i'm in singapore. the headlines: a navy veteran and a special—needs teacher were amongst the 59 victims killed in america's deadliest ever shooting. it's emerged the gunman set up cameras in the room where he launched the attack. he was a sick man, a demented man. lot of problems, i guess, and we are looking into him very seriously, but we are dealing with a very, very sick individual. catalonia will declare independence from spain in a matter of days according to the catalan president. the king of spain accuses political leaders in catalonia of being disloyal. translation: these authorities have placed themselves outside of the law and democracy. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: the us defence secretary, james mattis, tries to play down differences in the white house over how to deal with north korea. the us defence secretary,

james mattis, tries to play down differences between donald trump and rex tillerson over how to deal with north korea. and we have a special report on attempts to cut global cholera deaths by 90%. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london, and 8pm in washington, where president trump described the man who carried out the most deadly mass shooting in modern us history as a very sick individual. he said a debate on america's gun laws "perhaps" would come, but not for now. police in las vegas say the gunman stephen paddock put several cameras around the hotel room from which he launched the attack, and collected more than a0 guns. our north america editor, jon sopel, reports. sirens.

radio: we got shots fired. sounded like an automatic firearm. sunday night in las vegas, and the first reports of something going terribly wrong. it's coming from upstairs in the mandalay bay. upstairs, mandalay bay, halfway up. i see the shots coming from mandalay bay. the stress in the voices of the police, evident. they have located where the firing is coming from, and the impact he's having. we have an active shooter. we have an active shooter inside the fairgrounds. we have multiple casualties. multiple casualties. stephen paddock is now dead and police are searching the hotel room on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay, which had become his armoury. at a news conference police revealed paddock had set up cameras. there were cameras located outside the room and inside the room, along with the firearms.

he had set up how many cameras? i don't know specifically. what do you think? i anticipate he was looking for anybody to come and take him into custody. so what do we know about stephen paddock? the 64—year—old was a former accountant who had invested in property and was a serious high—stakes gambler. but he had no criminal record. he lived in this house in the quiet town of mesquite, 80 miles from las vegas, with his partner, marilou danley. his father was a bank robber, who, while on the run from the authorities, was described by the fbi as a psychopath with suicidal tendencies. he was a sick man, a demented man. a lot of problems, i guess, and we are looking into him very, very seriously.

but we are dealing with a very, very sick individual. but any review of gun law seems a long way down the line, if it will happen at all. meanwhile, more details are emerging about the massive arsenal that paddock had assembled. some came from this shop in utah. average, everyday joe blow. nothing stood out. it was just normal timing, for him to come in. he was talking about how he was new to the area, visiting all the firearms stores in the area, found something on our shelves that he really liked, and it took him a couple of different trips, you could say, before he ended up purchasing. and paddock came here, too, to buy a rifle and a shotgun. the owner of the shop said the background checks were fine. there were no red flags. an expert on the guns industry last night on television was asked, how much ammunition are you allowed to buy. the answer was simple — how much money have you got. last night, normal people did what normal people do in the face

of such tragedy. they came together to commune, to remember those killed and injured. america has been here many times before, and in all likelihood, will be here again. on this, history does repeat itself, regularly. jon sopel, bbc news, las vegas. well, earlier, ispoke to our correspondent, dave lee, who was outside the police headquarters in las vegas. he had more on sheriff lombardo's press conference. you heard from the sheriff who seemed frustrated that there was still no clear sign of what the motive for this gunman may have been. he said of the 59 people who died, three remain unidentified. he told us that marilou danley, the roommate and girlfriend of the suspect is in the philippines. she is speaking with the fbi and in the process of being returned to the united states for questioning. she is a person of interest, the police said. the cameras, they found several

of them inside the suspect‘s room and in the corridor. one was in a hotel service cart. they did not speculate on why they were being used by the suspect. the sheriff said it was too early to talk about gun regulation but president trump will be in las vegas tomorrow and he will be meeting with the sheriff. that will be the next major stage in this story. of course, the big problem for police is that they still don't feel they are in a closer to figuring out what the motive may have been for this killing. from that report earlier, the streets of las vegas seemed to be empty. the community is still much in pain after two days, two days after the massacre. yes. the community is completely in shock still around the entertainment side of las vegas, which is what it is famous for. jennifer lopez has cancelled some

