this is bbc news. i'm vicki young. the headlines at 12:00. the brexit secretary dominic raab says the uk could agree to extend the brexit transition period by about three months — but only if the eu drops its demand for a northern ireland backstop. if you think about it, as important as it is, these are the only outstanding issues that really ought to be stumbling blocks. the good news is, actually, on the vast range of other issues we are pretty close to getting there. meanwhile the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said there is a "real lack of confidence" that theresa may can bring back "anything by way of a good deal". we do not accept this proposition it's that or no deal, and it's notjust us. there's a huge majority in parliament that will not accept that the alternative to theresa may's deal, if there is one, is no deal. a car ferry collided with yachts and ran aground in thick fog on the isle of wight. there are no injuries and the red falcon has

now been refloated. president trump says the united states will pull out of a nuclear weapons treaty it signed with russia more than 30 years ago — because moscow has repeatedly violated the terms. russia has not, unfortunately, honoured the agreement. so, we're going to terminate the agreement. we're going to pull out. and in formula 1 — lewis hamilton will start the us grand prix on pole position as he seeks to wrap up a fifth world title in texas. the brexit secretary dominic raab says the uk could agree to extend the brexit transition period — but only if the eu drops its demand for a northern ireland backstop.

mr raab told the bbc a short extension of "three months or so" was a possible alternative. the 2i—month transition phase had been expected to end in december 2020 — but lengthening it was floated as an idea during last week's eu summit. the idea angered leave—supporting mps. our political correspondent, tom barton, has been explaining what a possible extension could look like. at the eu summit this week, the idea of potentially extending that transition period, during which basically nothing changes, for a little while, might be one way of getting through these negotiations. the problem is, the eu have always said they also want a backstop on the northern ireland question. irrespective of whether that transition period is extendable. today, dominic raab has been saying that actually he thinks it should be one of the other. but if the transition period

is extended, that should be instead of a backstop. earlier on andrew marr he explained how he thinks that would work. if you look at the evidence john thompson, head of the hmrc, gave, he said we could resolve the issues around the border with no extra infrastructure, the border in northern ireland. technology has a role to play, and it's something michel barnier has said. what we can't do is allow ourselves to stay indefinitely in that limbo. i think with goodwill and oomph on both sides to get this deal over the line. if you think about it, as important as it is, these are the only outstanding issues that should be stumbling blocks. the good news is, actually on the vast range of other issues, we're pretty close to getting there. when he talks about not being stuck in limbo, he said you could either have a situation where we have agreed a way out of it, ideally being triggered by the uk if the uk thinks that extension should end, but he also, for the first time,

put a number on it. he talked about this being three months, which was interesting. for labour, the big question is with the tory party so divided, will they vote against whatever deal theresa may and dominic raab come back with, or will they vote against it and risk a no deal being triggered? on the andrew marr programme, keir starmer was asked about that. it's not in the national interest for anyone to back a bad deal, unless it satisfies our conditions it is a bad deal. there is no national interest in backing a bad deal. secondly, we need to ask ourselves if there's a deal before christmas that goes through, that that's going to survive for long. this idea it will be a settlement and the issue will be over. i don't think anybody thinks this 30 year civil war in the tory party on europe is going to end before christmas.

what we're going to see is, even if there's a deal, the tory party will try to rip it up next year. the idea of this being a historic moment just before christmas in the national interest isn't going to happen. they will not stop fighting about this. sir keir starmer talking about divisions in the tory party. there's been quite a reaction to this suggestion of an extension of the transition period. they aren't happy, because they think we will be stuck in it potentially forever. they also fear it doesn't give an incentive to the eu to come forward with a deal about the future partnership. they are so unhappy but what are they likely to do about it? are they going to trigger a leadership contest? you're right they are unhappy. the mail on sunday talking about a show trial for theresa may, the sunday times saying she has entered a killing zone. dominic raab said it is understandable there are jitters at the moment on the tory backbenches. he said there is a good deal of insight and now is the time to play for the team.

