senior members of her cabinet this evening to update them on the state of the latest brexit negotiations. theresa may is under increasing pressure from her parliamentary partners, the democratic unionist party, which is threatening to withdraw its support for the government, if it's not happy with the final brexit deal. this report from our political editor laura kuenssberg does contain some flashing images. emergency or business as usual? the home secretary went in the back, downing street europe advises beetling about wattell. ministers called in to talk on promoters. do you think the cabinet will be able to agree a komru miah is —— a compromised it? is there an a cce pta ble compromised it? is there an acceptable agreement on the cable? it may be standard for what is going on in brussels, but it is anything but. and although it is not decision day, these are vital times in this long process. the prime minister is desperate to keep her key ministers on board. behind closed doors they we re on board. behind closed doors they were not all happy. a possible compromise with brussels is to stay closely tied to the eu on customs forever. an insurance policy only if a trade deal can't be done. but for several ministers without a time limit that cannot work. politicians because jobs, but, limit that cannot work. politicians becausejobs, but, much more at watt, the public‘s jobs becausejobs, but, much more at watt, the public‘sjobs depend on getting a deal. but some of the prime minister's allies right now they make enemies. the northern irish dup, whose support she relies on, want terry gannon. we will have to consider whether or not they have kept their part of the body bargain. it will not be forthcoming.” kept their part of the body bargain. it will not be forthcoming. i think i bus or knock you down. there is a lot in the government's way. i understand one cabinet minister, not a mike dalton, is contemplating whether to walk away of this potential compromise that mignot in westminster to know. the prime minister and the government are conducting a complex negotiation. we should be backing the prime minister, supporting, as everyone else. number 10 minister, supporting, as everyone else. number10 would not minister, supporting, as everyone else. number 10 would not comment tonight. it will, in the next few days, before the prime minister to weigh the price of the deal. our political correspondent, ben wright, is in westminsterfor us. up upfiu up till now they have been a certain number of brexiteer cabinet ministers who have been onside, and that has helped theresa may. she has had those resignations, david davis, borisjohnson, keeping had those resignations, david davis, boris johnson, keeping andrea leadsom, micheal gove on side is important to her, if they have doubts that is important to her. michael gove, for instance, has been an enthusiastic backer of the chequers plan. his view that brits arejust chequers plan. his view that brits are just needs to happen. chequers plan. his view that brits arejust needs to happen. —— brexit. sorting out the free trade agreement between the eu and the uk can happen. hold on, is his message. people like andrea leadsom have been enthusiastic about the chequers plan. other brexiteers, like esther mcvey, penny mordaunt, not so much. there are clearly disagreements inside the cabinet. what cabinet ministers were talking about in number 10 this evening was the question of how the irish backstop plan will work. we know that the eu wa nted plan will work. we know that the eu wanted that to apply only to the uk. the uk has been urging brussels to allow it to applied to the whole of the uk, in case there is not a long—term trade deal that ensures there is an invisible border between northern ireland and the republic. what seems to be emerging hour is an a cce pta nce what seems to be emerging hour is an acceptance by the uk that that backstop might have to be indefinite. it won't have a time limit attached. that is something thatis limit attached. that is something that is really annoying some of the brexiteers within the government. they fear that this could mean, effectively, that the ukjust they fear that this could mean, effectively, that the uk just slides into an indefinite customs union with the eu after brexit. that was the discussion in number 10 today. i don't think anything has been decided. nothing has been nailed down. there is clearly concern from some brexiteer ministers that that is the direction of travel that the uk could be going in. and at the same time be dup suggesting they might even vote against the budget if they are not happy, for different reasons, about that issue of a border. it is all stacking up yet again. we have said it many times. incredibly difficult times for the prime minister. there is so much for theresa may tojuggle. we prime minister. there is so much for theresa may to juggle. we are talking about the customs arrangements today, how the uk will be aligned in terms of customs with the eu regarding the backstop. what is really concerning the dup is that they might be asked as part of this backstop, or northern ireland might be us, to remain in the european single market as part of this backstop indefinitely. they see this as completely unacceptable, breaking all the government's commitments to unionism. they have been quite clear that they are prepared to pull the i’ug that they are prepared to pull the rug from under the government and vote down or not support domestic legislation if they feel that they are being cut adrift and ignored. theresa may is having to juggle all these different pressures on her as she desperately tries to get this deal over the line. which feels that it is in sight. i think people in number 10 feel that significant progress on this will be made at the summit in brussels next month. but nothing at all is guaranteed. 