of her upcoming shows so this is affecting normal business as usual on the strip. the community has been coming together to help the injured so there are two sides to this but it will take a while for the city to comprehend what has happened and return to normality. and a little later, we'll hear from some of the survivors of the attack. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the us defence secretary, jim mattis, has played down an apparent split between president trump and his secretary of state rex tillerson over relations with north korea. mr tillerson had said the us had direct channels of communication with pyongyang, but mr trump later said mr tillerson was "wasting his time." mr mattis told a congressional

committee there was no contradiction. i believe that secretary tillerson is accurately stating that we are probing for opportunities to talk with the north. all we are doing is probing, not talking, consistent with the president's dismay about not talking with them before the time is right, before they are willing to talk. so i do not see the divergences as strongly as some have interpreted it. at the same time, the president has a responsibility to ensure that we go into this with our eyes wide open. numerous administrations in the past have been disappointed with this initiative. also making news, the english city of oxford, where the civilian leader of myanmar, aung san suu kyi, studied for a degree, has voted to remove an honour from her because of her government's treatment of rohingya muslims.

oxford granted the nobel laureate the freedom of the city 20 years ago. the head of the city council said she was no longer worthy of the award. half a million rohingyas have fled myanmar since late august. a malaysian government pathologist says that it was indeed the banned vx nerve agent that killed kim jong—un‘s estranged half—brother. the confirmation came during testimony at the trial for the two women accused of administering the poison, during an attack at kuala lumpur international airport. the women, one from indonesia and the other from vietnam, have pleaded not guilty. a final report into the disappearance of a malaysian airliner three years ago says it's "unacceptable" that the world does not know what happened to the plane. the australian report makes it clear that the fate of flight mh37o will not be known for certain until the airliner is found, and that seems unlikely. the search for the wreckage was called off injanuary. the white house is reportedly

finalising a request to congress for $29 billion in disaster aid. this would be for the damage caused by hurricanes in texas, florida, and puerto rico. the formal request is expected on wednesday, and comes on the heels of president trump's visit to puerto rico. it's taken mr trump 13 days since hurricane maria to visit the island, the same amount of time it took president bush to visit new orleans after hurricane katrina. this is the announcement of the nobel prize for physics. it's been awarded to three us scientists for their detection of gravitational waves, two years ago. they're minuscule ripples in space and time caused by the collision of black holes. sweden's royal academy of sciences said the discovery by rainer weiss, barry barish and kip thorne had opened up unseen worlds. gravitational waves were predicted by albert einstein a century ago but had, until recently, escaped detection. let's return to our top story

and the identities of some of the 59 people shot dead by stephen paddock have begun to emerge, among them, an off—duty police officer and a teacher. people who were caught up in the attack and who risked their lives to save the injured have been telling their stories. our correspondent, james cook, reports now on the victims of the las vegas shooting. lives wasted. families broken, futures stolen. the faces of the dead and missing tell so many stories. las vegas is a city in pain. how are you doing now? i think i'm 0k. it's also a city of heroes, like brian hopkins, the lead singer of the band elvis munro. when the shooting broke

out he let people into a freezer to shelter from the bullets. you see a guy go down in front, another guy go down over here. i turned, bang, bang and two girls go down behind us. it's like this behind us. we are running. it's like, we are going to be ok, just run. you can hear it hitting the metal on the stage. it's ricocheting off stuff. not sure what's going on out there. this was their refuge, where they shivered in fear that a gunman was about to burst in. some sort of shooting or something like that. it's got the two doors on it. i looked and there are some people in it. i'm like, let's go, everybody in. when they got out, there was only one thing to do. we are running and what do we see, body, body, the girls are starting to panic.

nicole starts to say, i need to call my dad. i said, you need to run. taylor winston is another hero. he was dancing with his girlfriend moments before the massacre. the former marine commandeered a truck to drive survivors to hospital. i saw a field with a bunch of white trucks, i tested my luck to see if any had keys in, and the first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. i started looking for people to take to hospital, but there were too many, it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere. once we dropped them off, we thought, let's go back for round two and get some more. this is where the most seriously injured people were brought on sunday night. surgeons say it was like a war zone as dozens and dozens and dozens of patients arrived. more than 100 in all. the battle to save lives here is continuing. but there is only so much anyone can do. bob paterson lost his

