which means that they would slip into a status where, indeed, the european side would be able to veto when britain regains its trade powers and i think it is normal that the uk is quite reluctant to agree to that. so, to get to a sustainable solution, the eu should basically simply accept that, at some point, the british will want to set different tariffs, and that they can't, sort of, legally lock the uk

into their own customs regime. 0k, thank you very much in deed for joining us on the briefing. and if you want to know what was discussed, what theresa may mac said in her speech, it is all on the bbc news at an bbc news online. all of the detail explaining it all, making sense of this latest twist in the brexit story, as it were. it's day three of the royal tour of australia, harry and meghan have been meeting the crowds in melbourne. locals waited from 5am in a bid to catch a glimpse the duke and duchess of sussex. correspondent hywel griffith is also in melbourne. tell us about their day. well, good timing because they have just arrived here in south melbourne... inaudible. about 20 minutes late. hundreds of people here for their brush with

royalty. maybe to see royalty with a brush. earlier on today, huge crowds getting in very early, as you said, to the botanic gardens, as they did the official walkabout. people were queueing for hours. they took plenty of time to meet people and hug people as well. it has been very hands—on so far. later on they went toa hands—on so far. later on they went to a reception where they met people, encouraging people to exercise the campaign, they saw the demonstration sport, netball, aussie rules, football, netball as well, and plenty of young people getting up and plenty of young people getting up close and personal with the royals during this 16 day tour altogether. right now they're on the beach behind me somewhere in the throng of people cleaning up the beach which i have to say didn't look particularly dirty. i think someone's had a go at it already. there we go. it is obviously a message of conversation and keeping the environment clean for everyone to enjoy. thank you so much, hywel. good to see you. beach cleaning, the

duke and duchess sussex. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm chetan pathak and this is your thursday sport briefing. coming up: we hear from the new monaco manager, thierry henry, pakistan's cricketers dominate australia and marc marquez looks to seal a third consecutive motogp crown in japan. pakistan have the upper hand in their second test against australia in abu dhabi heading in to day three on thursday. having bowled australia out for 145 with mohammad abbas taking 5—33. pakistan will resume on 144—2 in their second innings, that's a lead of 281. the quarter—finals of the wta kremlin cup in moscow get underway on thursday. former world number two vera zvonareva, who's a qualifier this year, stunned karolina plishkova to reach the last 8 and claim herfirst top 10 win in seven years. meanwhile, there was another shock on wednesday as tunisian qualifier 0ns jabeur, who's ranked 101 in the world, reached her first top—level

quarter—final with a straight sets win over 2017 us open champion sloane stephens. there's been much speculation about the club thierry henry would choose to begin his magerial career, and on wednesday he was officially introduced at the club where he began his playing career, as monaco. he's already taken his first training sessions with the squad, so wednesday was just for the cameras really. and he has quite a task on his hands, monaco are 18th in ligue1withjust one win and three draws so far this season. when the offer came, it was quite

logical. you know obviously the connection i have with monaco. this is where i started, and the club will always play a big part in my heart. that will always be the way. so to come and start here, it is a dream come true. i won't lie. a lot of work to do, as you can imagine. marc marquez was mixing with fans injapan on wednesday. he and his honda team could be celebrating winning the motogp title at the japanese grand prix on sunday, but the spaniard is offering no guarantees. victory would seal a third consecutive motogp crown for the 25—year—old and tie him with mick doohan as the third—most successful rider in history. we achieved our goals in every race, so now we achieved our goals in every race, so now we're in a very good situation for the championship, but we cannot forget that there are

still four races that are really important, so we need to keep the same mentality, keep the same concentration to achieve the final goal, the final dream, that is to be the world champion in 2018. and before we go, everyone likes to see a cat video on social media, right? turns out cats are less popular on a tennis court, though. this was the reaction when a feline friend briefly interrupted the second round match between sloane stephens and 0ns jabeur at the kremlin cup in moscow. neither player was particularly bothered. and nor, for that matter, was the cat, who, at least, had the courtesy to stay off the court. that is your thursday sport briefing, from me, chetan pathak, and the rest of the sport team, goodbye. thanks for that. we have been looking at the so—called brexit preppers, what they are stockpiling

in case of a chaotic no—deal — we asked for your feedback on that and many have been in touch, so let's share the comments. meagan says "no intention of complying with fake threats of shortages". she says "we will stockpile the silly threats of armageddon and i would weaken next year when we are out". another says "grexit stockpiling what? there are some halfwits out there. if they are so some halfwits out there. if they are so worried, move to lala land and ta ke so worried, move to lala land and take theresa may with you". some of the comments so far. another from bill, "i am stockpiling commonsense because it seems there is a fairly limited supply of that at the moment". thanks for your comments. i will be back for the business briefing in a moment — do stay with us. we have quite a bit of dry weather

coming up but the increase in risk of mist and fog over the weekend. the last few days has been calm thanks to the weakening weather front. increasingly we see high pressure moving off the atlantic and that has been clearing the skies. that means a cold start to the morning. temperatures in the coldest spots down below freezing and some patches of frost is well in scotland in the countryside to start the day. it isa in the countryside to start the day. it is a cold one first thing. further south, not too cold for southern england, we have cloud here on thursday morning, and through the day it will thin and break to give some bright or sunny spells. at the same time the cloud will thicken in western scotland where there will also be some light showers for the western and northern isles. most of these staying away from mainland, temperatures between 12 and 16 degrees. the forecast into the night—time, we will have clear skies

and light winds, this time across england and wales, it will be a chilly night with temperatures pushing into low single figures across the countryside and parts of england and wales. further north, temperatures moving up in scotland and northern ireland as the wind begins to strengthen ahead of this weather system. and for friday the weather system. and for friday the weather front will bring some wet weather front will bring some wet weather in across scotland. the rain is quite heavy for a time. certainly turning quite windy. further south for northern ireland closer to the influence of high pressure, that means the rain will be lighter and patchy through the day. at the same time it will turn quite cloudy and dampfora time time it will turn quite cloudy and damp for a time across north—west england and north wales, so the north in scotland, skies are clear, so some north in scotland, skies are clear, so some sunshine developing later in the day, and it is dry with some sunshine across the midlands, east anglia and southern counties of england. 0nto the weekend forecast and fronts targeting the of the uk. this one will bring rain across scotland. the wind is coming from the south—west direction. as the

rain pushes through, the foehn effect will boost temperatures up to 18 degrees for eastern scotland and parts of north—east england, so quite warm for the time of year. further south, mist and fog could be dense for saturday morning but clearing to give bright or sunny spells, highs of16— clearing to give bright or sunny spells, highs of 16— 18 degrees, thatis spells, highs of 16— 18 degrees, that is your weather. this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. running out of road. as brexit talks fail to make progress, the uk car industry says leaving without a deal will set it back two decades. plus, #metoo sweeps across india, as women take to social media to speak out over workplace harassment. and on the markets: asian shares are mixed, as wall street fell, with minutes from the federal reserve saying that policymakers are united on the need for more interest rate rises.