this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: more than three weeks after a clampdown in indian—administerd kashmir — a bbc investigation uncovers allegations of brutal beatings and torture by soldiers. the british parliament prepares for a brexit showdown. mps say they'll make their move next week to stop borisjohnson suspending the commons. protestors in hong kong say one of their leaders — joshua wong — has been arrested ahead of another weekend of planned demonstrations. colombia's president vows to hunt down farc rebel commanders who are calling on followers to take up arms after three years of peace.

a bbc investigation has uncovered allegations of brutal beatings and torture by soldiers in indian—administered kashmir. it's 25 days since the indian government withdrew the region's special semi—autonomous status, clamping down fiercely on dissent and arresting thousands of people. kashmir is claimed by both pakistan and india. the two nuclear—armed neighbours control different sections of kashmir, and have fought two wars over it. despite a near communications blackout, sameer hashmi has been inside kashmir, and sent this report. you may find some of it distressing. behind these razor wires lies an uneasy calm. restrictions everywhere we go. but for many kashmiris, the crackdown has come at a cost.

we have come to investigate disturbing allegations. soldiers came here, we are told, looking for violent protesters. 13 men were allegedly pulled from their beds, tortured and beaten. these brothers, like all the people we spoke to, were too scared to reveal their identities. we saw their injuries.

still in shock, this man shows pictures of his bruises. he believes he was targeted because he is a muslim. we put these claims to the army, who responded with a written statement:

kashmir has been mired in conflict for decades. it's one of the most militarised zones in the world. there is huge sympathy here for the militant groups, who are seen by many as fighting forfreedom from indian rule. animosity between indian security forces and locals runs deep. often, it is civilians who get caught in the battle. it is notjust one village where allegations of torture have emerged. we have been told that several people across this region have faced similar experiences. we have come to a militant stronghold. locals led us to this house, where they say soldiers tortured a young man. his brother is a militant.

across the rest of india there will be little sympathy for the families of militants. they see them as pakistani—sponsored terrorists. many have celebrated prime minister modi's bold move to revoke kashmir‘s special status. authorities say they are gradually lifting some of the restrictions, but internet and mobile phones remain shut down. thousands are in detention. kashmir has been virtually cut off from the rest of the world and anger here is growing. samir hashmi, bbc news, indian—administered kashmir. britain's main opposition parties are demanding that the prime minister does not go ahead with his plan to suspend parliament for 5 weeks, in the run up to leaving the european union. legal challenges are underway, and there's a rare joint statement from parties who, most of the time, are rivals. they say borisjohnson is only suspending parliament to make it

harder to block a so—called no—deal brexit. he says he just wants more time to prepare his government's programme. here's bbc political editor laura kuenssberg. do you care about the people? boo! tempers hot, nerves frayed... over and over... a member of the government and tory mp in cheltenham defending himself to protesters, but not entirely the government's approach. i have made my position clear, i have spoken to the chief whip about itand... sssh. silence! time is short, but within days a swathes of mps will try to remove the possibility that boris johnson could take us out of the eu without a deal. with even senior tories on onside, they will try to change the law. it may well be that next week is the only opportunity. i'm afraid it does look as if our options have now narrowed and if parliament is going to assert some control and say, well, ok if we leave with no deal, but that has to have the consent of parliament, then that would suggest that we need to move sooner rather than later.

is this the moment when polite resistance could become more aggressive action? well, i hope it will continue to be polite, but i also think it's going to be robust. those who fear the possible turmoil over leaving without a deal seem more determined now. the prime minister has caused outrage. protesters notjust in westminster and the west country today, but in norwich tonight. borisjohnson has cut the number of days the commons will have to scrutinise exactly what is going on. frustration at that in leeds and other cities too. the official line, it's totally routine for parliament to have a breather, to be prorogued for that amount of time. there is going to be lots of time to debate before the 31st of october. parliament will be sitting then and will be able to have whatever motions it wants. i think the outrage is phony. but one peer in the government quit in protest and may be the defence secretary

gave the game away. ben wallace certainly learned at least that even at a summit in finland there are microphones almost everywhere. clearly more than it is? those remarks got a less friendly welcome from number 10 who said later he misspoke. but to clip borisjohnson‘s wings, to outlaw no deal, tories, lib dems, the snp all need to work together withjeremy corbyn to get the numbers for a majority next week. what we're going to do is politically try to stop him on tuesday with a parliamentary process in order to legislate to prevent a no—deal brexit and also to try and prevent him shutting down parliament during this utterly crucial period. the implications for this country are very, very serious.

