welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories: it's been revealed that 19 schoolchildren and two teachers murdered by a teenage gunman in texas were in the same classroom. moments before the killings, he'd posted that he was going to attack an elementary school. as families in the town of uvalde try to come to terms with what took place, president biden says he's sick of the carnage caused by gun violence. the idea that an 18—year—old can walk into a store and buy weapons of war, designed and marketed to kill, is, i think, just wrong. in other news, britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, rejects calls for his resignation, after a highly—critical report into lockdown parties at downing street.

and super—model kate moss gives evidence in thejohnny depp—amber heard defamation trial. she denies the claim that the actor abused her. let's go to the us first. president biden has pleaded with americans to support reforms to gun laws to make a fundamental impact on gun crime in america. earlier nresidents of the texan town of uvalde gathered for a candlelit vigil to mourn the loss of 19 children and two teachers, killed during a mass shooting event at a local elemtary school on tuesday. officials say the youngest victim was just seven years old. the 18—year—old gunman was shot dead at the scene. our north america editor, sarah smith, is in uvalde

and has been speaking to members of the community. the heartbreak is painfully apparent for parents, families and neighbours. it must be the worst news anyone can hear — young children killed in their own classroom. as the police responded to the shooting, parents had to wait to discover if their children had survived or been shot dead. these are the faces of some of the young victims. xavier lopez was ten years old. as was ellie garcia, and anne—mariejo, also ten. eva mireles was one of the two teachers killed. children from other classrooms were evacuated by police, while the shooter was still inside. lupe�*s eight—year—old son was unharmed, and doesn't understand what happened yesterday. your son doesn't know that there was a shooting in the school? no, he'sjust acting

like a regular day at school. how are you going to tell him what happened in the school yesterday? well, only time, when the time comes... have friends of his being killed? yes. you will have to tell him that as well. yes. it will be heartbreaking for you as well as for him. exactly. the gunman, 18—year—old salvador ramos, lived locally. police have no idea why he did this, or if it was pre—planned. he crashed his car outside the school, emerged carrying a semi—automatic rifle. unfortunately, the suspect managed to get inside one of the classrooms and barricade himself, where he started to shoot not only at officers that were responding, but also inside the classroom. all 21 victims have now been identified, and their remains removed from the school. what happened here in ulvade has reignited a nationwide debate about gun control, and why powerful military—style assault weapons are so readily available in places like texas, but the political response has just served to illustrate

how deeply divided america is over guns. gun ownership is common and widespread in texas, but questions are being asked about why an 18—year—old needs access to a military—style rifle. the idea that an 18—year—old can walk into a store, and buy weapons of war, designed and marketed to kill, is, i think, just wrong. itjust violates common sense. the police are working to try to establish a motive for this shocking crime. the local community will never understand why this had to happen here. sarah smith, bbc news, uvalde, texas. the shooting has, once again, restarted the debate in america about gun control. president biden called on americans to stand up to the gun lobby.

our correspondentjohn sudworth reports from newtown in connecticut, where a decade ago 20 children and 6 adults were killed in a mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school. the flag's at half mast, a gesture of empathy from one town, one of so many scarred by the tragedy of gun violence. but there's despair here, as well. almost a decade ago, six—year—old dylan hockley was murdered in his school, along with 25 others. his mum, nicole, set up the sandy hook promise foundation. with little hope of gun control, it focuses on trying to help schools identify potential killers in advance. your thoughts and prayers are meaningless unless there is something substantive behind it that backs it up, and a lot of these politicians, they can do all the thoughts and prayers in the world, but then they don't take any action whatsoever, so their words are meaningless. if you can't act on it, it doesn't matter. the recurrence of school shootings has left no shortage of national despair, too.

the problem, which came to the awful conclusion you face here, is a demon we have to do more to fight. our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at virginia tech today. since i have been president, this is the fourth time - we have come together- to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings. as a nation, we have to ask, when in god's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? but the outrage hasn't affected gun sales. 42% of adult americans own a gun, or live with someone who does, and they are buying more. last year, almost 20—million were sold. on average there are now more than 100 gun deaths per day in america, and although mass shootings account for a tiny fraction of the total, from sandy hook to columbine to virginia tech, they are seared into this country's consciousness, but with each

one it is not change that appears increasingly inevitable, but the lack of it. while president biden was urging more regulation, others were defending lawful gun rights. you see democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law—abiding citizens. that doesn't work. it's not effective, it doesn't prevent crime. we know what does prevent crime, which is going after felons and fugitives and those with serious mental illness. on the fire station roof, there is a star for each school child or staff member killed here. "we can't tolerate this any more," president obama said then, but ten years on, the solution seems as far away as ever. john sudworth, bbc news, sandy hook.