if they choose not to play for the team, can they get to a point where they unseat theresa may? they have to get 48 letters first signed and sent into the chair of the 1922 committee. we are told they think they are close to the mark, but even if that happens there would still need to be a vote of no—confidence held. they would need more than half of the parliamentary party to vote against theresa may in that for them to win. if they don't, she's safe in herjob for a year. 159 votes seems at the moment like a high barfor them to get over. some brexiteers saying if she won but there are 100 votes against her she would have to go anyway, that would be in her gift. there is still a big question over whether they are going to pull the trigger. the official line for most of them is we want to change the policy not the prime minister.

whether that remains as we get closer and closer to a potential deal, we will find out. the coastguard says no one has been injured after a car ferry hit at least two yachts while trying to dock in heavy fog at east cowes on the isle of wight. a large search and rescue operation was carried out, after the vessel — red falcon, which was travelling from southampton — ran aground at the entrance to the harbour. all 56 people aboard the ferry — and the occupants of the yachts are safe — and the vessel has now been refloated. debby moyse joins us now from the isle of wight. the weather there looks pretty pleasa nt the weather there looks pretty pleasant now, but clearly the fog caused a lot of problems earlier. yes, it was very thick fog from early this morning. i heard one might witness saying they couldn't see more than five metres in front

of them. —— one eyewitness. it was the 7:30am from southampton coming into east cowes. it appeared to have veered off from east cowes towards the esplanade and landed up on a sandbank in low tide inside the sea wall and the sandbank where it was stranded. there were reports it hit a couple of yachts as it came in and reports of cries and shouts for help. after extensive search by the coastguard and the lifeboats, it seems they might have been people trying to alert authorities that something had happened. they have called off the search at the moment. the falcon was refloated by a tug boat and brought into port at east cowes. they are still meeting with

the coastguard and the police and the coastguard and the police and the ferry authorities to see what they are going to do. i've heard they are going to do. i've heard they will probably take it out of port empty and try and bring in another boat to deal with all the people waiting here now to cross. that's not been confirmed if there will be any further crossings as far asi will be any further crossings as far as i know. presumably people you've been speaking to who use this ferry and other forms of transport between these places, are they concerned this has happened? yes, i've heard there was an incident a few weeks ago where the same boat clipped another yacht. somebody who lives nearby said there had been another incident earlier this year as well. locals were speculating about the navigational system on this very but of course there's going to be a big investigation. it was extremely poor conditions for the ferry crossing last night, but they have radar but

reports were it veered suddenly towards east cowes. we aren't clear yet what has happened. thank you. that's the latest from the scene. president trump has said the united states will pull out of a landmark nuclear weapons treaty it signed with russia more than 30 years ago. the nuclear forces treaty led to the destruction of hundreds of tactical weapons, but washington has accused the kremlin of breaching the agreement. let's hear the moment trump made the announcement. russia has violated the agreement. they've been violating it for many yea rs they've been violating it for many years and i don't why president 0bama didn't negotiate or pull out. we are not going to let them violating nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we're not allowed to. we'd stayed in the agreement and we've honoured the agreement, but russia hasn't u nfortu nately agreement, but russia hasn't unfortunately honoured the agreement, so we're going to

terminate the agreement. we're going to pull out. well i spoke to professor malcolm chalmers, deputy director—general of the royal united services institute, an independent think tank on international defence and security. i started by asking him for his reaction to president trump's announcement. this is a very important development. it's not entirely a surprise. american complaints about this russian violation have been around for the last four years, under 0bama as well. they were growing indications that the nato summit injuly growing indications that the nato summit in july that growing indications that the nato summit injuly that the americans we re summit injuly that the americans were moving towards this. i think it's a disappointment there haven't been more substantial discussions with the russians about how to avoid it, but we are now at this position. i think one of the important parts of background to this is that the russians have been very sceptical about this treaty for some time.