so just weeks into office, the new prime minister is up against protests around the country and many mps in parliament determined to try to defeat him next week. when they come to vote the numbers might be achingly tight. but when it comes to brexit, as ever, the difference of opinion is vast indeed. laura kuennsberg, bbc news, westminster. news breaking in the last couple of hours is thatjoshua wong and another protester have been arrested in hong kong. joshua is one of the leaders of the protest movement there — he was previously released from jail injune of this year. this weekend marks the 13th week of protests in hong kong. according to the pro—democracy party demosisto, its lawyers are now on the case. there's been no comment from the police. another prominent activist agnes chow has also been arrested — the bbc‘s andrew wood

is in hong kong and gave this update she is one of the senior people in the pro—democracy group withjoshua wong. the lawyer confirmed that to us wong. the lawyer confirmed that to usa wong. the lawyer confirmed that to us a short while ago. he is acting for bothjosh us a short while ago. he is acting for both josh or wong us a short while ago. he is acting for bothjosh or wong and for agnes chow. reports say they have been taken to the main police station here in hong kong. we do not have confirmation of that right now. mr wong is said to have been given three charges, according to his political group. at the moment we don't know what agnes chow has been detained for. it is important to note that tomorrow there was supposed to be a big demonstration again here in the centre of hong kong but the police have actually said that that cannot go ahead. i don't know if that is connected at the moment, we willjust have to see. what is the suspicion? there is a connection? so many things are so connected here in hong kong at the

moment. joshua wong has been a prominent leader of the pro—democracy movement is a key is 22 now but he began protest when he was a teenager. he was a big person, very involved in the pro—democracy protest a few years back, the so—called umbrella protests. as you say he has already spent one month in jail say he has already spent one month injailso farthis say he has already spent one month injail so far this year. say he has already spent one month in jail so far this year. he was released just before the latest round of demonstrations began in june. he was put into jail earlier this year because of offences dating back several years relating to the umbrella back several years relating to the u m brella protests. back several years relating to the umbrella protests. he is definitely someone umbrella protests. he is definitely someone who the authorities have an eye on. and in the past day or so they have also detained a member of a band political party which is in favour of independence for hong kong, detained him at the airport. colombia's president has condemned the announcement by a group of former farc rebel commanders of a new offensive. they've called on their supporters to take up arms again.

president ivan duque has said the new group will be hunted down. ramzan karmali reports. nearly three years after a peace deal was struck, commanders of the demobilised rebel group farc say they are returning to war. the 2016 agreement sought to end south america's longest guerilla conflict. former farc commander ivan marquez called for a return to arms because he claimed that the colombian state had betrayed the peace agreement. the 2016 deal sought to formally end 52 years of war that killed over 260,000 people and forced 7 million from their homes in a bitter conflict between left—wing rebels, government forces and state—aligned pa ramilitaries. the farc rebel lambasted president ivan duque and his government for not keeping its end of the deal, negotiated over four years of talks in cuba. but colombia's president hit back, vowing to hunt down the rebel commanders and offering a reward of $882,000 for each one captured. he also accused the rebels of instigating a criminal enterprise

with support from neighbouring venezuela and its president. translation: colombians must be clear that we are not facing a new guerilla but facing criminal threats of the gang of narco terrorists who have the shelter and support of the dictatorship of nicolas maduro. and former farc commander, rodrigo londono, distanced himself from the former rebels and insisted his party would honour the peace deal. translation: with all sincerity, we are ashamed. i apologise to the people of colombia, to the international community, to countries like cuba and norway who have worked so hard to support this process. we are the vast majority. we are the best in this process. despite the support for the 2016 deal, the sight of rebels in army fatigues most be the first and most significant sign that the hard

earned peace agreement reached nearly three years ago in colombia could be starting to unravel. live now to bogota and juan diego of parays, the peace and reconciliation foundation. juan, i know your organisation warned of the emergence of this new guerrila movement. how many are there and how representative? there are about 1800 former combatants that are now in the ranks of this dissident group, how significant they are, we believe that it how significant they are, we believe thatitis how significant they are, we believe that it is about 20%. they have 20% of the capability that they used to have before the peace accord was signed. if the president hunts them down as he has promised to do, will

