this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. our top stories: suicide by hanging — the autopsy verdict on disgraced billionairejeffrey epstein, who was found dead in prison. air travellers across the unites states are facing major delays as a computer sytesms failure causes chaos at airports. chinese forces carry out riot drills as hong kong prepares for another weekend of protests. the police say they're in control. we'll face tremendous pressure, but ican we'll face tremendous pressure, but i can tell you we are confident that we have the capability to maintain order. and it may be part of north america, but it's not for sale.

greenland tells president trump he can't buy the world's biggest island. hello and welcome to bbc news. jeffrey epstein died from suicide by hanging, that's the reported conclusion of the autopsy into the death of the disgraced american financier. he was found dead in his cell last saturday while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. investigations have been taking place into why epstein was taken off suicide watch a few days before his death. i asked our north america correspondent peter bowes whether the findings of the autopsy settle the questions about how he died once and for all.

there had been a considerable amount of speculation over the past week about what happened. he was found dead in his prison cell early saturday morning and there had been some speculation, in fact, there was a newspaper report here a few days ago that suggested he may well have some injuries to his neck that was typical of someone who had died through strangling. well, we know that now not to be the case. we know the official cause of death, but clearly there are many questions remaining about the circumstances, that perhaps the behaviour of the prison guards on the night who were supposed to be checking on him, this is an inmate who had been on suicide watch until recently, and of course the investigation surrounding the charges that he was waiting to go on trial for, the sex trafficking charges. there are questions about what happened, at least the circumstances in the way she was guarded and there's been a considerable amount of speculation that there were, certainly as far as the guards were concerned, that they weren't checking in every 30 minutes as they we re checking in every 30 minutes as they were supposed to. this was a man who

was on suicide watch up until recently, he had been moved out of that into a high security wing where the guards, we are led to believe by multiple reports supposed to have been seeing him every 30 minutes. also the wider investigation into the reason why he was held in that cell, that investigation continues as well. where does that investigation now go specifically into the sex trafficking charges that he was facing? well, it will focus on potential co—conspirators, other people that might have been involved in the crimes that the authorities they were committed by jeffrey epstein, we know that earlier this week his private island in the caribbean was raided. we know that those possible co—conspirators have been warned by the authorities

at the highest level in the united states that the investigation continues. and there have been pressure from victims. victims who feel they have been cheated of justice because mr epstein is now dead. they wanted to see him stand trial and pay for his crimes. there is also been talk of civil action against the estate ofjeffrey epstein. peter bowes speaking a short time ago. an american airport has had a major computerfailure, resulting an american airport has had a major computer failure, resulting in an american airport has had a major computerfailure, resulting in large cu es computerfailure, resulting in large cues for customs jacks. they say the will use alternative processes in skill the issues are resolved. —— until. liam bolling got stuck

at the airport in seattle. he's with me now. liam, just tell me about your experience and what happened? sure, yes stop so we had an announcement that we can't have anyone come to the aeroplane yet. we were on the plane for about an hour and 45 minutes or so plane for about an hour and 45 minutes orso —— plane for about an hour and 45 minutes or so —— waiting for the plane, there were multiple lines up. some people were in the plane, some people were waiting in the terminal before going to customs. so it was probably just before going to customs. so it was probablyjust a before going to customs. so it was probably just a couple before going to customs. so it was probablyjust a couple of hundred people in huge lines. how long did it take before you were finally out of the airport and on your way home? around three hours or so. but i kind of, on the air plane, we were reminded that there was this customs outfit which allows you to cut the line, soi outfit which allows you to cut the line, so i think i walked in front of 100 people or so. i'm sure that

made you incredibly popular. how well—informed were you when all this was going on? not to informed. it was going on? not to informed. it was kind of a mob of people. the people on the aeroplane, the staff we re people on the aeroplane, the staff were really polite and helpful. they we re were really polite and helpful. they were on twitter trying to find out information, but there wasn't a lot of information. and in terms of the delays you've experienced in the past, how does this compare with other delays. three hours is inconvenient, but we've heard about oui’ inconvenient, but we've heard about our longer delays than this?” inconvenient, but we've heard about our longer delays than this? i think i was one of the lucky ones. there are still people waiting back there. some of them are still being processed. so this is probably, definitely on the bad side but i was one of the lucky people to get out within three hours. i think some people have been waiting over six hours. liam, we really appreciate

you talking to us. liam bolling joining us. thank you. let me bring you an update was that we are hearing from us customs and border protection, they said the computers we re protection, they said the computers were coming back online, travellers we re were coming back online, travellers were being processed after that nationwide computer outage earlier on friday at us airports. so it looks like they are resolving the technical issue, computers coming back online and passengers being processed. it looks like there will bea processed. it looks like there will be a backlog in people facing delays. but that is the latest statement. peter fonda has died at the age of 79. he was seen as a countercultural icon, known for the film easy rider which he co—wrote and produced. he died from respiratory failure following lung cancer. hong kong police say they are back

