hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source, and these are the main stories here in the bbc newsroom. we've been waiting for more than a week to see if the catalan president would declare independence. in the last few hours he's addressed the catalan parliament. translation: now at this historical moment, as president of catalonia, i wa nt to moment, as president of catalonia, i want to follow people's will for catalonia to become an independent state. any catalans hoping for a unilateral declaration of independence were disappointed. i should say that the region's leader has signed a document restoring catalonia's sovereignty. so, what is going on? we will try to sift through that. 13 people have died in wildfires in california. 1,500 properties have been destroyed. plus we'll try and work out what's going on with the rerun of kenya's presidential election. the opposition leader has pulled out.

i want to go back to catalonia because things are getting reasonably confident the lap complicated. in a speech earlier, there was no clear declaration from spain as some had been hoping for. now we have this coming from reuters, saying that carles puigdemont and other regional politicians have signed a document declaring catalonia's independence from spain, but it is unclear if the document would have any legal value. while there is a document signed by significant leaders in catalonia, saying that they are declaring independence from spain, we don't

know if it is a legal declaration of independence and we are trying to sift through the difference between what this is and what a legal declaration might be. there are a lot of people in the newsroom trying to work that out, a lot of people in spain trying to work that out. while we look at that in detail let me play you some of what we heard earlier in the speech. translation: the government and myself propose that this parliament suspends the effects of the independence declaration in order to establish dialogue, without which we cannot reach a solution. we want to de—escalate the tension, in order to work towards putting into practice the results of the referendum. the bbc‘s damian grammatticas is in madrid and has been monitoring the reaction from the national government.

he hasjust he has just filed some copy saying that the minister is saying that there will be an extraordinary cabinet meeting held. after that, presumably the spanish government's position on that speech in barcelona will become clearer. before he went to that press conference, he spoke to that press conference, he spoke to us live on air. we have spoken to the foreign affairs spokesman for the foreign affairs spokesman for the ruling party, and he came out and gave us a brief statement. he said he had seen what happened in cata la n said he had seen what happened in catalan parliament and this is what he said, it was done in the framework of a law that has been ruled unconstitutional, we cannot add validity to a referendum that was illegal, a fake and a farce, there can be no legal and political consequences from it. what he means is that there is no way that madrid

views a illegal referendum with a low turnout, of a0%, just around 40%, low turnout, of a0%, just around a0%, as giving any validity or negotiating position on which it can deal, particularly on the legal question. there is no legal basis, and no political basis to deal with that either. the government's view is that the catalan authorities, speaking for less than half of the population, cannot use that as a means to force a negotiation. they say the catalan authorities have to put aside any talk of independence and then anything can be discussed. we will get you more details on what is happening in the next few minutes. let's turn to another confusing story. another twist in the story of the kenyan election. it's supposed to be rerun in late october because of irregularities the first time around. but now the leader of the opposition has pulled out. here's his explanation.

we have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on behalf of there is no intention on behalf of the ipc to undertake changes to operations personnel to ensure the illegalities and irregularities do not happen again. all indications are that the election of the 6th of october will be worse than the previous one. it is unfortunate that international actors that have supported kenyans in their press for democracy and good governance are now on the side of a dictatorship. the original election was in august. and the incumbent, uhuru kenyatta, was declared the winner. but the opposition claimed the result was compromised and the supreme court agreed. it said the election "was not conducted in accordance

with the constitution" and that the result was therefore "invalid, null and void." hence the need for a rerun. uhuru kenyatta is unimpressed with mr odinga's announcement. that criticism is not necessarily being listened to by raila odinga's supporters. here's nancy kacungira. his words were that he thinks this election, supposed to be held october 26, will be worse than the first one, on august the 8th, in which the supreme court annulled it and said that there were too many things that went on wrong and this has to be done again. so, raila odinga is saying he does not have enough faith that the rerun will actually be better than the first

try. the reasons for this, according to this, are that we have not solved the initial problem. he says the supreme court clearly said there we re supreme court clearly said there were some issues supreme court clearly said there were some issues and the electoral body was involved in that. some of the things that she called for work ina the things that she called for work in a reshuffle, they want some of the tenders given to different countries. and the electoral commission thinks of that? so far, they have said that they are going to analyse the way forward and get back to you. it doesn't necessarily look like they are going to make very many changes. as we have seen already, there have been protests on the street, says that decision, calling for removal of officials at

