welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: protests in hong kong continue — with organisers claiming a record turnout on sunday of nearly 2 million people. in the last half—hour — one of the leaders of hong kong's pro—democracy movement was released from prison. electricity has returned to almost all of argentina after a massive power failure that affected much of the country. polls have closed in guatemala's general election — will the result help stem the tide of migrants heading north? and nautical attraction. why fishermen are using magnets to help clean up paris's underwater environment.

a small number of protesters have been blockading areas of central hong kong one day after what organisers claim was the largest demonstration in the history of the territory. protesters have onlyjust ended there to patient of the highway outside parliament. the march on sunday went ahead despite the decision by the government to suspend a draft extradition law that would allow the mainland authorities to tra nsfer would allow the mainland authorities to transfer criminal suspects. protesters say they wanted cancelled. carrie lam has issued a rare apology for the upheaval. coincidentally, in the last 30 minutes, the student leaderjoshua wong, one of the main activist in the umbrella movement democracy protests in 2014 has been released from prison. he told reporters he supported the bat mass protest and he agreed that the measure should be

scrapped he also called for hong kong's leader to resign. millions of hong kong peoplejoin these protests. it shows that the depth of feeling of the people. we urge carrie lam to withdraw the extradition amendment. and what we try to do is let the whole world, that the international community realise that hong kong people will not be silenced under the suppression of president xi jinping and carrie lam. carrie lam must stand down otherwise i believe in the next few weeks, more and more

hong kong people, not only the 2 million people who joined hong kong people, not only the 2 million people whojoined ourfight until they regain their rights and freedom. let's cross live to hong kong — and speak to the bbc‘s laura westbrook. laura, we have been hearing from joshua wong. what is the significance of him being released and people hearing what he has to say? this is a big moment and no doubt it will inject some fresh enthusiasm into the protests here. joshua wong was one of the faces of the 2014 umbrella movement and he was jailed for his role in leading that movement. 0ne was jailed for his role in leading that movement. one of the key differences between now and then is that these protests have been largely leaderless. they have not been organised a major political party or political organisation. but joshua wong, we understand from his press officers, will come here to speak to protesters later today. we

saw some protests earlier. it looks like the road has cleared behind you. do we expect people to return to the streets at some point? within the last hour, this road which is one of the main roads in central hong kong, it has been opened. we saw protesters removing barricades and also making their way to the ledge cove, hong kong parliament just over here on my left. so people we re just over here on my left. so people were moving into this complex, allowing for this road to reopen. this road was where the 2014 umbrella movement, the occupy central movement was held in 2014 where people paralysed parts of the city for 79 days. this morning, people have been here all night. they arrived here early this morning

and now they have left, they have allowed the road to be reopened and moved into the hong kong parliament's moved into the hong kong pa rliament‘s complex. the legislative council is closed today in the hong kong government officers have announced their offices will be closed today. there have also been strikes announced by today by teachers and students. as of now, protesters are occupying the legislative council complex and they say that they will remain because they want to see this bill withdrawn. they do not want to see a suspension. they worry that a suspension. they worry that a suspension could mean the bill may be reintroduced. they want to see it he withdrawn completely. thank you very much. electricity has returned to almost all of argentina following a massive failure that left tens of millions of people without access to power. the country's energy minister said it had been an unprecedented event and claimed that the system itself was stable. the exact cause remains unclear, but argentina, uruguay and parts of paraguay

were affected, according to one of the region's largest suppliers. it caused major disruptions in cities like buenos aires. chris buckler has more. at first light, much of south america was left in darkness. a massive power outage left tens of millions of people without electricity and crippled communications in city after city. in argentina, people were preparing to go to the polls, but with trains halted by the power cuts and all the traffic lights out in the streets, several provinces took the decision to temporarily delay local elections. this was a failure on a quite remarkable scale. a 25—minute trip took me almost an hour and a half to be completed, and during the journey i saw three collisions.

the collapse of argentina's national grid caused a blackout that stretched notjust across this country, but throughout uruguay, and even into some parts of brazil and paraguay. businesses were left scrambling to fire up generators in an effort to save their stock. translation: we don't know much. what i read was on facebook, where it said that the problem came from argentina, but the truth is we really don't know a lot. energy companies have been struggling to determine the cause of these unprecedented problems. slowly throughout the day, customers have been reconnected, but by early evening that's still left half of argentina without electricity and preparing for what could be a long, dark night. chris buckler, bbc news. five candidates hoping to take over from theresa may as the leader of britain's governing conservative party and as prime minister have taken part in theirfirst televised debate.

