welcome to bbc news. broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: 39 nine people are known to have died after the bridge collapse in italy. hopes fade of finding any more people alive. some have a lucky escape. people were running, screaming in italian, "run, out!" "out, cars, out, cars!" "cars!" so we just literally... "kids, run, run," because we didn't know what was happening. he's been an outspoken critic of the white house, now president trump strips security clearance from former cia director, john brennan. what is the story behind the killing of the half brother of north korea's leader? two women charged with the murder will find out very soon if their trial will go on. the pilot whales stuck in an icelandic fjord, twice in two days. no—ones‘s quite sure why. and a new era in tinsel town. crazy rich asians, the first hollywood movie in a genertion, to be led by an all—asian cast. —— generation. hello.

rescuers are spending a second night searching the rubble of a collapsed motorway bridge in genoa, but hopes of finding more survivors are all but gone. at least 39 people were killed when it plummeted to the ground on monday morning. in response to widespread public alarm about more possible failures in the region's infrastructure, a i2—month state of emergency has been declared in liguria. james reynolds sent this report from genoa. can there be anyone left underneath all this? to find out, rescuers will have to search under every broken concrete slab. but signs of life from beneath the rubble have now died away. translation: we haven't heard any cries since yesterday afternoon, but we may still find survivors. looking up, you can see that some

vehicles have been abandoned right on the edges of the section which is still standing, just ahead of the collapse. a few more seconds, and those drivers would have crashed to the ground. they were all incredibly lucky to survive. nicola and lisa henton—mitchell from oxfordshire were here on holiday with their two kids. they told me they were driving towards the bridge when they saw a commotion up ahead. people started shouting, waving their arms to reverse out the windows. and tooting horns and everything like that. and so we tried to reverse, and we couldn't go anywhere. and the car in front hit the front of our car, and then people were running, screaming in italian, "run, out!" "out, cars, out, cars!" " ca rs! " so we just literally... "kids, run, run," because we didn't know what was happening. we made our sonjust run, and we sort of grabbed our daughter's hand and started running.

but we couldn't pick her up because all the car doors were flying away, people everywhere, torrential rain's coming down. this screaming, and our daughter took her shoes off because she was just going to sleep before. she hasn't got her glasses. we left everything in the car, and we just ran for our lives. they took shelter in a motorway tunnel and waited for help. many other drivers ahead of them lost their lives. the victims include roberto robbiano, his wife, ersilia piccinino, and their seven—year—old son samuele. andrea cerulli was 48. he had a young son. he was killed on his way to work. 35—year—old father—of—four, luigi matti altadonna, was driving his work van. matteo bertonati, giovanni battiloro, gerardo esposito and antonio stanzione were all in their 20s and on their way to spain.

they'd originally planned to fly, but they ended up hiring a car instead. the country's prime minister, giuseppe conte, in just his third month as italy's leader, promises immediate steps. translation: these are unacceptable tragedies that should not happen in modern society. this government will do everything to prevent such tragedies from happening again. but this has been promised before. yet for years, successive governments failed to fix italy's crumbling infrastructure. many italians will ask why this new administration should be any different. the company responsible for maintenance at the site has defended its record, it insists the bridge has been checked every three months. james reynolds gave us more of the latest details from the scene. the public prosecutor's office here in genoa will begin a criminal investigation.

the prime minister says he wants anyone responsible to be held to account. mr conte now has access to special funds which will allow him to try to make this area safe, but beyond all that, italy faces wider questions. how has this country perpetuated, over so many years, a culture which has allowed its infrastructure to degrade? italy spends less money on its bridges and roads than other similarly sized european countries, and even when it does spend that money, it's often wasted on corruption or mismanagement. one engineer said about this bridge when it was standing that it was more expensive to maintain it than it would have been to simply knock it down and start all over again. so italy may have to consider having to change the way its country works. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 48 people have been killed in a suicide attack against an education centre in kabul. the bombing was in a mainly shia area of the afghan capital. many of those killed are believed

