a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name is mike embley. our top stories: defying beijing — president trump signs legislation backing protesters in hong kong. the island's government says it opposes and regrets his decision. more protests in malta, as an investigation into the murder of a prominentjournalist is putting the government under intense pressure. from makeup advice to human rights watch — we speak to the tiktok star who claims china tried to censor her free speech. and clive james — one of australia's most celebrated broadcasters and writers — has died at the age of 80.

hello to you. president trump has signed into law a bill that backs pro—democracy protesters in hong kong, despite objections from beijing. the new legislation, approved by congress last week, requires the state department to certify, every year, that hong kong has significant autonomy from the rest of china. that will decide whether hong kong retains the favourable trading terms with the us that have helped maintain its position as a world financial centre. the law also threatens sanctions for human rights violations. nick beake is in hong kong. what difference does essentially make. the government in hong kong has attacked this bill. the leadership in beijing, surely it plays into their hands. it has tried to betray the protesters as unrepresentative minorities and puppets of powers. they have, that

is absolutely the case. but today, talking to the pro—democracy movement, they are ecstatic. they believe this is international recognition of their fight. in the same week they have done extremely well in these district elections and they have really shown that the wider public hearing hong kong support their cause. they would say, and the news coming from america over the —— overnight, they save see this as a present from the us overnight. they look at the state of affairs in hong kong and decide whether china is exerting undue influence on the city, whether they are interfering. as a consequence, they will look again at hong kong's special trading status, which makes it exempt from the thought of regulations and exemptions that the mainland is subject to. nick, other developments for the moment in hong kong itself, you are inside the

polytechnic university, police have been giving a press conference. it is thought some protesters hold out after several days of clashes. let us see after several days of clashes. let us see what the police had to say. the campus has been maliciously occupied and damaged over the past two weeks. in the university, many of the facilities are in ruins. university management has notified the police of the severe damage and, also, the campus has been filled with a lot of dangerous items, such as the corrosives or petrol—bombs, et cetera. other than the university, think most of the public would like to see the police and other —— other government departments to solve the crisis as sooi'i as departments to solve the crisis as soon as possible. that is the latest from the police. what is expected to happen there and what will happen if the police go in? we are at the university. you can see some of the

police officers. they have formed a cord. university is the red brick building that —— gordon. the scene of some of the most dramatic and violent clashes during the five long months of protests. we know that earlier this morning a team of officers went into the campus. that isn't the riot squad, the police are at pains to point out, it is a group made up of social workers, psychologists, other officers. they will not be arresting any remaining people they find, but really checking on their welfare, because they have been there for 10—11 days, and bringing them out safely. that is not to say they won't be prosecuted at a later point. we also know there are specialist teams going in to try to look at the stash of weapons that the protesters have been building over the past ten or 11 days. we know there are many, many petrol—bombs inside. the specialist teams will be going on. crucially, they will be gathering evidence for possible future

problems. all this will be happening in the same time president trump has been lobbying in a molotov cocktail of his own. this legislation, signing this legislation overnight, it has reignited the whole trade war between america and china and also the very precarious crisis that hong kong is still in. will be keeping an eye on what happens there. thank you very much for the moment. the maltese government is under intense pressure as protests continue over the murder of the journalist daphne caruana galizia. a determined investigator of corruption, she was killed two years ago by a car bomb. her death shocked maltese society and her family have led the calls for justice. malta's prime minister is facing calls to resign, and three senior figures from his government have stood down. all deny any wrongdoing, including any involvement in the murder. damian grammaticas reports. chanting "mafia", they shout. "corruption". the targets of their anger — the politicians inside malta's parliament. why are you here tonight?

