welcome to bbc news. the political crisis in spain has deepened, with the leader of catalonia condemning the spanish government's plans to sack the regional administration. carles puigdemont declared that a coup was being mounted and compared the actions of the government in madrid to those of the fascist dictator, general franco. the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy said he'd been left with no choice by an illegal independence referendum. angrier than ever before — catalans who want independence, digesting madrid's unprecedented move to temporarily scrap their devolved government. theyjust want to crush us down. and we've got dignity. we've got our dignity. we've fought for it for years. we couldn't speak catalan 40, 50 years ago. are we going to go back to that? i want to see the army here. we're going to see it at this rate. i don't want that. i'm young and i don't have

that much knowledge, but i have enough knowledge to know that that isn't normal, and it shouldn't be happening in our country. we are a developed country, this isjust outrageous. i'm speechless. the leader of catalonia's devolved government in the crowd. tonight, he called it the biggest attack on catalonia's autonomy since the dictatorship of franco. translation: this is the worst attack on the institutions and people of catalonia since the dictatorship of franco. earlier, spanish ministers approved what is known here as the nuclear option. in a few days, catalan autonomy will be suspended, the regional government sacked, all of its responsibilities run from madrid. prime minister rajoy said catalan leaders will not be allowed to destroy the whole way in which spain is governed. translation: we apply article 155 because no government of any democratic country can accept disregard for the law.

catalonia is divided on the issue of independence, and some here, like carlos, accept that the spanish government had no option. he says it's 50% madrid's fault, and 50% catalonia's government, for causing this crisis, a crisis which seems to be getting worse. they won't give up, even as european governments insist this is an internal issue for madrid. the key test will come when madrid tries to physically take control of the catalan authorities. will the catalan police and other local officials follow the spanish government's orders, or disobey? chanting a new country won't appear through words, even as they will it to happen. they know, too, that bearing down on them is the all—powerful spanish state. tom burridge, bbc news, in barcelona.

human rights groups have condemned the world health organisation's decision to make robert mugabe a goodwill ambassador. britain and the united states have also made public their disappointment at zimbabwe's president being offered the ceremonial role. our africa correspondent, andrew harding reports. 93 years old, and in frail health, president robert mugabe is an unexpected choice to be the new goodwill ambassador for the world health organization. and it's not just a question of stamina. the president's defenders insist he's earned this new honour. and yet, during his 37 years in power, mr mugabe has overseen the collapse of zimbabwe's currency and economy, and of its once—impressive health system. zimbabweans who've fled abroad are outraged by today's news. it angers me, because i've seen millions of zimbabweans die. incurable diseases, which — some things which could be cured,

but because of the health facilities that have collapsed, it has really been their death row. zimbabwe's falling apart. there's nothing absolutely that is alright. if i fall sick, where will i get just the consultation fee? critics point to a long history of human rights abuses in zimbabwe too. on that note, today the british government called mr mugabe's appointment: perhaps the mostjarring irony is the fact that, for years, mr mugabe has spent taxpayers' money travelling abroad for his own healthcare. we know that every — every other month, president mugabe, even for eye cataract, president mugabe goes to singapore, president mugabe goes to the far east. he doesn't even trust his own public health system. and tonight, news that

the backlash may be working — the who announcing a rethink. mr mugabe's goodwill ambassadorship may prove to be short—lived. andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. at least 15 army cadets have been killed in an attack on a military academy in afghanistan. a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a bus outside the training centre in kabul. it's the latest in a number of bomb attacks across the country this week. anbarasan ethirajan has this report. the minibus carrying the army cadets was leaving the military academy in kabul when it was targeted. police are investigating how a suicide bomber managed to reach the high—security compound. it was the second suicide attack in the afghan capital in less than 2a hours. 56 people were killed when a suicide bomber set off explosives

at a packed shia mosque last night. the victims were buried in this cemetery outside kabul. those who died in the suicide attack have been remembered during funeral prayers. families have lost fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in the devastating attack. there was tight security outside the burial place as funerals were also targeted in the past. shia mosques in afghanistan have been repeatedly attacked. translation: the government has to provide security for its citizens, in any situation. the incident that took place was very tragic and we strongly condemn it. a routine friday evening prayer at this mosque ended in a nightmare. the blood—soa ked carpets and broken windows show the level of devastation. the streets of kabul are tense today, and many residents say

they are worried about the worsening security situation. many are angry that even a place of worship is not safe anymore. you can find more on all of the stories we're following here on bbc news by going to our website — that's bbc.com/news. police in northern ireland are investigating the murder of a woman in belfast. the victim, who was 51, died shortly after being found distressed and injured in the back garden of a house in finaghy, on the outskirts of the city. two men in their 20's were arrested a short time later at an address 2 miles away. a local politician said the alarm was raised after neighbours heard screams at around 7 o'clock this morning. army bomb—squad specialists have been called to the nuclear reprocessing plant at sellafield,

