welcome to bbc news, broadcasting at home and around the globe. i'm lebo diseko. our top stories: the us admits that coalition aircraft did strike an area of mosul where many civilians were killed last week. a new leaderfor hong kong is being chosen right now, but critics condemn the lack of democracy. hello. the pentagon has acknowledged that american—led coalition fighter jets struck a location in the iraqi city of mosul, where many civilians were killed. us central command says iraqi military requested the attack against islamic state militants. our middle east editor, jeremy bowen, is near the front line. he sent this report. thousands of people have arrived,

have walked out of those parts of mosul still controlled by islamic state. they've arrived with the close they've come with and a few spares. they need food, they need water, they need shelter. it's a massive humanitarian challenge, and not nearly as big as the one that may literally be coming down that road in the next few weeks. from where the black smoke is, which is where the islamic state positions are here in mosul. they are apparently about 800 metres, one kilometre, away. this is very much a theatre of war. the people who have been coming in have been talking about what they have been through. they have talked about air strikes that have come in in the last few days and killed, as well as killing

people from is, have killed hundreds of civilians. they've complained that the jihadist have used them as human shields. but they have also, in tears and anger, spoken bitterly about the effects of air strikes on civilians. i spoke to multiple witnesses who said that there are perhaps hundreds of bodies still lying in the rubble, that people cannot get to. if you take it all together, the effects of the war, the wounded, the dead, military and civilians, and the massive humanitarian needs of the massive humanitarian needs of the people who think displaced by the people who think displaced by the fighting, it comes together as a great, big humanitarian emergency and it is worsened by the fact that it happening in in a country that was already broken to pieces by war.

it isa was already broken to pieces by war. it is a huge challenge and it is really ha rd to it is a huge challenge and it is really hard to think of a bigger one anywhere in the world at the moment. the new leader of hong kong will be chosen shortly, in a vote dismissed by pro—democracy activists as a sham. around 1,000 people took to the streets in a pro—democracy march ahead of the election. there are three candidates to succeed the outgoing leader cy leung. his deputy, carrie lam, is beijing's choice for the top job. her main rival, former finance chiefjohn tsang, is the public‘s favourite. the final candidate is retired judge woo kwok—hing. the bbc‘sjuliana liu joins us now from hong kong. bring us up to date. good morning. i am just outside the building where the balloting is taking place. it is taking place in the convention centre to my right. the polls opened about one hour ago. they are set to

close in about one hour. a reminder that the general public do not have a say. they are not the ones voting. instead it's a committee ofjust 1200 people who will be casting their ballots to choose the next leader. the successful candidate needs just over 600 votes to win and the clear frontrunner is carrie lam, hong kong's former top civil servant. she is widely perceived to be hong kong... beijing's preferred candidate and that's indicated in a series of direct or indirect interviews the local press, as well as indications in pro—beijing media. so barring any very last—minute scandal are very unexpected upset, she is expected to be announced hong kong's next chief executive in about two hours. just tell us what public

opinion is like when it comes to the selection, because there is a pro—democracy push their, isn't that? -- pro—democracy push their, isn't that? —— there, isn't there? berries. this is the first election since 2014. i'm not sure if you can make it up behind me but there are pro—democracy protests with their yellow u m brella pro—democracy protests with their yellow umbrella is and yellow signs. they are protesting against this process , they are protesting against this process, as well as mrs lam. she is perceived to be beijing's preferred candidate but she is not the people's choice, according to a series of polls as well as a mock election that ended last weekend. the people's choice is actuallyjohn tsang, the former financial secretary. he is far more popular. carrie lam has promised to heal divisions in society. it is quite divided between people who support beijing, the establishment groups, and the pro—democracy groups. so

these groups do clash. as you can see there are two groups behind me. carrie lam has promised to try to heal those divisions, but as she is personally so unpopular many are wondering if that actually possible. we will leave it there. remember, you can get lots more on online at the bbc website. and remember, you can get in touch with me on twitter. more than 30 people have been hurt ina more than 30 people have been hurt in a suspected gas explosion at birkenhead. these images show breaks and debris across the streets. we will bring you more details on that as soon as we have it. the bodies of two 17—year—old boys have been found at the foot of cliffs at saltburn, near middlesborough. cleveland police have begun an investigation and say the families of both

