National Monetary Fund has cautioned that trade tensions between the u.s. And China are slowing global economic growth and making the world a poorer and more dangerous place the i.m.f. Sounded the warning in its latest global outlook in which it lowered its growth forecast is 3.7 percent for this year and next the fun's chief economist Morris Obst Felt told the B.B.C.'s Karisma of us one that the figure was only based on current tariffs quite common time that we have with the whole 200000000000 in our minds in one side or could happen or in the right and those are part of our downside in our house was that it was down by an area has become a reality because as it was a one of those materialize is that this was confidence for that there was a market for the because of the percentage point off it was Pakistan says it's decided to approach the i.m.f. For a bailout to tackle its mounting balance of payments crisis Mr Bell said the fund had not been formally approached by Pakistan for financial assistance a Mexican couple arrested with body parts in a baby pram last week have admitted killing 20 women his Are America's editor in our Russia the couple were arrested on Thursday as police search for a missing woman who had baby they asked to look inside the pram and were shocked to find a bag full of body parts after 4 days of questioning the man who's been identified as one Carlos n confessed to raping some of the women he said that he sold their bones but it's unclear who would have bought them into properties that belonged to the couple police found human remains in buckets in the side the fridge as well as clothes from some of the victims You're listening to the world nice from the b.b.c. . The doctor who graduated from one of Russia's elite military medical academies has been named as one of the 2 men who Britain says were responsible for poisoning a former Russian spy in Salzburg in March and investigative website says Alexander Michigan was recruited by military intelligence while at the academy Gordon Corera has more details it took longer for investigators at the Belling cat website to identify a legs under Michigan as he has an even sparser digital footprint than the 1st man to be named Anatoly Topeka but using databases and passport details they concluded that this was the real name of the man who'd come to Salzburg as Alexander Petroff facial recognition experts were asked to examine 2 photos 15 years apart and used techniques of simulated age progression to establish the match Michigan is believed to be a doctor as well as a member of military intelligence the g.r.u. And more details about him are expected to be released today opposition leaders in Venezuela have accused the government of killing a politician who died after falling from the 10th floor of the secret police headquarters in the capital Caracas Fernando band was a local councillor dozens of people have gathered outside the building to call for justice the Venezuelan authours he say he jumped out of the wind. Hurricane Michael has been causing heavy rains and strong winds in the west of Cuba as it gained strength while moving north towards Florida the Cuban government has ruled out an evacuation at this stage in Honduras and Nicaragua floods and landslides killed at least 13 people during the weekend almost a quarter of a 1000000 people have signed a petition to stop the sales of Sydney's Opera House being used to promote the horse race the advertisement to shed jewel to light up the building later today critics say it effectively creates a billboard for the racing and gambling industries but the New South Wales Government argues it will boost the economy b.b.c. News. Thanks your listening to the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service with me Nic Miles and we start in Washington. Bridge until we. Can all. Live just a. Bit. But I will move off of that as you heard is the u.s. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh now 2 days after being sworn into office he was at the White House at a ceremonial swearing in in front of the cameras and President Trump who had this to say about the long drawn out confirmation process when behalf of our nation I want to apologize to Brett and the entire cabinet our family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception Brett Kavanaugh now said he had been tested but not changed and that he'd work for stability and unity for all Americans the Senate confirmation process was contentious and emotional that process is over my focus now is to be the best justice I can be. I take this office with gratitude and no bitterness our correspondent Peter Bowes was watching he told us more just as cover No I think determined to put the division the hostility to rest or at least behind him and look to the future this job that he has as one of the 9 as they're often referred to on the Supreme Court the highest court in the land looking to the future looking to that new role where he will not be politically appointed or at least he won't be voting in terms of political sides he will be voting in the interests as he said of of one nation and he stressed that a lot and I think that's the direction he wants to look now clearly he will be under a lot of scrutiny over the coming weeks and months and the rather different tone from the president highlighting the as he put it the campaign of political and personal destruction that he said that the judge had to enjoy and apologizing to him for that he also used our phrase that we've heard a lot from President Trump in recent weeks about the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and he said you Sir George covered or under historic scrutiny were proven innocent and that is a phrase that clearly there will be little political agreement about and indeed the political fallout from this saga is perhaps continuing a fired up Democratic Party and also a fired up Republican base what impact you think that's going to have on the midterm elections in November it's I think the jury is out in terms of which party is going to ultimately benefit from this because I think as you suggest both parties are really fired up by this I think perhaps what it might do is increase voter turnout in a few weeks' time because clearly people have been taking to the streets on this particular issue they are fired up about politics generally and it may well depend on the tone that each party adopts clearly I think we've had a hint in the last few hours that President Trump intends to continue. Using this example is talking about the Democrats in the way that