this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm mark lobel. another mass shooting in the united states. 19 children and one teacher have been killed at a primary school in texas. police later named the gunman as salvador ramos, who was shot dead. president biden said he was appalled by the attack. tonight, i asked the nation to pray for them, give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now. in other news: russia says it is ready for a prolonged conflict in ukraine. we report from the front line in the eastern—most region, luhansk. and the so—called �*partygate�* report into government breaches of lockdown rules is expected to be given to the uk's

prime minister later. hello and welcome. a gunman has shot dead 19 students and one teacher at a primary school in the us state of texas. the pupils were between the ages of seven and ten. the mass shooting was in the small town of uvalde, west of san antonio, at robb elementary school, which is made up of a largely hispanic community. authorities say the suspected attacker was an 18—year—old named salvador ramos. he was shot dead by law enforcement officers. he is believed to have purchased two military—grade rifles and is suspected of killing his grandmother before heading to the school. he crashed his car outside the campus

and went into the classrooms wearing body armour. from uvalde, the bbc�*s angelica casas has more. this is likely the largest police presence the small town of uvalde, texas has ever seen. today it is the target of a school mass shooting where the victims are pupils under the age of ten, as well as teachers. what we know so far is that the suspect was an 18—year—old, who was carrying both a handgun and an automatic rifle, and that it is likely he killed his grandmother before coming to the school. i've spoken to neighbours from the area who say of course that this is unexpected. many of them know people who either worked at the school or children who were attending. i spoke with one woman who said that a family friend still does not know where her daughter is. as the death toll continues to rise and more is known about the victims, this once again brings up

the debate of guns in america. residents are in shock and disbelief as this town has become the latest target of a school mass shooting. us presidentjoe biden has already made a statement and asked that all us flags be lowered to half—mast on saturday. in a televised address, presidentjoe biden has said it is time to stand up to the gun lobby. i am sick and tired of it. we have to act! and don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage! i spent my career as a senator and as a vice—president, working to pass commonsense gun laws. we can and will prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact, and if we pass this weapons ban, mass shootings went down and when the law expired, mass shootings tripled. the idea that an 18—year—old kid can walk into a gun store

and buy two assault weapons is just wrong! what in god —positive name do you need that for except to kill someone? —— god's. our north america correspondent david willisjoins me now. you can buy but not a beer in texas. he went on this rampage, a devastating attack. what more do we know about it?— do we know about it? well, as we 'ust do we know about it? well, as we just heard _ do we know about it? well, as we just heard there, _ do we know about it? well, as we just heard there, we - do we know about it? well, as we just heard there, we know| we just heard there, we know that this was an 18—year—old gunmen, somebody who had attended this particular school. he said to shot his grandmother before donning body armour and driving to the school where he barricaded himself into a building and then set about killing children by going from one classroom to the next. he was eventually killed himself by a law

enforcement officer who is said to have come between him and the children heroically at the scene. but evenjust the children heroically at the scene. but even just imagine the despair of parents who were going to pick up their children from the school. this was the last week of the summer term, some of those children were due to graduate at the end of this week. school has now been cancelled. it week. school has now been cancelled-— week. school has now been cancelled. it is unmistakably horrific human _ cancelled. it is unmistakably horrific human tragedy, - cancelled. it is unmistakably horrific human tragedy, but | cancelled. it is unmistakably i horrific human tragedy, but of course, it is america and has turned into a political battle, david. we have seen president biden, kamala harris has also come out. president obama that is failure to pass gun laws was his biggest regret, but both sides of this common—law debate are as divided as ever, so do you think this is another hostage to fortune for the democrats? it hostage to fortune for the democrats?— hostage to fortune for the democrats? , . , democrats? it is an interesting . uestion democrats? it is an interesting question because _ democrats? it is an interesting question because after - democrats? it is an interesting question because after the - question because after the sandy hook massacre nearly ten years ago, there were calls and

the handwringing we are already seeing here now today after that particular incident, there were in fact bipartisan laws that were prepared, but in the end, they didn't get anywhere, and the issue just faded away. it has now resurfaced and there are a lot of people, even those who are most hopeful amongst the gun lobby or i should say those who want to see gun control was tougher to be pessimistic that these will actually lead to anything in the way of really solid change. there are those on the right who believe, ted cruz, for example, with senator from texas, who believes they need more law enforcement officers, more law enforcement officers, more mental health checks or checks on severely mentally ill people and those who like president biden and nancy pelosi who had a forceful

