welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: a shooting in florida. three people are dead after a gunman opened fire during a video game tournament in jacksonville. the single suspect in this case is a white male, and it's pending confirmation we believe him to be 24—year—old david katz from baltimore, maryland. pope francis ends his visit to ireland, saying he'll pursue justice for victims of abuse committed by the roman catholic church. one of the kings of broadway. american playwright neil simon dies at the age of 91. and celebrating 100 years since the birth of legendary composer and musician, leonard bernstein. hello and welcome to the programme.

there's been a mass shooting at a video game tournament in the city of jacksonville in florida. the sheriff's office has confirmed three people are dead, one of them the gunman. 1a other people were injured. the gunman is believed to have been at the tournament and has been named as 24—year—old david katz from baltimore. the mayor ofjacksonville has been speaking to the press. at terrible times we see the best in people. and today is no different. for our witnesses, who have not hesitated to speak to law enforcement, and we need that to continue. if you have any relevant information about this incident you should call the numbers the sheriff and his team are publicising. governor scott and bows around the

state have expressed their support. to all those watching i say this, pray forjacksonville as we try to work through this. for those video gamers who saw the shootings take place, it was terrifying experience. we heard one shot and it sounded like a balloon pop. then we heard the second, third and fourth shots and after that that is when we ducked down and everybody else started coming out trying to escape for their lives. screaming, and i heard gunshots, people just running, pushing each other, just getting out of the landing. i saw a grown man like terrified, he worked there. i have never seen a grown man so terrified. politicians wake up because the people you are supposed to be representing are dying. stop sitting on your butts, stop collecting cheques and do something. you guys were voted into office for a reason. ryen aleman was in the building where the shooting took place. i asked him what he saw. i heard a gunshot, as it happened

i kept hearing gunshots so i took off my headphones, i got down, i crawled to the restroom, i didn't want to get you anywhere else but to a safe place where the shooting is not occurring. while that was going on, while i was in the restroom i stayed there and ijust kept hearing shots, at least, like, 20—30 shots, i was just panicking and saying, "not me, this might be my last day." if he comes to the rest room then he is going to shoot me and i wasjust hoping that never happened. so as the gunshots were done, ijust heard a lot of crying, saying "help me! i'm shot, someone help me." everybody was just running around. i opened the door to peak to see if it was safe and in my head i was likejust run,

don't look nowhere, just run. get out of there. i was panicking and panicking, i don't know what to do, should i stay here? what if he is coming back? i don't know what is going on. i don't know what's going on. ijust opened the door and i ran and i seen out the corner of my eye three bodies lying there unconscious, i'm still in shock right now. thank you for speaking to us ryen. at the time that you ran out, do you know if the gunmen was dead? i'm not sure, i can't tell you yes or no. i waited in the restroom for five or ten minutes. after that, there wasn't more gunshots, it stopped and then i ran. everybody was just scared, running around, trying to get out of there. when you got outside, what was there waiting for you, had the police arrived at that point? no, this happened so fast that i had got in a taxi and ijust left the scene, i went straight to the airport because i wanted

to get out of there, i didn't feel safe. i ran to where where i could see a taxi and i said go to the airport now, go, ijust need to get out of here. just to clarify, you have since flown home to texas after the shooting, is that correct? yes, i landed 30 minutes ago in texas. i am on my way home now. 0k. when exactly did the shooting happen, were you playing in a game? you say you had your headphones on, were you playing when you heard the popping? yeah, i was on the game. if i didn't look left of me, because if i never looked left, me and my opponent would've probably died because everything was happening behind us. if i didn't look left and saw everybody running around then probably me and him probably would have died. the shots were going like, if you were standing up, you were targeted to get shot. how about your opponents,

do you know what happened to them? what was that? what about your opponents, are they 0k? one of my closest friends, he's in a hospital as of right now, he got shot twice, he's in the hospital right now recovering. he's going to make it through, thank god. but it's not right. to have a tournament like this. you have something like this happen, you go to this just to meet people from different states. do you regularly go to these kinds of tournaments? yes, i have been to one of them last year. this is the first tournament here. there are four tournaments. there was going to be one next week in virginia, the following week after virginia is california and the last one that they are going to have is in texas. and has this changed your view on whether you will attend those tournaments in future? i mean, i will be honest with you, i love to play madden. i mean, madden isjust...

like, it keeps me away from doing bad things and just playing the game and getting better at it. just win money and i mean, meeting new people, getting advice from the top madden players. it's just... it'sjust... i'm it's just... i'm lost for it'sjust... i'm lost for words right now. pope francis has asked the people of ireland for forgiveness for all the abuses carried out by clergy. he was speaking at an open air mass, attended by more than 100,000 people, to mark the end of his two day visit to the country. addressing worshippers he begged for forgiveness from god, for what he called the open wound of sexual and institutional abuse. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports. at a shrine where 15 people believed they witnessed an apparition of the virgin mary, a man said by the roman catholic church to be the successor of st peter arrived

at knock this morning. good morning. applause in a brief speech, pope francis extended greetings to the people of northern ireland, and prayed for a continuing commitment to the peace process, and again, he promised to be firm and decisive in dealing with child sexual abuse. well, has has he won the people of ireland back? he certainly spoke very proximately to them, he spoke very simply to them, and i think he has certainly gained the hearts and minds of many people here, which is most important. as he flew back from knock, people were beginning to arrive at what would prove to be the climax of this short visit — a celebration of mass in the vast open space of phoenix park, almost a0 years after the last pa pal visit. it'll be my first time seeing the pope. i remember mum getting ready in 79, but i always thought, would i ever get to see the pope in my lifetime? this might be my only chance. he wears a white, like, robe, and he has the rosary

around his neck, and he's from argentina. not forgetting the hurt and the abuse, that's important that we all remember that. but we're never going to move forward if we don't think of the hope, and pope francis is hope for the church. all ages rushed for a close—up view of the pope as he drove around the grounds for almost 30 minutes. and then, speaking from handwritten notes in his mother tongue of spanish, he asked ireland to forgive the church for its sins. translation: we ask forgiveness for the times that, as a church, we did not show the survivors, of whatever kind of abuse, compassion, and the seeking ofjustice and truth through concrete actions. given the circumstances leading up to this visit, with abuse scandals raging

from australia to america, this has been a relatively trouble—free trip for pope francis. but the overall message, both in and outside of catholicism, is that the time for talking is now over, and decisive action must be taken if the church in ireland is to thrive once again. six speeches, two internalflights, meetings with the homeless and victims of abuse — 81—year—old pope francis spared little in his effort to engage with the irish people. martin bashir, bbc news, dublin. following his death at the age of 81, it's been confirmed thatjohn mccain will lie in state in washington on friday. it's an honour given to few americans, john f kennnedy, ronald reagan and civil rights icon rosa parks have previously been accorded the privilege. a memorial service will then take place next saturday with a burial

the following day at a us naval academy in annapolis. that's in maryland. george w bush and barack obama are expected to be amongst the speakers at his national memorial service. it's believed president trump will not be invited. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: rescue on the beach, what happened when two killer whales got stranded in argentina? he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disk that is brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet, mars. there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone

in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it'll take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clock maker john vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: there's been a shooting in florida. three people are dead, many more are injured, after a gunman opened fire during a video game tournament in the city of jacksonville. pope francis has ended his visit to ireland. he says he'll pursue justice for victims of abuse committed by the catholic church. let's get more

on our top story now. jenese harris is a reporter with wjxt injacksonville florida. i asked her what happened. well, now it's become a multistate investigation. earlier today at 1:34pm eastern time is when the 911 calls, emergency calls, began going into the police department about the shooting. within two minutes police arrived, and once police arrived there, they found three people dead, nine with gunshot wounds, and two others injured. of the three that are dead, one of them is the shooter, according to police, david katz — 24—year—old david katz, who is from baltimore, maryland. this has now become a multistate investigation, because he's — we are told that he lived in baltimore. the fbi was at his home in baltimore earlier today. it's expected that his home will be

raided, if it has not been raided already, before the end of the night. to give you some perspective, it's 9:19pm in the evening eastern time. the city of jacksonville is very devastated, and asking questions as to why and how something like this could happen. no—one knows the motive at this point, but police are trying to figure out what may have possibly triggered the 24—year—old david katz. they are trying to find out what might have triggered or prompted the shooting, but how did it actually happen? i mean, what was the precursor to the shooting? do we know how he got a gun, for example? it's unclear how he got a gun, or if he brought with him. we do know that, according to police, he was in the city of jacksonville the night before. they're still trying to figure out where he was at that time.