the frontrunner, boris johnson, did not appear, his lectern standing empty. the discussion between the other five candidates was dominated by brexit. he turned up. so did he. i don't think there is any point to these debates without boris? very much, yes. five of the tory candidates vying to be the next prime minister. arriving for the first tv debate. but the front runner decided to skip it. they had an empty podium and the picture, but borisjohnson wasn't there. he thought this crowded stage would be too blue on blue, a bust—up between politicians from the same party. which it was. and brexit dominated, of course. just a second, michael. we must allow parliament to vote. give ourselves a shot at the best... we cannot leave unless parliament votes for it. you would buckle. you have said you will take no deal off the table and defend legislation... i will defend our democracy.

dominic raab says he is the only candidate who would be prepared to suspend parliament to leave the eu without a deal at the end of october. stop taking things off the table. make sure the only thing we are absolutely 110% committed or is keeping our promises to the voters of this country. it is the wrong thing to do, i wouldn't do it and i don't think most people in the conservative party would do it either. we are not selecting a dictator of our country, we are selecting a prime minister of one of the proudest parliamentary democracies in the world. while four of the candidates said they would try and renegotiate the brexit deal parliament has rejected by the latest 0ctober deadline, rory stewart said it was time for realism. the fundamental issue here is there is a competition of machismo. everybody is saying, i am tougher. we are not going to get a different dealfrom europe. you and i and jeremy and sajid have argued for that deal. we have argued for that deal

because it is a 550 page document, works out in detail. you will not get any changes out of europe and your attempts to get any changes out of europe will leave you stuck for months and years to come. like dominic raab, there is another candidate in this contest who says the country must leave the eu on october the 31st, come what may. but he wasn't here. where is boris, if his team will not allow him out to debate with five friendly colleagues, how will he fare with 27 other countries? he should be here to answer that question. with boris johnson far ahead at the moment, this was a chance for rivals to prove they should be his challenger in the ballot of tory members. i can bring people together, transform public services and make our country stronger. what was boris johnson doing to all this? enjoying a take away it seemed, perhaps in front of the telly, letting his competitors scramble to catch him.

the main governing party in germany has seen off a challenge by the far rightanti—immigrant party has seen off a challenge by the far right anti—immigrant party afd in an election in the east of the country. the victory gives some respite to chancellor angela merkel whose coalition with the centre—left social democrats was hit with heavy losses in the european parliamentary elections last month. the city has a new man. a former classical musician. he overcame the afd. a victory for the far right party would have given them their first ever mayor. translation: i am happy the majority has chosen to vote for me. in the end it is not about two candidates but the orientation of this town to the outside world, and that we remain an open society and an open european town, and not isolate ourselves. germany's most eastern city

is sometimes called gurliwood. it has played host to a number of blockbuster films, including inglourious basterds, to the 0scar—winning grand hotel budapest. it attracts 300,000 tourists annually, but many of its young residents have left due to a lack of opportunities. unemployment in the city is double the national rate of 3.4%. around 30 hollywood celebrities had written an open letter to voters, urging them not to give in to hate and hostility, conflict and exclusion. mr wippel, a former police superintendent, did not appreciate the interference, as he put it. he had led after the first round of voting, but once the green and left parties were eliminated, he faced an uphill struggle. talking to supporters, he tried to remain positive. translation: we did win, because probably 45—46% of voters have said we want a change, we don't want this to stay the same way. we want to overcome

the standstill in the city. this election in gurlitz was seen by many as a litmus test for support of the afd in the east of the country, and with state elections due to take place in september, there will be more hard campaigning in the months to come. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: france will declare a state of natural disaster after torrid weather ravaged crops in the southeast of the country. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for 40 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race.

germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. just a day old and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. the real focus today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: wright protests in hong kong are continuing with a record turnout on sunday of nearly 2 million people.

