hello, i'm tom donkin. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: holding the world to ransom. another widespread cyber attack hits banks, shops, transport and energy networks. another setback for president trump's attempt to change american healthcare, this time the senate delays a crucial vote. after half a century as armed revolutionaries, the farc rebels in colombia finally put down their weapons. the chinese artist ai weiwei brings his new work to washington and, with it, his support for american dissidents. hello and welcome.

a large—scale cyber attack that started in ukraine is continuing its spread across the globe. the virus freezes computers and demands that a ransom is paid. a danish shipping group, a russian oil giant, an american pharmaceutical company and a british advertising firm are among the big companies that have been hit. this might all sound familiar, because a similar attack targeted the uk's national health service last month. our security correspondent, gordon corera, has been monitoring the developments. a cyber attack is sweeping across the globe, taking systems off—line. another reminder of the risks we face in our connected world. the first signs came in ukraine. systems went down this morning. some people tried to take money out of bank machines, found they couldn't. even the radiation monitoring system at the chernobyl nuclear plant was briefly taken offline. the scale was enormous.

we had the virus spread, cyber virus on the transport, bank, media, infrastructure of ukraine, in government and in the co—operative sectors as well. but during the day, it became clear that the problem was not contained in ukraine but was spreading. reports came in of companies affected from russia across europe to the uk and also the us. those affected included oil producers, shipping and pharmaceutical companies and a london—based advertising group. they were all faced with a screen like this, telling them they've been locked out of their computer and needed to pay a ransom to get back in. computer systems which have not been upgraded or patched are usually the most vulnerable. today's ransomware has some similarities but is not the same as that which struck

the nhs last month and, so far, there's no sign of health services being affected. experts say the new attack in some ways is more sophisticated, but the aim is still to make money. well, ra nsomwa re is very effective because attackers can sit at home, in the comfort of their own living rooms, somewhere possibly on the other side of the world, and mount these attacks with very low risk to themselves and very high upside. in many cases they'll make hundreds of thousands of dollars out of an attack like this. so far the signs are that the uk has not been badly hit but officials will be watching to see how far it spreads and how much damage this attack really does. the bbc‘s dave lee is also following the attack for us. he's in san francisco. just over one month since that huge wannacry attack and here we go again. this attack seems to target the ukraine, part of the code

specifically goes after ukrainian software. what such is the indiscriminate nature of ransomware attacks, this has now spread all over the world. in the us we have seen a major pharmaceutical company have their it systems affected and also dla piper has been caught up in the attack. security researchers are trying to see if there are any clues as to where this has come from. it isa as to where this has come from. it is a new strain of ransomware but there are similarities between this and previous attacks. companies that took sufficient measures to upgrade their system should have been protected, but as we've seen not all firms were diligent enough to make sure that happen. attackers are only asking for $300 as a ransom payment and from our analysis not many people seem to have paid up, it seems increasingly that these attacks aren't about making money. kevin epstein is vice president of threat 0perations epstein is vice president of threat 0perations at the security company proof—point.

his company helped with the so called ‘kill switch' that halted the recent wannacry ra nsomwa re attack. he's in boston. two things. what do we know about this new strain of ransomware and, obviously, why can't we use the solution that helps us last time? i only wish we could use the solution that helped us last time, but the new ra nsomwa re unfortunately lacks that helped us last time, but the new ransomware unfortunately lacks a kill switch. it appears to have originated in the ukraine but again the nature of the attack and the region of the malware itself is such that it region of the malware itself is such thatitis region of the malware itself is such that it is not targeted. it is indiscriminate and will spread wherever it can find an appropriate network called or place to transmit itself across the network. this does appear to be itself across the network. this does appearto bea itself across the network. this does appear to be a largely network —based attack, not something we have seen —based attack, not something we have seen via e—mail. but again the trick is for folks to engage in rapid detection to try and constrain it. it seems to be spreading even still,

