this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at midday. saudi arabia admits journalist jamal khashoggi was killed in the consulate in istanbul. the uk says those responsible must be held to account. they have been a great ally in the middle east. we need them as a counterbalance to iran. and so it's not the simplest solution. protestors are to march through london demanding another referendum on the uk's membership of the european union. two men have been charged with murdering father—of—two ian tomlin, who was beaten to death outside his home in south—west london. also coming up this hour, bepicolombo blasts off. two satellites developed in europe and japan are on their way to the planet mercury. it's hoped that together they can resolve the puzzles of the mysterious planet closest to the sun. the fourth edition of the invictus games open in sydney, and will see 500 competitors from 18 nations taking part. and in half an hour we can visit an otherworldly digital art exhibition in click.

the foreign office says it is considering its next steps following the confirmation by saudi arabia of the death of journalist jamal khashoggi. he died during his visit to their consulate in istanbul earlier this month. saudi state tv says the initial findings of an investigation suggest he died when a fight broke out. president trump has described the latest version of events as credible. 18 people have been arrested and two seniorfigures have been sacked, as jon donnison reports. after weeks of denials, saudi arabia is changing its tune.

the admission thatjamal khashoggi is dead, finally came on state tv. more than a fortnight after the journalist walked into the saudi consulate in istanbul, never to be seen again, the saudis now say he was killed in a fight that broke out president trump said the saudi explanation was credible. saudi arabia have been a great ally but what happened is unacceptable. they have arrested a large number of people having to do with the events that took place in turkey. do you consider it credible, then

explanation? i do, i do. many disagree, including within his own republican party. saudi arabia has been a great ally, but what happened is unacceptable. saudi arabia announced it was sacking the deputy chief of intelligence, ahmed al—asiri, but that could be seen as a move to protect saudi arabia's de facto ruler, crown prince mohammad bin salman, who many believe may have sanctioned the killing. saudi arabia will hope its partial admission will dampen down international criticism, but for those who believe it is a cover—up, many more questions remain. jon donnison, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to david hearst, editor of middfle east eye and a friend ofjamal khashoggi. i asked him what he made of the saudi explanation for mr khashoggi's death. it is just not credible. and why donald trump says it is is beyond me. i think this is going to, as

your correspondent said, raise many more questions than answers. it does not explain the sort of two main elements of premeditation involved in this. one was the clearing of staff before jamal khashoggi endor. second is the presence of an expert in cutting up bodies quickly. and to just happen to have on him a bonesaw. we know from what the saudi are solidly authority say, 18 people have been arrested and two senior people have been dismissed. the crown prince himself is going to be in charge of a committee looking at reorganising the intelligence services. the impression at least left is that this was some kind of rogue operation. do you buy that?|j

don't. rogue operation. do you buy that?” don't. seven of his close personal detail, these are named people, identified people, it is not conjecture, it does not exist on the tape is verified. seven of his personal security guards out of 15 did this and these are high—ranking people, brigadiers, major generals, in saudi security, who have accompanied the prince on high—profile visits to london, to paris and madrid. they were there. they did this. and to pretend that the crown prince didn't know about this when seven of his own personal detail, high—ranking people, were there, does stretch credibility. two men have appeared in court charged with the murder of a father in battersea in south london on wednesday.

ian tomlin, who was a6, died from a head injury caused by blunt force trauma. michael swan, aged a5, and gary beech, aged a8, both appeared at wimbledon magistrates‘ court this morning. polls have opened in afg hanistan‘s long delayed parliamentary elections, with over 2,500 candidates and nearly nine million registered voters taking part. protestors calling for a referendum on the final brexit deal will march through central london today before gathering for a rally in parliament square. the event, which has been organised by the people's vote campaign, is being supported by mps from all the main political parties. chi chi izundu is in westminster. indeed. as you can see behind me, thousands are starting to gather as pa rt thousands are starting to gather as part of the people's vote march for the future. what they are asking for, we are about to get some clarity from sadiq khan, who has actually —— is actually starting today's protest. clarify what the protest is about. do you want

another referendum will do you want to vote on what the actual final deal would be? what is to vote on what the actual final dealwould be? what is clear to vote on what the actual final deal would be? what is clear that the options on the table now from the options on the table now from the prime minister is a bad brexit deal or no deal whatsoever. that is 1 million miles away from what was promised two and a half years ago. we demand that the british public get a say, whether they accept the bad deal, a no deal, with the option of staying in the european union. what is today's protest about specifically? during the campaign, young people's village —— voice were not heard. it is their future on the line. young people will be leading the march today and it is their voices who should be heard loud and clear by the prime minister. he does not have a mandate to gamble on their future. nobody voted to make themselves poorer and to damage the nhs and to make life harderfor our children and grandchildren and the