to be teenagers who were getting extra tuition, as they prepared for university entrance exams. more than sixty people were wounded. the taliban have denied any involvement. police in london have been given more time to question the man arrested after a car crashed into a barrier outside parliament. salih khater is a british citizen who's originally from sudan. he's being questioned by counter—terrorism officers, although the bbc understands they haven't formally declared what happened at westminster a "terrorist incident". the imprisoned former president of brazil, luiz inacio lula da silva, has been registered as a candidate for presidential elections in october despite being in prison for corruption. thousands of his supporters gathered outside the supreme electoral court in brasilia, to show their support. lula is expected to be barred from running since brazilian law bans people with criminal convictions from running for office. the united states has condemned turkey's decision to increase import duties on a number of american products including rice, cars and coal.

the white house said the move was a step in the wrong direction. the two countries are in dispute about an american pastor who is under house arrest in izmir. the white house has broken with tradition and stripped the security clearance of a former cia director. john brennan has been highly critical of president trump on twitter. in response, he tweeted that the president's actions should gravely worry all americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. historically, officials who've served in office often keep their access in order to weigh in on security matters, and speak with their replacements. speaking on behalf of the president, white house press secretary sarah sanders named a number of other officials she says could also have their clearance withdrawn. to the action with respect to the

following individuals. james clapham, james comey, michael hagan, sally yates was susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter struck, with a page and bruce all. security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked and those who have ready lost their security clearance may not be able to have it reinstated. let's get more now from our north america correspondent, peter bowes. that will sound to a lot of people like the whole list of threats, what has been the response to all of this? there has been, in some quarters, a very angry response to this. john kerry, for example, the former secretary of state in the last administration said mr trump was behaving like the ruler of a ba na na was behaving like the ruler of a banana republic. vista brennan himself sending out a tweet very quickly after hearing this news with his own views are suggesting that donald trump is trying to stifle free speech. he says the move was

pa rt free speech. he says the move was part of president trump's broader effo rts part of president trump's broader efforts to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics. it goes on, he says it should greatly worry all americans, on, he says it should greatly worry allamericans, including intelligence professionals about the cost of speaking out. principles, he says, are worth far more than clea ra nces, says, are worth far more than clearances, i will not relent. it is true that he has been strong critic of the president, describing him as treasonous after his meeting with president hooton. as we have heard, there are other means on the list of this may not be the end. james comey, who has described the president as morally unfit to lead. he is one of the present harshest critics, a former director of the fbi, he could potentially lose his clout as well. there is some suggestion that this could all be about the president's attempt to change the national conversation, or at least change the conversation on cable news in the states which has been dominated by the russia in

investigation and over the next couple of days will probably have the conclusion of the trial of paul manafort, his previous campaign manager who is facing financial fraud charges, not linked to the campaign but he worked with him during that period in 2016 and that verdict would create more negative headlines for the president eye the end of the week. —— by the end of the week. we will keep a close eye on that. thank you peter. the judge in the trial of two women charged with killing the half—brother of north korea's leader, is expected to rule on thursday whether to proceed with the case against them. indonesian national siti aisyah and do—an tee hwong, who's from vietnam, are accused of smearing the lethal nerve agent vx over kim jong nam's face at kuala lumpur international airport last year. they say they believed they were playing roles in a prank television show. this is really the pivotal moment in this quite extraordinary trial, which is after hearing six months of evidence from the prosecution, more than 30 witnesses, more than 200 pieces of evidence, the judge has to decide at this stage whether there is actually a case against the two women.

the prosecution have argued that the two women were culpable in what they describe as a professional assassination plot. now, they've also charged four north korean men who fled the country on the day kim jong—nam was killed in february last year, but very little's been said about north korea's involvement during this trial. the prosecution have focused purely on these two rather poor women who've been caught up in this and tried to argue that they are, in their own words, professional assassins responsible for the death of kim jong—nam. the defence have argued all along that the two women were essentially is sucked into an elaborate plan by north korean officials, where they believe they were carrying out essentially pranks, they've pointed out lots of practice beforehand, payments made to the women, who were recruited in entertainment places here in kuala lumpar. they've also pointed out the failure of the police and the government to pursue the north koreans, who they say are the masterminds, leaves this case very, very weak.