and joshua wong — one of the leaders of hong kong's pro—democracy movement — has been released from prison. wright people from guatemala now make up the fifth largest group of latin american migrants in the united states with thousands more still trying to enter the country despite president trump cosmic clampdown. they are fleeing some of the highest levels of poverty, corruption and violence in the americas. 0n corruption and violence in the americas. on sunday, voters in guatemala went to the polls to choose new congress and a new president. 19 candidates are vying to succeed presidentjimmy morales. a freelance journalist explains the challenges for whoever wins the presidency. it has serious violence, property and corruption problems to deal with at the moment —— poverty. so those are the main issues that the incoming president will have to deal with, especially after a very lacklustre administration under presidentjimmy morales. a lot

remains to be done. 40% of the population is indigenous and lives below the poverty line. also, rural areas are suffering from the effects of climate change which has undoubtedly had an impact on immigration flows and speaking of immigration, this is actually the first election in which guatemala is living in the united states are voting from abroad. which is a significant development given that the immigrant population is so high. four cities in the united states enabled their quarter—mile and populations to vote from abroad. do you think its going to change the situation then? if expats can vote? well, it will definitely have an impact. it seems the immigrant population is so considerable, it will definitely have an impact. it will definitely have an impact. it will be interesting to see how it works out because it is the first election that this has been done and

u nfortu nately, election that this has been done and unfortunately, the main candidates vying for office are not ideal in any way. the candidate heading the polls has been accused of involvement in corruption, so u nfortu nately involvement in corruption, so unfortunately that doesn't bode well for things changing in guatemala. unfortunately that doesn't bode well for things changing in guatemalalj mean, for things changing in guatemala.” mean, it has been a very strange election. some of the candidates have been barred and i believe one has fled the country and the frontrunner you just mentioned got a divorce in order to run? yes, that wasn't for this election. sandra torres is actually the first lady, the former first lady. she tried to run for office. she is best known for implementing a series of social welfare programmes under her

ex—husband's administration. however, she has been accused of involvement in corruption, there is a money laundering accusations and perhaps almost —— most seriously, alleged ties to drug cartels. the second candidate who has been doing well in the polls is quite an unsavoury record as well. a number of prisoners under his rule were executed. heavy rains and hailstorms ravaged crops in the south—east of france. it was not far from the city of sandra —— lyon. it has ruined vineyards and harvests.

huge hailstones pash —— smashed these motorists' windscreens. the centre of the storm, houses, shops, restau ra nts, centre of the storm, houses, shops, restaurants, churches, destroyed. anything made of glass became vulnerable. translation: to me, it seemed like the end of the world. i was in my truck. there were pieces of glass falling. we took table to protect ourselves. skylights in the roof of the gymnasium hosting a judo competition smashed and glass and hail rained down on participants and audience. nearby, a german tourist died after entry fell onto her campervan. “— died after entry fell onto her

campervan. —— after a tree fell. it has taken everybody by surprise including the emergency services who have been swamped with calls for help. translation: mike spence yesterday, we have had 570 requests for help. at the moment, we have processed 260. 200 are at the moment, we have processed 260.200 are in at the moment, we have processed 260. 200 are in process and we have about 100 pending. these are mainly protective operations. fruit trees, vines, cereals and vegetables have all taken a pounding here in the area known as the orchard of france. as the cleanup begins, the government has assured farmers that they will not be left to face huge losses. the storms were brief but brutal and farmers hope they will remain rare. australia was once home to at least 300 indigenous languages, spoken by aboriginal communities. today just 13 of them are still being spoken in everyday life. most have either disappeared or are critically endangered. but renewed efforts are now being made to preserve them. 0ur correspondent hywel griffith has been to kununurra, in far

northern western australia. this is miriwoong country. a land of vast open skies that straddles modern day state boundaries. the miriwoong people have been here for tens of thousands of years but in recent decades, their language has come under threat. so we can see right across the miriwoong land? yeah. david and agnes are two of just a handful of surviving, fluent speakers. to them, miriwoong is woven into this landscape. there's language all around you. everything we see, has language. everything that moves has language. modern things come, we just have to give it a name in miriwoong. like when the first car arrived in our country, miriwoong people gave it a name. and that actually comes from the sound that it makes.

before european settlement, australia was home to around 300 indigenous languages, now only a dozen are left with more than 1,000 speakers. languages are normally handed down from one generation to the next but in australia, in indigenous communities, that link was broken decades ago when aboriginal children were taken from their families and put under the care of european settlers. and so, to revive miriwoong, they need a new generation. every week, 400 pupils at local schools have lessons, regardless of whether they have aboriginal heritage. my favourite word in miriwoong is joowinyin, and that means crocodile. my favourite miriwoong word means grandma. my favourite word in miriwoong means swimming. a lot of money has been put

into trying to save miriwoong but the team of linguists working here say the impact is far—reaching. there is research that says indigenous people learning their ancestral language are more likely to be successful in life. which means they are more likely to get a job, they are more likely to attend school. they also are less likely to struggle with substance abuse, they are less likely to commit serious crimes. there is no certainty that all this effort will pay off. but here they are trying everything to make sure miriwoong is a living, breathing language for decades to come. for many developing countries, fishing is a vital industry. it is also one of the world's most popular pastimes. hundreds of millions of people do it all around the world. in the french capital, paris, some are going fishing, but aren't interested in catching any fish.