the ibc. nothing has really happened, so it is unlikely that will change even with the current pressure. this is an interesting article from quartz. you can see the headline. that is true, foreign observers said that the election met their standards, but then it was decided otherwise. here is nancy. absolutely. i think one thing that might have come out of it is that we have focused so much on observing the process of voting and voting day, but maybe not what happens afterwards. if people voted peacefully, if there is no disruption, it can be tempting to say the process looks all right. it is very much about what happens before, what happens after, the entire process. that is something the supreme court really did look at in terms of looking at the procurement processes and looking at the things that happen before and the things that happen before and the things that happened after. that is where the election observers seem

to be having to reconfigure the way they look at the election processes in future. just so i am clear before you go, when do we find out if the election is on or not? it could be anything from a day, a week, a month. we don't know. it really is about what way does the ibc go forward 7 about what way does the ibc go forward? that they say they are going to spare the country and election and just declare uhuru kenyatta the president? it would also be up to the courts. will they say they are going to postpone it and see if they can come to an agreement, have the elections at a later date. will they say october 26 is here, we have not had an election, it is a constitutional crisis, we need to find another solution. we don't know. right now, we have to wait and see what the different players in the game decide. if you want more details on

that story and all of the other ones we cover, you can get on bbc website. we have been hearing about the challenges in the kenyan presidential election. let's switch from east to west africa. polls have just closed in the liberian presidential election. these are the pictures of voters earlier. waiting in long lines, waiting to cast the vote. a high turnout has been reported — 2.2 million were eligible to vote. some waited for hours before dawn. provisional results are expected in the next 2a hours. to be honest, this story is as much about who is stepping down as it is about who is stepping down as it is about who is going to win. ellen johnson sirleaf was africa's first elected female leader when she became president — she's also a nobel peace laureate. but her time at the helm is done.

here she is talking on the eve of the election. go to the polls peacefully, respecting every liberian‘s right to vote with dignity and pride. these elections are particularly interesting for a number of reasons. first, liberia's civil war — along with its close involvement in the conflict in neighbouring sierra leone — means if this election goes to plan, it'll be the first democratic transition of power since the 1980s. second, the election has been dogged by claims of interference by the former president charles taylor. he is currently serving a 50—year prison sentence in the uk for war crimes committed in sierra leone. this phone call was recorded from inside his cell injanuary. so he is still a political player.

so he is still a political player. so is this man. one of the frontrunners is former football star george weah. now he is a politician. this bbc article says he's chosen charles taylor's ex—wife to be his deputy — and has created an alliance with the party charles taylor used to lead. it's complicated — but it's these details that put pressure on young democracies. next here's umaru fofana in monrovia with more on election day. the polls have opened this morning,

more than 2 million people are registered to cast their ballot. the streets here have been generally empty and the polling stations i have been to, hundreds of people have been to, hundreds of people have been to, hundreds of people have been coming out to vote. i am joined by two people who came out to vote. how crucial are these elections to you? very crucial for the nation as a whole. it will be the nation as a whole. it will be the first time over many years that we will be turning over power, another president will be turning over power to another democratically elected president. ithink over power to another democratically elected president. i think it is crucial and i hope the president will build on the gains we have achieved over the years. the election is very important to me. i voted in 2011 and i am voting again to get a leader to lead elation forward. that lead the nation. we

notice that young people, a lot of them are not in power. i think the government and the new dealership should look in that direction to see how best they get in power the young people of the nation. we are the next generation to come. thank you very much. across the country, we are told that it has been a generally peaceful atmosphere, with a lot of people having camaraderie in the queues. one of the main candidates, alex cummins, cast his vote and gave the process a clean bill of health. the election observers have been saying what they make of the process so far. the michigan senator gary peters had this to say. we have an operations tea m this to say. we have an operations team watching this, as well as other ngos, hundreds of folks across the country watching this process. it is still early but so far things are moving along. the story is the enthusiasm. liberians are expected

that the last 12 years of stability will be consolidated in the country. for 15 unbroken years, the country knew nothing but civil war. this border between pakistan and afghanistan has long been a huge security concern. militants have long fought each other and security forces on both sides of it. pakistan's plan is to build a fence 2500 kilometres long all the way along it. secunder kermani has the story. stretching for over 2500 kilometres, pakistan's porous and largely invisible border with afghanistan has been a hub for violent insurgent groups. now, the pakistani army plan to build a fence all the way along at. they flew us in a helicopter to emphasise the scale of the task. the united states has long accused pakistan of providing safe havens for militants wanting to travelling to pakistan to fight. in pakistan,

