this is bbc news. the headlines: people in hong kong are voting in local elections for the first time since pro—democracy protests began. turnout is estimated to be three times higher than the last vote, this is bbc world news i'm simon pusey. four years ago, and there are long our top stories: queues of people waiting to vote at many polling stations. both houses of bolivia's parliament have now approved a bill calling for a new general election. no date for the poll was set. the interim president is meeting opposition groups to try to end four voting is underway in weeks of violence that's hong kong's local elections. followed the last election, it's a big test of support which international for embattled chief executive monitors said was fixed. carrie lam. donald trump's personal lawyer says president trump's he doesn't fear being indicted, lawyer and close ally, rudy giuliani, has said he's not despite claims he was at the centre of white house efforts afraid of being indicted in connection with the impeachment inquiry. to pressure ukraine. i did the right thing. speaking on fox news, he attacked those who've accused him i represented my client in a very, very effective of pressing ukraine to make way. investigations into the family of presidential rivaljoe biden. 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, humiliated, assaulted, raped. jubiliation in rio, as flamengo win the showpiece tournament of latin american football, beating river plate in lima.

hello, and welcome to bbc news. let's start in hong kong, where local elections are underway. 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 1,000 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's 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 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.

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. i think it's 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 sympathetic 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 ago. 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 will be. 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 7 when are we going to get the results? let's get some of the day's other news: 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 1916. 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.

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. 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 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. 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.

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 ten 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 19605. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is bbc 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. now, a man claiming to be a chinese spy has applied for asylum in australia, that's according to media

reports from the country. wang liqiang is said to have given authorities information about operations in hong kong, taiwan and australia, saying he was "personally involved" in espionage work. he's now in sydney and says he fears execution if he returns to china. but police in shanghai say mr wang is an unemployed fugitive who was convicted of fraud. we're joined from canberra by the editor of china neican, yunjiang. yunjiang, thank you forjoining us. just why has this story developed into such a big deal, do you think? well, anything to do with the intelligence agencies are quite interesting for most people. and suddenly the story of china's foreign interference around the world including hong kong, taiwan, the united states and australia has become quite historic in australia in recent years. there has been a lot of media attention on this. now

we have this chinese national who claims to be an intelligence officer, wang liqiang, he says he has evidence for china's foreign interference in australia and has purportedly worked against the australian government. so that is quite explosive. everyone loves a spy quite explosive. everyone loves a spy story, don't they? there is a tv interview that will be broadcast in australia on sunday night. just how much attention you think that will get? i think it will quite a lot of attention. so far we already have media telling this story in print, and hearing from wang liqiang himself, that would be quite something. i think everyone will be quite interested to hear, perhaps there will be revealing details of their tactics of the chinese government, that they are using to interfere in other countries. and

this is from though australian, what are the chinese saying? what other chinese saying about this man, wang liqiang? the chinese government has released a statement saying that mr wang is a convicted fraudster and wanted. and by application, the australian government should not trust anything he says. sorry, what do you think this will do for diplomatic relations in the country? is it big enough a story to affect things diplomatically? though, currently it will not be affecting anything in the bilateral relationship with china because currently the australian government has not made a position on this issue. they are saying they will not, treasurer donna treasurer frydenberg has that he will not comment on individual cases. but how the government handles this in the future could affect the financial relationship with china but also the decisions of future defectors and...

inaudible all right, sorry about that, i think we lost the line or that is pretty bad. we will have to end interview there with yunjiang. that was the story about wang liqiang, the supposedly spy in australia at the moment. we will keep you updated on the story as we learn more. in lebanon, widespread protests against corruption, the ruling political classes and the state of the country show no signs of going away. a number of lebanese expats organised a symbolic return to take part in the planned independence day demonstrations this weekend. i now have my boarding pass. i'm getting to lebanon right now. i can't wait.

i'm from france. ijust came here for this manifestation. i'm going back on sunday. i arrived, i'm so excited. i'm coming only for 24 hours. my name is christopher, i'm 22 years old. i work here in london as an engineer. i left lebanon after graduating because i needed to find a job in what i do and you can't find this in lebanon. and it got to the stage where the situation in the country is so bad. i still have the dream that one day, i will go back and have a family there and have myjob there. these are not protests. it's a revolution, i think. i've decided that now i really need to get back because it's independence day and all the expats need to go back

and show that we're basically supporting lebanon, all the lebanese citizens, protesting for their rights. horns blare. woman: you made it! i'm here. when i landed, it was still in the morning but i could still feel the vibe of the revolution. my parents are somewhere — i'm not sure where!

so that's what we all deserve. that's what i'm hoping for. provide education for everyone — free and good education. have a proper healthcare. i feel like this is going to last for a while because we have a very stubborn government and president not willing to take any action. what i hope, honestly, is having a clean country. and the middle east has a reputation of violence. right now, we're showing the world how to do a protest, actually. and i think it's quite amazing. we will just we willjust bring you a little bit of sport now. 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. that was tim speaking about the extraordinary final earlier. 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. for3,000 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. the cache 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 near the remains of an adult lion discovered in 200a. almost 4,400 years old, this ancient civilisation continues to intrigue. gail maclellan, bbc news. the british conductor, organist and composer sir stephen cleebury, who directed the choir of kings 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.

that is just about it from us. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @sipusey. but for now, do 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 sebastian, 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. 00:29:00,476 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 war with the cuban missile crisis.