this is bbc world news today. our top stories: the us says its forces have killed the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, often described as the world's most wanted man. a brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated. reports say the operation was planned for weeks. president trump says no us military personnel were killed. a state of emergency across california as wildfires continue to spread, whipped up by strong winds. and vigils in vietnam for the 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry on the outskirts of london.

hello and welcome to world news today. president trump has announced that us forces have killed the leader of the islamic state group, abu bakral—baghdadi, in syria. he said that he had watched images of the operation as it unfolded from the white house. the is leader had been described as the world's most wanted man. in 2011, the us officially designated him a "terrorist" and offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to his capture or death — his death had been wrongly reported on several occasions. he emerged in 2010 as the leader of al-qaeda in iraq, one of the groups that merged with is, and rose to prominence during the attempted merger with the al—nusra front in syria. here's our middle east correspondent, quentin somerville. abu bakr al—baghdadi died in the dark in northern syria. the ferocious sound of the firefight

was heard for miles. pictures of donald trump watching the operation live have now been released by the white house. he later described how baghdadi he had fled into a tunnel wearing a suicide vest, taking three of his children with him. he reached the end of the tunnel as our dogs chased him down. he ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children. a brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated. he will never again harm another innocent man, woman or child. he died like a dog. he died like a coward. the world is now a much safer place. this was the scene this morning. donald trump thanked russia, turkey and the syrian kurds, but said only americans

were involved in the raid. a neighbour told the bbc what he saw. translation: around 11pm, they started shooting the house of abu mohammad. the house was completely destroyed. we recovered seven bodies from under the rubble and two others on the main street. abu bakr al—baghdadi was last seen earlier this year in a rare propaganda video, very much still in command of is. a number of his followers and two wives were also killed in the raid. this caps a terrible year for the group he commanded. their last remaining territory was lost in a bloody battle in the spring, leading to the capture of thousands of its supporters and their families. this killing brings an end to the reign of a man whose empire of terror stretched across the middle east and clawed at the capitals of europe. his followers crowed earlier ths year when he appeared alive in a propaganda video. today, they're mostly silent. abu bakr al—baghdadi was thought to be far from here, possibly in iraq.

but it was in these olive groves that one of the most brutal and successful extremists of modern times met his end. quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. joining me now isjenna jordan, an associate professor at georgia tech and author of a book about the targeting of terrorist leaders. what impact will this have the tool on is? thank you for having me. my book which came out yesterday examines precisely this question, whether or not decapitation which includes killing terrorist leaders, does it make it weaker or because its demised, or even resulting consequences? certainly the death of al—baghdadi is a tactical victory, but looking at 1000 cases, certain

kinds of groups tend to be resilient, and isis is characteristic of this group, they are religious, separatist groups and large groups are the most resilient they argue that this finding can be explained by two main factors, the first of bureaucracy, and ifind that bureaucratic organisations that have diversified functions and standard operating procedures, succession procedures have these things in place. isis is no exception, they developed a very institutionalised bureaucracy in order to manage the vast amount of territory it had gained at its height and to manage its finances and to govern the actual steak —like

entity, and it is these mechanisms that create a lot of resilience to efforts, and moreover al—baghdadi who had been very much out of the public eye for the past five years except for a few public appearances... a few recordings and appearances... a few recordings and a few videos was likely to have had very little impact on the group's operational capacity on a day—to—day functioning, and even on its ideological momentum as well, and this brings me to my second point, which is that ideology matters, and groups like isis are not dependent upon the leader for the articulation of the ideology, the ideology becomes rounded in the communities in which the group operates, they are local networks, and i think this is characteristic of isis as well. isis have expanded affiliates

expanding the globe. we have seen affiliate in the iranian peninsular and other parts of africa, so given these two factors i am very sceptical that this will have much impact on isis‘s operational capacity. california has declared a state—wide emergency as wildfires sweep through the area. the governor's office has described the situation as "unprecedented". in the north of the state, authorities have ordered nearly 200,000 people to leave their homes. rhodri davies reports. the races on a northern california to keep wildfires hemmed in and to get residents out. 180,000 of them have already evacuated and more may follow. although i have heard some people express concerns that we are evacuating too many people, i think

