welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: devastation in sierra leone. hundreds are feared dead after an entire hillside collapses in heavy rains. two days after the white supremacist attack in virginia, president trump finally condemns racism. north korea announces that its leader has been studying plans for a missile strike on the american territory of guam. taylor swift wins a court case against a former radio dj. ajury finds he did grope her. more than 300 people are now known to have died in west africa after a massive mudslide in sierra leone. torrential rain caused a hillside to collapse on the outskirts of the capital, freetown,

burying houses in mud. the number of casualties is expected to rise, with hundreds of bodies thought to be still trapped under the debris. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports. snatched video on a mobile phone shows a torrent of mud and water carrying away everything in its path. this driver risked his life, on a bridge all but overwhelmed by the flash—floods. freetown is an overcrowded coastal city, with few defences against heavy rains. they come every year, but not usually with quite such ferocity. about 250 bodies have been recovered so far. the authorities fear there could be many more trapped in the ruins of houses. the bbc‘s umaru fofana is there. i went down to the spot myself, and you could see people using their bare hands, pulling up

corpses from beneath the mud. the road itself to the disaster area is almost impassable, massive rocks. and this area, called mount sugarloaf, caved in in the early hours of this morning, and it's covered literally dozens of houses, and hundreds of people, according to the country's vice president who just spoke to me, are feared dead under the rubble. there are some ambulances parked here, but it is now a recovery mission instead of a rescue mission. many victims lived in the flimsiest of homes, little more than shacks, often on unprotected hillsides. a british charity has been helping to build far stronger houses, and its head, back in britain, explained today how it is the poorest in sierra leone who are often the most defenceless. people build houses all up the sides of cliffs, and they often build them with inadequate materials, because generally people

are unbelievably poor. people are trying to reclaim land from the sea, and then the water just comes and wipes them away. six out of ten people in sierra leone live below the poverty line. survivors often risk everything to salvage a few possessions, trying to hang on to whatever they can, despite the rising waters. james robbins, bbc news. president ernest bai koroma said in a televised address that an emergency response centre had been set up to deal with what he called a national tragedy. iam very i am very distraught by this national tragedy, and with a heavy heart, let me extend profound condolences to the bereaved families. this is not a tragedy for you alone. it is a tragedy for every sierra leonean, because of people who have perished in this disaster are our compatriots. fellow sierra

leoneans, this tragedy, of great magnitude, has once again challenged us magnitude, has once again challenged us to come together. to stand by each other, and to help one another. let me assure you that my government is fully engaged on this situation, and in collaboration with our developing partners, we have already established an emergency response centre at the region to co—ordinate oui’ centre at the region to co—ordinate our response and to provide relief to the survivors. let me urge eve ryo ne to the survivors. let me urge everyone to remain calm, and to avoid disaster prone areas, while we continue to address this grave emergency. president trump has condemned the white supremacists and neo—nazis who took part in the weekend's violent demonstrations in virginia.

one woman died when a car was driven into a group of people who were protesting against the far—right march in charlottesville. donald trump has faced criticism for failing to speak out in the immediate aftermath of the attack. our north american editor jon sopel reports. vacation suspended, the president returned to washington this morning from his holiday to meet the director of the fbi and the attorney general, following the weekend violence in charlottesville. meanwhile, in the university of virginia town, there were scuffles outside the court where james alex fields appeared this morning on murder charges, after a car ploughed into anti—racism protesters. oh, my god. people are badly hurt. oh, my god, badly hurt. the president's "everyone's to blame" response, and silence until now, lit a firestorm of criticism. so why has donald trump been so unusually tongue—tied over this?

while the number of fully paid—up white supremacists may be small, the number who have sympathies is probably far larger, and they were among the most vociferous supporters of him last november. certainly his surrogates have condemned the far—right, but donald trump reluctantly so. today, 48 hours on, a dramatic shift in language from the embattled president. he sounded tense. there was no freewheeling, as he gripped the lectern, and gripped every word on the autocue, his eyes barely moving. racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the kkk, neo—nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups, that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. we are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. we are equal in the eyes

of our creator, we are equal under the law, and we are equal under our constitution. while he said the right things today, i look and say did that come from his heart or did that come from his staff telling him what they think he should say? this man is a senior adviser to george w bush, and is now a republican strategist. has the republican repair the damage? no, certainly not for people like me. people who look at his actions, and his words and deeds, and say he didn't go far enough. he didn't measure, frankly, the sensitivity of what was happening in charlottesville, virginia, and rise to the occasion. but this was too little, too late for ken frazier. today, the boss of one of america's biggest pharmaceutical companies resigned from the president's industry forum, saying...

