this is bbc news i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at four: democrats leading the impeachment inquiry into president trump, issue a legal order, demanding that the white house hand over more documents. much of hong kong is shut down, as demonstrators defy a new ban on wearing face masks. the government indicates it could clarify its new brexit offer after the eu called for ‘fundamental changes‘. a british—australian woman and her boyfriend are released after more than three months in an iranianjail. prince harry begins legal action against the owners of the sun and the mirror — over alleged phone hacking. england reach the quarter finals of the rugby world cup with a game to spare, after a 39—10 victory over argentina in tokyo.

a warning that mixing cocaine and alcohol together creates a "deadly combination" which can increase violent and impulsive behaviour — more in ‘victoria derbyshire: week in review.‘ donald trump‘s political opponents have intensified efforts to impeach the president. three congressional committees have demanded legal documents relating to a telephone call by mr trump — in which he asked ukraine president to investigate his presidential rival, joe biden. from washington, chris buckler reports. what was a request has become a demand. democrats are piling the pressure on president trump by issuing a subpoena

for a series of documents. they want a full, rather than a rough, transcript of thejuly phone call in which he asked the ukrainian leader, volodymyr zelensky, to investigate his political rival and potential presidential candidate, joe biden. and amid all the talk of impeachment, mr trump continues to make unfounded allegations about mr biden, who hopes to challenge him in next year‘s presidential election. you‘re pointing out when he‘s flatlining, where there is no evidence, none, not a scintilla, not one tiny piece. the american people know me, and they know him. even the people who support him know this man lacks character. even people who support him know he lies constantly. in a letter, the chairmen of three congressional committees accused mr trump of choosing a path of defiance, obstruction and cover—up. in response, the white house accused the democrats of setting up a kangaroo court that would only

waste time and taxpayers‘ dollars, and president trump‘s press secretary insisted that all their inquiries would ultimately show that the president had done nothing wrong. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. much of hong kong is shut down after violent demonstrations led to the suspension of the city‘s public transport network — many shopping centres, banks and businesses have been unable to open. thousands of people have taken to the streets today to protest against a newly—imposed ban on wearing face—masks. hong kong‘s leader, carrie lam is warning that she can no longer tolerate rioters destroying the territory. translation: the extreme actions of rioters created a very dark night for hong kong and made hong kong society semi—paralysed. everyone is very worried and concerned, or even scared. the government will suppress violence with the greatest determination.

i appeal to everyone to support the government in suppressing violence in accordance to the law, condemn violence together and cut ties with rioters with a firm will. at a news conference in kuala lumpur, the united nations high commissionerfor human rights, michelle bachelet, said the ban on face coverings should not be used as a way to target or disrupt people taking part in peaceful demonstrations. bans on face covering during assemblies are, in some circumstances, used to target particular groups and improperly curtail their freedom of expression or peaceful assembly. so freedom of peaceful assembly, when we are talking about peaceful assembly, should be enjoyed without restriction to the greatest extent possible. but on the other hand, we cannot accept people who use masks to promote violence. that is also not acceptable. earlier i spoke to the bbc‘s

asia pacific editor, celia hatton, who gave me her assessment of events in the territory in the past 2a hours. last night, we saw some of the most violent uprisings to mark the past four months, really. this is really in response to the chief executive‘s announcement that face masks would no longer be allowed, even in peaceful protest. so, we saw relative chaos last night in hong kong. today, it‘s eerily quiet across the territory. now, we have seen small protests pop up — many ordinary people, moderates, unarmed protesters, turning out to mark their displeasure against the face mask ban. we are also hearing of reports of violence against businesses that are perceived to be owned by mainland chinese people and so that‘s another development. but, yes, i mean, we are into month four of these protests and, yes, it‘s the weekend again, this is supposed to be a holiday weekend in hong kong, but really this is a city that

