welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: president trump praises the emergency workers and survivors of saturday's mass shootings in the el paso, and says despite criticism he's been warmly welcomed. we had an amazing day. as you know, we left ohio and the love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was... i wish you could have been in there to see it. canadian police believe they have found the bodies of two teenage fugitives suspected of three murders. the us calls for calm and restraint over kashmir, as tensions between india and pakistan continue to escalate. and vodka with a twist. we look at the first consumer product made from ingredients grown inside the chernobyl exclusion zone.

hello to you. donald trump has met emergency workers and survivors of the mass shooting in the texan city of el paso, in which 22 people were killed. it's now being investigated as domestic terrorism. earlier the president was in dayton, ohio, where nine died in another mass shooting. protesters and leading democrats say mr trump's anti—immigrant rhetoric has fuelled violence and racism. our north america editor jon sopel is in el paso. president donald trump and first lady emma la nina arrived in el paso and it's fair to say big leaders aren't hanging out the flags for him. a white nationalist killed 22 people, targeting hispanics. before leaving the white house, the

president denied his fiery rhetoric on immigration had contributed to the problem. iam the problem. i am concerned about the rise of any group of hate, i don't get, any group of hate, i don't get, any group of hate, i don't get, any group of hate, i am... whether it's white supremacy, whether it's any other kind of supremacy, whether it's antifur, whether it's any group of hate, i am very concerned about it and i'll do something about it. trumpism responsible and he is part of the problem! in el paso, a big protest has been taking place against the visit. the main speaker, the former congressman for the area and democratic presidential hopeful neto o'rourke. he is critical of the president coming. i'm just so focused, as my fellow pasoans are in this community, on the family's struggling with a loved one still recuperating or who has still not someone in their lives. i

think the president's visit distracts from that healing and our ability as a community to come together. this makeshift shrine alongside the walmart here in el paso probably stretches for something like 100 yards. there's always the hope on occasions like this that something good might emerge out of something so good might emerge out of something so dreadful, but in america today, the problems of hate, of guns, of racism seem as intractable as ever. these two nurses, erin and stephanie, where working at the local hospital last saturday. everything was chaotic. nurses get called in. things are different and you can feel sombre in the hospital. what do you feel about their president coming today? i think it's probably bad timing for him to come right now. and emotions are still incredibly raw. i would prefer you talk to my daughter. 0k.

incredibly raw. i would prefer you talk to my daughter. ok. i can't talk. i would like him to bring unity, not only to el paso, texas but to our country. what's going on? what's going on?! but it's now emerged a shooting that took place two weeks ago in gilroy, california is now also being treated as an act of domestic terrorism, like el paso. from the fbi, over the last two yea rs, from the fbi, over the last two years, their number of investigations are racially motivated and within that category, the majority are white supremacist extremist motivated. this morning, president donald trump was in dayton, ohio, where nine people were killed at the weekend, meeting survivors and their relatives. these images released by the white house, nojournalists relatives. these images released by the white house, no journalists were invited in. he offered consolation, but in terms of concrete measures to

tackle gun violence, he was much more vague. john sobel, bbc news, el paso. president trump met law enforcement officers and first responders at an emergency operations centre in el paso. his remarks afterwards centred on how he and the first lady had been received. we had an amazing day. as you know, we left ohio, and the love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was... i wish you could have been there to see it. i wish you could have been in there. it was no different here. we went to the hospital, just came from the hospital. we were there a lot longer than we were anticipating to be. it was supposed to be just a fairly quick... we met with numerous people. we met with also the doctors, the nurses, the medical staff. they have done an incredible job, both places, just incredible. and the enthusiasm, the love, the respect, and also the... telling them, let's see if we can get something done. and republicans want to do it, and democrats want to do it.