teenagers are being supported by specialist officers. from saltburn, linsey smith sent this report. peaceful and calm, just as it was before 7pm last night, when cleveland police received the first reports of a casualty at huntcliff. what police and coast guards discovered on arrival was worse. the bodies of two 17—year—old boys on a ledge. they were airlifted to the james cook hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. i was walking into town and there were loads of police and ambulances, which is unusual. i saw the police first and i thought, "i wonder, is the right thing to be into town?" a popular walking spot. tonight, those enjoying the area told us of the perilous nature of the cliff tops. there are some very sheer drops. there's plenty of signage, advising people to keep clear of the cliff edge. but the path does go very close to it.

the teenagers' families are tonight being supported by cleveland police, while officers tried to establish exactly how these two teenagers died. british police say they may never know what motivated the man who killed four people in central london on wednesday. khalid masood deliberately drove his car into pedestrians on westminster bridge before killing a police officer on duty at the houses of parliament. a former head of london's metropolitan police has called for changes to security at westminster as a result of the attack. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. minutes after the terrorist attack in the precincts of the palace of westminster. 0n the ground is constable keith palmer, who was stabbed to death. his killer, khaled massoud, has been shot to death by police. meanwhile, armed officers stationed here have left the scene

to investigate the gates, where masood's car has mounted the pavement and crashed. the gates, meanwhile, have been left unguarded and wide open. anyone could have got through. an understandable error according to a former head of scotland yard, who nevertheless leaves that in the future security will have to be more stringent. i'm absolutely certain that there will have to be a review now of the outer soft ring. always behind it is the inner core of armed officers, but pc keith palmer has paid for his life for that soft outer ring and i think his family, at least, and everyone else, need reassurance that this will be reviewed. the bbc has obtained new footage of the police response. a fleet of cars carrying teams of marksmen racing down the embankment. this was shortly after khaled masood's trail of carnage which began on westminster bridge.

questions remain unanswered about his route to radicalisation. he was a violent criminal before converting to islam more than a decade ago. one of his victims who survived, but with serious injuries, was this romanian tourist, who was hurled into the thames. she was in london with her partner, who was also hurt. in romania, a friend paid tribute to the emergency services in london. translation: we would especially like to thank the doctors and nurses, all the medical staff, for everything they are doing to help them. today at scotland yard, police officers who were part of the emergency response laid flowers in memory of their colleague, keith palmer, who they tried to help. june kelly, bbc news. the family of the police officer, pc keith palmer, have issued a statement. we have been overwhelmed, they say, by the love and support for ourfamily, and most especially, the outpouring of love and respect

for our keith. we want to thank everyone who has reached out to us over the past few days for their kindness and generosity. the police have been a constant, unwavering support at this very difficult time. it has made us realise what a caring, strong and supportive family keith was part of during his career with the police. we can't thank them enough. we would also like to express our gratitude to the people who were with keith in his last moments and who were working that day. there was nothing more you could have done. you did your best and we are just grateful he was not alone. we care about him being remembered for his selfless bravery and loving nature. we miss him so much, but we are also incredibly proud of keith. new security measures, banning large electronic devices from cabin baggage on some passenger flights arriving in the uk and the us, have come into effect. laptops, tablets and large smartphones will now have to travel in the hold on flights from turkey, parts of the middle east and north africa.

simon jones has more. wrapped up and ready for the hold. security at this airport in istanbul has just got tighter. no laptops, ta blets has just got tighter. no laptops, tablets and e—readers allowed in hand luggage insights to the us and uk. some passages preparing for a long journey not impressed. this airport is so secure, the security level is so high compared to other airports in the rest of this part of the world, so why are they doing it from here? if you stay like this you will say everybody could be a terrorist. it is not respectful for people and for turkish people. terrorist. it is not respectful for people and for turkish peoplelj think it's not good. the countries affected by the uk laptop and are turkey, lebanon, jordan, saudi arabia and tunisia. the us ban cove rs arabia and tunisia. the us ban covers turkey, morocco, jordan, egypt, the uae, qatar, saudi arabia and kuwait. what has been worrying the us and uk is a device like the

