this is bbc world news today. our top stories. president trump is accused of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the apparent suicide of the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein. tear gas in hong kong, as police and protesters clash again for the tenth consecutive weekend of unrest. three days of fighting in the yemeni city aden leave a0 dead — as former allies in the fight against the houthi rebels turn on one another. and a brilliant start for manchester united in their first game of the new premier league season as they thrash chelsea 4—0. hello and welcome to world news today.

donald trump has been accused of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the apparent suicide ofjeffrey epstein. the us president, retweeted a baseless claim that bill clinton was involved in the death. the disgraced financier was found dead in his new yorkjail cell while awaiting trial on sex—trafficking charges involving under—age girls. the fbi and the usjustice department have opened investigations. chris buckler reports from washington. jeffrey epstein was once the man at the centre of high—society parties and a figure instrumental in the abuse of underage girls. his death in a new york prison, just weeks after another apparent suicide attempt, has raised many questions. some, including the city's mayor, have called it convenient, given the countless claims about his crimes and the alleged involvement of some of his rich and famous friends. among those retweeting conspiracy theories was donald trump... you know what, he had information on the clintons and the man ended up dead...

..who gave publicity to com pletely u nstu bsta ntiated allegations about another president — bill clinton, whose wife hillary ran against him for the presidency. this is another example of our president using his position of public trust to attack his political enemies with unfounded conspiracy theories. mr trump was himself at one time a friend of epstein‘s. they were pictured partying together. but that was many years ago and the president and the white house insist he is now concerned about getting to the truth about what happened at events epstein organised in florida and new york. i think the president just wants everything to be investigated and you know trying to connect the president to this monster from years ago where they're seen dancing in a video, as opposed to other people who were seen actively i suppose flying around with this monster.

the duke of york, who was at church today at balmoral with the queen, was one of epstein‘s other famous friends. he's strongly denied a groping accusation made against him in court documents, with buckingham palace describing it as categorically untrue. but there is a push in the us for everything to be investigated and a demand that the inquiries into epstein don't end with his death. and speaking a short time ago, chris said there's no doubt the democrats are furious about donald trump's latest tweets. the idea that the president, who had a long association withjeffrey epstein himself, although in recent yea rs epstein himself, although in recent years he had distanced himself from him, the fact that he would tweet these kind of conspiracy theories has left them saying that what he is done is dangerous, divisive and it is not presidential. it is something they say should not happen from someone they say should not happen from someone who occupies the white house. in the meantime, us

authorities are acutely aware of the need to try to ensure that this investigation is carried out extremely thoroughly because epstein was so extremely thoroughly because epstein was so connected to some of america's most influential figures and that is why the fbi has been asked to investigate his death in a prison cell. that is unusual in a case of apparent suicide but they wa nt to case of apparent suicide but they want to try and show that they are doing all they can to find out exactly how he died and in what circumstances. speaking of conspiracy theories, and this is maybe a bit young —— strong, but bill de blasio is pointing to questions about the timing of the death and how convenient it was. yeah, and the convenience of it is something that has been said by more than just something that has been said by more thanjust bill de something that has been said by more than just bill de blasio. something that has been said by more thanjust bill de blasio. but it's also been said by the victims of jeffrey epstein and they say that although he will now not face trial, they are pushing for enquiries to be widened to look at those around him,

his associates, those he found, recruited and exploited underaged girls in his party at florida and new york. they say those investigations have to take place as well as an enquiry into his death. and chris, he died with a lot of information that has not come out yet. what likelihood is it that the authorities will get the details now? in the last couple of days we have had court documents that have been released from a separate civil case but it is nonetheless connected to the jeffrey case but it is nonetheless connected to thejeffrey epstein case and in those there have been allegations against some us politicians, some prominent individuals. people who are known to the public, and they have had to respond to those, denying those allegations but it gives you the idea that there are going to be other cases that are pushed by others and that they want to try and expose what happened at jeffrey epstein‘s parties and it

gives you the idea that while jeffrey epstein is dead, the investigation surrounding him are not going to die. they are going to do all they can to expose the truth and they say they are considering their actions and that they want to try and sue jeffrey epstein‘s estate. in hong kong, demonstrators have challenged police as they call for more autonomy from beijing. an approved protest in one part of the city spilled over once again, the authorities responded with police in riot gearfiring tear gas. it's the tenth successive weekend of such scenes in the territory. our correspondentjonathan head sent this report. this is how it starts every weekend now in hong kong. they've turned improvising barricades into an art form here. they work with impressive speed and coordination. there is never much time before the police arrive.