statement who believes the time has come for tougher gun control laws in this country. it is something joe biden has basically championed throughout his career as a senator, vice president and now president. he has put forward legislation which would call for greater gun background checks for people buying guns, for a ban on so—called secret or... guns assembled from parts, i am trying to say. and that legislation is stalled in congress as well. so there is very, very little hope even amongst those who firmly believe that the only answer to this really extraordinary situation is to tighten the gun control laws here.— control laws here. that is the oint, control laws here. that is the point. isn't — control laws here. that is the point, isn't it, _ control laws here. that is the point, isn't it, that _ control laws here. that is the point, isn't it, that these - point, isn't it, that these states have different controls. you compare california to texas and you can see a difference in statistics because of their restrictions on gun control.

but what people have been calling for all night, the voices coming from out of america are nationwide federal controls, starting with background checks. controls, starting with backuround checks. ~ , background checks. absolutely. and of course _ background checks. absolutely. and of course these _ background checks. absolutely. and of course these are - background checks. absolutely. and of course these are all - and of course these are all very well, these proposals, but the fact is that over the fourth of the last two decades, this country has seen a frenzy of gun purchasing, if you like, indeed the number of firearms actually manufactured in this country has tripled over the course of that period. there are now said would you believe to be 400 million guns in circulation here in the united states, and that is more guns than people. states, and that is more guns than maple-— states, and that is more guns than people. david, thank you. i know you _ than people. david, thank you. i know you will _ than people. david, thank you. i know you will keep _ than people. david, thank you. i know you will keep across - i know you will keep across that story for us, and just to recap, this shooting at robb elementary school where seven to 10—year—olds are killed, and it is a 27th school shooting in america this year. the 27th. as we said, background checks

would be a start, it is easier to get, to buy a gun in some places than to get a driver �*s licence, and so we will be keeping across a story and there is plenty more on our website as well. let's get some of the day's other news. a state of emergency has come into effect in hungary. the prime minister, viktor 0rban, says the government needs emergency powers to deal with fallout from the conflict in neighbouring ukraine. mr 0rban, who has been re—elected to a fifth term in office, said the measures would help hungary deal with a coming global economic crisis. the hungarian helsinki committee, a human rights group, has criticised the move, which is says endangered fundamental rights. south korea's military says north korea has fired three ballistic missiles in the space of an hour. thejoint chiefs of staff in seoul said the missiles had been launched in an easterly direction from the sunan area of the north korean capital, pyongyang. the japanese coastguard said at least two of the missiles had fallen into the sea of japan, in an area reportedly outside japan's

exclusive economic zone. the republican governor of the us state of georgia, brian kemp, has won a party primary election. he defeated his challenger david perdue, who was backed by former president donald trump. mr kemp had rejected mr trump's baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. the long—awaited report by a senior british civil servant into breaches of lockdown rules in the heart of government is likely to be given to the prime minister later. the report will no doubt make uncomfortable reading for borisjohnson and the ruling conservative party, coming just 24 hours after more damaging revelations about the events, as our political correspondent helen catt reports. she is the civil servant who has been examining exactly what went on behind the doors of downing street during lockdown. after months on hold while the police investigated, today we

may find out as well. sue gray is affected to hand her completed convert —— report number ten later. it is likely to be difficult reading. uncomfortable details of parties in downing street have emerged elsewhere in recent days. a staffer told the bbc�*s app days. a staffer told the bbc�*s app panorama our ache security guard known as a custodian was mocked for trying to stop a party. i mocked for trying to stop a .a _ , party. i remember when i custodian _ party. i remember when i custodian tried _ party. i remember when i custodian tried to - party. i remember when i custodian tried to stop i party. i remember when i custodian tried to stop it | party. i remember when i l custodian tried to stop it all and he was shaking his head in his party, like, this shouldn't be happening. people laughed at him. people made fun of him because he was so worked up that this party was happening and it shouldn't be happening. the staffer was one of three insiders who attended lockdown parties in number ten spoke to panorama. they described bins overflowing with bottles, people sitting on each other�*s apps and regular wind chime fridays. it is were also released by itv news on monday showing the prime minister drinking at a party in november