one that blew a hole in the side of this somali airliner last year, a small bomb in a laptop. 0nly this somali airliner last year, a small bomb in a laptop. only the bomber was killed. the theory is a small device going off in the hold rather than the cabin gives the pilot of better chance of successfully landing the plane. but turkey has urged the lifting of the band as soon as possible, saying it creates unfair competition. —— ban. translation: we respect the security measures. we must sure take security measures. we must sure take security measures. they are more important than passenger's comfort. but if you impose security measures in one place and do not implement it in another place, we would interpret it differently. you would think there are other intentions behind this ban. for business travellers wanting to do work on for families wanting entertainment, it will be a big and for many unpopular change. there is no end date for the ban, but officials say security must be the

top priority. the uk independence party, who campaigned for the referendum which led to britain leaving the european union, have lost their only member of parliament. douglas carswell is leaving three years after he joined the party. he will continue to sit as an independent, and says the goal of the uk exiting the eu has been achieved. shall we shake hands? fixed grins but no handshake. there's been no love lost between douglas carswell and some in ukip for some time. when he joined the party two years ago, it was a big deal. i am today leaving the conservative party and joining ukip. but his relationship with the then leader soon soured. differences in policies and personalities. and today he quit ukip, saying its job was done when the country backed brexit. we have achieved what ukip was for. if other people want to carry it on, i wish them all the best.

but you were the party's only mp. by quitting have you have not put the final mail in the coughing? —— coffin. theresa may means brexit is in safe hands. no tears from nigel farage. the former party leader saying that douglas carswell had jumped before he was pushed and was never truly ukip. current leaders, who saw him as a cause of division, agree. it really won't make very much difference to us, other than drawing a line under something which has really caused nothing but heartache for about a year, more than a year. douglas was never that comfortable in the party, so i think really he will go on his merry way. douglas carswell is duly elected as a member of parliament for the said constituency. thank you. last time he changed allegiances, the clacton mp made a big play of asking voters for approval, out of principal, but not this time. if i were switching parties,

if i were going from ukip to the conservatives, then absolutely i would feel honour bound to call a by—election. but the voters voted for a ukip mp and now they getting an independent. when i was a conservative and switched to ukip, i triggered a by—election. i think i was the first member of parliament for 26 years to insist on that. but i'm not changing parties, i'm not switching sides. in his constituency, some have questioned his decision. bit of a disgrace, he was doing well for ukip. it's down to him at the end of the day, if he wants to do that we can't do a lot about it, can we? he hasn't ruled out returning to the tories but says for now he is an independent mp. his parting gift to ukip, for the question of the party's relevance. this is bbc news. i'm lebo diseko. the latest headlines: the pentagon has acknowledged that aircraft from the us—led coalition hit a district in the iraqi city of mosul where many civilians were killed.

the new leader of hong kong will be selected shortly in a vote dismissed as a sham by pro—democracy activists. president erdogan says turkey might hold a brexit—style referendum on whether to pursue eu membership. turkish attempts to join the eu have been stalled since 2005. his comments come a year after the eu and turkey agreed a deal to stem the flow of migrants entering europe. but bureaucratic delays have left thousands stranded. paul adams sent this report from the greek island of chios. a year ago these waters fell silent. a deal was struck, enforcement followed. europe breathed a sigh of relief. but it's not over. 0n chios, the camps are overflowing once more. a surge of new arrivals joining those who have been trapped here for months. abdullah arrived here the day the eu—turkey deal went into effect. a day earlier and he could have moved on, but he's been stuck for over one year.

