welcome to bbc news. spain's political crisis has escalated. prime minister mariano rajoy has announced his government tim wilcox is in barcelona. you join me high above central barcelona. in the last few hours, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of pro—independence demonstrators have taken to the streets in defiance of that decision by the spanish by ministers to impose home rule. numbers of protesters vary according to the organisers of this rally today. they say nearly half a million people took to the streets, according to organisations which are pro—unity they say the number 170 5,000. nonetheless, there were significant numbers out here on the streets of barcelona. there are crowds of those nights as i speak outside the place where the catalan president is shortly to give a speech. would you give statements. it's not clear what his next move will be. it follows a dramatic day here in spain, when the spanish by minister mariano rajoy convened a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the moves he would take by imposing or invoking article 155, an article which has never been used before on any autonomous region. let's catch up with the latest political movements and also events on the streets in this report by tom burridge. this evening they took to the streets again. catalans who want independence. now angrier than ever after madrid said it would scrap their devolved government and step in. theyjust want to crush us down. we've got dignity, we've got our dignity, we've fought for it for years. we couldn't speak catalan only, like, a0 or 50 years ago. are we going back to that? i am young and do not have that much knowledge, but enough to know that it is not normal and it should not be happening in our country. we are a developed country, this isjust outrageous, i am speechless. it was earlier that spanish ministers took the never before used nuclear option. all senior catalan politicians will be dismissed. the spanish prime minister said all of their powers and responsibilities would be taken over by his team in madrid. mariano rajoy said he was forced to act by the long—term disobedience of catalonia's regional government. translation: we apply article 155 because no government of any democratic country can accept disregard for the law. catalonia is divided on independence. some here, like carlos, accept that the spanish government had no option. but he told us that madrid and catalonia's government are to blame for the uncertainty and crisis today. in the crowd this evening, the catalan leader, at least for now, carles puigdemont. hailed as a hero here, but a figure of hate for others in catalonia and millions across spain. tonight he will make another address, possibly this time a more emphatic declaration of independence, whatever that will mean. catalonia is on edge. catalonia has enjoyed large amounts of autonomy since the 1980s. when madrid steps in to exert control, many people here will resist. madrid will not physically take control here for at least several days. when it does, it will not be straightforward. all day long we have been speaking to different opposing sides of this debate. let's talk to somebody who is passionately in favour opportunity with spain. we have heard from the president of the cata la n heard from the president of the catalan parliament who has described the events day as a coup d'etat. how do you react? it's interesting. it's the catalan parliament who were passing laws against... by suppressing minority rights, trying to subvert the law to create new law, they're actually implement in a soft coup d'etat. is a phrase that was used by the deputy prime minister in madrid. the sign language is being used on both sides. ijust took me through what is going to happen. in five days, when the senate passes, or the debate finishes there, how is madrid going to revert or take direction route from madrid over events here? actually, the minister of finance, they have opened a new account where they have opened a new account where they will put all the money that goes to the catalan government. from that they will pay all the public workers. they might amuse the hand of the catalan regional police because he is facing charges of sedition. they will have to nominate somebody to take over the actual day—to—day administration of the cata la n day—to—day administration of the catalan area. many will say that's very heavy—handed and that will be counter—productive, it might encourage more people to come out in their tens or hundreds of thousands demanding liberty and freedom of expression. if we did not have freedom of expression, they would not be able to process on the streets, so that's the irony. the thing is that we have a region of spain trying to declare independence. there's nothing more serious on any country than having a pa rt serious on any country than having a part of the country succeed. the measures you have to take must be very strong. —— part of the country secede. there is no going back.” know the region is divided, that given that so many want independence, how can madrid impose the rule of law on people such as the rule of law on people such as the 20,000 civil servants, the 17,000 police, how can they impose their will on a region which is divided where a lot of people don't wa nt to divided where a lot of people don't want to remain part of spain? it's a very difficult thing to do. one of the key things is that the government is using the controller finances. paying monthly wages is controlled by madrid. don't forget that the catalan region police are big —— on the part of their that the catalan region police are big -- on the part of their salary is paid by the minister of the interior directly. they are trying to control that to force public workers to go to theirjobs. are either of these two leaders emotionally equipped, sensitively equipped, to deal with something like this? both seem absolutely intransigence. the only way through this crisis, surely, is going to be some sort of negotiation.” com pletely some sort of negotiation.” completely agree. i don't think they had the right people to negotiate a way out. there's a lot of law here but they're trying... they're trying to build a parallel legitimacy and reality, that they are not appealing to the other side of catalan. the