strong winds and heavy rains are battering the coast. thousands of residents have been evacuated from coastal towns, leaving homes sandbagged and boarded up. forecasters say it could last for up to 18 hours. government forces in iraq are intensifying their efforts to drive so—called islamic state out of western mosul. the use of helicopter gunships and crude rocket launchers is raising further concerns about civilian casualties. many of those fleeing the city say the assaults are too indiscriminate. the family of one of those killed in the westminster terror attack has spoken for the first time. relatives of the american tourist, kurt cochran, say they bear no ill will, following the atrocity. those are the headlines. now on bbc news, reporters. welcome to reporters.

i'm philippa thomas. from here in the world's newsroom, we send our correspondents to bring you the best stories from across the world. in this week's programme... football on the front line. richard conway reports on syria's world cup dreams, and asks whether soccer can help to unite a country at war. football coming back to syria provides the people with a chance to forget about their worries. at least for 90 minutes. the plight of the people of western mosul. orla guerin reports from the camps in iraq, struggling to feed up to 500,000 survivors of the so—called islamic state. they say they have no running water, no electricity, no access to medical supplies, and people in the queue are really afraid that the food is going to run out before they have been able to get some.

returning to crimea after three years after vladimir putin annexed the region. steve rosenberg finds out how people feel about russian rule and sanctions. moscow insists that most of the people who live here are happy to be in russia. but not everyone is. and from the greatest show on earth to a ghost town. six months after the rio 0lympics, the organisers tell wyre davies they were a missed opportunity. i feel that olympic games in brazil was not so successful, because legacy was not the number one. you might not think football was syria's biggest priority at the moment, but you would be surprised to hear the country still has a national football team, and it's competing for a place in next year's world cup. with the country at war, they can't play on home soil, but the national team is still giving many syrians a reason to come together. they played their first qualifying match against uzbekistan

on thursday, and richard conway joined them as they trained for the game in malaysia. they are the nomads of world football. but syria's players are making friends on their travels. with their country at war, they must play home games on neutral ground. here in malaysia, the players are preparing for the most important fixture in their history, while back in syria, there is renewed fighting in the capital damascus. translation: the condition of the people at home is quite difficult and there is additional pressure over there, but it does not affect us. we try to forget all those things and focus on the match and training at two hours a day, and with a happy mind—set as well as winning, the match and making the people at home proud. football is still being played in syria, but six years of conflict

has thrown the domestic game into crisis. the performances of the national team have already given president assad's regime a propaganda opportunity. but facilities are crumbling, very few countries want to play them in friendly games, and their best players have all left the league. syria's coaching staff have the toughestjobs in world football. six we work in syria, six years we're training in ourfield, on not so good field, not in good condition, we can not make any friendly game inside syria or outside syria. for that, give us more, trust with us to make good result in future, because everybody wants to make something for syria. it is hard work, hard job, hard situation for us. syria's president bashir al—assad wants the perception to be his country is returning to normal and sport helps with that aim,

but regardless of his intentions, it's clear that sport, that football coming back to syria provides the people with a chance to forget about their worries. at least for 90 minutes. that need is all the more acute after this week's surprise attack by rebels in damascus, and the government's response with typical force. i met the most senior figure in syrian sport and asked, given evidence of war crimes by the regime, if his country should compete internationally? translation: when terrorism and jihadis came to syria, it became our duty to defend our schools and hospitals. if a thief arrives at your house, will you let him steal it or will you defend your house and your family? for the first time in six years, syria's women are preparing

to play competitively at international level. they begin their own world cup qualifying campaign next month in vietnam. we have the power to participate and we have the hope we are going to get good results. with all the support we have and the coaches who are helping a lot, we will achieve this. but the war has destroyed football careers. issam al masri was a promising young player in syria, but fled the violence with his family in 2012. now living in the zaatari refugee camp in northern jordan, he works as part of a scheme that provides football coaching to 3,000 children each week. he, however, has not given up on his own football dream. translation: of course i still have dreams and ambitions to be a good player. to be famous and play

with one of the big clubs. i also met mohammad al khalaf, a player who has proven what is possible. mohammad fled syria after his brother was killed by a mortar. leaving behind his career with syrian premier league club al—majd. he has just signed a contract with a jordanian second division team. translation: yes, it is a success story. it was a dream to play with the club. i was playing for a club back in syria, and it became a dream to play for a club here injordan. when i first came here, i suffered a lot. i had many problems with my documents and my passport. but every time i face a problem, iam more determined to move forward. thank god i made it. and this is the beginning of the road. back in malaysia, those fortunate enough to be pursuing world cup hopes are focussing on the biggest game of their careers.

