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: a murder investigation is launched after british police find 39 bodies in the back of a lorry that came from europe. it is absolutely imperative that the operation is conducted with the upmost respect for the 39 people who've lost their lives. president trump says he's lifting all sanctions against turkey, after ankara says its offensive against the kurds in syria is over.

and a quantum leap for computers — google says its new machine can calculate in minutes what would take a normal computer thousands of years. in what's now a wide—ranging murder investigation, british police are working to identify 39 people found dead in the trailer of a lorry just outside london. one was a teenager, but it's not yet confirmed who any of the dead were, or where they came from. the lorry driver, who's from northern ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. our special correspondent ed thomas has this report from the town of grays, in essex, about 30 kilometres east of the capital. just before 1:40am, paramedics call police. the doors of the lorry

container had been opened. inside, 39 bodies. 39 lives. people with hopes and ambitions. the youngest was a teenager. that's tragic. absolutely terrible. yeah, such a shame. obviously trying to get over here for a better life. it is heartbreaking for me. feels very sorry for them. it's horrible. it's quite difficult to believe that that's happening quite close to the place where you are working every day for many years. we've obtained this cctv from 1:13am this morning. close to where it was found, the lorry passes at speed. the final moments before its journey ended. when paramedics arrived, all 39 people were pronounced dead. the trailer is believed to be refrigerated, with temperatures as low as —25.

this is as close as the police will allow us to the lorry, and all morning forensic teams have been coming and going from that tent. we still don't know who put these people on the lorry. we don't know exactly how they died. all we know is that the lorry was found here in the early hours of this morning. we know the truck was registered in bulgaria. police said the trailer arrived, on a ferry from zeebrugge, in belgium, into purfleet on the river thames, docking just after midnight. the driver of the lorry has been named in northern ireland as 25—year—old mo robinson. he is being questioned on suspicion of murder. this matter has attracted national and international interest, and it's absolutely imperative that the operation is conducted with the utmost respect for the 39 people who have lost their lives. grays is at the centre of a huge haulage network.

where the lorries are stopping overnight and people are coming out of them. some here are shocked, but not surprised. this cabbie says he and his colleagues are often approached by desperate people. all they do, is they come up, they can't speak english, they hand you a phone, you speak to someone on the other end of a phone, and they ask you to take them to an address. it's normally round by london. i've seen six people getting out of the back of a lorry in the same location. this man didn't want to be identified. as has my best friend, seen people running out of a lorry, and scattering in all directions. he walks past the place where the lorry was found most mornings. it seems everybody's had experience, that i know, especially in that area in particular, and itjust seems to be a thing that no—one seems to care about. today, the prime minister and labour leaderjeremy corbyn spoke of their shock and sadness. this is an unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking. i know that the thoughts and prayers of all members are with those who lost their lives

and their loved ones. all of us should just think for a moment what it's like to be a police officer or a firefighter, to open that container and have to remove 39 bodies from it, and deal with them in an appropriate and humane way. tonight, the lorry and the people still inside have been taken away. police said their dignity and finding their loved ones comes first. ed thomas, bbc news, grays. republican members of congress have disrupted the impeachment inquiry against president trump, barging into a hearing room as a senior specialist from the pentagon was about to testify. democrats see it as a way to prevent more evidence emerging that mr trump withheld aid to ukraine's government until they investigated his political rival, joe biden. the president has urged republicans to toughen their opposition to the impeachment inquiry. i asked our north america correspondent david willis if the inquiry is likely to start

getting even more confrontational. this could be a sign of things to come. we saw two dozen protesters, republicans, they believe there is a lack of transparency to what is taking place and they believe there is an attempt behind closed doors to overturn the outcome of the last american presidential election. their protest succeeded in delaying proceedings by about five hours, but this contention that the proceedings are not transparent enough or are weighed against the republicans is a little difficult to swallow when you bear in mind perhaps that use of the three committees that form part of this impeachment investigation have republicans on them and they are granted equal time to question witnesses.

added to which, the chairman of one of those committees, the house intelligence committee, the chairman of which is adam schiff, he has promised that they would be public hearings and he will be releasing testimony in public once the fact—finding element of this whole thing has been completed. you mentioned lauren cooper, sees the pentagon official who was due to give evidence just as the process began today as the person who basically oversaw aid money going to ukraine. she obviously has a very interesting role to play in all of this, particularly since we heard from the acting ambassador to the ukraine, william taylor, the other day, that there was a quid pro quo, an agreement to go to ukraine in return for the ukrainians launching an investigation intojoe biden.