the judge must now decide whether to accept the case, push it forward, in which case we will, for the first time in future trials, hear from the two women themselves, and from many other witnesses, they face execution by hanging if they're found of culpable murder, or the judge could dismiss the case. that in itself would be extraordinary. it would mean there would be nobody at all being held accountable for this quite bizarre crime, or it's possible he may decide to downgrade the charge and say, "well, they weren't responsible for murder, they didn't know what they were doing, but perhaps they have some responsibility for his death." that verdict will come through in the next few hours, and after that we will know how malaysia's going to pursue this case. all the way through this, malaysia's downgraded relations with north korea, but it hasn't severed them. it's quite clear a political decision has been made by the previous government, it's been continued by this government, to try to maintain ties and even restore them with north korea. there seems to be no real

will in the malaysian establishment to pursue north korea's role in this, even though everything we've seen so far suggests this was a north korean plot, and that these two women had, at best, a very minor role in it. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a push for more affordable homes. new zealand's parliament bans almost all foreigners from buying existing houses. we speak to the government minister in charge. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutalformer

dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: italy declares a state of emergency in genoa after a bridge collapse kills at least 39 people. many others are lucky to escape.

president trump strips security clearance from the former cia directorjohn brennan, who has been an outspoken critic of the white house. new zealand's parliament has banned many foreigners from buying existing homes in the country, a move aimed at making properties more affordable. low interest rates, limited housing stock and immigration have been blamed for driving up prices in recent years. new zealand's associate finance minister, david parker, announced the new ban. we can go live to him right now in new zealand's capital, wellington. very good to talk to you. thank you for your time. you will have heard the squeals from all around the world, all of us who were relying on new zealand is up all told from the apocalypse, you have abandoned us, haven't you? well, it is not really about that. you are welcome to come. we have a very good immigration

policy in new zealand, and anyone who writes can immediately buy a house, but we do think that the housing market should be for those who have the right to live here permanently, and that it should be shaped by new zealand price pressures , shaped by new zealand price pressures, not international demand. well, i am lucky enough to have a new zealand passport. my mum was a kiwi, but that is beside the point. what you have done is essentially reclassify all residential land as sensitive land. i knowjacinda ardern campaigned on this. part of the point is to bring down homelessness and property prices generally. it is part of it. we have the view that our most beautiful bays and islands and lakeside properties should be within the reach of the most successful new zealanders, and that it does all the way down the income spectrum to the most modest home which is nonetheless someone's dream. we have the lowest rate of home ownership in new zealand since the 1950s, and we are addressing that in a number of ways, both on the demand side with measures like this, but also on the supply side with the government

housing building programme. supply side with the government housing building programmelj supply side with the government housing building programme. i am sure you know the figures, i was just looking at them, i can see the foreign ownership percentage in auckland, 21%, in queenstown 20%, but the overall level is relatively low, isn't it, nationwide? well, it has probably come off where it was a couple of years ago when the property market was running really hot and there were fewer controls on outward capital flows in hot and there were fewer controls on outward capitalflows in some hot and there were fewer controls on outward capital flows in some of the countries from which some of the buying pressure was coming. but if you take queenstown, about 10% of the properties across a whole district had been purchased by overseas people, and there is absolutely no doubt that is having an effect of a marginal price. there isa an effect of a marginal price. there is a question as to how big the price effect is but there is no doubt it has an effect. 0ne price effect is but there is no doubt it has an effect. one of the things with changing this will be that the construction capacity will have both from new zealand investment and foreign direct investment and foreign direct investment which we still allow it to new housing, will will be delivered more into the needs of new zealanders rather than than the

higher end buyers who would otherwise be diverging some of that construction effort. are you not worried that it will discourage foreign investment in other areas? no, we have been pretty explicit about that. we have high rates of foreign direct investment in much of oui’ foreign direct investment in much of our economy, and indeed, in the same piece of legislation which is introducing the ban on buying existing homes, we are listening to foreign investment rules with respect to forestry. so those investors will make those decisions based on the profitability of those investments, not on the basis of other investments that they can't make. minister, very good to talk to you. thank you. thank you. floods and landslides in southern india have killed at least 43 people. it is the worst flooding in almost a century, with hundreds of villages submerged. landslides have caused road and rail chaos. one of the main international airports, kochi in the state of kerala, has been closed after water entered airport buildings. heavy monsoon rains are expected to continue throughout the week. a libyan court has sentenced 45 militiamen to death for killing dozens of demonstrators in tripoli during the uprising that overthrew

