with more persistent rain to come on wednesday. the this is bbc news, i'm simon pusey. our top stories: the fbi investigates as us financier jeffrey epstein is found dead in his new york prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. many are now questioning how he could have apparently taken his own life and why greater precautions won't put in place after he was found semiconscious with neck injuries just found semiconscious with neck injuriesjust two found semiconscious with neck injuries just two weeks ago. 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 tensions remain high in indian—administered kashmir after protests against the removal of the region's autonomous status.

the fbi is to investigate the death of the multi millionaire businessman and convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein, who was found dead in his cell, in a jail in new york. the 66 year old is believed to have taken his own life, while awaiting trial on new charges, of trafficking dozens of underage girls for sex. epstein had once counted among his friends bill clinton, donald trump and prince andrew. he was due to stand trial next year. our north america correspondent, neda tawfik, reports from new york. the body ofjeffrey epstein is taken away from a new york hospital this evening. the multimillionaire sex offender was found dead in his prison cell as he awaited trial for sex trafficking. once, epstein's extravagant lifestyle had seen him party with donald trump. the president had called

him a terrific guy. he has since distanced himself from the convicted sex offender. originally a math teacher in manhattan, the financier mysteriously accumulated a fortune that gained him entrance into high society and royal circles. he was close friends with prince andrew. seen here as recently as 2015 in new york. but his social status and opulent parties, his accusers say, masked lurid crimes at his many palatial estates. for more than a decade, epstein faced allegations he sexually assaulted dozens of young girls, you recruited to give him and other wealthy men massages. one alleged victim, virginia roberts, said jeffrey epstein instructed her to have sex with at least half a dozen prominent men, beginning when she was 16 years old. she was photographed with prince andrew and in 2015, she alleged she was forced to have a sexual relationship with him. buckingham palace has said those allegations

are categorically untrue. in 2008, epstein pleaded guilty to lesser prostitution charges. that widely criticised plea deal is now under investigation by the department ofjustice. after 13 months in prison, he continued to live a life of luxury, but he was arrested again last month and charged with sex trafficking. epstein was found unresponsive on the floor of his prison cell, here in manhattan. many are now questioning how he could have apparently taken his own life and why greater precautions weren't put in place after he was found semiconscious with neck injuries just two weeks ago. his victims say they would have preferred he lived to face justice. neda tawfik, bbc news, new york. our correspondent chris buckler has the latest from washington.

it was related to state prostitution laws in florida when investigators found 36 underage girls who are victims of his crimes and there is a huge focus on this new investigation and what was to be an upcoming court case that would look at exactly what jeffrey epstein was involved in. pa rt jeffrey epstein was involved in. part of this was the fact that he was such a well—connected figure, he knew royalty, a new presidents clinton and trump. donald trump talked about him being a great guy, although he went on to say that jeffrey epstein like them, and lately, on the underside. the president has been trying to distance himself from those comments. that is true for many others. including some prominent individuals like us politicians who we re individuals like us politicians who were named in some court documents

that were released in the last week. relating to a civil case that is separate to the criminal case that geoffrey epstein was facing but also very much connected to the charges for which she was being pursued. we will be speaking to new york times columnist ali watkins later in the programme. tens of thousands of people in russia, have taken part in nationwide demonstrations, which organisers say were the biggest the country has seen in almost a decade. the protestors are demanding opposition candidates be allowed to take part in local elections. hundreds of people were arrested. from moscow, sarah rainsford reports. it was moscow's biggest protest in years. tens of thousands shouting their anger in the pouring rain. this wave of protest was sparked by a block on opposition candidates from local elections. but the chants now have a new focus. they are demanding the release of people like this student. facing eight years behind bars for rioting.

though almost all the violence of these protests has come from the police. today's rally was authorised by city officials. well—known musicians turned out along with their fans. many too young to know any president but putin but fed up with his take on democracy. i think people are speaking out and i am here for the first time ever. i have never been to a protest in my life. why now? why did you join this one? the boiling point has been reached. that clearly worries the russian authorities. judging by the scale of their response. from the authorised protests on the outskirts of moscow, people have headed here to the city centre and they want to take their protest to the presidential administration just over there. but instead, they've been met by huge numbers of riot police to stop them getting anywhere