that be the end of it or will it encourage more people who had previously down their arms to take them up again? this is the thing. in colombia we have a tradition of recidivism and that is with the government ‘s that sign peace accords with paramilitary groups in the past, they have not fulfilled nor the promises. and that has a lwa ys nor the promises. and that has always had, in the colombian history, always lead to a new cycle of violence which leaves a number of members of former groups, especially mid—level commanders to take up arms again. the difference in this case is that we are talking about a new gorilla group —— guerrilla group. or that, in 2016, we had about 200

members of the former farc guerrilla who did not sign the peace agreement. in 2018 that grew to 1200. and now, in 2019 we have over 1800 and now we have this other elements, these two political commanders who have nowjoined the ra nks commanders who have nowjoined the ranks so we can now call them guerrilla. prior to that in 2016 there were only 200, it used to be mid—level commanders, those who did most of the fighting and the finances a3. most of the fighting and the finances 43. just one specific point i wanted to ask you about. we are limited on time. do they have appointed what they say about the government? this our organisation has been monitoring the peace accord and its implementation of the last three yea rs. we have implementation of the last three years. we have written seven reports

which we have given to the government and to the international community claiming the four pillars of the corporation process, the economic pillar, the security and safety pillar, the political pillar and thejudicial safety pillar, the political pillar and the judicial pillar have not been filled by this government. and on the other hand, we have president duque claiming they have done a lot, but the numbers do not show that. the reality on the ground does not show that. we hear that from former combatants, we get up from the commanders, and we see that in the territories where we do our research. thank you very much for talking to us. absolutely. thank you. thanks to you for being with us. you. thanks to you for being with us. stay with us if you can. still to come: are these the remains of napoleon's favourite general? why a 200—year—old mystery may have finally be solved. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party,

and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared, "i have a dream." as darkness falls, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disc that's brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet mars. horn toots there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it will take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years. so it was with great satisfaction that clockmakerjohn vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. big ben bongs

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: more than three weeks after a clampdown in indian—administered kashmir, a bbc investigation uncovers allegations of brutal beatings and torture by soldiers. the british parliament prepares for a brexit showdown next week to stop borisjohnson suspending the house of commons. the former fbi director, james comey, will not be prosecuted for leaking a memo about president trump to the media. a department ofjustice report criticises mr comey, saying he failed to live up to his duty to safeguard sensitive information. but it concludes he did not break the law. the bbc‘s north america correspondent peter bowes has more. this does seem to be the end of this. significantly, as you say, he will not be prosecuted that it is really a stinging rebuke of the way that he dealt with those memos.

seven memos that he wrote in the early months of 2017, based on his private meetings with president trump. significantly, he did not reveal classified information. this is a rebuke for the way he dealt with sensitive information, breaking fbi rules and, according to this report, not setting a good example to other employees of the fbi, keeping copies of those memos in his home safe. and, as you say, revealing the contents of one of those memos to a friend who then gave the information to a journalist. it does not look for him but he will not be prosecuted. he is spinning it like this. he says he has been vindicated. what is your sense here? he has been vocal in his criticism, is he likely to be more or less so now? we have not heard much from him in recent months. certainly in the months

following his sacking by president trump he was very vocal, he wrote a book about it which got a tremendous amount of publicity as well. but he has gone a little quieter now and the fact that he does receive significant criticism in this report may well at least cause him to think twice before saying anything else in public based on the information that he had during his relatively short relationship with mr trump. thank you very much. a one—legged skeleton discovered under a dance floor in russia may hold the key to a centuries—old mystery involving napoleon's favourite general. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. a solemn unveiling in moscow. the skeleton, or at least what's left of it, of a hero of the napoleonic age. translation: until today, for france, there have never been historical events like this. a general who was found, a friend of napoleon. you can see the importance of this discovery, including from franco—russian relations.

charles—etienne gudin de la sablonniere was a veteran of the french revolution and the napoleonic wars. at a battle near the city of smolensk he was hit by a russian cannonball and lost his leg. a few days later he died of gangrene. his heart was returned to paris, but the rest of him remained in russia. until earlier this year, when what are believed to be his remains were discovered in a wooden coffin buried close to where he died. it was thought his grave may have been destroyed during the second world war. of course, the overriding question — is this general gudin or not? translation: there will be a genetic analysis to confirm 150% it is him. even if i'm already deeply convinced that it is him. we hope he can be welcomed

with the honours he deserves. fragments of his coffin handed over to his descendant. soon the general himself may return home to france. tim allman, bbc news. we will let you know how that one turns out. a genetic analysis of almost half a million people has concluded there is no single "gay gene" that determines a person's sexual orientation. research in europe and the us found that while there is a genetic component, it accounts for between 8—25% of same—sex behaviour across the population. jeremy yoder is assistant professor of biology at california state university and is based in los angeles. he explained why he finds this study so exciting. the largest dataset that has been applied to this research question and it looks to me that the researchers, those who have done the work, have really thought carefully about the study design and how best to present and contextualise the results that they find.

