welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: saudi arabia under more pressure. president trump acknowledges jamal khashoggi is most likely dead and talks of very severe consequences. well, it'll have to be very severe. i mean, it's bad, bad stuff. but we'll see what happens. a backlash from her own party as theresa may tries to break the brexit deadlock. against a backdrop of virtually non—stop violence, afghans attempt to hold elections. we have a special report from kabul. and merging the big screen with the big stage, how some of the world's most high—profile bands are using tech to transform their shows. hello.

pressure is building on saudi arabia to acknowledge and explain the suspected murder of thejournalist and government critic jamal khashoggi, last seen in turkey two weeks ago. the us treasury secretary has pulled out of a high—profile investment conference in riyadh next week, so have his opposite numbers from britain and france. president trump has now declared that mr khashoggi is most likely dead. and if the saudis are responsible, he said, the consequences should be very severe. we're waiting for the results of about three different investigations, we should be able to get to the bottom fairly soon. well, it'll have to be very severe. i mean, it's bad, bad stuff. but we'll see what happens. our correspondent in washington, chris buckler, says there has been a change of tone from the president. yes, the president is still pushing for a pause. he says he wants to see the outcome

of these different investigations that are ongoing, and we know that there are still very active investigations in turkey at the moment. but there is definitely a hardening of language, and you get a sense that that is partly because donald trump has seen the details of multiple intelligence reports. he said that to the new york times, and he says that, if saudi arabia were involved, then ultimately there will be severe consequences. but, again, he's still not saying what those will be. but i think there is pressure growing, notjust on saudi arabia but also on president trump, to be seen to act on this. because he has talked about the potential of it being rogue killers, of really wanting to stop and take a break, and not point the finger at saudi arabia at the moment. but, at the same time, there does seem to be growing suspicions that saudi arabia could have been involved, and the longer thatjamal khashoggi

is missing, the more that there are questions being asked of the saudi government itself. and yet where do you think this does go next? it is not hard to imagine, is it, the people in the white house behind you wish this would go away. saudi arabia is an important trade partner and ally. president trump is not the world's foremost defender of journalists. yes, and beyond that, he avoids saying specifically that he wants certain things. he has ruled out the idea of sanctions. he makes clear that lucrative arms sales are something he wants to defend, and it does leave that question of what happens next. you talk about the relationship with riyadh, mike. it comes down to three things — oil, arms sales and ultimately influence. and that's partly because in the middle east, saudi arabia is, some would argue, america's most important ally, and with those tensions with iran, they want to keep saudi arabia on side.

and there is therefore the question of what they can potentially do. if you rule out the idea of, for example, sanctions, could you for example expel diplomats, have that kind of tension? that is something america is trying to avoid, and certainly this white house is trying to avoid, with saudi arabia. president trump has been asked about this — what would you do. he says there are many, many options, a long list of options. he will not get into specifics. but truthfully, if more evidence emerges, and there are these suggestions of a recording, although the secretary of state, mike pompeo, has denied reports that he has actually heard this recording, but if that recording does emerge, it does put the american authorities in a difficult position, and president trump will find himself in a position where he inevitably has to do something. chris buckler for us there chris bucklerfor us there in washington. let's get some of the day's other news. mexico is resisting pressure from donald trump to deal forcefully with a caravan of central american migrants travelling to the us. he has talked of sending the us military to defend the border, and has sent secretary of state mike pompeo to talk to the mexican government face to face.

ministers there have talked of seeking a humanitarian solution instead. the us department of justice has opened an investigation into accusatons of child abuse against hundreds of roman catholic priests in pennsylvania. a grand jury report in august found credible evidence that more than a thousand children had been abused by 300 priests across the state, and that church officials covered it up. the wife of interpol‘s former president, meng hongwei, has called for more freedom in china, weeks after her husband was detained there. in her first interview with british media, grace meng told the bbc that she's had no updates on her husband. the chinese authorities have since confirmed he's being held on suspicion of bribery. the european commission has warned italy that its budget plans for 2019 are an unprecedented deviation from eu budget rules. the commission says the government's spending plans are too high and the deficit would rise instead of falling. the british prime minister is facing a significant backlash

within her own party over her latest attempt to break the deadlock in brexit negotiations. theresa may has signalled she's considering an offerfrom european negotiators to extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020. what has now emerged is the idea that an option to extend the implementation period could be a further solution of this issue of the backstop in northern ireland. what we are not doing, we are not standing here proposing an extension to the implementation period. what we are doing is working to ensure we have a solution to the backstop issue in northern ireland, that enables us to — which is currently a blockage to completing the deal, that enables us to get on with completing the deal, that delivers on the vote of the british people, and is good for the future of the uk. the latest on that from our political correspondent, jonathan blake, at westminster. well, theresa may has made it clear

