they sing. if this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: at least 20 people have been killed after a mass shooting at a shopping centre in texas. ona on a day that would have been a day for someone to leisurely go shopping — turned into one of the most deadly daysin — turned into one of the most deadly days in the history of texas. police fire teargas in hong kong as anti—government protests continue for the ninth consecutive weekend. russia says it's succeeded in slowing wildfires in siberia, but it's still being described as an an ecological catastrophe. and the belfast pride event gets a special visitor — the irish prime

minister leo varadker. hello and welcome. 20 people have been killed in a gun attack on a shopping centre in city of el paso. another 26 people have been injured. some are in a critical condition in hospital. police have arrested the suspected gunman, he is a 21—year—old white male, a resident of the dallas area. the massacre happened at a walmart store near the cielo vista mall in el paso, texas, a few miles from the us—mexican border. three of those killed were from mexico. chris buckler reports. oh, my god. families were out shopping on a saturday morning when they were advised to run.

run, run, run. inside the mall in el paso, officers moved in, responding to another report of an active shooter in america. the gunman walked into the packed walmart supermarket, firing indiscriminately. 20 people were killed and more than two dozen were injured. the estimates of the shoppers of the walmart were between one and 2000, with employees present, it is back to school and walmart was at capacity when the shootings occurred. el paso sits at america's border with mexico. it has a large hispanic population, and many people cross over into the us to visit friends and go shopping. the police say the suspect taken into custody is white, and he's been identified by local media as 21—year—old patrick crusius. at a news conference the authorities

said that it was a murder investigation, but that officers were examining the possibility that the attack was a hate crime, and looking at possible links with a white nationalist manifesto that claimed the attack was targeted at the hispanic community. it was published anonymously online. it has the nexus at this point in time of a hate crime, the fbi will be looking into that with other federal authorities, but right now we're looking at potential capital murder. in just days ago, two members of staff were killed in a separate shooting at a walmart store in mississippi. and days before that, people were shot dead at a food festival in northern california. now it is the turn of another state to mourn. we, as a state, unite in support of these victims and their family members. we want to do all we can to help

them, to assist them. in a post on twitter, president trump described the shootings as "terrible", and pledged the support of his government. but some americans will be left wondering about the more regular rhetoric used by its politicians, and asking if some of this country's deaths could be avoided if there were tighter restrictions on guns. chris buckler, bbc news. larry arnold is director of pro—gun organisation the texas concealed hand gun association. i asked whether there needs to be a revision of gun control laws in the state. there is a lot of hate floating around. this is not a civil season politically or through the social media due to a lot of hatred out there and we need to stop it. we need to realise that

hate is always foolish. according to oui’ hate is always foolish. according to our school boards, we now have about one out of every five school districts have allowed their teachers to carry guns. we are now seeing a reduction in the number of signs posted where those of us who have a valid license can carry guns. i'm not familiar with the mile in question all the walmart in question, i know our local walmart allows us to carry —— the mall in question. that's me is a huge change that has happened in over the last ten or 15 years. ed scruggs is director of anti—gun violence organisation texas gun sense. i asked him what he thought of the argument made by gun advocates that people need to be armed to defend themselves against lone attackers.

but the issue with that is, you really couldn't do more to further gun rights in texas. these three mass shootings have now happened in the state that has open carry of firearms that has concealed carry of firearms, that you can take firearms into restaurants, in your car without a license, you can carry them practically everywhere. so they can't say that the shooting that took place today was a gun—free zone, i don't believe, because i believe it started out in the parking lot. you know, at some point you have to look at the connection between guns and gun violence. and i know there's a lot of political pressure on the other side and they have difficulty doing that, but we have tried the same thing now for 20 years, and it's not working. i would implore people to look at something different and to think out—of—the—box, out—of—the—box that they are in. and try to enact some very commonsense measures that can respect individual gun rights

but also help perhaps keep guns out of the wrong hands and that is what we're all trying to do here. but you have to come to the field and you have to play on the whole field. you just can't play on half the field — the half that you agree with. so i'm hoping this discussion could be open from this but we will just have to see. former el paso congressman and democratic presidential hopeful beto o'rourke has been speaking in the past few minutes — he told reporters he's been visiting survivors in hospital, and expressed his feelings after speaking to one relative. ican i can only imagine what she is feeling right now. she told me her name, her name was amy. she said why is this happening, why do we allow this to happen? this has to change. her husband another members of the family and her little children were all at a table selling merchandise to raise funds for the soccer team that he coaches. doing something great for their community, never

