hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: the spanish socialist pedro sanchez has been sworn in as the country's new prime minister. thousands of palestinians have attended the funeral in gaza of volunteer nurse who was killed by israeli fire during protest along the border on friday. she was allegedly shot dead as she ran to help a casualty. the prospect of a trade war seems to be getting closer. france's finance minister says the united states has just days to avert one, after the trump tariffs. please released a statement saying its services are operating at full capacity after customers across europe were left unable to make payments on friday. atio:iopm at 10:10pm kate silverton will be here with a full round—up of today's news, but first the spanish prime

minister was forced out of office this week. one pressing issue facing his successor is the future of the north—eastern region of catalonia, where an unsanctioned referendum on independence was held last year. here is our world. barcelona, capital of catalonia, one of the most prosperous parts of spain. it has a distinct culture and its own language. but under the dictatorship, general franco said speaking catalan was banned and the region's autonomy, lost. when democracy was restored, catalonia was able to govern itself within spain, and most people here accepted that. but recently, support for independence has risen and the region's people are now split on whether they should remain part of spain. with political tension rising,

a referendum on independence has —— was called for ist of october 2017. i reported on that referendum and met people personally involved on both sides of the debate. this programme tells the story of that struggle and asks — what next for catalonia? to understand what happened on the day of the referendum, you have to travel to france, to a small town called elna. it's north of the pyrenees, just over the borderfrom catalonia in north—eastern spain. this part of france was once catalan too. many still speak catalan and feel loyal to those south of the border. so, when the spanish authorities declared

the catalan referendum illegal, the people of elna stepped in to help. some of those involved agreed to talk to us, on the condition of anonymity. the operation was closely guarded. even in a small town like elna conspirators identities were kept secret from each other. the operation lasted months, culminating

on the night before the vote. spain had refused to allow voters to use official ballot and ballot papers were seized, so replacements were printed in secret in elna. ballot boxes were brought in from china, through marseille and hidden in the countryside around town. everything needed to hold the referendum was then driven across the border to volunteers waiting in spain. they're proud that a few volunteers from elna could outwit the spanish police. jordi shows me a video about the operation. jordi believes the police's embarrassment of being outsmarted led directly to the violence that was to follow.

with the ballot boxes and papers safely across the mountains, the referendum could go ahead. queues formed as people waited in the rain to cast their vote. but the spanish authorities were determined to stop it. police brought in from the rest of spain used batons and rubber bullets to try and prevent people from voting, pulling voters from polling stations and confiscating ballot boxes. the catalan government said that nearly 1000 people were injured, around a quarter of them here. marta was helping a polling station at her children's school. some of the worst violence happened at this school, where the then president of catalonia, carles puigdemont, was due to vote.

memories of what happened here are as vivid as ever. the spanish government's representative in catolnia comes from girona. he blames the organisers of the referendum for what happened. some here have always supported independence. catalonia accounts for a fifth of spain's gdp, giving them confidence the region could prosper as an independent country. but until recently, that was a minority view. then, nearly ten years ago, europe was rocked by the financial crisis and spain's highest court downgraded a new law, catalonia's statute of autonomy, that would have given more power to the region. this brought catala ns to the streets, insisting that they should decide how the region is governed. the catalan leader at the time, artur mas, warned madrid that demands for independence would only grow without a new deal. after last year's referendum, empty ballot boxes were carried in from the street in celebration.

many votes confiscated by the police were never counted. those that were, accounted forjust 42% of the population as pro spain voters stayed at home. those who did take part overwhelmingly backed independence, but triumph on the streets was short lived as europe refused to recognise the result. in the weeks that followed, the

world waited to see whether catalonia would declare independence unilaterally. rumours circulated that colours puja mum was holding back but he came under pressure from supporters of independence. and may 27 of october, after crowds had waited for hours in the heat, the cata la n waited for hours in the heat, the catalan parliament declared the region an independent republic. the dense beaker of the parliament had been threatened with legal action if she allowed the debates on independence to go ahead. but almost as soon as the parliament

had declared independence, the spanish senate voted to suspend cata la n spanish senate voted to suspend catalan autonomy and remove carles puigdemont‘s government from office. for the first time since the dictatorship, the government assumed control of catalonia. by the end of the week, four catalan leaders were in jail where the week, four catalan leaders were injail where they the week, four catalan leaders were in jail where they have remained ever since. she was sent back to prison shortly after we spoke. as spain escalated its response to the crisis in march this year. there are now nine cata la n this year. there are now nine catalan leaders held without charge in spanishjails. catalan leaders held without charge in spanish jails. the yellow ribbon has become a recognisable symbol of the campaign to free them. in girona, a weekly vigil is held calling for their release. despite massive protests in catalonia and criticism abroad, the spanish government denies that those in jail spanish government denies that those injailare spanish government denies that those injail are political spanish government denies that those in jail are political prisoners. catalans are deeply split on independence. since the autumn, many have taken to the streets to insist that catalonia is part of spain and that they have the right to be

both catalan and spanish. those sentiments are especially strong in the region's industrial cities. i am on my way to l'hospitalet, on the outskirts of the catalan capital, barcelona. this area has a long history of migration from the rest of spain. most people here speak spanish before catalan, and few back independence. i've been invited to meet the local history society to find out how the area's history influences attitudes to independence. on the day of the referendum, jesus stayed at home. manuel, whose parents came to catalonia in the ‘60s, thinks the attitude of an older generation of catalan leaders towards the incomers

remains a problem for present—day independence campaigners. in december, elections to the catalan parliament were held and people in places like l'hospitalet came out in large numbers to assert their spanish identity at the ballot box. pro—independence parties kept their majority but, for the first time, the largest party was pro—spain. deposed catalan president carles puigdemont missed the election. after the declaration of independence, he fled for brussels. in march, he was arrested in germany and subsequently let out on bail. speaking on his release, he called for a political solution to the crisis. the time for dialogue has arrived! we have demanded the dialogue from the last years and we only received a violent and repressive response. now, seeing the fall of that response, it's time to do politics. if the german court agrees to his extradition, mr puigdemont

could spend years in a spanishjail. independent commentator josep ramoneda blames a failure of leadership on both sides for the current crisis. after months of stalemate, mr puigdemont nominated a new president, quim torra, a decisive figure who has had to apologise for comments he made about spanish speakers in the past. the appointment of a new government means rule from madrid will end. mr torra continues to press for the release of those in prison. so far, politicians have been unable, or unwilling, to break the deadlock. back in girona, the weekly vigils continue. and ordinary catalans on both sides harbour serious doubts about the future. catalonia's autonomy is set to be restored, but the crisis goes on.

spain continues to press its case in the courts but a political solution seems more distant than ever. and for ordinary catalans, it's unclear how or when the issue of independence will be resolved. hello there. after a record—breaking may the ist couple of days ofjune have started with some heat but again, some storms. on saturday it was the turn of scotland gets localised flooding. a number of showers elsewhere that over the weekend, not quite as humid, not as many storms. many places will be dry. it will feel a little cooler, especially in the south and a fair bit of cloud. earlier on it with the more northern part of the uk we had the bulk of cloud bringing showers, longer spells of rain, thunder bay downpour. a few showers left over as we move into sunday but on the whole it looks a drier day with fewer showers. a fair bit of cloud in central and southern scotland and northern england. sunny spells of that could trigger one or two

downpours, towards the south—east when we get the highest temperatures of 26 or so. on the whole, a dry day, more cloud on the eastern coast. a bit cooler here. a lot of cloud filling in the north sea, not looking good as we head towards the start of the new week. we have an easterly flow coming around that area of high pressure to the north. a low pressure over biscay with some storms over the other side of the channel. it looks like most of us, monday will be a dry day with some sunshine for northern ireland, western scotland, wales and west in england we could pop off one or two sharp showers but much more cloud across the midlands, eastern england in particular. so here temperatures will be quite a bit lower than we have seen over the weekend, perhaps 15-18d in have seen over the weekend, perhaps 15—18d in many areas. we still have that easterly flow on monday. no two days are ever the same but high pressure to the north, lower pressure to the north, lower pressure to the south. again, those downpours sticking over northern parts of france. we have drawn all

that cloud insua is still around, could be misty erki erm tuesday morning, particularly across england and wales. we should introduce and drierair in scotland, and wales. we should introduce and drier air in scotland, plenty of sunshine here but drier esha bring scotla nd sunshine here but drier esha bring scotland and northern england across to east anglia. a chance of a shower in northern ireland, otherwise it will be a dry day. temperatures beginning to pick up a little bit in the sunshine. as the middle part of the sunshine. as the middle part of the week arrives, most places dry again with some sunny spells, a bit more sunshine across england and wales. there is a threat we could see some of these showers moving northwards up across the english channel but it is a threat at this stage. again, mostly fine and rights. probably as we head overnight and into thursday that the threat of catching some showers increases as this weather front moves up increases as this weather front moves up from the south. we still have high pressure across the north, said this is where we will have the best of the sunshine, scotland, northern ireland and northern england. wales, the midlands, south

eastern east anglia, more cloud and quite muggy and the chance of catching a few sharp showers. as we head towards the latter part of the week into next weekend, at one stage it looked like a pressure pattern was going to change and higher pressure would build on. now it looks like we have the higher pressure more across the north and lower pressure dominating across many western parts of europe pushing northwards and bringing with it some downpours. next weekend for the northern half of the uk we might hang on to blue skies and sunshine and feeling pretty warm under light winds but further south, the cloud will be much more threatening across england and wales and the chance of catching some heavy boundary downpours which may lead to some localised flooding. bye— bye. this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at 10pm... the bbc learns that police have reopened an investigation into one of the central figures in the jeremy thorpe scandal of the 1970s. the us defence secretary warns china over its deployment of missiles in disputed areas of the south china

sea. the new prime minister of spain, pedro sanchez, is officially sworn into office. also in the next hour — we'll be reviewing the sunday papers. joining me tonight are broadcaster john stapleton and kate proctor, political correspondent of the london evening standard.