welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: tens of thousands protest in catalonia, as eight regional leaders are held in custody on charges of rebellion and sedition. new details emerge about the killing of four american servicemen in niger. we have a special report from the battlefield. as the site of the new york terror attack reopens, federal investigators question the suspect. and donald trump prepares for his first presidential tour of asia, with the shadow of a rising china looming large. hello. spain's constitutional crisis has ramped up, with thousands of people in catalonia protesting at the detention of eight regional government ministers, sacked over their bid

for independence. they're accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. the high court in madrid is also seeking the arrest of catalonia's ousted leader carles puidgemont. he's in brussels and says he won't return until he and his colleagues are guaranteed a fair trial. this report from the bbc‘s tom burridge. in the police vans are eight men and women who a week ago ran the government of catalonia. now, taken to a prison in madrid. they face serious charges, including rebellion against the spanish state. ajudge denied them bail. as the news filtered through, their supporters gathered outside the regional parliament in barcelona. angry... and in shock. the government they elected now behind bars. can you believe it, in a democratic country, that these things happen?

that we can go back to the dark times again? we don't understand. we are very, very sad, deeply sad, deeply sad, and terrified. it reads "political prisoners". madrid argues it has no influence over today's decision taken in the courts, but these activists and people across catalonia are sympathetic to the cause, and they say that claim is absurd. they were summoned to the high court of spain because they organised a disputed referendum which led to a unilateral declaration of independence by their parties in the regional parliament. why are you here? their former leader, carles puidgemont, still in brussels, did not turn up to what he claims is a political trial. translation: the spanish government

decision to imprison the vice president and the cabinet members of the legitimate government of catalonia elected on september the 27th is a very grave mistake. it is a grave attack on democracy. many people across spain and here in catalonia are also outraged, but are pro—independence politicians the ones who have pushed things so far? raquel says they flouted the law is and is so worried she might move abroad. so, a new chapter to this catalan crisis. and every day under the surface here, decisions more entrenched. new details have emerged about the killing of four american special forces and four local troops in the west african country of niger last month.

among those who died was army sergeant la david johnson, whose widow recently accused president trump of treating her insensitively during a condolence call. cbs reporter, deborah patta, has been to the site of the attack in tongo tongo the village of tongo tongo is so remote, the nigerian escorts had trouble finding the road to get there. this is where the 12 member american team and 30 nigerian soldiers stopped to get supplies. this village told us he saw four armed men on motorcycles approached the us convoy. he was so nervous he walked 35 miles to speak to us at another location. translation: we thought if it is just a few terrorists the soldiers can kill them easily, but we did not know there were so many more of them waiting nearby.

once the islamic state fighters had lured the troops away from the village, numbers multiplied, and suddenly they were under attack. you can still see the ebola cases left over from the intense shooting. the burnt out school, empty boxes of ammunition, that is all that is left. he told us there were at least 60 attackers armed with machine—guns and rocket propelled grenade. the fighting lasted over two hours. when it was over, he said he saw the bodies of three american soldiers slumped near their vehicle. all three were stripped of their uniforms. but it would be two days before children from the village discovered the fourth body of army sergeant la david johnson about half a mile away. it is still not clear howjohnson got separated from the rest. this soldier would only talk of reconcile identity.

he had been stripped of his uniform, he told us. his hands were tied and they had shot him in the head. the pentagon would not comment. there is still some confusion over why this american team had their mission extended and what exactly their assignment was. but either way, it meant they camped out overnight in dangerous territory, and that might have alerted the extremist to where they were. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. president trump has named jerome powell as his pick to lead the federal reserve. he's a multi—millionaire, already a member of the bank's board and will replace current chairjanet yellen, whose term finishes in february. 600 asylum seekers who are refusing to leave an australian detention centre in papua new guinea say they're digging into the ground to find water three days after the manus island camp officially closed, leaving them with no facilities. the men there say they're

afraid they'll be attacked if they leave the camp. a trove of artworks which was hoarded by the son of hitler's art dealer, hildebrand gurlitt, have gone on public display at the museum of fine arts in switzerland. the pieces were discovered in 2012 after the son's apartment was searched in a tax inquiry. two days since the truck attack on new york city that killed eight people and the bike path where the victims were mown down has just reopened. the suspect, sayfullo saipov has been speaking to investigators about how he planned the attack for a year beforehand. and lawyers have been looking closely at president trump's outspoken comments that saipov should be sent to guantanamo and deserves the death penalty. the flags are at half—mast, but what has been striking about the new york attack is how quickly the city has settled back into the rhythms of everyday life.