once prided itself on its efficiency, now the underground system has been shut down for the first time really in memory and you know this is a place that really has been changed. now you have mentioned a national holiday, everybody was very worried looking to october ist, just explain that significance us to. well october ist was a really big day in the calendar in mainland china. that‘s when the communist party marked 70 years of the people‘s republic of china. now, moving towards that important date, october ist, beijing was preparing for its largest ever military parade, the chinese president gave a big speech. we didn‘t know watching hong kong, we could see pressure building towards that date, we knew a lot of people were planning protests hong kong to mark their grief, as many put it, of imposition of chinese rule and it wasn‘t clear whether the temperature was going to continue to go up after that, tensions were going to continue to

rise, or whether things would begin to calm down. but now that we have had this announcement of a face mask ban, we can see that things really haven‘t improved in hong kong. where‘s it all leading to, because we heard carrie lam say she is no longer going to tolerate this, she‘s still at the helm, beijing is displaying very unusual, it is uncharacteristic calm, restrainr on hong kong. restraint on hong kong. explain why. i think, if you‘re expecting to see military tanks, chinese military tanks rolling down the streets of hong kong, you know the famous tank man image re—enacted on the streets of hong kong, i don‘t think we‘re going to see that any time soon, if at all. but i don‘t think beijing is being calm, i think beijing is enacting a lot of measures behind the scenes to really put pressure on the hong kong authorities, the hong kong police, hong kong businesses, to start bringing an end to these protests and i think that‘s really

what we are going to see as time goes on. we have seen the hong kong authorities enact, use an emergency law that hasn‘t been used since 1967, to put the face mask ban in place, we‘re seeing heightened police tactics. so, even though we haven‘t seen maybe the measures that we thought beijing might bring into place when these protests first started, i do think that beijing is doing a lot of things to try too bring an end to this. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, says he‘s called the us ambassador to express his "disappointment" that the wife of an american diplomat — who‘s wanted in connection with a fatal road crash — has left the country. 19—year—old harry dunn, was killed in a collision near raf croughton in northamptonshire in august. police say they want to arrest and interview the 42—year—old woman about his death. the government has indicated it could clarify its new brexit offer after the eu called

for ‘fundamental changes‘. talks will resume on monday after the eu said the uk‘s proposed alternative to the irish backstop could not be the basis for a legally—binding treaty. borisjohnson has insisted the only options are a ‘new deal or no deal‘. our political correspondent susana mendonca explained how the deal presented by borisjohnson to the eu fell short of what leaders were looking for. the sense that we have got from the eu is what is on the table at the moment is not in keeping with what they‘re after. borisjohnson has said he would want a situation where you have northern ireland staying within the single market for goods, but leaving the whole of the uk leaving the customs union. so one of the key challenges and one of the key d e bates the key challenges and one of the key debates and the reason for the backstop, this insurance policy to prevent a hard border is about trying to keep an open border in

ireland and this plan by boris johnson, the government say that you would be able to do border checks in factories and away from the border. but the eu doesn‘t seem convinced and what we have had from the europe and what we have had from the europe and the irish pm saying it falls short and on friday there was a meeting of eu negotiators with diplomats saying fundamental changes have to happen. the government has been talking of how it will clarify its offer and there will be talks in brussels on monday and borisjohnson is heading to meet eu leader. so there will be an attempt to get something that can be put to parliament, but essentially if he doesn‘t manage to get something that it can put to parliament, then potentially brexit may not happen or he is still saying we will leave deal or no deal. labour have been

talking about this, john mcdonnell is in colchester talking about the need to raise living standards and he was asked about this and he said he was asked about this and he said he didn‘t think that the deal that borisjohnson had he didn‘t think that the deal that boris johnson had put he didn‘t think that the deal that borisjohnson had put forward was actual lay real deal. it looks like an election stunt and they have put forward proposals they know the eu will not accept and boris johnson will not accept and boris johnson will they will portray himself as some sort of victim from the eu or parliament. what we want is a prime minister who actually looks after the long—term interests of our country and make sure we rule no deal off the table completely, goes into negotiations, secures a sensible deal and puts it back to the people with an option to remain. we want to bring the country back together and the best way to to do that islet the people speak. together and the best way to to do that islet the people speaklj together and the best way to to do that islet the people speak. i want to get some clarity, 19th october is the big day on whether we have a

deal. if we don‘t have a deal, what happens. in terms of the law that was brought in by mps last year, so what is known as the benn act, on 19th october he needs to have a deal passed through parliament, have parliament agree to a deal. the eu would have to agree the deal and he would have to agree the deal and he would have to get parliament to agree to that deal. if he doesn‘t, the law says he has to write to the eu to request an extension to article 50. so for us to remain in the eu. now, borisjohnson has said that he will obey the law. that what is the law says and there is court case in scotland looking at this and in papers submitted to that court he said he will obey the law, but he is saying that he will leave the european union with or without a deal. that is where all the questions are being raised about what does that mean. does it mean he is looking for a loophole to get out

of following that rule or are there ways he would write the letter, but get out of it. that is where there isa get out of it. that is where there is a lack of clarity and downing street haven‘t given us detail on how they would avoid going along with the letter of that law. could the loophole be another eu country like hungary. the idea has been spinning around since last month when the mps brought in the benn act and this is idea that you could get one of the other eu nations to veto and boris johnson would one of the other eu nations to veto and borisjohnson would put forward the letter and all the eu nations have to agree for an extension and one could veto. it is an idea that has been around for a while and it has been around for a while and it has resurfaced because a video suggested the hungarian foreign minister has been seen at the cabinet office and we have reports today suggesting that the prime

minister would want the hungarian government to veto. but what we have had from the hungarian government and their foreign minister is no request has been made for that. i spoke to downing street this morning and they did not comments either way. so we don‘t know whether the government has asked hungariry to do that. could they get hungary to veto 7 that. could they get hungary to veto? that would mean a european nation going against the wishes of other european nations so, a difficult ask. i wonder if you could bullet point what we have this week? we have another prorogation of parliament, that means a suspension of parliament and the government was found to be unlawful for the previous one. this will be for few days and jacob rees mogg will go back to the queen and ask her to suspend parliament to have the queen‘s speech, which the government wa nts to queen‘s speech, which the government wants to hold in a week‘s time.

setting out its programme for government. that is one thing to look forward to. we have got boris johnson and the government will be trying to get some movement with the eu with the deal they want to achieve. there is this court case going on in scotland about trying to make sure that the government sticks to the law with regards the benn act. the headlines on bbc news: senior democrats in the us demand the white house hands over documents for their impeachment inquiry into president trump. protesters defy a ban on wearing face masks as much of hong kong is shut down. the government indicates it could clarify its new brexit offer after the eu called for ‘fundamental changes‘. in sport, england are the first team through to the quarterfinals at the by through to the quarterfinals at the rug by world through to the quarterfinals at the rugby world cup. they beat argentina to make it three bonus point

victories out of three. they will play france. tottenham‘s troubles continue, losing 3—0 at brighton in the lunchtime kick off. liverpool and aston villa lead in the matches under way. the england lionesses lost 2—1 to brazil in middlesbrough. i‘m back with a full update at about 5.30. iran has released a british—australian woman and her boyfriend — who‘d been detained for three months on spying charges. jolie king and her australian partner, mark firkin, had been accused of using a drone to take pictures of military sites. separately, an iranian student has reportedly been freed in australia, but it‘s unclear if the two developments are linked. australia‘s foreign minister says tehran has dropped all charges against the couple.