maybe in the us as people start waking up. is itjust as easy as paying the money? doesn't that get your files back? paying the money? doesn't that get yourfiles back? 0r paying the money? doesn't that get yourfiles back? or is it more complicated? unfortunately there used to be on among thieves and used to be the case that one could pay the ransom and expect your computer to be decrypted. these days ra nsomwa re, even if to be decrypted. these days ransomware, even if you do pay the ransomware, even if you do pay the ransom sometimes the encryption key isissued ransom sometimes the encryption key is issued but remainders are left behind, so that the attacker could then take over your computer again. u nfortu nately then take over your computer again. unfortunately in the specific case of this attack the infrastructure that the attackers set up was such that the attackers set up was such that their e—mail address for their payment account was shut down, so we would strongly urge folks not to try and pay this because even if you somehow succeed in getting payment across they have no way of getting the encryption keys back to you. so if we do wake up and see this message on our if we do wake up and see this message on oui’ computer if we do wake up and see this message on our computer screens, what happens then? is there nothing we can do? i would absolutely say

the first thing is to turn off the computer. do an plug it from the internet, from the internet cable, from your wi—fi, but don't turn off your laptop. leave it on, call an it professional. given the nature of this ransomware professional. given the nature of this ra nsomwa re it professional. given the nature of this ransomware it is more sophisticated than the last attack but it is still not what we would call nation state—level sophistication, so there is a reasonable chance that an it professional could salvage some if not all of your files. this is really crippling it major global companies. is there any chance that the origins for this might be you know the cliche teenage hacker sitting in their bedroom, with a laptop? unfortunately probably not exactly a teenage hacker. at the same time, despite the industrial disruption it is causing, ironically enough this does seem to be straightforward cyber crime motivation. ransomware straightforward cyber crime motivation. ra nsomwa re is straightforward cyber crime motivation. ransomware is the modern cyber equivalent of a street mugging

oi’ cyber equivalent of a street mugging or street crime. it is relatively straightforward to build a ra nsomwa re. straightforward to build a ransomware. you straightforward to build a ra nsomwa re. you don't straightforward to build a ransomware. you don't need to target it to get people to pay ransom and so it to get people to pay ransom and so unfortunately perhaps not a teenager in a bedroom at a local, small, organised crime ring might be more like it. thank you. that was an operational threat research. for more information on the attack, including an break—down of what ransom—ware is, you can head to our website or simply download the news app to your smartphone. before we move on, we have breaking news from venezuela. the country's resident nicolas maduro says a stolen police helicopter has attacked a supreme court capitol building in caracas. —— president. latest reports suggest a grenade was

thrown at the building but he did not explode. the growth we nicolas maduro said specialist forces were hunting what he calls terrorists behind the attack. the aircraft was seen behind the attack. the aircraft was seen circling over the centre of caracas before gunfire is then heard. the venezuelan president has been facing three months of protest against his administration. many dozens against his administration. many d oze ns of against his administration. many dozens of people have died in those protests. more on the story as we get it. colombia's farc rebels have formally ended their existence as an armed group, after a violent campaign that lasted more than half a century, in which more than 260,000 people died. at a ceremony near the town of mes—e—tas, the farc leader, rodrigo londono, said, now disarmament was complete, the group would transform into a peaceful political movement. presidentjuan manuel santos said the country was celebrating a day where weapons were exchanged for words. hundreds of white butterflies

were released at the ceremony, as a symbol of peace. 0ur correspondent natalio cosoy was there. the ceremony has nowjust finished here in the town of mesetas, colombia, to mark the end of the process , colombia, to mark the end of the process, the handing over of weapons from farc members. hundreds of farc members dressed in white with the word peace written on their t—shirts we re word peace written on their t—shirts were watching. most colombians have been watching the ceremony on tv and it will be for them to decide if they accept these former fighters as their peers in the future. senate republicans in the us have delayed a vote on their proposed healthcare bill, saying it won't happen before the american fourth july holiday. the announcement by the senate majority leader