within minutes, donald trump fired back at this prominent african—american. mr president, can you explain why you did not condemn those hate groups by name over the weekend? they've been condemned. they have been condemned. donald trump has bent to criticism, something that has not happened often. but why it has taken him two days to name these groups, well, that question still hangs. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: prosecutors in france have ruled out a terrorist motive after a man drove a car into a pizza restaurant in a paris suburb. a teenage girl was killed and eight other people injured, five of them seriously. the incident happened to the east of paris, in the village of sept—sorts, in the seine—et—marne region. pro—government supporters

in venezuela have been holding a rally after president trump's assertion that he hadn't ruled out military intervention there. the country's president, nicolas maduro, announced nationwide civic and military exercises for later this month. during a visit to colombia, the us vice president, mike pence, said he hoped a peaceful solution would be found to the crisis in venezuela. the british man credited with stopping hackers from spreading the wannacry computer virus has himself appeared in court in america on unrelated hacking charges. marcus hutchins denied writing and distributing code which could help steal banking details. he was released on bail, and will be allowed to continue his cyber security work while living in los angeles. state media in north korea says the country's leader, kim jong—un, has received a full briefing from the army on a plan to launch missiles near the us pacific territory of guam. but the official state news agency said mr kim would keep watching american actions for a time before deciding whether to order any launch. earlier the american defence secretary, james mattis, warned that he would authorise the shooting down of any missiles fired by pyongyang that threatened guam. we can speak now to our correspondent in seoul,

yogita limaye. how is all of this looking right now from there? well, in fact we are just about to hear the presidents speak. he is making an address today on the occasion of liberation day, which is being celebrated in south korea but will also be celebrated in north korea. it is a joint holiday between the two countries, the way they were liberated from occupation. the president has been trying to minimise the situation. he says he doesn't want war on the korean peninsula, he wants a peaceful resolution to the situation. he also met with america's highest ranked general, generaljozsef dunford, and during that conversation general dunford assured him that diplomatic and economic pressure was being put

on north korea, and military action would only be used of those options failed. generaljames mattis has been talking fairly unequivocally of war, hasn't he? saying should a north korean missile hit us soil, including guam, that would constitute an act of war. is there wiggle room there? because the missiles, we are being told, are aimed around guam. well, yes. i mean, james mattis saying that if north korea strikes the us than they will certainly be war. if you look at what north korea has said in a statement that has been put up their official newsagency today, that is saying that for now, kim jong—un will watch the situation, will give a little more time to the us, and see how it is conducting itself, and then will decide whether or not to execute the plan. and the plan, as you pointed out earlier this week when it was put out, very clearly said that the plan was to fire four

missiles at the waters around guam. it does seem like sharpening rhetoric at this point. you know, a nalyst rhetoric at this point. you know, analyst i have spoken to say they don't believe that either side will act on their threats. but, you know, perhaps because we have heard such fierce statements also coming from the us this time around, what has happened is that tensions are higher in this region than they perhaps have been in recent times. thank you very much. gunmen have attacked a un peacekeeping base in northern mali, killing seven people. the base in the city of timbuktu was attacked by unknown men armed with machine—guns, according to a un spokesperson. four of the gunmen were reportedly killed in the assault. in a separate incident, a un peacekeeper was shot dead by armed men in central mali. burkina faso has declared three days of national mourning after at least 18 people were killed in the capital, ouagadougou. president roch marc christian kabore has condemned what he called a despicable and cowardly terrorist attack. two assailants who opened fire on a turkish restaurant were killed. around ten people were wounded during the attack, which lasted several hours.

alex duval smith reports from dakar. security forces sealed off the area around the avenue. eyewitnesses say two men drove up on a motorbike to the assembled restaurant at about 9:30 p.m.. they opened fire on donors seated on the terrace. translation: we had just finished eating, and then we left the restau ra nt. eating, and then we left the restaurant. we were waiting outside for the driver to come and pick us up, and then we heard the shootings. after that, i didn't see anything. translation: at the beginning, we thought that it was a robbery. but then we realised that it was more than that. some people were telling guests that they were robbed, and then thrown out. and then we saw the events. it is worse than we thought. when waiting to see when they would

be the start of the assault. after firing on the diners, the gunman ran inside the restaurant. they held a hostages and return fire through the night. it happened just a few hundred yards from where al qaeda militants killed a people using similar methods in 2015. a government spokesman said the attack was terror related. president marc christian kabore called upon burkina faso residents to unite against terrorism. questions will be asked about how the attack could have been allowed to have happened, just 18 months after the last one. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: next week, conservation work begins on the houses of parliament, but it means the bongs of big ben will fall silent for four years. the big crowds became

bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millenium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: mudslides and floods in sierra leone are now known to have killed more than 300 people in the capital, freetown. thousands have been forced from their homes. two days after race—related violence in charlottesville, president trump has condemned the white supremacist groups involved. india is marking independence from britain, one day after pakistan held its own celebrations. with the end of colonial rule, partition was marred by bloodshed: hundreds of thousands died, millions were displaced. reeta chakrabarti has been speaking to one family in the indian city of amritsar about how

partition affected them, and what they feel about india today. i almost refused the invitation. remembering happy times, but this family lived through trauma. dr singh and his wife fled pakistan as children, but the events have gone largely undiscussed. unfortunately my generation has not brought much to the younger generation, my children and grandchildren, about the partition. it is high time that this came out. we made the mistake, but history should not. he feels it may not be what the country's founding fathers had hoped for. it is not what should be. sometimes you feel that things are not what you wanted, what they wanted. for their grandson, india has an exciting future. in the coming decade,

india is going to be the place to be, because there is so much technology coming up. but at the same time, culturally, there is a bit of a decline, largely due to censorship. pakistani tv programmes are now barred. his cousin wants to know more about partition to understand why the countries remain such suspicious neighbours. i have never felt the tension between india and pakistan. i have met pakistanis when i have travelled in the us and london, and other areas. and we got along perfectly well. but those meetings happened abroad, and he has never been to pakistan, just a few kilometres away. the effects of partition are still felt strongly today, even for young people, for whom it is just history. and we'll have a special series of features, on the partition of old india, all this

week on bbc world news. you can also visit our website for more information. you'll find personal stories from people who went through partition at the time, and an interactive timeline explaining why it happened. the fbi has arrested a man it says attempted to blow up a bank in the us state of oklahoma. jerry drake varnell, who's 23, allegedly told an fbi informant that he wanted to cripple the american government and start a revolution. it's claimed he tried to detonate a huge truck bomb outside a bank in oklahoma city just after midnight on saturday. the plan apparently failed because the fake bomb had been supplied by an undercover fbi agent. a verdict has been reached in the court case between an american dj and the us singer taylor swift. jurors at a federal court in denver agreed that david mueller had groped her at an event in 2013. we can talk now to the bbc‘s peter bowes in los angeles for more on this. tell us more. this goes back to 2013. the dj that taylor swift met

ata 2013. the dj that taylor swift met at a photo shoot, that is where she said she was assaulted. it all started with him is suing her because he said he had been sacked from hisjob as because he said he had been sacked from his job as a result of essentially, the actions of a mother and manager, who had gone to the radio station to report what had happened. he said it was his dream job and she had ruined his career. she countersued, and his part of the lawsuit was thrown out last week by a judge who said that a connection could not be made between taylor swift's actions and him losing his job. she then allocated that she was sexually assaulted and the jury agreed. he was ordered to pay $1 in damages, a token amount. it is what she had asked for because this was never really, for her, about money. and she will be giving the money to charity. david mueller‘s council has

been shared very widely on social media? yes, taylor swift was very stoic. she described the assault in quite detailed terms. she has made it very clear, since the verdict, she has released a statement explaining her motives about why she did this. noticeably, part of her statement is, i acknowledge the privilege that i benefit from in life and society, and my ability to show the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. my hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. she also pledges to make some donations to various charities helping women fight cases like this. thank you very much. in

the wake of the weekend violence in virginia, a statue commemorating a soldier has been toppled by protesters in carolina. the statue was pulled down by the crowd on monday evening. people gathered around it, kicking the stats you. in kentucky, the mayor has announced that other plans to move the statue will be accelerated because of the violence in virginia —— statue. the man who dominated international chess in the 1980s and 90s, gary kasparov, has come out of retirement. the former world champion is taking part in a speed and blitz chess tournament in st louis. he managed to get a draw in his first game. kasparov first became world champion in 1985, beating the soviet grandmaster anatoli karpov. next monday, the bongs of london's big ben will fall silent for four years so that repairs can be carried out on its tower. it'll be the longest period its been silenced for since it first chimed in 1859.

