this is bbc news. 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. and 30 years after the chernobyl disaster, sweden's wild boars are still contaminated with high levels of radiation. hello. welcome to the programme.

donald trump's administration has announced new rules that could deprive around 60 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. earlier, i got the latest from the bbc‘s peter bowes in los angeles. 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 so the end of the day, it was included so that only religious institutions would effectively veto on that decision to supply contraceptives free of charge to women who wanted

them. now, under donald trump, it has been extended to include all employers will stop if they decide for their own religious or moral reasons that they do not want to supply the women that they employed, essentially, the funds through the health plans to play for —— pay for contraceptives, they would have the right to do that. how divisive a political issue is this? it is a hugely divisive little issue. it a lwa ys hugely divisive little issue. it always has been and of course right now, conservatives are celebrating this and many of those conservatives, of course, are donald trump's base. this is a mickey promised to do when he was campaigning for office, for the presidency last year, so he has kept true to his promise. all people who have been equipping this to happen at some point, there is going to be at some point, there is going to be a row over it, there is going to be a row over it, there is going to be a campaign and, yes, legal action as well to try to get this decision by

the trump presidency overturned, at least one organisation, the american civil liberties union has already said that it started legal proceedings, that organisations planned parenthood have spoken out against this, and there is a possibility this could go all the way to the supreme court. we have spoken aboutjust how many women are thought to have benefited from this provision. in effect, though, how many employers really, how many large employers will take this away from their employees? well, that is a big question, and the government today, the official announcing this said that he didn't think that many employers would go so far as to withhold this kind of insurance from women if they wanted it. but of course, let's see what happens. 0ther course, let's see what happens. other people are expressing concern that some employers might actually use this, essentially, this veto to save money and say they are doing it because of their moral or religious

beliefs, but in fact, it would simply bea beliefs, but in fact, it would simply be a poorly to save money by not spending it on healthcare for the women that are employed in a particular company. so we will have to see how that pans out. but certainly, there is a lot of concern for women's organisations that this is an attack on the civil liberties of women. 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. this is what is left of the nursery room. the school's security guard came in and spilt fuel and toddlers, teachers and himself and started the

fire. now everything is pitch black. charred books on the floor. the ceiling melted away. the strong smell here stinks —— stings the throat. translation: when i rushed in, everything was covered in black smoke. i saw two children. i brought the first one out when i got the second child, her skin seemed to be melting away. i was shocked but managed to save her. i came back for more children but they were no longer reading. this small city buried seven victims on friday. they are stunned by what happened. the question resounding here is, why? the attacker had been a night guard at the school for almost ten years. it now emerges he had a mental disorder but no—one had seen this coming. at least a0 people have been injured by the fire. the gravest cases have been flown out to receive

ca re cases have been flown out to receive care in the cities. some of the children are severely burnt. it is still a torturous wait to see whether they will survive. they have been calling for extra medical supplies and blood donors, squirming to deal with the tragedy, and to make sense of what happened. the former leader of catalonia 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. artur mas said the region still lacked some of the things necessary to form an independent state, such as the ability to collect taxes. new rallies urging unity are due to take place this weekend. 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. 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 to date with what's happening in spain on our website.

0r download the bbc news app. police in las vegas have followed up more than a thousand leads in their search for a motive for why a gunman killed 58 people at a music festival. 6a—year—old stephen paddock opened fire at the crowds, in the deadliest shooting in recent us history before turning the gun on himself. officials have revealed that one of the bullets shot through a tank ofjet fuel at las vegas airport. luxmy gopal reports. six days on from stephen paddock killing 58 people and injuring hundreds at a music festival in las vegas, and police are still don't know why he did it. the 6a—year—old opened fire from his hotel room before turning the gun on himself. ata before turning the gun on himself. at a press reading, the las vegas metabolic and police department says they have gone through more than a

thousand leaves in the investigation. we have looked at everything, literally, to include the suspect‘s personal life, any political affiliation, his social behaviours, economic situation and any potential radicalisation that so many have claimed. we have deemed down each and every single one of these paths, trying to determine why. to determine who else may have known of these plans. the police have ruled out the possibility that there was another shooter in the room with him. but they have not established what he was planning to do with the £50 of explosives found in his carat do with the £50 of explosives found in his car at the hotel. meanwhile, officials from the airport say a bullet fired during the shooting pierced a jet fuel storage tank 2000 feet from the gunman‘s hotel window. there was no fire or explosion and authorities won't speculate on whether he was aiming to hit the tank. it leaves yet more questions

ata time tank. it leaves yet more questions at a time when the nation wants a nswe i’s , at a time when the nation wants answers, and those grieving for loved ones are trying to make sense of this senseless loss of life. 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. nate is predicted to become a hurricane by the time it hits the united states on sunday. the mayor of new orleans has ordered evacuations and a mandatory curfew in some parts of the city. although overall rainfall may not be as high as other tropical events, short durations of rain as we can see, 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 that are outside of the levy system. stay with us on bbc news. there is plenty still to come. 30 years after the chernobyl disaster, sweden's wild boars are still contaminated with high levels 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 a5 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. the latest headlines: pro—birth control organisations in the united states have condemned a decision by the trump administration allowing employers and insurers to opt out of providing free contraception on religious or moral grounds. the decision was praised by evangelical christians and republicans in congress. let's stay with that story.