because not only they have killed a journalist, just for money and power, but they have also brought the country to its knees. that journalist and mother of three sons was daphne caruana galizia. two years ago, three men were arrested for planting the bomb that blew up her car. but who ordered the killing, and have investigations been slow because they've been protected from high up? in the crowds was her niece. it's disgusting that nothing has been done in these past two years. we need justice. we need answers. what has energised the protests here is the sense that corruption might finally be being tackled in malta. impunity might be coming to an end, as investigators focus on some of the richest and most powerful people on the island. inside the eu, malta has acquired wealth, but what daphne caruana galizia wrote about were the murky connections of its rich elites. last week, police investigating her

murder arrested yorgen fenech, one of malta's richest men. this week, the minister who gave him a huge energy contract, konrad mizzi, stood down. and so did keith schembri, the prime minster‘s chief of staff. he is being questioned by police. but this evening, prime minister joseph muscat was defiant. malta's opposition want him to stand aside so he can't interfere in the investigation. when he refused, they walked out. and, outside the prime minister's office, daphne caruana galizia's sister told me corruption that malta has enabled is an issue all of europe should worry about. very importantly, for the sake of the security of everybody in europe, investigators in malta who are trying to follow a dirty money trail need all the support they can get from external agencies, to make sure they can follow that trail wherever the evidence leads, and make sure that everybody implicated faces justice. justice, meaning all the crooked

and the shady her sister wrote about are pursued, notjust the killers. damian grammaticas, bbc news, malta. rescuers in albania continue to search for survivors of tuesday's earthquake — the worst in the country for years. at least 30 people are known to have died in the 6.4 magnitude quake. gareth barlow has more details. frantically working by torchlight, rescu e rs frantically working by torchlight, rescuers dug with their bare hands to free a young boy trapped by rubble. his solitary cry and expression of the pain felt by albanians as they come to terms with the most powerful earthquake in decades. as after—shocks continue, teams from a dozen countries are working tirelessly with special equipment and sniffer dog ‘s to find those still trapped in ruined

buildings. we are waiting for the police and the rescue team to find him. because i'm his friend and his cousins are lost. and it's also a girl that is not found yet. she is young. and it was his... 20 years old. and we are waiting for the rescue team. whole families have perished in the disaster. for those who escaped, the fear of further tremors saw hundreds prepared to spend a second night sleeping intense. translation: six of us crammed into a carand we translation: six of us crammed into a car and we hardly slept at all. it was so a car and we hardly slept at all. it was so tight. we had to sleep in a car because we couldn't get a place ina car because we couldn't get a place in a tent. we register today and now we are waiting for a tent. state of emergency have been declared in the worst hit areas. thursday is independence day in albania, but celebrations have been cancelled as people mourn for those who lost their lives in the search continues for those still missing. gareth barlow, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. ajudge in brazil has refused bail

to four volunteer firefighters accused of deliberately starting fires in the amazon rainforest. the four men have links with an award—winning environmental organisation. police say they carried out the arson attack in order to raise awareness for their cause. the group has called the police allegations absurd. seven islamists have been sentenced to death for an attack on a cafe in the bangladeshi capital that killed 22 people. the attack in 2016 on the holey artisan cafe was carried out by five men, who took diners hostage. eight people were on trial, accused of planning the attack and supplying weapons. one was acquitted. a backlash from subscribers seems to have forced twitter to delay plans to disable inactive accounts. on monday, twitter began contacting users who hadn't logged in for six months, warning them their accounts would be deleted unless they signed in. twitter execs now say they hadn't considered the potential upset caused by removing accounts belonging to users who've died.

the hugely popular social media platform tiktok, which is chinese—owned, has apologised to an american teenager who was banned from the site after videos she made criticising china went viral. her videos appear at first to be makeup tutorials but they develop into denunciations of china's treatment of the uighur community in xinjiang. vivenne nunis went to meet her. broadcasting from a bedroom in new jersey to the world. in four days, feroza aziz‘s snappy video has been watched more than 5 million times on tiktok and twitter. curl your lashes, obviously. but then down and use your phone to search up what is happening in china, how they are getting concentration camp ‘s, throwing innocent muslims in the... so why did the 17—year—old high school students decide to speak out about an issue on which so many have stayed silent? as a muslim i've

