welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is ducan golestani. our top stories — farewell to the king. ceremonies take place in bangkok — as the funeral for thailand's former monarch begins. this is the scene — live — in the capital — as the events continue — ahead of the planned royal cremation. in other news — security is tight in kenya — ahead of a re—run of the country's presidential election. and a pioneer of rock and roll — fats domino — dies at the age of eighty—nine. the king of thailand is presiding over buddhist funeral rituals

for his late father, king bhumibol adulyadej, who died a year ago after seven decades on the throne. the funeral urn was blessed by monks at the grand palace in bangkok ahead of a series of elaborate processions to the royal crematorium. andrew plant reports. a funeral procession on a scale rarely seen before. a chance for tens of thousands of thai people to say a final farewell to the only monarch most have ever lived under. the body of the former king, kept since his death in october last year in the throne hall of the royal palace. after ruling for 70 years, this is the beginning of a final journey, transported towards a spectacular golden crematorium representing heaven, taking over one year to build. here, his body will be cremated. this procession will last much of the day.

his body will be carried atop a huge wooden chariot pulled by 222 soldiers and led by his son, the new king, and members of the royal family circling the golden crematoriun three times. the death of the king, aged 88, in october last year sparked a national outpouring of grief and a year of mourning. he reigned for so long he became a symbol of his country. cultured and modern. the subject of lavish public affection. he ascended the throne in 1946 and reigned for 70 years. over the last year, 12 million thais have travelled to bangkok to pay their respect. 250,000 are expected to watch this elaborate procession before the cremation takes place at ten o'clock on thursday night. led to the live pictures coming in

from bangkok. as described, elaborate is the word. you can see the scale of this funeral possession —— procession which is one year in the planning, meticulously planned and rehearsed. thousands of mourners gathered in the distance, all dressed in black, all following the same etiquette that they have been instructed to follow as the procession passes them by. they are the lucky ones. many have come to bangkok, an estimated 250,000, but will not get sight of this particular profession. many merely saying they want to be there to pay their respects. for more on how the thai people are following these funeral ceremony events, i spoke a

short time ago to allow south east asia correspondent. to be honest, most thai people do not even fully understand the significance of the rituals. it is tightly choreographed and they have tapped deep into traditional knowledge for this. there are strong similarities to funerals of previous kings, and other members of the royal family. this is more elaborate than any other. the funeral pyre is higher and you have a military government in power now. it is ultra—royalist, determined to preserve the monarchy‘s place in thai society. it launched its coup against the elected government in 2012, largely to be sure that it was in power when this moment came. because bhumibol adulyadej personified the modernisation of his country, he put the monarchy centrestage and incredible affection built up for him has helped give the country stability, some would argue perhaps too much stability giving you cannot question the role of the monarchy. but they helped people transition from a monarchy bound up with royalist propaganda,

70 years of a personal relationship with a man who had a modest personal life and who did want to be dutiful and somehow transition to a new king whom we cannot talk freely about but it has a very different personality and a modern monarchy in the information age and that is subject to gossip and exposure. it is a difficult transition and i think you have around me here people who feel an enormous loss of somebody who they believe guided them and help the country together, the only king they have known. at the top you have an elite that relies on the monarchy to keep things as they are, to see off political challenges.

those two very important transitions are being managed hand—in—hand today in the centre of bangkok here during this long and elaborate goodbye. jonathan has also been getting a sense of what it is like to be a member of the thai royal family. he has been speaking to a relative of king bhumibol adulyadej. he began by asking herfor her king bhumibol adulyadej. he began by asking her for her thoughts on the preparations for the cremation. the people on the street make a very vivid and emotional scene. some people could it say was very extravagant but i think it is rather wonderful. we see an emotional connection between him and ordinary people, a genuine personal affection. there is a kind of bond. in a country where royalist propaganda is so prevalent many have so many restrictions on what you can say about the royal family, people outside are bound to ask if this love is genuine. i think it is. for example, i was raised in britain and in thailand so i am interested

in democracy, quality and all of that but i feel as much as anyone else and i was surprised in a way, how upset i felt when he died and then going on the street and seeing people. i think it is quite genuine. you have been critical about the way expression about the monarchy has been restricted. i do not think that is helpful. but it does not mean that he has not been a great king in many ways. and also it has been our whole lives. anyone younger than 70 will have known only this king and so it is quite an historic moment. it is all about us as well as him. it is the end of an epoch for many of us. did you have many dealings with him? any personal encounters that told a little bit about what kind