mitch mcconnell is another setback to republican efforts to replace the healthcare reforms, introduced by barack 0bama. but mitch mcconnell says he remains optimistic. we're continuing to talk about it, it's a very complicated subject. remember how challenging it was for the democrats, 2009—2010, lot of discussions still going on, optimistic we're going to get there. 0ur correspondent david willis joins us live now from los angeles. he might sound optimistic, what he really has an uphill struggle to find the numbers to get this bill off the ground ? find the numbers to get this bill off the ground? it does indeed and the bottomline here, there is insufficient support from senate republicans to approve this bill. the repeal and replacement of so—called 0bamacare, otherwise known as the affordable care act. a lot of the republican senators who are concerned are worried about reports

from the budget office, which suggest under the cause of this legislation in the next decade about 22 million americans could stand to lose their health coverage. so what they've done, the senate leadership, is they've taken this bill off the table for now. they are planning to twea k table for now. they are planning to tweak it over the course of the next few days, hold discussions with those who are still opposed to it and then bring the whole thing back for a vote after the fourth ofjuly holiday. it is a high risk strategy, because in the course of this delay it could be that they will bring those who are currently... 0n—board oi’ those who are currently... 0n—board or there could be more opposition because people will go back to their districts, lawmakers will go back to their districts, will talk to their constituents and they may pick up on concerns and fears from those people about the future of health coverage in america. the house suffered

similar setbacks but the margin for error is a little bit slimmer in the senate. are we likely to see what happened in the house getting pushed through, or is it looking pretty grim for the health—care reforms now? you are right, they need over their majority of 52. they need 50 senators to support this and at the moment they simply don't have that. hence all the republican senators we re hence all the republican senators were brought to the white house to talk with donald trump today. this isa talk with donald trump today. this is a landmark piece of legislation. he very much pinned his first term in office to this, the reform of healthcare, to getting rid of what healthcare, to getting rid of what he saw as the disastrous affordable ca re he saw as the disastrous affordable care act. don't forget, donald trump needs a legislative victory, given all of the publicity that is currently taking up the headlines surrounding brush up was like alleged links to the outcome of last

yea r‘s alleged links to the outcome of last year's presidential election. —— russia's alleged links. in short, the president needs a victory right now. thanks very much. it is likely to bea now. thanks very much. it is likely to be a busy weekend for many politicians. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. 36 people have been injured in new york city, when two subway train cars came off the tracks. the incident left hundreds of people stuck underground for more than an hour. the cause of the derailment was not immediately clear. more than 5.5 million trips are made on the subway system on an average day. france says it will respond jointly with the us, if the syrian government launches a chemical weapons attack. the americans carried out a missile strike on a syrian air base, after a chemical attack in april, killed dozens of people. the syrian government denied it was planning any such thing. a mass burial has been held in pakistan for 125 people who died on sunday, when an oil tanker burst into flames in punjab province. those buried on tuesday could not be identified. but dna samples have been taken so they can be matched with family members and given individual burials later.

daniela relph reports. 0n the back of a tractor, driven to the hospital, coffins for the bodies of those who died. a harsh reminder of the tragedy. the loss of life has been so great that extra labourers have been drafted in to dig graves. this will be a mass burial. 125 bodies have still not been identified. the assistant commissioner for the area said dna samples had been taken, but as the bodies had started decomposing a decision was made to bury them quickly. the fuel tanker overturned and then exploded on sunday. the inferno came just one day before events to mark the end of ramadan. instead of preparing to celebrate, local people were faced with the horrific

aftermath of the blaze. many were searching for missing members of their family. the injured have been transferred to a number of hospitals with specialist burns units. today, senior military officials visited to see for themselves how the hospitals were coping. but across the province today the focus has been on burying the dead. imams leading funeral prayers for those who had been identified. as this community faces its own devastating loss, the government has promised a thorough investigation into how this could possibly have happened. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a german veteran of the second world war is back in the skies, dissident chinese artist i weigh wade tells us what inspired his latest work, portraits of freedom fighters made from lego. —— ai wei