a lwa ys stayed silent? as a muslim i've always faced oppression and racism, but to see that this group of people, this ethnic group, is going through much more than i could ever imagine, i thought this isn't right and they need to spread awareness about the. tiktok is owned by the beijing based breakdowns and it is face criticism by some who believe it senses content that could offend chinese sensibilities. shortly after posting the videos, feroza's tick—tock account was suspended. tiktok say it is unrelated to her posts about the uighurs. tiktok also briefly took down her video about uighurs. the company has now apologised and restored access to tiktok on feroza's phone. the chinese government has consistently claimed that xinjiang's wegher or volu nta ry claimed that xinjiang's wegher or voluntary re—education. but just this week the bbc‘s panorama programme expose documents revealing how muslims there are locked up in a security presence, indoctrinated,

and punished. i will continue to talk about it and they will talk about it on twitter, on instagram, on any platform that they have, even tiktok. i'm not scared of tiktok, even after the suspension. i went biscarat tiktok. another sign of how powerful social media platforms have become. —— will not be scared of. vivienne nunis, bbc news. in the us, the thanksgiving holiday often involves a last minute trip the store. but this year in some parts of the country they'll do better picking up a snow shovel and some skis. colorado has been walloped by the white stuff with several flights cancelled. that storm is now moving east and causing trouble for holiday travellers. 33 states are under travel advisories. in new york a major concern is whether the usual massive balloons will fly in the annual macy's thanksgiving parade. laura trevelyn has been finding out more. will 0laf fly tomorrow? that's the burning question here in new york city. never mind the impeachment inquiry into president trump. will the giant inflatables which are a feature of the thanksgiving day parade be allowed off the ground, or will that storm system coming in from the midwest ground them? now, here is why it's important.

because actually, back in 1997, felix the cat, one of the big balloons, injured four people when it banged into a street lamp. so there are very, very strict rules governing whether the balloons can fly. if winds are at above 23 mph, and if they're gusting at above 3a mph, the balloons are grounded. now, that is a decision that will be made by parade officials early on thursday morning. when they look at the forecast, then we will know whether the nutcracker will be allowed to leave the ground and fly, or if he's going to be dragged along the ground, which is what is going to happen if they can't fly. we will find out and we will let you know. much more to come on bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: remembering the australian writer and broadcaster clive james,

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 19605. 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: defying beijing — president donald trump signs legislation backing protesters in hong kong. the islands government says it opposes and regrets his decision. china opposes and regrets his decision. has said it will ta countermeasures". china has said it will take "a countermeasures". —— —— firm countermeasures. live now to hong kong and to aaron mcnicholas, a reporterfor bloomberg news. first of all, that response from the chinese government in beijing to president trump's signature on the bill? yes, the chinese government made a statement that was broadly consistent with what they have said in the lead up to this, when both the house and the senate passed the measure by large majorities, essentially threatening countermeasures without actually specifying what those would be. it

remains to be seen what could happen, and of course it is important to remember that this piece of legislation, although very symbolic in terms of showing support to the pro—democracy hong kong movement, does not actually lead to any immediate change. it empowers the executive, in other words the white house, to do various things that it already has the power to do, but can now say they are doing it under the guise of protecting hong kong's autonomy. so from that point of view, the ball is now not only in china's court, but also donald trump's court, in terms of what he is going to do with the authority that the hong kong human rights and democracy act now gives in. you have to wonder if, in a way, it plays into the hands of the leadership in beijing, who have been trying to paint the pro—democracy protesters as puppets of foreign powers? that is certainly true, though i would suggest to you that the protesters, or believe —— or at least a small fraction of them, believe that beijing already intend to paint the pro—democracy movement in this way, regardless of weather there is a us