of a man he was? my mother was close to the queen and we would have tea with her. and we had a house by the sea so we would go to his palace at the sea there. we could not leave the sea until they left the sea and i used to get exhausted when i was quite young. my mother would tell me i could not emerge from the ocean but i would come out all shrivelled up. but it was fun. and then when i was older i presented a book to him and he was extremely charming. i was grovelling on the floor in respectful positions and he insisted that i come sit on a chair which i thought was wonderful. not everyone does that. we had quite a long chat about the duties of a publisher, he was quite interested in environmental work i was doing. the conversations i had with him, he was extremely serious

but very well—informed. at another time we talked about water purification and that sort of thing. that is what made him loved. and touched so many aspects of people's lives. is a mix of love and fear that people feel? with him i would say it is more love than fear, for certain. yeah. he did have a human side and that came across. that was jonathan in that wasjonathan in bangkok. china has revealed its new senior leadership committee, but breaking with tradition, failed to annoint a clear successor to president xijinping. it comes at the end of the 19th communist party congress, where mr xi outlined a populist vision for increased prosperity, underwritten by strict one party rule. our beijing correspondent john sudworth has been given a rare interview with a chinese human rights lawyer, who details how mr xi's first five

years in power have resulted in a brutal crackdown on dissent. we enter through a basement in an attempt to avoid the surveillance. there are few occupations more sensitive in china right now than that of a human rights lawyer. xie yanyi is one of the first to dare to speak out about his ordeal. translation: they withheld food, they didn't allow me to sleep. i was kept in a small room, and saw no daylight for half a year. this is torture, and the isolation is more painful than being beaten. president xijinping has been tightening his already formidable grip on power. today, revealing the men who will rule with him during his second term. if xi jinping really is now china's most powerful leader

since chairman mao, then the plight of the human rights lawyers told us something important about how he intends to use that growing authority. there was once a hope that as china grew richer it would grow freer politically. not any more. li wenzhou's husband is one of the lawyers still in detention. she's heard nothing at all since he was taken away more than two years ago. i think it might be because he won't sign a confession, she says. however long he holds out, i'll always support him. any challenge is now viewed as a threat. notjust dissidents, but the lawyers who represent them, and the lawyers‘ own families. even when petitioning forjustice, they are followed and filmed. after 18 months in detention, the risks have not gone away for xie yanyi and his family.

he's been warned not to talk to the foreign media. translation: i am taking a risk, but i think it's my responsibility to speak out. i can't accept a society that arrests people for what they think and what they say. our interview is suddenly interrupted. his wife tells us that a group of men has begun to gather outside the apartment. as we leave, the same way we came in, we hear their voices. quick. lock the doors. they're waiting for us and block our way. there they are, look. we are held here for an hour or so, then allowed to go. another short glimpse of the tightening social control

under president xi. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. the british government has made it clear that there will be a vote in parliament before they leave the european union. it follows confusion after david davis suggested that a vote may have to take place after the uk officially leaves in march 2019. brexit‘s about britain taking back control — the promise to the country before the eu referendum and since. but will the uk parliament be guaranteed a vote on the historic deal to leave the european union before it's done? welcome, secretary of state. today, the minister in charge of brexit answered "no". he told mps getting a deal, if there is one, could go down to the wire, the last moment before britain leaves. it's no secret that the way the union makes its decisions tends to be at the eleventh minute. sorry, the 59th minute

of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day and so on. and that's precisely what i would expect to happen here. so what about the government's promise parliament would have a meaningful vote on the deal? the undertaking we've given, the undertaking we've given. could be after march 2019? it could be, yeah, it could be. it depends when it concludes. i mean, mr barnier, remember, has said... did he mean that? ministers had promised mps a vote ahead of brexit. when you said that it is possible that parliament might not vote on the deal until after the end of march 2019, i'm summarising correctly what you said? yes, that's correct. in the event we don't do the deal until then, yeah. so theresa may's government could strike a deal without getting parliament's backing first. sounded clear, but then came the time to explain that to mps. can the prime minister