colonel gaddafi. their case relates to events in august 2011, when rebels were closing in on the capital. pro—regime militiamen opened fire on protestors in the abu slim district, killing dozens of people. more than 50 other defendants in the case were given five—year jail terms. the bbc says it will not appeal after losing a high court case about its coverage of a police raid on sir cliff richard's home in 2014. last month, a judge ruled the corporation had infringed the singer's privacy in broadcasting a police search of his property in berkshire. sir cliff was never arrested or charged during the inquiry by south yorkshire police into an historical child sex allegation. the bbc believes the ruling would limit the ability of journalists to report on police investigations. it will ask the british government to consider a review of the privacy law. now for whale of a tale. around 100 of them got stuck in a fjord in iceland this weekend. police helped them get out of the fjord, in the west

of the country. but less than 2a hours later they were back again, and needed help to get out once more. lebo diseko has the story. this is a rescue operation in action. the second in as many days for this pod of around 100 wales. they got stuck after swimming into a fjord, whose opening is both narrow and shallow, making it hard to get out. police held guide them into more open waters, and it was hoped they would go back to see. but the next day they were back once again. you rescue effort number two. translation: 13 of them went all the way to the shore, and we had to deal with them, push them out by hand, and that went very well. one of the whales even got stuck on the shore and needed a kayaker to help get free. it is not clear why the group

keep going back, but locals say they may be using the incoming tide to help them, and they have certainly attracted quite an audience. translation: naturally, this is interesting to see for both foreigners and icelanders. to view and experienced this in nature. you can't see this in an aquarium. this is pure nature, which makes it more interesting. the group was eventually guided even further out, in the hope that they would find their way to the ocean. that seems to have done the trick. but if they do return, rescue teams will be on hand once again to help them find their way. the hotly anticipated movie crazy rich asians has just been released across the united states. it marks a significant milestone for hollywood because it is the first studio film set in the present day to be led by an all—asian cast in 25 years. if the movie is a success, it could bring a rush of other hollywood films with asian casts, as tom brook reports from new york. what about us taking

an adventure east? like, queens? singapore. crazy rich asians, inspired by a bestseller, tells the story of rachel, a chinese—american professor in new york, who travels with her oxford—educated boyfriend to meet his family in singapore, where he was born. there, she discovers to her amazement that he is singapore's most eligible bachelor, and heir to a fortune. this romatic comedy chronicles her immersion into a world of extreme affluence, and her tense relationship with her boyfriend's mother. shejust thinks you're some unrefined banana. no, no, no. those are for your fingers. yellow on the outside, white on the inside. asian—americans have been to prevent screenings of the movie in new york have responding enthusiastically, vieweing it as validating. i've lived here my entire life, although i was born in china, and i've never seen a film that has such — has an asian cast,

and has them portrayed in such diverse ways, and so glamourously. crazy rich asians stands in stark contrast to most hollywood films, where there is a dearth of asian stories and characters. one survey has found, among top recent hollywood films, asians represented less than around one in 20 of all speaking characters. don't you want nick to be happy? i know you're not what nick needs. and often the asian characters that do appear on screen reinforce negative stereotypes. crazy rich asians tries to deliver more rounded, authentic depictions of asian men and women. ever since i can remember, my family has been my whole life. crazy rich asians has been the target of some protest. there were complaints that the leading man, who had a white british father and malaysian mother, wasn't asian enough for this asian—led film. there has also been some complaint over the representation of singapore in the film — that the local malay and indian populations have been ignored. for the criticism when it comes to the film, there is not a lot

of brown figures or actors or people from malaysia or india in the film. absolutely there isn't enough. there should be more of these films, to be able to represent everybody. but, again, this is a step in the right direction. clearly there is a lot riding on crazy rich asians. its performance at the box office is going to be closely watched. its success at the box office will sort of pave the way or open doors for other films that are sort of waiting in queue to be greenlighted, for production companies to bedistributed, to be funded. rachel, these people aren'tjust rich. they're crazy rich. the release of crazy rich asians has been described as a watershed moment for asian representation. right now, the portents look good. the film has been getting strong media exposure, and it has been earning some very positive reviews. tom brook, bbc news, new york. a mysterious russian satellite has raised alarm in the us.

