welcome to bbc news — my name's mike embley. our top stories: as america mourns all those who died in two mass shootings — president trump condemns extremism but stops short of announcing tighter gun controls. north korea conducts its fourth weapons test in two weeks, reports say it's fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea. pakistan accuses india of playing a dangerous game — after it strips the disputed region of kashmir of its special status. and a gruesome haul — we investigate why so many bodies are being found in this river in the philippines.

after a weekend of mass shootings that left 31 dead, in ohio and texas, president trump has announced he'll visit el paso on wednesday. the attack there is being investigated as domestic terrorism. in an address to the nation, mr trump condemned hatred and white supremacy, and called for reform of mental health and gun laws. his language, from a prepared script, was in sharp contrast with his rhetoric on twitter and at public rallies and in a rare statement, former president barack obama has called on americans to reject language from any of their leaders that feeds a climate of fear or normalises racism. our north america editor sopel reports. we've been here before, we'll be here again. another heart—wrenching vigil in an american city where deadly gun violence has made an unwelcome intrusion. in the midst of this

darkness, there were also stories of immense heroism. specialist soldier glendon oakley rescued many children, but he's haunted by the ones he couldn't save. i understand it was heroic, and i'm looked at as a hero for it, but that wasn't the reason for me. i'm just focused on the kids that i could not get. these deaths at the hands of the alleged killer, patrick crusius, brought a more reflective donald trump to the podium at the white house, and he was unequivocal. this was a monstrous evil. the shooter in el paso posted a manifesto online, consumed by racist hate. in one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. these sinister ideologies must be defeated. hate has no place in america. he called for a new spirit of bipartisanship, but did not offer any new gun control measures. the focus needed to be on the people who got hold of them.

we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence, and make sure those people not only get treatment but, when necessary, involuntary confinement. mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun. but democrats say the president's own language when it comes to race and immigration at rallies like this one in the florida panhandle has helped create a toxic climate. this is an invasion! when you see these caravans are starting out with 20,000 people, that an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. laughter that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that statement!

but today from the president, the language is of a need for unity. the same words being spoken at the vigils. there's too much hate everywhere. all the hateful rhetoric around this nation has taken a toll on this city. we've heard calls before of the need for everyone to come together, but in the past in washington, those words have tended to fall on deaf ears. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. north korea has fired two unidentified projectiles. it's the fourth weapons test in just two weeks. south korea's military puts the site of the latest launch as south hwanghae province, so the projectiles had to fly

across the peninsula before landing in the sea. north korea has expressed anger at the annual military exercises which south korea holds with the united states. they got underway on monday. leadership in pyongyang says they violate the agreements reached with presidents trump and moon. laura bicker in seoul has been following this for us and explains what is different about this latest launch. these kind of missiles are similarto the short—range missiles tested a few weeks ago. it means they are designed to fly low and very fast and analysts believe north korea is developing weapons capable of avoiding detection by radar and avoiding being shot down by the kind of missile defence systems that are based here in south korea. either way, north korea is developing weapons despite being able to talk to south korea and the united states. these kind of tests are always the way of north korea saying, look, we're to tell you something here and it might well be that trying to push the united states and prod the trump administration into talks. so far, donald trump

has brushed these off, the short—range missile tests. other countries do them, he said, but how long does the united states turned its back on how far is north korea prepared to go to kind of prod the united states into action? let's get some of the day's other news. a florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for mailing explosives to prominent democrats including hillary clinton and barack obama. cesar sayoc pleaded guilty in march to 30 criminal charges. in october, just weeks before the congressional mid—term elections, he sent pipes filled with explosives and wires to 13 people. he'd been living in a white van decorated with stickers glorifying president trump. mr trump has called the plot "despicable." the government of bashar al assad and his russian allies have resumed air strikes on idlib in north—west syria, according to the syrian 0bservatory for human rights. there was meant to be a truce, under a deal between turkey and russia last year, to create a buffer zone. but officials in damascus claim anti—government forces

in the province have not kept to an agreement to withdraw their heavy weapons. a town close to a military base in siberia has been evacuated after a fire broke out in the ammunition store and sparked a series of huge explosions. this video — posted by eye witnesses on social media — shows a huge ball of fire on the horizon. it's thought 7 people have been injured, including 4 soldiers. pakistan has condemned as illegal the indian government's decision to revoke part of the constitution that gives special status to indian—administered kashmir. there are fears of unrest, because until now india, with its hindu majority, has guaranteed significant autonomy for a muslim—majority state. jammu and kashmir is a disputed mountainous region along the india—pakistan border. among the scrapped provisions is one which prevented indians from other states settling in the region. from delhi, yogita limaye reports.

