an impression of the scale of what is happening, we know several hundred people are missing and more than 100,000 people have been displaced and strong winds have meant these fires have blown towards towns that were previously u naffected. towns that were previously unaffected. this is one man who has lost his time. it was completely levelled, gone, everything. my late partner and i built the house ourselves, we bought the property 2a yea rs ourselves, we bought the property 2a years ago, it took us a year and a half to clear the site and then two yea rs half to clear the site and then two years to build it. so...| so... i mean, talking about blessings, the next day i avoided barricades and police lines and i walked about amal and a half to my home and i knew i had to face it —— about a mile and a half. as i was walking down my road i saw some houses that were spared and others that were completely gone. my heart was in my throat. i could see that my house was gone. it was still smouldering and i probably should not have been breathing that stuff but i had to be there. over 30 people have died in fires in spain and portugal, as well. i want to turn to a science story that has been getting a lot of attention, this is a recreation of the moment that two neutron stars collide, they create ripples, known as gravitational waves, through the fabric of the universe, and this happened 130 million years ago. einstein said he believed it happened but only now we have been able to see and hear it. this report explains. it's the longest straight line in the world. a 2.5 mile pipe containing a laser that can detect powerful explosions in space. inside, a technician fine—tunes the instrument. it has made a discovery that has shaken the scientific world. two stars colliding in a galaxy far, far away. around 800 billion billion miles from earth. the two stars got closer and closer until they merged, resulting in a huge shock wave that rippled across the universe. the massive explosion led to the production of rare elements, such as gold and platinum. neutron stars are what is left over when giant suns die and collapse in on themselves. they are so densely packed that a teaspoon would weigh one billion tonnes. and here is the actual sound of the collision. low humming and pop they then become part of planets when they form, including here on earth. the explosion was picked up in the control room here. it took place 130 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. it's only now that the light and gravitational waves have reached us. 0oh, it was... we have been waiting for this for so long. we don't know if we were lucky and this happened to be an event that happened close, relatively close, to earth. but it's very rare. or, perhaps there are many more neutron stars than we thought. we don't know yet, but we will know. within seconds, telescopes all over the world were pointed at the colliding stars. this is what they saw. the collision created distortions, stretching and squeezing space. these are known as gravitational waves. a new observational window on the universe typically leads to surprises that cannot yet be foreseen. we are still rubbing our eyes, 01’ our ears, as we have just woken up to the sound of gravitational waves. researchers say that there are likely to be many more discoveries using gravitational waves of objects in the universe that we have not yet imagined. pallab ghosh, bbc news, livingston, louisiana. if he wanted to look at that story a second time, you can find it in the science section of the bbc news website. it is reasonable to say i wouldn't cover every regional election in venezuelan on the programme, but these ones matter, there is an economic crisis and a profound political crisis there and this election is the latest development. the president's socialist party won 17 of 23 state governorships, the opposition has dismissed the whole thing. a victory for the president and his government. he spoke to venezuelans after the victory, and he said it proved that the democracy still worked. it was a result that government supporters in this poor part of caracas have hoped for on sunday. translation: this poor part of caracas have hoped for on sunday. translationzli this poor part of caracas have hoped for on sunday. translation: i will support this government onjuly died, long live the revolution. —— until i die. died, long live the revolution. —— untili die. with died, long live the revolution. —— until i die. with an approval rating of less tha n until i die. with an approval rating of less than 25%, the opposition had hoped to capitalise on this and win more states. it wasn't an election free of confusion either, the government moved this voting centre in an opposition led neighbourhood at the last minute because of security concerns. the opposition put on buses to take people to the other side of town and cast their ballot. the distrust and frustration with the government is widespread here, some people take it to the extreme, though. i think foreign intervention has to come. military intervention. yeah. how you get these people out, we are desperate, these people out, we are desperate, the rules of democracy are not working. for this woman, these elections have served as a stark reminder of the family's heartbreak, six months ago her son died in an anti—government protest, the chief prosecutor at the time said he was killed by a two gas canister thrown by the national guard. translation: if there are venezuelans who think that voting is a way of getting rid of the regime, so be it. we did not vote out of respect of my son's memory and the others who died in the violence. these results have emboldened the government and upset the opposition, and it won't meant the opposition, and it won't