president putin saw the inf treaty asa president putin saw the inf treaty as a legacy of gorbachev‘s weakness, as a legacy of gorbachev‘s weakness, as an unequal treaty from a russian point of view. this is a us— russia treaty but places no constraints on the arsenals of china, india or other countries who have missiles in this. president trump is citing russia's violation of the agreement as part of his reason, has he got a point? yes, i think russia has violated this treaty with the deployment of its new ground launched cruise missile which has a range within the band range which this treaty has. the americans have raised this concern for a number of yea rs raised this concern for a number of years and had no satisfactory answer, so the treaty was always on borrowed time. however, there is a real concern that the next stage is

that the united states will move towards not renewing the strategic arms treaty which is due to come up for renewal in 2021 and president putin did ask president trump to agreed to renew that treaty and he hasn't done so. so, there is a real worry i think that within the next couple of years we could be without any legal constraints on nuclear arsenals, for the first time since 1970. it feels like we are beginning to roll back some of the achievements that made the end of the cold war possible. it's incredible if that were to happen, isn't it? the idea we could be entering an arms race, after all these years where we thought that time had gone. just explain, people will look at china in all of this as well. president trump has concerns about china to. and russia does as well. i think one of the reasons

russia hasn't fought hard to maintain this treaty is because it sees china, which is growing in military strength and spends a lot more on defence than russia does, it sees india and potentially iran, and russia which has a particular emphasis on ballistic and cruise missiles in its defence strategy for non—nuclear as well as nuclear purposes, been constrained in this way. if you look at the syrian war, russia used its cruise missiles extensively in that war, using conventional munitions. actually, the missile they used there was quite similar to the one we are now talking about but it was launched from a ship. russia as a land power having all of its options open is critical to it. i think the russians will be glad that the americans are going to take the political heat for

pulling out of this treaty first, but i suspect the russians aren't going to try very hard to maintain it. the headlines on bbc news. the brexit secretary dominic raab says the uk could agree to extend the brexit transition period by about three months — but only if the eu drops its demand for a northern ireland backstop. a car ferry collided with yachts and ran aground in thick fog on the isle of wight. there are no injuries and the red falcon has now been refloated. president trump says the united states will pull out of a nuclear weapons treaty it signed with russia more than 30 years ago — because moscow has repeatedly violated the terms. sport — and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. good afternoon. lewis hamilton could wrap up his fifth world title at the us grand prix in texas later today. he only needs eight points more

than sebastian vettel to win the title and he has the advantage of starting the us grand prix from pole as nick parrott reports. some sporting rivalries can be bitter but this one is cordial. it would appear that the briton is to win a fifth world title in texas — in the lone star state he has no equal, hamilton has won the last four races in austin and looked unbeatable again in qualifying. he was so relaxed during the first session he had time for oscar winner matthew mcconauhgey perhaps getting advice on acceptance speeches the award ceremonies to follow. when he got down to the real business, he said the new track record to claim pole. vettel was a very close second but because of a penalty picked up in practice, he will start from fifth. i didn't know how close it was going to be once we got to qualifying but in the last run i knew it was edgy between us and it would require solid laps but in some races where i haven't actually a better time all is given on the second laps and today i was adamant i would do a better

second lap so am really happy with that. i was pretty close, obviously, a bit of a shame i missed out on a little bit of time, hundreds you can debate that you have it somewhere in you but i was pretty happy with the laps i had. regardless of what happens today hamilton seems destined to match juan manuel's five titles this year and next in his sights will be surpassing michael schumacher‘s seven to become the greatest of all. we've already had one motorsport world champion crowned this morning. marc marquez in the motogp — for the fifth time — the third in a row. his main rival, italian andrea dovisioso slid off his bike with just two laps to go. marquez is nowjoint third in the list of world championship winners. ifeel really, really, really good. you know, i could already feel, imagine that maybe it would be this year but you know, the good thing all the difference is when you have the first chance and he did. brooks koepka will be the world's