but this syrian team also had a unique perspective on why sport matters so much — and so little. richard conway, bbc news, malacca, malaysia. one month into the renews offensive to retake the iraqi city of mosul from the so—called islamic state, there is new evidence of the suffering of its people. thousands have fled the fighting in the western half of the country's second city in recent weeks, but 500,000 people are struggling to survive and to feed themselves. 0rla guerin sent us this report from the edge of al—mansur in the clamour for help, many go empty—handed. gunfire the gunfire from iraqi soldiers trying to control the crowd at an aid distribution. survivors of the caliphate now

at risk from hunger. troops not keen for the chaos to be caught on camera. in the distance, smoke from an is car bomb. the front line is just a mile away. but those who flee the fighting here end up in overcrowded camps. there are no good options for the people of western mosul. well, you can see here the utter desperation in this area. local people here tell us this is the first aid supplies that have come here. they say they have no running water, no electricity, no access to medical supplies, and people in the queue are really afraid that the food is going to run out before they have been able to get some. barely able to walk, but with many mouths to feed,

hamda mohammed, whose family is living on bread and water. "i am crying," she says, "because my children don't understand why we have no food." "they don't accept my excuses." "is took our money to buy weapons." "i hope they will burn." this woman has suffered a double loss. "is killed two of my sons," she says. "one had just got married." as the troops keep watch, there is tension in the crowd. with the frustration building, this man compares the security forces to his former oppressors.

"what's difference between the is police and these guys?", he asks. "the is police beat us and they beat us, just for asking for food." "is this the liberation they have brought us?" nearby, some are returning to this battle scarred neighbourhood. like abdul, an ice—cream seller. his home was occupied by is for three months. he says they threatened to hang his wife because she dared to oppose them. she hid in the fields to survive. is knocked through the wall, he tells us, so they could move unseen from house to house. their reign of terror has destroyed

the fabric of his neighbourhood. "we can never live again with those who collaborated with is," he says. "if i catch the man who informed on my wife, i will cut him into pieces." the battle for mosul may now be in its final phase. this ancient city emerging from modern day barbarity. when the caliphate crumbles, there will be much to rebuild, including a divided community. 0rla guerin, bbc news, western mosul. it was a move that sparked sanctions from the west and a revival of cold war tensions. three years ago, russia sent special forces into crimea to annex the region. the takeover was followed by a separatist conflict in eastern ukraine that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in nearly three years of fighting. steve rosenberg has been back to the region to find out how people are coping with life under

russian rule. blessed by nature, beset with contention. this is crimea. it's three years since russia annexed the peninsula from ukraine, pushing east and west into a new cold war. today, moscow is cementing its presence. with a bridge that will bind crimea to the russian mainland. with its military, too, russia's moved its most powerful weapons here, and where ever you go in crimea you're left in no doubt who's in charge. 0lga welcomes russian rule. crimea, she says, has returned home. she chides western leaders who disagree. we don't understand them because we are already for three years we're in russia. we changed everything. we changed our rules, our documents, everything and our soul is in russia.

and i even have the t—shirt, t—shirt with putin, and the words are "in putin we trust," like "in god we trust." moscow admits its take over of crimea was a military operation. it sent russian special forces here. days later, after a referendum, not recognised initially, crimea was declared part of russia. svetlana had opposed the annexation, but three years on, her perspective on russia has changed. they were expecting us, they were happy to have us back, ukraine are not, they really hate us, they think everyone here is a traitor. even if you were ever pro—ukrainian or you are now pro—ukrainian, you are still a traitor because you didn't leave. america's position hasn't changed. the white house says it expects moscow to return crimea.

