this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad — our top stories: police say the el paso shooting suspect was deliberately targeting mexicans — 22 people died in the attack. protests in indian—administered kashmir, days after delhi revoked the area's special autonomous status. hong kong's airport is occupied by hundreds of demonstrators as protests in the territory enter their tenth weekend. a huge power blackout in england and wales leaves almost a million people without electricity, causing travel chaos. and bringing all the fun of the fair to an english cathedral.

hello and welcome. it's a week since the el paso shooting in the united states in which 22 people were killed — and the suspect is reported to have confessed to police that he was targeting mexicans. the details emerged in an arrest report and the suspect is said to have waived his right to a lawyer. meanwhile donald trump says us congressional leaders are having "serious discussions" about meaningful background checks on gun ownership, following the mass shootings in texas and ohio. freya cole reports. he's the 21—year—old accused of killing 22 people in a shooting rampage in texas. and now an arrest affidavit of patrick crusius reveals he told police he was targeting mexicans when he stormed the el paso walmart.

back in his hometown, democratic presidential candidate beto o'rouke has accused the president of fanning racial hatred. we live in a country where some will try to define us by our differences, and they'll say that those differences are dangerous, they'll warn of "invasions" and "infestations," they'll try to build walls to keep the rest of the world out, they'll talk of people as being less than human and then treat them as less than human. as someone who served 24 years in the military... both the texas and ohio shootings have reignited fierce debate over gun control. president donald trump has conceded change is needed. frankly, we need intelligent background checks, ok? this isn't a question of nra, republican, or democrat. i will tell you, i spoke to mitch mcconnell yesterday.

he's totally on board. he said "i have been waiting for your call," he is totally on board. i think that the republicans are going to be great and lead the charge, along with the democrats. but the president's biggest hurdle will be the country's powerful gun lobby — the national rifle association. president trump has suggested he could persuade the nra to change its position. but earlier this week, the nra tweeted: despite widespread public outcry, it's now unlikely senators will be called back from their holidays — further delaying political action after yet another tragedy. freya cole, bbc news. lauren villagran is a reporter for the el paso times. she told me more about how the community has been coping in the aftermath of the shooting.

i mean, it is the subject of every conversation, every day, everywhere. this was a huge tragedy for this community. we lost so many lives and so many people were impacted. we are hearing these media reports now that details of the police arrest report have come out and they say that the shooter targeted mexicans. what has been the reaction to that development? we knew from just minutes, hours after the shooting, but there was a so—called manifesto posted online that had been linked to the shooter, that was very quickly linked to the shooter. that uses language describing immigration as an invasion, describing immigrants as "invaders." some of this language echoes language used by the president of the united states.

the manifesto, as it were, is filled with hate, and specifically states that the shooter would target people of hispanic ethnicity and dissent. we learned today, as you said, in some court documents, that there is additional information about the shooter may have told police directly that he did in fact target hispanic people. i was at a protest a few days ago on the day that the president arrived in el paso to meet with the victims‘ families, and the young man read the names of each of the 22 dead, and it was startling to hear those names roll off his tongue in spanish. the vast majority of the people who died were of hispanic descent. are people feeling still a sense of anger, a sense of shock, or are issues moving on to what can be done, what happens next?

i would have to say a mix of everything. there is obviously a daily mourning here. we are going through each of the funerals, there have been funerals injuarez and el paso. additionally at the protest i attended, speaking to both survivors of the massacre and walmart people who were in that store when the shooting occurred, they do also want to talk about guns. i am hearing an all—out ban on assault style weapons, those high—powered rifles that are available in the us, that have been used so often in the mass shootings we experience here. on that issue of gun control, of course, that is a national debate — it is interesting that people are talking about a ban on assault rifles or assault powered weapons, given texas still has very liberal, relaxed gun laws. now, you have to remember,

el paso is in west texas which votes democrat. that being said, it is still texas, and many people here are gun owners. even those gun owners told me that they see no reason for an individual to have an ak—47, for example. india has told pakistan it must accept the new reality in kashmir and stop interfering in its internal affairs. relations have been strained since delhi revoked kashmir‘s special status earlier in the week. paksitan has responded by suspending train links, pakistan has responded by suspending train links, and halting trade. our correspondent yogita limaye is one of the few international journalists in kashmir — she sent this report from srinagar. tensions in kashmir are beginning to rise. young protesters have been coming out in many areas. pelting stones at security forces and

jeering at them. soldiers fire lead pellets and tear gas to disperse the mob. chanting. voices that have been suppressed for days have begun to be heard. this was a spontaneous march by men who had just offered friday prayers. they walked through small alleys because they can't go out on the main roads. translation: in every part of india, people are celebrating, but they don't know that our hearts are bleeding. we are crying. we are under siege. translation: we have been completely betrayed. they have put a gun to our heads and told us that a few people in the government have decided our fate. earlier, inside the mosque, too, there was sloganeering, and the cleric also made a speech about the issue.