the bbc‘s tim allman explains. this is the lifeblood of paris, much older than the eiffel tower or notre—dame. it is a river full of intrigue and more than a bit of scrap metal. these two gentlemen are trying to do something about it using powerful magnets to fish out bikes, scooters, and even old rivals. translation: it's a bit of an adventure, but above all you're improving the environment around you, not on the other side of the planet, but your own. it is becoming a thriving industry. the owner of this shop has sold more than 2000 magnets this year, whereas in previous years he sold barely 100. and they are becoming more and more powerful. translation: i think it is the only way of clearing pollution and having fun at the same time.

fishermen say "i caught a big pike, i caught a big carp", but for magnet fishermen, it is "i brought back a fridge, or a scooter". it is not a major moneymaker. brian has sold some scrap metal and made about 100 euros. but it helps to clean the environment one piece of scrap at a time. before we go, let's drift —— returning to the lives seen in hong kong. we have seen a few protesters milling about a park but earlier, we saw a lot of people a particular highway. there were hundreds of people on that highway. they have 110w people on that highway. they have now moved on. the reporter there is telling us a continuing blockade is happening at the legislative council complex in hong kong. at the same time, hong kong student leader

joshua wong was released from prison and became the face of the umbrella pro—democracy movement. in 2014. we don't think the release is connected to the demonstrations happening now but obviously hugely significant in hong kong at this time. stay with us. hello again. following all the heavy rain that we had last week, all that water has been running off hills and into our river catchments. this is how the river severn is looking and a number of flood warnings still in force. flood warnings for a couple of spots in the midlands and lincolnshire as well. an area of low pressure has been influencing the weather across the uk every single day of this month so far and for monday, the low pressure is just to the west of ireland, continuing to bring showers and lengthy outbreaks of rain. if you are heading outside over the next hour or two, take the wet weather gear across northern scotland because the rain will be heavy. a few showers for northern ireland and some rain working in as well across wales and part of north—west england. it is a mild start to the morning so you do not need too many layers

out and about. through monday, this front brings wet weather across wales and england. the front is not going to move very far very quickly. to the north, to the far north of england, northern ireland and scotland, it is a day of heavy thundery showers and limited bright and sunny spells. across the south and east midlands, east anglia and much of southern england, the weather should stay largely dry with some warm june sunshine and temperatures reaching the low 20s. the good news is we finally lose the influence of this area of low pressure mid week and the bad news was that we have another area of low pressure moving in from the south bringing the threat of some more heavy and potentially thundery rain. this is how tuesday starts off. wet weather starts the day in highland scotland, gradually moving eastwards with time. dry start elsewhere but starting to turn a bit cloudier later in the day and feeling perhaps a little more humid as well across the south of wales

and southern parts of england. we may start to see some showers break out late in the day. those showers, we already have met office warning for these, late on tuesday through tuesday night and into wednesday, the amount of rain that we get will vary a lot from place to place. given that the ground is completely saturated, where we do get the heavy downpours coming through we could see some surface water flooding building very quickly. there is a risk of some disruption to road and rail. the exact position of the thundery downpours are still open to doubt, a large spread of east—west movement but it mostly looks like england at risk and perhaps a little rain into eastern parts of wales. through wednesday also some heavy showers again through northern ireland and scotland bringing unsettled weather but the weather has not been as wet across this part of the uk as other areas so hopefully that rain will not be impactful.

this is bbc news — the headlines: 0rganisers of sunday's mass protest in hong kong against a controversial extradition bill say nearly two million people took part — making it the biggest demonstration in the territory's history. pockets of protests are continuing a day afterwards. that make the day afterwards. —— the day afterwards. police say the figure was much lower. it went ahead despite the government's decision to suspend the bill. the hong kong student leaderjoshua wong — who was the face of the umbrella movement democracy protests — has been released from prison. speaking to reporters — he immediately backed the mass protests against the controversial extradition bill — saying they showed the spirit of the hong kong people. electricity has returned to almost all of argentina — after a massive powerfailure that affected millions of people. the argentine energy minister said it had been an unprecedented event. he said investigations were beginning into the cause of the blackouts which also affected parts of uruguay and paraguay. those are the