these confrontations are now a familiar routine in hong kong's streets. generally, the protesters retreat, avoiding direct contact. but, by nightfall, the clashes were happening in multiple locations across the city and getting worse. the police are stressed and acting at times with little restraint. this was an underground station where protesters were corralled by the police and then beaten down the escalators. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, has called for an independent investigation into police tactics. it's one of the five demands of the protest movement. but his intervention has been rebuffed by china which accuses britain of meddling in its internal affairs. there are those here who still hope for some kind of foreign support for their cause.

in truth, though, they are largely on their own and up against an unyielding and increasingly impatient china which has warned it won't stand by if this unrest goes on. now, the situation appears to have calmed. another of our correspondents, steve mcdonell, was at the scene of some of the clashes between police and protestors. here's what he saw. i top the other end of the street which is where the riot police have gathered —— we are right up the other end of the street. this new strategy sees that the protesters don't want to take them on and get arrested, so there were hundreds of protesters here minutes ago and mostly they have fled. now we only

have d oze ns mostly they have fled. now we only have dozens here. the new hit—and—run strategy is to go in somewhere, strike, and i might be able to,... strike the area, maybe spray graffiti and everybody is fleeing and you can see it now because the police are coming in another direction. they are coming down the side. we can see the riot police coming in. they are coming in quickly. let's move across and see if we can see it. they want to make arrests, they don't want to shut down areas any more. they want to try and arrest enough people to take the heat out of this movement. but so the heat out of this movement. but so far it hasn't been working. so here they come they have people they are targeting and they are running at them, they don't want to lock the

area down, they want to make arrests. and this is the way it is going to pan out from here on in, it seems. stories making the news. israeli police and palestinian worshippers have clashed at the al aqsa mosque compound in jerusalem. the police fired stun grenades to disperse the crowds after thousands of palestinians assembled to celebrate the muslim festival of eid al adha. a powerful typhoon that struck the south east coast of china near shanghai is now known to have killed at least 32 people. more than a million have been forced from their homes. lekima is the region's worst storm in five years. brazilian president, jair bolsonaro, has said his country does not need environmental aid payments from germany. his comments come after the german environment minister said she would withhold about $40 million because of concerns over increasing deforestation in the amazon. germany has been donating money to brazil to help finance forest and biodiversity

projects for decades. an armed separatist group in yemen has taken effective control of the port city of aden — after attacking its former allies, the saudi—backed government of yemen, in its strongholds there. the un says more than a0 people have been killed in the fighting, with hundreds more injured. saudi—led forces have launched military action against the militia known as the southern separatist group, but they appear to remain in control of key buildings. let's take a moment to look at the somewhat confused situation in yemen. the civil war there has drawn in regional powers with conflicting interests, which fragmented further in the past week. the country has effectively had two capitals — sanaa and aden — since 2014 when houthi rebels — backed by iran — took over sanaa and pushed the government of president hadi to move their base to aden. hadi fled into exile in 2015 to the saudi capital riyadh. the saudi—led coalition made up of the uae and other arab nations, has been bombing the houthis in an attempt to restore his government.

for most of the war they've been fighting the houthis alongside the uae—backed southern separatists who want independence from the north. but now it seems those separatists have turned on theirformer allies — effectively creating a third faction in the fighting. the bbc‘s arab affairs editor sebastian usher explains why the former allies may have fallen out now. because of southern goes back a long way and it's the division that was endedin way and it's the division that was ended in the unified as a country, so ended in the unified as a country, so in an alliance of convenience with the other elements with the other elements of the co——ish —— coalition, they came down to the south and the separatists were separate in the fight and they fight along the other main battle ground for a long time. the reason why now that the separatists have said that this is that they are going to go harm for this, i think there are two

reasons. one is the fact that several attacks in aden last week resulted in members and soldiers being killed and one of the commanders being killed and at the funeralfighting commanders being killed and at the funeral fighting broke out between separatists and other members of the coalitions, but the separatists see the saudi part of the coalition is favouring the islamist side of yemen, without getting too corrugated about it, there is a group that was once a main player in yemen that has become less visible in the last few years but is still very much there so they have essentially said that there is a project to turn the south, aden, into an islamist stronghold and they said they would not allow that because it could allow al-qaeda to come back and that was one of the main challenges facing yemen, so this is an immediate reaction to something that happened recently but a long—term project as well. sebastien usher speaking there. stay with us on bbc

world news, still to come: sri lanka's former defence chief launches his presidential bid as the candidate for the opposition. 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 enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long. the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she has 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 today. the latest headlines: president trump is accused of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the apparent suicide of the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein. the fbi is investigating the death. police in norway say they're investigating a shooting at a mosque in an oslo suburb as an attempted act of terrorism. a spokesman said the suspected attacker, described as a young man of norwegian background, appeared to hold far—right and anti—immigrant views. jane—frances kelly reports. worshippers gather at a temporary mosque at a hotel in oslo to mark the beginning of eid al—adha. they were visiting visited by the country's prime minister,