to deal with hazardous chemicals found in a lab. the chemicals, contained within a number of canisters, were discovered during a routine audit at a laboratory, at the site in cumbria. they contained industrial solvents which are potentially flammable in liquid states, and can crystallise, becoming unstable when exposed to air. sellafield limited, which runs the plant, said there's no reason for people living locally to be concerned. they are inside the lavatory which we are in the process of decommissioning so that is the nature of the beast here. we will deal with the matter as quickly as possible. parts of britain have been battered by storm brian, with violent winds and high seas. gusts of more than 120 kilometres an hour were recorded in some places. strong wind warnings and flood alerts are still in place across much of wales, the south of england and the midlands.

briohny williams reports. storm brian unleashes its worst as waves crash against the coast of wales. the ferocity of nature showing its hand. just taken the whole side of the officers out. buildings damaged and roads flooded. the picture in the south—west of england is similar — beaches empty. advice from the environment agency has been to stay away from the coastline. but walkers in the north—west of england couldn't resist watching the awesome scenes storm brian has supplied. fantastic. power of nature, isn't it? i tried to go for a nice coastal walk this morning, or today, but i think i will put that on hold.

the disruption hasn't been as widespread as predicted, and storm brian is expected to ease over the coming hours. only then will the true impact be revealed. briohny williams, bbc news. polls have opened injapan‘s 48th general election after prime minister, shinzo abe, called for a snap election to renew his mandate. mr abe's liberal democratic party is expected to emerge as the biggest party. the majorforeign the major foreign policy the majorforeign policy programme includes north korea. pyongyang has fired two missiles over hokkaido, an island to the north. mr abe party is

expected to emerge as the biggest party. speed limits through motorway roadworks in england could be raised from 50 to 60 miles per hour. the proposed changes follow trials which found drivers would feel safer at higher speeds. sophie long reports. roadworks — some of them go on for mile after mile. the current speed limit is normally 50mph, but highways england says that could be increased to 60. they conducted trials with heart rate monitors measuring d rivers' stress levels as they pass through roadworks at different speeds. 60% of them recorded a decrease in their average heart rate in the 60mph zone. in the 55mph zone, there was a decrease in 56%. what you find at 50mph is many trucks have their speed limited to 56mph. and, therefore, they try and drive faster, they tailgate cars a foot off their bumper — that becomes incredibly dangerous.

so, on those stretches, if you can have 55mph or 60mph, you'll get less tailgating, fewer drivers studying their speedometer, and it really can be safer. but what about people working on the motorways? the unite union, which represents them, say these proposals ignore their safety. they say, in recent years, a number of motorway workers have been killed, and increasing speed limits will make their working conditions even more dangerous. motorists have mixed views. it would make myjourney a lot shorter, because immediately i'd start thejourney, i'm experiencing the 50mph speed limit straightaway, so 60 would be an improvement for me. i think that's too fast, especially when there's people on the roadside, men working on the road. i think that's too fast, that's dangerous. the speed limit should be 50mph, it's that for a reason. even that's pretty fast, if a car goes past. if a car passes you at 50, you can feel the speed of the wind from the car,

i think it is too fast. highways england says it's carrying out further tests to ensure it can be done safely, but the changes could be brought in by the end of the year. sophie long, bbc news. a look at the headlines:... in a passionate appeal for the defence of catalonia's rights, carles puigdemont says he will not accept madrid's plan to curb the region's powers. after growing international criticism the world health organisation says it's rethinking its decision to make zimbabwe's president robert mugabe a good will ambassador. portia ricco is still struggling to provide basic services like electricity and running water. 3a people were killed and some estimate that cleanup bill at 85 million

dollars. donald trump gave its administration ten out of ten for its handling of the disaster but that has been strong criticism. some of the strongest criticism came from the puerto rican mayor. in one of his tweets, president trump said that puerto rico is more or less broken. it has broken infrastructure, it is in trouble, it has debt. none of those things are factually incorrect? no, they're not. tell us something we didn't know, right? what is incorrect is for a president that is supposed to be the commander—in—chief to become the hater—in—chief, and to become the person thatjust tweets away his hate. that's what is incorrect. do you think it became personal, for you? i mean, do you think — he called you nasty, you called him a hater—in—chief,

that it became too personal? that is personal. it is personal. when my people are being left to die, it is personal. who was the one who spoke about the debt? the president. who was the one they called us ingrate? the president. who was the one that threw paper towels at us? the president. so hey, i'm not going to start a fight, but i won't shy away from one either, when my people are in danger or fighting for their life, which is what is happening here. when you deny people clean water, you are denying them any rights. is he denying puerto rico clean water? it's not enough. if — if you're not giving people what they need, and you are chaining me to a piece of legislation that does not allow others to help me, then you're making me just depend on you. and that is not the spirit that the american democracy was made of. you choose to play, or not to play.

