this is bbc news, i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: more than 1,000 arrested at an opposition demonstration in moscow, weeks before local elections. tens of thousands of hong kongers march against gang violence, despite a police ban on protest. they've already fired tear gas, and so street by street, they're coming through, clearing the way. in sudan, at least eight military officers are to be charged with crimes against humanity over last month's killing of demonstrators. and egan bernal is set to become the first colombian to win the tour de france, retaining the yellow jersey for the final ride into paris.

more than 1,000 people have been arrested in moscow during unauthorised protests against the banning of many opposition candidates from local elections. there were scuffles as police dispersed groups of protesters, who responded with anti—putin chants. the authorities say around 30 candidates failed to collect enough valid signatures, but the barred candidates say they have been blocked for political reasons. the bbc‘s 0leg boldyrev was at today's demonstration and sent us this report. police told muscovites not to come out for this unsanctioned protest, but a few thousand people turned up anyway, and very soon many of them paid for it by being dragged into custody. the arrests were met with defiance.

so the police are trying to push back the protesters, who came here because the candidates they support were not allowed to participate in the elections. we don't know how many people came to protest, but certainly there are plenty of people angry that the candidates they've been supporting were denied the chance to participate in the vote. those who come out despite police warnings are used to sights like this, but they voice their anger again and again. "i'm against these thieves," he says. "president putin, moscow mayor, prime minister, they're like a gang, simply taking and taking from russia." election authorities say the grounds for dismissing the candidates are legitimate because signatures gathered in their support were invalid. well, these citizens are not buying it. the opposition hopes that this anger around city elections will snowball into a wider antiestablishment campaign. but, committed as they are, these protesters weren't out in the numbers capable of doing that. 0leg boldyrev, bbc news, moscow.

anders aslund is the author of russia's crony capitalism and works at the atlantic council. hejoins me now from washington. thank you for your time. we have seen protests in the past in russia. what makes these different? well, what is different now is that it is persistent, and we see a new confidence among the protesters. a week ago, it was more than 20,000 people out, but you see that these protesters were perfectly disciplined. they don't mind being arrested, and they have the confidence that they will survive. i was struck today that many of the people that were out were into the stages — 35, 40, these are

professionals. a week ago, with some more students, younger people. it is a sense that this system can't hold, and the two big slogans i heard today, watching various leaders, is prudent is a thief and russia will be free. given the numbers that we are seeing, do you think president putin will be worried about the scenes that he has been watching? yes, i think he will be very worried about this, because president putin is very skilful at following political opinion. we saw after the big protests in 2011, 2012, that he quickly managed to put the complaints down. we are seeing big protests against corruption, that have been organised in the last two yea rs. have been organised in the last two years. the opposition leader, navalny. but now we have seen protests for two weeks in moscow,

and the authorities don't allow the opposition people to be candidates. and also, as you might have noticed, there is no candidate from united russia. all united russia candidates are standing as independents. what is the significance of that? united russia, navalny, has been labelled. and therefore united russia is now a matter of shame. so there is a new party that is really defending the regime. this authoritarian clapped chrissy, which is rather difficult to defend, but it doesn't mean that it will break now. you have mentioned other protests that we have seen in the past. will anything necessarily change this time? not

necessarily change this time? not necessarily —— clapped chrissy. most of the protests have been about construction projects that have not been appreciated by the people, and they have been very local in nature. but we have seen more protests, more dissatisfaction. the real disposable incomes of the population have fallen by no less than 13% in the last five years. so people are getting tired of the regime, and putin looks increasingly bored and tired. sometime, something will happen. but we don't know when. suddenly a build—up of —— certainly a build—up of pressure there. thank you for your time. hong kong has been engulfed by huge anti—government protests for nearly eight weeks now, and it is still unclear how china will react

to the increasingly violent demonstrations. in the latest confrontation, police fired tear gas at an unauthorised protest held by tens of thousands of people to condemn an attack by armed masked men last week. nick beake reports from hong kong. tear gas, rubber bullets, and anger fill the stifling summer air. welcome to another weekend in hong kong. this is now the rhythm of life. you find a police force trying to contain an eighth consecutive week of demonstrations. and these are the protesters who won't back down — tens of thousands of them. "shame on you," they shout, towards officers they say failed to protect them last weekend here in the town of yuen long, near the chinese border. men in white, suspected to be triad gang members, had attacked pro—democracy activists at a metro station, sending more than 40 to hospital.