expecting something like this to happen and now pulling for her husband to make it through right now. and her kids witness the entire thing. so many families, so many extraordinary people, so much hope in the waiting room right now. so much strength in the individual icu rooms that we got to be in. again, it makes me just incredibly proud of al passlow and of these people, these survivors —— el paso, but they are also asking us to do something about this. yes, it's the gunnels, yes it is the universal background checks and yes, we should stop selling weapons of war to our communities. but we also have to confront this hatred that i have never seen confront this hatred that i have never seen in my lifetime and we certainly have not seen in el paso. ina certainly have not seen in el paso. in a city of almost 700,000, we had five murders in the entire year. our

average is 18. we exceeded that average is 18. we exceeded that average onjust one average is 18. we exceeded that average on just one day. this is average is 18. we exceeded that average onjust one day. this is not normal, it is not acceptable, we cannot just move on normal, it is not acceptable, we cannotjust move on from this. and the folks that i just cannotjust move on from this. and the folks that ijust met do not wa nt the folks that ijust met do not want us to just move on from this. let's get the lastest from peter bowes who's in los angeles. these are, first of all that investigation goes on into the shooting. —— peter. investigation goes on into the shooting. -- peter. yes, there is an extensive investigation still on the ground at the scene where this happened. still a major crime scene. but also a lot of focus on that so—called manifesto, a white nationalist manifesto that said this was a targeted attack on the hispanic community of el paso. it is not confirmed to have been written

by the government, but if it was it could perhaps be considered a hate crime. for now it is the local texas authorities leading this investigation, a capital murder investigation, a capital murder investigation, meaning if the suspect is eventually found guilty he would be liable for the death sentence. so there is a lot happening. clearly on the ground is where the focus of many people still is and a lot of people up until very recently, the last couple of hours, still trying to reconnect with loved ones. this was a huge scene, this was a sprawling shopping mall. and at the time of the shooting, many families were separated. peter, as we've been hearing in the last few hours, we've seen that reaction to the shooting coming in thick and fast. yes, there's been a lot of reaction. president trump has tweeted twice about this and in his latest treaties is that a's shooting

in al passlow, texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. he says i know i stand with everyone to condemn today's hateful act. he says there are no reasons are excuses that would ever justify killing innocent people. 0ther politicians have been reacting as well, better all right, the democratic presidential candidate who of course comes from el paso, he was campaigning in las vegas when this happened. he was speaking to a crowd there and he told the crowd the shooting has shattered any illusion that gun reform will come of its own accord in the us. julian castro, a democratic hopeful, he has talked about the need for red flags laws that identify people who are a threat and hopefully get guns out of the hands of those people. so a strong reaction, especially from democratic politicians. peter bowes with the latest for us on that

shooting, thank you very much. there's been more violence in hong kong after a day of rival protests between pro—democracy and pro—beijing supporters. riot police fired tear gas to disperse the pro—democracy crowd. it's the ninth consecutive weekend the territory has seen protests despite increasingly stern warnings from china's central government about the unrest. demonstrators used laser pointers to try to avoid identification by facial recognition technology. nick beake has filed this report. hong kong erupted again tonight. a summer of violence is getting worse. another clash between protesters wanting more freedom in this former british colony and a police force supported by china. they're firing tear gas once again, they're driving the protesters along this street. for the past two hours, this police headquarters

has been surrounded. police have had enough. chanting. how do you deal with this sort of public anger? these officers couldn't. when the first protesters fled to a residential area, locals — with no gas masks or protection — came out to vent their fury. at a police department accused of using too much force during two long months of protest. this was the response. what was a political crisis over a despised proposed new law now threatens to fracture hong kong's society. the beijing—backed police were forced into a rare, embarrassing retreat. but china has soldiers in this city waiting in the barracks. how much longer will they stay there? nick beake, bbc news, hong kong.

stay with us on bbc news. channel hopping, the man who wants to hover between france and britain. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines. the question was do we want to save our people and japanese as well and win the war or whether we want to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men? the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long

and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she has achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: at least 20 people have been killed — after a shooting at a shopping centre in the texas city of el paso. one man is in custody. riot police have fired tear gas to disperse the pro—democracy crowd in hong kong — as anti—government protests continue for the ninth consecutive weekend. russian authorities say they've succeeded in slowing the wildfires raging in siberia — and plan to extend their efforts into more remote regions. almost 40,000 square kilometres of forest land have been affected, and smoke from the blazes has drifted to alaska and parts of canada.