yeah. you know, we're getting food through churches, faith—based organisations, community leaders, and we have 21 community kitchens that have sprung up. a billionaire businessman in the czech republic has scored a convincing victory in elections to the lower house of parliament. andrej babis, the country's second—richest man, emerged with 30% of the vote — not enough to govern alone, but far ahead of his rivals. a far—right, islamophobic party also made strong gains, while liberal, pro—european parties faltered. rob cameron has more from prague. this is what success looks like for a man who has already tasted so much

of it. his business empire controls much of czech agriculture, chemicals and the media. now he has set his sights much higher. after almost four years at the finance ministry, the slovak born is this tycoon is on the slovak born is this tycoon is on the brink of becoming prime minister. translation: i've already congratulated all the chairmen who got into parliament, and we hope that they will be willing to deal with us. i think it will be good to have a stable government for our country, which will fight our interests. it was a result few had predicted. andrej babis's prospects had dimmed in recent months, after a string of scandals, two separate criminal investigations, into claims he fraudulently obtained eu funds for a luxury resort. he said all of that was a campaign against him, a political witch—hunt by an establishment terrified of his

pledge to clean up corruption. trust me, he said, and the voters believed him. populist, mildly eurosceptic, and hostile to immigration, despite his non— czech origins, he has left the established centre left and centre—right parties in tatters. instead, a host of new protest parties, including the far right spd. they want a ban is lumped in the czech republic, and also hold a referendum on leaving the european union. they are unlikely to get one, attitudes hardening here to the eu and to migrants, and andrej babis has tapped into them. president trump says he is planning to release thousands of classified documents about the assassination ofjohn f kennedy in 1963. some us government officials are thought to oppose the move on national security grounds, but mr trump has tweeted that he will release the documents, subject to the receipt

of further information. the bbc‘s laura bicker has the latest from washington. they were locked away 25 years ago, by law, to try to quell conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of president kennedy. it didn't work, because a recent gallup poll showed that around 30% of americans believe that the man accused of assassinating john f kennedy did not act alone. he of course was shot and killed before he had his day in court. now, the files that historians really wa nt now, the files that historians really want to pour over surround oswald's visit to mexico cityjust a few weeks before the assassination. it is there he met with cuban and soviet spies, and it is alleged he announced his intention to kill the president, although that has not been made a fact as yet. now, when it comes to these documents, they will be released on thursday,

unless president trump says otherwise, and his tweets suggest that he will, unless a strong national security argument is made. so decades of secrecy might be about to come to an end. sports now, with hugh. manager david wagner has described it as a great day for little huddersfield, after they beat second—placed manchester united for the first time in 65 years. unusual defensive lapses from united allowed aaron mooy and laurent depoitre to give the terriers a two—goal lead, against the run of play. and they fought hard for a 2—1 win, despite marcus rashford's consolation. we said, if there is a moment, then we have to be there, and we have to grab it with both hands. and i think this is exactly what the players did. this is a very, very special

moment for this football club. huddersfield town have beaten manchester united, and as i said, this is for sure one of the proudest moments in my management career so far. manchester city's lead over united at the top of the premier league is now five points. striker sergio aguero equalled city's all—time scoring record with his 177th goal for the club, as they beat burnley 3—0 at the etihad stadium. they are a fantastic side at the moment, and they played with confidence. you know it is going to bea confidence. you know it is going to be a tough day and you have to get everything right, you have to get your shape right, the moments you do have, you have to get right, you have, you have to get right, you have to use it wisely, set pieces, referees' decisions, et cetera, et cetera. a few of them got away from us, certainly, the referees' decisions. the teams are generally good, these are a top—class side and they are doing some really good stuff which makes a tough afternoon. we stuck at it to a large extent,

but not enough today. elsewhere, champions chelsea came from behind to beat watford 4—2. crystal palace stay rooted to the bottom after a defeat by newcastle. southampton snatched a late i—o win against a west brom side who remain without a win since august. bournemouth claimed a much—needed win, 2—1 at stoke city. leicester made a winning start to life after the dismissal of former boss craig shakespeare with a 2—1 win at swansea. holders celtic have booked their place in the scottish league cup final, but they had to stifle hibernian's second—half fightback to get there. mikael lustig scored twice before moussa dembele's double secured the 4—2 win. brendan rodgers's side will meet either rangers or motherwell in the final. and, in the scottish premiership, there were just three matches today due to league cup semi—final weekend. hearts were i—o winners over saintjohnstone. partick thistle beat dundee 2—1, with ross county beating hamilton academical by the same scoreline. that's all the sport for now. in a landmark ruling three years ago, india's supreme court recognised its estimated two million transgender people as a third gender, stating that it is the right of every human being to choose their gender.