"the dispute over kashmir can only end when they take the opinion of people here", he said. it is the first friday since the government removed this region's special privileges. while most of the big mosques were closed, in some places, people were allowed to go out and pray. however, phone and internet lines remain cut off. separatist leaders have been moved out of kashmir. top politicians from the region remain under house arrest. the indian government, taking no chances, worried that the situation here could spiral into widespread unrest. away from the empty streets of kashmir, in other parts of india, the government's actions have found resounding support. "it is a very good decision. we will now be able to control terrorism," one woman says. "i went to kashmir as a tourist but i didn't feel safe. prime minister modi has made a good move."

a beautiful land that is no stranger to conflict, but rarely has it stood on the cusp of such an uncertain future. let's get some of the day's other news. the un secretary—general antonio guterres has said he's concerned about clashes in yemen's southern city of aden which left at least 8 people dead. he's urged all parties to stop hostilities. aden is the temporary home for the internationally recognised government. a powerful typhoon has made landfall in south eastern china bringing gusts of two hundred kilometres an hour and heavy rain. typhoon lekima is the strongest to hit the country in 5 years. a red alert has been issued along the path of the storm, which is likely to reach shanghai, later in the day. portugal's government has declared an energy crisis, and introduced fuel rationing at petrol stations. a planned strike by lorry drivers means members of the public will be able to buy no more than 15 litres of petrol or diesel.

union leaders are to decide on saturday whether to go ahead with the industrial action. north korea has fired two unidentified missiles into the sea ofjapan — its fifth major weapons test in under three weeks. the south korean military believes at least one was appears to be a short range missile. this latest launch comes just hours after president trump announced he'd received a beautiful letter from kim jong—un. received a "beautiful letter" from kim jong—un. pyongyang has criticised seoul and washington for carrying out joint military exercises. mintaro oba is a former state department diplomat specialising in the koreas. hejoins me now. can we guess why north korea has been firing these missiles?‘ can we guess why north korea has been firing these missiles? a big pa rt been firing these missiles? a big part of it as you mentioned has to

be thejoint military part of it as you mentioned has to be the joint military exercises with the united states and south korea, that has never been one of north korea's favourite activities, and puts intense pressure on the united states and south korea to cease exercises. we can attribute three general motives for north korean missile launchers, technological, it wa nts to missile launchers, technological, it wants to demonstrate its capabilities and improve them, and magnify the threat it poses to the united states and south korea. tactical, it wants to put pressure on the two allies to conduct negotiations on north korea's terms, and domestic. it wants to demonstrate kim jong—un‘s strength at home. it seems odd they continue to fight these —— fire these missiles, given that kim jong—un has a good relationship with donald trump, and donald trump does not seem to be that concerned? trump, and donald trump does not seem to be that concerned7m trump, and donald trump does not seem to be that concerned? it may seem to be that concerned? it may seem surprising but in reality it is a reflection of someone that has been true all along, which is that

the us and north korea have not resolved the fundamental issues that have kept them at a diplomatic impasse. both sides have not demonstrated the flexibility needed to make any real progress on denuclearisation, key questions such as sanctions relief and so forth, andi as sanctions relief and so forth, and i think that what north korea is doing now is a reflection of the frustration that comes with not resolving those fundamental issues. we don't know exactly what kind of missiles were fired, but we assume they are not nuclear missiles. could this be seen as some sort of progress at least? the north koreans are conducting these launches in a very calculated, restrained way. they want to escalate tensions but not so much that it makes traumatic progress with the united states impossible in the future. —— diplomatic progress. where do you think things are going to go from here? do you think we will see more

talks, more movements towards denuclearisation? i do think that as these joint military exercises and it will create more room for a return to working level dogmatic talks between the united states and north korea, and at the leader level both kim jong—un and donald north korea, and at the leader level both kimjong—un and donald trump have a personal stake in these processes that they started, i expect more movements in the months ahead. thank you so much for your time. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: all the fun of the fair at a historic english cathedral. 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 the 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'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 world news, the latest headlines:

police say the el paso shooting suspect has confessed that he was deliberately targeting mexicans. 22 people died in the attack last saturday. despite tight security, protests have broken out in indian—administered kashmir, days after delhi revoked the area's special autonomous status. hong kong is bracing for another weekend of turmoil, following a large, but peaceful, occupation of the international airport on friday by pro—democracy demonstrators. the territory's leader, carrie lam, criticised those who've been involved in increasingly violent street clashes. meanwhile beijing has ordered the hong kong—based airline, cathay pacific, to suspend any staff who support the demonstrations. ho fung hung is a professor of political economy atjohns hopkins university in baltimore. he is also is the author of the award—winning book protest with chinese characteristics. a little earlier he told me china pressuring cathay pacific isn't unprecedented.