2020. he wasn't find, but at least one other person at the event was. sue gray wasn't reported likely to many more details about gatherings and unusually to include photos. and we do have an idea of what sort of things she will say. in january, to set out some generalfindings. she said january, to set out some general findings. she said they had been failures of leadership and judgement by different parts another ten and the cabinet office. she talked of excessive alcohol consumption. she said some gatherings showed a serious failure to observe notjust a serious failure to observe not just the a serious failure to observe notjust the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government, but also of the standards expected of the entire british population at the time. downing street has said changes were made after her interim findings, and there were more to come. number ten hopes boris johnson will be able to address parliament after prime minister's questions if it gets the report in time, although as ever things may slip. this evening he will speak to conservative bench mps, many of whom had said they were waiting

for sue gray's report to make up for sue gray's report to make up their minds on his future. downing street will be keen to get this over with quickly, but it is unlikely to make it any less difficult. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we visit the remote island where the future of the local puffins is very much in peril. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, _ fighting to full—scale riot - as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into i the juventus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. i the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today.

he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as 'ginger spice', has announced she's left the spice girls. argn — i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. _ not geri. why? - this is bbc news. the latest headlines: 19 children and one teacher have been killed in a mass shooting in the united states, at a primary school in texas. salvador ramos, who was 18, was shot dead by law enforcement officers. russia says it is ready for a prolonged conflict in ukraine as its troops continue to make slow progress in the donbas region in the east of the country.

the ukrainian defence ministry said the offensive was in its most active phase, while moscow said it would continue until all its objectives had been met. the city of severodonetsk is almost encircled by russian forces, and neighbouring towns and villages are being heavily shelled asjeremy bowen and camera journalist fred scott report. the ukrainian army could be fighting a losing battle in lu ha nsk. they're committing reserves to the front line. russian firepower is destroying towns and killing ukrainian soldiers. one unit went into the line with 240 men and came out with 100 of them killed, wounded and captured. bakhmut is a town getting slowly eaten by the war. this week, it's around three miles from the russians —

well within range. next week, it might be much closer. civilians with somewhere to go have left. in the ruins in donbas, the victory in kyiv in march, the euphoria, glory and sacrifice feel distant. "where's the cease fire?", says this man. "even if it costs land." translation: what could it change for me? - the main thing is to stay alive. this isjust the beginning. everything still to come. if we survive, we'll see how it goes. at a safe distance from the front line, civilians were brought to a railway platform for evacuation. most were too weak and too old to leave before the war swallowed them, and now they're wounded. leda was rescued from ruined severodonetsk, almost surrounded by the russians.

thousands of ukrainian civilians are still there. the train's been transformed into an ambulance and intensive care unit by msf — doctors without borders. the intensity of the fighting means the train is running at close to full capacity. the medics work continuous back—to—back trips. relative safety in lviv is 20 hours down the track. it's an escape capsule from a war that's so hard to predict that the medical teams only know who's coming in the last hours before they leave. sometimes they're wounded the same morning. this man from bakhmut was on the train six hours after he was hurt in an airstrike. translation: i saw our soldiers standing nearby j and crawled towards them. then i realised my strength was leaving me and i wouldn't be able to crawl. i got up and started screaming. even when families survived with them, the lives

they led are smashed. translation: my husband and i have lived together i for 51 years in peace and harmony, and now it ends so badly. i guess we're running out of time. yasser kamaledin organises the train, evacuating the wounded is vital for the ukrainians, as the war in the east intensifies. the hospitals closer to the front line are overwhelmed, are receiving continuously big numbers of patients beyond their capacity to cope. so it's very important for us and for the ministry of health here in ukraine to make sure that these hospitals are always ready to receive more patients, especially the war—wounded. this war is much more organised now than it was back

in february when it started. notjust medical evacuation, though what they're doing on this train is really remarkable, but also where the decisions are made — the generals, the presidents. you get the feeling that they've settled in for a long, hard attritional struggle. the ukrainians don't talk much about their own casualties, but the graveyards in the east are filling up and their president says up to 100 soldiers a day could be dying in donbas. he says only diplomacy can end the war. his allies, led by the us and uk, want to weaken putin's russia permanently. their critics say they'll fight to the last ukrainian. the currency of war is blood. new graves are ready. as they're filled, more ukrainians will question the blood price they're paying and ask how much a cease fire will cost. jeremy bowen, bbc news,