in control of protests in the city. they insisted they don't need the help of mainland chinese paramilitary police gathered across the border. hundreds of people gathered in the central business district of hong kong on friday night. more pro—democracy demonstrations, both legal and unauthorised, are planned for the weekend. from hong kong, here'sjohn sudworth. this freewheeling, free—trading city was once a haven for those fleeing china. now though, chinese fishermen landing their catch here have no time for talk of human rights. weeks of chaos have led to falling orders, and they know who to blame — hong kong's young protesters. translation: they don't believe in china now but, when they grow up, they will know china is right. it seems an unlikely hope. the fear that hong kong's promised autonomy is being eroded under

chinese rule has brought many thousands onto the streets, undeterred by tear gas or rubber bullets. so, this week, in what looks like a deliberate warning, chinese paramilitary police have been gathering and conducting riot drills in the border city of shenzhen. but the hong kong police, for now, at least, appear unconcerned. are you confident that the hong kong police force is still able to maintain public order, or do you think we are getting close to the moment when chinese intervention becomes inevitable? this is a trying time. we all face tremendous pressure, but i can tell you we are confident that we have the capability to maintain law and order in hong kong. there are other ways to apply pressure, though. after some staff from hong kong's flagship airline took part in the protests, china threatened to prevent it using mainland airports.

the chief executive, rupert hogg, has now resigned. meanwhile, another weekend of protests has begun, with further clashes likely. 0n the one hand, the chinese communist party knows that rolling the troops into hong kong would bring huge economic and diplomatic costs — but, on the other, it also knows that this summer of rage presents probably the biggest challenge to its authority since the tiananmen protests 30 years ago. and there's no sign yet that these people are ready to back down. john sudworth, bbc news, hong kong. and you can find in—depth coverage of the hong kong protests story on the bbc news website, including more on the resignation of the cathay pacific boss and how businesses in the territory are reacting to the months—long protests. you can also find that on the bbc news app.

us president donald trump has told pakistan's prime minister, imran khan, india and pakistan must reduce tensions in kashmir. it follows a similar call from china's ambassador to the united nations, where the issue was discussed on friday. tensions have escalated in the region after india ordered the lockdown of the kashmir valley and stripped the region of its special status. this is what the representatives of india and pakistan had to say after the un meeting. as the chinese ambassador emphasised, the human rights situation in jammu and emphasised, the human rights situation injammu and kashmir is abysmal. there are violations carried out with impunity by india stop that you has been discussed. carried out with impunity by india stop that you has been discussedm particular concern is that one state is using terminology ofjihad against and promoting violence in india including by the leaders.

friends, violence is no solution to the problem is that all of us face. let's get some of the day's other news. an iranian oil tanker given permission to leave gibraltar on thursday has shifted its position and is apparently preparing to set sail. it was seized last month on suspicion it was heading to syria in breach of eu sanctions. gibraltan authorities said the ship could depart after iran promised it wouldn't take its cargo to syria, but iran has denied making any such commitments. the democratic republic of congo has suffered a setback in its efforts to contain a year—long outbreak of ebola, with a new area reporting its first cases. a mother and her child tested positive for the virus in south kivu province. the woman has since died. us congresswoman rashida tlaib says she will not visit her family in the occupied west bank. that's despite being given

permission by the israeli government. ms tlaib was previously banned from making an official visit, along with fellow democrat ilhan 0mar. but israel later overturned the decision on ‘humanitarian grounds'. both politicians have been critical of israeli policiy towards the palestinians, much to the irritation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. on twitter, rashida tlaib said: "i have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything i believe in — fighting against racism, oppression and injustice." chris buckler in washington is following the story and says the us president ignited this row from the outset. president trump has privately and publicly lobbied the israeli government to ban these congress women from really going to israel. and of course that was subsequently proven to be the case. they then decided that they would allow rashida tlaib to come and

essentially visit her elderly grandmother. but she decided she is not prepared to do that because of the conditions that have been placed on her by the israeli government. they says you can only come if she doesn't voice opposition to israel during the trip and she says that would be silencing her, and would be against some of her grandmother's own views as well. she points such asa own views as well. she points such as a member of the us congress and says as far as she is concerned, when she became a us congresswoman, any palestinians, especially her grandmother found a sense of hope, i hope that they would finally have a voice and she is not prepared to have that silence. and actually, she goes on to suggest that her grandmother is being used as a political bargaining chip in all of this. it gives you a sense of the emotional nature of this as well as the political rail surrounding all of these discussions. —— row. that's chris buckler with us. of

course rashida tlaib has declined to accept israel's offered to visit on humanitarian grounds. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: putting more women front and centre. one major orchestra's attempt to find female conductors. 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.