message to the prime minister is listened to the public, be confident in what the british public are saying. but the british public and the prime minister would argue she is listening because 17.a million people voted to leave the eu. and they voted with a promise that was made of the prime minister being able to do a good deal with european union. promises that were made included leaving the eu and have access to the single market, promises were made were that we could negotiate a deal very easily. the reality is two years on, there are only two options left. either a bad brexit deal or no deal whatsoever. both of those are 1 million miles away from the promises made two years ago. time goes on and things change. are you asking for another referendum ? things change. are you asking for another referendum? we're not asking for reruns of the best of three or best we are saying the british public should have a say on the outcome of those negotiations and that should include the option of staying in the eu. what will be your

message when you give a speech later on this afternoon? it is the protesters giving people like me a message. theirfuture is on the line. the message from the young people is their voices were not heard any referendum two years ago. the message from them is it is important the government pauses, has the confidence in what the british public are saying, listen to the british public. and if you can give the prime minister a message, what would it be? what could be more democratic, what could be more british than trusting the judgment of the british people? sadiq khan, thank you very much. thousands are expected to join thank you very much. thousands are expected tojoin sadiq khan thank you very much. thousands are expected to join sadiq khan and march towards westminster later on today. a little earlier my colleague at bbc breakfast, charlie stayt, spoke to richard tice, co—founder of leaves means leave, a cross—party group campaigning for a swift exit from the eu. he asked him what he makes of today's march. this is a march by people who basically are losers. they lost the vote in 2016 and they then lost again

in 2017 and these people, whether it is 50,000 or 100,000 people, they think they know more than the 17.a million people who voted to take back our laws, trade and borders. we spoke to one of the organisers today and they are making the point that as this process has unfolded as the way it has, the deal that is thus far being presented by theresa may and we understand there still is a way to go yet, it would offer less control, the same restrictions and we gain very little and on that basis, they are saying, why not have another vote? because that is a complete con. perpetrated by people who just cannot accept the fact that they lost. they need to get over it. yes, the prime minister on the cabinet are putting forward a really bad deal, so the answer is, let's change the deal. we had a vote and we voted to leave.

the idea you should have a second referendum would be incredibly damaging. most of all to the trust in democracy from people up and down this country. let me tell you, we have been holding rallies all over the country, the anger that is growing is absolutely palpable. i had a trucker come to me at the end of one rally recently and he said, richard, just give me the word and i will block london. people need to be under no illusions as to how people feel about a significant potential for a democracy betrayal in this country. let me bring you a couple of lines coming out from turkey, this is about the investigation into the killing of jamal khashoggi, about the investigation into the killing ofjamal khashoggi, which of course we now know has been confirmed as taking place inside the

saudi consulate in istanbul. the turkish senior official has been quoted as saying investigators remain focused on the forest areas and they are looking at cctv footage. the suggestion has been coming in some parts of the turkish media that the body could have been disposed of in the forest. the investigators say they are also looking at every car that entered or left turkey across the border at the appropriate time. that is on the 2nd of october, the day that jamal khashoggi went into the consulate and of course never emerged. it is interesting in the light of what we have been told earlier that the turkish prosecutor is putting together a case. we will obviously see whether that ultimately develops. investigators say they are likely to find out what happened to jamal khashoggi and we will bring you more on that if we get it during the course of this afternoon.

polls have opened in afg hanistan‘s long delayed parliamentary elections, with over 2,500 candidates and nearly nine million registered voters taking part. however, the build up has been marred by violence and the taliban has ordered afghans to boycott the vote. nearly a third of all polling stations remain closed because of security concerns. 10 candidates have been killed and there are fears of electoral fraud. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet sent us this update from kabul. it is voting day in afghanistan. security is exceptionally tight right across kabul. look at the lines, early morning, the lines are also exceptionally long. on the men's side of this polling station, they are queueing up to cast their ballots. i have some doubt about this parliament, election, because they didn't manage their time properly. we have been here two and a half hours, queueing. we are not afraid

because we are muslims. we are afghan. we want to select a good person for a better future for us and also for our families. are you optimistic there will be a better parliament in afghanistan? maybe. you're sure. this is what you hear time and time again. they say they are not afraid, we are going to cast ballots. it is clear that the taliban threat are going to keep some people away from these polling stations and a third of the polling stations and a third of the polling stations across this country are shut, either because they are in areas controlled by the taliban or they are just not safe enough for people to vote. look at the scene this polling stent —— centre. it is utterly packed on the women's side. this is not the sound and face of a people cowed by taliban threat. it is truly an act of bravery in afghanistan to cast a ballot but look at how many people as here very early in the morning.