the narrative is very different. they believe that militants are using bases in afghanistan to launch attacks in pakistan and they hope that the fence will help stop the attacks. in the western provinces bordering afghanistan, the local commander is emphatic that there are no safe havens for afghan jihadis. officials do say they have seized thousands of kilograms of explosives and they were intended for attacks in pakistan. 8596 of the terrorist activities are coming from one source. i think when the fence has been installed, the border will be less porous and people will be moving on other routes. this is one of the two major border posts, between 60,000 and 20,000 people across here each day. translation: i'm coming to pakistan to buy

medicine. i'll go home to afghanistan in the evening. militants do not use the official crossing, but neither do many of the hundreds of families living in villages straddling both sides of the border. i asked the local commander about comparisons to the proposed us mexico wall. every country is a sovereign country, so it has borders and it has a right to safeguard its security requirements. like trump in america? if trump is doing it, he is doing it for the requirements of americans, we're doing it for the requirements of pakistan. if it does reduce violence, it could bring the countries closer together. if it is only intended to stop militants travelling into pakistan and not from pakistan, it could further divide them.

i was promising you more clarity on what is happening in catalonia with regards to the status and whether it has or has not issued a declaration of independence. we had a speech earlier indicating that was not what had happened. then we heard a document had been signed but it was not clear what the legal status was. we have some clarity. a regional government spokesperson, this is afp providing this copy, said that the cata la n providing this copy, said that the catalan regional president had signed a document. but they have suspended it and called for dialogue, reflecting what he said in a speech to the regional parliament early in the evening. that does echo what we heard earlier, we could do this and 48 hours but we are going to choose not to because we want to talk to madrid. there were not clear what the document was. it seems it is in line with the speech and that the document, as well as the general idea of a declaration of independence, has been suspended, but it has been put down as a possibility because of the outcome of that contested referendum. i hope

thatis of that contested referendum. i hope that is cleared that up. we will get more clarity as we turn to the story tomorrow morning as well. we've been covering the mass terrorism trials in nigeria — today 300 more boko haram suspects were officially remanded in custody. more than 6600 people are set to go on trial eventually. the trials today are being behind closed door by civilian courtjudges at a military facility in north—central kainji town. deutschewelle is calling it a legal nightmare. i asked the bbc‘s steph hegarty a short time ago about the nigerian government's approach to the trials. they have been under a lot of pressure to get this going. these people have been held for years without charge. really the

government had to do something about this situation. they are having to do it in this situation. they are having to do itina this situation. they are having to do it in a transparent way. of course, the trials are behind closed doors. it would be very difficult to get enough evidence for this huge number of people. because that is behind closed doors, civil society groups, journalists, would have a very difficult time monitoring what is going on. aren't each of the people on trial accused of different things? yes, a range of accusations, homicide, conspiracy to commit terrorism and many other smaller infractions war crimes. we spoke to a lawyer working on a similar case before. he said the only test that the government had was from police officers that don't have a great reputation in nigeria in general. it will be interesting to see if we get any insight at all into what the cases against these people are. presumably, the government is well

inclined to the fact that this is a big statement of intent, not to just nigerians but the rest of the world, that we are making progress with boko haram? we are making progress and also trying to do it in a transparent way. i think that is what they are trying to say. they are undertaking carefully. they are trying 1670 people first, but they have another 5000 in another military detention facility in another part of the country. they are at least taking a step by step, trying to be serious, trying to be transparent and trying to send a message that we're doing something about a big problem we have here. the scale of the problem, does the violence continue unabated in the north—east? violence continue unabated in the north-east? yes. last year the government were keen to tell us they had technically defeated boko haram. it is clear that is not true and they have backtracked. boko haram are lashing out regularly, whether it be suicide bombers, often young

girls, or concerted attacks on towns and villages. it means much of the country in that area is insecure, and people have to move to areas of camps, towns and villages that are secured by the army. that means over 2 million people are away from the main source of livelihood, the farming that provides them with the money they need to survive. that is a very serious situation. over to iceland — where british scientists are on a mission to predict the next major volcanic eruption. victoria gilljoined them. land of ice and fire. iceland's ruggedly beautiful landscape is the product of volcanic activity, but it can cause chaos. the ash cloud from this 2010 eruption grounded thousands of flights across europe. that's why british scientists are here on a mission that's seven years in the planning. at the icelandic met office, monitoring volcanoes is daily work,