please explain how it's possible to have a meaningful vote on something that's already ta ken place? i'm confident because it is in the interest of both sides and it's not just this parliament that wants to have a vote on that deal, but actually, there will be ratification by other parliaments that we will be able to achieve that agreement and that negotiation in time for this parliament to have the vote if we can admit it. that wasn't a guarantee mps would get a vote before britain leaves, just an intention, an expectation, and david davis was equally clear he expects a nailbiter. the greatest potential danger facing the government — if parliament does throw out a brexit deal when it's done, that would shatter the government's authority, even call its survival into question. tories worried about brexit are insisting they want the vote they believe they were promised. a lot of the reason that people voted to leave the european union was about taking control back, and that control has to come back to this sovereign parliament. and i think our constituents will expect us to have a say before the deal is finally concluded and before the european parliament has had a say. and that's what the

prime minister has promised us. there's no easy route to brexit. here and in europe, each day seems to bring a new set of problems, a fresh set of doubts. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: driver — what driver? we'll take you to southern germany — and the bus that moves all by itself. indira gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. only yesterday, she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood would contribute to the growth of this nation." after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. booster ignition and liftoff of discovery with a crew of six astronaut heroes

and one american legend. this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the funeral procession of thailand's revered king bhumibol adulyadej, who died a year ago, has begun in bangkok. kenya's electoral commission says a presidential election rerun will go ahead after the supreme court was unable to rule on whether or not to halt the ballot. president uhuru kenyatta won

the first vote in august, but the result was annulled by the supreme court after allegations of irregularities in the poll. but the opposition claims any new vote will be rigged with their leader, raila odinga, urging his supporters to boycott the vote. our africa editor fergal keane reports on wednesday's events. the president's party turned to god this morning. a prayer meeting by women supporters near the supreme court. hoping thejudges, too, would hear their pleas. nothing is moving at the moment, until we have peace and elections. that's our prayer. in a country where many institutions have been undermined by decades of corruption, the supreme court is seen as an honest and fearless arbiter. but today, as lawyers waited, the extraordinary news that too few judges had turned up to hear the crucial case. this matter cannot, therefore, be heard this morning.

it's accordingly adjourned to a date to be taken in the registry. once again, my apologies to all of you. thank you. among those who didn't come was the deputy chiefjustice. her bodyguard was shot and wounded last night. what happened to the deputy chief justice yesterday was not an accident, as it were, it was a deliberate move to intimidate her, to make sure that she doesn't turn up for these proceedings. this process has produced many controversial moments, but the failure of enough judges to turn up here this morning to decide on the case is a significant blow to those who put their faith in kenya's institutions to deliver democratic accountability. but government supporters listening to the news were delighted. a mile away,

opposition leader raila odinga was being greeted like a conquering hero, calling on his supporters to become a resistance movement and oppose what he called a dictatorship. so what do we do, what do we do tomorrow? "what should we do tomorrow?" he asked them. "no elections," they shouted, and kept shouting. but the polling boxes are being delivered and tonight, president kenyatta pledged to enforce security laws. to step aside them is to step into anarchy. and as president of this great republic, sworn to defend constitutional order, i will not let that happen. it's a promise that will be hard to keep in opposition strongholds

like this, where children run the gauntlet between demonstrators and police. fergal keane, bbc news, kenya. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. brazil's president, michel temer, will not face a supreme court trial for corruption after the lower house of congress rejected charges filed by prosecutors. earlier, mr temer was taken to hospital ahead of the vote after feeling unwell. mr temer is accused of obstruction ofjustice and racketeering. he denies any wrongdoing. iraq's autonomous kurdistan region has offered to freeze the result of september's referendum on independence and begin dialogue with baghdad. the move to break away resulted in iraqi troops seizing areas controlled by the kurds since 2014, including the disputed city of kirkuk. fats domino, one of the pioneers of rock and roll, has died. he was 89.

best known for songs ain't that a shame and blueberry hill, he sold more than 65 million records, outselling every 1950s rock—and—roll act except elvis. nick higham looks back on his life. # one day, you'll cry # i won't come back to you # just you wait and see... antoine ‘fats‘ domino started playing piano in the bars of new orleans, rolling rhythm and blues with its rich jazz and latin roots. # but i love to see you with you smile # oh, well, goodbye # although i'll cry # ain't that a shame... but soon, he developed a new, much more popular style, one of the first black artists to top the white—dominated charts. the genial fats delighted crossover audiences and, in the process, found he'd helped

to invent rock and roll. # i've found my thrill # on blueberry hill... blueberry hill, his biggest seller, was one of 30 top a0 hits, though one he didn't write himself. he made millions and gambled much of it away, but went on playing into old age. when hurricane katrina hit his home town in 2005, he chose to stay at home and was rumoured dead. later, there was a visit from george w bush to replaced fats domino's presidential gold medal, lost in the floods and looting. as for his music, it remained as appealing and infectious as ever. fats domino, who's died at the age of 89. let's head to germany now for what's being described as a little bit of transport history.