meant the deep divide here in venezuelan. criticised by the international commons macro, venezuela is increasingly isolated —— international community. the government is under pressure to make life better for everyone in the country and make sure that the country and make sure that the country does not descend into violence once again. something you are probably aware of if you are watching this on the bbc news channel, the unusual red sun we have seen in parts of england, including here in london, this is because of the remnants of hurricane 0phelia, desert dust from the sahara, and also we have dust coming from the wildfires in portugal, and this has created this distinctive colour. you can see those pictures and other stories on the bbc news website. three people have died in ireland during the worst storm in 50 years, storm 0phelia has brought extensive damage. 0ur correspondent reports from galway. from the atlantic, 0phelia arrived in force. no longer a hurricane, but a storm still determined to show her power. that was seen on ireland's south and west coasts, but red wind warnings were in place across the country. trampolines were no match for the weather. and this roof was torn from a school in county cork on a day declared by the irish government to be one of a national emergency. this is a national red alert. it applies to all cities, all counties and all areas. also bear in mind, that even after the storm has passed, there will still be dangers. there will be trees on the ground and power lines down. galway was in the direct path of 0phelia. here many listened to appeals to stay inside. in the windows of shop after shop there were signs saying they would be staying closed because of the storm. flood gates were put on the doors of businesses and the streets cleared of potentially dangerous debris. but in galway bay, even with 0phelia approaching, some ignored the warnings to go swimming. even last night, you had a meeting at city hall with the army, the civil defence, fire brigade, both councils and they were putting together a plan in place for it. but you'll still have an idiot in the water swimming besides the black rock tower. that's the type of idiot that will put somebody‘s life at risk and wasting the resources of the emergency services that should be somewhere else at the same time. lives have been lost as a result of fallen trees. hundreds of thousands of homes have been left without electricity because of the damage caused by the high winds. with this number of customers out it's unprecedented. it's going to be a number of days before people have their power back. about 5% of customers it will be up to ten days before they have their power back. we are keeping a little bit of a distance. we are concerned for our own safety here. but even at this point, you can really feel the sheer power of 0phelia. it's quite impressive. but it gives you a sense why the authorities have been so concerned about these winds. they are going to cause a lot of damage and indeed destruction. much has been left in need of repair in 0phelia's wake. 0nly so much can be done to protect houses, cars, even stadiums, despite the days of warnings. but some did ignore the appeals for them to stay inside their homes in order to see and experience this storm for themselves. it's spectacular. are you not mad being out in it? i love big weather. watching big seas, ijust love it. with schools and colleges closed, roads blocked off and much public transport cancelled, people have been protected from this storm. but 0phelia has tested ireland. chris butler, bbc news, galway. today, exactly 30 years ago, the uk was reeling from the impact of the so—called great storm of 1987. 18 people died and winds reach more than 100 people died and winds reach more than100 mph, people died and winds reach more than 100 mph, scotney castle in kent was badly damaged and robert hall has been finding about how it has recovered. news archive winds raging at 110 mph lifted trailers off the ground. a group of 60 houses all but swept away. howling in from the channel, the most devastating storm since 1703. it caught the southern half of the uk totally by surprise. gusts of up to 115 miles an hour ripped 15 million trees from the wet ground, tore off roofs and cut power to thousands of homes. 18 people were killed and the damage ran to over £1 billion. andrea pell celebrates her 30th birthday today. her mother still remembers a hazardous dash to hospitalfor the birth. as we got further and further, the storm got worse and worse. trees started falling in front of us and behind us. at one stage, we just had to stop suddenly because a tree had fallen right in front of us. part of the reason that so many were caught on the hop could be found in a now infamous forecast the previous day... apparently a woman rang the bbc and said she had heard there was a hurricane on the way. well, if you are watching — don't worry, there isn't. the most lasting effect was the devastation of ancient woodland. emmetts garden near sevenoaks lost 95% of its trees to the gale. some were more than 300 years old. we lost our electricity for nine days. 0ur telephone for five days. 0ur water supply for four days... caught up in the storm, nature expert matthew 0ates remembers a change of emphasis during years of recovery. the managers were under terrific pressure from a lot of local people, to clear up and replant. then we found that actually, if you left the woods to themselves, they would regenerate naturally. not necessarily with like for like, but nonetheless you would get woodland back very quickly. that's what happened. a lot has changed over the last three decades. we now have the technology to predict and prepare, as we have seen in the case of 0phelia. but perhaps the