wei. members of the of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade center armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country as ourland. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering and applause chapman, prison—pale and slightly chubby, said not a single word in open court. it was left to his lawyer to explain his decision to plead guilty to murdering john lennon. he believes that onjune 8th, god told him to plead guilty, and that was the end of it. the medical research council have now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: computer systems around the world have been hit by a major cyber—attack which has targeted banks, retailers, energy firms and transport networks. republicans in the us senate have again delayed voting on a new healthcare law in a blow to president trump's efforts to repeal 0bamacare. google says it's considering an appeal after it was fined a record $2.7 billion by the european union. that was for breaching anti—trust rules. the technology giant has been found guilty of abusing it's power, rigging online shopping searches by promoting its own shopping comparison service at the top of its web page, while the results of competitors are buried much further down. google has been told to stop doing it within 90 days orface more fines. amol rajan has the story. they're the new masters

of the universe. google's products have changed our lives forever but, today, the company was brought down to earth in the brussels headquarters of the european commission. after a seven—year investigation into google's business practices, commissioner margrethe vestager delivered a brutal verdict. google has abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving illegal advantages to another google product, its shopping comparison service. if you search google for something that you want to buy — say, for instance, my new cricket bat — several ads appear here at the top of the screen. these are clearly marked ‘sponsored' and are part of a service called google shopping. each time i click on one of the ads, the american tech giant earns some money. but today, the european commission ruled that this prime real estate gives google an unfair advantage. kelkoo is one of the companies that brought the case. it says google needs to be reined in. it said, right, i'm going to take over this marketplace and i'm

going to demote you all and put myself at the top of the listings. anti—competitive. they can't do that when they have a 90% share in general search. they use that power, and that's wrong. google said it respectfully disagreed with the decision and would take the 90 days granted by the commission to find a solution. 0ne former google insider says the company is being punished for its success. the reality is, google is all about creating a great user experience. the reason why people come back and we use it probably on a daily basis is because it enables us to find what we are looking for as quickly as possible, it's a frictionless experience. and they need to stay competitive. for years now, european officials have been itching to subject tech giants to fresh regulations. but over in silicon valley, many leading innovators believe social problems usually have a technological, rather than legal solution. one of the great mantras of silicon valley is, move fast and break things.

i don't think that many people would characterise eu bureaucracy as having that kind of spirit. there are two very different worldviews, america and europe. and they have very different attitudes on competition, on access to data, even on very fundamental things like the profit motive. whether it's a good thing or not. what i think is fascinating about this case is it really shows a very different attitude. through remarkable innovation and engineering, google has become integral to our daily routines. this record fine is a reminder that it is at base an advertising company, which uses our personal data to sell us things. if you don't like the search results, well, there's always yahoo!. amol rajan, bbc news. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has scrapped plans for a second referendum on independence by the spring of 2019. she said she had reconsidered the issue after the snp lost almost a third of its seats in the recent general election. she now says any decision on another

vote will be delayed until after the uk has left the european union. we will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately. instead we will in good faith redouble our effo rts will in good faith redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the brexit talks in a way that protects scottish interests. the chinese artist ai weiwei is a well known champion of human rights, views that led to his own detention in china in 2011. this week he's in washington, promoting one of his most significant works, lego brick portraits of people he calls freedom fighters. you can see his work at the hirshhorn gallery, and that's where jane 0'brien caught up with him. ai weiwei came up with the idea for trace, a sprawling portrait project, when he was incarcerated by the chinese in 2011. he uses lego bricks to create pixelated images of 126 people

he considers to be prisoners of conscience, or free—speech activists. they have strong beliefs. they are very brave. in most circumstance, they know they could lose their life. they know they will lose all they have. most of the people you portray here have been imprisoned by repressive regimes. but some of your portraits are of people who have been imprisoned in the united states. how do you think visitors will react to that? for many visitors they would be surprised because very often we think we are living in a free world or free society. i think this is a very shallow thinking. so we include chelsea manning, who is so brave for me. like many of ai weiwei's works, trace was constructed by others following his design. it was first shown on the site of the notorious prison of alcatraz and its transfer to washington comes

at a time of heightened debate about the meaning of truth in politics, fake news and the power of social media. a medium ai weiwei has mastered. what impact do you think president donald trump has when he uses social media? i often heard a lot of criticism, but i also think it's what we want to know, how this guy really thinks about or even the mistakes this guy can make, but the discussion is still always on the surface. it's not a really in the more profound way. unnoticed, the killer stands out. liu xiaobo, the jailed chinese dissident and noble peace laureate, who as the exhibition opened, was moved from prison to hospital, suffering from terminal cancer. ai weiwei says he is symbolic of many others who suffered the same fate unnoticed. they can easily make you disappear. your lawyer cannot really defend you, or your family cannot know where you are.