near the centre of power here. but they've cleared the streets before and that hasn't stopped these protests. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. it's been another tense weekend of clashes between protesters and police in hong kong. the pro—democracy demonstrations are now in their 10th week. the movement began in opposition to a bill allowing extradition to mainland china, but it's now a call for greater democratic freedoms. our correspondent jonathan head reports. 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 get some of

the day's other news. floods caused by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least a hundred 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. year than yemen's internationally recognised government has suffered —— yemen's internationally recognised government has suffered a setback after losing control of many key parts of its stronghold, aden. this comes after four days of fighting. until recently, presidential forces and separatists were fighting together against the houthi rebels as part of the saudi—led coalition. the presidential palace has been seized and the battle over the southern port reveals a fracture in the coalition. 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 man after he was subdued by worshippers in the mosque. they say he was carrying several weapons.

a curfew has been reimposed in indian—administered kashmir after protests against delhi's announcemement that it was revoking the region's autonomous status. —— we have reporters on both the sides of the line of control which divides kashmir. demonstrations have been taking place in muzaffarabad, but first, here's yogita limaye‘s report from srinagar in the india—administered kashmir. tensions in kashmir have been rising. we saw in several areas stone pelting taking place and we we re stone pelting taking place and we were also the place were hundreds of people participated in a protest march but the bbc‘s urdu language service team was at aside but there was huge protest rally, dozens of people participated in it, men and women. they were shouting anti— india slogans, holding up banners, objecting to india removing kashmir‘s special status. in the video, you can also see people running helter—skelter, you can hear the sound of gunfire.

and we have been told that there have been some bullet injuries as well. we've tried to make our way to ——to the hospital to confirm reports of people injured but we haven't been able to reach there because of hostilities on the ground. locals have been turning us away so it had to come to a safe area. there are parts of the city where we have seen more people and vehicles out on the street. people have been coming out to purchase things right now from shops. curfews to purchase things right now from shops. cu rfews of to purchase things right now from shops. curfews of eased a little bit that i haven't been lifted altogether on phone and internet lines have been cut off so people aren't able to communicate with each other. kashmir‘s special status had given the local government here the right to make laws except in areas of defence, communications and external affairs. all of that has now gone away. pakistan has

condemned the move, it's downgraded political relations with india. this has always been disputed. it's a land that is no stranger to conflict but perhaps barely before has it stood on the cusp of such an uncertain future and what we are seeing now is that the situation here is becoming more volatile. india and pakistan have repeatedly clashed over rights in the disputed region. the bbc‘s secunder kermani is in muzaffarabad in pakistan—administered kashmir. protest here in pakistani administered kashmir are taking place on an almost daily basis. we area place on an almost daily basis. we are a few kilometres away from the de facto border with indian administered kashmir and many of the people gathered here have relatives on the other side that they are increasingly concerned about. 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. the people here want all of kashmir to be given some kind of vote on independence, maybe tojoin be given some kind of vote on independence, maybe to join with pakistan. pakistani authorities say that they are going on a diplomatic offensive. but the crowd here want the pakistani authorities to go even further. they say an uprising in indian administered kashmir is now inevitable because of the alleged human rights abuses occurring there. they say that they are willing to support that uprising that could present some difficulties for the pakistani state which has been under international pressure to take action against militant groups. this latest development in indian administered kashmir is really increasing the tension in an already volatile region. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the austrian swimmer who became an ice man in order to bag himself

a world record. 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. to a split in the anglican community.

this is bbc news, 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. ali watkins is a journalist with the new york times, who's been covering the case. jeffrey epstein was a well—known financier in the united states for decades, really. it is still kind of unclear where he made his fortune, but he became this kind of mysterious socialite who really functions within the upper echelons of the international rich and powerful. and the reason we are all talking about him now, he has had allegations dogged him for years

that he was involved in sexual abuse of young women, sex trafficking schemes, and this has been a very long process, to even get him into a federal courtroom. so after avoiding federal courtroom. so after avoiding federal charges for sex trafficking in the early to thousands, jeffrey epstein was finally charged with sweeping sex trafficking conspiracy in new york about three months ago. —— early 20005. in new york about three months ago. -- early 20005. if this was suicide, the timing probably isn't a coincidence. just yesterday, more allegations made against him? yeah, i think it is difficult for us to speculate if there is a connection between the documents being released and him committing suicide, but we do know that he did apparently attempt to take his own life three weeks ago and was put on a suicide watch programme. he appears to have been removed from that suicide watch programme a few days ago, and then as you said, yesterday, there was a huge document dump which drew into sharper focus this world of the rich and powerful that he operated in. how much scrutiny as the justice