same way that the spanish government is, which has a lot on its side, about not going to make an emotional appeal to those catala ns about not going to make an emotional appeal to those catalans will remain spanish but need to live together. we need to so that society back. according to the time frame, we think perhaps the senate in madrid will have discussed and debated this, which means that they will pass article 155 and that direct rule could happen as early as next birthday. we'll be declare independence properly now and not suspended? we are waiting to hear in the next half an hour. according to cata la n the next half an hour. according to catalan law, if he were to do that it would need to be passed by a vote in the catalan parliaments, but he might only have until thursday to do that because then madrid plans to dissolve it. back to you in london. let's speak to our correspondent guy hedgecoe who's in the spanish capital. we were just hearing the expected timeline. we will be hearing from the catalan leader later. as far as mariano rajoy and that likely election, is their general backing behind this? april was published in the media just this weekend, saying that a majority of catalans would like elections. that was one poll which doesn't necessarily reflect the true situation, suggests that it could be a popular alternative to the current situation. the spanish government seems to see elections as possibly some kind of solution to this, although there is a feeling that it won't necessarily do more than by its time. if it does for these elections. if there are elections imposed by madrid, they wa nt to elections imposed by madrid, they want to be normal elections. they could be once again very tense, very divisive elections. with the two sides as divided as they are at the moment. we had also from this appeal to the business community not to abandon the region. how much is at sta ke abandon the region. how much is at stake economically? catalonia and the wider country. a great deal. catalonia is meant to have a fifth of spain's gdp, an enormous tourism sector. it is extremely important in those terms. so many big companies and other companies have been leaving or moving a legal base out of catalonia recently. 0ver leaving or moving a legal base out of catalonia recently. over 1000 of catalonia recently. 0ver1000 according to reports, and counting. clearly that is a worry. it has to bea clearly that is a worry. it has to be a worry with spain, this instability we are seeing economically. it's a huge worry for the independence movements, that these in many cases well known and cata la n these in many cases well known and catalan names are moving out of the region on they're worried about the political situation. i think that's a concern for both sides. we were just hearing that catalonia's parliament speaker was saying that they are committed to defending the sovereignty of catalan. just how worried are people about an increased intentions? very worried. tensions are extremely high at the moment anyway. have been since 0ctober moment anyway. have been since october the 1st, that referendum. before that, i think people certainly outside catalonia didn't release the situation reaching such a low point. and then suddenly with the referendum and the fallout from that, people are seeing that there's a possibility there might be independence. people catalonia don't necessarily take that seriously beforehand but are seeing the possibility of things escalating. even the possibility of violence. i think that those worried people both in catalonia and here in madrid as well and elsewhere in spain. thank you. the decision by the world health 0rganisation to appoint zimbabwean president robert mugabe as a ‘goodwill ambassador‘ has received widespread condemnation. the role is symbolic but mr mugabe will be expected to tackle non—communicable diseases, like cancer and heart disease. zimbabwe's opposition say that under mr mugabe's 37—year rule the health system in his own country has all but collapsed. shingai nyoka reports from harare. in his 37 years as zimbabwe's leader, robert mugabe has been called many things, but not many could have expected he would be a world health 0rganisation goodwill ambassador. the announcement was made by the new who head, who praised the president and zimbabwe for its commitment to universal health access. but his choice has been roundly criticised. the idea that they would name mugabe as any kind of example of contribution to health care is absolutely absurd. people are really wondering what's going on here, what possibly could have led to this. many critics say the health system in zimbabwe has collapsed under robert mugabe, with staff underpaid and medicines in short supply. they have also pointed out that mr maghabe and other senior ministers go abroad for their medical treatment. as it stands, robert mugabe himself travels to singapore where he gets help with his cancer. and you can just imagine that if he has to trot all over the world to get that sort of treatment and there is no treatment available in zimbabwe itself, and he's not even willing to use the hospitals in zimbabwe because they are such a sickening and worrying state... foreign governments have also waded in. the uk government described the decision as surprising and disappointing, saying his appointment risks overshadowing the work undertaken globally by the world health organisation on non—communicable diseases. previous ambassadors have included angelina jolie and roger federer, who have generally taken on active roles in promoting relief efforts. he is expected to serve two years in this role. police in northern ireland are investigating the murder of a woman in belfast. the victim, who was 51, died shortly after being found distressed and injured in the back garden of a house in finaghy on the outskirts of the city. two men in their twenties were arrested a short time later at an address two miles away. a local politician said the alarm was raised after neighbours heard screams at around seven o'clock this morning. army bomb squad specialists have been called to the nuclear reprocessing plant at sellafield to deal with hazardous chemicals found in a lab. the chemicals, contained within a number of canisters, were discovered during a routine audit at a laboratory