live now to chris babcock, who is editor of the el paso herald post. thank you for your time. how would you characterise the atmosphere as president visited? ican president visited? i can tell you that from the early morning when i was at the memorial this morning at about 6:30am, it was very calm, very peaceful, very reflective and then as the day started to dawn, this palpable feeling of unease started going through the crowd there as more and more people showed up to lay flowers. and it really, really felt different. again, we've had several memorial services for a couple of the victims, and they were very solemn, very respectful. and it's been like that the whole week, but it seemed today it kind of turned

with president donald trump coming m, with president donald trump coming in, they were really, reallyjust... there was a feeling of unease and discomfort really overall. chris, obviously it's a terrible time for people in el paso. tell us more about how different and why the unease. you have to realise that this goes back before the attack on saturday. president donald trump really called out our city during the state of the union address. he went out there in front of the congress in the joint session and the united states and the world and said el paso is the most dangerous city in north america, in america, and that was just not correct, it was not truthful. we have our share of crime, we have ratings, we have car theft, we have murders, anywhere between six, seven, eight per year but those people are caught. he made it seem there was some sort of dystopian future going round here where hordes of people are coming from the south and creating crime and burning down things. it's never been the case. that statement kicked

it off that we were all of a sudden the focus of all that was wrong with the focus of all that was wrong with the border, all that was wrong with immigration, all that was wrong with immigrants coming in. from january, when he came to his campaign rally in february, of course he did have his supporters here, i'm not saying this is a town that doesn't like donald trump, there is a large percentage of people thatjust don't like him, this is a democratic town, but there's about 15 or 20% that back president. the unease was with all of his rhetoric starting in january and continuing to put our paso en people's radar, it really, for lack of a better word, it made us for lack of a better word, it made usa for lack of a better word, it made us a prime target. you've had a border wall there since the early 1990s, haven't you? you think it's likely the president will feel a little impact in this area as a result of the things he's been saying in his public rallies and on social media? i was thinking about that on the way home and i think those people who like the president

and believe what he's saying, there's not going to be any wavering of what they feel. i think that with a very slim margin, those undecided here, and in the country, especially with the way this was specifically targeted. i hate to say this because we have so many of them but this is not your typical american mass shooting. this young man came in with a specific intent of killing hispanic people, and that's what he did. and now i think some of the people that might have thought... it is just words, just rhetoric, he doesn't really mean it, people have to look at that and really start to question is this the type of leadership we need going forward? he's going to have his people behind him regardless, and whether that's here in el paso, and that's part of oui’ here in el paso, and that's part of our democratic process, but i think this was such a bulk from the blue, as it were, that it's really going to shock people and then to have data in not just to shock people and then to have data in notjust more than 12 hours later, i think it's a 1—2 punch to the american psyche that's going to make us look at not only what actions we could take what actions

led up to this. chris babcock, editor of the el paso herald post, thank you very much. thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. supporters of the former leader of kyrgyzstan, almazbek atambayev, have fought off an attempt to arrest him on corruption allegations. it's reported a member of special forces was shot dead in the raid on mr atambayev‘s home, outside the capital bishkek. he was stripped of immunity injune, but has resisted all official demands to face questioning by investigators. puerto rico's justice secretary wanda vazquez has been sworn in as the new governor hours after her predecessor was forced to stand down by the supreme court. she's the third politician to occupy the post in less than a week. she's promised to bring political stability to the us territory, devastated two years ago by hurricane maria. a woman from tennessee sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a man she said tried to rape her has been released. cyntoia brown was jailed 15 years

ago when she was 16. she says she was forced into prostitution and feared for her life when she killed a real estate agent in nashville. kim kardashian—west, rihanna and other stars campaigned for her release. police in canada say they believe they have found the bodies of two men who they were hunting in connection with the murder of three other people. kam mcleod, 19, and bryer schmegelsky, 18, were wanted over the murders of an australian man and his american girlfriend in their 20s, as well as of a canadian university professor. it was in the province of british columbia. the bodies were discovered more than three thousand kilometres away in manitoba. john mcmanus reports. kam mcleod and bryer schmegelsky, two teenagers who canadian police began searching for after their burned—out car was discovered, but who quickly became murder suspects themselves. the two friends were from vancouver but had been travelling to find work. police had been hunting them for three weeks