hong kong police had tried to ban today's march. it didn't work, and once again, as night fell, a hard core of protesters faced up to them. well, the police have now lost patience. they asked the demonstrators to leave this area, and they haven't. they've already fired tear gas, and so street by street, they're coming through, clearing the way. repairing public confidence will be an even harder task. i'm very angry, because the police, they are supposed to protect the people in hong kong. the hong kong people, they're supposed to protect us. but instead, they don't. they stepped back when the triad attacked people. the police used too much force and violence to the protesters and the citizens, so we are here to demonstrate. tonight, a show of force to restore order — for now, at least. the protesters say they'll be back on the streets tomorrow. nick beake, bbc news, hong kong.

i will be speaking to an expert from a democracy and human rights think—tank about the ongoing situation in hong kong injust a few minutes. should congressman donald trump really engage with what is happening in hong kong? well, i think right 110w in hong kong? well, i think right now is a critical moment. we are seeing rhetoric out of the ccp, their threats to use violence against peaceful protesters is similarto against peaceful protesters is similar to the rhetoric in the lead up similar to the rhetoric in the lead up to the tiananmen square massacre. and so what the leadership do now is of critical importance. the united states congress and the administration and other governments should be calling on the police to remain peaceful, and ccp to exercise restraint, and the us congress is pacifically should pass the hong kong democracy act which would require us to angrily —— annually

that hong kong democratic rights. but if china is losing patience with the situation in hong kong, do you think that any international condemnation would necessarily make them change their course? well, i think china cares very deeply, the ccp ca res think china cares very deeply, the ccp cares very deeply, about its reputation internationally, and violence against protesters would actually tarnish an already troubled reputation. you know, it is of critical importance that the international community stand with a unified voice at this moment. international community stand with a unified voice at this momentm does seem extraordinary, though, that china would move towards over that, obvious violence. surely they are far more likely to let the hong kong government deal with this. well, freedom house has tracked troubling decline in clinical rights and civil liberties in hong kong for and civil liberties in hong kong for a while. the kicking out of alleged

members, banning of political parties, and the attacks by gang members on protesters, is actually a fairly classic tactic in ccp history. you know, they are much more interested in letting others do their dirty work, to keep their hands clean. so i agree with you, violence against protesters by ccp military would be an extreme action. where do you see this going for hong kongers, given this escalation that we have been witnessing over the past few weeks? well, i think we've seen past few weeks? well, i think we've seen that it is clear that this is about far more than the immediate and permanent withdrawal of the extradition amendment. hong kongers are extradition amendment. hong kongers a re really extradition amendment. hong kongers are really coming out in droves, nearly 2 million at this point, for the eighth consecutive week. really standing in solidarity, fighting for the rights that they currently possess. and that's something that's incredibly important to remember. under the one country, two systems model, it's supposed to be autonomous, and that is — the fact that hong kong has been a place of rule of law and good governance is precisely what has made it so

attractive to economic investors, and what has made it such an economic powerhouse. and so deterioration of that would have drastic consequences. thank you so much for your time and your analysis of the situation in hong kong. let's get some of the day's other news: a burmese government delegation has met rohingya leaders in a bangladesh refugee camp for talks on repatriation that have been described as positive. 750,000 rohingya fled a wave of ethnic cleansing in myanmar in 2017. a repatriation deal signed 20 months ago has not won the confidence of most refugees. thousands of tunisians have turned out for the state funeral of the country's first freely elected president. beji caid essebsi died on thursday at the age of 92. foreign leaders including the french president, emmanuel macron, and the palestinian leader, mahmoud abbas, also attended. the hungarian prime minister, viktor 0rban, has claimed that the european project had been