they‘re long—term negotiations and they‘re ongoing. she has, as you know, been detained for some considerable time and has faced the legal system and been convicted and sentences. as i said, each of these cases are unique and different. so we are continuing our discussions with the iranian government. we don‘t accept the charges on which she was convicted and would seek to have her returned to australia. the duke of sussex has launched a legal battle against the tabloid press — taking action against the owners of the sun, the now defunct news of the world, and the daily mirror, in relation to alleged phone—hacking. it‘s not yet clear when prince harry‘s allegations date from, but in a phone hacking trial in 2011 he was named, along with prince william, as a victim. his move follows the announcement that his wife meghan is taking separate legal action against the mail on sunday. ben ando has more.

the end of another high—profile tour fulfilling their royal duties, meeting and greeting, but amid ever—frostier relations between the prince and the press. now harry is suing the publishers of two tabloid newspapers, the sun and the mirror, over allegations his mobile phone was hacked, it‘s thought, in the early 2000s. the phone—hacking scandal led to the closure of the mighty news of the world newspaper in 2011, and during a trial that year, princes harry, william and kate middleton, now the duchess of cambridge, were named as victims. but why is the prince suing now? royals rarely reach for a lawyer or a writ, and the reason is that it‘s such a high—risk strategy. they can be cross—examined, they can also have disclosure go to places that they don‘t really want. so it is a very high—risk strategy, the things that are outside their control, but it‘s also a high—risk strategy for the editors who are going to have to give evidence too. there are strong suggestions that in taking this action, harry is ignoring the advice of palace officials.

but ever since he refused to take part in the traditional newborn baby photo call when his son archie was born in may, it‘s been clear that the duke of sussex is ready to challenge expectations of how much or how little privacy members of the royal family can expect. on tuesday in south africa, the duke accused britain‘s tabloids of a ruthless campaign against his wife meghan, and she started legal proceedings against the mail on sunday, claiming it unlawfully published a private letter. it seems the sussexes believe only the courts can give them the privacy they feel they‘re entitled to. ben ando, bbc news. five people have reportedly been killed in clashes between protesters and police in the iraqi capital, baghdad. the iraqi parliament says more than 90 people have been killed and almost 4,000 others have been injured in unrest across the country this week. the protests began over unemployment, poor public services and corruption, but demonstrators are now also demanding that

the government resign. prosecutors in paris say the man who worked at police headquarters and stabbed four colleagues to death seems to have adhered to "a radical vision of islam." reporters were told that the 45—year—old computer expert was in contact with salafist movement members. the attacker was shot dead by police after the attack took place on thursday. as many as eight people have been seriously injured after a double—decker bus overturned in devon. the vehicle crashed on the a385 between totnes and paignton at about 11 o‘ clock this morning. emergency services declared a major incident. police have closed the road in both directions and asked people to avoid the area. police in new york have said four homeless men have been beaten to death with a metal

object in chinatown. a 24—year—old suspect is reported to be in custody. cbsjournalist christina fan has this update from new york. we are in chinatown in lower manhattan, where police are investigating an attack against the homeless that left four people dead and one other seriously injured. this is one of the many locations where police found the bodies this morning. we want to give you a look at the massive police response at the heart of chinatown. there is a suspect in custody. we have learned that he and all of the victims are believed to be homeless men. officers found the bodies after getting a call around 2am of a possible fight near bowery and doyers street. here they found two victims. just a block over on east broadway, they found three more bodies. it is believed the victims were sleeping when they were hit by a metal object that looked like a pipe. one of the victim survived the attack and is now being treated at a local hospital. again, police say the suspect, a 24—year—old man, is in custody, and they are questioning him but do not know the motives of the attacks at this time.

in new york we have been hearing about those killings of four homeless men. we understand that there are grave concerns about the upcoming release of the film the joker. a cinema in the us has cancelled two screenings of the joker after police revealed, what they called, a "credible" threat to those with tickets to the blockbuster film. police in major us cities have ramped up security to coincide with the release of the violent film — fearing it could incite gun violence. freya cole reports.