at the site in cumbria. they are industrial solvents which are potentially flammable in liquid states and can crystallise and become unstable when exposed to air. sellafield limited, which runs the plant, said there's no reason for people living locally to be concerned. they're inside the life which we are in the process of decommissioning. the status here. we deal with the minimum safe manner, as quickly as possible. storm brian has hit the uk with gale—force winds and high seas, though disruption has not been as bad as predicted. gusts of 78 miles per hour were recorded in capel curig and aberdaron, north wales, with 84 miles per hour recorded on the isle of wight. there was flash flooding in several irish cities, including limerick. let's take a look at the storm has been affecting parts of the uk — starting in the south west. most places have escaped flooding caused by spring tides although there has been disruption to travel on the first weekend of the school half term holidays with brittany ferries cancelling tonight's sailing from plymouth. clare woodling reports. we are expecting a surge of the spring tides, as the surge has come through a little under the forecast. so the result is that the levels in the harbour are a bit lower. they have not made it to the heights to start inundating the drainage system. two carparks in seton in cornwall are out of action but luckily no cars were stranded. there's at least six inches of water at here and i'm on the pavement. it has not stopped drivers ploughing along the road, as you can see, and that's in spite of all the dangers. i've even seen two buses full of passengers plough through as well. a mixed reaction to the weather from local people. it has been quite rough. with the car parks flooding and stuff, it's a bit of a worry for businesses down here. i was expecting a lot worse. it's not that windy. hopefully it will get a bit worse later on. it's very windy along the coast. i have been up as far as... and it'sjust blowing away out there. some other places have also taken a battering. the strong winds are expected to continue for several hours to come. high waves and strong winds from the storm has also been battering the cumbrian coast. the environment agency issued a flood alert for the whole of the county's coastline... but no major damage has been reported. jim knight sent this report. the shore line this lunchtime. a seething crashing awesome display of the sheer power of nature. as storm brian unleashed its worst on this exposed stretch of coastline. as you can see, here at saint bees, the high tide and these really strong winds easing supplied by storm brian are combining to create some pretty spectacular scenery. at the moment, thankfully, not life—threatening. however the emergency services are warning people all along the coastline here to exercise extreme caution, and to treat these big seas with the respect they deserve. those who came to see it could only stand and stare. marvelling at the sheer power and ferocity of the wind and sea. i was hoping to go for a nice coastal walk this morning for today, but i think i will put that on hold. fantastic. the power of nature. it was still blustery and unpleasant at nearby whitehaven, but the breakwater but the breakwater and harbour kept the world season they before the storm headed further north. having thankfully not delivered any of the widespread damage which some people had feared. i'm sure you saw some of the headlines concerning storm brian. here's another one. killer storm chaos expected. that's just some of the headlines. not quite a killer storm. what happened? why are storm names? they get names by the uk met 0ffice names? they get names by the uk met office and the irish meteorological forecasting agency. this one was named by the irish forecasters. they we re named by the irish forecasters. they were closer to the centre of brian, they have had amber impacts. there has been some flooding and damage. the island forecasters named brian, whereas the uk met office only issued yellow weather warnings for this storm. in other words, if it hadn't been affecting our lives, this storm wouldn't have been named by the uk met office at all. how was that area of whether doing at the moment? let's have a look at the satellite picture. we can see brian working eastwards across northern england. these are the strongest wind gusts we have seen from it. generally we have seen gusts of around 70 mph along the coast. it has been pretty stormy. the top three there, those sites have in common that they are quite high and sticking to the coastal areas. we often sticking to the coastal areas. we ofte n get sticking to the coastal areas. we often get wind gusts that way stronger than anything else would expect. what was the met office weather warning for? gusts of 70 mph. soi weather warning for? gusts of 70 mph. so i think that was reasonable. inland, i was talking on the forecast about gusts of a0 to 50 mph. these are the wind gusts we have seen inland. and it has been around a0 to 50 mph. i think this forecast has really gone quite well. in terms of what the met office were expecting, with the yellow weather warning for wins, what you can get from this is, i will read from what they said on the website. some transport routes and travel services could be affected. some disruption to road, rail and ferry transport. we can take that one off. nothing major localised impact. localised problems for high sided vehicles quite likely with gusts that strong around coastal areas. localised power disruptions. see france, coastal community is affected by spray coastal community is affected by spray and large waves. that sounds about right as well. these are all very localised impacts, consistent with the yellow weather warning the met office had out. i think the impact has been about as bad as i expected. so headline writers got a bit excited. there is a massive disconnect between what the meteorologists and forecasters are predicting and those that are not experts that are writing were talking about what the storm, in their opinion, will do. thank you. donald trump has announced he plans to release thousands of classified documents relating to the assassination ofjohn f kennedy in 1963. some us government officials are thought to oppose the publication of the papers