earlier, i spoke with dr eugene gu — a physician at vanderbilt university medical center and ceo of ganogen research institute. i asked him what he thought the impact was going to be on women. thank you for having me on this show. i think the impact on women is going to be very severe. this is a huge attack on women's rights — especially since about 55—60 million women currently have their birth control covered by their insurance companies. now that trump has cited "religious freedom" for non—profits and employers to take away this birth control coverage, i think hundreds of thousands of american women are going to lose their contraceptive coverage for birth control, which is a travesty. is it really the case, though, that insurers and employers will actually take it away? most surveys, most estimates, show that very few non—profits actually hold these beliefs. it's hard to predict, and it's even harder to predict how

many insurance companies, just for profit motives, may drop contraceptive protection just to help their bottom line. i don't even know how many companies and non—profits will do it not even based on their moral or religious beliefs, butjust to help their costs. do you have any sympathy for, or can you understand the point of view, or those who hold deep—seated religious views, that they do not want their businesses or their organisations to be part of providing birth control? that is a very good question. what i would say to that is that these same people who have these religious beliefs, they are also very much against abortion. birth control pills are actually very effective, their namesake is birth control, so they are effective at reducing unintended pregnancies when used correctly.

so by taking away coverage for birth control and taking away birth control from women, we are going to have an increase in the number of unintended pregnancies, and by that consequence, abortions as well. and for republicans to say that they are pro—life and then take away contraceptive protection, and increase and encourage abortions, i think that is not only ironic, it is a terrible, horrible attack on women's rights. on that point that you mentioned a moment ago, one of the reasons that the administration has given has been the fear that mandating birth control could foster, and i quote, "risky sexual behaviour among teenagers and young adults". what do you make of that reasoning? what i make of that is that is an almost misogynistic view on how women behave.

women have fundamental rights. they are people who are in control of their own bodies. stating that this will promote risky behaviour, not only is it unscientific, it is taking economy away from women, over their own bodies. women know how to practise safe sex. we are taught safe sex practices in american schools. to assume that women willjust do all kinds of risky behaviour, and that you need to legislate how to control their bodies, i think is just a very wrong move. and on top of that, this religious freedom exception, it is not only an attack on women's rights but also lgbt rights as well. this is a slippery slope. who knows what they can say about, hey, you know, what if you have a religious exception to gay marriage or treating a gay person? this isjust eroding

rights for everybody. formal coalition talks are now expected to begin in new zealand after a final count of votes confirmed that no party won a majority in last month's general election. the national party of the prime minister, bill english, has the largest number of seats but he lost ground to labor and the greens. the labor leader, jacinda ardern, says she is ready to form a stable, coalition government. 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 ican, 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 "unspea kable 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. 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. andy beatt reports. they are among 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. it remains the world ‘s worst nuclear disaster. in 1986, the react at the soviet power station exploded,

sending a plume of radioactive material into the air and across europe. more than 30 years on, it is still leaving its mark among sweden's wild boar population. 0ne animal shot dead at around ten times the safe level of radiation. translation: 13,000 bec wrong, it gave me a shock. i shod spear containing 22,000 years ago but among wild boar, i have never heard of that. the levels have fallen and other wildlife but experts say that wild boar are exposed to more radioactive material because they root around in the soil. the swedish authorities claim it poses little 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, is a very, very low increase of the risk. but many hunters just are not willing to take the chance. this saturday is vladimir putin's 65th birthday and it's being marked in a number of public

and private ways. in moscow, a new exhibition will display a series of internet messages and pictures — memes — dedicated to the russian president. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford has been to the gallery displaying the images. # happy birthday! # happy birthday to you! there really is a bit of everything here, from vladimir putin riding the phallic sausage, to putin the superhero, the indestructible, in this image. all sorts of other references to youth culture here. i think the one message that is clear from all of it is whether it is here at home or on the world stage, putin is clearly the man in charge. finally to china, where

a rare meteorite sighting was caught on camera. this dashcam footage shows what appears to be a fireball in the sky. witnesses described feeling the ground shake and hearing a loud roar as the piece of space rock hit the atmosphere. but with us on bbc news. —— stay with us. don't forget, you can get in touch with me and some 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 60 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. coming up at 6:00, breakfast with naga munchetty and ben thompson. but first on bbc news, the travel show.