an uneasy quiet in kashmir — its people under lockdown at its future was being decided hundreds of kilometres away. with one dramatic announcement in parliament, the specialist status kashmir had held for 70 years was revoked by a direct presidential order. this is a black monday, this is a dark day. there was an uproar among opposition mps, who called the move unconstitutional. but among supporters of the decision, it was time to celebrate. one of the big election promises made by prime minister modi and his ruling bjp fulfilled. if i look at it from the people's

perspective, in terms of employment opportunities, in terms of economic opportunities, seeing that development reaches at the grassroots, jammu and kashmir deserves much better so this is about the people of jammu and kashmir. at the time of partition, kashmir was a princely state. it was given a choice to be a part of india or pakistan. it chose the former, on the condition that it could make its own rules and only permanent residents could acquire land in the region. all those privileges have been done away with now and some are angry about how it unfolded. but what has left many in the country in disbelief is the manner in which this was done. no elected representative from kashmir was consulted. here in parliament, mps didn't vote on it. people here are questioning how this was allowed to happen in a democracy. to quell tensions in kashmir, tens of thousands of extra troops have been deployed. top politicians have been placed under house arrest. from where she was being held, a former kashmir chief minister spoke to the bbc over the phone. i'm really shocked because i feel

this unilateral decision is going to have, you know, far reaching consequences for the whole subcontinent. it's going to be catastrophic. 0n the other side of the de facto border, pakistan protested too, saying it would explore all options to counter the move. this himalayan region that is disputed by both neighbours is at a turning point. yogita limaye, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet the handful of runners taking part in what's probably the world's most gruelling road race — 3,000 miles round one new york city block. the question was whether 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 vigour, 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's 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 news. the latest headlines:

as america mourns all those who died in two mass shootings, president trump condemns extremism but stops short of announcing tighter gun controls. north korea conducts its fourth weapons test in two weeks, reports say it's fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea. police in hong kong have made 82 arrests as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the first general strike in more than 50 years. protests spread right across the territory. with major roads blocked, public transport severely delayed and more than 200 flights cancelled, the normally buzzing city was brought to a standstill. this report from the bbc‘s nick beake. ashley, we are going to live to hong kong.

mike, you mentioned some of the major disruptions we saw here in hong kong on monday. things are now returning to normal, we spoke to the union behind the strike, they said some 350,000 people participated. here, at one of the seven locations for yesterday's rallies, nothing is left now. all the posters are gone, the rubbish is gone, it is hard to imagine how it was jampacked with protesters all dressed in black. we did just hearfrom the us speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, expressing support for those hong kong protesters, despite the hong kong government condemning the protesters, some of which have turned rather violent yesterday. we are also expecting to hear from the chinese government for the second time about these ongoing protests, which have entered their ninth week this week. some support from the us,

but still what we have really been realising is the division in society. it is no longerjust about that controversial extradition bill, which would have allowed people here to be extradited to mainland china. that is what started the protests nine weeks ago, but now it is a lot more than that. the division within society it feels like is deepening. and that big question you touched on, what will beijing, people's liberation army, possibly do about this? indeed. the press conference by the chinese government is scheduled at 2:30 p.m., so as you can imaginea scheduled at 2:30 p.m., so as you can imagine a lot of speculation on what they might say. some, as you mention, might be speculating whether they would use the chinese army after they posted a video last week on their social media. 0ther guests that we have been speaking to say that things have not really changed. last time, they expressed

support for carrie lam, the chief executive of the city, who has been widely condemned by protesters. it will be interesting to see what the endgame is, because some of the things they are demanding, like one person one vote, it is hard to imagine beijing giving that up. a teenager in london has been charged with attempted murder after a six—year—old boy was allegedly thrown from a viewing platform at one of london's most important art museums. the 17—year—old is due to appear at a youth court accused of trying to kill the child, who is a french national visiting the city with his family. the boy remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital. he fell from the tenth floor of the tate modern gallery on to a fifth—floor roof. police say there is no link between the suspect and the victim. manila's pasig river winds its way for 15 miles through the philippine capital and out to the sea via manila bay. philippine president rodrigo duterte

once claimed that he would "fatten the fish" in manila bay by dumping the bodies of drug dealers, killed as a result of his "war on drugs". so far the police say at least 6,700 drug suspects have been killed since the president came to power. now, a bbc investigation, has revealed regular sightings of bodies floating in the pasig river and an allegation by locals that the police are partly to blame. a warning: this report, by our philippines correspondent, howard johnson, contains disturbing images. dawn on manila's pasig river, it's a calm and peaceful start to the day. but that's all about to change. it's around 8:30am in the morning here. we have just been patrolling with the coastguard here along the pasig river and they've found the body by the side here, they believe it's about two or three days old because it's rigid with rigor mortis. a forensics officer inspects the body. it's a man believed to be in his late 20s. there are no gunshot wounds.