law, regardless of how they behave at the protests themselves. but would essentially explain why a small number of protesters show up to the protests but often waving us flags, and in some cases singing the us national anthem. they know that regardless of whether they do this or not, the chinese government will continue to paint this movement has being backed by foreign forces. so there is an argument to be made as to whether we can continue to lobby the us, or this act, it doesn't really matter how the chinese react in that way. just paint a picture, if you would, of what is happening and what you think is likely to happen around the polytechnic university, the scenes of violent clashes, of course. it is thought some protesters i still thought to be inside. police are talking about going on. this morning about 100 police officers, along with members of the fire brigade, did in fact go into the university. they said the priority was first the welfare of those who are still left, and also to gather evidence and dispose of

any dangerous materials such as petrol—bombs which are still on campus. so they were making an effort to point out that their immediate priority is not to arrest those who are still on campus, their priority is to secure the area, essentially. this follows two days ago, the last two days, when a university support team did go in. 0n university support team did go in. on tuesday they found one person still remaining on wednesday they found nobody. but there was a press conference given on wednesday evening, yesterday evening, but one processor who estimated there are as many as 20 remaining, who are just staying out of sight of anybody who comes in. —— protester. but the police have emphasised that their priority right now is not arrest, to secure the area and remove dangerous substances. it's thought heavy rain and flash flooding has killed hundreds of people in several countries in east africa. in the congolese capital kinshasa, dozens have died. un officials say at least 120 have been killed in kenya, where landslides and floods swept away homes. 0ur africa correspondent merchuma

has been to meet some of the survivors. i am in a school that has just been converted into a rescue camp. hundreds of people have gathered here, most of them women and children, and they say they have walked for days to get to this facility. their homes and farms were completely destroyed by the floods and landslides. translation: i was running away when the waters were coming down. ifell and broke my leg and i have been in pain since then. my children carried me to this place. it's now that i have been attended to. a team of medical personnel have come here to help these people, and the doctors say most of the injuries they are receiving are soft tissue injuries, but there are a couple of people who are coming in with fractured limbs. the most affected are children, and the doctors say they are developing complications because of the cold and they don't have a place to stay, and they are being forced to refer

some of them to hospitals and facilities away from this place. another big thing is that these doctors cannot go beyond where we are now, because the roads are impassible. they have been cut off, but there are people on the other side who still need help. all the bridges have been swept away. the mudslides have also covered the roads. and that is where we think there is a bigger number of patients that need to be attended. and the only means to reach there is through. more people are expected to flow into this camp and others in various parts of the affected region, and the death toll is expected to rise because officials say there are people who are still missing. in some places, we are retrieving some bodies, some hands, some legs, we need some forensic testing so that we can know who they are. the weatherman predicts more rains will be experienced in this region

and other areas across the country and an appeal has been made to people who are living in landslide prone areas to move to safer ground. the writer, poet, broadcaster and critic clive james has died. he was 80, but had survived for the past decade with leukaemia and failing kidneys. 0ur correspondent david sillito looks back at a life and career of piercing humour and smart, often profoundly moving insights. # hello, clive... welcome once again to the bbc's first deregulated, lead—free, self—financing, fully—sponsored tv programme. for your protection, the entire show has been pre—boiled for one minute. clive james, the tv critic who became a tv star talking about... tv. if you're yet to see a welsh soap opera, then you must catch the bbc‘s pobol y cwm.

the action in pobol y cwm is nonstop. british broadcasting corps, night training, sunday... but there was so much to him. he was a comic performer, a journalist, essayist, poet and a lyricist. i would classify me as a writer, because everything i do is based on writing, even when i'm improvising on tv, like now, i'm writing it in my head just before i say it. if it's any good at all! and that's what i do. his tv shows jumped between prime—time entertainment... hi, girls! ..and highbrow brain food. born in sydney, his childhood became a bestselling memoir. when sydney was all there was to see, i couldn't see it. but now i can. he arrived in britain in the ‘60s and, as a student, joined the cambridge footlights. the giant toad having joined the water—dwelling worms aboard the plastic pants, coffin number three is uncovered. in the ‘80s, we laughed with him at shows that british television would then go on to copy. in our time, fame is everywhere —