long enough to draw unfavourable parallels with life back home. with isis maybe you will be killed by them in the second. i just want to live like a human being. here, they let you live because there's no need to kill you. but they kill your hope, they kill your dreams. the government—run camp at vial was supposed to be a model reception centre, but secret filming from inside shows a place migrants call ‘the cage', where new arrivals are held for the first few hours. an intimidating first glimpse of europe and the start of a long bureaucratic process that seems designed to halt them in their tracks. people that expected to spend here just a few days are stranded here for months, which has impacted

on the psychology of the people. they don't have the perception that tomorrow the situation will be solved. they think this thing could go on for years. the damage is not hard to find. abdul raouf left aleppo last year. injanuary, he learned his mother and sister were killed in an airstrike. he feels utterly lost. i want a safe country for me because i have lost everything. everything... future and family. my life. the principal at the heart of the eu—turkey deal is that turkey, just over the water, is a safe place for refugees and other migrants to return to. now, the syrians in particular dispute that and say that turkey is not safe for them. a greek court is due to rule on this soon. much will depend on the outcome. for the migrants stuck on the islands, clarity is badly needed. pauladams, bbc news, chios. more now on that selection process

under way for the new leader of hong kong in a vote dismissed as a sham by pro—democracy activists. i'm joined now by bbc news reporter bill hayton. how much of a sure bet is the outcome of this? we all expect it to be carrie lam, she was the deputy leader of the territory in the past and she has been clearly given the approval by beijing and everyone assumes the 1200 people who get to make the choice have received the same message and they are going to give her their approval. how do people feel about this in hong kong? there is a pro—democracy movement. there is, but it's divided between the more radical side and the more reformist side and then you have a large group of people who are happy with things as they are or don't want to rock the boat. it is

ha rd to don't want to rock the boat. it is hard to gauge exactly how people breakdown in terms of their opinion, but three years ago when you had the occu py but three years ago when you had the occupy movement, the umbrella movement, calling for more democracy, opinion polls around that time were suggesting 40, 50, 60% support for that movement. but since no one has ever actually formally put a referendum type question to the populace, we don't know how the support would break down. people in hong kong have had a strong identity of being separate from the mainland, very independent, how likely are they ever to get to choose their own leader? it's a contradicted history with hong kong, the fact it was grabbed by the british empire and held as a separately ruled territory for so long and then went back to china —— complicated. there's a small group who would be described as extremists by many people and according to independence for hong

kong, a large group of people who wa nt kong, a large group of people who want reform within the chinese system. the worry for many people now is the more that china puts its own stamp on politics in the territory, squashes other points of view, the more it feels like the mainland in terms of politics. that's what lies behind a lot of the democracy movement, they don't want to be completely absorbed by the mainland and become just another chinese city. beijing not very happy about this pro—democracy cause themselves? but it seems they are playing quite a tough line and also to some extent a counter—productive line. they are taking a very hard line. they are taking a very hard line and that's provoking a backlash. some of the people who are in the middle are saying, if beijing was more careful about its approach and allowed some movement in terms of local autonomy and that sort of thing, and wasn't clamping down so ha rd thing, and wasn't clamping down so hard on dissent, that would probably ta ke hard on dissent, that would probably take some of the wind out of the

sails but the more hardline they are then the more hardline some of the radicals are becoming. bill, great to have your insight. we're going to have the result from that vote in a couple of hours and we will bring you up to date as soon as we do. more on the explosion in merseyside we we re more on the explosion in merseyside we were telling you about, josh parry is from the liverpool echo. he has just left the scene in bbc.com/news. what have you seen? -- in new ferry. i have been to a lot of scenes like this in myjob but this is the largest i have ever seen in myjob as a reporter. the emergency service response has been huge, two dozen police cars, the same number of ambulances and 50 firemen and women initially searching the rubble. what do we know about the number injured, any

details around that? so far the numbers we have had officially confirmed are around 32 injured. they are described as walking wounded team. there are a further two described as serious injuries, none of those are said to be life changing, though. but a senior officer we spoke to in a press briefing earlier did say that he is surprised there were no fatalities today. i understand people have told you that they did smell gas in the days before the explosion happened? yes. i spoke to five or six different people and they all said they smell gas in the area over the last day. one lady in particular said she was shopping in the area, what would have been thursday, and she said she actually saw a lady tried to light a cigarette and such was the strong smell of gas she rushed over to say don't like that

and that's how strong she said the smell of the gas was. -- light. the focus now is on keeping people safe, the emergency services, ambulance and police, there will come a time when people want to know what happened and how this happened. whose remit does that fall under?” believe it falls under the remit of the national grid. i asked one of the national grid. i asked one of the chief fire officers earlier today at the press briefing but he was very today at the press briefing but he was very much of the opinion that that was a question for the national grid, a leaklike that was a question for the national grid, a leak like that would be reported automatically in any case to the fire service. josh, thank you so much for bringing us up to date with what you have been hearing at that gas explosion in the wirral. thank you. police in the belarusian capital, minsk, have arrested hundreds of people during the latest protests against a tax on the under—employed.