he sees them behaving over the appointment of this judge and perhaps hoping that the Republicans will benefit politically from not equally the Democrats fired up because they are angry about what's happened now is Peter. The International Monetary Fund has cut its forecasts for global economic growth and says that trade was partly to blame it released it forced its forecasts on the intonation island of Bali where the i.m.f. And the World Bank are beginning their annual meetings Asia business correspondent Kareen Swanny is in Bali and has more the fact that they've mentioned the trade war in itself shouldn't come as a surprise it has been one of the key concerns for most economists going forward given the fact that the u.s. And China are the world's 2 largest economies it's just speaking with the i.m.f. Chief economist Mario Obst felt and I put to him the fact that back in April when the i.m.f. Released its the last World Economic Outlook at that time what the fund was saying was that you know growth is doing relatively well we're on a stable position for the world economy and what has dramatically changed I think it would be fair to say in the last 6 months since that world economic outlook a bit more than 6 months is the fact that the nature of the trade tensions between the u.s. And China has been so much fierce conflict has really escalated now the outlook and the growth forecasts that the i.m.f. Has released today for both the global economy and a multitude of other countries including the u.s. And China they downgraded their full cost for the global economy from 3.9 percent to 3.7 percent they've also downgraded decile costs for the u.s. And China because of these trade concerns but you know it still doesn't reflect the current modeling what could happen it's. President Trump does what he has consistently said he would do which is to slap tariffs on all of China's goods coming into the United States in that scenario from what Mr Abdullah was saying to me a little earlier the situation could get much worse talking about the world being poorer and more dangerous What's the i.m.f. Says advice to countries so that they can actually manage these risks Well you know this is something that the i.r.s. Can sustain Lee says that countries need to address the structural problems in their own economies when you hear that rates bandied about I'm sure lots of in our lots people in our audience are actually wondering what does that mean you know is there something wrong with the foundation of how economic growth that's being managed and frankly yes that's things like unemployment the fact that people don't feel included in the benefits of economic growth and if you think about it that's one of the key reasons why we've seen these rising levels of protectionism people are feeling fearful that feeling scared and as a result they're a bit more amenable if you will to listening to rhetoric on trade policy and that China for instance is in the wrong in this and that the United States should go ahead with its trade tariffs against the Chinese economy but what the i.m.f. Said that countries need to do coastal makers need to do to mitigate these risks is actually fix the problems inherent in these economies rather than reacting in this way that was charisma Swami. Journalists say they've identified the 2nd of the 2 men suspected of carrying out a nerve agent attack on set against a former Russian spy in Britain this year the investigative site Belling cack has named him as Alexander Michigan it says he's a doctor with a Russian married military intelligence agency the g.r.u. The b.b.c. Understands that British officials do not dispute the identification our correspondent more has been following the story the most important thing we've learned. Is the Alexander mission is a trained medical doctor the Web site investigative website Belling Katz says he was born in 1989 in the village of loiter near Archangel that's the big Russian naval base in northern Russia they say he graduated from one of Russia's elite military Kadam is and was trained as a military doctor of the Russian naval forces by 2010 he'd relocated to Moscow where he was said to be working for a Russian military intelligence the g r u And it was about this time there he was given a 2nd passport in the name of petrol for but he kept some of his real information on it the same 1st name the same date of birth the 1st names of his parents until 2014 he said to have used the address of g r u headquarters as his home address his rank is believed to be Colonel or left tenant colonel now Krista gratia if from Belling care said the month long search wasn't too challenging we found absolutely no online references to this person. There is real or assumed name there were there's not even a school that boasted about him so we started with very little then we remembered that in the previous investigation that we did a few years back on another tour you agent that person had only one part of his name and identity changed only the family name but being changed at birth they remain the same place of birth remain the same so we decided to give that approach a try so what do we know any about Alexander Michigan's accomplice Colonel Anatoly chippie that was revealed a while ago tell us more about him that's right Colonel Chebucto worlds identified by the same organization he grew up on the other side of Russia 5000 miles east of more so Moscow close to the Chinese border the 39 year old trained at one of Russia's elite a Cademy s. And served with the special forces unit he earned more than 20 military awards for his service in December 24th saying he was made a hero of the right. Federation and that's a medal usually awarded in the secret ceremony and typically handed out by President Putin himself and they we're expecting to hear more details about this latest revelation tomorrow has there been any reaction so far we've had nothing from the Russian or Thora t's or the Russian embassy here in the u.k. There's been no official comment from the u.k. Authorities but it's understood the b.b.c. Understands the identification from Belling cat is not being disputed by the security services here the Metropolitan Police who are carrying out the official investigation so they don't comment on speculation that was Andy more. Now we're going to go to Venezuela where the interior minister has announced the death in custody of opposition politician Fernandez ban who had been detained on Friday opposition leaders believe he was killed by the government but the authorities say he took his own life