wife in the massacre. my wife was a great person. she was very active in the church. brought up my three kids. i was with her for over 30 years. i can't believe she's gone. i have my two older kids with me and my eight—year—old daughter is at home. i don't know how i will tell her. i have no idea. the grief is both personal and extensive, the scale of the suffering inflicted here is difficult to comprehend and even harder to bear. james cook, bbc news, las vegas. you're watching newsday on the bbc. the former iraqi leader has died at the age of 83. he was a veteran of the age of 83. he was a veteran of the kurdish struggle for an independent state. in 2005, he

became iraq's first non— arab president. still to come on the programme: a special report on attempts to cut global cholera deaths by 90%. also coming up on the programme: an expensive bowl out of which to eat your breakfast. find outjust how much this chinese imperial dish was sold for at auction. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger ariel sharon

visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. our top stories: more details about the victims of america's deadliest ever shooting have been released by officials in nevada. amongst the 59 victims in las vegas were a navy veteran and a teacher who taught children

with special needs. catalonia will declare independence from spain in a matter of days according to the catalan president. the king of spain has described political leaders in catalonia as disloyal and called for unity. let's get more on that story now, and in a rare televised address king felipe said that the catalan leadership had behaved irresponsibly. during the day huge crowds gathered to protest against the spanish police's handling of sunday's vote, which in some cases turned violent. from barcelona, here's our special correspondent fergal keane. there was an energy today that felt as if it could shape history. a shared anger bringing hundreds of thousands the streets. why have you come here? i came here because of the state, against the violence. are you here for independence?

n ot exa ctly. but others were. against the occupying forces. since i was a child i was a separatist and i still am, this man says. his friend tells me we are different to spain in our culture, our way of acting and being, many things. "the roads will always be ours" shout this man. across catalonia, highways were blocked. firemen who guarded polling stations have become local heroes. this demonstration has drawn people from across the political spectrum. the question now is whether or not it prompts them into further confrontation with madrid. tonight, as the demonstrations continued, a highly unusual intervention. faced with the threat of a broken country, king felipe went on

television, taking a tough line against the separatists. we are living in serious times for democracy, he said, condemning what he called the illegal actions of catalonia's leaders and not once mentioning the violence used by police against voters at the weekend. but in a bbc interview tonight, the catalan president was defiant they would go ahead with the declaration of independence. translation: we will probably do this when we have the votes in from abroad. at the end of this week or thereabouts, so we will act at the end of the week, at the beginning of next week. what is remembered is that people from outside catalonia were unleashed against them. it has created anger and a sense of hurt felt on both sides of the independence debate here. translation: i am not

in favour of independence. i am not a separatist. the attitude the spanish government has left us all surprised in catalonia. we do not understand what the strategy of the government was when he sets thousands of police against defenceless people. spain and catalonia, a relationship relentlessly troubled by the past. the new ruler of spain rides into the city of this country. after the victory of the dictator franco, catalonia's identity was suppressed. this mass grave remembers those killed here by this regime. some were catalan nationalists, others leftists and republicans. in a time of growing uncertainty, the wounds of the spanish civil war act as a warning. translation: this will be influential in the sense that people of conscience when people are demonstrating, protesting and asking for independence.

but it cannot be violence. it has to be dialogue and peace. there is anger on both sides. look into the faces of these men. national police hemmed into their hotel. viva la espa na! let us act, they shout. from this... ..to this. a vast gulf. health officials from around the world are meeting in france to commit to preventing 90% of cholera deaths by 2030. the disease, which is spread through contaminated water, kills about 100,000 people every year. tulip mazumdar reports. bangladesh is the home of kolarov.

200 years ago the first pandemic emerged from these swamps. —— cholera. and now a major health crisis looms large as nearly half a million rohingya refugees gather en masse in cramped and squalid conditions. this is the perfect breeding ground for cholera, a waterborne disease which causes severe diarrhoea and can kill within hours if left untreated. after fleeing violence in myanmar, weak and tired refugees are forced to drink from the same water supply they go to the toilet in. cholera spreads by people ingesting water which has been contaminated with faeces. in yemen, more than two yea rs of faeces. in yemen, more than two years of civil war has left crucial infrastructure, such as water treatment plants and sewage systems, in ruins and that has led to one of the biggest cholera our rakes on record. more than 770,000 people