suspected cause of death — asphyxiation. to date, the body remains unidentified and unclaimed. it is the latest in a rising number of bodies found in the pasig river. 2017 we have 27 floating cadavers. we have — the 2018, we have 36 total floating cadavers. the pasig river runs through tondo, one of the most densely populated and poorest districts of manila. historically, it has had a high crime rate, and recently became a major focus of anti—illegal drug operations by the police following the start of president duterte's bloody war on drugs injuly 2016. we visited tondo to speak to residents of one community who've reported regular sightings of bodies in the water. to protect our sources, we cannot identify who they are, or where they live. but speaking to five different people from one community, they all confirmed they had seen multiple bodies in the river. 0ne resident, who we will call

regine described the night she heard something heavy hitting the water near her home. we got up but could not see anything floating. if that was garbage, then it would float. after maybe four days we heard news that a body had been spotted. then, she made a startling allegation, that in one incident she had witnessed the police killing someone and then dumping the body in the river. an allegation corroborated by her neighbours. they shot the person once, they were not even in civilian attire, but wearing uniforms. there were six policemen and a tricycle. we put these allegations to manila's police department, but they declined to comment. the philippine commission on human rights have called on the police to be more transparent with their reports. this is different from how we used investigate killings in the past. there is a policy of little, if no cooperation at all when it comes to sharing documentation.

united nations human rights commissioner, michelle bachelet, has now been tasked with assessing the human rights situation in the philippines. the government insists that they haven't committed any human rights abuses, but also say they don't want un reporters coming to the country. howard johnson, bbc news, manila. the us treasury has officially named china a "currency manipulator", a statement which will intensify tensions between the world's two largest economies. this after a sharp fall in the value of the chinese yuan against the dollar, which has caught markets around the world off—guard. with me is our business reporter, ramzan karmali. this really did take people by surprise. it really did, and markets did not like this move. it left the currency at the weakest in around a decade, and we saw big losses on wall street. major exporters saw

their share prices fall, apple fell by over 5%. one thing to note is that oil also fell. there are tensions in the strait of hormuz, and you would expect oil prices to rise, but the tensions between these two massive trading economies is outweighing that. oil prices are at around $60 a barrel at the moment. another thing to note is the us bond markets, which is seen as a bit of a safe haven, the yield fell to 1.7%. don't forget, the price of a bond is inversely related to the yield. this is the lowest level it has been since president trump took office. effects in age —— asia as well? china does not like the fact that the us has labelled it a currency manipulator. people are looking for safe havens, the flight to quality

is happening. there are two is seen asa is happening. there are two is seen as a safe haven, gold is seen as a safe haven, and gold prices have gone up safe haven, and gold prices have gone up as safe haven, and gold prices have gone up as well. even cryptocurrencies are seen as a refuge, and bitcoin is trading at around $12,000. investors are wary that his trade war is going to continue, and it will be a hard, long trade war. 0ne continue, and it will be a hard, long trade war. one thing i should say, in the last hour we have heard from the people's bank of china, and they have set a reference rate for they have set a reference rate for the yuan slightly stronger than expected, so they have been some gains since then. now for most of us a marathon sounds like a very long way — butjust imagine going around a single city block more than five thousand times. that's what a group of runners in new york are doing, to compete in the world's longest footrace. if you don;t feel like taking part yourself — you can watch nada tawfik covering it. pounding the pavement and pushing themselves to the limit, these runners are in the middle

of a race so difficult and absurd that only 43 people in the world have ever completed it. they are attempting to cover 3,100 miles in 52 days by running around this one city block in queens, new york, that's longer than travelling from the east to west coast of the united states, but without any change of scenery. here, a wire fence and a high school are as good as it gets. it sounds insane, but the organisers say it has a higher purpose. we put on these races to inspire people in the world to do better in whatever they do. we don't expect everybody to do a 3,100 mile race, no, that's absurd. but at the same time, there are people that have the capacity and have the talent to transcend and to go beyond the difficult barriers that there are there in the world. with a few exceptions, the participants are followers of the late sri chinmoy, a self—described spiritual leader, like harita. this is her second time doing