taken over by liberals, and it was high time, in his words, to return it to its national and christian roots. speaking in romania, mr 0rban again declared himself to be an illiberal leader. over 1,000 passengers have been ferried to safety from an express train trapped by torrential rains near the indian city of mumbai. helicopters, boats and diving teams were deployed by the authorities after the train was stranded on friday night close to the town of vangani. heavy rains have battered mumbai and the state of maharashtra. yogita limaye reports. stuck in a flood, a train with 20 coaches carrying hundreds of passengers. a river near the tracks overflowed because of several hours of heavy rainfall, which meant the mahalaxmi express could go no further.

people were stuck on board for nearly 15 hours. they had run out of food and drinking water. then, a massive rescue effort was launched. boats were sent in, and dozens of rescuers. slowly, they brought everyone out to safety. nine pregnant women are reported to be among those evacuated. helicopters had also been put on standby. mumbai and the areas surrounding it have seen intense rainfall since friday, as have other parts of the country. this is video from rajasthan in western india. assam, in the country's north—east, is also facing floods. hundreds have already lost their lives this year in weeks of monsoon rainfall, and in many regions, more bad weather is predicted. the prosecutor's office in sudan says at least eight military

officers will be charged with crimes against humanity over last month's killing of pro—democracy demonstrators. it happened when paramilitary forces fired on demonstrators outside the army headquarters in the capital, khartoum. doctors linked to the opposition say the dead numbered almost 130, but fath al—rahman saeed, the head of the official committee investigating the massacre, claimed the total was 87 as he described the moment the killings took place. translation: it was discovered by the committee that there were two anonymous people. they were also three anonymous people shooting live ammunition at protesters from the top of the building in the medical compound, wearing uniform. rescue efforts are under way in the northern philippines, where a series of earthquakes has killed at least eight people. the us geological survey said the largest quake registered was a magnitude of 5.9 in the province of batanes. many of the island's renowned spanish colonial—era buildings have been destroyed. the bbc‘s howard johnson

in manila has more. to give you a sense of the geography of where these earthquakes struck late last night here in the philippines, itbayat is the northernmost inhabited island in the philippines. it's around 200 kilometres away from taiwan. when we visited last october, locals told us it's so close, they pick up taiwanese radio there. now, sadly, one of the people we met last time told us that her house had been destroyed by this earthquake. she said that the church opposite her, the santa maria church, the main church on this island, which serves around 1000 people who live on the island, had been badly damaged, lots of cracks in the facade, the bell tower had snapped into two and collapsed onto the road. we've also seen on social media pictures of cracks in the roads on the island and also neighbours helping one another to remove rubble from affected houses. now, the army are now on the island and are helping to distribute aid and join in with the search and rescue operation. we've also heard that the one

airport on the island is being used to take people back to batanes, the main provincial capital, where six people are now being treated in the main hospital. howjohnson there. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: colombia has another international sporting hero — crowds hail the expected champion cheering. the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol in south armagh. once an everyday part of the soldiers' lot,

drudgery and danger, now no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own, in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't really see why people should wander in and say, you're doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park and, already, they have been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, yeah. really sweet. yeah, they were cute. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: police in russia have detained more than a thousand activists at a demonstration in moscow. they were protesting against the exclusion of opposition candidates from local elections. there have been clashes between police and demonstrators in hong kong, following a protest against against gang violence.