over a territory of more than 3000 kilometres, as far as the village of gillam in manitoba province. they we re gillam in manitoba province. they were wa nted gillam in manitoba province. they were wanted for the murder of this couple, 23—year—old australian lucas fowler and 24—year—old american chyna deese, who were found dead from gunshot wounds along a highway in british columbia. authorities then discovered the body of 64—year—old leonard dyke, a professor of botany. late last week, items belonging to the suspects were found along the nelson river in manitoba and here police concentrated their search using tracker dogs to search the dense undergrowth. this morning, at approximately 10am, rcp officers identified two male bodies in the dense brush one kilometre from where the items were found. this is approximately eight kilometres from where the burnt vehicle was located. at this time, we believe these are the bodies of the two suspects. and autopsy of the bodies will now take place but

police still don't know why mcleod and schmegelsky might have killed their victims, although last month schmegelsky's father described his son as deeply troubled and said he was on a suicide mission. john mcmanus, bbc news. the state department in the us has offered its support for direct dialogue between india and pakistan on kashmir, as tensions rise over the disputed territory. the pakistani government has expelled india's envoy and downgraded diplomatic relations with delhi. after years of special status for the part of kashmir it administers, the indian government has revoked it and placed it under direct control and a security lockdown. there have been clashes between police and protesters. all of kashmir has been claimed by both india and pakistan since british india was partitioned in 19117. the two countries have fought two wars over kashmir, and came close, not long ago, to a third. yogita limaye sent this report from srinagar. it's the third day that kashmir remains in lockdown, but sporadic protests have begun to break out now.

in a particularly restive part of srinagar, every evening, protesters are coming out, throwing stones and chanting anti—indian slogans, and security forces have been using pellet guns to contain the violence. there are also reports that clashes have been breaking out in southern kashmir as well, but these do remain quite small and sporadic at the moment, and there are a number of reasons for that. one of the reasons is what you can see behind me. literally at every street corner there are armed soldiers, barbed wire, checkpoints. you're asked to show your identity, where you're going, why you're going there. hundreds of thousands of extra troops have been deployed in what is already one of the most militarised regions in the world. on monday, india's government unilaterally revoked kashmir‘s special status. it had included a number of things. it gave the local government here the right to make laws about everything other than defence, communication and external affairs. it also allowed the local government to define who the permanent residents of this region are, and it only allowed those people to buy land here. all of that is now gone.

yogita limaye for us there. pakistan has reacted angrily to india's decision to revoke kashmir‘s special status. our correspondent asif farooqi is in islamabad. the islamabad statement says the committee has decided to downgrade diplomatic relations with india. what this means is pakistan will be recalling its high commissioner to india and vice—versa india will have to do the same. the other thing the committee has decided is to suspend bilateral trade with india. pakistan and india do not have a huge trade tween them but along the border, info djabou and kashmir region, there used to be local level trade but that will not happen and this trade helps local communities in the

region. pakistan also decided today it will take this matter to the un security council and independence day of pakistan, on the 14th of august, will be celebrated as the solidarity day with kashmiri people and on the 15th of august, india's independence day, that will be celebrated as black day in pakistan. asif farooqi for us there. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: fears of uk food shortages. calls for competition laws to be relaxed if there's a no—deal brexit. 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: president trump has visited the sites of last weekend's mass shootings, as critics accuse him of stoking racial hatred. the us has called for calm and restraint over kashmir,

as tensions bebetween india and pakistan continue to escalate. injured included dodgers, police and the number of children. tensions are high despite talks to end the afghan convert. a large plume of smoke rise above the site of this morning ‘s attack was dubbed the powerful truck from the nearby buildings almost com pletely from the nearby buildings almost completely demolished. i was driving in the area when i heard a terrible sound from the explosion at mackay was shaking. right after that, i saw windows from the nearby shops follow—up. the attack comes in spite of progress between american officials who have been holding talks in qatar, reaching a peace