a state department transcript says we don't know for certain what it is, and there is no way to verify it, raising fears it could be a weapon. a senior russian diplomat called the accusations unfounded and slanderous. a reminder of our top story: italy has declared a 12—month state of emergency in the region around the bridge in genoa that collapsed on tuesday, killing at least 39 people. the prime minister, giuseppe conte, said the cabinet had also allocated nearly $6 million from central emergency funds to deal with immediate problems. the viaduct carried one of northern italy's main highways. the government has threatened to strip autostrade per l‘italia of its contract to maintain the road, but the company says it is confident it can prove it met its contractual obligations. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter.

i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello there. we're looking at quite a changeable spell of weather, really, over the next few days, with some rain around. we'll certainly get some rain as we go on through the next 2a hours. the satellite picture shows a band of cloud pushing in across the united kingdom for today, and this is rain—bearing cloud. now, we have seen three bands of rain that will tend to merge together into one as it moves its way in across england and wales as we go on through the next few hours. so there is some rain on the way for some of us. if you're out early a bit in the morning, a lot of cloud for england and wales, with bursts of heavy rain swinging across western england, wales, and on towards the midlands and central, southern england. ahead of that, a lot of cloud, and it will feel humid.

a fresher feel to the weather in the north—west, but a lot of cloud and widespread, frequent heavy thundery showers working in here as we go through thursday morning. so, the forecast through thursday. we've got our band of rain that will begin to spread into east anglia and south—east england. as it pushes that bit further eastwards, it will tend to weaken at times, so the rain becomes a little bit lighter as it swings into kent. further north and west, a cloudy morning coming up for scotland and northern ireland, with widespread heavy and at times thundery showers. it will be quite a breezy kind of day, as well. there'll be some sunny spells between those showers as we head through the afternoon, with the showers becoming less widespread in northern ireland later in the day, and probably a bit more sunshine, too, for wales and south—west england later in the day too. for friday's chart, we've got another area of low pressure steaming in off the atlantic. this one's going to be bringing a belt of heavy rain into northern ireland, although there'll also be some rain for western scotland. after a dry and sunny start to the day on friday across eastern counties of england, well, it'll cloud over,

but it should stay dry. it will be quite a gusty kind of day, though, with gusts up to 30 mph in the north—west of the country, along with that band of rain. now, temperature—wise, we're looking at highs of 16—18 degrees across the north and west, but temperatures near average, in london, highs of 23. now, looking ahead to the weekend, we have got some warm weather on the way. it's going to be quite breezy, the driest weather towards the south—east of england, particularly on saturday. but this area of low pressure has the remains of sub—tropical storm ernesto, and that's going to be bringing a belt of heavy rain that's probably going to be working in more, really, across northern ireland and scotland through sunday. so, in a bit more detail, across northern parts of the uk, scotland and northern ireland, likely to pick up a belt of very heavy rain on sunday. further south, meanwhile, we'll probably have drier conditions on saturday, but still the threat of rather cloudy skies on sunday, with some patchy bits and pieces of rain, especially in the west. that's your latest weather, bye for now. this is bbc news, the headlines: the italian government has declared a state of emergency in liguria after the motorway bridge collapse that's left 39 people dead.

5 million euros will be freed from central funds following the disaster. rescuers say around 15 vehicles are still under the rubble, but there's little hope of finding more survivors. the former cia director john brennan who's been a vocal critic of the white house, over press freedom has had his security clearance removed by the president. a spokeman for mr trump said mr brennan had used his access to sensitive information to make unfounded allegations against the administration.