but what we do know is that this was at a video gaming event, and he was a participant in this video gaming event. it was a madden video gaming event. there were many people that were there during this competition. in fact, you could watch the competition online. very startling audio came into us probably within an hour after this shooting happened, and it's video of the live stream of this competition. on the screen you see a person playing a video game that involves american football, and all of a sudden you hear the sound of gunshots in the background, one after another. you then begin to hear people scream. you can hear the rustling of people possibly running, and you hear a person shout out, what did he shoot me with? as a reporter, what is it like in florida,

where there are all these shootings taking place? you had the nightclub shooting, you had the high school shooting, and now you've got this at a videogame tournament. i can tell you that the state is stunned, because even when you have these types of shootings, and i was here in florida for parkland and pulse, every time that it happens, there are two things that we commonly hear people say. how could this happen, and why is this happening? it could also prompt a very emotional and heightened debate about gun rights in the state, and also in the country. that debate may happen again after this mass shooting. but right now, the focus is the devastation and the shock of this shooting. jacksonville, florida, has now been added to the list of cities in the state of florida where mass shootings have happened.

two reuters journalists accused of obtaining secret state documents in myanmarare about to learn their fate. this is the scene live at the court in yangon. if convicted, 32—year—old wa lone and 28—year—old kyaw soe oo face jail terms of up to 1a years. the court has been holding hearings since january. the reporters say they were set up by police to block or punish them, for their reporting of a mass killing of rohingya muslims. the us playwright, neil simon has died, at the age of 91. simon wrote more than 30 plays, including comedy classics, come blow your horn and the odd couple. he was the first playwright to have a broadway theatre named after him, and won the pulitzer prize for drama in 1991 for lost in yonkers. andrew plant looks back at his life. i think i always liked the play most,

because that's the origin of it, that's the beginning. robert redford once called him the most successful playwright since shakespeare. neil simon was certainly prolific, averaging at least one play per year for much of his career, and penning material so popular his name became synonymous with broadway success. born in the bronx in 1927, he endured, he said, an unhappy childhood, storing up tragically comic situations that would later define much of his work. those close to him remember feeling like their personal lives were suddenly being made into international hits. he was writing about me, and about everybody i grew up with. it was as if we had our own playwright, who was telling our story. when he wrote brighton beach memoirs, we all grew up right near brighton beach. every scene was familiar. when he wrote the odd couple, it was our friends. so he was writing about us, and it was as if we lived in london, and shakespeare somehow had gotten

into our neighbourhood and figured out what was making us tick. so it was so personal, and he had the ability to write to everybody. if we didn't have walter and jack to do it, i wouldn't do it. 1965 saw the odd couple debut, earning simon a tony award for best playwright, and turned into a hit hollywood film three years later starring some tinseltown‘s biggest names, walter matthau and jack lemmon. his work included musicals, too, including sweet charity and they're playing our song. stars have taken to the internet to pay tribute to him, elaine paige saying: and actorjosh gad saying: neil simon penned more than 30 plays,

and almost as many film screenplays, and received more oscar and tony award nominations than any other writer, during a career lasting more than 60 years. it's a hundred years since the birth of leonard bernstine, one of the most influential musicians, composers and conductors of the 20th century. the anniversary is being celebrated around the world, including at the edinburgh international festival, and the bbc proms, where his one time pupil and protege, marin alsop, will be leading the baltimore symphony orchestra, playing some of his works. our arts editor will gompertz has more. the baltimore symphony orchestra rehearsing leonard bernstein's west side story, conducted by marin alsop, who took up the baton after seeing

bernstein conducting when she was nine years old. a decade or so later, he took her on as his pupil. i was terrified to meet him, because i didn't want to lose that idol i had. this is such a surprise. beautiful and warm. so you cut this off. but there's a hole. but he exceeded all my expectations, and that's so rare in a hero. and clearly a visionary, and in a way, him taking you on was a visionary act. because it was unusual for a young woman... oh, forsure. ..to want to be a conductor. he was at the forefront of feeling that women should be able to do this. i mean, i'm not sure he ever came to terms with it, because it was so foreign, still, to him. i remember one rehearsal

at tanglewood, and he was sitting out there and i went out and i said "maestro, what's wrong, is something wrong?" he said, "i can't figure it out. when i close my eyes i can't tell you're a woman." so i said, "listen, if you want to keep your eyes closed during my concerts, i don't mind." i think sometimes we underestimate our audiences. sometimes wejust say, just sit there and don't clap. just sit there and don't cough. that's ridiculous. my feeling is, look, this is a big task i'm challenging you with, if you need to cough, go ahead, but thank you for listening. if you had a magic wand, and you could do one thing... i do have a magic wand. i'm sorry, you do have a magic wand! with your magic wand, if you could turn around and conduct the world, what is one thing you could change about classical music now, to enable it

to reach more people? i would ask every classical musician to think about opening the doors wide, whether it's through the internet, through recording, through television, and let's share, instead of trying to hold it tight. applause will gompertz speaking to marin alsop. two killer whales have been rescued after becoming stranded on separate beaches in argentina. both animals had been swept ashore close to the capital, buenos aires. dozens of people volunteered to help and it took several hours to get them back into the sea. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. as soon as it became clear the wales we re as soon as it became clear the wales were stranded, the rescue operations began. the first at the speech.