a lot of Americans at a land Other Russia tell me more there are conflicting accounts the now official version has been said by Tarik William saab who is the chief prosecutor or the attorney general of him as well even though he's an appt independent position very close to President Maduro he said that Mr Ban had been arrested on Friday for involvement alleged involvement in a plot to kill President Maduro in the beginning of August then he asked to use the toilet and as he was going that way he jumped off a window from the 10th floor of the building that building is very well known in Caracas is this a bean is the secret police building known as the early courses of concrete 95060 s. Building and I've seen pictures on the local media there showing the body of Mr Ban on the floor outside the beauty that's their version of and but we had earlier the interior minister and that's what the opposition is pointing out the interior minister Mr Ebert all saying that he was in ready to go to hearing and that he ran off and he jumped off the windows of conflicting versions and the family members of West Alabama dispute these accounts family members and opposition leaders they say it's clear that he was killed they blame President Maduro and Prism others government for the death of these opposition politician I don't know how they have their information but they say that he was already dead when his body was thrown out of the window he might have been question he might. To be tortured is not clear and he might have died in the threw his body off the window that's what the opposition is saying one of the people saying that is Holder Baucus who is a very well known politician opposition politician and enemy of President Maduro also Yreka was a presidential candidate in the stories is getting bigger because you have family members in you have politicians opposition politicians outside the building now you know crying in the commotion and demanding justice and human rights groups in the past have criticized Venezuela for how it treats people custody has yes even the arrest of these people has been questioned by many people by the United Nation by Amnesty International in there is a very important in g.o.f. Group in Venezuela the follow up and now they're tries to keep a tally of the number of particle political prisoners they say there are 236 political prisoners even as well at the moment they say their arrest is unlawful in that they are not treated well in prison but the death of prisoners in custody is very unusual that was Leonarda Russia and you can get more on that story on the b.b.c. News website b.b.c. Dot com for Slash news it's coming up to 420 g.m.t. . Gen hardest factions in northwestern Syria are reported to have pulled some of their heavy weapons back from parts of a proposed demilitarized zone in Italy profits if it's confirmed it will be the 1st tentative steps towards consolidating a deal that it's hoped will avoid an all out offensive by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies many fear that would cause a humanitarian disaster amongst the more than $2000000.00 civilians in the area Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has been travelling on the regime's side around the frontlines surrounded. Hello I saw. That you're going to. Do it why can't. We with Commander now Bill here is the local commander of the National Defense Force a sort of territorial force here which is a big part of the Syrian government war effort and we're heading up to the front line. We're just driving out of his base and there are lots of photos of martyrs of dead soldiers people on the Syrian government side managing killed people feel safe in this town You're very close to the front line I should not have. As many. They are taking this drink in the name of this city can be you know ironically stubborn or is this. The city I feel safe thanks to the Syrian army and national defense forces. In the morning we go to funerals in the evening Greek Wiki Leaks and into back to our positions on the front lines with his heat his power radio he's listening to the great Lebanese G.'s f. a Ruse and one of the things of this song is what's happening to my city with him out in left field has just just lived very nice must cross a whisking. 10 to 12 in the morning what do you think of Britain's role in the war but it. Would fall off of none Britain was a part of this war look at these mortars which landed on this monster in Britain is part of these mortars Brittany's partner after the killing of our women and children they are partners in a sense from this land that I've been speaking his horn because 'd we arrived at the base and one of the soldiers is moving an obstruction out of the way so we can drive up there is a poster picture of President Assad and Putin of Russia and the Syrian flag and a Russian flag and I can see. Tillery military lorries. From the position. Where we are is on the front line overlooking the logic very large it live and thrive it's the last bit of territory in Syria last substantial bit controlled by anti regime forces there are up to 3000000 civilians in that area and tens of thousands of fighters from different groups mainly jihadist extremist groups there were fears of a big Syrian Russian Iranian offensive which might have caused and could still cause large numbers of casualties but at the moment what's going on is that there is a deal between the Turks and the Russians to try to. Create a demilitarized zone around this large part of the province of it led at the moment it's fragile because by October 15th these jihadist groups in the area are meant to have taken out their heavy weapons and they said they weren't there might still be climactic final battle around the province of it live for the time being though there's a fragile diplomatic agreement keeping that a day that was Jeremy Bowen reporting from. Debbie say with some of the stories from the news desk 5 young Filipinos who claim they were sexually abused by a notorious British paedophile are asking a court to avoid them damages against him they will give evidence over a video link about the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Douglas late one he was living in the Philippines Slade who denies the allegations was extradited to the u.k. And jailed 2 years ago for child sex offenses committed in person. NASA has said a gyroscope on the Hubble Space Telescope has failed leaving it on able to point in the right direction for observations activity from the telescope has been put on hold after a backup system did not sta