it is not quite surprising, because over the last two or three years, china has been pressuring allies around the world and hotel chains around the world to ask them to put taiwan off their list, as an independent country, to put it under china. —— airlines around the world. china has been quite frequently using these tactics of using its market power, to pressure private companies to comply to their will, to achieve some political goals. do you think beijing is becoming more forceful in its intervention in hong kong, at least in a verbal sense, in terms of what they are publicly saying? definitely. we have been seeing it over the last week or two, the beijing government has held press conferences to warn against the protesters. apparently the carrie lam government in hong kong

has the full backing of beijing at the moment, not to back down to any demands of the protesters. and we also see more aggressive tactics by the police, and even the mobilisation of some gangsters underdogs, beating up protesters. so in this regard, yes, beijing has been stepping up its effort to try to intimidate the protesters. we saw protests at the airport, peaceful protests. we are expecting more over the weekend. do you think protesters risk losing the freedoms they have if they continue down this line? for one thing, beijing's handling of the protests in recent weeks, even though it has been stepping up its rhetoric, it also shows the limits of beijing's capacity in intervening directly in hong kong, and cracking down. beijing has been talking about the possibility of the use of the pla, the people's liberation army, but also, it stopped short of any concrete warning about using the pla, because everybody now sees that

beijing would prefer not to use direct intervention because it would create an international outcry and the loss of hong kong's international status as a finance centre. so beijing has its hands tied, it can only rely on some indirect forces like gangsters and the hong kong police force to handle the situation. major power cuts have caused travel chaos across large areas of england and wales, affecting close to a million people. the national grid says two generators failed which triggered an emergency response to limit access to the network. katy austin has the latest.

commuters navigating clapham junction station in darkness. this evening's power cuts did not last long but the impact affected more than a million people. including thousands of train passengers across the country, some unable to board. i am going to hang around and see if they put the trains back on and fix the issue but if not, i'm going to have to find somewhere to stay tonight and get a train tomorrow. no—one has come over and spoken to me. no—one seems to know what is going on. if you go and ask for help, no—one really knows what is going on at all. while some were stuck on trains. i was on a train to edinburgh through to london, we stopped in the countryside for an hour and a half with no information. we were starting to conserve water but now they are sending us back to peterborough station where we are just going to have to be, i presume, dumped off. london kings cross is one of the country's busiest railway stations.

passengers turned up this evening to find there were delays and cancellations and have now been told services are unlikely to resume today. reports of a problem emerged shortly after 5pm. uk power networks tweeted it was aware of a power cut which it believed was due to a national grid network failure. it supplies london and the south—east and said 300,000 homes were affected in that region, but it didn't end there. half a million people lost power in the area western power distribution covers, south—west england, south wales and the midlands. 110,000 customers served by northern power grid in the north—east, 26,000 supplied by electricity north west in areas from penrith in cumbria to stockport in greater manchester,

and 16,000 sse customers in central and southern england, and tens of thousands more were affected in cheshire and merseyside. national grid said the issue was caused by the loss of two generators that connect to the gb transmission system which led to a fall in the frequency of the electricity system and it had to disconnect part of the network. it said that by 6:30pm, all demand was restored by the distribution network operators, and the system was operating normally. by then the loss of power had affected drivers, too, with some traffic lights out. newcastle airport experienced power issues too, as did ipswich hospital, where the back—up generator failed. my mum got stuck in the scan lift, so we were looking at her ten feet off the ground, wondering how on earth she was going to get into the lift, because it wasn't working, or get down again, and it was quite a terrifying 20 minutes, wondering what is going to happen, are we going to have to get the emergency services? people whose friday evening journeys turned into a nightmare will be wondering how this could have happened. katy austin, bbc news.