it's almost inconceivable that vladimir putin would perform a u—turn on crimea and hand this peninsula back to ukraine. for one thing, the kremlin doesn't do u—turns, and reclaiming this land for russia, well, president putin will regard that as part of his legacy, and moscow insists that most of the people who live here are happy to be in russia. but not everyone is. since annexation, the crimean tartar community has come under pressure. its governing body, which had opposed the 2014 referendum, has been banned. human rights groups accuse moscow of creating a climate of repression. this man is desperate for information about his son, edvin. a tartar activist, edvin was abducted ten months ago. cctv cameras caught the moment he was seized by men in uniform. not knowing where his son

is is driving him to despair. his heart, he told me, isn't made of steel. but you can see that. and yet this crimean spring feels calmer than three years ago. most people here don't think about sovereignty or sanctions, they try to get on with their lives. they can't predict the future, so navigating the present is fine for now. steve rosenberg, bbc news, crimea. can marine le pen do what her father failed to do and win france's 2017 presidential election? her party, the front national has long had significant support

and could now win the most votes in the first round of the election. it struggled in the past due to its reputation for extremism. its attitudes to issues like immigration, homosexuality and the holocaust. as lucy williamson has been finding out, marine le pen has been credited with detoxifying the image which herfather had done so much to create. a year ago, boris and his husband eric left the urban rat race for a farmhouse in burgundy. with an orchard, a vegetable garden and pet chickens. named after president holland's girlfriends. elle s'appelle valerie. boris describes himself as an orphan of the socialist party, pushed away by what he sees as the left‘s cosying up to radical islam. now he says he feels most at home with the leader of the front national, marine le pen. why vote front national? it's simple.

it's marine le pen. if it were her father in charge, it would be no, because he's a crazy old man. back then there were skinheads, thugs and fascists in the party. with marine it's not like that at all. there's an elegance, a bit of restraint. j'aime la france. marine le pen has tried to rid her party of the racist, homophobic image it had under her father, jean—marie. several of her closest advisers are now openly gay, and she expelled her father after he described the holocaust as "a detail of the second world war". wherejews and gay men were once seen as outsiders, the party's target now is immigration and radical islam. marine le pen is presenting herself as the defender of minorities, against what she says is a growing threat from political islam. gay voters, dues and women all have something to fear, she says, and the front national is the party to protect them. ——jews. analysts say the party is now

being pulled in two directions. they have said there is a red line we shall never cross any more. it's anti—semitism, and there marine le pen is definitely different from her father. but if she goes too far, on that line of de—demonisation, she will lose the voters for whom it was a party that, that knocked on the tables strong, that wanted to shake the political system, and her father put it very well. he said, "a nice national front?" "nobody is interested by that." fn traditionalists these days look not to marine, but to her 27—year—old niece, marion, a star of the party's conservative wing, whose members often say they preferred things the way they were, underjean—marie le pen. translation: i think that marion is more like her grandfather than marine. france really needs strict leadership. it's not ok to say "let's

carry on as we are." we have to start from scratch. and marion is better able to do that. marion has much tougher views than her aunt on issues like gay marriage and abortion, and she's made it clear she is a fan of donald trump's immigration policies too. translation: the famous muslim ban, as donald trump's adversaries are calling it. it's not in our programme right now, but if it turns out there's a particularly high threat coming from a country that is identified with or infiltrated by radical islam, yes, we could temporarily ban those people from our territory. some say marine and marion are a useful double act that allows the party to keep all its members on side, but the glue may only be as strong as the party's

electoral score. power is attractive, even to those who see popularity as a double edged sword. lucy williamson, bbc news, france. at the time it was billed as the greatest show on earth, but several athletes and officials involved with last year's 0lympic and paralympic games in rio have told the bbc they are angry and frustrated by the failure to provide any meaningful post—0lympic legacy. it is six months since the 2016 games came to an end, and while brazilian officials insist there were tangible benefits for rio, others feel the games were plagued by broken promises and lost opportunities, as wyre davies has been fining out. for five weeks last summer, rio dejaneiro was the centre of the sporting world. host city for the 2016 olympic and paralympic games. the greatest show on earth. exactly six months later,

the stage is empty. rio's olympic park, which should by now be operating as a sporting centre of excellence, is eerily quiet. arenas where medals were won and lost are little more than warehouses. venues that should have been dismantled, some to be rebuilt as schools, are untouched. if there is a legacy here, it's not the one that those who campaigned for rio to win the games had expected. i feel that olympic games in brazil was not so successful because the legacy was not the number one. we delivered good games, we had a lot of problems and we keep with them and nobody‘s doing anything for changing, so this is making me really sad. this is the olympic tennis arena, where andy murray won his second consecutive olympic gold medal.