have been infected. even though cholera is easy to treat, with cheap rehydration salts, the barely functioning health system has been overwhelmed and more than 200,000 people have died, many children. it is this massive outbreak in emergency situations that tends to hit the headlines, but there are also regularly occurring outbreak that happen in the same areas at the same time almost every single year and it's these countries which will bea and it's these countries which will be a major focus on the day ‘s pledge to prevent 90% of cholera deaths. it is the first commitment of that kind that the world has ever made and one of the key strategies to achieve that is to provide water, to i lets, to achieve that is to provide water, toilets, hygiene, you know, washing your hands, to everybody, particularly focusing on hotspots across africa and asia, where cholera is particularly likely to break out. it is estimated there are almost —— 3 million cholera cases across a0 countries each year, but

only a tiny percentage of those are actually reported. nations in africa account for most of the cases. in ethiopia nearly 275,000 people are estimated to have been infected and 10,000 people have died. in nigeria it's almost 220,000 people, with over eight thousand deaths. but india has the largest number by far, with over 675,000 cases and more than 20,000 deaths. by targeting only those places in priority we are going to achieve a great deal of control, not only of cholera itself at all of the waterborne diseases. as refugees continue to stream into bangladesh, almost1 as refugees continue to stream into bangladesh, almost 1 million as refugees continue to stream into bangladesh, almost1 million cholera vaccines have been sent to the border, but they will only protect people for a limited time. the vaccine alone doesn't solve the problem, water and sanitation is a long—term solution. what we need to

do is work to make sure we are doing both. northern europe and the us managed to eliminate the one 150 yea rs managed to eliminate the one 150 years ago. today's pledge aims to finally achieve that goal for some of the world's poorest people. you have been watching newsday. i'm rico hizon. stay with us, we'll be looking at a new method of peach—picking in beijing. how artificial intelligence is playing a hand in harvesting that delicious crop. and if you're eating your breakfast from a bowl, it may be from a bowl that looks like this. but i bet it's not as expensive. this bowl has just sold for $37 million at auction at sotheby‘s, in hong kong. it's 1000 years old. hello. wednesday's weather gets off to a fine start for some of us, but things will have

changed by wednesday night. wet and windy again. a chilly start, particularly in rural spots, and there will be an area of rainfall, having moved south of scotland overnight and stretching through parts of northern ireland. it's this weather front here, but it's this low pressure moving along across central swathes of the uk on wednesday night, turning things wetter and windy. along with this weather fronts searching through scotland and northern ireland, showers heavy and thundery in the far north of scotland and northern isles, some very gusty winds to begin the day. though both fronts will ease as we go through the day. across a large part of england and wales, getting off to a chilly but fine start. a lot of sunshine around. there will be a few showers running into parts of north—west england, with increasing cloud here. increasing cloud in northern ireland as well, some outbreaks of rain particular to the north. and the stretching through parts of south—west scotland and galloway. for much of northern

scotland, some sunshine. very windy in the far north and northern isles to begin with. 50—60 miles per hour gusts. but the heavy showers gradually ease during the day. elsewhere, rain starting to pick up. cloud increases and wet in northern ireland in the afternoon. south—west scotland, northern england, some outbreaks into northern parts of wales as well. temperatures generally in the mid to low teens. low pressure bringing rain across many parts of the uk on wednesday night. looking very wet into lancashire, for example. we need to watch that. in the southern flanks, some gales developing. we could see gusts of 50—60 miles per hour. so the chance of disruption as thursday begins. thursday very windy. rain soon clearing away from southern england. a few showers into northern scotland and the irish sea coast, maybe parts of north—west england the north midlands as well. many places dry with sunny spells. temperatures again around the mid—low teens. a windy day. on friday, high pressure building. things starting to quieten down a bit.

lighter winds, variable cloud, sunny spells, many places dry. it doesn't last long, though. into the weekend, another area of low pressure. not quite as strong, but still some rain—bearing weather fronts pushing across the uk. so expect a lot of cloud on saturday and some outbreaks of rain as the day goes on. breezier, again, and temperatures around 13—16 degrees. as that eases away on sunday, still some sunny spells around. one or two showers, but it is a quieter weather picture on sunday. this is bbc news. our top story: more details are being given about the victims of monday's mass shooting in las vegas. among the 59 people killed by gunman, stephen paddock, was a us navy veteran and a special needs teacher. president trump has said the debate on gun control perhaps will come but is not for now. catalonia will declare independence from spain in a matter of days

according to the catalan president. earlier, the king of spain described political leaders in catalonia as being disloyal. and this story is trending on bbc.com. it's to do with a theory first proposed by albert einstein about so called gravitational waves. it's now been successfully proved by three scientists who jointly won this year's nobel prize for physics. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the uk government has announced plans to ban the sale of acids