that she is at least entertaining the idea. she arrived in brussels... 0r arrived at day two of the summit in brussels this morning, saying what had been reported in the uk over the last few days, and that was that there was an idea. who has quite come up with it first, the uk or the eu, it's not quite clear, but the idea has emerged, she said, to potentially extend the transition period, or what the government calls the implementation phase. and that is the period after the uk formally leaves the eu, at the end of march next year, and the end of december 2020, when the two sides will work out the finer details of their future relationship, and implement that in place. so what has surfaced is the idea of that potentially being extended by a matter of months, according to the prime minister, theresa may, today, or potentially even longer,

according to some on the eu side, as a way to ensure that there was more time to put in place the trade deal that was agreed between now and then. but it's fair to say it hasn't gone down particularly well with mps in theresa may's own conservative party here in westminster. they've described it on all sides today, both those who were in favour of brexit and those who campaigned to remain in the eu, variously as a desperate last move, unhelpful, dead on arrival, and totally unacceptable. jonathan blake for us there. a rogue bodyguard has shot dead at least two senior afghan security officials inside the governor's compound in kandahar. the taliban says it carried out the attack. afghanistan is on high alert ahead of crucial parliamentary elections. the taliban is increasingly active and posing a growing threat to the hopes of a new generation of educated afghans. from the capital, kabul, our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. the palace of darul aman, place of peace, became a symbol

of a painful war. now it's being restored to its old splendour by a new generation. najmia and nasta ran, barred from school when the taliban ruled, now they are engineers. translation: everyone outside afghanistan sees the crisis we're going through, but we are staying here, daring to stand with our brothers to rebuild our country. next door, forbidding security wraps around the american university of afghanistan. the persecution of human beings shall be forbidden... law students prepare for their exams, in a country often lawless and corrupt. two years ago, their peaceful oasis was stormed by gunmen. nazia bears the scars of that battle. glass sliced her face. i remember each and every second of that night. like, my father wanted me to go

to dubai university, but ijust wanted to stay here, just because — to show taliban that they cannot scare us or intimidate us by attacking our schools. along the avenue outside, a blizzard of posters for parliamentary polls. more young, educated afghans are running than ever before, taking on old warlords and their sons. but, at this roundabout, no—one is looking at posters. they are looking for work, any work, as the day begins, desperation written all over this road of last resort. translation: most of the people you see here are educated. they basically have two choices. join the army — in a week, a month, or a year, you die — or you leave the country.

this begins to tell you why so many young afghans are choosing to leave afghanistan, a place which offers them little work or safety, or even some hope that their life here will get any better than this. the story of a country's pain is told in kabul‘s emergency hospital. mohammed — attacked by a warlord, a leg chopped off. abdullah — shot by local police. and abdulhadi — he came under taliban fire. all in the last week, all in their 20s. and farid — just a bystander during a family feud, shot in both legs, still scared to show his face. it won't get any better, he tells me, just worse. all eyes are on saturday's elections. in this police control room, we watch their cameras across kabul. more forces on the streets

to stop threats of violence and vote rigging. afg hanistan‘s new war between dark forces of the past and people fighting to move forward. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet the british racing driver fighting the strict rules on gender change. 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. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the pressure is ramping up on saudi arabia. president trump says it certainly looks like the missing journalist jamal khashoggi is dead. theresa may suggests the uk could stay tied to the eu for longer than planned. official figures have confirmed the weakest economic growth in china

since the end of the financial crisis, almost a decade ago. gdp growth slowed to 6.5% in the three months to september. 0ur shanghai correspondent robin brant told me what this all means. well, it tells us that the cool off in the chinese economy, the world's second—largest economy, appears to be continuing. growth for the third quarter of this year is slowing. it's at 6.5%. now, that is still a healthy figure when you compare it to economies certainly in europe and the uk. the chinese economy continues to grow at 6.5%, but the rate of that growth is slowing. 6.5% for the third quarter of this year — that is the slowest rate of growth china has seen

since the beginning of 2009. that was that in the depths of the global financial crisis. so what we have is a government here in beijing, in china, trying to deal with a slowing—down of its economy, and at the same time it's trying to deal with inherent risks, a huge boom in credit over the last ten years, and in the last year, we've seen the government increase measures in trying to clamp down on credit. but at the same time, it doesn't want to cause the economy to simply implode, so in recent weeks we've seen measures to try and ensure that the banks don't have to keep as much money in reserve. so it's a tightrope—walk of the chinese government, as it tries to deal with an economy where growth is slowing, it's trying to deal with a huge explosion in the availability of credit at the same time, but it doesn't want to bring in measures that are going to make that rate of growth even more difficult, even more challenging.