those concerns are not valid at this point. as we see from this report we just received, our evacuation yesterday was well warranted, there is significant danger to anybody still in the area. authorities are evacuating a huge area, including sa nta evacuating a huge area, including santa rosa city, where hundred and 75,000 people live. there, can't have packed roads as people fled to safety. but officials were cautioning that the scramble does not affect the firefighters. this is a major incident and we are still bringing in additional resources not just locally but regionally and we need these railways cleared to move these. that is to help the thousands of firefighters are battling the fire. they have contained about 10% of that place but it has already burned through 40,000 acres of a region famous for its vineyards. the

finer los angeles are threatening tens of thousands of homes, and hot dry winds of up to 90 mph are intensifying them. forecasters expect several more days of similar conditions. and amid the bright places, the state's biggest power firm has started blackouts. it is worried that damaged cables will trigger new fires. the start of the fire has been linked to a possible damaged power line so the biggest blackout in the state's history will see electricity to around 2 million people cut. that leaves californians for full people cut. that leaves californians forfull and people cut. that leaves californians for full and unsure of what comes next. joining me now live from sonoma county in california is mike dewald, a reporterfor local radio station ksro. 180,000 people ordered to leave, the

scale of this is massive, isn't it? absolutely massive scale. we saw leading up to these fires very precautionary evacuation at that time which everyone thought that that was big, getting 50,000 people out of two communities for the initial evacuation. 0nce out of two communities for the initial evacuation. once the event got closer, officials made the call to expand the evacuation and take it out to the west, bringing the number up out to the west, bringing the number up to 180,000 people, and we saw residents taking three hours to get out of these areas that have been down —— redeemed mandatory evacuation areas. but officials are taking no precautions. in the event ofa taking no precautions. in the event of a worst—case scenario taking no precautions. in the event of a worst—case scenario emergency, they will make it very difficult for first responders to notify these

residents that it is time to leave without the power. you talk about those power shortages, what is the impact of these fires on local people? are very difficult. it was an intense light last night over light leading to another diary day—to—day, two communities to the north, really on the verge fire looming over them as crews really worked in a last—ditch effort to save these communities from these massive flames, and these not —— wins that are not subsiding. what are authorities doing to stop these parts and prevent them, future ones from emerging. the event is considered a mutual aid event which means there are firefighters in neighbouring states, first responders coming from all regions,

and to help out in this effort they are trying to keep these fires at bay. it is not ending any time soon, forecasting an event scheduled for tuesday into wednesday. thank you very much for that. he will speak to the governor of california later so best of luck. the driver of a refrigerated container truck, in which the bodies of 39 people were discovered in south—east england, will appear in court on monday charged with manslaughter. it's thought many of those who died came from a single small area of vietnam. 0ur correspondent, jonathan head, has been to the village of yen thanh, where their families have been holding vigils. singing. a community overwhelmed by shock and despair.

they haven't heard from sons and daughters who were en route to britain for days, and they all fear the worst. earlier this year, a relative left vietnam to seek his fortune in europe. since he left, his wife has given birth to their second child. he was the great hope of this family. news from britain has left them stunned. his wife can't eat or speak. his father is inconsolable, constantly hugging his eldest grandchild. he's lost notjust his son, but his livelihood as well. he mortgaged all his land to borrow the money he paid for his son's journey. "the debt he left us

is huge," he said. "we don't know when we can pay it back. "i am too old now and my health is poor." it has been a day of prayer here and of neighbours doing what they can to offer comfort. they are used to saying goodbye to their young men and women in this part of vietnam. remittances are important to the local economy. but not loss on this scale. this 19—year—old is another one who dreamed of something better. they are almost certain that she too was inside the ill—fated container. saving and borrowing to send their young folk overseas has become a routine practice in these villages. it has also become a richly profitable business for the traffickers — a pitiless and dangerous one. few people here realised, as they surely do now, just how dangerous it could be. jonathan head, bbc news,

yen thanh, vietnam. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the polls have closed in argentina for the presidential elections as the country wrestles with a deep economic crisis. the current president, mauricio macri, has imposed unpopular austerity measures to tackle debt; whilst his main rival, alberto fernandez, has pledged to spend more on social welfare. in germany, exit polls suggest the far—right alternative for germany has doubled its vote in the regional elections in thuringia. the party is predicted to receive around 24% of the vote, putting it in second place, in front of chancellor angela merkel‘s ruling christian democrats. thousands of anti—government protesters have again taken to the streets in baghdad. they tried to advance towards the green zone which houses government buildings but where driven back by security forces. the protesters are demanding an end to corruption, more jobs and better public services.

tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of barcelona in support of spanish unity. it follows protests by supporters of catalan independence yesterday that ended in violent clashes with police. sarah rainsford reports. today, they raise the spanish nationalflag in barcelona alongside the catalan colours. unity was the message. catalans who insist they're spanish, too, and will stay that way. but two years on from an independence vote, and with nine of its leaders in prison for sedition, this is a society deeply divided. some have even lost friends over the issue. they feel that you are against catalonia, and we are not against catalonia. we love catalonia but we love spain. this crowd has not been out on the streets in these numbers since the referendum, but they say they want to be here to make sure their voice is heard and to make it clear that not everyone here in catalonia

wants independence. but last night, this same street was in flames after a crowd of independence supporters were charged by police. they fired rubber bullets to scatter the crowd after being pelted with paint and bottles. they were ugly scenes after a much bigger and peaceful rally. hundreds of thousands in the street, insisting on their right to split from spain and calling for those they call political prisoners to be freed. passions are heated on both sides. today's pro—unity rally called for healing the divide, but no—one can agree here how to do that. sarah rainsford, bbc news, barcelona. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: will the death of abu bakr al—baghdadi put an end to the threat posed by so—called islamic state? we'll get the assessment

of our security correspondent. granted, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday she said, i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood will contribute to the death of my nation. after 40 sixes of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. lift of discovery with the crew, and one american legend! this is beautiful! —— liftoff.

the crew, and one american legend! this is beautiful! -- liftoff. a milestone in human history. born today, this girl in india as the 7,000,000,000th person. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: the us says its forces have killed the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, often described as the world's most wanted man. reports say the operation was planned for weeks. president trump says no us military personnel were killed, but three children were among those who died with baghdadi. for more on who al—baghdadi was and why there was such a huge price tag on his head, i've been speaking to our security correspondent, frank gardiner. he was the leader of so—called islamic state and somebody he was the leader of so—called islamic state and somebody who he was the leader of so—called islamic state and somebody who not only had religious credentials, he

was an islamic scholar, an expert on islamicjurisprudence, was an islamic scholar, an expert on islamic jurisprudence, and had was an islamic scholar, an expert on islamicjurisprudence, and had huge kudos on thejihadist islamicjurisprudence, and had huge kudos on the jihadist world. he wasn't just a strategist kudos on the jihadist world. he wasn'tjust a strategist but kudos on the jihadist world. he wasn't just a strategist but a religious leader. he was very rarely seen religious leader. he was very rarely seen but he presided over what has been described as a reign of terror so been described as a reign of terror so for over five years islamic state carried out extortion, rapes, beheadings, immolation, droning of its enemies, but more importantly, economically, it was able to extort billions of dollars and effectively runa billions of dollars and effectively run a mini—state right across northern iraq and syria and it took five years to dismantle that. at one stage, up to 8 million people were under its rule, and of course true that they were projecting terrorist attacks across europe and into other parts of the world, so him being at large was always going to be unfinished business after the defeat of isis in march.

hello and thanks forjoining us. south africa will meet england in the rugby world cup final after beating wales 19—16 in a tense semifinal in yokohama. it means wales coach warren gatland will leave his job after another final four heartbreak while the springboks have set up a repeat of the final they won against england in 2007. here's our sports editor, dan roan. after yesterday's pulsating semifinal between england and new zealand this was a very different affair between wales and south africa, windy conditions here in the stadium this evening and may be that had an impact because it was a very attritional and tight first half in particular. south africa looking to dominate every time they had the ball through the powerful set of fours, and well struggle to compete with that. at half time south africa

went in, dan biggar scoring penalties of his own, but wales lost key men through injury, they had already come into the match depleted through injury and perhaps in the final reckoning that had an impact because in the second half damien broke through a series of tackles to put south africa in front. the pressure was on wales at that point, they were on the south african line for several minutes and finally the bull was flung wide and josh adams went over to score, lee halfpenny scoring a nerveless conversion to draw the match level. in such a tight encounter, it was always likely that the next points would prove decisive. wales had their chances, they had a dropped goal attempt which missed, but then pollard was awarded a penalty, he made no mistake, 19—16 up, and wales had run out of time. south africa through, they will have a chance for a third world cup triumph if they can be england next weekend, england

will start as favourites in that match after the way they outplayed new zealand, but welsh dreams of a first—ever world cup final have been dashed and along with it their hopes of giving their legendary coach, the sendoff they were hoping they would give him. he is now of course got one more match to look forward to in the third and fourth play—off in new zealand in tokyo on friday night, but it is south africa who go through to the final against england. liverpool needed two second—half goals to come from behind to beat tottenham at anfield to restore their six—point lead at the top of the premier league table. after harry kane gave spurs the lead after just 47 seconds, liverpool captain jordan henderson equalised six minutes after half time. mo salah completed the comeback. liverpool have equalled the premier league record of 28 points after the first 10 fixtures. mercedes driver

lewis hamilton has won the mexican grand prix, but not the drivers championship yet. he started from third and, with a superb drive, made his way up the field to finish in first. the ferrari's had locked out the front of the grid, but an extra pit stop for charles leclerc meant he dropped back to fourth. sebastian vettel started and finished in second. hamilton had needed to beat his mercedes team—mate valteri bottas by 14 points to win his sixth drivers championship, but bottas finished third, meaning hamilton will have to wait to next week for that. that's all the sport for now. just before we go, a long—lost painting by the early italian rennaisance master has sold for more than $26 million dollars at auction — more than four times the pre—auction estimate. the "christ mocked" painting had been hanging

above a cooker in the home of an elderly french woman for years — its true identity was only revealed when an auction house specialist came to value her possessions. it's now the most expensive medeival painting ever sold. he was one of the first to use perspective and only about ten of his known works have survived. a reminder of our top story... the us says its forces have killed the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, often described as the world's most wanted man. you can get more information on that story and all the rest of our stories on our news website. there have been lots of support around for the world cup final coming back next weekend. you can get more information on our website.

i hope you had a chance to enjoy some of the sunshine on offer quite widely during the course of sunday. there's been quite a transformation in the weather from since the start of the week and in the next few days, it continued in a similar vein thanks to this area of high pressure. drier, brighter, but noticeably colder across all parts of the british isles. quite a few isobars across the north ernpart of britain on that particular chart, so we will see a continuation of those breezy conditions through the rest of the night. the chance of some showers coming down through the northern isles and into the north of mainland scotland and as we get on through the night, notice how those colours really begin to drain away.

blues more widespread than perhaps we have seen them. monday starting fairly chilly, in many inland areas with quite a widespread frost. you could be scraping the car for perhaps the first time this season. once the day is off and running, it translates into a gloriously sunny day, dry and crisp. it is that phase of autumn that many of you experienced on sunday. still one or two showers across northern and eastern shores, all the while the cloud is thick enough for the odd bit of a piece of rain in the far south. temperatures close to where we were on sunday. not a great deal changes on monday into tuesday other than opening up those isobars so a better chance of it being a chilly start, yes, but fewer showers to report as that high pressure begins to really dominate across northern parts of britain. still, all the while, the sunshine tempered, to say the very least, across the south wales and south—west of england, down towards the channel islands. could be bits a piece of rain from that, but otherwise, again, a dry and fine day for the most part, but the temperature is nothing to write about.

nine, ten, 11, 12. fairly wet and windy weather on wednesday on the western side of the british isles. after a chilly start, through central and eastern areas, staying dry for a greater part of the day but, overnight, the band of weather will move from west to east. there it is on thursday, and there is the chance it will bring more frontal systems into the south—western quarter to provide a spell of really quite wet weather, some windy conditions. in between those two weather fronts, thursday is going to be a murky old day with a lot of cloud around, but especially so in the west.

this is bbc world news. the headlines. the us says its forces have killed the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, often described as the world's most wanted man. the us says al—baghdadi blew himself up with a suicide vest, after being cornered by special forces in idlib province in north west syria. three children died with him, alongside several is fighters. a state of emergency has been declared across california as wildfires continue to spread whipped up by strong winds. some 180,000 people in the north of the state have been ordered to leave their homes. vigils have been held in vietnam, for the 39 people who died in a refrigerated lorry not farfrom london.

police in vietnam have been taking dna samples from family members