this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: violent scenes as the tenth consecutive weekend of anti—government protests in hong kong come to a close. beijing warns britain not to interfere. china has just made it very clear it will not accept what it calls british meddling, and the influence of hong kong's one—time colonial power these days is very limited. conspiracy theories around the death of billionaire sex offender jeffrey epstein provoke more outrage in the united states. russia's president putin bikes into occupied crimea. ukraine calls it a "blatant violation of sovereignty." and reunited after almost 60 years. the teenage friends divided

by the berlin wall. on the tenth weekend of unrest, there have been further clashes between pro—democracy protesters and riot police, in hong kong. tear gas was fired after petrol bombs exploded near the main police headquarters. earlier, beijing warned britain not to interfere in hong kong's affairs, after the foreign secretary, dominic raab, suggested there should be an investigation, into ongoing violence against pro—democracy protestors. from hong kong, here's jonathan head. this is how it starts every weekend now in hong kong. they've turned improvising barricades into an art form. 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 tai koo underground station, where protesters were corralled by the police and then beaten and driven down the escalators. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, has called for an independent investigation into police tactics. it is one of the five demands made by the protest movement, but his intervention has not gone down well with china, which views this as an internal matter. the longer this goes on, the greater the risk of more overt intervention by china. now, that is something that clearly worries britain as a joint guarantor of this city's special status. but china has just made it clear it will not accept what it calls

british meddling, and the influence of hong kong's one—time colonial power these days is very limited. 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 that it won't stand by if this unrest goes on. jonathan head, bbc news, hong kong. for more on the developing situation in hong kong you can head to the bbc news website, where you'll find the latest information as well as the background context of the pro—democracy movement. a political row has broken out

in washington following the death ofjeffrey epstein, the multi—millionaire businessman and convicted sex offender. he was found in his prison cell in new york yesterday, apparently having taken his own life, while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. the case has created a slew of speculation from both sides of the political divide. but donald trump is facing strong criticism from democrats, for retweeting a conspiracy theory, linking epstein‘s death to the clinton family. chris buckler reports from washington. jeffrey epstein was once a 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 alleged involvement of some of his rich and famous friends. among those retweeting conspiracy theories was donald trump... you know what he had — he had information on the clintons,

and a man ended up dead. ..who gave publicity to completely unsubstantiated allegations about another president, bill clinton, whose wife, hillary, ran against him for the presidency. this is another example of our president using this 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 presidentjust 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, versus other people who are actively, i suppose,

flying around with this monster... the authorities here in the us are acutely aware of the questions being asked about the death of a man who had links to some of america's most influential people. it is why the fbi are investigating, something that is extremely unusual in the case of an apparent suicide. and, while epstein‘s victims know he won't now face trial, they are pushing for inquiries to be widened to look at the actions of his associates. among his many famous friends was prince andrew, who attended church with the queen at balmoral today. in recently released court documents, he has been accused of groping a girl at epstein‘s mansion, an allegation that buckingham palace has called categorically untrue. but the death ofjeffrey epstein will not end the calls for greater scrutiny of what did happen at some of his notorious parties. chris buckler, bbc news, washington.

joining me from the us capital is politico's washington and white house reporter daniel lippman. thank you so much forjoining us. thanks for having me. firstly, how unusual is it to see the president of the united states re— tweeting conspiracy theories? well, previous presidents would never deign to do such a thing, because from their office they can give a platform to people who are spreading misinformation and fake news. but for donald trump this seems to be a semi regular occurrence. he has talked about conspiracy theories for a while now. but of course everyone in washington condemns him when he does start from his office. one of the phrases was in that retweet, "how did this happen"? well, trump himself was the president, and this jail itself that epstein killed himself and was managed by the