the bike path where cyclists were mown down has reopened. scattered with a few bunches of flowers, its trees, bearing the marks of where the pick—up truck crashed into them. close to where the attack ended there is a small floral memorial. but this is a city of incessant motion, and life goes on. handcuffed and shackled and appearing in court in a wheelchair, sayfullo saipov, the suspect, has been charged with federal offences which could bring the death penalty. waiving his rights, he spoke freely, and said he chose halloween for his attack because the streets would be more crowded. he also wanted to display the flags of the so—called islamic state on the rented truck he used as a weapon, but thought it would draw attention to himself. he also intended to continue his high—speed drive in lower manhattan as far as brooklyn bridge. a security camera captured saipov as he rented the vehicle in newjersey. he decided to use a truck two months ago and had hired one previously to practise completing turns.

the indications right now are that he acted alone. is this inspired? hejust got all this off the internet? was it enabled ? we he actually communicating with isis officials over encrypted channels? or was it directed? was this part of a plan? at this point, we don't see anything that leads us to believe there is anyone else involved, but i caution, we are a day or two into this. in a series of tweets, donald trump said he would love to send sayfullo saipov to guantanamo bay but that process would take longer than the federal system. he also added "there is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the horrible crime he committed." "should move fast." "death penalty!" presidents have traditionally been urged not to comment on active criminal cases because of the fear of prejudicing proceedings, of preventing a fair trial. but those don't seem to be concerns of donald trump, labelling the us justice

system a laughing stock. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. stay with us on bbc news. still to come. meeting our new cousins. scientists discover a previously unknown species of great ape. the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested, and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear. the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened that should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyager one is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going.

tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of ourarms, or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: spain's constitutional crisis has ramped up with thousands of people in catalonia protesting at the detention of eight regional government ministers sacked over their bid for independence. new details have emerged about the killing of four american special forces in the west african country of niger last month. president trump leaves for his first official trip to five countries in asia on friday. it's likely to be dominated by the risk of conflict over north korea's nuclear weapons programme. but underlying everything is a struggle for strategic dominance in asia between washington and beijing.

0ur china editor carrie gracie reports. a game where the past is america, but the future maybe china. big stars are moving here for the money and the eyeballs. there are almost as many chinese shooting hoops as there are americans on the planet. translation: the united states is still the one to beat, and it will take china time to catch up, but basketball is our national sport now and you can play anywhere. the rules of basketball are one thing, but the rules of the global power club are another. china's resisted american lectures on open markets and democracy. it's winning its own way. "america first," warned candidate trump. we can't continue to allow china to rape our country, and that's what they're doing.

but when president trump played host in april, he needed china's help on north korea. there were no trade sanctions. he called president xi a good friend. we're going to have a very, very great relationship and i look very much forward to it. xijinping has lots of friends, though. party comrades applauding his promise that china will build a first—class military and move to centre stage. this is the generation who'll have to make that dream come true. explaining the map of asia from a chinese point of view. since world war ii, the us navy's patrolled these contested seas, but china's pressing its claim. and rivalry is growing. i think president xi and president trump should better communicate and try to compromise, so, maybe in this case,

lots of the security problems can be solved or at least decreased. i do think there will be more rivalry, but there also will be more opportunities, artificial intelligence and many high—tech areas that need the cooperation between china and the united states. i do not completely agree with you. if we look back to history, we will see that a lot of wars have originated from the economic conflicts. china's history has seen many great powers rise and fall, and it builds its us strategy brick by careful brick. president trump's visit is an important moment for china. the host will do nothing to antagonise his guest, but he has less reason than any recent chinese leader to bow to american demands. president xi believes the united states is in steep decline, and china, rising, in a power game to define our century.

carrie gracie, bbc news, on the great wall of china. president trump's national security advisor has been laying out the current american approach to north korea. general hr mcmaster says the world is "running out of time" to stop the nuclear crisis and the us is prepared to defend itself if necessary. north korea is a threat to the entire world so all nations of the world must do more to counter that threat. that is happening, but the president recognises that we're running out of time and will ask all nations to do more. in particular, the president will continue to call on all responsible nations, especially those with the most influence over north korea, to isolate the north korean regime economically and politically. nato's secretary general has told the bbc that the alliance is ready to respond to any north korean attack, but the aim is a