biggest lesson we learned from the great storm was the sheer power of nature to recover from disaster. robert hall, bbc news, at scotney castle, kent. facebook has said it will help train children in uk secondary schools about online dangers, they will pay two charities to develop digital safety a m bassadors, two charities to develop digital safety ambassadors, following calls for the company to do more about online bullying and terrorism related content. look who it is... such a weirdo. surrounded by bullies. what are you looking at. i'm stupid and can't find a way out and you don't know where to turn for help. you are going to cry. this's the dark side of social media as portrayed at the launch of a project designed to help schools combat abuse. facebook is funding two charities to train children to act as digital safety ambassadors in every uk secondary school that wants them. robert and poppy are already doing thisjob in their school. it means that you are making a difference both on the internet and in your school because you are making it a better and safer place for everyone. it's a growing issue on facebook, snapchat. it's something you can get involved in and help people out with it. facebook says research shows children prefer to turn to each other for help, rather than to a parent or teacher. it's an amazing thing to see a young person who's maybe encountered bullying in their life help another young person to work through that. facebook is investing £1 million in this programme, not a huge sum when it aims to train tens of thousands of young digital safety a m bassadors. and, along with other social media firms, it's under pressure to do far more, in particular agree a voluntary code of practice to make the internet safer. the culture secretary welcomed facebook‘s initiative but is hoping the social media firms will voluntarily agreat a new code. if they end up saying, "we are already doing enough, we have all got our own codes, we are all fine", what will you say? look, we have said we don't rule anything out. we have said that we are prepared to take whatever steps we need to to get to the point where we believe the uk is the safest place to be online. on their own, young digital ambassadors can't make the internet safe. politicians and parents may demand that facebook and others do more to end online abuse. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. authorities in portugal have declared three days of national mourning after at least 35 people died in forest fires. in spain fires have also claimed at least four lives. alison roberts reports from lisbon. many cases locals suspect arson but be severe drought of recent months means that even accidental ignition is can spread rapidly. translation: it is very windy and the fire has rekindled on many sides and the firefighters are not able to control the fire. my house is ok but my neighbours isn't so i need to help him, we need to help each other, firefighters, be everywhere. —— can't be everywhere. portugal's prime minister said that poor management of forests was a factor, but that arson could not be ruled out. translation: the situation is aggravated by extreme weather, drought and there is no self ignition of the forest, but what there is is the intention of creating fires or negligence. across the board in north—western spain forest fires have also claimed lives, spain's prime minister took time off from the constitutional crisis in catalonia to see the scene on the ground. he suspects some of the fires have been set in berlin. translation: it was started deliberately. -- have been set by people. it is not possible for this to have broken out naturally. the portuguese government has declared a state of calamity across more than half the country, to free up resources and ease access to private property and it has asked its european partners and rocco to send planes and other back—up. —— morocco. but for now, the country remains on maximum alert. we will switch from portugal to the united states. colin kaepernick says us team owners are conspiring to hire him because of his protest against racial injustice. he is 29 and has been without a team since he opted out of his contract with the san francisco a9ers in march. he first protested by sitting during the national anthem, before opting to neil instead. —— kneeled down. colin kaepernick is saying that there a bargaining agreement between there a bargaining agreement between the teams the players union, and he is bringing a grievance, because he believes he is being blocked from taking a place in one of those teams. he was a quarterback of the san francisco a9ers in 2016 and he did not take up the last year of his contract and he left the team. in march of this year. since then a number of buying opportunities have come along because of injuries to other quarterbacks but colin kaepernick has not been picked up —— a number of other opportunities. at the baltimore ravens, the team owners said the fans objected to it and they did not pursue their interest, the same with tennessee, another quarterback was brought in above colin kaepernick. his lawyers are saying that maybe this is collusion between the team owners to keep colin kaepernick out, on account of his political stance, it but proving it will be tough. colin kaepernick, having not played this season, has had enough and he is bringing this action under the collective bargaining agreement. across the hour we have brought you natural disasters in spain and portugal and california, and we have another one in vietnam. 60 people are dead and entire villages have been swept away in floods. we can hear from been swept away in floods. we can hearfrom our bbc been swept away in floods. we can hear from our bbc vietnamese correspondent. 