but big ben will still be heard during important national events such as new year's eve and remembrance sunday. our political correspondent leila natthoo reports. big ben chimes the hour. these chimes have filled the westminster air for more than a century and a half, but soon, a four—year pause, as the great bell, big ben, is silenced, so crucial repairs can be carried out. if you can imagine running your car for 160 years nonstop, 2a hours a day, it will need looking at, so that is what we are doing. we will be able to at this time, because it is such a long stoppage period, check absolutely everything on the clock. chimes. it is still working, which is good. still ticking, for now, but the clock mechanism needs attention. it is connected to the hammers that strike the bells. piece by piece, it

will be dismantled. the parts cleaned and restored. and because the whole tower is being renovated, too, the construction workers cannot be subjected to the regular ringing. loud chimes. it's deafening to be at this close range without these protective earphones on. but from next monday, big ben and all the four smaller quarter bells will get a rest, depriving westminster of its familiar soundtrack. repairs on the tower have already started and soon, the scaffolding will encase it entirely. not quite the same sight to come and see. big ben is big ben, and people want to see big ben — not half a ben, a full ben. that would definitely be a bummer, for sure, to come all the way here and not to be able to see it. but you have to look at the advantages. if we are going to secure the tower for the future, forfuture generations, that far outweighs the inconvenience of having scaffolding up to two or three years. big ben will still be able to herald special events like the new year and remembrance sunday, but in the long break

from its constant ringing, a strange silence will descend here, in the absence of its reassuring sound. leila natthoo, bbc news, westminster. and just before we go, a lioness who was rescued from a zoo in aleppo in syria has given birth just hours after arriving at a wildlife park injordan. dana was transported to a reserve with four other lions, two bears and two tigers on a three month trip via turkey. staff found this newborn cub in dana's cage on saturday. they've named her hajar which means fled in arabic. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, a reminder of our top story. the number of people killed by mudslides in sierra leone has risen to over 300. it is feared that many more bodies are still trapped under the debris. many people have lost their homes, the red cross estimates about 3000. it has been described as a national tragedy. well, tuesday's looking pretty good across most of the uk.

the rest of the week, however, overall is still looking rather changeable. and actually as we head into the weekend, it looks pretty blustery as well. this is a gloomy picture from yesterday. tuesday is going to be a lot sunnier across this part of the world. this is the satellite picture, from the last 12 hours or so. we had some rain sweeping across many western and northern areas. really quite heavy rain in some areas, and towards the early hours of tuesday morning, there still could be some heavier rain around across the far, far north—east of the country and possibly the far south—east as well, and maybe even a clap of thunder. the start to the day is a relatively mild one. 14,16 degrees, even up to 17 during the rush hour across the south. and really, it is starting pretty nice nad bright across most areas. there are a few showers around, here and there, but on balance,

fine start for the south—east, the midlands, wales, a couple of showers there, around the lake district. maybe a few dotted around in northern ireland and western scotland, but on the whole, a nice start to the day. here's that overnight rain moving away towards the north—east, off the edge of the screen, good riddance. as far as tuesday morning, and the second half of the morning and the afternoon is concerned, showers are actually going to be brewing inland. not a completely dry day. take an umbrella if you are out for any lengthy period of time. sunny spells, plenty of them, yes, and feeling quite warm, but there will be showers breaking out. how are we doing compared to the rest of europe? well, london will be warming up to 2a degrees, we're on a par with paris, but some storms around here. similar to warsaw and moscow. hotting up across spain and portugal, and in italy and rome, there, temperatures up to around 35 degrees celsius. anyway, back home, tuesday into wednesday, there will be a ridge of high pressure. high pressure usually means fine weather. so for many parts of england, i think, and eastern scotland,

wednesday morning and afternoon is looking fine. but you can't miss this. this is the next low pressure, next weather front moving in during wednesday morning and afternoon. so the weather will go downhill in belfast, in glasgow, around the irish sea, liverpool, western wales, and down into cornwall. but london is looking fine. temperatures could even be a little bit higher than 23 degrees celsius. but that rain will move through during the course of wednesday into thursday. and then it's a fresher day for most of us on thursday. slightly brisker winds, with some showers. still temperatures getting up to around 2a degrees. i say fresher because the winds will pick up. and then by friday, really quite blustery with sunshine and showers. this is bbc news, the headlines: the number of people killed by mudslides and flooding in sierra leone has risen to over 300. it's feared that many more bodies are still trapped under the debris. the red cross says around 3,000 people have lost their homes. president koroma called it a national tragedy. after two days of mounting pressure following the fatal attack by a white supremacist on anti—racism protestors

in the city of charlottesville, president trump has condemned race hate groups. in a news conference, mr trump described the ku klux klan, neo—nazis and others as thugs and criminals. state media in north korea say the country's leader, kim jong—un, has received a full briefing from the army on a plan to launch missiles near the us pacific territory of guam. but it said mr kim would keep watching american actions for a time before deciding whether to order any launch. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.