but with their british colleagues the scientists can now take crucial new measurements from the air. we are measuring at the ground level, maybe up to perhaps two meters, but now we're flying above, so we can fly at different levels and we're measuring at different levels in the atmosphere, which is going to help us understand how these volcanos are behaving. how they are breathing, you could almost say. and here is the key to this airborne mission. this is the uk's atmospheric research aircraft and inside you can see how banks of seats have been replaced by banks of analytical equipment to analyse particles and air being brought in through these pipes, sucked into the plane. this is a chemistry lab that can fly. circling and carrying out passes at different heights means researchers aboard can build a picture of any plume of volcanic gas in the air. that's not related to volcano... the scientists think that changes

in the amount of these gases could give them a signal of an impending eruption. i think we already know from this trip that we've got new findings where we can explain the connection between the trace gases that we observed from the aircraft and what's going on on the ground. this is the first time this has been done. there's particular interest in katla, the large volcano beneath this glacier, that's thought to be overdue for an eruption. let's hope we've seen the peak this time. this is an active landscape, there'll be many more volcanic eruptions, but working in the skies above it could help make these natural phenomena a little less disruptive to modern life. victoria gill, bbc news, iceland. i will see you tomorrow. thanks for watching. goodbye. well, let's see what the weather is

up well, let's see what the weather is up to over the next few days. the forecast will be pretty tricky in terms of the detail, getting the absolute detail for every town and city across the uk. in the last couple of days we have had everything from low grey skies to sunshine. on top of that we have had some heavy rain as well. this is a typical weather pattern when we have south—westerly air currents coming off the atlantic, very moist air currents with extensive cloud. in this situation, if you were watching yesterday, i was talking about heavy rain affecting the upland areas of west britain. across the hills into cumbria and the southern uplands of scotland. this is going to the focal point for the rain in the next 12 or 24 hours. it looks like the lake district to get 100 millimetres of rain in while two spots, meaning some local flooding. through wednesday, as the weather front pushes through the central areas of the uk, that is where gets the rain.

then it pushes further southwards during wednesday evening and into the early hours of thursday. thursday is looking a lot better. as the weather front pulls away to the continent we are in between weather systems. this weather system is being influenced by high pressure. so, for most of the uk on thursday, the weather is not looking bad. certainly for england and wales, but notice that the weather fronts, the atla ntic notice that the weather fronts, the atlantic weather fronts, i notice that the weather fronts, the atlantic weatherfronts, i never too far away and it will be affecting the northwest of the country. this isa the northwest of the country. this is a big area of low pressure south of iceland moving into the norwegian sea. the weather front is trailing away to the south. that means the weather is going to go downhill across north—western areas with increasing wind and outbreaks of rain. in the south we keep drawing in the south to south—westerly wind. the temperatures will keep on rising. if you were watching yesterday we were promising warmer weather for the weekend. that certainly remains the case. the

forecast is adjusting temperatures will be rising, particularly across england, the south and the south—east. it could get up to 20 degrees, as far north as northern england on saturday. again in the north—west, quite close to the weather front. look up that on sunday. in scotland we probably have the rain. details are difficult to get right. in the south, we could see temperatures as high as 20, 22 oi’ see temperatures as high as 20, 22 or 23 degrees. it is tricky, the weekend. broadly speaking, the north—west portion of the uk is at risk of rain and windy conditions. relatively mild, but better warm weather across the south. next week is when it gets really tricky. you will notice there is high pressure across the uk. maybe some decent weather on monday. we are watching this fellow here, and this is actually an ex—hurricane. it won't be by the time it reaches this part of the world, but it will be wet and

windy weather. the computer models ta ke windy weather. the computer models take the leftovers in this direction. some take it over the uk, others towards the north. the spread of possibilities is so huge. we might not even be talking about it tomorrow. the best way to describe next week is that there is much uncertainty, watching the atlantic in terms of the tropical weather systems. overall, very unsettled. with this unsettled weather there is a lwa ys with this unsettled weather there is always the risk of very wet and windy weather. tonight at ten, a special report on the record number of people dying from heroin and morphine addiction. last year, there was a death from heroin or morphine abuse in the uk every five hours. we report on the reasons and the possible responses. i put it before my children. heroin? yeah. do you need heroin more than your children? yeah. in a new survey, some police and crime commissioners say they want the drugs to be decriminalised for personal use. also tonight:

the hollywood producer harvey weinstein is now facing allegations of rape from three women. the catalan president signs a declaration of independence, but says the effects will be suspended until more talks can be held. the defence manufacturer bae systems is to cut almost 2,000 jobs, mainly in lancashire.