peaceful resolution. jens stoltenberg was speaking to the bbc‘s mark lowen in seoul, who began by asking him whether donald trump's bombastic rhetoric towards north korea was worsening the crisis. i think ithinki i think i will only add to the tension is and create more uncertainty if i started to answer all of the hypothetical questions. the focus now is the pressure on north korea to find a peaceful solution. we have the capabilities, we have the resolve to respond to any attack with our military capabilities. but the reason to have strong deterrence is to prevent the conflict or two prevent a conflict. that is from their 50s and 60s in the cold war, that is fundamentally the cold war, that is fundamentally the same way we will respond. for

us, the absolute red line is of course the protection of allies. we are in an alliance earlier promise to stand together, one for all and all for one. we are ready to protect and defend all allies against, including of course ballistic missile. the reality that nuclearisation —— de nuclearisation is unattainable in north korea and really that most of the web can hope for is a containment, the freezing of north korea missile programme. for is a containment, the freezing of north korea missile programmem may be that of course we need the approach to freeze the programme, found new programmes. i agree this is not the easy way. i'd agree this may take time, but at the same time, we have seen before that we have succeeded in getting rid of weapons of mass destruction. that has happened in ukraine, belarus, south

africa, libya. we are able to make progress before, and i believe it is possible to make progress when it comes to north korea but then we need strong pressure in economic section. it's been 100 years since the russian revolution. to look back on the historic period, our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has been travelling through russia for a series of special reports this week. steve began his journey in st petersburg and has since travelled onto moscow and then yekaterinburg before ending up in khabarovsk, some 6,000 kilometres away in the russian far east. from there, he explains how it would take several years and a civil war before the bolsheviks established control over the whole of russia. this man in the russian revolution have one thing in common. they are both 100 years old. born in 1917, he has survived three famines, he has fought format wars. in his life

time, he and soviet russia have fallen apart. how does he survived that? translation: because our people are strong and they are patriotic. we love our motherland and we are ready to die for it. he is home is khabarovsk in the russian far east. here, china is closer than most of russia and the cradle of the revolution is a world away. we are more than 6000 column on east saint petersburg. it would take bolsheviks five years in a brutal civil war before they conquer this area. the decisive battles was nearer khabarovsk. soviet decisive battles was nearer kha barovsk. soviet pathology decisive battles was nearer khabarovsk. soviet pathology painted the breadth of triumphant heroes. anti—communist white army deservedly crushed. but this version of history is crumbling. just like the battle

site memorial to the red heroes. that is because the official view of the revolution has changed in russia will stop to those in power here today, red 0ctober will stop to those in power here today, red october is no longer a national celebration. in russia, is not only the future is an protect the ball. so with the past. that applies to the russian civil war. the russian revolution to almost any period of this country's history. so off than here, the past is rewritten, reinterpreted according to who is in power. in this museum, which is open to the public, they display guns and bayonets unearthed in the forest. they try not to take sides, red or white, in the forest. they try not to take sides, red orwhite, but in the forest. they try not to take sides, red or white, but not eve ryo ne welco m es sides, red or white, but not everyone welcomes that. translation: the soviet union wasn't that long ago. so sometimes what we say now about the white army doesn't go down well with supporters of the

ussr. back in his flat, this man shows me the commendation he got from josef stalin. the view of the pastis from josef stalin. the view of the past is unlikely to change. translation: revolution days like my second birthday because it is the birthday of the ussr. and that is unsha keable birthday of the ussr. and that is u ns ha kea ble loyalty to a cou ntry which no longer exists. back to the present day. twitter has admitted that president trump's account was briefly deactivated by a rogue employee on their last day at the company. the world's most prominent twitter account was out of action for about 11 minutes. our correspondent, laura bicker, is in washington. there have been people for a long time suggesting perhaps his account should be dear debated, abusing people and threatening nuclear war

seems to be a breach of the term. this seems to have been a soon—to—be ex— employee taking independent action. yes, foran11 action. yes, for an 11 whole minutes, we got to see what a twitter world would be like without donald trump. it without the just 11 minutes at around eight o'clock, and when it came to the page, when he went on to it, the message was simply, sorry, this page does not exist. with said it was investigating and initially said it was human error. within the last hour, they issued a statement saying that what they have learnt that it was done by our customer service employee on their last day. a number of people are asking the question, how can one employee take down one of the most elliptic twitter accounts, and one indeed involving the us president. something certainly that twitter will have two and four. meanwhile, donald trump has continued with his