number one golfer when the rankings are officially announced tomorrow. koepka finished four shots clear of the field to win the cj cup in south korea this morning. he'll replace fellow american and ryder cup team—mate dustin johnson. it's a battle every day, you've got to keep working hard and try to improve. i enjoyed my time and to finally get over here on the pga tour and to be one another one is something i dreamed of as a kid. i think this one will sink in. in women's golf, becky morgan is currently leading at the indian 0pen. germany's 0livia cowan had a shocker at the eighth hole with this freak shot that bounced off the ball of noora komulainen from finland. cowan‘s ball hits it and goes straight into the water. bianca walkden has won silverfor great britain

at the taekwondo grand prix in manchester. shuyin zheng of china stretched to a 6—1 lead in the final, and despite a late fight back in the third round, the bout finished 6—4 and walkden had to settle for silver. a little bit of mixed emotions. obviously i did a lot better in the semifinal. it was really hard, a tough opponent in the final but like i said, all i want to do is try and win gold and i wasjust a little bit off that today. i felt like i tried a good few things, it did not pull off for me but that's tae kwon do for you. 0n the 16th of may hopefully i can turn this silver now into gold in the world championships and retain my title. later today double 0lympic taekwando championjadejones is in action and you can watch live on the red button or the bbc sport website. and just before we go, former olympic champion katie taylor

successfully defended her world titles with a unanimous points victory over cindy serrano in boston overnight. the irish boxer won all ten rounds to retain the ibf and wba belts. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport a woman has died after a suspected gas explosion tore through a flat in north west london overnight. three people, including a baby, were rescued from the property in harrow after the blast set the building on fire this morning. around a0 people were evacuated from nearby properties as firefighters tackled the blaze. the eu has described the death of journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul as "deeply troubling". it comes as pressure grows on the saudi authorities to explain the circumstances surrounding the death of the prominent critic. turkish officials say they have evidence he was murdered, but saudi arabia is claiming he died in a fist fight.

his colleagues at the washington post say they're determined to get the truth. children with life—limiting conditions have been let down by the nhs and local councils across england, according to a new report. a cross party group of mps says as many as one in three clinical commissioning groups do not provide specialist out—of—hours care. the department of health says it remains dedicated to improving patient choice for everyone through their end of life care commitment. hundreds of central american migrants have used rafts and boats to cross the river marking the border between guatemala and mexico, in an attempt to continue theirjourney to the united states. thousands of people were left stranded on the frontier bridge after mexican police stopped them entering the country on friday. aleem maqbool reports. it is a bridge that, for the white house, is now an immigration battlefield. straddling guatemala and mexico,

it is currently home to thousands of migrants who have trekked from honduras wanting to get to the us. though they still have to get to mexico which is not letting them in, president trump has described as convoy as an assault on the us and onslaught of criminal. "we plead to donald trump," this woman told us, "may god soften his heart so we can enter the us, children are sleeping on the floor and we don't know how long it will be here, it's not fair." it has been a heartbreaking time for some. we met this man who got split up from his son five days ago and has not seen him since. translation: i am upset and don't know what to do. should i continue and hope he arrives or should i turn back? i need him so much. they have all been risking the dangers, desperate

for a better life in the states. small numbers of people have been allowed across the border but for the most part, the mexican gate has remained shut. with living conditions here on the bridge getting more difficult, we are seeing many trying other means of trying to get to mexico. after a week of threats from washington, central american governments have come to an agreement, to transport people back to their home country for free if they sign up. reluctantly, nearly 600 have already put their names forward. translation: we are sad because we thought we would make it to the us. when you come from poverty, you try to be optimistic but it's been difficult. we are returning to suffering. for some americans, the sight of migrants giving up is a welcome one. for others, it's an embarrassment that their country, built on the idea of taking in those seeking prosperity, now delights in turn them away. but some migrants just