let's discuss this now with alex walton. thank you for being with us. the debate has started again, obviously about what can be done about this. have democrats said what they would like to introduce? what laws? , ., , would like to introduce? what laws? , ., . laws? democrats are conflicted about what _ laws? democrats are conflicted about what they _ laws? democrats are conflicted about what they want - laws? democrats are conflicted about what they want to - laws? democrats are conflicted about what they want to do, i about what they want to do, because there is an election coming up in november. the polls are looking very bad for the party. typically, gun—control measures don't do very well with the electorate, particularly where you have more republican voters showing up more republican voters showing up dan democrat motors, so there were mixed messages on there were mixed messages on the capital hill today. charles schumer, democrat, said that there was really no point. initially, he said there was no point in having a abode on a gun—control legislation because he knows the republicans will block it and there won't be the

60 votes needed, the supermajority to pass something through the senate, which has the filibuster rule. then, he backed down from that position on the day, staying there is a vote scheduled on thursday on a domestic terrorism bill, bill put on the floor in response to the mass shooting that happened in buffalo, 11 days ago, and that would empower some federal agencies and departments to monitor and track domestic extremism. he says, as part of that debate, if republicans agreed to get on the bill, there will be votes on gun—control amendments, there will be votes on gun—controlamendments, but there will be votes on gun—control amendments, but it is unlikely that it will even get that far. you are asking what proposals are being introduced. right now, there is a debate as to whether it is even worth having votes on anything because the republicans, as represented by ted cruz, are opposed to any limitations on gun ownership, so there are some things being

negotiated that we could go into where i think there is broad pessimism as to whether anything can come close to passing. have any republicans expressed that they might form any form of gun—control measures at all? there are a few, but too few to count, and the proposals they are talking about are very modest. in particular, there is a proposal to expand background checks, but not to cover all gun sales, to cover sales at gun sales, to cover sales at gun shows, the internet, but to exempt sales for instance between transfers between the brad abbey family, a pretty big loophole, but there is proposal ijust loophole, but there is proposal i just discussed, loophole, but there is proposal ijust discussed, with loophole, but there is proposal i just discussed, with the exemption for friends and family, it is supported byjoe manchin, and a republican of pennsylvania. right now, as far as i count, it only has maybe two republican vote so it falls well short of what is needed to

pass the senate, 60 votes. 50 democrats, you need at least ten republicans. then you have a so—called red flag legislation which seems to have more support and momentum, it seems to be the leading proposal as of now. essentially, what it would do — there are various proposals by there are various proposals by the board just is that it would encourage states to set up systems so that if you are concerned about someone being a danger to themselves or a danger to themselves or a danger to themselves or a danger to others, you can alert law enforcement, again a legal process for that person to be deprived of their firearm, process for that person to be deprived of theirfirearm, but these proposals, these so—called red flag proposals are really at the beginning stages of negotiations. right now, there are not enough republican votes — ten votes — not enough votes to get it passed, maybe injune orjuly, but inaudible briefly, donald trump was a fan of the executive order, pushing through changes which didn't have democratic support — is

this an option for president biden? not really, i haven't had much discussion of executive orders, so perhaps he could direct the department ofjustice to crackdown on domestic gun violence, but this is clearly hypothetical. i haven't heard concrete discussion of it. we will have to leave it there. alexander bolton. and it seems another potential shooting incident was prevented in texas. police say they arrested a student after being found with what was described as an ak—47—style pistol and a replica ar—15 style rifle. the arrest took place outside a high school in richardson, over 350 miles north of uvalde. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the ousted pakistani prime minister, imran khan, urges his supporters to occupy islamabad, demanding fresh elections.

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 11,500 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. argh! — i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. _ not geri.

why? - this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: us investigators say all 19 schoolchildren and two teachers murdered by a teenage gunman in texas were in the same classroom. minutes before the killings, he'd posted that he was going to attack an elementary school. here in the uk the prime minister, borisjohnson, has rejected calls for his resignation, after an official report blamed leadership failings for a series of parties in and around downing street at the height of coronavirus lockdowns. at the time, people in the uk were banned from socialising, or even attending funerals because of the pandemic. our political editor, chris mason, has this report: it was the week before christmas this investigation began. today, its verdict delivered. 37 pages and nine photos.