prolific twitter habit this evening, it doesn't seem to have held him back. he has talked about the pi and whether or not it is still great, and also his calling on the department ofjustice to investigate hillary clinton. thank you very much. there are very few species of great ape, and we are one of them, so finding a new one is a big deal. and scientists have now confirmed that the tapanuli orangutan, found in the dense forests of sumatra in indonesia, is a third separate species of orangutan, only the seventh non—human great ape. our science reporter victoria gill has the story. the remote mountain forests of sumatra are home to some of our closest ape relatives. and a small population here, first discovered just 20 years ago, has been hiding a scientific secret. this is the tapanuli orangutan, a species new to science. until now, it was thought that there were just two distinct species of orangutan, sumatran and bornean,

like this big male here. but this new study shows that there are actually three — a tiny population has been hidden away and isolated by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. early dna analysis suggested these animals were peculiar compared to the other sumatran apes. so, scientists embarked on a detailed study examining what they ate, and their unique calls. years of painstaking genetic comparisons enabled scientists to reconstruct the animals' evolutionary history. the final piece of the puzzle, though, was tiny but consistent differences between the sumatran and this, the tapanuli orangutan‘s skull. it's an amazing breakthrough, i think. there's only seven, if we exclude ourselves, great ape species. so, adding one to that very small list is spectacular. withjust 800 known individuals, this species will go straight onto the critically endangered list. logging, mining and plans

for a hydroelectric damn already —— dam already pose a threat to its habitat. the hope is that adding this ape to the biology textbooks will help to ensure its survival. victoria gill, bbc news. a reminder of our top story — spain's constitutional crisis has ramped up. tens of thousands of catalans have protested at the decision of a spanishjudge to hold eight former ministers in the catalan regional government in custody. they're accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. the high court is also seeking the arrest of the leader. he is in brussels and says he not coming back until he is guaranteed fair trial. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. hello. thursday turned out to be a day

of mixed weather fortunes right across the british isles. for some, the morning fog became the afternoon fog. it really didn't get away from some spots, especially in somerset levels. first thing on friday, a coolish sort of start despite the extensive amount of cloud. but it's the fog, again, that will be concentrating my mind and should be on your mind too, across the southern counties of england, especially for that morning rush hour. bbc local radio will keep you right up to date with the very worst of the conditions, which could stretch from the eastern side of devon, through the west country, central, southern england, into parts of the south—east. generally speaking, from wales to the midlands to east anglia, more cloudy and maybe a spot of rain. then dry weather for the most part as we get into the north of england, much of northern ireland, the eastern side of scotland too. drift that bit further towards the north and west in scotland, a new set of weather fronts coming in here, with the cloud, wind and rain making very slow progress through the day. much of the fog will lift away

during the course of the morning as more cloud just comes down towards those southern counties. we may well find the odd glimpse of sunshine coming through. temperatures, as you see, for most, in double figures. one or two sheltered spots in the eastern side of scotland, despite some brightness, will be stuck at around 9, possibly 10 degrees or so. overnight, this is where we see really quite a dramatic change. we have that weather front making itself felt across scotland, northern ireland, but we are bringing more cloud and a real developing situation, here, with the rain becoming quite widespread across england and wales as we start the weekend. the weekend, of course, is one for fireworks and bonfires perhaps, but it's turning colder eventually and it will be a mixture of sunny spells and showers once — and it will take a time before we get rid of these weather fronts, which will bring in a fair amount, as i say, of cloud and rain widely to start off saturday across the greater part of england and wales. maybe the far south of scotland too. further north and west than that, it's a mixture of sunny spells

and showers and a north—westerly and a chilly north—westerly at that. now, that will take a time before it works its way right down into that south—eastern quarter of the british isles and don't hold me to that exact timing of that rain getting away from the coast of east anglia and kent. it could be two, three hours perhaps later than that. but eventually, i think, the colder air will win out. sunday looks to be more straightforward, with a mixture of sunny spells and some blustery showers. especially across northern and western parts. and a high of 11. this is bbc news — the headlines: tens of thousands of catalans have protested outside the regional parliament in barcelona and in other towns against the detention of eight ousted catalan government ministers. a spanishjudge said they had to be detained because they might otherwise leave the country or destroy evidence. new details have emerged about the killing of four american air special forces and four local troops in the west african country of niger last month. among those who died was army sergeant la david johnson — whose widow recently accused president trump

of treating her insensitively during a condolence call. it's two days since the truck attack on new york city that killed eight people — and the bike path where the victims were mown down has just reopened. the suspect — sayfullo saipov — has been speaking to investigators about how he planned the attack for a year beforehand. he's appeared in federal court. customers of nationwide, tsb and the yorkshire building society will be among the first to see a rise in the interest paid on their savings.