in some cases even after you're serving the time, you still cannot see your family. audiences may not sympathise with the motives of everyone portrayed in trace, but the broader aim of ai weiwei's work is to raise questions about the nature of freedom and how it is protected or violated by governance. jane 0'brien, bbc news, washington. the crossroads of art and politics their. a reminder of the breaking news we brought you earlier, the venezuelan president nicolas maduro has announced on state television the supreme court has come under attack from a police helicopter. mr maduro described it as an act of terrorism. footage online showed the aircraft circling over the centre of caracas before an explosion is heard. anti—government protesters have been taking to the streets recently for many months calling for

mr maduro to go. that's it from me and the team. goodbye for now. good morning. since the start of the week the weather has turned. we've seen more rain around. this picture was taken at swanage, in dorset. instead of the sunshine of monday we had the rain of tuesday. a lot of rain far and wide across the uk. 56 millimetres already in the isle of man. more recently we've seen the wettest weather in the south—east, spilling into east anglia. both those areas seeing about a month's worth of rain in 2a hours or so. and with rain developing more widely, particularly in england and wales, with some heavy rain too a lot of water on the roads, surface spray, even into the morning rush—hour it could be tricky on the roads if you're going to be travelling. you can see how extensive the rain is in england and wales by wednesday morning. still some heavy burst too. briefly rain for northern ireland, but for much of scotland it could stay dry.

it may well be brightening up in the south—east, but unlikely to do so in the south—west of england. the threat of more rain coming in here and the rain never really clears from wales. if it does brighten up and turns a bit warmer in the south—east later it could trigger heavy showers. further north, much cooler in the north midlands, especially northern england. with the rain, quite a keen wind off the north sea. it should turn dryer and perhaps brighter in northern ireland and this time the driest weather will be across scotland on wednesday. again, chilly with the winds off the north sea. that rain continues to push northwards through wednesday evening and wednesday night. so it will turn wetter in scotland and northern ireland. the rain still around in northern england and north wales, but to the south and south—east it may well be dry. quite a warm night as well, but the big story is the rain that's continuing. the wettest weather will be for scotland and northern ireland. eventually turning brighter for northern england. for many parts of england and wales it could be dry, with brighter skies. a bit of warmth as well and humidity. but further north, where we have the rain and the winds coming in from the east, it will feel cold.

quite a bit colder than it should do for this time of year. low pressure responsible for all the rain, which doesn't know whether it's coming or going. as we've seen it is moving northwards. 0n the friday that low pressure drags on southwards again into england and wales, where we could have heavier bursts, especially in the east of england. turning dry for scotland and ireland. some sunshine, but again stronger winds, this time coming from the north. pressure over the weekend should be higher. not completely dry, but it will be dry and warm when the sun comes out. this is bbc news. the headlines: banks, retailers, energy firms and transport networks are among thousands of companies and organisations who've been hit by a major cyber—attack. users are told that their computers have been frozen until a $300 ransom is paid in untraceable bitcoins to an anonymous account. president trump's attempt to overturn his predecessor's healthcare reforms has been set back, with senators delaying a key vote.

five republican senators have said they'll oppose the bill. president trump held a meeting with several senators at the white house but hasn't yet persuaded the critics. the left—wing rebel group in colombia known as the farc has formally ended its existence as an armed group, after a revolutionary campaign lasting half a century. the group's leader told a ceremony that its disarmament was complete and farc would now transform itself into a peaceful political movement. now on bbc news, it's time for tuesday in parliament.