in other news a tornado has ripped through southern luxembourg, close to the border with france and belgium. the footage shows the tornado tearing apart a building's roof and sucking large amounts of debris into the air. trees were uprooted and roads were blocked in the towns of bascharage and petange on friday evening. six people have been injured. norwich cathedral, one of the oldest in england, has installed a realfairground helter skelter to allow visitors a closer glimpse of its medieval roof. it hasn't escaped criticism, though. one bishop has called the move a mistake. our religion editor martin bashir went to take a look. amid the ancient cloisters of this hallowed place, not the sound of evensong but a fairground ride. it is faster than i thought it would be, it is good fun. did it make you think about anything more deeply? if i am honest, no, other than what a random thing

to have in a cathedral. i think it was very good and fast. it took four days to build and costs £2 per ride. the cathedral says it's designed to give a close—up view of the stunning mediaeval ceiling, and start conversations about faith. i think we have to remember that we are dealing with a great diversity of people in our nation, and if we are going to reach out to lots of different people we have got to use different methods to reach them. at 55 feet tall it is certainly closer to the heavens, but will it take people closer to god ? isn't this a sign that the church has lost faith in its gospel message, and is now reduced to basically having gimmicks? oh, no, this is a sign of a confident church. english cathedrals are the great success story of the church of england. our numbers coming to worship are increasing, numbers of visitors across all cathedrals are rising. so if that is the case, why do you have a helter—skelter? because our job has always been to re—tell this story.

okay, i'm now going to climb the 36 steps myself. six flights of stairs, and i am nowjust over ten feet from the cathedral ceiling. are you ready? iam. thank you very much — oh, that is quick! haven't seen much of the ceiling from here. well, i have to say, i think i prefer evensong for understanding the gospel and the christian faith, butjudging by the line over there, i think i'm in the minority. before we go, let's take you to the scene live in saudi arabia, where you can see many pilgrims there as they begin the haj. it is saturday there, it started on friday. more than 2 million muslims began the

annual haj. it is apparently quite hot there. at the moment they are supposed to be climbing mount arafat for prayers, and then later on, the stoning of the devil. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there, we have seen impacts already from this unseasonal weather, and we are not finished just yet either. some more rain to come which will be quite heavy, perhaps some thundery downpours as well this weekend, and those winds are strengthening more widely now across england and wales. that's because our unusually deep area of low pressure for the time of year is drifting its way northwards, winds strengthening on its southern flank, there is more rain around overnight as well, but where the winds are lighter, later in scotland and northern ireland, there may be a few mist and fog patches. 13—111, it's warmer further south, 16—17, with more showers, even longer spells of rain, quite a few of those in the morning across wales and the

south—west of england. a number of heavy showers developing further north, and those will be more slow—moving and more frequent as well. not too much rain for the north—west of scotland, i think it will be more towards eastern scotland later in the day that we will see some thundery downpours, and throughout the day, they are never too far away from southern scotland and also close to northern ireland as well, this line of downpours running over the irish sea into the north—west of england. further south showers more fleeting, because it will be so windy, those are the wind gusts, widespread gales for england and wales, gusts of 60 miles an hour across southern coasts. a very windy conditions, and it won't feel as warm or as muggy either, 27 east anglia yesterday, looking at low 20s at best. winds do continue to ease a little during saturday night into sunday morning, but you can see we still have some areas of rain, and again that could be heavy and thundery with the prospect of some localised flooding as well. those temperatures begin to drop away towards southern parts of the uk, typically 13—111. so to the second half of the weekend, it is not completely

dry, there will be some sunshine around, but we will see more showers developing across england and wales, for a time across northern ireland, and a spot of rain is slow—moving, central and southern scotland and the far north of england, underneath that it will not be very warm at all for the time of year, 111—15 for northern parts of the uk, 22 or 23 towards the south—east at best. an area of low pressure is pulling away on sunday, hence the winds easing down, but look what's coming in from the atlantic. all these weather fronts, another area of low pressure developing around the middle part of next week, there is no sign of summer returning really in the outlook as we head into next week, it remains very unsettled, we will get some showers or longer spells of rain, some sunshine at times but not particularly warm for the time of year.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the suspect in the el paso shooting is reported to have confessed to police that he was targeting mexicans deliberately. he is said to have waived his right to silence. 22 people died as a result of the attack last saturday. dozens more were injured. as protests continue in indian—administered kashmir, delhi has told pakistan it must stop interfering in its internal affairs. relations have been strained between the two countries since india revoked kashmir‘s special status earlier in the week. paksitan has responded by suspending train links, and halting trade. (00v)china has ordered the hong kong based airline cathay pacific —— china has ordered the hong kong—based airline cathay pacific to suspend any staff who support pro—democracy protests in the territory. beijing's latest tough stance comes as thousands of activists stage a sit—in at the territory's international airport, the first of three planned days of rallies.