agreement was of the final exact details of any settlement i get clear but they are thought to include commitments to withdraw foreign forces from afghanistan in exchange for guarantees from the taliban that they won't allow internationaljihad groups to operate in the country and the taliban will begin talks with other afg ha n taliban will begin talks with other afghan representatives. what is feared would be included in the settle m e nt feared would be included in the settlement is an immediate declaration of a ceasefire. and the concern — make the concern is the violence on the ground was to continue. the first type of this year alone, or than 1000 afghan civilians have lost their lives as a result of this conflict. as the british government plans for a no—deal brexit in october, it's been disclosed to the bbc that, in its worst case scenario, more than 5,000 lorries crossing the english channel every day could face long delays and disruption. it comes as the food industry called for the plans to include relaxing competition law, to allow firms to co—ordinate supplies should there be no—deal. here's our economics

editor faisal islam. they call it a rolling motorway, the 20—minute turnaround of a channel tunnel freight train. fresh fish, medical products, car parts, even thoroughbred horses, are exported and imported in a system built on zero checks. but that is now changing. vladimir is picking up a trailer of fresh food that has come overnight from spain to be imported into britain. esas frutas — these fruits, peaches? una des carga, tesco. el otro, tesco. this lorry park at the mouth of the channel tunnel in france is full of refrigerated trucks, the embodiment of britain's dependence on imports of fresh food. and it is even more at the end of october, just when the uk is scheduled to leave with an increasingly likely no—deal brexit. the government says the overall food supply will be fine. the food companies are rather sceptical about what they see as the government's optimism about the impacts of a no—deal brexit on the supply of fresh food. they anticipate having

to co—ordinate where trucks like these go in the united kingdom together. that would be illegal under competition law. they want some guarantees from government. i'm confident, because the uk has a very resilient food supply system, that actually we will be able to make sure that people have a wide range, and all the choice that they need. but of course, we're constantly talking to supermarkets, food distributors and others to see what more the government can do to help, and we stand ready to ensure that the regime that we put in place as a government is responsive to their needs. in fact, the government is getting less pessimistic about no—deal disruption generally. bbc news has learnt that the government has now twice lowered the secret assumption about the disruption to cross—channel freight from a no—deal brexit. why? because of this facility, unused at the moment, never before needed,

to check british exports into the eu. this is all contingency planning. 13 million euros' worth of buildings and truck storage space, inspection facilities, just in case there are additional controls required after no—deal brexit day. the perfect solution is that this never goes into active service. last year, the government's reasonable worst—case scenario for no—deal was that, for 3—6 months, only one or two in every ten freight lorries crossing the channel would make it through normally, with the restjoining queues. in april, this secret assessment, shared with industry but not the public, was upped to around four in ten on account of new preparations made on the french side of the border. in the past few days, that has been further raised to around half of all lorries. better than it was, but it still means thousands of lorries stuck on motorways in kent and around calais.

we're not going to have frictionless trade on day one no—deal, in spite of some progress that has been made on preparedness and contingency plans on all sides. this tunnel was built on franco—british co—operation. for trade to continue to flow smoothly through it, as much depends on what happens here in france as preparations back home. faisal islam, bbc news, calais. scientists from ukraine and the uk, who've spent decades studying the abandoned landscape around the chernobyl nuclear power plant, have launched a vodka made from ingredients grown inside the exclusion zone. it's the first officially consumable product to be made in chernobyl since the nuclear accident there in 1986. our science correspondent victoria gill has been given a unique taste of what's on offer. abandoned for more than 30 years, but in one small pocket of the 4,000 square kilometre exclusion zone that surrounds the chernobyl nuclear power plant, it's harvest time.