this is the new system being used in afghanistan, introduced only weeks before election day. it is a biometric device which allows the polling agent to record the fingerprints, the photograph and the identity card of every voter. it is a new effort to try to detect fraud. because it was introduced so late, we're not quite sure it will work the way it should. but it is said to have a psychological effect. there is the old way, the finger dipped in indelible ink. look at this ballot, have you ever seen a ballot like this. it is like newspaper. 16 pages. more than 800 candidates. let me see. wow! too many choices to make and too many centres aren't as peaceful as this but voting goes on.

the headlines on bbc news: saudi arabia admits journalist jamal khashoggi was killed in the consulate in istanbul. they claim it happened in a fight. two men have been charged with murdering father ian tomlin, who was beaten to death outside his home in south—west london. protestors prepare to march through london demanding another referendum on the uk's membership of the european union. in the early hours of this morning, europe and japan launched two spacecraft on a mission to mercury, the planet closest to the sun. the joint project is named bepicolombo and it will take the probes seven years to reach their destination. scientists hope it will allow them to discover more about the planet's origin. our science correspondent jonathan amos has more details. the beginning of a very long journey. bepicolombo is setting out on a 9 billion kilometre trek to the inner solar system.

this is europe and japan's first mission to the planet mercury and it'll be hugely challenging. where the joint probes are headed so close to the sun, it is as hot as a pizza oven. novel technologies must protect the spacecraft from the hellish conditions. scientists hope they will make a raft of new discoveries. mercury is an oddball, it has an oversized iron core that no one has yet explained and surface materials that shouldn't be there in so hot an environment. british teams are heavily involved, they have built instrumentation and spacecraft components. if we want to understand how our solar system formed and evolved, then mercury is a key part of that. our current theories of solar system formations, including the earth and other planets, cannot explain mercury, it is an anomaly. so we need to go to mercury and find out more information about the planet so we can really understand how our solar system formed. the sun's immense gravity will pull hard on bepicolombo,

this means the probes must be careful not to go too fast and overshoot mercury. an arrival date has been set for 2025. only when they are in orbit can the probe can split apart and begin their parallel investigations. jonathan amos, bbc news. rail passengers in the north of england are facing another weekend of disruption due to a long—running dispute over the role of guards on trains. northern rail says it will operate around 30% of services and there won't be many trains running after 6pm. members of the rmt union are planning further strikes for the next three saturdays and there'll be a five days of action next tuesday on south western railway. the fourth edition of the invictus games starts in sydney today and will see 500 competitors from 18 nations taking part. the event was set up by prince harry to give recovering armed forces personnel a new way of dealing with the traumas of combat. the opening ceremony takes place

later at the sydney opera house, as our correspondent hywel griffith explains. for michael, the next week is going to be intense, as he prepares to represent britain in rugby, volleyball and basketball. he says competing at last year's games in toronto was life changing. since been discharged from the air force in 2005, he'd struggled with depression. but being part of a team again saved him. being in the military, obviously you trust each other with each other‘s lives, really. when you do sporting events like the invictus games, you are working in tightknit groups, just like within the military. you can read each other‘s plays and games, its like you're on the same wavelength. last year's games in toronto saw teams from romania and ukrainejoin invictus, this year poland will make its debut, bringing the list of countries to 18. after months of training camps, now it is down to last—minute fine—tuning.

invictus is still in its infancy, with just 500 competitors, it's not on the same scale as something like the paralympics. but within four years it has succeeded in giving sick, wounded and injured veterans from across the world a new focus in life. it's certainly been given prominence here in australia, yesterday's flag raising ceremony on sydney harbour bridge was shown on live television. the games themselves have been on primetime every night. it may still seen as prince harry's pet project, but the games are growing into a serious sporting competition. hywel griffith, bbc news, sydney. i spoke to zoe williams, an invictus games ambassador who participated in the 2016 orlando games where she won three golds and a silver in swimming events. i started by asking her how she got involved in the games.

i was leaving the military and had no idea what i was going to be doing. i was in the royal navy. i had no idea where i was going to go next. sport was something i knew, sport had been a huge part of my life and competing at the invictus games gave me something where i could get in the gym and train, i could get in the gym and train, i could push myself to challenge the boundaries that i thought had been imposed on me through injury. it allowed me to prove to myself that i don't have to be defined by those injuries. it is a big thing to go from your day—to—day work to suddenly being part of a major international event like this. a big competitive event. i know everyone will say it is the taking part and eve ryo ne will say it is the taking part and everyone gets the benefit from that, but you want to win and you did win and you won big. it is an incredible