local all in tears, marine wildlife experts, and members of the argentinian navy or taking part. persistence, a couple of long straps and she brute force was enough to pull the animal off the beach. not so far away, a similar story only this time it needed some mechanical help. killer whales the way over a thousand kilos so moving them is no easy task. ——8. once in the deeper water, it was a case of push, push, push. when the animal managed to swim away the laois and was clear. translation: we saw each time it was becoming more complicated but we we re becoming more complicated but we were the tournament. —— the elation.

this is incredible. small boats monitor their departure, making sure they were healthy and heading in the right direction. no doubt wales full get stranded again killer whales —— but no doubt there will be always people there to rescue them. a reminder of our top story: there's been a mass shooting at a video game tournament in the city of jacksonville in florida. the sheriff's office has confirmed three people are dead — one of them the gunman. 1a other people were injured. the gunman is believed to have been at the tournament and has been named as 24—year—old david katz from baltimore. you can reach me on twitter. i'm at nkem ifejika. thank you for watching, bye—bye. hello, good morning.

after all the cold, wet weather that we had yesterday, you know things can only get better. it was stuck at 13 degrees for much of the afternoon, and with some rain heavy enough to give some localised flooding. we almost had two inches of rain falling in south wales. it came from all that thick cloud there. well, that has moved away. still quite a moist, westerly airstream heading our way, so there'll be a fair bit of cloud around today. but at least we will see some sunshine at times, and no more thanjust a few light showers. it will be warmer, as well. so a few showers coming in on the westerly breeze across northern ireland for awhile, western scotland, over the irish sea into the north—west of england and wales. the showers becoming fewer through the afternoon. southern and eastern areas may stay dry. some sunshine at times, 19 degrees typically. significantly warmer than yesterday in scotland and eastern england, and perhaps the low 20s in the afternoon for the south—east and east anglia. fine as we head into the evening, and a lot of the cloud will tend to break up, because we're seeing pressure rising.

clear skies for the most part overnight, and maybe temperatures down to nine or ten degrees. a bit of rain not far from the north—west by the end of the night. may start with some pockets of mist and fog in southern counties of england, shouldn't last long. plenty of sunshine for awhile, then as temperatures rise, the cloud develops, spreads out a little bit, and then that will break up later on in the day. it should be dry, really, apart from the far north—west of scotland and northern ireland. some warmer conditions spilling into eastern scotland, maybe the low 20s here, mid 20s possible for east anglia and the south—east. some difficulties tuesday and into wednesday. that band of rain is coming in from the atlantic on the weather front. but there are developments taking place around biscay into the near continent, threatening some heavy bursts of rain, perhaps, not far away from east anglia and the south—east of england. the worst of itjust across the water, perhaps, and that weather front coming into england and wales bringing more cloud than rain, the rain tending to peter out. and behind that, we should get more sunshine for scotland and northern ireland,

with a slightly cooler and fresher feel here. that wetter weather does tend to ease through, and obviously the worst of itjust across the near continent. but high pressure then builds in behind that, settling things down. thursday looks like being a nice day. it'll start off a bit cool, perhaps, but it's going to be dry and there should be quite a bit of sunshine, hardly a breath of wind. get the sunshine, and with the light winds it should feel quite pleasant. still, temperatures near—average for the time of year, low 20s in the south—east, around 17 through the central belt of scotland. a lot of dry weather again, really, friday, perhaps into saturday away from the north—west, and the signs are that especially in the south—east it should get a bit warmer. this is bbc news, the headlines: us police say a participant at a video game tournament in the city of jacksonville in florida has shot dead two people. at least 1a others were wounded. the suspect, who's also dead, has been identified as david katz, a 24—year—old from baltimore. pope francis has asked the people of ireland for forgiveness for all the abuses carried out by clergy. he was speaking at an open air mass, attended by more

than 100,000 people. it marked mark the end of his two day visit to the country. the american playwright and screenwriter, neil simon, has died at the age of 91. one of the world's most prolific writers for the stage, he penned comedy classics such as the odd couple, the sunshine boys and barefoot in the park, enjoying unrivalled success on broadway. now on bbc news, dateline london.