welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories... america's battle over birth control: civil rights groups vow to fight the trump administration's new rules blocking access to free contraception. catalonia's government could be just days away from declaring independence from spain — but its former leader warns the region's not ready to go it alone. vigils in las vegas for the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in recent us history. police say they've chased "more than 1,000 leads" — but the motive‘s still not known. a group campaigning to abolish nuclear weapons is awarded this year's nobel peace prize. donald trump's administration has announced new rules that

could deprive around sixty million american women of access to free contraception. the us department of health said employers and insurance companies can now exempt themselves on religious or moral grounds from providing contraceptive pills and other methods of birth control. the bbc‘s peter bowesjoins me now from los angeles. tell us more about this provision. this goes back to the 0bama era, is that correct? yes. it goes back to 2009 when the affordable health act was introduced and a lot of debate at the time about this particular provision. at the end of the day it was included. 0nly religious institutions could effectively veto

on that decision to supply contraceptives free of charge to women who wanted them. now, under donald trump, that has been extended to include all employers. if they decide for their own religious or moral reasons that they do not want to supply the women they employed, essentially the fund through their whole fund to pay for contraceptives they will have the right to do that. how divisive a political issue with this? it is a hugely divisive legal issue. it always has been. of course, right now, conservatives are celebrating this. many of them are donald trump's based. this is something he promised to do when he was campaigning for offers for the presidency last year. he has kept true to his promise. for all the people had expected this to happen at some point, there will be an

argument, a campaign and, yes, legal action to try to get this decision overturned. at least one organisation, the aclu has already said it has begun legal proceedings. planned parenthood has spoken out against this and there is a chance it could go all the way to the supreme court. we spoke about how many women are thought to have benefited from this provision. in effect, however, how many employers really, how many large employers will take this away from their employees? well, that is a big question. the government today, in announcing this, the official said that his did not think many employers would withhold the sort of reassurance from women who wanted it. but let's see what happens. 0ther it. but let's see what happens. other people express concern that

some employers may use this veto to save money and to say that they are doing it because of their moral or religious belief when in fact it would simply be a ploy to save money by not spending it on healthcare for women employed in particular companies. we will need to see how this pans out. there are certainly a lot of concern from women's organisations that this is an attack on the civil liberties of women. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the first funerals have taken place in brazil of children killed on thursday by a security guard who set fire to a childcare centre in the state of minas gerais. seven children — most of them aged four — and a teacher have now died. the man threw ethanol over the children and himself before starting the fire. he later died in hospital. the european commission says the international deal to curb iran's nuclear programme is working, and that all sides should keep to their commitments.

it was responding to indications from president trump that he will ”decertify” —— or reject —— the deal which was agreed by barack 0bama in 2015. it limits tehran's ability to enrich uranium, in exchange for sanctions relief. the us is lifting most of the economic sanctions it imposed on sudan twenty years ago. officials said sudan had made progress in human rights issues and cooperation in the fight against islamist extremism. sudan had been subject to a trade embargo and other penalties. human rights groups have criticised the decision, saying sudan has never been serious about introducing real change. the spanish government has suggested holding new regional elections in catalonia to try to resolve the dispute about independence. the education minister said autonomous elections would be a positive move towards political co—existence. but, the former leader of catalonia, artur mas, has warned

that the region is not yet ready for real independence — even though he believes it has won the right to break away from spain. james reynolds reports from spain. espana, espana. tonight, spain has brought its football and its many arguments to this, the coastal city of alicante. the national sport reveals this country's divisions. spain's fundamental questions extend to these, its fans, and its national team. can you be both catalan and spanish at the same time, or must you choose between the two? gerard pique, the team's most famous catalan player, faces these questions. he was booed here in training for having publicly supported the catalan referendum. in a tearful statement, he even offered to leave the squad. but tonight, protected

by headphones, he got off the team bus ready to play. i don't really like him, to be honest. why? because he's mixing all the time sport and politics. but he won the world cup for spain! so? it doesn't allow him to say everything he wants anywhere, you know. translation: he can do whatever he wants off the pitch so long as he performs on the pitch. translation: i'm going to whistle him. he's a hypocrite who thinks one thing and says something else. contrast that to 2010, when gerard pique and half a dozen tonight, at a bar in alicante, fans scrutinise pique's performance. translation: pique always delivers. the problem with him

