this is bbc world news today. our top stories... the fbi investigates as us financierjeffrey epstein is found dead in his new york prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. hundreds of people are arrested in russia as opposition groups march through moscow to call for free elections. police in hong kong fire tear gas as they clash with protesters continuing their calls for greater democratic freedoms. and coming up — tensions remain high in indian—administered kashmir after protests against the removal of the region's autonomous status. hello and welcome to world news today. the disgraced us financier

jeffery epstein has been found dead in his prison cell in an apparent suicide. the 66—year—old was in jail awaiting trial on sex—trafficking charges that involved dozens of underage girls — claims that he had denied. the federal bureau of prisons said he was found on saturday at 6.30am. it says he was unresponsive — from an apparent suicide. attorney general william barr has confirmed both the fbi and inpector general will be investigating the death, which, he says, ‘raises serious questions‘. with the latest from new york, here's nedda tawfik. jeffrey epstein‘s extravagant lifestyle saw him party with us president donald trump. once a math teacher in manhattan, the finance you're accumulated a fortune that gained him access into high society. once close friends with prince andrew, he hosted a vacation with but that mask his accusers crimes. he sexually assaulted young girls who he had to give him and other

wealthy meant massages. he avoided federal charges in 2008 and a widely criticised plea deal that is under investigation by the department ofjustice. he was arrested again this july and charge and you work sex trafficking, he was in jail awaiting trial. epstein was found unresponsive on the floor of his prison cell in manhattan earlier this morning, many question of how he could have taken his own life and the fbi is investigating. just over two weeks ago he was found semiconscious and crying with injuries around his neck. his victims said he would have preferred to have lived herface his charges. the attorney general, william barr, says he is appalled by the news. he says the death raises serious questions. chris buckler is live from washington for us. tell us about why this has developed into such a big scandal. jeffrey epstein was arrested last month and charged with a series of sexual

offences, sexual trafficking of underage girls, but some of the controversy is about the fact that he was a number of years ago, a decade ago, charged with one offence related to state prostitution laws in florida and even back then investigators had found something like 36 underage girls who said they we re like 36 underage girls who said they were victims of his crimes. and therefore, there was a huge focus on this new investigation and what was to be an upcoming court case that would look at exactly whatjeffrey epstein was involved in. part of this was the fact he was such a well—connected figure, a new celebrities and royalty and she knew president clinton and trump and at one stage donald trump talked about him being a great guy, describing him being a great guy, describing him as liking beautiful women like him as liking beautiful women like him but he went on to say that epstein liked them and i quote donald trump, saying he liked them and what he described as on the younger side. the president has been

trying to distance himself from his comments and from jeffrey epstein. that is true for many others, including prominent individuals, like us politicians, named in some court documents released in the last week and we are looking to a civil case separate to the criminal case thatjeffrey epstein was facing but also very much connected to the charges for which he was being pursued. the attorney general is obviously furious and says this raises serious questions and in the last few minutes the manhattan attorney general says the investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment continues and it is hard to do that when the person being investigated has died? what you are seeing is this attempt to ensure thatjeffrey epstein‘s death does not mean the questions stop and if you listen to the lawyers for his alleged victims, they say they want to push civil cases and they want it

to push civil cases and they want it to be made public exactly what the authorities knew and they want to find the evidence that was out there and that combined with the fact that there are going to be investigations by the fbi and others into the circumstances of his death means there are going to be continuations of this huge focus on jeffrey epstein, to bring to light what happened at some of those parties that were so notorious. one comment that were so notorious. one comment that has come in from the mayor of new york, and jeffrey epstein was found at a secure federal security facility in manhattan, he said jeffrey epstein may have a skip day in court but if the wealthy predators involved in his sex ring think they have got awry with it, they are wrong and that gives you a sense they want to push ahead with questions and when you look at the investigation that is going on in concern with his death, that will be looked at very carefully because it is only a matter of weeks ago that he did apparently try to kill himself inside a cell at the same

facility and there are questions already about why he was not on suicide watch. i don't think the story will end there. chris buckler, thank you very much indeed. police in moscow are reported to have made more than 200 arrests during protests organised by opposition groups. the demonstratons were organised to demand free elections — the fourth big protest in a month. organisers say 40,000 people are taking part, though police estimates suggest the figure is less than half. this is what happened when police arrested one demostrator earlier. translation: they don't care about anything, the riot police don't care and the court does not care, they don't care about the constitution. how old are you? i am 20 years old, they said let's just take one from this site and one from that side. bbc correspondent oleg boldyrev has spent the day covering the protests in moscow. the first and the biggest one gathered, about 50,000 people, if