in the bavarian town of bad birnbach, where a driverless bus service has been launched, each vehicle can carry 12 passengers and the journey will be free. tim allman takes up the story. as revolutions in technology go, this seems, at first glance, a little underwhelming. but this mayjust be the transport solution of the future. no driver, no conductor. just a small bus trundling along at an average speed of 10km/h. the chosen venue for this new service is the town of bad birnbach in the region of lower bavaria, not far from the czech and austrian borders. it will offer free rides for an 8—minute route linking the town's centre, local swimming baths and the train station. translation: i really think we can say that the town of bad birnbach and deutsche bahn have written

a page of transport‘s history. driverless vehicles have become something of a holy grail for the transport industry, convinced they will lead to greater safety and efficiency. the self—driving cars, self—driving lorries and now, self—driving buses. "that's the future," said this passenger, "and it'll probably work flawlessly. " from next year, the new buses will take to the roads in other german towns and cities, including hamburg. bus drivers may soon be an endangered species. tim allman, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. the funeral procession of the former king of thailand is well underway in bangkok. elaborate ceremonies have been performed and a symbolic urn is currently being paraded through the streets. hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on the city to observe the first part of what will be a 5—day ritual. we are back in a moment.

hello there, good morning. there are some significant changes to come over the next few days. once again, though, on wednesday, it was another mild day with much more sunshine around, and we saw temperatures as high as 20 degrees in the south—east. but over the next few days, for all of us, the wind direction is going to change. it's going to drag down some cold air, as well. but at the moment, this weather front is on the scene. having moved southwards, it's now moving northwards, dragging misty, murky, damp weather into england and wales. north of that, though, clearer skies in scotland. but enough of a wind to prevent the temperatures getting too low, and across the far north of scotland, we have got some more showers. lighter winds for northern ireland, could be some patchy mist and fog early in the morning here. cloud spilling into northern england, a bit of dampness around too. a damper start with much more low cloud across wales, the midlands, towards east anglia too. some hill fog likely.

more general low—level fog in the south—east, where there's not much wind to stir things up at the moment. but it may well brighten up across southern counties of england and turn out to be another mild day. and we've got the sunnier skies in scotland away from the northern showers. more sunshine for northern ireland, perhaps the far north of england, but in between, a zone of much more low cloud. temperatures lower than they were yesterday, and we could see a little rain and drizzle through much of the day across east yorkshire and lincolnshire. that weather front, though, is weak, and it will get pulled apart as high pressure builds in overnight into friday. and it's going to drag down, with that high pressure, some drier air and clearer skies, so more sunshine on the way on friday. a chilly start, maybe a touch of frost on the grass, from wales, the midlands, northwards, and maybe some mist and fog, too, but otherwise a brighter day. more sunshine, and temperatures where they should be for this time of year. things change again on saturday. you will notice the wind really starting to pick up. there will be more cloud around. there's likely to be some showers around too.

it's all because an area of low pressure is running close to our shores. that, though, is going to dive its way into europe, and bring some really wet and windy weather into much of europe this weekend. the position of this high pressure behind that is crucial, because it means for us, on sunday, we're going to get more of a northerly wind, and that is going to drag down some colder air across the uk. you will notice it feeling much, much chillier, especially in the wind, which will be strongest down the eastern side of the uk. temperatures 13 or 1a in the south, but struggling to 8 or 9 in the north. there may be one or two showers. as the winds drop out overnight, we could start quite frosty, particularly in the countryside, on monday morning. this is bbc news. the headlines: the funeral procession of the former king of thailand has begun in bangkok. elaborate ceremonies have been performed and a symbolic urn is currently being paraded through the streets. hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on the city to observe the first part of what will be a five—day ritual.

voting is under way in kenya's controversial re—run of the presidential election despite a boycott by the main opposition. tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed to protect voters and polling stations. wildlife rangers and prison officers have been brought in to help police. tributes are coming in for one of the pioneers of rock and roll, fats domino, who has died at the age of 89. he sold more than 60 million records. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.