for now, this is being run, like many other venues in the olympic park, by the brazilian sports ministry, because no private company, nor the local authority, can afford or want to take on the huge running costs. team brazil missed its own medal targets at rio 2016. archer ane marcelle came a creditable ninth place, but has since lost her funding and her coach. improving on rio and even making the tokyo games will be tough. translation: a month after the games they cut everything. my health insurance, my salary, everything. it's a huge disappointment. we made history in archery but it's all over. it made me think my sacrifice wasn't worth it. such was rio's desperation to get things ready on time, legacy was the last thing on anyone's mind, says one official who had worked previously on the london games, and wishes to remain anonymous. i never once had a conversation about legacy, at any point or in any discussion i had working on the games.

you have to remember, this was the games where we were scrambling to put the event on on a day—by—day basis. there was no time to think about what was going to happen the day after the games finished in september. there were undoubtedly improvements in rio, thanks to the games. in public transport, some infrastructure and the opening up of public spaces. i think that there are a few promises that need to be delivered, but i do believe we should have time to work on these promises, and the promise we need to be first of all is the delivery of the olympic park, and improvements in the sports legacy. a brand—new velodrome built at huge expense, barely used. its track already water damaged. a state—of—the—art whitewater course, meant to become a public pool after games remains closed off. is this rio's real 0lympic legacy? wyre davies, bbc news, rio de janeiro. i'm philippa thomas, thank you for watching reporters. goodbye. hello there.

after a glorious weekend, glorious start to the week, things are set to turn more unsettled now as we continue to head through the week. that's because we've got this area of low pressure out in the atlantic slowly encroaching in, it will be bringing increasing cloud, outbreaks of rain and increasing wind as well. meanwhile, high pressure remains anchored across the near continent. this feature will be bringing some showers into the south—west corner of the country during the course of the night. and i think generally it will be a cloudy and night to come for most, certainly central and northern areas, a bit of mist down the east coast there. so as a result, not quite as cool by the time we reach first thing on tuesday morning. could see the odd pocket of frost, though, across the north—west corner of scotland. that's because skies will remain clear here. so we've got showers from the word go across the south—west for tuesday morning.

a bit of sunshine through the midlands and the south—east. more in the way of cloud across northern areas but a line of showers will continue to northwards and eastwards as the afternoon wears on, some of them could pep up to be quite heavy. a cloudier day i think for much of scotland than what we've seen of late through the afternoon. probably the best of any sunshine across this sheltered north—west highlands corner, where we could see some pretty decent temperatures. but a cooler feel to things. some rain getting into awards dumfries and galloway. for northern ireland, scattered showers, some sunshine. some of the showers could be heavy with a rumble of thunder, and that's also the case for much of northern england and in towards the midlands. but there will be some good sunny spells through the midlands eastwards and that really will boost temperatures again, up to 18—20 celsius. the breeze, though, more of a feature across the south—west. and we'll also see another weather front moving in, and that'll herald more persistent rain, which will spill its way northwards and eastwards during the course of tuesday night into wednesday. so actually wednesday day is looking pretty cloudy, quite a damp one with outbreaks of rain. most of it across the north and the west of the country, the odd heavy burst mixed in,

it will feel cooler as well. we'll still make 15 or 16 celsius across the south—east given some brightness. so, we're into a more unsettled regime midweek onwards. as you can see, tighter packed isobars, more of a breeze, outbreaks of rain, and most of this across northern and western areas closer to this area of low pressure. this warm front, though, will be moving its way northwards and in fact will let us tap into some warmth across the near continent for thursday. so east anglia and the south—east, given some sunshine, could have a really warm day and potentially the warmest day of the year so far. 18—20, maybe 21 degrees. but further north and west, it'll be cooler, breezier, without breaks of rain. then through friday, that weather front spreads its way northwards and behind it is a regime of sunshine and showers and it'll feel cooler for all. and that cooler theme continues on into the weekend. a warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's reged ahmad. our top stories: cyclone debbie batters north—eastern australia. parts of queensland are in lockdown as the monster storm makes landfall.

iraqi forces fight their way deeper into the city of mosul, amid more concerns about civilian casualties. bang that is an inaccurate weapon. it might be good for the tempo of the military operation, but it isn't necessarily good for preserving civilian lives. the family of one of the victims killed in the westminster terror attack speak for the first time about "feeling the love of so many people".