who spoke of the need to combat hate speech online and in society. the police is having a higher priority against hate speech and harassment on the internet and so we are trying to combat this but it is a challenge, i think it is a worldwide challenge. luckily, nobody was seriously hurt in the attack. a 75—year—old was able to overpower the gunmen. he started to fire, then i grabbed him. despite the attack are being heavily armed, the elderly man knocked weapons out of his hands and saved other worshippers. many in the community feel under threat. this is affecting our children because the identity of our children has been broken up, we are harassed on a daily basis. it is time for the norwegian government to take a clear stand point, what are they going to do moving forward to make us secure enough?

the police say they have arrested a young norwegian man who appears to hold far right and anti—immigrant views. they've also launched a murder investigation following the discovery of a woman's body at the suspect‘s house. investigators say she is related to the man under arrest. floods have killed almost 150 people in southern india. nearly half the deaths occured in the southern state of kerala, where continuing heavy rain and landslides forced more than a hundred— thousand people to take shelter in relief camps. our reporter deepdi bathini is in kerala with the latest. we are here at one of the relief camps in the district of kerala and we have been travelling across the districts that have been announced as red alert and faced the severe impact of the flood in the last week, and we went to one area where a lot of people have been shifted to the relief camps and various other places where there have been landslides that were reported in the

last two days and a minimum of more than 50 people have been announced dead as a result of the landslides. although the relief camps are seeing the family is trying to get to know about what has happened to their loved ones while still stuck under the debris of the landslides and other places, but here in this district what we see out the relief camp is most of them have shifted here, and there are 130 people living in this relief camp and you can see the people here who have come and they all belong to one religion, they are agricultural labourers who work in the fields as agricultural labourers. i've been speaking to some of them are most of them have been telling me that their entire houses have been washed away due to the flood and right now, at this relief camp, they have facilities which have been provided,

food, shelter and clothing but now you the future seems doubtful but their houses have been washed away and they do not know what to expect in the coming days. floods caused by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least a hundred people in southern and western india. the former sri lankan wartime defence chief — accused of human rights abuses — has been nominated as the opposition‘s candidate for the presidential elections to be held later this year. gotabhaya rajapaksa was in charge of the military operations durign the the final stages of the country's civil war. the bbc‘s anbarasan ethirajan reports. the long wait is over for gota baya rajapa ksa, the feared wartime official who is running for the country's top job. mr rajapa ksa, brother of the former president mahinda, is a controversial figure. he served as the defence secretary when his brother was the president from 2005 to 2015. the un says tens of thousands of people were killed during the final stages of nearly three decade old civil war. some of those killed during the conflict

where a who were critics of the then government. in one of the cases, a well—known editor, lasa ntha wickrematunge, was murdered in colombo in 2009. mr wickrematunge's family and other rights abuse victims have filed lawsuits against mr rajapaksa in a us court. mr rajapaksa, who was a dual national at the time of the alleged incident, says he has now renounced his us citizenship. i caught up with him at his columbo residence. the well—known journalist lasantha wickrematunge was killed about ten years ago. so far, the investigation has not made any progress and the family, they directly blame you for that. i'm not responsible for that. we enquired, genuinely we enquired. now, under this government, they have enquired. but they have not been able to pinpoint anybody

without any reasonable, you know, doubt that who had done this. the number of rights abuse cases against mr rajapaksa has also risen in recent months. even if he wins, he is likely to face drawn—out court battles. mr rajapaksa denies any wrongdoing. the presidential elections are happening in the backdrop of easter sunday bombings earlier this year. mr rajapaksa's strong—arm image appeals to many sinalese who have been critical of the current government's failure to prevent suicide attacks by local islamist groups. sri lanka's governing alliance has a formidable task in challenging mr rajapaksa. ukraine has described a visit by russia's president, vladimir putin, to the annexed crimean peninsula, as a "blatant violation of ukraine's sovereignty". mr putin, was the guest of honour, of a right—wing

nationalist bikers' group. crimea was annexed from ukraine by russia in 2014, violating international law. lots going on in the world of sport and holly has the latest. there was a dream start for manchester united in their first premier league game of the season. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s side beat chelsea 4—0 — their biggest victory over them at old trafford since 1965. a miserable start for frank lampard though in his first game as a premier league manager. chelsea had looked strong in the first half until marcus rashford got united going from the penalty spot after a foul by kurt zouma in the first—half. and the goals kept coming after the break. anthony martial doubled their lead, before rashford scored his second. and then what a debut for this man. 21—year—old daniel james off the bench to score united's fourth. at 4-0, at 4—0, you cannot dream of more or