two american teenagers have been questioned by a magistrate in italy in connection with the killing of a policeman in rome. mario cerciello rega, a 35—year—old officer with the carabinieri, was repeatedly stabbed early on friday after trying to arrest two people suspected of stealing a bag. according to police, 19—year—old finnegan lee elder admitted to killing the officer with a knife, while a second man is accused of being an accomplice to aggravated homicide. lee elder‘s lawyer spoke to the media on saturday. translation: obviously he exercised his right not to answer questions. he was emotionally upset, but let me say that given the circumstances it does not seem appropriate to continue with the interviews, also because a policeman died, and also out of respect, especially for his family, i would and the interview here. human rights groups have called on the international community to intervene in the case of saudi dissident salman al—0uda,

who they say is facing the immediate threat of execution. the reformist cleric was arrested in 2017 under terrorism related charges — a move described by his family and amnesty international as ‘politically motivated'. the trial is set to resume on sunday after a 6—month postponement, with saudi authorities yet to reveal the charge sheet. the bbc has spoken to salman‘s son abdullah al—awda about his father's treatment. translation: what happened to my father is classified internationally as torture. he was deprived of treatment and sleep. he was questioned for days on end. they tied his hands and legs inside his cell and blindfolded him. he would be thrown into a car to be taken from one place to the next, without regard to his age or his history. it was a shock when the public prosecutor called for his execution for 37 charges, incredibly trivial charges. the first was exposing corruption and seeking to overthrow the regime, because he called for a constitutional monarchy and rights and freedoms in 2011, and for protecting the rights

of minorities. then some other very general charges, such as owning books that are banned, making fun of the achievements of the state. and then the strangest charge — not praying enough for the ruler. is that a charge? the current king and crown prince used to ask my father's advice in political affairs. the state needed him in countering terrorism. his rhetoric was one of the sharpest and most significant in countering terrorism in saudi arabia. i learned from my father the cause is more important than the person, that caring for the future of my country is more important than myself or my family. the future is ours, god willing. in just under a year, athletes from around the world will descend on japan for the tokyo 0lympics. the baseball competition will be held in the city of fukushima, where a nuclear accident occurred in 2011. it was the world's second biggest nuclear disaster after chernobyl.

the decision to host the sport there has attracted controversy, as david mcdaid has been finding out. translation: this is my home. i can never go back there. these photographs are all mr kumagami has to remind him of the house he lived in for 40 years. like 160,000 others, he was evacuated in 2011 when the great east japan earthquake devastated parts of fu kushima prefecture. 19,000 people lost their lives and the radiation that spread when the daiichi nuclear plant exploded sealed off whole towns, including mr kumagami's. now he has a new home, but his family in tokyo don't visit any more. i've lived here for eight years now, but they've not come to see me once. i ask him why. they're afraid of the radiation. it makes me quite sad.

in a region damaged and tarnished by that radioactive association, sport is trying to help. the fukushima red hopes baseball team is run by a former american major leaguer with no prior link to the area. translation: after the disaster, i felt a lot of sympathy for people trying to get on with life and i thought "is there anything ican do?" so i thought we could bring a smile to people's faces through baseball. and when they come to the games, we can help them forget about any stress they have. and even though it's 300km from the capital, the organisers of the tokyo 0lympics have also seen an opportunity by staging baseball and softball here. translation: we want to use the olympics being staged in order to demonstrate how far fukushima has come since the disaster. we want people to see that fukushima is an appealing place to visit. this is the azuma stadium just outside fukushima city, where they're getting ready to host

seven 0lympic baseball and softball matches next summer. butjust about 50 miles in that direction lies the damaged daiichi nuclear power plant and exclusion zone. and so, the question of personal safety does remain for many prospective visitors. this is azuma stadium in fu kushima city. here at safecast, they've monitored radiation levels since 2011. places where the olympic events are going to be held, like azuma stadium and fukushima city, the radiation levels are pretty much normal. it's not very different to tokyo, or — and even lower than a lot european cities or other parts of the world — so in that sense, people should feel confident that it's ok to be there. with such assurances in mind, mr kumagami hopes the games can have a positive impact. i think if people from lots of different countries come to fukushima and enjoy themselves, then it could be really helpful for our recovery process. and if outside perceptions can change, perhaps those closer to home might, too. david mcdaid, bbc news, fukushima.