david willis, our north american correspondent. let's get some of the day's other news ambassadors from european union countries, meeting in brussels, have delayed a decision on whether to grant london's request for an extension to the brexit process. a decision is now expected on friday on how long any extension might be, and what conditions may be attached. lawyers for carlos ghosn, the former boss of the japanese carmaker nissan, have called for charges of financial misconduct against him to be dropped. at a pre—trial hearing in tokyo, they've argued that japanese prosecutors had colluded with nissan, and the whole case against mr ghosn had been politically motivated. the french—brazilian businessman was arrested last november, accused of underreporting his earnings and misusing company assets. there have been more clashes between protesters and security forces in chile. protesters have rejected reforms from president pinera, aimed at ending days of violent unrest. they say it's not enough to heal deep social and economic problems. at least 15 people have died and more than 5000 have been

detained in protests so far. president trump says the united states has brokered a permanent ceasefire in north east syria and that he's going to lift sanctions against turkey, after being told ankara will stop military operations against the kurds. fierce fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee since turkey began its assault on kurdish fighters. but mr trump declared it was someone else's fight. 0ur washington correspondent nick bryant reports on a day that donald trump claimed an american diplomatic triumph, the facts on the ground contradicted his words. these were russian forces consolidating their power in northern syria, in an area that, just weeks ago, was home to a key us base in the region. and these were turkish soldiers and turkey—backed syrian rebels unveiling their flags in triumph in a border town they've now taken from the kurds. america's forces have been continuing their pull—out, much to the fury of their kurdish allies in the fight against islamic state.

these images have come to define a major power shift. departing us soldiers, former brothers in arms, pelted with potatoes. in washington, the president tried to turn what's been condemned as a tale of american betrayal, into a story of personal success. today's announcement validates our course of action with turkey, that only a couple of weeks ago was scorned, and now people are saying, wow, what a great outcome. let someone else fight over this long—bloodstained sand. but the great outcome is for president erdogan of turkey and his russian counterpart, vladimir putin, who met yesterday in sochi, to shape the endgame in syria's eight—year civil war. america is no longer a significant player in determining syria's future.

from capitol hill, the president has been pelted with criticism, and it's come from senior republicans. if not arrested, withdrawing from syria will invite more of the chaos that breeds terrorism and creates a vacuum our adversaries will certainly fill. the withdrawal of most of america's forces from syria means a waning of us influence in the middle east and maybe beyond, but this is a commander in chief who campaigned on disentangling his country from costly and unending conflicts, and many of his supporters will see this as he does, as a case of mission accomplished. is this really a victory? i spoke to jonathan katz, is an expert on us—turkish relations at the washington—based think—tank, the german marshall fund of the united states. this is not a victory for the united states,

despite what president trump has said. in fact, it is a victory for isis, foer putin, mrassad, hezbollah and iran, but it's not a victory for the united states. as you mentioned earlier, in washington today, there is a bipartisan consensus that the president's policy in syria was a disaster that leaves the united states more vulnerable and our allies as well more vulnerable. and when you see the devastation, how it has impacted kurds, hundreds of thousands who have been displaced, hundreds killed, how can you call that a victory? the president's critics are saying this is president trump claiming credit for providing an answert oa problem he created. yep. but i suppose he has a point that the disengagement from this area begun under president 0bama, drawing redlines he never backed up. i do not think that is what is at stake here right now.

president trump's policy, his twitter policy, the policy to withdraw troops without consulting his own staff and the pentagon, the state department, at the pentagon, at the state department, even at the white house, was done in a hamfisted way that has left the united states more vulnerable today than it was before and you see this already where us troops are suggested to be going to iraq. the iraqi government has said us troops are not welcome. we have not figured out what comes next in this conflict and it leaves both syria and the syrian people who have suffered under war in a very difficult position. i want to add also, when talking about victories and we're talking about the united states, it is important to remember why the us was there, which was to fight isis and according to the us military and to our diplomats,

the fight against isis needs to continue so, if that isn't the case, why would the us be withdrawing right now? the president and his supporters would saying there are a bunch of american voters and interests who want out of that area. if you heard fox news and other allies, you really saw a push back amongst republicans. i think those republicans know what people in the districts want, and president trump, maybe in this case, may have been trying to change some of the audience away from the impeachment enquiry into this conflict. and unfortunately, this conflicts with national security. stay with us on bbc news,

still to come: you how the magic art of abracadabra has now been officially recognised in france's education sector. a historic moment that many of his victims have waited for for decades. the former dictator in the dock, older, slimmer, and, as he sat down, obedient enough. dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside korem, it lights up a biblicalfamine, now, in the 20th century. the depressing conclusion, in argentina today, it is actually cheaper to paper your walls with money. we've had controversies in the past with great britain. but as good friends, we've always found a good and lasting solution. concorde bows out in style.

after almost three decades in service, an aircraft that enthralled its many admirers for so long, taxis home one last time. this is bbc news, the main story this hour: british police launch a murder investigation after they find 39 bodies in the back of a lorry that came overfrom europe. more on that now. a short time ago our europe correspondent damian grammaticas sent this update from the belgian port of zeebrugge, where police believe the vehicle came from. what we have heard is from the prosecutors here in belgium, it is here where it is thought that the trailer was loaded onto a boat across the channel to and this is now whether focused on enquiry

belgian prosecutors have received information from the uk site and have done their own enquiries and the focus of those in vires is to try and determine where the trailer originated its journey, try and determine where the trailer originated itsjourney, was it in belgium, was it out side? where was it loaded and how did it then proceed through here to the uk? authorities have been cooperating with the uk for some time to try and control the migrant flow particularly through this port. this is 100 kilometres up the coast from calais and had security has improved at branch port and fencing and controls have been put in, migrants have looked for other routes and this has been one of them for the last year they have been talking here aboutjoint operations controlling the flow of migrant there have been attempts to stop people boarding trucks at truck stops down the motorway but what belgian police need to focus on is trying to identify where this group

of migrants were picked up and therefore how they managed to to get through. protestors have ta ken to the streets in lebanon for a seventh consecutive day of anti—government marches. the demonstrations began in protest at plans to tax whatsapp voice calls but have grown into wider discontent about the country's failing economy, corruption, and poor public services, as rich preston reports. they are calling for change for an economic reform, for revolution. thousands have ta ken to the streets yet again. they want to bring down those they hold responsible for corruption and poverty. on wednesday, streets filled in beirut and elsewhere in the country. banks have been closed since last friday and will remain closed throughout thursday. these protests are largely peaceful, driven by young people. the army says it is refraining from force.

there have been some scuffles, though no reports of any serious injuries. on monday the prime minister unveiled economic reforms promising to cut politicians pay and reduce public debt. but protesters say their moves don't go far enough. translation: everything the political class is doing now is clearly to buy time. the reform list that the government presented is clearly a lie. today the demand is for the government to fall. lebanon is a country divided along sectarian lines — shia muslim, sunni muslim and maronite christians. but these protests have brought people together. the country's most senior christian cleric called on the government to listen to the people. translation: we called on the president to begin consultations with the political leadership and the heads of the sects to take necessary decisions regarding the people's demands.

lebanon is seen as a stable country in an otherwise turbulent middle east, while protesters here demand revolution, governments elsewhere will hope any changes ahead will be smooth. bolivia's leader evo morales is continuing to claim victory in the country's presidential election, and has accused the opposition of trying to orchestrate a coup. clashes between supporters of mr morales and those of his rival, carlos mesa, broke out on wednesday in the lowland city of santa cruz. the latest official vote count, showed mr morales ahead of mr mesa, but still short of the 10—point lead needed to avoid a second round run—off. google says it has achieved a breakthrough in computing with a revolutionary machine that dwarfs the power of conventional supercomputers. it says the quantum device — named sycamore — performed a calculation in minutes that would take a normal computer thousands of years to process. a rival team at ibm says the claims

of ‘quantum supremacy‘ a re overstated. so, just how significant is this? i asked john preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the california institute of technology. i think huge is probably an overstatement but i do think if you step back and look at what's happened, what was announced today from the perspective of the history of technology, a significant milestone has been reached. we have had the understanding for some time that as quantum computers continue to advance, they will eventually, at least for some of us be able to far outperform our most powerful digital supercomputers

and what we have now seen is that the technology has matured to the point that at least for special, narrowly defined purposes, quantum computers can now far out outperform the most powerful digital computers we have, they can perform a computation with a very significant speed up. on the other hand, we should not have unrealistic expectations about what this means in terms of those technological advances impacting our lives for a while. it's going to take some time, to realise applications for quantum computing that will really have practical impact. from the point of view of science, from the point of view of physics is a real milestone, it's a very impressive experiment that the google crew has carried out. if you can, what do you say