is that he always wants to be on the front page. gerard pique helped his team to victory here and qualification for next year's world cup. and that really is spain's entire point, the whole country is better off when its catalans stay put. james reynolds, bbc news, alicante. and you can stay up today with what's happening in spain on our website. go to bbc.com/news — or download the bbc news app. police in las vegas say they followed up over 1000 leads in their quest to establish a motive behind the killing of 58 people last sunday. stephen paddock opened fire from his hotel on a crowded a music festival before turning the gun on himself. have been vigils to

remember the victims of the shootings as our correspondent reports from las vegas. # amazing grace, how sweet thy sound #. in their darkest hour, they have turned to their god. #..like me#. the massacre in las vegas struck at the heart of the christian country music community. these are patriotic americans. they are proud of their country and of its freedoms, including the right to carry a gun, even after the deadliest of mass shootings. we lost my uncle from a head wound on tuesday afternoon. tara king is the niece of brett swanbeck, who was 61 years old. my uncle was the funniest, funnest, hillbilly, red neck, country music—loving good old boy.

this was brett at the concert with his fiancee. even though tighter gun laws may have perhaps saved his life, his niece is resolute. i believe in the right to bear arms. we are in the land of free. we are here because we are free to make our choices. your uncle was shot and killed by a gunman. yes. that doesn't change your view? absolutely not. are you kidding me? my uncle is all about... ..he's all for guns. the worst thing that could happen, my uncle would be in a fit, my whole entire family, if they were going to take our guns away. grief, it seems, does not heal divisions in the united states. guns and country music have always gone together. the cultures are intertwined. in rural america, you often hear people say that this lifestyle is maligned and misunderstood.

and even in mourning, many people here are determined to defend their right to bear arms. for those americans, these crosses are the price of freedom. james cook, bbc news, las vegas. our top story this evening. theresa may says her cabinet is fully behind her despite claims she should face a leadership challenge. the clinic 30 years after the show bull disaster, the boards in sweden are still contaminated with a high level of radiation. 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 bbc news. welcome back. the latest headlines: civil rights groups in the us have vowed to fight the trump administration's new rules blocking access to free contraception. catalalonia's government could be just days from declaring independence from spain, but its former leader warns

the region's not ready to go it alone. oil and gas companies have shut their operations and begun to evacuate staff in the gulf of mexico as tropical storm nate gets closer. the storm has killed at least 2a people in central america and damaged thousands of homes. the storm system has now moved over the gulf of mexico, this image, taken earlier on friday, shows the eye of the storm at the bottom of the screen, moving up over the yucatan peninsula in mexico. the us gulf coast, and florida, can be seen at the top of the screen. nate is predicted to become a hurricane by the time it hits the united states on sunday. janey mitchell reports. deadly floods, mudslides, destruction, scenes all too familiar this hurricane season. but this time, central american

countries spared the worst of hurricanes irma and harvey have been in the firing line, honduras, costa rica and nicuragua. translation: the flood has taken away almost everything these people had in their homes. they had breakfast this morning but have not had lunch or dinner because they've lost everything. aid agencies say the succession of major storms this years has prompted them to consider expanding their provisions for such events. one of the lessons might be that we need to relook at preparedness scenarios and preparedness plannings and take into account the fact we will see more storms and they will be more ferocious. forecasters are predicting that what is now a tropical storm churning north could strengthen into a hurricane as it heads for mexico and the us, making it the third major storm to hit southern us

states in two months. storm surge watches have been issued for alabama, mississippi and louisiana, which bore the brunt of hurricane katrina 12 years ago. it should be all right right here, but, uhh, i lost my boat in katrina, so, i didn't wanna lose it again. louisiana has declared a state of emergency, ordering people to evacuate coastal areas. because the waters in the gulf of mexico remain extremely warm, there is the potentialfor this storm to intensify very quickly. landfall is expected early sunday morning either as a strong tropical storm or a weak category 1 hurricane. texas, florida, puerto rico and many caribbean islands are still reeling from hurricanes harvey, irma and maria. but the hurricane season is far from over. for many, the end of november cannot come soon enough. janey mitchell, bbc news. the mayor of new orleans has ordered evacuations and a mandatory curfew

in some parts of the city, as tropical storm nate heads towards it. although overall rainfall may not be as high as other tropical events, short durations of rain as we have seen can produce flooding. we are particularly mindful in this regard for this particular storm of coastal flooding because of the potential storm surge for those areas of the city outside of the levy system. an anti—nuclear arms group has won the annual nobel peace prize, with the awarding committee in oslo saying the risk from such weapons is at an all time high. the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, or i—can, say they're elated by the honour. in announcing the winners, the nobel committee said there was a risk of more countries wanting to procure nuclear weapons. paul adams reports money could be spent on what people really need... this is the fifth time the nobel committee has rewarded a group campaigning against nuclear weapons. for an organisation that's only been around ten years and has a relatively low profile, it's a big boost.

the norwegian nobel committee has decided to award the nobel peace prize for 2017 to the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. ican. the organisation is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons. more than 60 years after the world's first dreadful display of nuclear power, the nobel committee says the risks are once again growing. this year's series of provocative moves by north korea the most obvious and troubling example. ican brings together hundreds of non—governmental groups around the world.

their efforts rewarded this summer with the first legally binding agreement outlawing nuclear weapons. 122 countries have signed on, none of them nuclear powers. it's long—term work. getting rid of nuclear weapons isn't going to happen overnight. the treaty is meant to make it harder to justify nuclear weapons, to make it uncomfortable for states to continue with status quo, to put more pressure on them. that isn't going to happen overnight, of course. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. it's notjust the weapons themselves, the group says fiery rhetoric could lead to what it calls unspeakable horror. some will question the feasibility of ridding the world of all nuclear weapons, but the nobel committee says this is a good moment

to revitalise that debate. paul adams, bbc news. this year the bbc‘s 100 women season is challenging female teams to tackle some of the biggest issues facing women around the world in just five days. well, we've reached the end of the first challenge in silicon valley. a little earlier, our teams revealed four new products which aim to shatter the glass ceiling. one of them is a new phone app which encourages women to speak up in meetings. nuala mcgovern caught up with two of the app's designers to see how it works. we gave a number of women a challenge to change the world in a week. we looked at the technology industry to see if women could smash through the glass ceiling. a number of inventions have been created in

just five days. these two are core experts. let's look at what you have revealed in front of dozens of people who reacted well to it. shall we ta ke people who reacted well to it. shall we take a look? the application is called all.ai. we want everyone to realise that technology is for everyone. it is artificial intelligence. this screen shows how you speak and helps bring in other people as well. you can choose a path, be empowered, or be an ally. given what you have decided, it understands your voice and their risk voice recognition to give you advice. it will give you personalised statistics. 0ne advice. it will give you personalised statistics. one example would be for erin, the case study

who we were inspired by, it would show us how she spoke and how positive she was and whether she was authoritative. for an ally, positive she was and whether she was authoritative. foran ally, it positive she was and whether she was authoritative. for an ally, it would say the same but then give you statistics about good allyship. people are still here discussing the issues that came up. why don't we ta ke issues that came up. why don't we take a moment and hear the inspiration for what they created. so, i inspiration for what they created. so, lam inspiration for what they created. so, i am about to head into a meeting. i will try out the application for the first time so that i can track what i am doing in the meeting. open it up here. in this case i want to choose that i wa nt this case i want to choose that i want to be empowered because i am trying to speak more in this meeting. it looks like it is asking meeting. it looks like it is asking me how will i empower myself. i will tap here and say i want to speak at least once in this meeting. and then

after that it gives a suggestion. in this case, it says i can use a power phrase before i make my point. i think the idea is if i start with something i feel strong about saying, i finish the rest of my thoughts without feeling is nervous. so, now i canjust press the record and head into the meeting to get started. so, i havejust come and head into the meeting to get started. so, i have just come out of my meeting and now i want to look at my meeting and now i want to look at my summary statistics. it looks like that. it shows me how long i spoke to be it says four minutes, which exceeds my goal of speaking once. i was really positive and honest when i spoke. so, good information to have. let's talk a little bit. this was an intense week. she talked about it being emotionally taxing for her as she talked about her career. how has it been for you in

that room working away furiously, sometimes without sleep? we kicked the bbc crew out yesterday as we we re the bbc crew out yesterday as we were working. what we were talking about was it was a week of introspection for us as well as women and women in technology. we don't spend a lot of time thinking about our own roles. it has definitely been emotional to think about our roles in society as women and think about my cousins and the other women in my life to look after us. the week is coming to an end. how do you feel? i am that i won't be catching up with her every day. i will try to talk to her as she goes around the world. it has been inspiring to be here. you were total strangers when you first met. we all were, not just strangers when you first met. we all were, notjust us, but the crew as well. we have come out of this week as good friends. we are excited to move the application forward. some companies are interested in the