thousands defied a ban on demonstrations. the country's president alexander lu kashenko. this report from greg dawson contains some violent scenes. the demonstrators call this freedom day, but there was little sign of any freedom to protest when the riot police arrived. the government had banned this march, and those defying the orders were swiftly removed from the orders were swiftly removed from the streets. anyone resisting arrest was quickly beaten into submission. protesters young and old were dragged away. human rights groups say up to 400 were detained. this man directs his anger at the country's president. alexander lukashenko has country's president. alexander lu kashenko has been country's president. alexander lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and is described by some

western officials as europe's last dictator. his $230 tax on people unemployed for six months is at the centre of these protests. 0pponents say it punishes those struggling to find work. belarus has been in recession for the past two years, suffering the knock—on effects of an economic downturn in russia. president lukashenko has suspended the tax for this year but won't scrap it, insisting it instils discipline in the workshy. translation: i'm not afraid, another of the. we have to come to the streets to show our discontent. we have freedom of speech in the country and we must speak. they're not giving us a chance to say a word. president lukashenko has recently talked of a plot to overthrow him, backed by foreign fighters. there have already been several weeks of protests in his country, and saturday's crackdown was a clear message that further

dissent would be tolerated. greg dawson, bbc news. former x factorjudge cheryl has used her on her instagram account to announce the birth of her first child with one direction star liam payne. the 33—year—old singer said the baby, born on wednesday, weighing 7lb 9, was an incredibly beautiful, healthy baby boy and was looking like a dream. she said they had not named him yet, but he was already stealing hearts. coming up we will have the headlines but first the weather with darren bent. hello there, good morning. it really was a lovely start to the weekend and there's more sunshine to come on sunday. these were saturday's blue skies, taken by a weather watcher in aboyne, aberdeenshire. here, the temperature rose to 19.1 celsius, making it the warmest day of the year so far, closely followed by west wales, northern ireland and into cumbria. we'll see similar

temperatures again on sunday. but it's pretty cold out there at the moment, especially underneath that high pressure where we've got no wind to speak of. maybe one or two mist and fog patches short—lived. not as cold to the south due to the wind not blowing, but across the northern isles, we have a touch of frost already, especially chilly in the glens of scotland, parts of northern ireland. it will warm up quickly in the sunshine. a lot of sunshine, almost wall—to—wall sunshine. still some cloud in shetland, perhaps 0rkney, a little bit of lighter cloud across the english channel and stronger winds still blowing in southern parts of england and wales. light winds further north. lots of sunshine across the bulk of scotland, away from the northern isles. this time the highest temperatures further west in scotland. in western scotland, we could get up to 18 degrees in parts. 18 possible in the north and west of wales. generally about the mid—teens. the edge taken off the sunshine by the stronger winds in southern england. it could be a touch cooler than saturday in devon and cornwall

and those temperatures pegged back right on the coast with the onshore breeze. a lovely evening if you're heading to wembley for the football on sunday. but once the sun goes down we will find those temperatures falling very quickly. perhaps not quite so low, because on monday there will be a bit more cloud around, especially moving northwards into northern england and southern scotland, northern ireland. still a lovely day across the north—west of scotland. for most of england and wales there will be some sunshine. not as windy in the south. temperatures still 16—17 degrees. not as warm where we have that cloud. we'll find things gradually change as we look towards the south—west. we push away the area of high pressure that's keeping it fine and sunny and we'll introduce some showers perhaps across northern ireland, across wales. more western parts of england further east it may well be dry and across scotland it is largely dry, but more in the way of cloud here.