in eastern ukraine. now, here's the latest sports news from the bbc sport centre. hello, i'm mark edwards. the second round of the french open gets under way in paris on wednesday, and there are some big stars on show, including emma raducanu, novak djokovic and rafa nadal. one man who looked like he might not make it was stefanos tsisipas. the greek survived a scare late on day 3 at roland—garros. he was taken all the way by world number 51 lorenzo musetti. the 20—year—old italian out of the blocks the fastest as he took a 2—set lead over his more esteemed rival. the fourth seed, though, came roaring back and served out the tie on his third match point, claiming victory in 3 hours and 34 minutes. being in that situation is like, it is a mountain that you

have to climb and i was able to climb it and regain momentum steadily but consistently. and it was also a tough outing for another heavyweight. 2018 champion simona halep had to battle to make her way to the second round, the romanian producing a dominant service display in the third set to extinguish 18—year—old german qualifier nastasja schunk�*s chances of a major upset. i'd just fought for every ball, i'd just fought for every ball, i'd decided in my mind i did what they had to do and i've felt more confident, i felt better so i've found a rhythm. i am happy with the way i've finished the match. the premier league has approved the $5.3 billion takeover of chelsea by a consortium led by la dodgers co—owner todd boehly. the league says the consortium has passed its owner's and directors' test. the reigning european champions were put up for sale before owner roman abramovich was sanctioned over his links to russian president vladimir putin. the purchase remains subject to the government issuing

the required sale licence. the first ever europa conference league final takes place on wednesday, and it's a more high—profile encounter than many expected, withjose mourinho's roma up against former european champions and two—time uefa cup winners feyenoord. it's taking place in the albanian capital city of tirana with up to a 100,000 fans expected to travel despite each club being allocated only 4,000 tickets for the final. of course uefa can be criticised because the stadium doesn't have 50 or 60,000 people but uefa cannot be criticised to take football everywhere, to take football to emerging countries, so i am happy to come. there's just three seconds between the top two in the giro d'italia going into stage 17 from ponte di legno to lavarone.

czech riderjan hirt claimed a first grand tour win with victory on tuesday. he took the lead before the summit of the final climb and stayed out in front for the last eight kilometres. behind him, richard carapaz finished fourth. that was enough to keep the leader's pinkjersey, but he's nowjust three seconds ahead of australia's jai hindley. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport team, goodbye. the fame islands off the coast of north east england play host to one of the largest populations of puffins in the uk. in recent years, there's been concern that puffin numbers are in decline due to bad weather and food shortages. jonathan swingler visited the islands with a group of rangers to find out how the birds are faring. a trip to the farne islands is popular for many visitors in northumberland, the wildlife here brings in the tourist but scientists are concerned about the puffin population, it is declining in other countries.

we have to be worried. if the populations elsewhere are being affected, is itjust a matter of time before the puffin here start getting affected? and if we are not doing something about it, what is going to happen? are wejust about it, what is going to happen? are we just going to watch the puffins sort of disappear? we have done that with other species.— with other species. today, the national trust _ with other species. today, the national trust rangers - with other species. today, the j national trust rangers started their survey of the number of puffins that are here. we their survey of the number of puffins that are here.- puffins that are here. we are lookin: puffins that are here. we are looking for— puffins that are here. we are looking for fresh _ puffins that are here. we are looking for fresh droppings i looking for fresh droppings near the boroughs or fresh digging orfeathers near the burrow entrance and if we can't tell from the outside if the borrower is occupied or not then we can very gently put a hand inside the boroughs. when we do this we risk getting a bit of a nap from an adult puffin or getting the puffin toilet but if we are lucky we will get an egg or getting the puffin in there.—