this is an odd one, because the data is meaningful to analysts, even though nobody really believes the exact figures. it is known they are subject to a bit of government massage. yeah, i mean, the caveat we always have when we talk about these things, mike, is that there is a huge suspicion about china's official figures coming out, in terms of the health of its economy. i mean for the last six years, it has pretty much stuck exactly to government forecasts, and that is unprecedented when you look at gdp figures from other countries. i mean, there are some analysts, some experts, who believe the real rate of growth in the economy could be as low as 3.5%, maybe it sits at around 4% or 5%. there are very few who really believe that china's economy is growing at 6.5% at the moment. nonetheless, we have to take them at face value and compare them with previous figures, and it's the best we've got in terms of the apparent health of the chinese economy. a person wanting to change their gender in the uk legally faces

a number of steps, including a medical diagnosis and living in their chosen gender for at least two years. many feel this is all just too complicated, intrusive and expensive. the government has been looking into it, and a decision will be made soon on any proposals for england and wales. this report from our special correspondent lucy manning. trans people know who we are. we know our gender. we don't need other people to sit there and tell us that. charlie martin is a racing driver. she is also a trans woman, transitioning six years ago. she is happy to face the twists and turns on the track, but has been reluctant to deal with the bureaucracy, medical checks and cost that legally changing gender requires. it seems like a very strange process for me. having lived my life over the last six years as female,

and never having had that called into question. we know our own mind. we don't need to prove that over a matter of years to then have ourselvesjudged by some kind of panel, who hold court over our destiny. the government has been consulting on making it easierfor transgender people to change their birth certificates, considering allowing them to legally declare what gender they are themselves. you wouldn't ask this of other minority groups, so why do the trans community have to prove themselves to people in this situation? but the trans debate has become a bitter and divided one, between those who want to self—identify as a man or a woman without the involvement of a doctor and without the two—year delay, and those who believe this is a threat to groups and spaces that have been women—only. at parliament, nicola williams has been lobbying mps, worried about the impact the changes could have on other women.

the consultation‘s been quite unfair, i think. women have been basically smeared and shamed and silenced. if any man can simply declare that he is female, and given access to women's rights and women's spaces, then that takes away the ability for women to say, "no, i have a boundary there." those with opposing views have clashed. hyde park last year, bristol this year. the government insists there are no plans to change women—only spaces, but even an mp who backs reform thinks questions about the impact on women's refuges and prisons must be discussed. i have spoken to lots of women mps who feel that if they say anything, they're going to be called names, or said that they're a transphobe. but that has not been helpful at all, because they are perfectly reasonable questions. the prime minister, in a video

for an awards ceremony for the lgbt community last night, indicated change is likely. and the thousands of responses we've received so far show there's a real desire for reform. charlie martin says she just wants the same rights as everyone else. lucy manning, bbc news. warnings have been issued across eastern spain ahead of what is expected to be the worst torrential rainfall in ten years. around 200 mm of rain are forecast in just 12 hours. it is just days since tropical storm leslie swept across the country, and flash—floods in the balearic islands left 13 people dead. the government is replacing names with numbers on doors. the eu

commission has dis— associated itself from it. the sagrada familia basilica, one of spain's most popular tourist sites, has agreed to pay $41 million to authorities in barcelona because it turns out it has had no building permit for more than 130 years. the money will be spent on improving public transport and access to the monument and surrounding area. some of the world's biggest brands are investing heavily in technology to bring their products and services closer to people. that includes artists and performers, very big brands, some of them, also developing innovative ways to bring their live shows to life. # in the name of love... four musicians, 17,000 fans. so how do you make sure everyone gets a good view? u2‘s answer is to build a one—of—a—kind, double—sided video screen, that is almost 30 metres long. and they don'tjust project their faces on it.

they climb inside. it is a very expensive way of getting from that big stage down to this little one down here. the band's bassist, adam clayton, showed me how it all works. so everybody has the best seat in the house — is that the idea? yeah, the idea was, if we divide it down the centre, then all these people are close to you when you're in the middle. and then, when you get onto this stage, you're actually performing to the people down this end. and this end is much like a club gig, this is much more, like, down and dirty, and the other end is a bit more formal. which do you prefer? i like down and dirty. when u2 first started playing the clubs around dublin in the 1970s, a show of this scale and complexity would have been unimaginable. but what does all of this technology and choreography mean for the relationship between the band and their audience? the magic act is just to shrink the venue, make it disappear. what's the fastest route to proximity with our audience? now, we have to use a lot of technology to serve that end. but it's the same thought, which is,