bureau of prisons, federal agency. himself and was managed by the bureau of prisons, federal agencylj am bureau of prisons, federal agency.” am sure an investigation will continue as to how it actually happened, but i want to just look at the other side of the coin, the conspiracy theories coming from and democrat supporters. how extraordinary is it to see it come from the outside. —— coming from democrats and democrat supporters. normally just the one democrats and democrat supporters. normallyjust the one side is talking about conspiracy theories, but in the age of trump, both sides have embraced these kinds of theories sometimes. remember, there we re theories sometimes. remember, there were conspiracy theories targeting trump would be russian kompromat, whether that was damaging information relating to his activities in russia, and trump himself had conspiracy theories about the mueller investigation. with jeffrey epstein, about the mueller investigation. withjeffrey epstein, this was a man who cultivated friends on both side of the aisle. bill clinton flew on his private jet multiple times. they we re his private jet multiple times. they were friends with chelsea clinton as well. trump himself flew with epstein at least once, in a story i

reported on. so this was kind of an amazing thing that both democrats and republicans are raising real questions about how this could have happened. this seems to be pretty convenient, that a man who had lots of secrets apparently killed himself, and we are learning from the jail that it was understaffed, they took him off suicide watch when he was clearly a danger himself, and there is going to be a full investigation that both sides support. so on the one hand we have an investigation into the facts, which are very scarce at the moment, but no doubt more will come out. on the other hand, given we are seeing conspiracy theories on both sides of the aisle, is that kind of going to be the new normal now, or is itjust to do withjeffrey epstein? be the new normal now, or is itjust to do with jeffrey epstein?” be the new normal now, or is itjust to do with jeffrey epstein? i think it is kind of both, not took come out of answering your question. epstein is an extreme case, since he

had this reputation in new york and florida social circles of a man who was very dangerous in terms of abusing young women, and yet he still was a client of top banks like deutsche bank until june still was a client of top banks like deutsche bank untiljune of this year. and he went to hollywood oscar parties last year. but i do think trump has kind of normalised this view of conspiracy theories. i think it is up to the next president, whoever it is, on the republican or democratic side, to lay a clear marker, that we are not going to share unverified conspiratorial administration from a presidential twitter account. that is not normal and not good behaviourfor anyone. there is a reason we have people who are trying to filter through that information. trump himself has his

icon and he canjust information. trump himself has his icon and he can just easily share any theory he wants. let's get some of the day's other news. russia's state communications regulator has accused google of using its youtube platform to promote recent anti—government protests. the regulator, roskomnadzor, ordered google to stop allowing what it said were "illegal mass events" to be made available to view. google has not yet responded. china has mobilised thousands of servicemen and women to help with the clean up after typhoon la kema swept across the country's eastern seaboard. officials say 32 people were killed and 16 are missing. the storm system brought winds of up to 187 kilometres per hour and heavy rain, causing widespread flooding. hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes on the spanish island of gran canaria due to wildfires. strong wind and temperatures of over 32 degrees celsius are hampering efforts to put out the blaze, which covers 10 square kilometres. a 50—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire.

the conservative candidate in guatemala's presidential election, alejandro giammattei, has claimed victory over his centre left rival, former first lady sandra torres. early results showed that mr giammattei, a former prisons minister, had taken nearly 60% of the vote. but turnout has been low. with the vote count over, it didn't ta ke very with the vote count over, it didn't take very long to establish was the winner. mainly because they were not many winner. mainly because they were not ma ny votes winner. mainly because they were not many votes to count, turnout was very low, 30% or less. those who did turn out to voted for the right—wing candidate, alejandro giammattei. he was the prisons minister and this is the fourth time he has stood for

president. he will take over from the outgoing president, jimmy morales, a sort of extension of conservative rule in central america nation. as the prisons minister, mr giammattei spent some time in prison himself. he was jailed briefly for ten months over his role as police minister ina ten months over his role as police minister in a police operation which took part in guatemala city, in which civilians were killed. he was later cleared of the charges. he is a conservative voice in guatemalan politics and has been around for many years, pushing for example the idea of bringing back the death penalty for those found guilty of going crimes. in terms of the current issues facing guatemala, namely corruption and immigration, he takes two positions. on corruption, he would not invite back the united nations task force on corruption in guatemala, which was very popular with ordinary people, but not pop like with business and

political elites. and in terms of immigration, he has also said he would not back the safe third—party definition with the trump administration that would allow washington to deport unsuccessful asylu m washington to deport unsuccessful asylum seekers in the us to the central america nation. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: they were schoolfriends until the berlin wall divided them. now, nearly 60 years later, they meet again for the first time. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control.

idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. 2 billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc world news. our top story: the 10th consecutive weekend of pro—democracy protests in hong kong has come to an end with accusations of increased police violence. 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. ramzan karmali reports. it's an image that the russian president likes to portray — vladimir putin dressed in leathers, riding a russian—made motorcycle, leading a convoy of bikers. but this bike ride has riled russia's neighbours ukraine. mr putin was attending the shadow of babylon international bike show. it was taking place near the crimean city of sevastopol. crimea was annexed from ukraine by russia in 2014, violating international law. but the president was more focused on heaping praise on the organisers of the event, the night wolves motorcycle club, a right—wing nationalist biker‘s group. translation: i'm very happy that such manly and cool lads set an example for the young people in our country and show them how one

should treat russia. i congratulate you on your tenth anniversary, and i wish you all the best. thank you. the bikers' club is close to president putin, and have been strong supporters of the annexation. but the russian leader's bike ride comes as he faces growing disquiet at home. over the weekend, 60,000 protesters took to the streets of moscow, demanding fair municipal elections in september. so far, there has been around a month of anti—government demonstrations. ukraine's foreign ministry described mr putin's visit is a blatant violation of ukraine's sovereignty, and said that attempts by moscow and its media to present such visits as routine were pathetic. ramzan karmali, bbc news. to sri lanka now, where the main opposition party's choice of candidate for this year's presidential elections is proving controversial. gotabhaya rajapaksa has been accused of human rights abuses during his time as defence chief.

ethirajan anbarasan reports. the long wait is over for gotabhaya rajapa ksa — the feared wartime official who is running for the country's top job. mr rajapaksa, a brother of the former president mahinda, is a controversial figure. he served as the defence secretary while his brother was president from 2005 to 2015. the un says tens of thousands of people were killed during the final stages of a nearly three—decade—old civil war. some of those killed during the conflict were journalists 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, 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 colombo residence. the well—known journalist lasa ntha wickrematungewas killed about ten years ago. so far the investigation has not made any progress and the family — they directly blame you for that. i am not responsible for that. in our time we inquired — genuinely we inquired — now under this government, they have inquired. but they have not been able to pinpoint anybody without any reasonable, you know, doubt who had done this. the number of rights abuses 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 strongman image appeals to many sinhalese who have been critical of the current government's failure to prevent the suicide attacks by local islamist groups. sri lanka's governing alliance has a formidable task in challenging mr raja pa ksa. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. the main city in indian—administered kashmir, srinagar, is once again under complete lockdown. a curfew, which had been eased for the past two days, has been strictly reimposed for reasons that remain unclear. the region has been violently disputed by india and pakistan since the 19117 partition. the bbc‘s rewind unit takes a look back at the key events in kashmir‘s history.

newsreel: the trouble began in early august.

there were disturbances in kashmir and the forces of both sides ignored the ceasefire line and crossed into each other‘s territory. neither side has really won the fight but the war has shown just how bitterly divided the two countries are over kashmir and how deep are the divisions between muslims and hindus. newsreel: in divided kashmir, the indian and pakistani armies face

each other across the line of control. with this eyeball—to—eyeball confrontation, there is always the chance of an accidental flare—up leading to something much bigger. newsreel: indian artillery pounded the infiltrated hideouts on the peaks. on the receiving end of this, india admits, is a force well—armed and well—versed in high—altitude warfare.

older divisions. the berlin wall was a symbol of the division of europe during the cold war. for nearly 30 years it separated friends and family. now two women have been reunited nearly 60 years after the wall was built. tim allman has their story. august 1961, two teenage girls holding hands as the whole world around them is transformed. they were known as the wall girls. rosemary on the left in the east of the city. kriemhild on the right lived in the west. almost 60 years later almost to the day and the two friends are reunited, both of them reliving the moment when berlin was split in two. translation: what i did was, of course, was not meant to be. i ran straight to the wall. the policeman who was in the picture should have stopped me. i did not think about it at all, idid not even realise what i was doing.