on national security grounds. but mr trump has tweeted that he would allow them to be opened — "subject to the receipt of further information" the files are due to be opened in their entirety next thursday nearly 5a years after kennedy's assassination in dallas — but the president can extend their classified status. let's cross over to washington and our correspondent, laura bicker. not everybody is behind the opening of these files. congress certainly pushing, putting pressure on mr trump to release them. decades of secrecy trump to release them. decades of secrecy may be about to come to an end. this was a 1992 volt which had these files locked away in the national archives, to try to quell conspiracy theories. it did anything that bad. a recent poll suggested that bad. a recent poll suggested that 30%, only 30% of americans, believe that the man accused of murdering presidentjohn f. kennedy, lee harvey oswald, acted alone. that's one of the reasons that archivists, historians have long lobbied for these documents to be released. the release date is supposed to be thursday. the president has the final say. we have just had a statement from the white house which says the president will read these documents should be made available in the interests of full transparency, unless agencies provide a compelling and clear national security or law enforcement justification otherwise. the cia director, mike pompeo, has reportedly been pressuring the white house not to release all of these documents. it may well be that donald trump is leading himself some wriggle room over some of these documents may remain redacted. but the documents people will really wa nt to the documents people will really want to see whether ones relating to lee harvey 0swald's trip to mexico just weeks before the murder. it is there that he met with cuban and soviet spies. it is also long been alleged that he said there that he was planning to kill the president. that fact is disputed. as you can imagine if these documents released, how many historians will be sitting waiting to read them. apart from mexico, a lot of people wanting to eitherfinish off mexico, a lot of people wanting to either finish off that story and find out exactly what happened. any more bombshells we can expect?“ you speak to those who are experts in the subject, they say there will be no bombshells but there will be a number of adjusting documents such as the cia profile on lee harvey 0swald. there are letters there from j edgar hoover, the fbi director at the time, and also from jfk's widow, jackie kennedy. there are a number of documents there that could make for a very interesting reading. thank you very much. speed limits through motorway roadworks in england could be raised from 50 to 60 miles per hour. the proposed changes follow trials which found drivers would feel safer at higher speeds. sophie long reports roadworks. some of them go on for mile after mile. the current speed limit is normally 50 mph, but highways england said it could be increased to 60. they conducted trials with heartrate monitors managing drivers' stress levels as they pass through roadworks at different speeds. 60% recorded a decrease in their average heart rate in the 60 mph zone. in the 55 mph zone, there was a decrease in 56%. what you find at 50 mph is many trucks have their speed limited to 56, therefore they try to drive faster, tailgate cars a foot off their bumper, which becomes incredibly dangerous. 0n those stretches, if you can have 55 or 60 mph, you would get less tailgating, fewer drivers studying their speedometer, and it can really be safer. what about people working on the motorways? the unite union which represents them say these proposals ignore their safety. they say in recent years a number of motorway workers have been killed, and increasing speed limits will make their working conditions even more dangerous. motorists have mixed views. it would make myjourney a lot shorter, because immediately i start the journey, i'm experiencing the 50 mph limit straightaway, so 60 would be an improvement for me. i think that's too fast, especially when there are people on the roadside, men working on the road, it is too fast, that is dangerous. the speed limit should be 50, it is that for a reason. even that is pretty fast if you go past. if a car passes you at 50 you can feel the speed of the wind from the car, i think it is too fast. highways england says it is carrying out further tests to ensure it can be done safely, but the changes could be brought in by the end of the year. let's find out what the weather is doing. talking still about storm brian. the centre of the storm has been moving across the irish sea into the north of england. 0utbreaks of rain around and shower clouds as well in the picture. the strongest wind gusts today have been around coastal areas. the top gusts around 70 mph. inland, the winds haven't been a problem. but they weren't rarely expected to be. not so a0 to 50 mph and making ita rarely expected to be. not so a0 to 50 mph and making it a normal autumnal day. 0vernight tonight, we will continue to have fairly strong winds across the north wales, northern cavities of england. they'll is inland up to a050 mph. some rain as well, particularly across western scotland and north west england. elsewhere, showers coming and going just about any time. tomorrow, brian works out at the north sea. starting off with rain but going through the day there will be a slow improvement. the rain heading across north—west england into the midlands, east anglia and south—east england for a time before clearing. in the afternoon, the winds become a little and showers around. bigger gaps between showers, more sunshine. a north—westerly winds bringing cooler air. temperatures are bit down on those of today. between 12 and a0 degrees. 0n of today. between 12 and a0 degrees. on monday, the north—westerly winds have cleared. quite a lot of cloud, some quite lower the hills. for patches possible. rain turning heavy for a time patches possible. rain turning heavy fora time in patches possible. rain turning heavy for a time in northern scotland. then sunshine falling into northern and west of scotland by the end of the day. john rogers beginning to edge up with highs of 16 or 17

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