and what are the most significant things in it for you? so the big one is that there is pretty strong confirmation that a model we have thought has been the case is true, that many, many genes throughout the genome contribute to sexual orientation and each of those genes has a relatively tiny effect. so this would explain why previous genome studies have found basically nothing. it exposed to some degree why variation in sexual orientation has been part of human society for basically as long as we know. natural selection might, you would think, act against a gene that makes people not inclined to have heterosexual sex.

but, the fact of the matter is the individual loci — the individual genes that are involved have slight, small, individual effects and that many people are carrying these and they are straight. they don't have enough of the variance to make a difference. so you only have gay and lesbian people when there are enough of these variants coming together in a single individual. kirsten dunst has burst into tears on the unveiling of her star at the hollywood walk of fame. the ceremony was also attended by her partner and filmmaker sophia coppola. there is much more for you any time on all the news on the bbc news website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. just a quick recap of the top news again, the bbc news has uncovered allegations of brutal beatings and

torture by soldiers in indian administered kashmir, 25 days since the indian government withdrew the region's special semiautonomous status. hi there. we saw temperatures reach 25 degrees in the south—east of england on thursday. there was plenty of sunshine across the south and east of the country, closer to this area of high pressure. but into friday, again, low pressure dominates the north and the west, where it will remain pretty windy and there will be further outbreaks of rain and, as a result, it will feel a bit cooler than it will across the south and the east. so outbreaks of rain on—and—off for scotland, northern ireland, into north—west england, perhaps the far north—west of wales, where it will be pretty windy — gusts of 30—40mph. but again, across the south—east, close to that area of high pressure, another fine afternoon with sunny spells, probably around 25 degrees or so. mid to high teens further north. now, it stays very wet through friday night across scotland, northern ireland. this weather front is not

going anywhere fast. further south and east, overnight, it should actually be generally dry with clear spells, variable cloud, fairly breezy too, so that will stop temperatures from falling much below 11—14 degrees. so as we had on into saturday, it starts off very wet across northern and western areas, but this whether front will pivot round, moves across the rest of england and wales through saturday into saturday night, but it will be a dying feature as it reaches eastern areas. so a lot of rain falling across parts of northern ireland, south—west scotland. by the time saturday's out, we could see some minor flooding in places. but as that weather front clears through, skies will brighten up behind it, with sunshine and showers, but it will be notably cooler here but, again, the last of the warm days across the south—east until that weather front arrives. but that whether front will move through during saturday night, and it will open the floodgates to a much cooler north—westerly, this is polar maritime air — remember sunday is the first day of the meteorological autumn and it will certainly feel pretty autumnal out there. it will start off chilly. there will be plenty of sunshine around and then lots of showers

will spread down from the north—west. some of these could be heavy and thundery and it will feel quite chilly when the showers turn up, with temperatures into the low to mid teens celsius for many. the high tweens, perhaps 20 or 21, across the south—east. as we head on into monday, it looks like high—pressure still wants to build in from the south—west. it will still have further fronts affecting scotland and northern ireland. perhaps more cloud here with outbreaks of rain. more of a breeze, too. those winds generally lighter further south and east, thanks to that area of high pressure. but the air still on the cool side but perhaps a little below average. again, the low to mid team celsius in the north. high teens further south. and as we head into next week, it looks like high—pressure wants to build in and with those temperatures returning closer to the seasonal norm.

this is bbc news — the headlines: a bbc investigation has uncovered allegations of brutal beatings and torture by soldiers in indian—administered kashmir. it's 25 days since the indian government withdrew the region's special semi—autonomous status — clamping down fiercely on dissent and arresting thousands of people in the region. kashmir is claimed by pakistan and india. britain's main opposition parties are demanding that the prime minister does not go ahead with his plan to suspend parliament for five weeks in the run—up to leaving the european union. legal challenges are underway, and there's a rare joint statement from parties who are usually rivals. pro—democracy activists in hong kong say two of their leaders have been arrested — a day before a planned demonstration that's been banned by police. the political party demosisto said joshua wong and agnes chow were taken to police headquarters in the wan chai district of the chinese semi—autonomous territory.