i walked towards my friend with only that thought in my head. east germany was forced to build the wall to try and stop the city's population fleeing to the west. it's not known exactly how many people tried to escape, but 136 of them died in the attempt. the citizens of west berlin, desperate to help their eastern neighbours. translation: rosemary fled with her mother. at first, she stayed with me but then we completely lost track of each other until a year ago when we saw an article in the newspaper people where they were calling for people who knew the wall girls in the photo. eventually, the wall and the regime it represented collapsed. a new germany was born. and two old friends could meet up in a city no longer divided. tim allman, bbc news. stay with us.

you can reach me on twitter, i'm @regedahmadbbc. hello. it's been a weekend of wild weather. we've had heavy rain that's caused some flooding, thunderstorms and strong winds, too. the week ahead looks a little bit quieter, but still an unsettled theme. there's further rain at times, particularly on wednesday. and things are feeling rather cool and breezy, too. now, the low pressure that brought us the weekend's wet and windy weather is now pushing off towards the north—east, but we've still got a few weather fronts draped across the country during monday morning. so, some heavy showers, particularly in the south. some thunderstorms possible too anywhere from the channel isles up toward sussex and kent as well. to the north of that, a little bit drier. so some sunshine for norfolk, through the midlands towards wales and the north—west of england. a little bit of light, drizzly rain still lingering for north—east england through monday morning. and some showers packing into parts

of northern ireland and the west of scotland. but for the bulk of scotland, a much improved day after the heavy rain and flooding we've had recently. much drier weather for scotland. a few showers towards the north and the west. some showers, too, for northern ireland but through the south of england we also going to see a few heavy showers through the day. but, some sunshine and it is generally a drier day than we've seen recently. only 16—19 degrees to the north—westerly breeze, so things are feeling quite a bit cooler than they have done. showers will continue to monday night to tuesday but they'll slowly ease away towards the east through into the early hours and quite widely in the countryside down into single figures. so quite a cold, fresh start for tuesday for many of us. some misty patches should clear a pretty quickly. through the day on tuesday, one or two showers still but they'll be much fewer and further between then we have seen recently and the winds will be much lighter, too. so actually in sunshine tuesday, one of the best days this week. 16—21 degrees or so. later in the day, it'll cloud over from the south—west with the arrival of some more rain overnight.

all down to this area of low pressure during wednesday, that brings us a very unsettled story, especially across england and wales. that's where we see the bulk of the rain on wednesday. the winds also strengthening, particularly strong and gusty along the south coast of england. also, some heavy showers likely across parts of scotland once again through the day on wednesday but i think a drier slot for southern scotland, northern england and northern ireland. but it will feel pretty cool, particularly where you've got the showery rain. by the time we get to thursday, again, most the showers will have eased away. so a slightly drier window in the weather on thursday, some sunny spells, a few showers moving in from the north—west but many of us will avoid them. temperatures about 15—21 degrees on thursday but then things turn more unsettled as we look towards the end of the week. down to another area of low pressure moving in — that brings us some strong winds and some heavy rain by saturday. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: in hong kong, clearing up is underway after the tenth weekend of pro—democracy marches. according to local media, pro—democracy activists have accused the police of using undercover officers disguised as protestors to make arrests. there were violent scenes in several places. two petrol bombs were thrown and police baton—charged protestors. a political row has broken out in the united states over the death of the disgraced financier and sex offenderjeffrey epstein. democrats have criticised president trump for promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about epstein‘s apparent suicide. he was found dead in his jail cell in new york on saturday. russia's communications regulator has accused google of "hostile interference" by using its youtube website to publicise recent anti—government protests. it's warned google to stop, saying that it will react accordingly if the internet giant

does not comply with its wishes.