and here it is. at party after party, when of course parties were banned, we read about wine and cheese, beer and pizza. on pages 15 and 16, an event with a karaoke machine, excessive alcohol consumption, one person being sick. a minor altercation, a fight between two people. people leaving in the middle of the night. and on page 13, a reference to that do where people were encouraged to bring their own booze. the day after a senior official says, "we seem to have got away with it." sue gray concludes there were events that should not have been allowed to happen. she puts blame on senior leadership at the centre, who must bear responsibility for this culture. since her earlier report injanuary, she accepts progress is being made in addressing the issues raised, but that we, the public, have the right

to expect the highest standards of behaviour, and what happened fell well short of this. she makes one final observation, that it is her firm belief that these events did not reflect the prevailing culture in government at the time. the prime minister had a few hours to digest what the report said, this morning, before addressing mps at lunchtime. i take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. sue gray's report has emphasised that it is up to the political leadership in number ten to take ultimate responsibility and, of course, i do. sue gray investigated 16 events. the police looked at 12. fines were issued at eight of them. the prime minister showed up at nine of them. for the first time we have pictures published today of the one both he and the chancellor were fined for,

a mid—afternoon gathering to mark mrjohnson�*s birthday injune 2020. the report also includes these images from a leaving do. the prime minister said turning up at events like this was an important part of hisjob. i briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service, which i believe is one of the essential duties of leadership. labour's leader, himself alongside his deputy currently under police investigation for breaking covid rules, repeated that borisjohnson must resign. it's time to pack his bags. only then can the government function again. only then can the rot be carved out. only then can we restore the dignity of that great office and the democracy that it represents. and other party leaders also focused on the prime minister's character... truthfulness, honesty

and transparency do not enter his vocabulary. it is just not part of his way of being, and it speaks for the type of man that he is. can the prime minister look the british people in the eye and name one person, just one person, he cares about more than himself? and this conservative critic of mrjohnson posed this thought for fellow tory mps... the question i humbly put to my colleagues is, are you willing, day in and day out, to defend this behaviour publicly? some did respond by saying, "yes." from the commons it was back to downing street for the prime minister and questions from reporters. talk to our viewer, convince our viewer that you are not tempted or willing to lie to get out of a tight spot? i say to that person,

look, i've tried to explain as clearly as i can what happened. they were part of myjob, and that that view appears to be substantiated by the fact that i wasn't fined. borisjohnson was back in parliament, facing conservative mps in private. it is they who have the power to decide whether he stays or goes. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. let's get some of the day's other news. the us pharmaceutical firm pfizer has announced it'll no longer make a profit from selling its patented medicines to the world's poorest countries. pfizer was previously criticized for making a profit from its coronavirus vaccines. pfizer's chief executive, albert bourla, said 45 countries would benefit, covering a total of more than a billion people. rwanda will be one of the first countries involved. its president, paul kagame, said pfizer's scheme

is an important step towards sustainable health in developing countries. senegal�*s president says 11 newborn babies have died in a fire at the neonatal section of a regional hospital in the town of tivaouane, around 120 km east of the capital dakar. president sall, who posted the news on twitter, didn't give any further details about the fire. the governor of luhansk province in ukraine has described the situation in the eastern donbas region as exceptionally bad, with no let up in russian shelling. the cities of severodonetsk and lysychansk are under intense bombardment as russian forces try to encircle them. people up to the age of 50 can now enlist in the russian army. the change in legislation, passed by the parliament in moscow, is linked to efforts to recruit more troops as russian casualties in ukraine continue to mount. previously, russians could only enlist up to the age of 40, and foreigners up to age 30.

pakistan's former prime minister imran khan has arrived near the capital islamabad to lead a protest demanding new elections. he urged supporters to join his long march to the capital, despite all approach roads being blocked and thousands of police being deployed to prevent demonstrators reaching the city centre. he was ousted as prime minister in april in a no—confidence vote in parliament. mr khan claims his ousting was a plot orchestrated by the united states, but hasn't provided any evidence to back up his claim. the bbc�*s saher baloch reports from islamabad. islamabad this evening looks like a battleground. the capital is tense as protesters continue to arrive. former prime minister imran khan has asked his supporters and party workers to gather near the parliament. holding pakistan's flag in his hands, khan is also on his way towards the capital, where he will demand the dissolution of the parliament and call for early elections.

protesters have fought all day to reach the city. there were early—morning classes in lahore, where tear gas was fired in an attempt to scatter the protesters — but they remained undeterred. tear gas shots. tear gas was again fired this afternoon to disperse the protesters approaching islamabad. but they managed to break through, despite the barricaded streets and the heavy presence of riot police. clashes have erupted between the police and the marchers as they are being stopped from getting into islamabad. the government is also trying to persuade former prime minister imran khan to move his protests to a designated spot and to not prolong his sitting, as it was seen before. the supreme court of pakistan is also speaking with both the current government and imran khan and has asked them to reach an agreement. so, for the time being, the situation seems to be in a flux. many have now made their way to this entry point into the capital, and the marchers' progress has put pressure on the current government to try and