in cycling, egan bernal is poised to become the first colombian to win the tour de france. he finished saturday's penultimate stage wearing the yellowjersey. the final stage on sunday in paris is uncontested and largely ceremonial. the 22—year—old will become the youngest tour winner in over 100 years. his victory has sparked jubilant scenes in his home town in colombia, for the time being the cyclist remains unaware of the delight back home. translation: i don't know yet. but i guess the people back in columbia are very happy. it is our first tuitt of france, even though we've a lwa ys tuitt of france, even though we've always had good cyclists. we've a lwa ys always had good cyclists. we've always produced very good climbers. but don't really know what's happening with the tour de france. it was the race that we could not win. unluckily on sunday i will be the first colombian to achieve it. i'm very proud of this. i'm just 22 yea rs i'm very proud of this. i'm just 22 years old. i cannot believe what

happened. believe it. that is quite an achievement. stay with us on bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @regedahmadbbc. good morning. bournemouth may have been the hot spot on saturday, 24.8 celsius. but of note was actually shetland. blue skies overhead and lerwick had its warmest day in ten years. some, though, had replaced the heat, humidity, and the sunshine of recent days for cloud and rain. and it was in sussex where we saw over 50 millimetres, two inches of rain fall. this is the weather front responsible. that weather front still with us in roughly the same areas through the day ahead. either side of it we start with some sunshine. temperatures in single figures in the countryside in the south—west. still a humid feel further north. but what we'll see on sunday is something a little bit brighter towards that far south—east corner. but much wetter in northern ireland. the risk of some minorflooding here. and we'll see some wet conditions for the isle of man, north wales, northern midlands, and around the liverpool bay area, too. a few isolated thunderstorms could develop across scotland

and the far north of england later in the day under that easterly wind, given the humidity still in place. but there'll be blue skies overhead for the far north of scotland and here we could hit 25 degrees in the north—west highlands. still not far off that across some south—western areas, where the sunshine will dominate. if you're stuck under the cloud, it's going to be a case of temperatures in the teens again. now, our weather front will only slowly diminish across the same sort of areas as we go through into sunday night. some still very heavy rain around the northern portion of the irish sea. clearest conditions will be across some southern counties of england and wales. and away from towns and cities we could drop down into single figures. but as we go into monday, that weather front is still there, still starting to lose a bit of its oomph for the north. but it will produce lots of cloud. some low cloud at that, particularly through some eastern coasts. notice, though, what's gathering towards the south—west. it will take until later in the day before that moves in properly. so that does mean across much of wales, the midlands, southern england, lots sunshine to begin monday, a bit of cloud bubbling up, but a very pleasant day all in all with temperatures in the low to mid—20s. still a fair bit of cloud for the north. some sunshine breaking through. but not not quite as damp

in the afternoon as it will have been in the morning. the best of the sunshine in the north of scotland. but as we go through monday night into tuesday, this area of low pressure starts to push its way into the south—west. if you're out camping this will be of note. because it could not only bring not some widespread thunderstorms — wales, the south—west, which will spread towards the midlands and other parts of central southern england later, but strong and gusty winds, which could top gale force later in the day as well. some of the driest and brightest weather will be the further north you are. still some low cloud across scotland, but temperatures widely into the 20s even with that. and we will see temperatures still in the mid—20s where you get sunshine through this coming week. but thundery showers are likely to become that bit more widespread. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the russian interior ministry says more than 1,000 people were detained during a street protest in moscow. the protesters are angry that about 30 opposition politicians are not being allowed to stand in local elections. the authorities claimed that signatures on their applications to become candidates were not valid. violent clashes between police and protesters in hong kong have continued into the night. bricks thrown by protestors were met by police teargas and rubber bullets. earlier, thousands had taken part in a march in an area where pro—democracy activists were attacked by an organised gang last sunday. the prosecutor's office in sudan says at least eight senior military officers will be charged with crimes against humanity for their role in the killing of pro—democracy demonstrators in june. the head of the investigating committee said 87 people died, angering activists who say the toll was much higher.