to people who said that the team has demonstrated they had control over it, they have relatively low error rates but were decades away from an actual quantum computer they can solve problems. i agree, it's important to understand the quantum computers that we have now and that the google crew use has a hardware which is not so reliable. the computation is a series of operations and in each operation there is a probability of error which is sufficiently high that if you try to perform too long a computation you are probably not going to get the right answer. right now that a serious limitation of the power of the technology and you might be right, it might take decades for some of the applications that we currently envision to become realised. but we now have quantum devices that we can start to play with and search for applications and it has been hard to anticipate exactly

how quantum computers can be used because it's such a different way of processing information. and now we have reached a point where the devices have sufficient power that the potential for applications is there and we can proceed to try and develop them. france is famous for its grand ecoles — prestigious institutions of higher education that cater to the great and the good. whether it's business, engineering or administration — the french elite has learnt its trade in those hallowed halls. now — the official stamp has been given to another school — but this one has, well, a magical touch. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. thomas is 18 years old. he wants to be a magician. "this is the false bottom," he says, the school where we have lessons. hogwarts, it is not, but if card tricks and sleight of hand are your thing, then this is the place for you. translation: magic is a passion, it's a bit like music or an artist who wants to sketch all day.

it's really engrossing. you don't notice the day go by. alexandre runs the school with her father. she says her profession involves psychology, improvisation and practice. lots and lots of practice. thousands of hours of training, then hey presto, abracadabra, that's magic. translation: we have a diploma which is recognised by the state as the equivalent of two years of study post high school. this means it is entitled to public funding just like any other training forjobs in the arts. so it's huge. it is not cheap either. a three—month course cost 15,000 euros, more than $16,000 but it is a professional qualification in a competitive business. play your cards right and you can be a

magician. just like that. i have to disappear. thank you for watching. many of us will be glad to see the back of october and we still have another week to come with more rain in the forecast for the next few days, some quite heavy however, as we close out the month it does look like we will see a change, a different band. drier but colder by day. here and now we have a couple of weather fronts sandwiched across england and wales producing cloud and light patchy rain. as they sink south and east behind the wind will strengthen in this weather front in

the north—west will be showery for the north—west will be showery for the remainder of the day. we will start a little milder than the morning isjust start a little milder than the morning is just past. start a little milder than the morning isjust past. double start a little milder than the morning is just past. double digits widely across the country. early morning mist and fog patches in the south—east and those with weather fronts, a band of cloud and drizzle driving its way south and east. behind it it will be clearance, and he smells coming through before the frontal system enhances the showers in the north—west. the top temperature 11, 1a degrees. now, as that low pressure starts to tuck in from the north—west it will introduce a colder flow. from the north—west it will introduce a colderflow. bit from the north—west it will introduce a colder flow. bit of a north—south divide in the feel of the weather and the type of weather that we will see. as we move into friday we have a low pressure just enhancing, plenty of showers into the north—west and the cool air kicking in with some went to the high ground to at the same time into the south—west we have a pulse of wet weather that will move in and onceit wet weather that will move in and once it arrives stay for some time. it will bring some rain, some of it

heavy as it pushes into wales in northern england and northern ireland that is the dividing line between the cold line to the —— holder to the north and slightly milder conditions to the south—east corner. unfortunately it is a relentless conveyor belt of rain through friday into saturday across much of wales and northern england before it slowly starts to show that it will clear away during the latter stages of saturday afternoon. however, be prepared for some disruption for wales in north—west england. we could have another 100 millimetres of rain on top of the already wet month that we have seen. tune into the local radio station for a static once upfront goes away we will see a change. chilly mornings and some frost around the dry and sunny weather conditions because high pressure is set to build in from the atla ntic pressure is set to build in from the atlantic and quieten things down over the next few days..

this is bbc news, the headlines: british police have launch a murder inquiry afterfinding the bodies of 39 people in a lorry container in south—east england. the vehicle had come overfrom europe. the driver has been arrested. they're now trying to identify the bodies, which include a teenager. republican members of congress have disrupted the trump impeachment inquiry, barging into a hearing room, moments before a senior pentagon specialist was due to testify. democrats say it's a way to prevent more evidence emerging against the president. president trump says he'll lift all sanctions imposed on turkey over its incursion against the kurds in syria. he said ankara promised him its military operation in the region had stopped. turkey's two—week offensive has seen scores of deaths, while more than 170,000 people

have fled their homes.