the self transcendence race. it gave me the experience of really seeing and really knowing for myself, that as human beings we all have this unlimited potential to do so much more than we ever imagine we can do. and this race really embodies that. this race takes a real physical toll on the body. after each lap, runners come here to stay hydrated and to grab a bite to eat. they have to consume at least 10,000 calories a day so they don't lose excessive weight and ice cream is one of the favourites. and for a little relief, they take power naps in a trailer. when the course closes at midnight, they have just six hours to bathe and rest their tired feet. each of the eight runners have their own tricks for coping with the non—stop routine. you just have two divide the distance, like, kind of fool your mind a little bit into thinking, you know, i'm only doing the next break, or i'm only running until the end of the day. what is the toughest part? 0h, definitely, for me, the heat. there's no grand prize orfame

that comes with victory. the runners say it's the sense of accomplishment that makes it all worth it. we'lljust take their word for it. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. a brazilian gang leader has failed in his attempt to escape from prison by pretending to be his teenage daughter when she came to visit him. he used a rubber mask and a week to walk out, planning to leave his daughter inside the prison. the guards say his nervousness gave him away. the prison administration has released this video, mr desilva can be seen removing some clothes and a mask. and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. people in the japanese city of hiroshima are commemorating the 7a years since the first atomic bomb being dropped by a us aircraft. a ceremony, attended by prime minister shinzo abe, was held at hiroshima's memorial park. the bombing, and a second one on nagasaki three days later,

is credited with bringing to an end world war ii. but it claimed the lives of at least 140,000 people in the city. a us b29 bomber called the enola gay dropped the uranium bomb, exploding some 600m above the city, at around 08:10 on 6 august 19115. a brief reminder of the main years. president trump has announced he will visit el paso on saturday to the scene of that mass shooting were 29 people were killed. it is being announced as domestic terrorism. donald trump condemned white supremacy and racial hatred, and president barack obama has called on americans to reject any language that feeds on a climate of fear or encourages racism.

and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. hello. if you're in search of dry, settled, summer weather, well, i'm afraid you probably won't find it in this weather forecast. certainly not while low pressure is in charge, and that is what we have in the heart of this swirl of cloud that you can see on our earlier satellite picture. this area of low pressure is going to drift its way eastwards across the british isles over the next couple of days. it will provide very heavy, thundery downpours. there will always be some spells of sunshine in between. so, many eastern parts of england and eastern scotland starting the day dry, but the showers already in the west will swing their way eastwards as the day wears on. some of them will be heavy, some of them will be thundery, there could even be some localised disruption. you can see in between the showers, though, some spells of sunshine. it will be quite breezy in the south,

light winds in the north, so across scotland, the showers will be pretty slow—moving. some locations could get a real deluge and temperatures ranging from 17 degrees in stornoway to 23 in london. now, as we go through tuesday evening, many of the showers will fade but some will continue through the night, particularly across western and northern areas and some of those hours could still be heavy and thundery. temperatures generally between 11—14 degrees, it may getjust a bit cooler than that across some parts of northern england and scotland, where the skies are clear and the winds are light. so we go into wednesday and really, it's a game of spot the difference. again, there will be some of these heavy downpours, most plentiful and heaviest across scotland where there could be some hail and thunder mixed in. not as many showers down towards the south and those temperatures again between 17—23 degrees. now, if you are looking for a drier day, thursday may fit the bill because our area of low pressure is starting to drift away and you can just about this little bump in the isobars here. that's a ridge of high pressure trying to take charge of our weather.

so on thursday there will be more in the way of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. still a potential for one or two showers, particularly through scotland and northern england. temperatures, well, just a touch higher. the winds light as well, butjust behind me, down to the south—west, you can see some wet weather gathering. that is the start of another very unsettled spell to take us into the weekend. bands of rain driving northwards during friday and this area of low pressure taking up residence by saturday, bringing some showers or even some longer spells of rain. some unusually brisk winds as well, so if you have plans for the weekend, it's with staying tuned to the forecast.

this is bbc news. the headlines: after a weekend of mass shootings that left 31 dead in ohio and texas, president trump's announced he'll visit el paso on wednesday. that attack is being investigated as domestic terrorism. mr trump condemned hatred and white supremacy and called for reform of mental health and gun laws. north korea is reported to have fired two missiles off its east coast according to the south korean military. pyongyang conducted two separate missile tests last month, calling the first a "solemn warning" to south korea over its planned military exercises with the united states. pakistan has condemned as illegal india's decision to abolish the special status for kashmir, insisting it was an internationally recognised disputed territory. it added no unilateral step by india could change this status and pakistan would exercise all options to counter the move.