this experimental farm was set up by a team of scientists, and the crops being grown here, they say, could be a first step towards using this land productively again. very nice chernobylski rye grains. this means we don't just abandon the land. we can use this land in different and diverse ways and we can produce something which will be totally clean from the radioactivity. and this is what it is being used to produce. our idea was to distil it and produce a kind of moonshine artisan vodka. this is set to be the first consumer product that's made entirely from ingredients grown within the exclusion zone. i tremble when they pick it up, because this is the only bottle in existence. this is no more radioactive than any other vodka. we've checked it, we've have two of the best laboratories

in the world looking to see if they can find any radioactivity from chernobyl and they haven't found it. it might not be for everyone, but this is about much more than making a spirit with a unique selling point. communities in relatively uncontaminated outer regions of the exclusion zone still live under strict regulations. no agriculture is permitted here. it's hoped that some of those restrictions will soon be lifted, but any vodka profits will be channelled into supporting economic development in areas still affected by the social impacts of the nuclear accident. until atomik production starts, though, i'm allowed just a tiny taste poured from a genuinely unique bottle. victoria gill, bbc news. a reminder of our top story: donald trump has been to the texan city of el paso, the scene of a mass shooting on saturday targeting hispanic people. he has met medical staff and survivors of the attack, in which 22 people died. protesters and leading democrats say mr trump's anti—immigrant rhetoric has fuelled violence and racism.

that's it for now, thank you for watching. good morning. yet again it was scotland and northern ireland that bore the brunt of the showers for wednesday. the area of low pressure that was responsible, that's now drifting off into the north sea, allowing this brief ridge of high pressure to build before this deepening area of low pressure starts to push into the south—west during the early hours of friday morning. and it's going to stay with us friday, into the weekend as well, heavy rain and gales are going to be a feature of the forecast. but, for the next few hours, we've still got a few showers through scotland and northern ireland in particular. and a little bit of patchy mist and fog forming in western areas. elsewhere, we'll see lengthier spells and temperatures falling down to a comfortable 11—13 degrees just first thing on thursday morning. there will be some early morning

sunshine and generally, thursday not a bad day for many. some lengthy, dry prolonged spells around. we still can't rule out a few isolated showers in scotland and northern ireland and maybe one or two into north wales and cropping up in the midlands. but, with some sunshine we will get some warm highs of 2a degrees, that's 75 fahrenheit. but that low pressure is going to start to push into the south—west during the early hours of friday morning, it's going to be some heavy rain and strong to gale force gusts of winds, particularly on exposed south—west coasts. so that rain at 1am will start to push its way up through cornwall, across wales, up into the midlands. so for the early morning rush hour, it'll be leaving north wales, the north midlands and will be sitting across northern england. don't forget the yellow and greens denoting heavier pulses of rain. some areas could see 20—30 millimetres before the morning is through. and, with the additional prolonged showers that we've seen, that could bring some localised flooding. so the frontal system clears to the north of scotland, behind it, a trail of showers and some blustery winds gusting in excess of 50—60 miles an hour in exposed coasts in the south—west.

eastern england will stay largely fine. still breezy, but 211—25 degrees is 77 fahrenheit, it will be quite a humid feel to things. now friday into saturday, we'll see that area of low pressure sitting across the extreme north. and the southern flank of that low is where we are likely to see the strongest in the winds. saturday, plenty of frequent showers across scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, the rainfall totals really starting to add up and some gales further south. but still, those highs of 22 degrees. the frontal system really not moving very far, very fast, that low pressure dawdles its way steadily eastwards, we've still got plenty of showers with us on sunday. the best of the drier weather into the south. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has visited

the texan city of el paso where a gunmen shot dead 22 people in an apparent hate crime last weekend. he came from dayton in ohio, the scene of another mass shooting in which nine people died. his critics have accused him of stoking hatred against hispanic people. the us has called for calm and restraint over kashmir, as tensions between india and pakistan continue to escalate. pakistan is to expel india's envoy to the country and downgrade diplomatic relations after delhi assumed direct control of the region. police in canada say they've found what they believe to be the bodies of two fugitive teenage boys in the central province of manitoba. the teenagers, suspected of having killed three people, had been on the run for for almost three weeks.