reach a compromise. imran khan this evening appears to remain resolute and stand by the demand that elections are called. as the unrest reaches the heart of the capital, the country is watching to see how the protests will unfold. saher baloch, bbc news, islamabad. the supermodel kate moss has given evidence in the defamation case between actorsjohnny depp and amber heard. she told the court via video—link that she'd never been pushed down the stairs by the actor, a rumour which had been referred to by ms heard, his former wife. mr depp is suing ms heard following an article in which she said he was violent, and she is countersuing. here's david sillito. would you please state your full name for the record? kate moss. kate moss testifying by video in what is week six of this libel case betweenjohnny depp and his former wife amber heard. and the reason? to address a rumour mentioned by amber heard that kate moss

had been pushed down some stairs during a holiday injamaica, when she and johnny depp were a couple. what, ifanything, happened when you were injamaica with mr depp? we were leaving the room, and johnny left the room before i did, and there had been a rainstorm and as i left the room i slid down the stairs and i hurt my back. did mr depp push you in any way down the stairs? no. during the course of the relationship did he ever push you down any stairs? no. he never pushed me, kicked me, or threw me down any stairs. johnny depp returned to the witness stand to himself address amber heard's allegations. one of the questions about his alleged drug use.

have you ever consumed eight to ten and mdma pills at once? no, i have not. and why is that? because i'd be dead, i'm pretty sure i'd be dead. final arguments are scheduled for friday. david sillito, bbc news, fairfax, virginia. just before we go, take a look at this. if you can get a bit closer and a bit closer still, any daughter what they could be? aspect of dust maybe? a bedbug? actually, it's a tiny robot. it is about the size of a fully that can twist, turn and jumbled up it is only half and jumbled up it is only half a millimetre in diameter. it is a millimetre in diameter. it is a radio controlled robotic crab deck and form tasks in tiny spaces. it was built using a spencer shall heat sensitive ally that takes different

shapes depending on how laser is affected. it is developed by a university in illinois and hoped it could be used for surgery in the future. that is it from us, by bite from now. hello, again. i think it's fair to say eastern england had the best of wednesday's weather. durham was the sunniest place, eight hours of sunshine. and the warmest spot was holbeach, in lincolnshire with 20 degrees celsius. it was a lovely end to the day meanwhile in worcestershire. right now, the weather is quite quiet. we've got a few showers for the northwest of scotland, but thickening cloud moving into northern ireland starting to bring outbreaks of rain. it's mild for the most part, but quite chilly air with us in scotland today, and if you look at where the air is coming from, although across the uk we'll all pretty much have westerly winds, in the south, the air is coming from a long way south, whereas in the north, the air is coming around, past iceland, so from polar regions, eventually working into northern scotland, so they'll be big temperature contrasts across the country, from north to south. now, we start off with our band

of rain thursday morning, in northern ireland, pushing eastward across northern england, and scraping into the far south of scotland, north wales, the north midlands, as well. the front itself weakens as it slowly trickles down towards lincolnshire, through the afternoon. brighter skies to the northwest. blistery showers in scotland. to the south, some sunny spells and feeling warm, with temperatures up to 21 degrees, but the air gets cooler and cooler the further north you go and so in stornoway and lerwickjust 11 degrees. there'll be some fairly brisk, blistery winds making it feel quite chilly. now, through friday, the winds turn to more of a northwesterly direction. those winds will bring plenty of showers to northern and western scotland. there'll be one or two for northern ireland, the northwest of both england and wales, but otherwise, most of you will see some spells of sunshine. in the sunshine, not feeling bad again for the southern areas of uk — 20 in cardiff, 21 in london, feeling warm in the sunshine, but across the far northwest, a little on the cool side once again. now, for the weekend, high pressure is influencing our weather, but it is moving to the northwest of the uk, allowing these northerly winds to dive in.

might well start off sunny where you are and a cold start to the day but the cloud is likely to build up, particularly for northern and eastern areas. the best of the sunshine and the highest temperatures for southern parts of wales and southwest england, where we should get up to about 20 degrees, butjust 12 in aberdeen. cloud might be a bit thicker on sunday. perhaps one or two showers around and temperatures for the most part will be just dropping a few degrees. it will start to feel a little bit cooler. should still be a bit us sunshine around, but 11 in aberdeen, feeling on the chilly side, and just 1a in london.

to attack an elementary school. this is bbc news, the headlines: investigators in the united states a 19 schoolchildren and two teachers murdered by a gunman in texas were in the same classroom. minutes before, he posted he was going to attack an elementary school. president biden has pleaded with americans to support reforms. pakistan's, prime minister, imran khan has arrived at is a bard, demanding elections a protest. thousands of police have been deployed, roads are blocked. he says the united states plotted to remove him from power but hasn't provided evidence to back up the claim. britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, rejects calls for his

resignation after highly critical report into lockdown