you can't get away from it... by the end of the ‘90s, his tv career was coming to an end, but the words kept flowing. he rekindled his songwriting partnership with pete atkin. # touch has a memory... and then he was diagnosed with leukaemia. in 2010, and again a year later, he thought he was about to die. he was saved by a new drug. i was in serious medical trouble, and i got saved, and so this is spare time. and it's very important to me, because i wasn't expecting to have it, and it'sjust good manners to try and use it well. clive james could write about anything — from commentaries on proust to an appreciation of eddie waring to this, his words on facing the end, hoping that he would live long enough to see the leaves emerge on a newly planted maple tree. filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,

a final flood of colours will live on. as my mind dies, burned by my vision of a world that shone so brightly at the last, and then was gone. just briefly, that may news again. china has threatened firm countermeasures. this is a response to the decision by president trump to the decision by president trump to sign into law a bill approved overwhelmingly by the us congress in support of the pro—democracy protesters in hong kong. the so—called hong kong human rights and democracy act requires the state department... but hong kong that requires the state department to reassess every year when the hong kong maintains enough autonomy from china to maintain its favourable

trading conditions. these are life pictures from outside hong kong's polytechnic university. we are expecting some movement by police to try to remove the meaning protesters. that's it for now, thank you for watching and thanks to sharif for producing. hello. yesterday we saw scenes like these across parts of scotland and the north—east of england, relentless rain. today the picture is going to gradually become drier, but that dryness comes with another change. much colder airflooding in across the uk. this is the low to thank for the wet weather. this front will clear south through the day. eventually the wet weather moving away, but behind it, the wind turns northerly and the cold arctic air sinks its way south into all parts of the uk, in fact, by the end of the week. here we start on thursday still with wet weather across north—eastern england, but also extending into northern ireland, parts of wales, eventually reaching southern england come the afternoon. by then the skies start to clear and things will brighten for the north. but those white arrows surging down are the first signs of the cold air trickling in to the south. in the north, six or seven degrees,

but with the effect of the wind it will feel so different. it will look different as well. thankfully we will see the return of some drier and brighter weather. still some rain around to the south of the uk through thursday evening. friday morning, most of it clearing offshore, but the legacy of the cloud will help to hold up the temperatures towards the south—west overnight. meanwhile to the north, it's a widespread frost, and in some more rural parts, quite a hard frost at that. the cold air in place, lots of fine weather as that frontal system moves off into the continent, but with northerly winds and some showers possible for the north sea coast and drifting into the north york moors, some of them could be wintry, a few wintry ones for the highlands as well, and a cold one to everybody on friday, temperatures down to single figures and a cutting northerly wind. saturday, high pressure still clinging on, but it looks like this system will try to eke into the picture from the atlantic. just how far north the rain will push is probably the biggest question. pretty windy and wet weather on the cards for the south—west of england and south wales through saturday. elsewhere it stays fine but it

will remain distinct chilly, with temperatures at six or seven degrees, whereas we're looking at 11 in plymouth. by sunday, though, that will be sinking south, and we should see some widespread fine weather all parts of the uk to enter the weekend. come the start of the new week, though, some frontal systems potentially toppling into scotland, bringing more cloud and outbreaks of rain, but perhaps some just slightly milder air aswell. but certainly to start our new week, we are looking at fine weather, but a colder outlook than we have been used to.

this is bbc news. the headlines: china says it will take "firm counter measures" after president donald trump signed legislation backing protesters in hong kong. the legislation requires the state department to certify that hong kong retains enough autonomy to justify favourable us trading terms. the islands government says it opposes and regrets donald trump's decision. the maltese government is under intense pressure as protests continue over the murder of a prominentjournalist. daphne caruana galizia was killed two years ago by a car bomb. she was investigating corruption on the island. malta's prime ministerjoseph muscat is facing calls to resign. rescuers in albania have saved a small boy as they continue to search for survivors of tuesday's earthquake — the worst in the country for years. at least 30 people are known to have died in the six—point—four—magnitude quake. the prime minister has declared a state of emergency.