expect more, but then again we are just working on improving as a team, finding a style that suits us and suits the players we have and i think today we showed that we still need a bit of time, but it is coming. we are improving. elsewhere pierre—emerick aubameyang ensured arsenal's campaign got off to a winning start at newcastle united. his instinctive finish proved the difference at st james' park, as steve bruce's reign as newcastle boss started with a 1—0 defeat. we had the better opportunities in the game, and the disappointing thing is gifting the goal. there's nothing i can do about people protesting. they pay their money and they are entitled to their opinion but there's nothing i can do about that and all i can do is get a group of players together and formulate a tea m of players together and formulate a team which the supporters can associate with. and being one of them, i know for a fact that they

will be coming back in their thousands. you can't take that for granted, but that is the way the clu b granted, but that is the way the club is. it is unique, the support for it. the support is quite remarkable. nuno espirito sa nto's wolves had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee as their game at leicester city ended goalless. the technology is making its debut in the division this season. leander dendoncker‘s strike disallowed because of a handball in the build—up. wales have missed out on the chance to top rugby union's world rankings, after defeat to england. warren gatland's side would have replaced new zealand had they avoided defeat in the world cup warm—up match at twickenham. patrick gearey was there. england have kept wales from the top of the world. all wales needed to do was win or draw at twickenham and they would have gone above new zealand to the number one ranking spot, but getting whole —— results of the home of english rugby is not

easy. england picks an experimental cyber bonded quickly. vunipola bulldozing his way through the welsh defence. the welsh scrum—half gareth davies slaloms his way through the english defence to get wales back into this, but it was a rusty welsh performance epitomised by the third try. ken owens from the line—out threw the ball straight to his opposite number and it was 21—7 to england at half—time. wales came backin england at half—time. wales came back in the second half with george north and alun wynjones scoring and it seemed to set up a big comeback but england held them. george ford's penalties and elliot daly‘s drop goal when they came through the test well but eddie jones goal when they came through the test well but eddiejones has some thinking to do. he names his squad for the rugby world cup on monday. that's all the sport for now. more on the website including the latest from the rogers cup in tennis where serena williams had to pull out. that was due to back spasms, and an emotional result for her.

more on the website. that is all for me “— more on the website. that is all for me —— from a corner. thanks a do stay tuned. —— thanksa —— thanks a lot, do stay tuned. further reports of flooding today and it's no surprise because in southern scotland and northern england we had a month of rain in the last two or three days. the rain is slow to clear away and the sharp showers we have seen in southern areas and thunderstorms, and acquire to enter the night across much of scotla nd to enter the night across much of scotland and northern ireland and it is quite chilly and as the low pressure pushes away, the high—pressure bills to the west which allows a breeze across the uk, right the way down from the polls

and for some time the temperatures will be below average day and night. so, you can see, the risk of showers across northern areas and the potential for some heavy showers running into southern parts of england, and may thundery outbreaks. so don't be surprised of the southern and eastern areas seeing sharp showers through the morning but there is a lot of dry weather tomorrow. northern ireland, much of scotland, central and southern parts of in the number wales and just the odd shower around and those showers could dwindle across northern england, and there will be the odd one peppered around, but north—west scotla nd one peppered around, but north—west scotland and northern ireland will definitely see them and it is cooler but there should be more sunshine, lighter winds and despite somebody‘s being a couple of degrees below average, it should be pleasant enoughin average, it should be pleasant enough in the strong august sunshine. may be more showers going into the evening and fading away overnight. quite a cool night for many of us. single figures and may some morning mist and fog and

already the rain, the next weather system approaching from the south and west, so tuesday still looking like the driest day of the week, and monday and tuesday are the drier days but we still have showers in the north and west and rain creeping along southern counties later on and still pleasant enough, 18 up to 20, despite being a below par. it looks like englund and wales will bear the brunt of the rain, but again it could be windy, so quite a lot to keep our eyes on in the next few days, particularly the developing area of low pressure. more on the website.

this is bbc world news, the headlines, president trump is accused of promoting unfounded company received theories about the apparent suicide of disgraced financierjo —— jeffrey epstein. apparent suicide of disgraced financierjo ——jeffrey epstein. he was waiting to be charged for sex trafficking crimes. police in hong kong have clashed with pro—democracy demonstrators. the un says up to a0 people may have died in recent fighting in the yemeni city of aden. earlier, the saudi led coalition carried out an airdry against its saudi led coalition carried out an air dry against its former allies

the southern separatist. police are investigating