is there a place in this show where people have a bad seat? that's what — we're going to camp right there. do you think, though, that stops you from being a spontaneous live band? yes. i mean, maybe not for you, i don't know. for me, i do have to hit some marks, and i did find that constraining at some points. but then, like a theatre production, i think every night's different anyway, even with the same script. technology like this comes at a cost, and across the industry, ticket prices are at an all—time high. but, for u2‘s fans, even the cheap seats now come with a view. mark savage, bbc news, amsterdam. what could possibly go wrong? spinal

tapp et cetera. the duke and duchess of sussex have kicked off their shoes to walk along bondi beach in sydney. harry and meghan met a surfing group for an event called fluro friday. the group dress in colourful clothing and discuss mental health issues. later, the duke is due to climb the harbour bridge and raise a flag for the invictus games, the competition for armed forces veterans which he set up. the couple will also meet prime minister scott morrison and leader of the opposition bill shorten. remember these painful scenes — one of banksy‘s best—known pictures being partially shredded, just after it was sold at auction? the elusive artist released a video straight away showing how it was done. but now, a more recent one reveals the stunt didn't quite go to plan. the painting the girl with balloon should have been completely destroyed, but got stuck instead.

it sold initially for more than $1 million to an anonymous buyer. it has since been renamed love is in the bin. a reminder of our top story: president trump says he believes the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi is dead. mr trump told journalists that he based his belief on what he called intelligence from every side. he said allegations that the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman, was responsible for what had happened to mr khashoggi after he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul raised deep questions about the us alliance with riyadh. he said the consequences could be very severe. earlier, the us treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, pulled out of a major saudi investment conference. more on all the news any time on the

bbc website. thank you for watching. hello again. most of us saw some decent sunshine on thursday, and after a sunny day, we've kept those clear skies for the first part of the night as well. this is how things looked at the end of the day in east yorkshire. with those clear skies and light winds in place, temperatures have been falling pretty quickly. but we do have quite a bit of cloud now working into the north—west of the uk, along with strengthening winds. so the coldest part of the night is past us in northern ireland, and across the north—west of scotland, with temperatures actually rising over the next few hours as this band of rain arrives. also some gale—force gusts of wind working into the western isles, becoming quite blowy as well for the northern isles of scotland. further south, well, we've got some frost around to start the day in the countryside in northern england. cold, some cold spots in wales, again with temperatures just dipping down, and there could be one or two patches of frost elsewhere first thing.

but generally friday, across england and wales, it's high pressure that's firmly in charge, a weather front staying across the north—west of the uk. heavy rain then to start the day across north—west scotland. but the rain eases off quite quickly, and as the front pushes southwards, it weakens just to a strip of cloud, really, across northern ireland, working into north—west england and the far north of wales. could be the odd spot of rain, but not amounting to much. south of that, some sunshine, temperatures to 16 degrees also in london, so a pretty mild day coming up. now, through friday evening and overnight, we'll keep the clear skies, light winds combination across england and wales. this time, we may well see some mist and fog patches forming through the night as those temperatures fall. areas that could be foggy — well, maybe the somerset levels, through the wash marches, the salisbury plain as well, could be a few patches elsewhere. so it does mean for some of us saturday morning could start something like this, and any mist and fog could take a few hours in the morning before it burns away to reveal some sunshine. further north and west, quite a lot of cloud to start off your weekend.

outbreaks of rain for the north—west of scotland, where it'll continue to be quite windy. temperature—wise, the temperatures around about 15 or 16 degrees for scotland. a 17 for belfast, so mild here, and towards south—east england, highs reaching 18, possibly 19 degrees celsius. for the second half of the weekend, high pressure still with us across england and wales, but another cold front sliding into the north—west of the uk will bring some heavier rain with it to scotland, and this time northern ireland getting some heavier rain for a time too. the best of the weather further south, but again there could be some mist and fog patches to start the day. some of that could be quite slow to clear. but it's in the south that we'll see the highest temperatures. things, though, cooling down across the whole of the country as we head into the weekend. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump has now said he does believe the missing saudi journalist and government critic jamal khashoggi is most likely dead. and if the saudis are responsible, he said, the consequences should be very severe. the us treasury secretary has pulled out of a high—profile investment

conference in riyadh, as have his opposite numbers from britain and france. prime minister theresa may is considering delaying the uk's departure from the single market and the customs union to give more time to agree a final brexit deal and find a solution to trade and security issues on the irish border. but she's come under significant criticism from her own party as a result. afghanistan is on high alert ahead of crucial parliamentary elections with militants increasingly active and posing a growing threat. the taliban says it carried out a deadly attack inside the governor's compound in kandahar. the assault claimed the lives of two senior security officials. now on bbc news, simply the best: in conversation with tina turner.