system under, given that he was supposedly on suicide watch for that time? how much bigger does that make the scandal? we have seen almost immediate backlash against the justice department, against the bureau of prisons here in the us. the fbi announced they are investigating the death of mr epstein, the attorney general, william barr, said he is opening an internal investigation at the justice department through the inspector general, into how this was allowed to happen. and some of those questions will be, why was he allowed off suicide watch? what was the thinking and allowing him off suicide watch? itjust a few days ago he was 20 47 surveillance. —— because just a few days ago. a fuel tanker explosion has killed at least 60 people in tanzania and has injured many others. many of the victims were siphoning fuel from the tanker which had crashed in the area of morogoro, about 200km to the west of the main city dar es salaam. our correspondent merchuma has been following the story from nairobi in neighbouring kenya,

and sent this report. there was a flaming wreckage scattered over a wide area, and charred bodies lying on the ground. survivors were rushed to the nearby hospitals, some with severe injuries. translation: hospitals, some with severe injuries. translationzlj hospitals, some with severe injuries. translation: iwas hospitals, some with severe injuries. translation: i was passing by the scene of the accident. one of the man who was on fire grabs me. his clothes were on fire stop i was burnt while rescuing him. the local hospitals are flooded with victims of the accident. we need iv fluid, we need catheters, we need jelly, we need a gauze roles, we need bandages, we need drinking water. morogoro town is on a major route for transporting cargo and fuel from the port, dar es salaam, which is the port, dar es salaam, which is the country's commercial capital. the majority of the victims were motorcyclists who rushed to to

collect the oil gushing onto the road, and those selling goods by the roadside. a man was undoing the terminals of the battery. he wanted to steal the battery. when i saw that, i run away. as soon as the amount pulled out the battery, the explosion happened. disasters like this have happened all too frequently in parts of africa, where some people are willing to take huge risks to remove fuel from tankers and pipelines. let's get some of the day's other news. police in the danish capital, copenhagen, say an explosion has hit a police station — the second blast to strike the city this week. there were no injuries. on tuesday, a device caused damage to the national tax agency offices — it's not yet known what's behind the attacks, nor if they are linked. a river in britain has turned bright blue by a mystery substance. the environment agency said it was carrying out tests on part of the river frome in somerset. results are expected on monday, but it is being treated as a pollution incident. currently there are no

reports of dead wildlife. the uk's energy regulator has said it may impose fines after nearly a million people across england and wales were affected by major power cut on friday. supply failure left thousands train passengers stranded, and homes up and down the country without electricity. it was the biggest and most disruptive power failure for over a decade. major stations in chaos, passengers stranded or trapped, traffic controls inactive and a large nhs hospital without power. one of the many caught on electric trains that went dead was lily winin. the power cut off and i was sat in a carriage by myself and the storm had started outside, so all of the rain was coming onto the windows and it was pitch black. we all started to sit together to try and piece together what was going on,

because no one could really understand and the announcements were failing because of the lack of power. and then we all had to walk to the very end of the carriage in the pitch black, going through a tunnel. after four hours, lily and her fellow passengers were led along the tracks to the nearest station. at ipswich hospital, the main power cut was followed by a failure in emergency back—up generators, but hospital managers say essential equipment was able to keep working on batteries. so, what went wrong? two generator plans, one a gas—fired power station in cambridgeshire, the other a large wind farm in the north sea, failed almost simultaneously. to protect the rest of the network, power was cut to certain areas. a double failure has happened before, in 2008, but with far less impact. so, why so much worse this time? the energy regulator has asked for an urgent report. we need to do a detailed technical examination of the event and we will be sending that report through to ofgem and we will build that analysis over the coming days and weeks as we review it. and then, off that, i'm sure we will learn lessons and want to review how this works to avoid some of those significant impacts in future.