twisted, wicked and cruel — thejoker is returning to screens around the world as dark as ever before. murray, one small thing. when you bring me out, can you introduce me asjoker? the warner brothers film depicts the story of the mentally deranged joker before batman. the r—rated movie has triggered widespread fears that it will incite violence, and less than a week into its box—office debut, in california, two screenings have been cancelled. the local police department deemed that threat was credible enough to provide a uniformed presence at the theatre. now reopened, the huntington beach police department has said it will provide patrols for the rest of this weekend. the need for heightened security stems from the 2012 shooting attack inside a colorado cinema. 12 people were killed and 70 injured when a gunman dressed in body armour

and a gas mask opened fire during a midnight screening of the dark knight rises. theirfamilies have written to warner brothers urging the corporation to do more to tackle gun related violence. i believe that if someone is trying to copy—cat, thejoker would be a place where that could happen. i think people need to be aware of it. inevitably, some moviegoers will hold off seeing the film. i am conflicted about it, because of the issues in america right now with gun violence. but the joker has a cult—like following. it isjust a movie, you don't have to act what you see in the movie. already the film has broken box—office records, making more than 30 million us dollars in its debut. freya cole, bbc news. tens of thousands of people have attended

a pro—scottish independence march through the streets of edinburgh. groups and organisations who support separation from the uk joined the all under one banner procession, which began at holyrood park and continued up the royal mile. scotland‘s first minister nicola sturgeon didn‘tjoin the event, but said she was there "in spirit". five years ago she thought it was the end of her career, but tonight lucia lucas is making a little bit of history, the first performance by a transgender singer on the london opera stage. she‘s appearing in orpheus in the underworld at the english national opera. however, on stage because of her deep baritone voice, she continues to play male roles. our arts correspondent, david sillito reports. hi. my name is lucia lucas and i am a professional opera singer.

she sings opera. i am not trying to be a pioneer. i am trying to see how far i can get this to go and how long i can stay in the business because i hope that people in the future won‘t have the difficulties that i have had. lucia lucas. it has been more than five years since she decided the time had come to be her true self. the director of the opera at the time said... "just one question — what happens to your voice?" i‘ve done some research on that and for better or worse it doesn‘t change. and so with that baritone voice she makes the journey each evening from she to he. tonight a debut for

english national opera. ladies and gentlemen, you have 15 minutes. there you go. thanks. on stage you play male roles. is that uncomfortable? no, not really. it actually, in a certain way, justifies the difficulty that i had as a child because i knew that i was not team boy. you‘ve always been acting. i‘ve always been acting but now ijust do it on stage. if it had been a choice of singing or being yourself? be myself. 100%. i never envisioned that i could do both at the same time. you thought it would be the end of your career? yes, of course. five years on, rather than ending her career, it has blossomed.

transitional hormones haven‘t affected that extraordinary voice and tonight, a debut on the london opera stage, another barrier broken. david sillito, bbc news. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben rich. just about all of us are going to get wet weather rain spreading east and some of the rain will be heavy. there could be some travel problems and maybe some localised flooding. you can see the band of wet weather sliding eastwards through the night. you can see the dark blue and greens showing some heavy down pours and maybe the add flash of lightning and windy in the northern half of scotland. but mild, lows of nine to 12 degrees. tomorrow, this rain stalls across eastern parts. eastern england and

into south eastern and central scotla nd into south eastern and central scotland will see this persistent rain through into the afternoon the rain through into the afternoon the rain may move from the south—east corner and may fizzle else. further west, a different way with blue sky and sunshine and highs of 17 degrees. next week unseted with showers or longer spells of rain and a brisk wind.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. democrats leading the impeachment inquiry into president trump issue a legal order demanding that the white house hand over more documents. much of hong kong is shut down as demonstrators defy a new ban on wearing face masks. the government indicates it could clarify its new brexit offer after the eu called for ‘fundamental changes‘.