environmentalists say the situation is an ecological catastrophe — and could speed up global warming. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has travelled to the remote irkutsk region of siberia, and he sent this report. i'm nowjoined from cambridge massachusettes by carly phillips from the union of concerned scientists. thank you for your time. first of all, it is hard to imagine how widespread these fires are but can you give an estimate on how much carbon has been released into the atmosphere by the burning of this forest? yes, the best estimate is that we have right now are that around 100 million metric tons of c02 have been released which is about equivalent to what belgium releases annually. so in context, how cute is that compared to say, other forest fires that bc quite often by forest span and presumably carbon is released ? often by forest span and presumably carbon is released? sure, forest fires burn vegetation and soil, they

go to release some gases to the atmosphere. it makes the fires that are in siberia and alaska different. —— what makes them different is that they're not just burning —— what makes them different is that they're notjust burning vegetation, but they are also burning into the soil which stores a much greater amount of carbon than soils in other regions of the world which is an increase in the amount of heat trapping gases that they release. increase in the amount of heat trapping gases that they releasem it unusual that the fires burn into the soil? do not see that another fires? in other fires they might been into the soil but the soil is really different in these regions of the soil is often pt and mucky and has a strong organic component so partially decomposed sticks and leaves of carbon content is generally much higher in the soils when they burn, pursing different results. if we are seeing a lot of carbon been released into the atmosphere, more than usual, can we estimate what effect is going to have on climate change? sure, we can't estimate the exact effect we

—— you can have, but we know that increase in the content —— concentration of heat trapping gases in the upper sphere it's going to continue to warm our climate so we know this contribution from his fires is just know this contribution from his fires isjust going know this contribution from his fires is just going to further that trend. is there a way to reverse account of what we're seeing? there are ways to counter it, i think is the best way to say, what do is reduce our overall carbon emissions, reduce our overall carbon emissions, reduce our overall carbon emissions, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, when it comes to these fires in particular, we can put more resources towards fighting them, so we can keep the carbon in the ground. we are also able with the political will to do so, to start trying carbon directly out of the other civil stop and sequestering it and storing it in the biosphere. carly phillips, thank you very much for that assessment. more than 600 people have been arrested in moscow during an unauthorised rally, protesting against opposition

candidates being barred from standing in local elections. it's the second weekend of mass demonstrations, with the opposition leader lyubov sobol, being arrested even before she reached the rally. here's our correpsondent sarah rainsford. lyubov sobol is now being detained by police, being dragged away by two riot police and another two officers. she's demanding to know the basis for her arrest. but they're dragging her away towards a minibus. a minibus which hasjust driven up. so that's it. lyubov sobol had just stepped out of her headquarters here, she was heading to join the protest and riot police moved straight in to detain her. she has been taken off in an unmarked minibus, presumably into custody now. so the police have now closed off

the entire boulevard ring, which is where the saturday stroll, this protest was supposed to take place. they're stopping people entering the area and they've been clearing people out, even just people strolling with their dogs, a couple of middle—aged or elderly ladies sitting on a bench. everyone's been cleared out and told that the area is closed. we are people. we have our rights. we are citizens of the country. we pay our taxes. we need our representation. they deny us all these rights for a long time. so one by one police are picking off protesters. they are literally lifting them from the floor and taking them into the waiting police buses here. there's women. i've seen young men and i've seen one elderly woman as well being dragged away by police. there's a huge number of police here today. the riot police out in great force. and all this at the moment seems to be at the point

of an uneasy stand—off. the police in great numbers, the protesters fewer. hundreds have been detained already. so far we haven't seen the kind of violence that happened last saturday. but it is quite clear from what we have seen that this protest is far from over. people here have their demands, they say they want to be represented in the local parliament. the police, though, are quite adamant that they are going to clear these streets. sarah rainsford there. the american documentary film maker da pennebaker who chronicled the sixties counterculture has died at the age of 94. he was best known for his films about rock music including the classic don't look back, which followed bob dylan on tour in england. da pennebaker also made documentaries about politics. in 2013 he was given an academy honorary award — or lifetime 0scar — in recognition of his work. the irish prime minister leo varadkar has taken part in belfast‘s pride parade.

as well as a celebration the parade aimed to highlight that, unlike the rest of the uk, gay people cannot get married in northern ireland. clodagh rice reports. pride has been celebrated in belfast for more than 20 years, but this is the first time the rainbow flag has flown at city hall to mark the event. it's the first year, and i don't think it will be the last year. i think that everybody in this city must feel that they are part of the city. and i think city council has sent a very powerful message today that if 60,000—70,000 people parade through our city, they do so under the pride flag for the very first time. it's poignant because we celebrate the 50th anniversary of stonewall. in another first, the taoiseach leo varadkar marched in the parade, and it was also the first time bbc pride has marched in northern ireland. well, despite the rain, organisers are hoping this will be the biggest ever turnout for belfast pride, with tens of thousands of people expected to take part.