won't take no for an answer. we saw some of the hundreds that decided to cross into mexico by boat, determined and desperate enough to continue theirjourney to the usa by any means. the duchess of sussex will not attend any engagements on the sixth day of the royal tour of australia. kensington palace has not given a reason for the change of plans, however yesterday prince harry urged his pregnant wife to pace herself after she was feeling tired at the opening of the invictus games. meghan will continue with the rest of the tour in fiji, tonga and new zealand, as planned. our sydney correspondent hywel griffith sent this report. the focus today was meant to be on the first full day of competition of the invictus game. however, inevitably, like a lot of this royal tour,

the attention switched back to the royal pregnancy with the announcmeent that the duchess was cutting back on her engagements. not much more was said but we understand she is in good health. certainly she was out and about later on in the day. she didn't go to the cycling but she was out there on sydney harbour in a boat, to watch the sailing competition. she will be travelling with the duke to frazer island tomorrow but we are told she will not be taking part in engagements again. the invictus games have got off to a pretty good start, people in sydney turning out to see it, there seems to be support behind the games and once again people are turning out to see the royal couple. we have so far seen hundreds and in some places thousands of people come out to see them. certainly, there is a fascination with the young royals here, if not necessarily support for the future of the monarchy here in australia. the polls repeatedly suggest that the majority of australian people want this country to become a republic. so even though harry and meghan are very popular here, they don't necessarily want to see

that family continue as the australian head of state. more now on the news that president trump says the united states will pull out of a nuclear weapons treaty it signed with russia more than 30 years ago — because moscow has repeatedly violated the terms. let's speak to our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford. has there been any reaction from russia about this? they are also not fa ns russia about this? they are also not fans of the treaty. the reaction so far has come from the foreign ministry in moscow primarily. the deputy foreign minister has essentially knocked back those accusations saying russia hasn't been violating the treaty, and accusing the us of dangerous unilateral actions. the deputy foreign minister here said that he

is condemned the move by president trump and has talked about potential response from moscow. he called it a potential military or technical response. he also said there is still room for dialogue with the us, he pointed to the factjohn bolton is heading to moscow and holding talks on monday and tuesday with both the foreign minister and the president of russia. the hope was according to this official that moscow and washington can discuss the statement from donald trump and understand more clearly exactly what it means. certainly, moscow isn't happy at this and is making its displeasure felt. our concern is more broadly that this could lead to removing a guido pella from the global security framework, if you like, and that it risks a return to the kind of arms race we saw before this was signed some 30 years ago. that is a worry some have been

talking about, very genuinely, that we could end up in a situation where there are no longer any of these treaties and it ends up being an arms race, not just treaties and it ends up being an arms race, notjust russia and the us but china as well. yes. i think china is part and parcel of the reason donald trump has taken this move. it's not a signatory but china has been referred to by donald trump is one of his reasons for withdrawing from the treaty. certainly, it is a key part of the anti—nuclear weapons architecture. removing that and potentially another treaty which is up for renegotiation could be potentially extremely destabilising. moscow is warning about that impact, but of course donald trump saying russia has been violating the treaty for some years anyway. those warnings perhaps sound rather false. certainly, i think it's a key moment of concern on both sides of the atlantic, but also here within europe. of course, this particular

treaty was about missiles stationed within europe that could be fired at very short notice, giving those targets of those missiles practically no warning at all. thank you very much, sarah. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. conditions eventually will brighten up conditions eventually will brighten up across conditions eventually will brighten up across scotland and northern ireland after it being a wet and breezy start this morning. that band of cloud with barely any rain will push towards england and wales this afternoon. the far south—east staying sunny. although brighter across the north, it will be cooler than yesterday. overnight, that band of cloud clears away southwards and then it's going to be a dry night. clear skies and a chilly one with blustery showers in the north—west corner of scotland. tomorrow, high pressure dominates the scene for most. a chilly start but dry and bright throughout the day. very pleasa nt bright throughout the day. very pleasant indeed. more cloud and stronger wind across scotland,

particularly northern scotland with heavy rain here. we've lost the high teens, closer to 13—14 on monday. a similar picture as we head into tuesday and wednesday. fine and dry weather with high pressure.