you believe the independent observers, and there was a breakaway protest when the cries dispersed, from the beginning a week ago there we re from the beginning a week ago there were calls to execute a peaceful walk, that is what the activists are calling this and police are very firm and that this is not authorised but this would not stop a few hundred people marching into the centre of moscow to the presidential administration building and that is why these took place. i saw at least 10 or 20 people in the count keeps rising and i think it will be well into hundreds right now. what is a reaction to the latest protests? the fourth in the last few weeks. any word from the kremlin? no, some commentators tried to disparage this and said the rally was not as big as proposed because the organisers requested a space for 100,000 people but they gathered 50,000 but objectively speaking, this is the

largest rally in moscow for seven or eight years and it is twice as large asa eight years and it is twice as large as a previous sanctioned rally held on the 14th ofjuly. how we were protests planned in future weeks? this is very unstable and liquid and the opposition, what is left of it after most of the activists and candidates stood in the election, they hope that this would snowball into such a massive show of protest and the authorities would back down. the authorities are not backing down on the protesters rising but of course by now the majority of the opposition minded activists understand this is a long struggle and they want to keep it in the public likes and they want this to happen every week but of course not every week sanctioned protests happened and unsanctioned ones for two weeks in a row have been disbursed quite heavily.

it's been another tense weekend of clashes between protesters and police in hong kong, with officers firing tear gas. the pro—democracy demonstrations are now in their 10th week. let's take a look at some scenes from a few hours ago. this is the tsim sha tsui district, in kowloon — a popular entertainment district. you can see what appears to be tear gas cannisters as the police move through the streets. the protesters dispersed but regrouped in other areas later on. the movement began in opposition to a bill allowing extradition to mainland china but it's become much bigger than that — it's now a call for greater democratic freedoms. our correspondent jonathan head has more. saturday evening in hong kong. another protest. but the tactics have changed. keeping one step ahead of the police, they have made an unannounced dash to block this busy intersection. the barricades go up with breathless efficiency. and then they wait.

the police arrive, as expected, at dusk. they are charging through a barrage of tear gas. but when they reach the barricades, there is no one left. save for a solitary woman shouting at the police through a speaker. the night's events are only starting. we have now come down to the commercial heart of kowloon. this is another location where the police have moved very quickly. they are blocking the road, there are protesters who have been surrounding the police station. all of this is happening very quickly. the police disperse them quickly but the protesters just move on. for the moment it looks as though they will pursue them down a side street. the tear gas warning goes up again. but the protesters have largely gone. in their place are regular bystanders in what is a busy shopping street —

and they are angry. a young woman has just been arrested. that only fuels more anger. here we are not seeing protesters but ordinary people on nathan road, who have lined up to watch the police trying to take control. you can hear them shouting abuse at the police. this has been going on for the last half hour. the police don't seem to know what to do. facing another furious crowd... ..the police eventually retreat. but even now, the saturday night drama here isn't over. this is proving to be a tenacious protest movement. it's far from spent. if the government's hope is to wait it out, that wait could be a long one. jonathan head, bbc news, hong kong.

let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. floods caused by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 100 people in southern and western india. the state of kerala is worst hit with a series of major landslides. relief camps have been set up and tens of thousands of people evacuated. but many are missing and rain is hampering rescue efforts. in china, at least 22 people have been killed, 16 are missing and over a million people have been forced from their homes as a powerful typhoon heads towards the financial capital, shanghai. typhoon lekima is thought to be the region's worst storm in five years. there has been a shooting inside a mosque in norway in suburban oslo. police say one elderly person was shotand injured in barum. officers arrested a white young man after he was subdued by worshippers in the mosque. they say he was carrying several weapons. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come... it's the first weekend of the new premier league football season — the champions, manchester city,

have made an impressive start. 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 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 joy of life. the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she has achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment.

the question is whether the american vote fully to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines... an fbi investigation is underway after the us financier jeffrey epstein was found dead in his new york prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. let's get more now on that story of jeffrey epstein‘s apparent suicide. ali watkins is a new york times journalist who has been covering the case so far. jeffrey epstein was a well—known financier in the us for decades and it is still unclear where he made his fortune but he became this mysterious socialite who really

function within the upper echelons of international rich and powerful circles and reasons we are talking about him is the allegations dogged him for years that he was involved in sexual abuse of young women and sex trafficking schemes and this has been a very long process to get him into a federal courtroom. after avoiding federal charges for sex trafficking in the early 2000s, jeffrey epstein was finally charged with sweeping sex trafficking conspiracy in newark three months ago. if this was suicide, the timing is not a coincidence. just yesterday more allegations were made against him. it is difficult for us to speculate if there is any connection between the documents released on him committing suicide but we do know that he did apparently attempt to kiss only three weeks ago and was put on suicide watch and he appears