application. go to our website to see more about the progress of the challenges. we go to delhi next as they try to tackle illiteracy. more than 30 years after the chernobyl nuclear disaster, radioactive wild boar are being found in sweden. in 1986 the nuclear reactor at the soviet union power station in ukraine exploded, scattering radioactive material across europe. today, sweden's wild boars, a popular game animal in the country, have been discovered to be contaminated with several times the normal level of radiation. luxmy gopal reports. it's one of sweden's most popular game animals. today the country consumes more wild boar meat than ever, but recently the species has been found to contain dangerously high levels of radiation, the result of fallout from chernobyl. in what remains the world's worst nuclear disaster, in 1986 the reactor at the soviet power station chernobyl exploded, sending a plume of radioactive material into the air. more than 30 years on it's

still leaving its mark among sweden's wild boar population. one animal that was shot dead had around ten times the safe limit of radiation. translation: 13,000 becquerel, that really gave me a shock. i've shot deer containing 22,000 becquerel 30 years ago, but among wild boars, i've never heard of that. the levels have fallen in other wildlife, but experts say while wild boar are exposed to more radioactive material as they root around in the soil. the swedish authorities claim it doesn't pose a threat to humans. translation: what you can expect of radiation at such low levels is an increased risk of cancer, but at these levels, at an individual level, there is a very, very low increase of the risk. but many hunters just aren't willing to take that chance. luxmy gopal, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news.

goodbye for now. hello there. we've had a treat over the last couple of evenings. some amazing sunset pictures and this was one of them actually from friday evening. beautiful colours there, all because the sun was setting underneath this bank of high cloud that's been streaming down from the north—west. another picture there, this time from coventry. you can see the layers of cloud. that cloud has been thickening and it's been bringing with it outbreaks of rain from the north—west. that's spilling down across england and wales. the rain not amounting to very much, but it does mean it's much more difficult to see the moon at the moment. a lot of cloud as we head into the weekend. throughout the weekend we'll continue to feed in cloudier skies, and probably on saturday you're more likely to catch some rain. should be drier across more of the country on sunday and probably that bit brighter as well. this is early saturday, though, and it's a dull start across southern parts of england, perhaps south wales. a bit of rain and drizzle around here. a little bit brighter, though, as you move northwards for a while. in other parts of wales, the midlands, already some showers feeding in on those stronger west

to north—westerly winds. a lot of showers to begin the day in northern ireland. in scotland, these showers to the north of scotland could be rather heavy for a time. most of the showers in scotland and northern ireland will be in the morning. in the afternoon they become fewer and lighter. eastern scotland should see some sunshine poking through, a bit more shelter here. improving in the afternoon with some sunshine in north—east england. in between these drizzly rain bands that are moving towards the midlands and this rain that's stuck in the far south—west, we may get some unreliable breaks in the cloud for central, southern england, perhaps south wales. temperatures getting up to 16 or 17 degrees. not quite as warm as that, though, for the super league grand final. that's at old trafford. there will be some rain around here. it's going to be quite a dull and damp weekend on the whole across manchester. although this weather front is taking the rain away from the english channel. around the top of this flat area of high pressure, we're again drawing in a lot of cloud. so it's staying pretty mild overnight.

we'll still have some of these drizzly showers around on sunday, especially in western scotland. a few running in across wales perhaps into the midlands. many eastern parts of england and scotland, perhaps southern england and south wales, much drier and brighter. a little sunshine, temperatures similar to those on saturday. into the early part of next week and we're going to find all our weather coming in from the atlantic. moving on more quickly over the coming few days, these systems weakening as they run across the uk. it means we're going to find the wind picking up from monday to wednesday, and the wettest weather is always going to be in the north—west. at this stage, not much rain in the south—east. this is bbc news, the headlines. the trump administration has announced new rules that could deprive around sixty million american women of access to free contraception. employers and insurance companies can now exempt themselves from providing birth control on religious or moral grounds. civil rights groups say they'll fight the move. spain has apologised to people

injured during sunday's disputed referendum in catalonia. the catalan government could be just days from declaring independence from spain — but its former leader has warned the region's not ready to go it alone. vigils have been held in las vegas for the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in recent us history. police say they've followed up more than a thousand leads — but still don't know the motive for the attack that left 58 people dead and hundreds injured. now on bbc news, a special programme recorded at the edinburgh festival where listeners to the bbc ouch podcast share awkward and funny