there are also concerned that although the power came back quite quickly, the railways were in chaos for hours. questions are being asked about the performance of some of the new trains now in use. they are electric, the air conditioning wouldn't work and it became hot and stuffy very quickly because windows can't be opened. also, even when power was restored, they couldn't be restarted by the drivers who had to wait for engineers to come along. that massively added to the delays. national grid could now face a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover. but some argue that years of underinvestment by successive governments is partly to blame, leaving the uk with a power network that works fine, most of the time, but is exposed when the unexpected happens. ben ando, bbc news. plenty of high temperatures

across europe so far this summer, but one austrian adventurer has found a way of keeping super cool while setting a world record. james franey has the story. a box, lots of bags of ice, and swimming trunks. all you need to try to set a world record. needsjosef koeberl, and extreme sports man from blustery, determined to eat the existing time anybody has spent buried up to their shoulders in ice while wearing practically nothing. —— meetjosef koeberl. the target, more than two hours. the onlookers a little bit confused. translation: more than two hours. the onlookers a little bit confused. translationzlj don't think it matters weather this makes any sense, it is just a mad idea to do it and put yourself in a box full of ice and try to set a world record. but it is fascinating. the clock ticks by. medics are on hand. but they are not needed. two hours, eight minutes and 47 seconds later, josef koeberl emerges.

seemingly with little impact on his body. no wonder one blustery newspaper once said he had the genes ofa newspaper once said he had the genes of a polar bear. —— one austrian newspaper. there was some pain, sometimes it was difficult. but i managed to get into the moment and concentrate. water also features in his future plans, with a project to swim the length of the nile. at least that might be a bit warmer. just before we go — a reminder of our top story. the disgraced american financier, jeffrey epstein, has been found dead in his prison cell after an apparent suicide, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. it appears he managed to take his own life at a prison in new york — considered one of the most secure in the us — despite having made a previous suicide attempt there last month. you can get more on our main story, that's the death of the financier jeffrey epstein on our website. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @sipusey.

but for now, thank you very much, and stay tuned here on bbc world news. hello. the weather has thrown a lot of things that are so far this weekend. torrential rain, thunderstorms, and those very strong and in places damaging winds, here whipping up the sea damaging winds, here whipping up the sea at lyme regis in dorset. while it is unexposed spot, and 84 mile an hour gust at the needles on the isle of wight would be notable in october, let alone august. we have seen october, let alone august. we have seen widespread gusts of 50—60 miles an hour well inland as well, all down to the steep area of low pressure which continues to pull away north and east overnight. slowly taking the strongest winds with it, but leaving on its wake this trail of fronts, which will bring quite a wet day to scotland and northern england. at least we

begin sunday with somewhat lighter winds. still quite windy, particularly for eastern england and also northern scotland, and it is scotla nd also northern scotland, and it is scotland and northern england but we are most concerned about through sunday. some heavy rain, we could well see 20—30 millimetres quite widely, maybe 40—50 millimetres in some places. it is really through the central belt, down into southern scotla nd the central belt, down into southern scotland and northern england, but we are going to see the heaviest of the rain. to the north, some spells of sunshine, plus northern and western scotland. northern ireland is not having too bad a day. across a large swathe of england and wales, away from the far north, a mix of sunny spells and showers. still windy through sunday afternoon across the northern isles and the far north of scotland, but at least dry, would spells of sunshine tending across to the western isles. you can see this heavy rain in the central belt, down into southern scotland, just fringing the far north of england as well. mainly dry with spells of sunshine for northern ireland. a mixture of sunny spells and some happy and in places sundry showers pushing their way from west to east across england and wales. some will manage to stay dry. when you have the sunshine, 22 or 23

celsius. where you have the persistent rain across parts of scotland, temperatures will struggle to get above 14 or 15. so quite a cool day here. it is the theme as we begin the new week. over time we get to monday, those fronts are starting to monday, those fronts are starting to slide away south and east, taking the persistent rain with it. so it is drying up across parts of southern scotland and northern england through monday morning. behind that rain, we will see some spells of sunshine developing. it may take some time for the rent to finally disappear, but has the rain —— as the day wears on we have showers spreading across the country, perhaps pushing further east through the day, and really quite a cool feeling. i think most will struggle to get much above 18 or 19. little change, will struggle to get much above 18 or19. little change, really, in the had. a mixture of sunny spells, showers, may be some longer spells of rain on wednesday, turning a bit dry through thursday and friday.

willair this is bbc news, the headlines: the us financierjeffrey epstein has been found dead in his new york prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. officials say it is a suspected suicide — the fbi is investigating. police in moscow are reported to have made more than 200 arrests, during protests organised by opposition groups. the rally, in support of free elections, was authorised by officials, but the march moved away from its permitted route. more than a 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 teargas at protestors — in what's now the tenth consecutive weekend of pro—democracy demonstrations. the territory's leader carrie lam has said the protests are causing economic chaos.