two 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 news, the latest headlines: the autopsy verdict on the disgraced billionairejeffrey epstein, the autopsy verdict on the disgraced billionaire jeffrey epstein, who the autopsy verdict on the disgraced billionairejeffrey epstein, who was found dead in prison, is suicide by hanging. a computer systems failure causes chaos at airports across the us. let's get more now on the death of

actor peter fonda whose debt has been reported in the past hour. joining us now is a film reporter with the rapper who joins us from los angeles. what do you think peter fonda's legacy will be to the world of film and entertainment? peter fonda was such a symbol of cou ntercultu re fonda was such a symbol of counterculture in the 60s, getting his start in a lot of biofilms, and his start in a lot of biofilms, and his role in easy rider is iconic, he has had a long career and is a member of hollywood royalty. with his family, his father henry fonda and sisterjane fonda, so he had a long history in movies. the film you mentioned, easy rider, it was one of the first independent films to really have success and show that independent films could break through. it was such a symbol of really the whole period, very emblematic of... it captured the

rebellious spirit, the spirit of the entire decade, also was a great symbol of psychedelia from direct to dennis hopper and his role as captain america, really brought his career, something he nodded to later on, even in cannonball run or ghost writer with nicolas cage. —— rider. it is well—documented that they were committed to getting into role for that film, all of them. he was originally, he wanted to do something on his own, he wanted to break away from doing the b—movies for roger cormann, he was dedicated to doing something completely different, and he ended up being nominated for an oscar for his screenplay that he co—wrote, and really just changed

screenplay that he co—wrote, and reallyjust changed the culture, reallyjust changed the culture, really set the stage for many of the cou ntercultu re really set the stage for many of the counterculture movies and antiheroes we see on screen today. and it has to be said, you look at his family tree, and movies us only in his dna. absolutely. part of hollywood royalty, his father henry fonda, his sisterjane fonda, royalty, his father henry fonda, his sister jane fonda, he royalty, his father henry fonda, his sisterjane fonda, he is the father of bridget fonda, itjust goes on and on, and they gave a very sweet statement at his passing today, saying" please raise a glass to freedom", i thought that was a really nice sentiment, and the whole family has this incredible legacy, so family has this incredible legacy, so to hear that he passed and left behind this rich hollywood family is very sad. brian welk, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

president trump has reportedly been asking his officials whether the us could buy greenland from the danish government. the wall streetjournal reports that the requests have been made with "varying degrees of seriousness". the capital of greenland is actually 300km closer to the us capital than the danish one. the majority of the island — the world's largest — is covered in a permanant ice sheet that contains 10% of the world's fresh water. well, there has been plenty of reaction from greenland and denmark. greenland's foreign minister ane lone bagger said "we are open for business, but we're not for sale." the former prime minister of the territory lars lokke rasmussen tweeted "it must be an out of season april fool's joke." and another politician rasmus jarlov tweeted: "out of all things that are not going to happen this is the most unlikely. forget it." here'sjournalist, author and expert on denmark and the arctic, martin breum on how serious this is.

of on how serious this is. course i don't know how ser donald of course i don't know how serious donald trump is, but i don't think oui’ donald trump is, but i don't think our government in copenhagen or the government in greenland is taking this lightly at all. you should remember that greenland constitutes 99% of the territory of denmark. the kingdom of denmark, so any moves by the us that sort of infringes on the relationship between the us, greenland and denmark, of course is nojoke at all. greenland and denmark, of course is no joke at all. the us already runs a very important military base in the north of greenland, and they have a deal with them, that they cannot increase their military presence in greenland almost at will —— they can increase their military presence in greenland almost at will. i don't think anyone is taking this lightly though a lot of people are thinking that it sounds very odd. we have had over the past couple of years, strong indications

that the us is taking arctic affairs much more seriously than it did just a few years ago. i heard mike pompeo talking similar very recently where he lambasted the russian military activities in the arctic, and the us is very critical of china's inroads into the arctic. and one should remember of course that greenland is not part of europe, it is geographically part of north america, and the us is regarding greenland as a geographical buffer between america and their potential enemies in russia, north korea, china and so forth. the arctic ocean is opening for business, for traffic, for raw materials, the transport of military materials and so forth, so greenland is very strategically located, in particular from an american perspective. in the world of classical music, women are rarely the ones holding the baton.