now, the country's first transgender couple are planning a wedding. some people want to kill us. some people say that we are mad. some people even abuse us, sexually. i'm a male—to—female transsexual person. i'm female—to—male transsexual. we are going to make a new story in the life. it was very hard to be a person with gender dysphoria. now i'm happy that i became who i wanted to be. i'm getting minimum 3—5 calls every day. what to do, where to go for my hormone treatment, where to meet my doctor, so many, many questions they are asking. when i started doing these things, i was all alone. like, nobody was there to help me, so it was like laying my own path.

so, if it happened with somebody else, ijust wanted to help them. i just wanted to work for the betterment and welfare of other people who are having gender dysphoria. i'll be doing that, but a small division will be there. especially females, they want pampering. the majority of households have experienced problems with their broadband over the last year, with slow speeds the most common complaint. a survey by which suggested customers of virgin media, talktalk, sky and bt were the worst affected. our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz reports. frustration with broadband is boiling over in some households. we've become so dependent on it for shopping, banking and entertainment that the internet not working can drive people mad. it cuts out more than it should.

i live in the countryside, and it's terrible there, like 5 megabytes per second is the maximum you'll ever get. speed in my area doesn't actually work as well as it should. depends on where you live. i live in, like, a newbuild apartment, so yeah, i mean, the speed's pretty good, so i get what i pay for. which?'s survey shows 21% of customers had problems with speed. i7% experienced frequent dropouts in the connection. 12% had a wireless router fault, and 8% had no connection at all for hours or days. with talktalk, 33% said their speed was very slow. 22% in the case of bt. while 38% of virgin customers complained about price increases. talktalk says it is disappointed and its extensive investment programme has already led to fewer faults and quicker repair times. virgin says its service is faster, and the majority of its customers get their advertised speed or above at peak times.

there is a regulator, 0fcom, with the job of making sure the companies provide what they promise. it says they must up their game. simon gompertz, bbc news. coming up, dateline london. first the weather, with chris. hello there. storm brian has been bringing some strong winds across the united kingdom over the last 2a hours. the centre of brian crossed northern england during saturday night and headed out into the north sea, where it was going to be weakening through the course of the day today. rain or showers, though, showing up on the radar picture. we do have some strong winds around the coastline of wales and south—west england, yesterday. the forecast was for gusts up to 70 mph, which wasn't far off the mark. inland, the forecasts were gusts to around a0 mph or 50 mph. and again, we had those kind of values across many inland areas. it was a kind of typical autumnal, windy day, wasn't it? now, those strong winds are still with us for the early risers, for the first part of the morning. outbreaks of rain across western scotland, north—west england, the north—west midlands, north wales.

and the gusts were around a0 mph to 50 mph. irish sea coasts and up over the tops of the pennines, maybe one or two stronger gusts. temperatures 9—11 degrees first thing. so there is brian, working to the north sea, where it's going to continue to weaken and die during sunday. nevertheless, we'll get this area of rain extending from north—west england across the midlands for a time, and heading into east anglia and south—east england, before clearing out of the way. what follows through sunday afternoon will be a mixture of sunshine and showers. the majority of the showers across western areas of the uk, dry weather across the east. north—westerly winds, though, bringing cooler and fresher air, so temperatures a bit down on those of yesterday. highs between 11 and 14 degrees. now, through sunday night, we'll see the next weather system approach, bringing rain to northern ireland, wales, south—west england. there'll be some low cloud around, some mist and hill fog patches developing. and the temperatures will be rising towards the south—west. 12 degrees or so as a low down towards south—west england. cooler conditions for a time across rural parts of scotland and north—east england.

now, for monday, this strip of rain, this weather front, will continue to push its way in. so a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain for many of us, heavy for a time for northern scotland. brighter skies working to northern ireland and scotland as we go through monday afternoon. it turns a bit milder, temperatures up to 17 degrees across some areas on monday afternoon, and that's a sign of things to come. on tuesday, we've got a trailing weather front through the southern counties of england, bringing a lot of cloud. the potential of some outbreaks of rain, as well. cloudy for many of us, but the best of the sunshine, really, for eastern scotland and parts of north—east england. notice the temperatures continue to rise. for many of us, between 14—18 degrees celsius — a sign of things to come, because as we head to thursday, mild weather for this time of year. we could see highs of 22 degrees. not bad for the middle of summer, pretty unusual for this late in october. that's your weather. this is bbc news, the headlines: catalonia's leader has made a passionate appeal for the defence

of the region's rights, in the face of what he called a coup by the spanish state. carles puigdemont compared the actions of madrid to those of spain's fascist dictator general franco. thousands took to the streets to protest against the government. the new head of the world health organization says he's rethinking his decision to appoint zimbabwe president robert mugabe as a goodwill ambassador for the global health agency.