0ne hear from our bbc vietnamese correspondent. one of the most disaster prone nations in the world, vietnam is no stranger to massive storms and rains but this one is different. heavy rains have triggered flash floods in northern and central vietnam, over just triggered flash floods in northern and central vietnam, overjust a couple of days, but it took away houses and bridges, animals and people, at a speed the country has not seen in decades. the local government in this province has declared a state of emergency and open several gates to discharge water at the country's largest hydroelectric dam, the first time it has done so in years. the decision had an immediate impact on community is downstream. as you can see on my left hand side, where the farmers and the fishermen live, and what happened, there is a portion of the dam that was broken, and the government official was quoted as saying they broke it deliberately to release the water pressure in other parts of the river. whatever the reason, hundreds of families are suffering the disaster. translation: it's been flooded like this now for five days and our lives are badly disrupted, my 85—year—old mother and children were evacuated. all the farmers have lost their crops and livestock, everything. the local people here are resilient to natural disasters and they are helping each other as much as possible. those living in flooded areas are receiving help to get in and out in boats. translation: we use megaphones to alert people and we mobilise rescue teams to support villages and evacuate people and children. as extreme weather events appear to become more frequent, one of the country's deputy prime minister ‘s said over the weekend that vietnam has two significantly improve its capabilities. that is the end of the programme. thanks for watching. we will be back tomorrow with another hour of the main global stories being told by the bbc. you could be forgiven for hope —— hoping we might have something calmer after the turbulent start to the week. ex—hurricane 0phelia has a big impact on the weather in the british isles and the sun it was a case of saharan dust and smoke from portugal turning the sky is red —— and for some. you can see the way the storm system ploughed across the republic of ireland and then continues to move north and east. we saw some very strong continues to move north and east. we saw some very strong winds indeed, the strongest were in the republic of ireland close to 100 miles per hourin of ireland close to 100 miles per hour in the most exposed areas. plenty of other places not too far behind. the storm is moving north, but with some pretty tightly squeezed isobars across the northern half of england and also scotland, and here we will see strong winds to start tuesday, between 60—70 miles per hour, that could cause travel disruption. cloudy in northern areas but the wind will ease and rain will push into the far south—west. in between, a zone of brighter weather and also a fresher feel, 13—17, and is quieter theme continues into wednesday, much lighter winds, the band of rain moving erratically north and some of that could be heavy, temperatures 11—18. through the week after the stormy start, things will turn calmer, quieter, around the middle part of the week, but it will not last, wind and rain looking likely to return later in the week. because as you look at the charts, into thursday, areas of low pressure, frontal systems swarming in the atlantic, threatening to bring outbreaks of rain, strengthening winds, as well, some brightness for central and eastern areas and the temperatures around 1a-18. this areas and the temperatures around 1a—18. this first area of unsettled weather will slide is thursday into friday, and then a very small bump of high pressure will give a brief dryer interlude on friday, mixture of sunshine and showers and wants 13-17, but it is of sunshine and showers and wants 13—17, but it is just a brief interlude because here comes trouble —— and temperatures 13—17. this could be pushing over our shores from start of the weekend. there will be outbreaks of rain, strong winds, especially in this south, not a very pleasant look to saturday. as we move into the following week, we continue to look to the jet stream to generate our weather systems, dips in thejet stream, to generate our weather systems, dips in the jet stream, areas to generate our weather systems, dips in thejet stream, areas of to generate our weather systems, dips in the jet stream, areas of low pressure, but by this stage the gaps between those low—pressure systems they are getting wider, the ridges of high pressure making it a bit more progress. next week, that means there will be spells of rain, and strong winds, but i am optimistic that we will see some longer dryer interlude is at times. so maybe something a bit calmer at least for something a bit calmer at least for some of the time as we get into next week. tonight at ten — the efforts to negotiate a brexit deal are to accelerate in the months ahead. after tonight's dinner in brussels, and the recent talk of deadlock, theresa may and the european commission president jean—claude juncker said they'd talked in a "friendly and constructive atmosphere". tonight's talks also included iran's nuclear programme, counter—terrorism, and internet extremism. we'll have the latest from brussels and from westminster. also tonight... storm 0phelia — one of the most powerful storms to hit ireland and parts of the uk in recent years — has caused loss of life and power cuts to thousands of homes. we report from the kurdish—held city of kirkuk, where iraqi government forces have entered, taking over some areas. well, we've suddenly had to pull back. there was a sustained outburst of gunfire at the position up ahead.