in britainjust one of the leading orchestras has a female principal conductor. there are efforts to change this, including at the welsh national 0pera, where a new role of female conductor in residence has been created. sian lloyd went to meet tian—yi lu, as she began her first week in thejob. ‘toreador song' plays. taking on one of opera's best known and best loved pieces of music in her own way. i think a rehearsal should be like children playing. let's try this, let's try this, oh, wow, this works, and sometimes an orchestra or a chorus might give me something i hadn't thought of. tianyi lu is one of only a handful of women to have titled roles, the top jobs among the several hundred conductors on the staff of british orchestras. perhaps sometimes, the second beat of the bar, go a little bit. as she begins her position as first female conductor in residence with welsh national opera, she takes that number to eight. even at the very beginning of my career, when i tried conducting for the first

time and i loved it, the thought of conducting didn't even cross my mind because i had never seen a woman in a professional context conducting before at that stage. i therefore didn't think it was possible. that shortage of role models is something the opera company is trying to change. with this newly created post, it's one of a growing network of organisations creating opportunities to give women the means and confidence to conduct. i think its positive action. we are addressing the gender imbalance in the sector at the moment — and if there is an imbalance, then you've got to do something about changing that and giving people opportunities to progress. already an assistant conductor with the melbourne symphony orchestra, tianyi was one of more than 50 women who applied for thejob in cardiff. they had all gained experience in leading an orchestra, but the opportunity to also lead voices in an opera was new to many.

even the idea of calling yourself a female conductor is unusual. i would love the day when labels are gone, where we just see the person for who they are, and they are creating artwork and we just see the artwork that they are making and the story they are trying to tell. that day is now looking closer, although the pace of change could be quickerfor some. so news there of a breakthrough forfemale conductors — but what about singers? well, there'll be no girls singing in a prestigious german all—boys choir any time soon. a court in germany has ruled that the berlin state and cathedral choir is not guilty of sex discrimination by declining an application by a nine—year—old girl. judges said the 500—year—old choir had an artistic right

to reject the girl to preserve its distinctive sound. but they allowed the girl's mother a right to appeal. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @benmbland. we can all look forward to seeing some sunshine this weekend, it was a poor day though on friday, especially across england and wales, the wettest weather in snowdonia. that rain bearing weather front is putting away from the south—east of england but this area of low pressure is going to be the one co nsta nt pressure is going to be the one constant right the way through the weekend. that will focus the showers towards the north—west of the uk some of them will be happy, we get some of them will be happy, we get some sunshine but they will be accompanied by some blustery winds as well. —— heavy. those showers continue into the morning, these are the damages verse ten, 12— 15 degrees and some heavy showers from overnight especially in scotland and the north—west of england. it will

be scotland, western scotland and northern ireland that sees the bulk of the showers on saturday, worst of the weather in the north—west and the weather in the north—west and the wind is picking up later on. one 01’ the wind is picking up later on. one or two fleeting sheltering and wales but not many, good chance it was a dry out lords for the cricket, but we will have these strong winds, not as strong as last weekend, and those two bridges are back into the low 20s now we have the sunshine across eastern parts of england. those showers continue in scotland and northern ireland again, heavy and hungry, gusty winds as well, we have thickening crowd across southern counties of england, threatening a bit of rain. in between those clear skies and temperatures around 11—13. the wetter weather in the south and south—east courtesy of this weather frontier, that should pull away on sunday morning, still got that area of low pressure, it is a bit closer to scotland this time, and again it will focus the more frequent and heavy showers into scotland, into northern ireland, again some hungry downpours, gusty winds, probably a few more showers in northern

england, north wales, the south—west of england the best of the sunshine and dry weather through the midlands and dry weather through the midlands and eastern england. strong, gusty west— south—westerly winds, probably just taking the edge of the temperatures but sunday is going to probably feel quite similar to saturday. as we head into the beginning of next week, we still have an area of low pressure but it is starting to move away from scotla nd is starting to move away from scotland slowly but surely, when is beginning to ease down a bit as well. there will still be a focus of heavy showers across scotland and northern ireland, and a few scattered showers coming into england and wales, always heavier further north. spells of sunshine around again and those temperatures are still 16 degrees in the central belt, to hire 21 in the south—east of england. further into next week, we will find some spells of sunshine, warm in the sunshine, temperature is not particularly impressive at the time of year, will be some showery of rain, maybe in the north and west, the wind should be lighter.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a post—mortem in new york city has determined that the death of the disgraced us financierjeffrey epstein was suicide by hanging. us media had earlier reported speculation that epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, could have been murdered. air travellers across the unites states have been facing major delays following a computer systems failure, that caused chaos at airports. the us customs and border service says its computers are beginning to come back online, allowing travelers to be processed after the nationwide computer outage. chinese paramilitary forces have been carrying out riot drills on the hong kong border with china as the chinese territory prepares for another weekend of protests. several hundred people have gathered at a hong kong park in the latest pro—democracy protest. the police in hong kong say they're fully prepared.