and it certainly seems like the rain isn't dampening anyone's spirits. it's so fun. you feel like a big community. it's, like, where everyone comes together. it's class. it's the best way to celebrate everyone. i was expecting, like, just a couple of flags and, like, people dancing, but not this. like, there's too many people here. it gets bigger every year. i've noticed more straight people come. it gives you hope for the future, if you know what i mean. it makes you tear up a wee bit. there's my dad behind behind me, my husband, my children, our friends are in the parade. we believe that love is love, and equality's so important to us, so pride's the best day. spectators didn't let the weather rain on their parade. clodagh rice, bbc news, belfast. the french inventor, franky zapata, is hoping to cross the english channel on sunday using a jet—powered hoverboa rd. the former jet—skiing champion was unsuccessful in his first attempt late last month.

he aims to fly from sangatte in france to dover in england. tim allman reports. if at first you don't succeed... ..try, try, and try again. franky zapata testing his hoverboard before his second attempt to cross the english channel. his first go ended when he failed to land on a refuelling platform and he fell into the sea. but that was then, this is now. translation: i feel confidence, just like the first time. i want to cross. let's say that, oddly enough, i'm not stressed out, not really. i'm more worried about the machine. it won't have any issues, especially for the take off. and like last time you have to be a little bit fatalistic. we did our work to the fullest and what happens in the air

will or won't happen. that's the way it is. crossing the channel, however you do it, has always captured the imagination. matthew webb was the first recorded person to swim between france and britain in 1875. louis bleriot was the first to fly the channel in 1909. franky zapata had hoped to match that feat by hoverboard exactly 110 years later, until his little accident midway. translation: we didn't really see it as a failure. it was half a victory, because we made it halfway. we messed up the landing on the platform, so we worked on the landing. it wasn't really a failure. zapata had already caught the imagination of many with his appearance at this year's bastille day celebrations in paris. but if he succeeds in crossing the channel he will make a little bit of hoverboard history.

tim allman, bbc news. stay with us. hello. there are more heavy downpours in the forecast, not only for the day ahead but actually for the next few days. not good news for those parts of the uk already so badly affected by flooding. you can see on the satellite picture this area of cloud rotating. this is an area of low pressure. ahead of it stripes of cloud bringing showery rain. here's one for sunday morning for scotland. still fringing into the eastern side of northern ireland for a time, down into wales in the south—west. and we take that band of cloud and moisture, some showery rain, and we push it eastwards as the day wears on. and as that moisture works into northern england and scotland it will kick off some hit and miss heavy downpours and thunderstorms.

could be the odd sharp shower for wales and the south—west, particularly over high ground. many spots here will be dry. east anglia and the south—east staying predominantly dry through the day. and although it will be fairly cloudy, temperatures will get up to 25 or 26 with a few glimmers of brightness. but for northern england, southern and central scotland, there is a met office yellow warning that's been issued. it covers the potential for some of those hit and miss thunderstorms which could dump 30—110 millimetres of rain in some places in the space ofjust a couple of hours. that could cause further travel disruption. maybe some localised flash flooding. but as is the nature with showers, some places will fall between them and stay completely dry. then through sunday night into monday another band of showery rain edges into western scotland, north—west england, wales, and the south—west. you can see these showers just keep on coming, rotating around that area of low pressure. which, as we go into monday morning, will be sitting just about here, just to the north—west of the british isles. those various frontal systems rotating around it, taking showery rain across the country. so we start off monday with a band of cloud and some pretty heavy downpours edging eastwards.

now, much of that weather will clear away to the east through the day. so we'll be left with some dry conditions, some spells of sunshine. but those sunny conditions could spawn one or two further downpours and thunderstorms, it's likely to stay quite wet across northern scotland. a breezy day on monday, a fresher today as well. we keep that fresher feel on tuesday and again there will be some showers and thunderstorms, particularly across the northern half of the uk, northern england, northern ireland, scotland. some of these could be pretty slow—moving. so some places could see a lot of rain, not as many showers further the south. highs of 18—22 degrees. the north of the uk bears the brunt of the showers through the middle of the week. signs that it might dry up a little bit by thursday and friday. a similar story further south, not as many showers, but there will be some. top temperatures of around 2a degrees.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: the governor the us state of texas has confirmed that 20 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on a shopping centre in the city of el paso. greg abbott said it was one "of the deadliest days in the history of the state." 26 other people were wounded. there's been more violence in hong kong after a day of rival protests between pro—democracy and pro—beijing supporters. riot police fired tear gas to disperse the pro—democracy crowd. it's the ninth consecutive weekend the territory has seen protests despite increasingly stern warnings from china's central government about the unrest. russian authorities say they've succeeded in slowing the wildfires raging in siberia and plan to extend their efforts into more remote regions.