will get an egg or getting the puffin in there. have you been bitten by a _ puffin in there. have you been bitten by a puffin? _ puffin in there. have you been bitten by a puffin? yes - puffin in there. have you been bitten by a puffin? yes they i bitten by a puffin? yes they have been _ bitten by a puffin? yes they have been bitten _ bitten by a puffin? yes they have been bitten by - bitten by a puffin? yes they have been bitten by a - bitten by a puffin? yes theyj have been bitten by a puffin quite a few times.— have been bitten by a puffin quite a few times. what is that like? i quite a few times. what is that like? i have — quite a few times. what is that like? i have one _ quite a few times. what is that like? i have one or— quite a few times. what is that like? i have one or two - quite a few times. what is that like? i have one or two scars . like? i have one or two scars from puffin _ like? i have one or two scars from puffin bites. _ like? i have one or two scars from puffin bites. to - like? i have one or two scars from puffin bites. to come l like? i have one or two scars i from puffin bites. to come and see them _ from puffin bites. to come and see them just _ from puffin bites. to come and see them just a _ from puffin bites. to come and see them just a couple - from puffin bites. to come and see them just a couple of - from puffin bites. to come and | see them just a couple of miles off the — see them just a couple of miles off the coast of northumberland, i think it is an absolute joy to see, really. they— an absolute joy to see, really. they are — an absolute joy to see, really. they are here and their thousands but the world is changing. could we see a dramatic reduction in their numbers in years to come? i don't think that is going to happen in the nearfuture but they are in decline, so what are our children going to have two see and what are our children's children going to have two see so i think that legacy is really important and we have to be doing something now. it looks like it is global climate change that is going to be the biggest threat to these birds. ., ., , , birds. for the ranges, carrying out this survey _ birds. for the ranges, carrying out this survey is _ birds. for the ranges, carrying out this survey is important i out this survey is important work. for now, visitors are enjoying the chance to see

thousands of these bird. jonathan swingler, bbc news. in business next, we will be discussing russian debt and looking at how microsoft's future is panning out. we will see you soon. hello, again. tuesday was a very unsettled day, we had loads of showers across the whole of the uk, some impressive thunderclouds, this one spotted across the skies of west london, in acton, and there were reports of some hail, lots of thunder and lightning, and around kent, we even had a report of a funnel cloud, that's like a tornado coming down, but doesn't quite reach the ground. although there were loads of showers, the thunderstorms really were concentrated across eastern areas of england. why? well, that was down to the jetstream. you see, we have this trough moving across eastern areas of england, that's what kicked up the showers and made those thunderstorms, whereas a ridge to the northwest meant the showers here actually weren't very heavy at all. now, that trough feature has pinged all the way across into northeast europe, and looking at the charts

for wednesday, a strong jetstream will be pushing in this set of weather fronts. now, the fronts themselves, not particularly active by the time they get to eastern areas of england, but it will be a blustery kind of day, certainly a different day, compared with tuesday. a band of rain to start off with across northern ireland, western parts of england and wales, across scotland will push its way eastward, barely any rain left on by the time it reaches east anglia and south—east england. what follows is much brighter weather with sunshine and a few showers mainly across north—western areas. temperatures about 16—18 degrees celsius, and it won't feel too bad in that strong may sunshine. looking at the weather picture through wednesday night, many of those showers will fade away, but then the cloud will start to rebuild in northern ireland, as we head into the first part of thursday morning, with that rain starting to make inroads here. now, this is another weather front off the atlantic, there's a tiny bit of uncertainty about where that is going, northern ireland, northern england and wales look the favoured spots for seeing rain. scotland, sunshine and showers more likely and towards southern england, variable cloud but there will be some sunny spells coming and going here. now, temperatures, quite a range, cooler air getting in across scotland and northern ireland, highs just around 13—15 degrees

for some, but warmer to the south—east, with temperatures up to 20. now, towards the end of the week, and the all—important weekend, this area of high pressure is going to be building in from the west. now, the weather is set to settle down, but we eventually are going to start to get some fairly brisk northerly winds, and those winds will feed in some showers to northern scotland at times, but otherwise a fair amount of dry weather with some sunny spells. that's the latest.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a us treasury decision not to allow russian bond payments threatens the country with its first default in 100 years. a scorching heatwave in india pushes farmers to make unconventional choices about their crops. a look into the future: we take a peak at what's new at microsoft's developers conference. the us is cutting off another financial route for russia to pay its international debts

in a move that could push the country closer to default.