0k, enright, thank you very much indeed. ben wright, our political correspondent in westminster. —— bennett right. russian officials say rescue teams have reached two astronauts who've survived an emergency landing after their flight to the international space station had to be aborted. an american astronaut and his russian colleague experienced a problem with their soyuz spacecraft shortly after take off from kazakhstan. our correspondent, sarah rainsford, reports from moscow. lift—off. and there is lift—off of the soyuz. a burst of fire and noise as the soyuz crew lifted into orbit. at first this was a routine launch to the international space station. then came this. less than three minutes into the flight the commander reported an emergency. emergency. the booster system had failed, at the launch had to be aborted. moments later, the two man plunging back to earth in their tiny capsule. the crew did train for this nightmare scenario. the gruelling g—force their bodies would to endure. but russia's soyuz hasn't failed on launch in over three decades. for american nick hague it was an abrupt end to his first—ever mission. he was due to spend six months in orbit. ever since yuri gagarin launched into orbit, russia has been immensely proud of its space programme. this accident and will be a major blow. it is notjust a matter proceeds, russian rockets are currently the only way to the international space station, what happens now is to be questioned —— procedure. rescuers were quick to reach the remote landing site. hugely relieved, too, that the crew emerged unharmed, even walking. but all soyuz flights have now been suspended as an investigation is launched. the safety measures of this launch are very good and the two astronauts are well, they are in good shape —— launch. therefore i think we should investigate the case and as soon as possible fly again. tonight, the astronauts were reunited with their families. for them it was a moment ofjoy. for russia, though, a time of tough questions over what exactly went so wrong here. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. there is deepening concern about the viability of universal credit, the government's flagship welfare reform. the former conservative prime minister, sirjohn major, warned that it could spell "deep political trouble" for the government. and during the day the work and pensions secretary acknowledged that some people could be worse off under the scheme. universal credit brings together six welfare benefits into one payment. our deputy political editor john pienaar reports from bath. no problem finding milk for a cuppa anyway, fridge always seems to be empty. soon millions on benefit will be getting universal credit, and each has their own tale to tell. the problem... arabella's sounds familiar. so how is this benefit working out for you? it's really tough. it took five weeks for the first payment to come through so i took out a loan, which i haven't really ever caught up from. well, they say this benefit is supposed to encourage you and other people to work. the money that i do earn in any part—time work is pretty much completely taken off the benefit so it is very hard to gain momentum. it's really tough. the money that i do get pretty much just covers the rent and nothing else. they started phasing in universal credit here in bath and a few other areas, next year it'll be replacing six benefits across the country. reports say more than three million households will lose over £2,000 a year. most claimants are satisfied, say ministers — but not all. some people could be worse off, that's right. how much? on this benefit. but what we also know which we've done 1,000 people, each and every day, since 2010, each and every day, 1,000 people have gone into work. numbers forced to use food banks rose sharply, in areas piloting universal credit, according to one study. delays in payment made hardship worse, there's worry in the tory party at a senior level. in order to introduce something like universal credit, you need to look after those people who, in the short term, are going to lose and protect them, or you will run in to the sort of problems that the conservative party ran into with the poll tax in the late 1980s, so the principle has a great deal to commend it, but it isn't workable if there aren't the resources to introduce it properly. jeremy corbyn was out and about in bristol today, promising something fairer, more generous. essentially, our benchmarks should be nobody should be worse off and nobody should have their homes put at risk because of universal credit. with the budget statement weeks away, there will be pressure on the chancellor to head off attacks like that — not easy with the treasury so strapped for cash. theresa may's also saying austerity is almost over — her words a dose of optimism, but also for the government a hostage to fortune. so many pitfalls in the path of mrs may and her ministers, and no clear way through. john pienaar, bbc news, bath. the saudi ambassador to the uk has said he is concerned about the missing saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. he was last seen in istanbul over a week ago, entering the saudi consulate to retrieve legal papers. he had been living in self—imposed exile in the united states after criticising the saudi rulers. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins is with me now. james, what did the ambassador tell you ? ever since that happened saudi officials around the world have been stolen —— stonewalling interview requests refusing comment on what happened or might have happened and hiding behind a blanket denial of any saudi involvement. in a diplomatic reception in london the night i was able to talk to the ambassador, i was able to talk to him directly and ask in the state forward —— straightforward question, where is jamal khashoggi? where is he now? the ambassador said he would like to know what had happened to him but we would have to wait the results of he pointed to a joint turkish saudi investigation. where is the ambassador? we are concerned. there is an ongoing investigation. but pressure on the saudis really is building. jeremy hunt, the foreign secretary, said he could not overstate the seriousness of this case. in washington tonight the state department has announced that the ambassador to the united states has gone home and in a frankly less than supportive way the spokesman said he was expected to come up with some answers. president trump himself has called this a very bad situation. it is clear that the relations between the west and saudi arabia are, frankly, at an all—time low. i should caution that president trump added that he did not want to see damage done to a saudi arms deal worth more than $100 billion, because that would put american lives at risk, sorry, americanjobs. james robbins reporting there. the british couple killed in flash flooding in majorca were from moffat in the south of scotland. antony and delia green, who were both in their 70s, were on holiday on the island. at least ten people are believed to have died after torrential rainstorms hit the area on tuesday night. clothing chain coast has collapsed into administration, leaving 300 jobs at risk all of its 18 uk outlets are to close immediately including stores at oxford street and westfield in london. pricewaterhousecoopers has been appointed as administrators. its numerous concessions in department stores including house of fraser, debenhams and john lewis will continue to trade. the owner of the cafe chain patisserie valerie has said that without an immediate injection of cash it could be forced to stop trading putting 2,500 jobs at risk. yesterday, the company revealed it had uncovered significant accounting irregularities, some of which could have been fraudulent. our business editor, simon jack, has more. this chain of restaurants was on tuesday night worth almost half £1 billion. tonight it is questionable whether it's worth anything at all after a series ofjawdropping announcements. as you say, yesterday morning they announced shares were suspended because of a black hole in accou nts suspended because of a black hole in accounts and it later emerged her majesty's revenue and customs was looking for a winding up order over £1 million of unpaid tax bills and then this bombshell this afternoon, without immediate injection of capital be direct is all of the view that there is no scope for the business to continue trading in its current form, that's about as serious as a one in gets. lots of questions, how did it happen, what did the currently suspended finance director know, but no allegation of wrongdoing against him at the moment, what about the auditors who gave the company a clean bill of health, but the biggest question for eve ryo ne health, but the biggest question for everyone tonight and the staff in here, if they don't get is a emergency injection of capital, what happens to this company, its 206 stores across the uk and its 2500 employees? the headlines on bbc news: senior cabinet ministers are briefed by the prime minister on the state of the brexit negotiations, the bbc understands several expressed concern about potential compromises with the eu. two astronauts survive an emergency landing after their russian soyuz rocket malfunctions soon after take—off. the saudi ambassador to the uk tells the bbc he is concerned about the missing saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi, but can't comment on his disappearance. a transgender prisoner who sexually assaulted two inmates at a women's jail and had previously raped two other women has been given a life sentence. 52—year—old karen white was born male and now identifies as a woman. she is still in the process of transistioning from male to female. karen, once known as stephen wood, was described in court as a predator who was a danger to women. she had ended up in the female new hall prison at wakefield on remand after a number of sexual offences, including rape. it was while she was in new hall she sexually assaulted two inmates who she had befriended, but facing questions about how someone who'd raped women and who claimed to be transgender ended up in a female jail, the ministry ofjustice has now apologised, saying a transgender case board should have considered white's previous offences. karen white is tonight in armleyjail, the men's prison in leeds, and will serve a minimum of nine years in prison. earlier i spoke to richard garside, who is the director of the centre for crime and justice studies, about how this prison ended up in a female prison given their previous record. well, it happens simply because the prison service policy allows for it and the prison service and the ministry ofjustice might say this isa ministry ofjustice might say this is a terrible mistake, the reality is a terrible mistake, the reality is male body prisoners who claim a female identity can apply to get transferred to women's prisons. i think that's an entirely