experience. i was fortunate to be in orlando and the support notjust from people that travel to spectate at the games but the camaraderie between all of the competitors, i think it's very much about competing with people rather than necessarily against them. you are all there supporting each other and wanting eve ryo ne supporting each other and wanting everyone to do their very best. were you impressed by the way it was organised? yes, the setup of the entire event is just absolutely seamless, from the transport from the hotel, the accommodation, and the hotel, the accommodation, and the facilities are always absolutely first class. and that is something thatis first class. and that is something that is really fortunate as an athlete to have the opportunity to compete at world—class kind of sporting facilities. what do you think it is going to be like for your successes in sydney over the next few weeks? i think the team in syd ney next few weeks? i think the team in sydney will have an incredible time. everything i have heard so far is very exciting. the opening ceremony

is at the opera house and it is so iconic. a lot of people remember the olympic games in sydney. and so i think they will have a great time. the weather hopefully we'll be in their favour as well. sunshine a lwa ys their favour as well. sunshine always helps! but i think the biggest thing is they should just enjoy the experience. how important do you think these games is in terms of making people aware of the challenges that ex—service people face, the degree those who have suffered injuries or lost limbs and so on during the course of their service? and also for the service people themselves?” service? and also for the service people themselves? i think it is hugely important to allow service people to engage in support, it is something the vast majority of them will have done to some extent during their careers in the military. and so sport is a great grounding for them. but i think more than that, them. but i think more than that, the invictus games can prove to not just the military community, the

ex—military community, but it touches the whole of the wounded, injured and sick community globally to say look, you don't have to be defined by your injury or your sickness and you can challenge yourself and find that thing that allows you to put your boundaries and to kind of get more from life and to kind of get more from life and perhaps you think is possible. there are daily highlights of the invictus games every evening on bbc one at 5:25pm. and as the athletes prepare for the invictus games down—under, an australian team has just become world champions in the uk. timbersports involves competitors sawing and chopping wood, at speed, using axes and saws. there are six disciplines, including the underhand chop, the stock saw, the standing block chop and the hot saw. great britain were knocked out by the eventual winners in the last 16. the event has been taking place in liverpool and it's the first time the championships have been held in the uk. the individual world champion will be crowned later today. a fireworks display in kent is being postponed so as not

to disturb a beluga whale in the river thames. the whale, nicknamed benny, was first spotted in the river near gravesend on the 25th of september and shows no signs of wanting to leave. the fireworks were due to be set off from a barge in the thames on november the 2nd, but gravesham borough council says that benny's safety while he's in the gravesend area must take priority. now, it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. it is not looking too bad at all this weekend. england and wales doing best with the sunshine both days whereas further north we do have more cloud around and outbreaks of light rain this afternoon across western scotland. eastern scotland, doing very well with the sunshine. top temperatures 18 degrees. this

evening and overnight, staying dry across southern and eastern areas. it will become quite chilly. mist and fog developing. rain across the north—west of the country. some of it could be quite heavy. double—figure values by dawn, single figure values for the south. we start off with sunshine. the rain across the north—west spilling south eastwards. it will fizzle out and become no more than a band of cloud. ahead of it another sunny and warm day. fresh behind it. but dry and bright and it stays fine into next week as well. that is thanks to the high pressure. hello — this is bbc news. the headlines: saudi arabia admits journalist jamal khashoggi was killed in the consulate in istanbul. the uk says those responsible must be held to account protestors calling for a referendum on the final brexit deal are preparing to march through central london this afternoon, heading to a rally in parliament square. two men have been charged

with murdering father ian tomlin, who was beaten to death outside his home in south—west london. europe and japan have launched two spacecraft on a mission to mercury. the joint project will take the probes seven years to reach their destination. and — the fourth edition of the invictus games open in sydney, and will see 500 competitors from 18 nations taking part. sport now, here's katherine downes. england have won the one day series against sri lanka — after play had to be abandoned in the fourth test due to heavy rain. england were chasing 27a to win the match — and stayed ahead on run rate to win by 18 runs on the duckworth lewis method — they were on 132—2. they're 3—0 up with one match to play.

jose mourinho is back at stamford bridge as chelsea host man united in the first of this weekend's premier league matches. mouriunho will be looking for a big result on his return to his former club, with his position at united still being debated after every game they play. he's also used to a fairly hostile reception at stamford bridge — but both managers say there's plenty of respect going into today's match: would i celebrate like crazy? my team's victory at stamford bridge? i don't think so. i think i will a lwa ys don't think so. i think i will always try to control myself, to respect this stadium and the supporters who were my supporters and my stadium for many years. they have a strong team. maybe, the

player by player, they are the best team in the premier league. at the moment, i think city is the better team but player by player, they are very good. mapping thing for 33 seconds at stanford bridge and are unsurprisingly still goalless.