this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: voting is under way in hong kong's local elections — it's a big test of support for embattled chief executive carrie lam. donald trump's personal lawyer says he doesn't fear being indicted — despite claims he was at the centre of white house efforts to pressure ukraine. i did the right thing. i represented my client in a very, very effective way. in france, tens of thousands march against shocking levels of domestic violence towards women. translation: the government must do something to help us. we get punched, we get humiliated, insulted,

raped. jubilation in rio — as flamengo win the showpiece tournament of latin american football — beating river plate, in lima. let's start in hong kong, where local elections are under way. the authorities have threatened to suspend voting if there's serious trouble but pro—democracy campaigners have told their supporters not to cause any disruption. this vote is the first to take place since protests and often violent clashes with police started back in june. so it will be a test of support for pro—democracy and pro—bejing candidates. the poll is for the lowest rung of government in the city. more than a thousand candidates are running, competing for more than a50 seats throughout the city's 18 districts. a number of seats currently held by pro—beijing incumbents, are being contested by pro—democracy candidates, butjoshua wong, one of the prominent protest leaders is banned from running,

because he called for self—determination for hong kong. he'sjust given his reaction to reporters. as the only candidate being disqualified by beijing, which proves the election in hong kong is being manipulated by the communist authorities. however, even if they censor me out from the ballot and lock me up in prison it willjust encourage me to continue to work for the future with even stronger determination. and hong kong's chief executive carrie lam spoke a short time ago after casting her ballot and said she expected the election to go smoothly despite the circumstances. we are facing an extremely challenging situation in organising this year's elections. but i am pleased to say that, with the concerted efforts of all parties, including, of course, over 30,000 civil servants in many departments working today, we should have a relatively peaceful and calm environment to conduct these elections successfully. thank you very much.

that was carrie lam. 0ur correspondentjonathan head is in hong kong. i asked him if it was not too strong to suggest that this election was a referendum on the protest movement. no, don't think it is. they think it is on the minds of most people who are voting here. 0bviously local issues do matter. and in some areas they will matter more. but everyone in hong kong is affected by the crisis. many families have been split. people have very strong feelings about it. a lot of people are very distressed. a lot of people are very passionate. a lot of that hangs over this. nothing technically to do with the protest movement in the conflict with the government is on the actual campaign ballots or platforms. in practice it is there, the opposition alliance calling itself the pan democratic alliance has put, in many cases, the five demands of the protest movement up there along with their local issues and everyone

here appears to have that on their minds. how they vote, we don't know. the opposition alliance is opening that broad dissatisfaction with the government, with the police, and a realfear of the state of freedom and democracy in hong kong will persuade a lot of people to vote and give the opposition, for the first time, significant control of these district council traditionally dominated by the government's site. 0n the government side they are reasonably confident that the escalation of chaos and violence will persuade even some of those people sympathetic to the goal of the protesters that they better stick with the status quo. no—one will know until votes are counted. but talking to people in the queue they all recognise this is about much more than just local issues, that this really is an important election that will give a clear indication of where public opinion in hong kong lies right now. protest leaders have asked the supporters to stay calm, do not cause any disruption. is that a sign of confidence

that they can win some seats here, that maybe they were not supposed to? well, you've got to make a separation. the pan democratic alliance is broadly synthetic to the protest movement. of course, the movement itself is amorphous, it's young, there are still very hard line protesters who take either radical approach. but it does appear that all of them, so far, have listened to the advice that nothing should happen that would disrupt these elections. this is something that the opposition believe will help them and help the cause that they and the protest movement broadly support, which is to get the government to give concessions to have stronger enshrinement of hong kong's freedoms. i mean, there are still a small number of protesters still holed up a university campus where we saw such dramatic confrontations just a week. their number has dwindled to a very small number now. and i think after all those dramatic scenes, probably the protest movement has to draw breath anyway and decide what is next tactic

and the results of this election and how the election goes may influence that. nobody thinks the protest and the turmoil we have seen in the past five and half months is anywhere near over — there is a huge amount of momentum behind it. i think everyone wants to see, from this vote, the real test of public opinion, if the government loses significant amounts of support that will pile the pressure on carrie lam. now, whether that results in her resigning or making concessions, perhaps agreeing to an independent enquiry. none of that in certain and the influence of beijing is critical. everyone will be watching the results of this technically local election to decide what their next move is going to be. very quickly, what is the schedule ahead. when are we going to get the results? well, voting goes on until very late at night, doesn't finish until 10:30pm. once that happens counting starts. we would expect results to come in within a few hours, certainly by monday morning we will have a very clear idea of how this election has gone.