unacceptable situation. clearly those who identify as women need to feel safe in prison and they need to feel safe in prison and they need to feel that their respected in the choices they want to make, but i don't think that should be at the expense of women's safety. so i think that's the issue here, expense of women's safety. so i think that‘s the issue here, trans— prisoners being put in a male prison might feel themselves incredibly u nsafe might feel themselves incredibly unsafe and that's what the moj presumably has been considering. well, exactly. prisons are not safe places. two people a week or so killed themselves in prison and many more self—harm, and they're full of people with mental health and other problems. it's a problem and there's no doubt the male estate particularly difficult in this situation right now. but if we think about the women's estate for a minute, more than half of women in prison will have experienced sexual or other gross violence by men, and they're being asked to share their space with other prisoners that they will consider to be male. i don't actually think that's unacceptable situation to be in. a solution needs to be found, my own view is the prison service needs to look quite seriously at providing alternative accommodation for transgender prisoners so they can feel safe and they can feel respected, but it shouldn't be in the women's state. this is presumably a pretty rare case, how many people would we be talking about? you're talking about setting up a separate prison or a separate wing of a prison for these prisoners. how many would we be talking about? we don't exactly know because there's a difference between prisoners with a gender recognition certificate and those who don't have one, we're talking in the hundreds rather than the thousands and many will remain in the prison of their sex because maybe they're in for a short period, or maybe they don't wish to be transferred to the alternative prison. the director of the centre for crime and justice studies. the way schools in england arejudged by inspectors is to change, with more emphasis being placed on what's taught rather than exam results. the chief inspector of osted, amanda spielman, says the focus on performance data has narrowed the curriculum in some schools. our education editor, branwen jeffreys, reports from darlington. three times a day, they come together... help us to be grateful as we learn to be trustworthy, responsible, fair and caring individuals. ..to get ready to learn to praise hard work. it feels calm and peaceful. it, like, lets people know how well other people are getting on in the lessons. so you can turn your gastauer off... — your so you can turn your gastauer off... “ your gas so you can turn your gastauer off... —— your gas tap off. four years ago this school was failing. boys, are you all right? yes. yeah, do you know what you are doing? just 11% of pupils got english and maths, this year well over half passed the gcse‘s. it's in a community with lots of challenges, but still isn't rated good by ofsted. to teach to the test all the time is taking out the beauty and the love and the passion of education. wrong, very, very wrong, but it doesn't mean you don't strive to hit your targets because of course you do. the culture of the climate that there is a legacy within the area they live, the geography of what the school is, what their parents have experienced. they might have had a poor experience of school and education and think we don't need it. a daily reading challenge is helping english. from next year, inspectors are meant to look beyond results, making what children learn more important. schools have faced relentless pressure to focus just on exam results, and today ofsted has admitted it's been part of the problem. but there are still real questions about whether the inspections get at the heart of what makes a school good. in darlington market, i asked parents. good behaviour. i'm all for that. that one is a major one. that is really important, good behaviour in schools. they've had five inspections in two years. now schools like this hope they will get more recognition. branwen jeffreys, bra nwen jeffreys, bbc branwen jeffreys, bbc news, darlington. employers could be forced to reveal the difference between what they pay ethnic minority staff and other employees, under new proposals unveiled by the government. a consultation has been launched into whether mandatory reporting will help address the significant gaps in pay, and promotion opportunities, that were revealed in a race disparity audit last year, as our business correspondent emma simpson explains. it's a diverse workplace. this big accountancy firm is one of the few companies that have already reported the difference in pay between its white employees and its black, asian and minority staff. there is an average pay gap here of nearly 13%. ijust wanted to know what you thought about the ethnicity pay gap? down in the canteen, the answer from these workers was clear. having those results published is very important. it makes our company transparent, and if everybody can see the results then we can see where we stand. it was something that we all read and were happy that pwc were publishing it, because once we know how severe the issue is, we can start putting solutions in place. it starts the conversation, because some people would say i'm not really comfortable talking about such a thing. they sure are now. here at pwc, the gap is driven by the lack of ethnic minority staff at the top. we know we need to do more to level the playing field, and by publishing the pay gap we know