welcome to bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: coronation at bangkok's grand palace. thailand watches as its next king takes part in three days of special sacred ceremonies. north korea launches several "short—range missiles" into the east sea, according to south korea'sjoint chief of staff. cyclone fani hits india with 200km/h winds. it's heading towards kolkata and bangladesh after leaving widespread damage and disruption across the east of the country. as deaths from ebola reach 1,000, aid workers in the democratic republic of congo say their efforts are being hindered by threats to medical staff. caster semenya says she won't take medication to comply with new competition rules

after racing to victory in doha. three days of ceremonies marking the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn of thailand have begun at the royal palace in bangkok. blending hindu and buddhist theology, the rituals are intended to symbolise the transformation of the king into a divine being. in the last hour, the ceremony of water purification has taken place, with the king being anointed with sacred water from thailand's rivers. the ritual is a symbol of offering sovereignty. during the ceremony, monks chanted prayers of benediction. live now to our south—east asia correspondentjonathan head, who joins us from bangkok.

can you tell us what is going to come up in the next ceremony? well, the next part of the ceremony involving water, which is the integral part of the coronation, rather more important than the crowning itself, is what is known as the anointment. now, when his father, the last king of thailand, went through this anointment, he deliberately chose representatives of parliament to be among the eight are poor sacred water onto his hands from age directions, starting from the east and going all the way around as the king rotates to receive them, representing the furthest reaches of his kingdom. that was a choice by the previous king, he was a young man, 2223 by the time the coronation happened, and he had never expected to be king. —— 22 or 23. he wanted to

express his wish for thailand to be a democracy. now we are under a military government, and among the eight people are the prime minister, a general who led the coup in 2014. 0ne a general who led the coup in 2014. one of his right—hand man, the interior minister, another general. and another general, remarkably 98 yea rs and another general, remarkably 98 years old, who is arguably the most important partner of the previous king, a former army commander with whom the monarchy formed a partnership for a very stable but not very democratic period of time in the 1980s, and who has been a very influentialfigure in the 1980s, and who has been a very influential figure in thai politics and thai military and royal affairs, he is very frail and 98, but still there. this underpins and emphasises how much the partnership between the monarchy and the military matters in thailand. it is that partnership which rebuilt the monarchy as the centre point of this country's stability and development

and power, and it lasts today. king vajiralongkorn is a former soldier himself and is deeply interested in military affairs. he projects himself as a warrior king, hands—on commander with a very large personal guard. remember, his new queen, a formerflight guard. remember, his new queen, a former flight attendant who has been his partnerfor former flight attendant who has been his partner for many years now, former flight attendant who has been his partnerfor many years now, was also made a general and the commander of his bodyguard up until the point she was designated his queen, just a few days ago. in fact, we are expecting her installation, herformal we are expecting her installation, her formal recognition as queen, to happen during these ceremonies. so this anointment, these eight people who pour water on the hands of the king, tells us quite a lot about where power lies and the importance of the partnership between the king and the military. they will be others as well, the head of the supreme court and also the speaker of the national assembly. remember, the assembly today is appointed militarily. it is not a democratic

assembly. we are just seeing the life pictures here, as we wait for that royal anointment ceremony to get under way. there is a seven—tiered umbrella right there, you cannot quite see it. there is a lot of symbolism in these rituals. earlier we saw the royal purification ceremony. that is a much more religious part of the ceremony. it is actually a hindu brown nick ceremony, really brought into thailand by kings several hundred years ago. —— hindu brahmanic. it came in during one of the most important times in the history of thailand, when a very powerful kingdom dominated thailand from the 14th to 18th centuries. it was destroyed by a burmese army in 1767 and it was in the chaos after but that we saw the emergence of today's monarchy, of the current

dynasty. but that kingdom is when a lot of these rituals were defined making itan lot of these rituals were defined making it an ornate, celestial monarchy. they borrowed much from india. buddhism came from sri lanka, originating in india. these kings saw in brahmanic traditions notions of power and respect, elevating the monarchy to being a respected and indeed feared institution, during a time when it was vital for monarchs to impose their will over the land they control. those rituals have survived. much of the philosophy of buddhism has been brought in. since the 19th century in thailand, kings have projected themselves as defenders of buddhism. we saw the supreme defenders of buddhism. we saw the supreme patriarch of the buddhists anchor taking part in that hindu brahmanic ritual of purifying the

king with that royal shower, the sacred waters that come from five —— five rivers. there is this unique blend of two different philosophies, one about power and hierarchy, the other the buddhist type of virtue, encouraging kings to follow the ten virtues prescribed by the lord buddha. many, many thais will identify strongly with these rituals. jonathan head, thank you so much, taking us through the detail and meaning of these rituals. we are just seeing the live scene in bangkok as we wait for the royal anointment ceremony to get under way. part of elaborate rituals forming at the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn in thailand. we are getting reports a plane with 136 people on board has slid off the ru nway 136 people on board has slid off the runway in jacksonville, 136 people on board has slid off the runway injacksonville, florida, and into a river. fire and rescue crews are at the scene. you can see the

plane is in the river there. nobody appears to have been seriously hurt. the boeing 737 was on a naval personnel flight from guantanamo bay in cuba. we understand the plane was attempting to land during a heavy thunderstorm. it is in the river, pa rt thunderstorm. it is in the river, part covered in water but not com pletely part covered in water but not completely submerged. boeing says it is aware of the situation and is investigating. so that is the scene there, over 130 passengers on board there, over 130 passengers on board the plane. it skidded off the airport runway in the us state of florida, injacksonville, and came toa florida, injacksonville, and came to a halt in a nearby river. this is the live seen now. you can see a lot of emergency vehicles, lots of flashing lights there, as they have headed to the scene. we are hearing that rescue teams say everybody on board the boeing 737 is safe. it is

nighttime in the us, in florida. but that plane skidded off the runway there. 0bviously others are making their own reports. that plane skidded off the runway and landed in the river. emergency crews are to be seen. we will keep you up—to—date here at bbc news. north korea has fired a number of missiles from its eastern coast, its first since the test of an inter—continental weapon in 2017. these projectiles are thought be short range and flew up to 200km before landing in the sea. the missiles were launched from wonsan near the hodo peninsula in the east of north korea. it comes amid a diplomatic breakdown between north korea and the us after they failed to reach a deal at their summit in hanoi in february. the white house has said it's monitoring the situation. earlier i spoke to foreign affairs analyst ankit panda and i asked him if these missile tests differed in any way from previous ones. we do not know exactly what the north koreans fired. there have been no

images or video yet — this event occurred just about two hours ago or so. but the critical difference between the two tactical weapons tests that north korea did in november and once again in april is that that was big enough to be picked up by south korea's missiles warning system, which led to all of us seeing news alerts about a north korean missile launch. for the first time in 522 days — that was the last time that north korea launched something big. of course, this appears to be a much, much smaller kind of missile or set of missiles, so this is still quite calibrated. but i think that is the chief difference here. do you think the international community will be worried about these latest missiles, especially the united states? absolutely. i mean, on one hand, these bullistic missiles launches like previous launches do violate north korea's commitment at the un security council resolutions so there is that but, of course, we have seen here in the us that president trump repeatedly tauted the lack of any missile launches from north korea is one of his major achievements over the course of 2018 and now,

of course, since the hanoi summit between him and kimjong—un, the north korean leader, things have not been going so well and i think we're starting to see the process may be entirely collapsing. we will see how the us chooses to react to this development. what do you think north korea is thinking by launching these missiles? what are they trying to achieve? i do not have to speculate about that because kim jong—un actually told us exactly when he was thinking as few weeks ago whe nhe delivered his first major address since the hanoi summit. he explicitly warned that there would be corresponding acts from north korea for the us pushing ahead with military exercises in south korea. he also generally conveyed his dissatisfied with the state of diplomacy. so something like this was actually pretty clearly telegraphed by north korea and now we are just simply seeing it happen. so when this news emerged today i was not very surprised.

cyclone foni is bearing down on one of india's biggest cities, kolkata, after hitting the state of 0disha on friday. the storm, one of the worst in the region for years, has weakened as it heads towards bangladesh. at least eight people have died. richard forrest reports. as cyclone fani bowed up india's east coast, towns and cities further north were preparing for it to hit. in west bengal, trains were chained to the tracks as the state's rail network was closed down, causing travel misery for thousands. and at kolkata's airport, everyone hoping to travel was out of luck with every flight cancelled. i'm going to ranchi. so now our flight has been cancelled so we have to stay here with two children. i need to go to delhi and start my preparations for my exams but i'm not able to catch flight today and even i'm not able to book flight

for tomorrow, day after tomorrow and 3—4 days ahead. fani, one of the biggest storms to come out of the bay of bengal in the past decade, made landfall in puri before heading north—east towards kolkata and moving on to bangladesh. more than a million people were evacuated from the low—lying coastal areas. and this is why. winds of 200km/h have ripped down trees and torn roofs of buildings. electricity poles have been toppled and windows blown out. weather forecasters say fani is weakening but still poses a major threat as it heads to bangladesh. officials in india say their mass evacuation efforts appear to have been successful and now their attention will turn to assessing the true scale of the damage in rural areas. richard forrest, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, why caster semenya says she won't quit athletics after winning herfirst race since being told to reduce

testosterone levels in her body. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in the future of peace and freedom.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: coronation at bangkok's grand palace — millions witness thailand's next king take part in three days of special sacred ceremonies. north korea has launched several short—range missiles into the east sea according to south korea'sjoint chief of staff. let's return to our other main story now, cyclone fani, which has slammed into india's eastern coastline. we are nowjoined by arun bothra, inspector general at the 0disha police, who is currently in charge of supervising the cyclone evacuation.

thank you for your time. i was wondering what kind of scenes of destruction you have been seen? there has been massive, massive damage here. about 70 kilometres from kolkata is where i am. the people who could forecast this and it tell us minute to minute movement of the cyclone, we have been able to evacuate 1.2 million people. almost the population of cyprus. for 24—hour ‘s, we moved that many people. right now, i can tell you the worst affected areas and the

senior officers have been sent to those places. the recreation park and school... people have been housed in various shelter homes. now the second part, the relief phase is the second part, the relief phase is the key people they and then move them back to their houses. the third pa rt them back to their houses. the third part will be the longest and most difficult will be the restoration because many buildings have fallen flat. things are pretty back. thank you so much for giving us that update. the inspector general

dealing with the aftermath of cyclone fani. the us and russian presidents have had an hour—long phone call to discuss various matters including the venezuelan crisis. the authorities in the democratic republic of congo say the number of people who have died in the latest outbreak of ebola has passed 1,000. efforts to combat the spread of the disease have been hampered by violence. the world health organisation has promised greater security to protect health workers in dr congo, as andy beatt reports. 1000 dead and new cases rising fast. the democratic republic of congo in the grip of the world ‘s second worst ebola outbreak. for medical staff working to contain the virus in the eastern city of bukavu, it is a race against time. we are anticipating a scenario of continued intense transmission. 0ur regional director has recently returned from the democratic republic of the congo, where he found the situation on the ground to be worse than it has been previously.

health workers are also facing another deadly threat — armed groups targeting them and their makeshift hospitals. since january, we have experienced 119 separate attacks. 42 of which have been directly on health facilities, with 85 health personnel either injured or killed in those settings. so we are dealing with a difficult and volatile situation. each time a health centre and its staff are attacked, services are suspended, allowing the epidemic to spread. thought to be responsible — rebel groups competing for resources and power, and locals suspicious of outsiders and their motives. medical teams have demanded and been promised more protection. we are going to see an increase in the security coverage

of the operation, very much sensitive to the fact that we don't want to, if you like, obstruct and confront the people first with the military. this is a public health response. for the first time, a cocktail of experimental drugs is raising hope. a massive immunisation campaign is under way, with early signs suggesting the pioneering treatment could drastically cut rates of transmission. so far, just two provinces in the drc are affected. despite its best efforts, the world health organization says cases are very likely to spread into neighbouring countries. it has pointed to a multimillion dollarfunding gap, and called for far greater resources to back its response.

the south african world and olympic champion caster semenya says "no human can stop me running", after winning herfirst race since she was told to reduce her testosterone levels. semenya told the bbc at the diamond league meeting in doha that she has no plans to retire. ade ade—doyin reports from doha. caster semenya has had a lot on her mind this week, not that she showed it. storming to victory here in doha. commentator: my word. is there any end to her talent? she is just running away. dominant, determined and defiant. that was the easiest race of i've ever run in my life. for me, negativity is nothing. so, as long as it doesn't kill me, it makes me stronger, like i said. so i'm here to perform, i'm here to show people of the world that anything is possible if you believe. caster semenya continues to demonstrate qualities that made her a champion. a real show of strength and courage to come here to doha and perform like this after everything that has happened this week. and with the eyes of the world watching. when semenya is at her best, there's only one winner.

but defeating her legal battle against the iaaf this week, means that if she is to defend her world title in doha in september, she will have to start taking medication to lower her testosterone levels next week, which may affect her performance. people were wondering, have been asking me, is caster going to retire? is caster going to keep going? how am i going to retire when i'm 28? i'm still a young soul, man, i'm still young, i still feel young, i still feel the energy. i still have ten years or more in athletics, so it doesn't matter how i'm going to do it, what matters is, i will still be here. i will see you here in doha? of course. i will see you in the 800? of course! former european champion lindsay sharp has in the past questioned whether semenya has an unfair advantage, and she says she's paid a heavy price for that. no—one benefits from the situation, of course she doesn't benefit but it's not me versus her, it's not us versus them, i've had death threats, i've had threats against my family and that's not a position that i want to be in.

a week that started in defeats end in victory, semenya showing strength when others would crumble, a moment to save her when she still has a very big decision to make. let's ta ke let's take you back to the live scene in florida. a plane with a hundred and — that 126 people on board has slid into a river. that plane is actually partially submerged in the water. we have been hearing that they have been a few minor injuries in the accident but everybody on board is supposed to be all right, no serious injuries, all alive and accounted for. that is a clearer picture. the 737 slid off

the runway into the river in florida, jacksonville. apparently the plane was a charter flight arriving from guantanamo bay, in cuba. lots of rescue teams at the scene. i live seen in florida, jacksonville, where a commercialjet has a slid off the runway in bad weather, chartered military flight flying into the naval base from guantanamo bay. it made a heavy landing during a thunderstorm and then skidded off the runway into the saintjohns river. we will keep across that story in florida, jacksonville. we want to take you to another story happening right now, the live seen in bangkok. three days

of ceremonies marking the coronation of ceremonies marking the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn. what you can see here is the preparations. they are all awaiting for the royal anointment ceremonial which is ready to get under way. we have our south east asia correspondence joining have our south east asia correspondencejoining us have our south east asia correspondence joining us on the line. what can we expect anything coming hour or so from these ceremonies? it is the second stage of what is arguably symbolically the most important part of the entire three day ceremony which involves water. always an important element, it is at the very centre of rice cultivation, transport. thailand has been built around river valleys, as have other kingdoms here. the first

part, a spiritual purification shower. the water poured in by the supreme shower. the water poured in by the supreme patriarch, bhumibol adulyadej. he was carried out carrying something like a tiger. he now has to change into a much more elaborate coronation dress. we're not sure whether is waiting for an auspicious time or whether it is taking time to get into these rather stiff close. eight people, all symbolically important, will pour sacre water over his hands. the current prime minister, one of his coup leaders, is finance minister and perhaps symbolically most important of all, one of the oldest man still active in thailand

politics, at the remarkable age of 98, very frail, but the man who did more to elevate the monarchy and the current king's father in the 1980s and remainsa current king's father in the 1980s and remains a powerful influential fever right up to the last decade when age took him out. in years gone by, he had expressed doubt about the king and would have preferred somebody else but the late king did not deviate from the choice of his son. when the new king took over it was assumed that prem is that today,

a demonstration of real unity among those who have been most powerful and influential in elite circles in thailand. it also underscores the importance of the military and the partnership between the military and monarchy in establishing the current power arrangement in thailand, cemented under the current king's father. it is a symbolic ceremony. it does not change the king's legal status but seeing these very important military figures chosen as among the eight to anoint him, as he moves around from east, sitting on a stool or phone, all the way around, representing the corners of his kingdom, he receives the water on the hands. after that, the king will receive the royal regalia which includes appointed crown which in the case of his father, he placed on his own head, in a european style. in other things like royal slippers,

royal fa n in other things like royal slippers, royal fan and fly whisk. he will be presented with those and said for the first time under a 19 umbrella, only reigning monarchs get that privilege. until now he had been under 17 umbrellas. we expect him to issue his first royal command which will be listened to carefully to see if it gives us any sense of what kind of king he intends to be. we have been seeing the live pictures here as we wait for the royal ceremony and we have been seeing the tea red umbrella. ceremony and we have been seeing the teared umbrella. why so much symbolism? i think all monarchy is about ritual and symbolism. if you look at a british celebration you would have the same to talk about, perhaps not quite as rich. many

here, the beliefs have survived. it isa here, the beliefs have survived. it is a country where they have been inferences from all across the region. clearly, in these rituals, a lot has been borrowed from hindu traditions, particularly in affirming the status and power of kim — at kings. buddhism also plays an important part. people want to know that thinking has the spiritual blessing of all the divine beings that inhabit their world and coronations are organised to demonstrate that. it is still a country where symbols are important and matter and kings know that. that was jonathan head, our

and matter and kings know that. that wasjonathan head, our southeast