that was jonathan head that wasjonathan head speaking a little earlier. president trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, has said he's not concerned about being indicted for crimes now being investigated by the impeachment inquiry. this is after the us state department released records relating to the trump administration's dealings with ukraine which show repeated contacts between secretary of state mike pompeo and mrgiuliani. here's chris buckler in washington with the latest developments. during the impeachment inquiry, rudy giuliani's name was mentioned a lot. he's been accused of smearing people and of trying to push ukraine into launching these politically partisan investigations into donald trump's rivals. well, he's come out fighting, and in a pretty angry interview with fox news, mr giuliani has defended himself against any wrongdoing. are you afraid, mr mayor, that you could be indicted? oh, wow. how long have you known me? i've known you several years. you think i'm afraid? i don't know. you think i get afraid? well, the... i did the right thing. i represented my client in a very,

very effective way. he insisted that us media reports that he was being investigated because of his links to two soviet—born businessmen who are currently facing campaign finance charges were completely wrong. and he's attacked some democrats, particularly singling outjoe biden, who of course was one of the people that he wanted to see ukraine investigate. he actually made these unsubstantiated allegations that mr biden was involved in some kind of corruption, which of course mr biden denies. he also indicated that the president, in his words, would not throw him under the bus during the investigations that are taking place. but he also said, perhaps pretty intriguingly, that he had insurance to ensure they did not happen. i mean, i've seen things written like he's going to throw me under the bus. when they say that, i say he isn't, but i have insurance. 0k. this is ridiculous. we are very good friends. he knows what i did was in order to defend him.

he's also been mentioned in documents that have been released over the last 2a hours. they've been released by the us state department after a freedom of information request from an ethics watchdog group called american 0versight. and in those documents, it seems very clear that there was contact and conversations between rudy giuliani and the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, at the time he was pushing for ukraine to launch these investigations. now, up to this point, mike pompeo has tried to stay out of this whole impeachment hearing process that has been taking place. but rudy giuliani's contact with him mightjust drag him into that. the us vice—president, mike pence, has made an unannounced visit to iraq, to try to reassure kurdish leaders of america's continued support. he flew into irbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. you may remember us troops withdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area

around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. here's what mr pence had to say. i don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defence forces, the kurdish forces who fought alongside us, is unchanging. a little earlier i spoke to steven cook, who's a senior fellow for middle east and africa studies at the council on foreign relations. i asked him why vice president mike pence was compelled to make a surprise trip to iraq. it was a surprise trip. and if the vice president was going to the kurdistan regional government iraq to reassure the kurds, he was talking to the wrong kurds —— region

of iraq. the issue has been one between syrian kurds and then i dare say is not necessarily iraqi kurds and the united states by you think that was just an issue of security. this is the very dangerous in syria. it seems to be kicking the syrian kurds when they are down. they famously don't get on with the iraqi kurds, they don't see eye to eye, especially with the ypg. was it an error on their part or was it for security reasons was yellow of course the security situation in north—eastern syria is fraught, but of course, at the same time, you cannot count on anything from the trump administration. so it may very well be it was hard for them to make a distinction between iraqi kurds and syrian kurds. 0f a distinction between iraqi kurds and syrian kurds. of course, the iraqi goes with whom the vice president was meeting historically has quite good relations with the turkish government. so this was, in a way, adding insult to injury even as the vice president was there to

suggest that the united states stood by its allies. and forgive me for maybe being a bit sceptical, do you think there is a chance that some people will see this is a bit of a pr stunt? 0bviously people will see this is a bit of a pr stunt? obviously a number of republican colleagues back in washington were furious donald trump's decision pull troops out of syria. that is 100% the case, in fa ct, syria. that is 100% the case, in fact, many, many republicans chose, for the first time in three years, to openly challenge the administration on this issue. and of course it was vice president pence who did go to ankara to broker a ceasefire once the turks did move into syria. there was also another issue. of course the united states, the true mum —— trump administration is embroiled in an impeachment process here in the united states and vice president pence has been implicated in the controversy. so there is every effort on his part to look like a statesman, rather than being dragged into the politics going on in washington. he also

spoke on the phone to the prime minister of iraq, 325 people will have been killed in protests in iraq in recent weeks. what is your understanding that he would have spoken to the prime minister about. no doubt devised president was assuring them of american support. but it is somewhat weak tea for the vice president to be in iraq and only managed to make a phone call to the prime minister. if united states really wa nted the prime minister. if united states really wanted to its strong support for the iraqi government and stability in iraq it would have found some way for the vice president to meet with the iraqi leader. steven cook there. pope francis has made an impassioned appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons. he delivered his message in the japanese city of nagasaki which was hit by an american atomic bomb in august 1945. hundreds of people gathered in the pouring rain to hear the pope. he told them nuclear weapons were "not the answer" to a desire for security, peace and stability. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: mummified lion cubs and meerkats — the latest discoveries from an ancient egyptian tomb. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world, the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world". angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot—air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash". cuba has declared

nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: voting is under way in hong kong local elections. they're being seen as a test of opinion towards the territory's government and its response to months of democracy protests. president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani has said he doesn't fear being indicted after impeachment hearings placed him at the centre of efforts to pressure ukraine. tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across france in a show of solidarity for victims of domestic violence. at least 115 women have been murdered by a partner or ex—partner in france this year alone. the government is set to unveil

plans to tackle the issue on monday. but protestors have blamed authorities for turning a blind eye for too long. freya cole reports. all chant in french. "government guilty, justice system complicit". it is just one of the many chants heard across france as women stand side—by—side to confront the issue of femicide — the killing of a girl or woman, most likely by a man they know. one woman is murdered in france every three days by their current or former partner, according to national data — a crisis which protesters say has been hidden for too long. translation: the government must do something to help us. we get punched, we get humiliated, insulted, raped, hit, and this must stop. the government must really listen to us. the police must. the courts must listen to us, because we are hardly heard. these signs bear the names and ages of women whose lives have been

tragically cut short this year. 0phelie, aged 28, was the 86th victim, according to protesters. this woman holds a sign which reads, "no means no". she says she is marching for her friends who are victims of abuse. translation: they isolate themselves, and when they begin to do that, they feel diminished. they lose their self—confidence. they feel that everything is being done to make them feel inferior, and to prevent them from defending themselves. all: solidarite avec les femmes! the mass movement of women and their male allies comes ahead of a major announcement by the french government. on monday morning, it will outline new measures to curb domestic violence, a policy which will be closely watched and scrutinised by those leading this movement.

translation: it's a question of culture which starts in school. obviously in school, you get a rather strong far—right offensive in these last ten years, which prevents the teaching of the abcds of equality in matters like this. so essentially, it starts in school. 0rganisers hope the mass turnout will not only send the message to government authorities, but to victims of domestic violence that they are not alone. let's get some of the day's other news. investigators in germany have started dna tests on hundreds of men in the hope of solving a 23—year—old murder case. claudia ruf was 11 when she was kidnapped in may 1996, while walking a neighbour's dog in grevenbroich, near cologne. her body was found two days later. no—one has been charged with her death. both houses of bolivia's congress have approved a bill calling for general elections. no date for the poll was set, but it allows all political parties

to take part, including the left—wing party of the former president evo morales. he is, however, banned from taking part. it comes after weeks of unrest in which more than 30 people have died in clashes with security forces. to latin america, where the colombian president ivan duque says he will later today launch what he calls a national conversation in response to a wave of deadly anti—government protests. demonstrators are angry at planned austerity measures and a renewed upsurge in violence. janey mitchell reports. curfew, colombia—style. protesters simply defied it, with a noisy picket of the bogota home of president duque, who some see as the puppet of former right—wing president alvaro uribe. translation: i'm here for the same reason all colombians are here. we're tired of mr duque. we're tired of mr uribe. they're a pair of liars.

the night—time curfew in bogota followed clashes on friday, with police firing tear gas to disperse protesters amid reports of looting in the south of the city. hundreds of people, including police officers, were injured. three were killed as protests turned ugly elsewhere in colombia. the violence came a day after a nationwide strike, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to express fury over rumoured changes to the minimum wage, pension and tax reforms — all denied by the government. demonstrators are also angry at what they say is a lack of action to end corruption and the murder of human rights activists. some accuse the government of failing to honour its 2016 peace deal with the left—wing farc rebels, amid a spike in killings. in a televised address on friday, president duque promised dialogue on his social policies aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

translation: from next week, i will launch a national conversation to strengthen the current social policy agenda, working in a united way on a medium and long—term vision to allow us to close gaps in society. little sign so far of demonstrators being placated, as a wave of social unrest sweeps latin america. janey mitchell, bbc news. brazil's most popular team flamengo have won the showpiece tournament of south american club football, the copa libertadores, for the first time in nearly four decades. flamengo scored twice in the last three minutes to come from behind and beat the argentine side, river plate. the final was originally due to have taken place in santiago, but the match was switched to lima, peru, because of street protests in chile. and this was the scene in rio de janeiro when the final whistle blew. flamengo fans had gathered at the maracana stadium to watch the final on large outdoor screens.

tim vickery, the bbc‘s south america football correspondent, told me it was an extraordinary match. well, maybe manchester united fans will remember their champions league victory over bayern munich in 1999. it was a little bit similar. river plate didn't only have one hand on the title. they had one hand and maybe three or four fingers of the other hand on the title. i think plenty of flamengo fans are still, a few hours afterwards, thinking well, how on earth did we win that one? what an extraordinary game of football, so dramatic, and i suppose in a way it vindicates the decision by the authorities over here to move to this idea of having a one—off final on a neutral ground. the tradition over here, simon, has always been two—legged final, home and away. now, the switch has come really for two reasons. one is commercial. this game happened at a good timeslot for europe. bbc two showed it in england, in britain, for example.