we can shine a spotlight on some of the challenges, have conversation and dialogue and that will mean we'll be far quicker and better equipped to close the gap. thousands of businesses have already been forced to publish their gender pay gap, exposing some big, uncomfortable differences in pay between the sexes. doing the same for ethnic minorities would be even more sensitive and complex. it's a huge group and a conflated group, so actually one of the things we're going to have to watch that businesses don't do is say it is too complicated to get people to report their ethnicities, so we are going to lump all the black and ethnic minority groups into one, and the only ethnicity pay gap we're going to report are the bme versus the white because that would be a huge disaster, and they might as well not do anything if they're going to that. the prime minister wants to hear from employers on how to best gather ethnicity pay data. she's made it her mission to create a fairer, more diverse workplace, but this is just a consultation for now. emma simpson, bbc news. rap star ka nye west, who recently said he wanted to be known simply as ye, has met president trump at the white house to discuss mental health and prison reform. he said the best way to keep black americans off welfare and out of prison was to create more jobs. this is our president. he has to be the freshest, the fly rest, the flies planes, the best factories and we have to make our core be empowered, we have to bring jobs into america because our best exporter is entertainment and ideas, but we make everything in china and not america, then we're cheating on our country and we're putting people in positions to have to do illegal things to end up in the cheapest daktari ever, things to end up in the cheapest da ktari ever, the things to end up in the cheapest daktari ever, the prison system. i'll tell you what, that was pretty impressive, folks! kanye ka nye west kanye west with president trump. lindsey buckingham is suing his former bandmates from fleetwood mac because he was fired from the tour. he was informed injanuary they would go on the tour without him. he claims no one in the band called him to tell him despite their 43 year relationship. we will have an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers. david wooding, the political editor of the sun on sunday, and jessica elgot, political correspondent at the guardian. that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for the weather with nick. we've already packed a lot of noteworthy weather in this week, but there's more to come courtesy of storm allen, the uk's third named storm of the season so far, this deep area of low pressure will pass to the north—west on friday but i wa nt to to the north—west on friday but i want to show you on saturday, although it's moving north away from us, still a trailing weather front across the uk so after the initial wind it will be rain that will become of greater concern into the start of the weekend and particularly in south wales where the met office has an amber warning enforced or 40 gashi 80 millimetres of rain, over 100 on south facing hills, so the risk of flooding as a result —— 40 gashi 80 millimetres. this is the initial rain coming through from storm callan —— 40 gashi 80 millimetres. this is a flavour of some of the wind gusts during the day. east anglia and south—east england staying dry with sunny spells and gusts only 40 to 40 miles an hourorso sunny spells and gusts only 40 to 40 miles an hour or so with the best of the temperatures. still a warm glow of their coming into the uk from the south, nowhere particularly cold but not feeling great when you have gales and the rain. as i hinted earlier, the rain continues to be an issue into saturday, still strong winds around on irish sea coast in particular, but look at the rain on saturday. southern scotland, western parts of england, into wales, especially the south, racking up higher rain totals and the risk of seeing disruption from the rain after the initial winds. look at the contrast on saturday, in eastern areas, dry and bury warm, maybe the mid—20s, but all change into part two of the weekend on sunday, the change of wind direction, goodbye africa, hello to something cooler and westerly from the atlantic. initial rain from the weather fronts from cal on sunday, snow to the higher ground in scotland and the grampians as the cooler air attacks in and notice the temperature change, most noticeable in parts of eastern england on sunday by as much as 10 degrees. after callan, this is what's next, this is hurricane michael moving from the usa on friday and through the weekend getting incorporated in a regular area of low pressure and moving to the uk going into monday. this isn't going to be a big deal, not as big a deal as callan will be for some, but what's left of michael will enhance some of this rain. this is a long way off still but it might not look like this, but it will enhance some of the rain coming into northern ireland and scotland on monday. we'll keep you updated on that. were you see some sunshine, temperatures are still into the mid—teens. deeper into next week, notice we see these areas of low pressure passing to the north—west so north and west of the uk closer to low pressure, but in the south and east, closer to high pressure and that brings a range of weather next week across the country. the closer you are too low pressure, northern and western parts of the uk, you're most likely to see spells of wind and rain but not all the time and occasionally the rain will

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