to have been removed from that programme a few days ago and as you said, yesterday there was a huge document dump that drew into sharp focus this world of the rich and powerful that he operated in. how much scrutiny is the justice system under, given he was supposedly on suicide watch for the time? how much bigger does that make this scandal? we have seen an immediate backlash against the justice department and the bureau of prisons in the us and the bureau of prisons in the us and the fbi announced they are investigating the death of mr epstein and the attorney general said he was opening an internal investigation at the justice department through the inspector general into how this was allowed to happen and some of those questions are going to be why he was on suicide watch and why let him off that? because a few days ago he was under 24/7 surveillance. what happens? epstein has died but this scandal does not end ? happens? epstein has died but this scandal does not end? the criminal case against him specifically is

very likely over but we have seen prosecutors in court suggesting this is an ongoing investigation and we obviously have heard the rumours of the other rich and powerful men involved in his circle and prosecutors have indicated here that they are indeed investigating other people who were involved with mr epstein and other allegations so we re epstein and other allegations so were the case goes from here, there area were the case goes from here, there are a million possibilities and many others are likely in the cross hairs of the prosecutors. you have been working on this for a long time, why is so much interest in this? there are is so much interest in this? there a re lots of is so much interest in this? there are lots of different angles involved in the story. it is an externally complicated story. i think the reason you are seeing such an immediate reaction, particularly from the american audience, is this has been almost a 15 year long process to getjeffrey epstein to the point where he has to face

justice, basically. and to have him taking his own life right on the edge of having his victims being able to address in court and having an answer to so able to address in court and having an answer to so many able to address in court and having an answer to so many accusations, thatis an answer to so many accusations, that is why we see such an immediate backlash. that was ali watkin speaking earlier. much more about this developing story on our website, including this profile of the financier, who was charged with sex trafficking. just log onto bbc.com/news. a curfew has been reimposed in indian—administered kashmir after protests on friday against the removal of the region's autonomous status. there are reports that police fired pellets and tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators in the main city, srinagar, on friday. relations have been strained since delhi revoked kashmir‘s special status earlier in the week. pakistan has responded by suspending train links, and halting trade. we have reporters on both the sides of the line of control which divides kashmir. protests are taking place in muzaffarabad but first yogita limaye's report from srinagar

in the india—administered kashmir. tensions in kashmir have been rising and yesterday we saw in several areas stone pelting taking place and we also at a place for hundreds participated in a protest march. the bbc‘s language service was at the site where there was a huge protest rally and thousands of people participated in it, men and women. they were shouting anti—india slogans and holding up banners objecting to india removing kashmir‘s special status. in the video you can also see people running helter—skelter and you can hear the sound of gunfire. and we have been told that there have been some bullet injuries as well. we have tried to make our way to the hospital to confirm these reports of

people who have been injured but we have not been able to reach them because of hostilities on the ground. people are angry and locals have been turning us away so we had to come to a safe area. yogita limaye i speaking. india and pakistan have repeatedly clashed over rights over the disputed region. the bbc‘s secunder kermani is in muzaffarabad in pakistan—administered kashmir. the protest in pakistani administered kashmir are taking place almost daily basis and we are just a few kilometres away from that the border with indian administered kashmir and many people gathered here have relatives on the other side and they are increased and concerned about them as reports come out about alleged human rights abuses by indian security forces. even for those who don't have relatives, there is a strong sense of solidarity with those in indian administered kashmir and the people here want all of kashmir to be given

some kind of vote on independence and movie for it to join with pakistan. pakistani authorities say they are going on a diplomatic offensive. the crowd here want the pakistani authorities to go even further and they say an uprising in indian administered kashmir is inevitable because of the alleged human rights abuses occurring there. secunder kermani speaking. now all the sport. thank you. man city got their title defence after winning start with a thumping 50 victory at west ham. raheem sterling scoring the hat—trick for the champions. he shared the spotlight with the video assistant referee used to review the missed penalty from sergio aguero allowing him to make no mistake from the second bite of the apple as a marker for the season ahead. in terms of five goals, yes, but the performance

in the first half was far away from where we want to be but this is normal. we knew that, the first giveaway, 12:30pm. still, we are not in top condition so i knew that we lost a lot of simple balls, it is so difficult to have a good tempo of our game. tottenham had to come from behind to beat aston villa 31 in the late game, harry kane scoring twice but the home fans had to wait for an over an hourfor the but the home fans had to wait for an over an hour for the breakthrough which came from don gary who levelled for spurs and with four minutes remaining, his emphatic finish seal the three points for the second. we changed some pieces. we changed different positions on the pitch and the team is comfortable and started to create chances and of

course for this, the team fully deserved their victory. a brace from ashley barnes and gudmundsson saw burnley beating southampton three and graham potter got his first win asa and graham potter got his first win as a brighton manager, welling 3—0 at watford on the late equaliser and sheffield appointed bournemouth in the first flag match since 27 and crystal palace drew 0—0. celtic thrashed motherwell 5—2 to continue the ramp and started the season and elsewhere it finished 2—2 at mcdiarmid park actress and johnson came from 2—0 down at six in livingston and it was goalless in the match between hearts and ross county. marc marquez has secured a record 59th motogp pole position of the austrian grand prix, the honda world champion overtakes mick doohan on the all—time all—time list. his best lap of one minute and 23.02

seconds was a track record at the red bull ring and he was faster than the french writer on a petronas yamaha. andrea dovizioso, his closest rival, completed the front row for ducati. there was a blow for new zealand ahead of the rugby world cup earlier, not only did they lose to australia but they are also no longer the world's number one. the world champions, former world champions, we had a player dismissed for a dangerous tackle were beaten 47-26 in for a dangerous tackle were beaten 47—26 in the championship in perth and that is their first defeat since 2017 and it means that south africa have the upper hand in the championship and they are currently leading 17—13 in argentina. as we said, that result has implications further afield, new zealand have lost the top spot in the world rankings for the first time in 10 yea rs. wales a re rankings for the first time in 10 years. wales are set to take over. that is if alun wynjones beats

england in the first world cup warm up england in the first world cup warm up at twickenham tomorrow. the grand slam champions have named a strong 15 with captain jones becoming slam champions have named a strong 15 with captainjones becoming their most capped player and that will be the 33—year—old's 126 test match for his country. that game between wales and england at twickenham tomorrow and england at twickenham tomorrow and one other game... ireland ran in five tries to beat italy 29—10 at the aviva stadium in dublin. that is all the sport. back to you. thank you very much. now, we'll leave you with a new world record — of a chilly variety. this is austrian swimmerjosef koeberl — and he's just broken the world record for the longest duration making full body contact with ice. he had to stand in a box filled with ice cubes for more than 1 hour and 53 minutes — and ten seconds. he finished up looking happy and even managed a thumbs up for the cameras. a reminder of our top story... the disgraced us financier jeffery epstein has been found dead in his prison cell.

the fbi has confirmed they will be investigating the incident. the 66—year—old was in jail awaiting trial on sex—trafficking charges // that involved dozens of underage girls — claims that he had denied. that's it goodbye. some severe weather across the uk with torrential rain and thunderstorms in the very strong and damaging winds. whipping up the waves in penzance. it is an exposed spot but a gust of 84 mph on the isle of wight will be noteworthy in october let alone august and we saw gusts widely between 50—60 mph across inland areas and that is tied in with this low pressure, slowly pulling northwards and eastwards overnight into the north sea so gradually the strong gusts. to ease down. when the across northern scotla nd down. when the across northern scotland and south—east england and outbreaks of rain across scotland and northern ireland and northern england in this area will slip

further southwards and become more showery to the south of this and clearer skies and not as windy by tomorrow. temperatures overnight between 10 and 15 celsius. the concern tomorrow is between 10 and 15 celsius. the concern tomorrow is for the rain across scotland so the persistent rain across the central belt and southern scotland fringing northern england will bring disruption in places and it's first to gather through the morning and through the central belt into southern scotland and for the north of this it is mainly dry with spells of sunshine. that will extend into northern ireland for the afternoon and for england and wales it is a mixture of sunny spells and thundery showers. still windy for the northern isles tomorrow afternoon but many will be dry with sunshine extending into northern and western scotland but persistent rain through the central belt into southern scotland and fringing northern england. we could see 50 millimetres in places and it should be a fine afternoon from northern ireland with a mixture of sunshine and heavy and thundery showers through england and wales. we have the sunshine, may be 23

celsius, a cool feel across northern ireland and scotland, particularly with that persistent rain. we start the new week with these frontal system starting to edge their way eastwards to the more persistent rain mostly start to clear away through monday morning. behind that we will see spells of sunshine before showers gather across northern ireland and the western isles into parts of wales and south—west england. looking further eastward through the day, it is a cooler start to the week. that is a trend in the week ahead with sunshine and showers and the potential for persistent rain on wednesday. that is all from e—goodbye.

hello this is bbc news, the headlines: the us financierjeffrey epstein has been found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. officials say it is an suspected suicide. place in moscow say they have made 200 arrests. more than1 more than 1 million more than1 million people have been forced from their homes in south—eastern china. at least 22 people have been killed. police in hong kong have fired tear gas at protesters and attend separate —— consecutive weekend