also, there was a hope, i think, that a neutral ground would throw up an excellent spectacle, and we certainly got a dramatic spectacle. the flipside of the coin, if you like, the downside of this one—off final on a neutral ground, is that south america is not europe. distances are vast, travel is expensive, and income is badly distributed, so some of the fans really suffered. there were tales of 55, 60—hour bus journeys to get there. but win or lose, whichever side you were supporting, i think no—one who was there in the stadium in lima will ever forget the experience. tim vickery there. the british conductor, organist and composer sir stephen cleobury, who directed the choir of king's college cambridge for nearly four decades, has died at the age of 70. # oh, come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. his name was familiar

to millions around the world through the bbc world service's broadcast of carols every christmas eve. sir stephen was knighted earlier this year. he retired as director of music at king's college just two months ago after 37 years in the role. a large cache of mummified animals found in an ancient egyptian burial site have been displayed for the first time near the capital, cairo. cats, cobras, birds, and crocodiles were discovered along with hundreds of artefacts. gail maclellan reports. saqqara, for 3000 years a burial ground. 0nce saqqara, for 3000 years a burial ground. once the necropolis of the ancient city of memphis. egyptologists are excited by this first display of the artefacts found last year. translation: what makes the discovery special is the diversity of the antiquities found, like mummies of animals and sacred

birds and sacred cats. it includes 75 wooden and bronze statues of cats, mummified birds, masks, crocodiles and an enormous beetle many times the normal size. the most lovely discovery out of those hundreds? that scarab. it is the biggest and the hugest scarab all over the world. but what makes the find unique is that archaeologists suspect some of the large cats are actually lion cubs. they were found the remains of an adult lion discovered in 200a. the remains of an adult lion discovered in 2004. just a little hole. almost 4400 years old, this ancient civilisation continues to intrigue. gail maclellan, bbc news. a quick reminder of our top story. voting is under way in hong kong and

the local elections. they are being seen as the local elections. they are being seen as a the local elections. they are being seen as a test of feeling towards the territory's government and months of democracy protests. that is just about from me. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @sipusey. for me and the rest of the team, thank you for watching and stay tuned. hello. after a very wet day across parts of the uk on saturday, sunday promises to be a drier day, albeit with a lot of cloud and some misty, murky conditions. but, briefly, we have a weak ridge of high pressure extending across the uk. still some rain to talk about at first on sunday, particularly for eastern scotland, still on the heavy side. slowly that heavy rain pushes its way across northern scotland, and eventually becomes confined to the northern isles through the day. quite wet and windy here. but elsewhere, turning dry across scotland, largely dry across northern ireland, england and wales, but with a lot of cloud and some mist, some patchy fog through the morning. that will be slow to clear,

poor visibility in places, so any brightness really at a premium on sunday. but away from the northern isles, it's mainly dry, mild, 9—12 celsius the top temperature. and then our attention turns to the south—west, our next area of rain pushing into south—west england and south wales through the evening and overnight, not getting much further north and eastwards. quite a wet start to the week across south—west england and wales. further north and east, mainly dry, mild, temperatures not much lower than five or six celsius. but generally, the theme in the week ahead is for more rain. this is the set—up as we go into monday. an area of low pressure, frontal systems pushing their way north and eastwards. looks like the heaviest of the rain on monday is probably going to be across england and wales. as it tracks its way north and eastwards through the day, it starts to become a little bit patchier. but there will be some outbreaks of rain into northern ireland. could pop up for a little bit across northern england for a time, into southern scotland. northern scotland probably escaping, mainly dry. some brightness and sunshine following on behind the rain across wales and south—west england, but also a few showers. but it is another mild

day, 9—13 celsius. now, one area of low pressure pulls away into the north sea. here's our next one arriving as we go into tuesday. this has the remnants of what was tropical storm sebastien, so it's going to pep up the rain, strengthen the wind. the timings of this rain may well change as we go into tuesday, so keep an eye on the forecast if you can over the next 24—48 hours. but it looks like we'll see another spell of quite heavy rain at times, strong winds as well, particularly across wales and south—west england. some spells of sunshine following on behind the rain, but also some heavy showers. so, all in all, it's a really unsettled and often quite windy day on tuesday. still mild, 10—13 celsius. bear in mind there are some warnings in place for the rain on both monday and tuesday. all the details are on the website. it looks like, as the week goes on, things do eventually turn drier, but also colder again. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: