welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: probing possible links with russia — donald trump's former campaign manager is accused of conspiracy against the united states. a former trump aide pleads guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russian officials. the white house says it's got nothing to do with the president. we've been saying from day one there's been no evidence of trump—russia collusion and nothing in today's indictment changes that at all. the sacked catalan president carles puigdemont has gone to belgium amid reports he may claim asylum as spain considers charging him with rebellion. and levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere surge to a record high. the un says we have solutions but must act now. the official inquiry into allegations of russian meddling

in last year's us presidential election has produced its first charges. president trump's former campaign manager — paul manafort — has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy, charges he's denied. in a separate development, george papadopoulos, a former policy adviser to mr trump, has admitted lying to the fbi about his ties with a russian contact. here's what white house press secretary sarah sanders told the press in response. today's announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president's campaign or campaign activity. the real collusion scandal, as we've said several times before, has everything to do with the clinton campaign, fusion gps and russia. there's clear evidence of the clinton campaign colluding with russian intelligence to spread disinformation and smear the president to influence the election.

we've been saying from day one there's been no evidence of trump—russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at all. let's speak to our correspondent laura bicker in washington. laura, whatever sarah sanders says, these are 12 very grave charges. when it comes to paul manafort, is pleading not guilty, his lawyer describing the charges as ridiculous. but while all those cameras were focusing on donald trump's former campaign manager, credited in the past with helping donald trump wind, something com pletely donald trump wind, something completely unexpected hit washington. that was the unveiling that george papadopoulos, someone we had never really heard of before, a former policy adviser to the trump campaign, and unpaid volunteer. you

can see him in the picture there in a meeting with donald trump which the white house said happened only one time. it turns out he's pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. as you read through the indictment, it turns out that he has pleaded guilty about a month ago, that he has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia, that he made contact with a russian professor in london who promised to give him doubt on hillary clinton. why is this important? this goes to the very heart of this enquiry. robert miller, the stress will —— the special counsel, is looking into if there was any collusion between the trump campaign and russia to help them win. —— muller. if it comes to looking at the campaign, he isa comes to looking at the campaign, he is a member of the campaign who has —— or is seen in emails looking to meet with a russian published ——

professor looking for dirt on hillary clinton. it's important to note this is someone who has been charged but has been charged for some time and no one knew about it. it's been kept a secret. why? if you look at the indictment, it seems that mr papadopoulos has been cooperating with this enquiry and that could mean he has been helping get them information. much speculation around all this. as we've heard, the charges against paul manafort, president trump's former campaign manager, focus on his business dealings in ukraine. mr manafort is alleged to have made millions of dollars acting on behalf of pro—russian politicians. our correspondent paul wood who's been looking into mr manafort‘s activities in ukraine and reports on the details of an internal investigation. the former president's villa in ukraine is a monument to bad taste and how lucrative politics here can be. president yanukovich was backed by russia and fled to moscow,

the america who represented him, paul manafort, faces charges of money—laundering. the us special counsel is trying to establish the exact source of mr manafort‘s millions. this place is quite ridiculous. investigators in the united states want to know if the money flowed through oligarchs or businessmen with ties to the kremlin. the question is whether russian money bought russian influence with paul manafort and ultimately with donald trump? we have learned that ukraine's domestic intelligence service carried out a secret investigation into paul manafort. we went to meet a senior official who saw the report. what he told us goes much further... the special counsel investigation

led by robert mueller is looking they suspect it is more. our source says there are two mortgages, three secret black money funds, it is claimed. the cash in our political system has to be clean, he says. claimed. the cash in our political system has to be clean, he saysm shouldn't be corrupt and the amounts involved are just insane. this wasn't payment for political expertise, this was money to buy outside influence. mr manafort and his lawyer couldn't be reached today. but he's always denied wrongdoing. he says the ledger entries are forged. we understand that the fbi has the evidence gathered in kiev. however, ukraine's own investigation has halted. our leadership miscalculated by backing clinton, he says, when trump won, it was a problem.

so they suspended the manafort inquiry. this was the price of good relations. the charges against paul manafort relate to what he did before he went to work for president trump. mr trump says he is the victim of a witch—hunt. but the us special counsel is now trying to connect events here in ukraine with what happened later in the presidential campaign. paulwood, bbc news, kiev. the sacked leader of catalonia, carles puigdemont, has arrived in belgium and hired a lawyer specialising in immigration with speculation he may seek asylum. earlier, the spanish attorney general said he was seeking charges including rebellion, sedition and the misappropriation of public funds against mr puigdemont and other separatist leaders over last week's unilateral declaration of independence. sarah corker reports. without resistance, spain's national

government has taken over the day—to—day running of this, the cata la n day—to—day running of this, the catalan region. ca rles day—to—day running of this, the catalan region. carles puigdemont, the deposed catalan leader, faces charges of rebellion. he has now decided to escape before facing arrest. translation: key is in belgium, i think, arrest. translation: key is in belgium, ithink, to arrest. translation: key is in belgium, i think, to step away a bit and let things calm down. he didn't give me much more explanation. i am not his political assistant but his justice system. speculation is growing that carles puigdemont is preparing to seek asylum in belgium, now potentially a fugitive from spanishjustice. in now potentially a fugitive from spanish justice. in catalonia, now potentially a fugitive from spanishjustice. in catalonia, he won the hearts of these supporters by declaring independence on friday. but he has let others like these pro— unity campaigners furious. but he has let others like these pro- unity campaigners furious. this happening here at is like carles

puigdemont is a dictator, that's it. i lost a lot of friends. we talk about politics, it isjust impossible to talk about. this stand—off is escalating, the prosecutor in madrid yesterday announcing serious charges against cata la n announcing serious charges against catalan leaders carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. translation: in order to uphold the law, this office has five charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds against the main catalan leaders. and the reaction to that from the sacked catalan deputy president, he said he had nothing new to say. but amid reports that otherformer cabinet new to say. but amid reports that other former cabinet members are also in belgium with carles puigdemont, the potential repercussions of this crisis are stretching across europe. sarah corker, bbc news. a chinese modelling agency has

denied a teenage russian model died from overwork 14—year—old vlada dzubya died from overwork 14—year—old vlada dzu bya died after working from overwork 14—year—old vlada dzubya died after working in shanghai fashion week. it is alleged she had meningitis. the agency that hired her has denied the allegations. they say she works no more than eight hours a day. president trump has announced that us specialforces in libya have captured a man suspected of being involved in the attack on the us diplomatic compound in benghazi in 2012. mr trump named the man as mustafa al—imam, saying he would face justice in the us. the attack killed the ambassador chris stephens and three other americans. a us federal court has blocked donald trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military. the judge overruled a presidential memo issued by mr trump, which sought to reverse an 0bama administration policy change. allowing tra nsgender personnel

to serve openly and new recruits tojoin up. prince charles and the duchess of cornwall have arrived in singapore to kick off an ii—day tour of asia. they'll be meeting president halimah yacob and prime minister lee hsien loong. the couple have met members of the queen's baton relay, which is making its way around the world ahead of the 2018 commonwealth games. the american actor and producer kevin spacey has apologised after being accused of making sexual advances towards a teenage actor in the 1980s. the claim was made by anthony rapp who was 14 at the time of the alleged incident. mr spacey said he didn't remember the encounter but if it did happen, it would have been ‘deeply inappropriate'. from los angeles, our correspondent james cook reports. kevin spacey is one of the biggest names in show business — a two—time oscar winner currently starring in the netflix political drama house of cards. but his reputation is now in jeopardy because of allegations that date back to broadway in 1986. anthony rapp, on the left here in the musical rent,

says spacey invited him to a party, carried him onto a bed, climbed on top of him and made a sexual advance. rapp, who was 14 at the time, said he squirmed away and left the house. in a statement, kevin spacey said he did not remember the encounter but, if it happened, it would have been: "deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour," for which he now apologised. he added, "i know that there are stories out there about me," saying, "i choose now to live as a gay man and i am examining my own behaviour." but that has provoked a backlash. he is implying that because i have always been gay but never came out, it's ended up conflating two different issues. one, a big us star coming out as gay and being accused of sexually assaulting a teenager, they are two very different things. and unfortunately, it does feed into the negative stereotypes that homophobes have, that associates paedophilia with homosexuality. the scandal is rippling through london's west end too. no surprise, says one director.

i think that many people in theatre and in the creative industries have been aware of many stories, of many people, over a lot of years and kevin spacey would be one of the people that people have had concerns about. netflix says it's deeply troubled by the claims about its star and house of cards will end after its upcoming sixth season. and other claims are emerging. this journalist, heather unruh, says the actor assaulted someone close to her. he has not responded. no—one here thinks that kevin spacey will be the last big name to be ensnared in the web of allegations which has spun out after the harvey weinstein affair. hollywood is abuzz with gossip and rumour about who is next. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. still to come — us schooling in the spotlight. one in twelve americans can't read or write, but why? indira gandhi, ruler

of the world's largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation." after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. booster ignition and liftoff of discovery, with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. well, enjoying the show is right — this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines — president trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, has denied a series of charges — the first from the inquiry into alleged links between the trump campaign and russia. another former aide, george papadopoulos, has admitted lying to the fbi about his links to russia. but the white house has insisted there was no collusion. facebook believes around 126 million of its american users may have come into contact with russian—backed propaganda before and after last year's us presidential election. the figure emerged ahead of key senate hearings this week in which facebook willjoin fellow tech giants twitter and google in detailing the impact of russian manipulation on the popular networks. dave lee reports from san francisco. at first, facebook said it was a

crazy idea to suggest that these abuses could have occurred. then they said it was just a tiny problem to know they say as many as 126 million americans may have been affected. when the lawyers for the stock technology companies, facebook, google and twitter, appear we expect them to try and downplay the impact of russian backed propaganda on their networks. they will say it was just a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of m essa 9 es ocean compared to the millions of messages posted on these networks every single day. in the run—up to these hearings, all of the companies have suggested they could tackle the problem themselves by enforcing new strict policy around advertising and content. but the way in which these revelations could gradually drip will stifle the view in washington that only new regulation will truly combat the abuse of online advertising. the united nations has warned that levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the

earth's atmosphere reached a record high last year. the world meteorological 0rganization says human activity and the weather system known as el nino have driven c02 to a level not seen in 800,000 years. 0ur environment correspondent rebecca morelle has been taking a closer look at the findings. keeping track of our atmosphere. for decades, research stations like this one on the swiss alps have been monitoring levels of carbon dioxide. and their latest findings show that the greenhouse gas has hit a new high. it should be setting off alarm bells along the corridors of power around the world. we're talking that three parts per million increase, which is the biggest increase we've ever recorded. it's the biggest increase we can find in the geological record for millions of years. it's the fastest increase in 2016. this record—breaking rise has been driven by both human activities and the el nino weather phenomenon. every few years, the pacific 0cean's service becomes warmer. this causes wind patterns to change, and whether is dramatically altered. it's caused droughts, stopping vegetation growing

and preventing plants and trees from soaking up carbon dioxide. it's also led to forest fires, which have injected more of the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. so how significant are today's findings? 0ver hundreds and thousands of years, carbon dioxide levels have fluctuated. but from 1950s, levels have surged, and today's figures are the highest we've ever recorded. it's leading to unprecedented changes in places like the arctic, affecting the region's unique wildlife. a mother walrus still needs to find a place where her young can rest. more carbon dioxide traps more heat in the atmosphere, and this causes global temperatures to rise. here it means the ice is melting faster than the animals can adapt. in 2015, the world agreed to big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming. but experts say today's

figures should prompt a new sense of urgency. there is hope but we have to change our behaviour in the coming ten to 20 years to be successful in this mitigation report. so far we haven't been ambitious enough. the issue is that carbon dioxide lingers for hundreds of years. this will be the focus for international climate talks next week. so will the announcement that america plans to withdraw from the current climate agreement. finding a solution now may be more difficult to achieve. rebecca morrelle, bbc news. uhuru kenyatta has been declared president—elect of kenya after winning more than 98% of the votes in a re—run of the presidential election. the main opposition candidate, raila 0dinga, had called for his supporters to boycott the ballot. turnout was 39%, less than half the figure for the previous poll as our africa editor fergal keane reports. uhuru kenyatta, seven million, 483,895. there was never going to be

a surprise, and the result was the kind normally reserved for dictatorships. 98% for the president, because the opposition boycotted the process they alleged was rigged. the victors sought to dampen the tensions exacerbated by this campaign. let us be peaceful. let us reach out to one another. let us share together. there is no need for violence. the news came at the close of the working day in nairobi, to a population weary from months of political wrangling. there was neither exultation or rage. but differences on the way forward for a divided nation. i'm happy, very happy. actually, i voted. i voted and i'm not regretting. there is no democracy in kenya right now. because he wants power and he is taking it by force. there has been some limited unrest

in opposition strongholds. but the kind of energy and organisation that precedes large—scale violence hasn't been obvious so far. and in tense western kenya, there are signs that community peacemaking efforts are working. here, a man from the opposition supporting ethnic group was murdered by neighbours who support the government. we came across an older struggle over land, inflamed by the current politics. local leaders prevented an escalation. we gave an indication that we are going to preach peace. we agreed yesterday that the communities who live along this border must respect one another. from the rural heartlands and the city streets, the struggle will now move back to the courts, with the opposition

challenging the results. stepping away from partisans on either side, what many ordinary kenyans tell me is they simply wanted this process to be over, in the hope stability would return. the problem is the result solves nothing. it simply sets the stage for future confrontation between the opposition and the government. fergal keane, bbc news, nairobi. now, the us is one of the most advanced economies in the world, but it still has historically high numbers of people who can't read or write. illiteracy levels are more than 8% — that's 16 million people — even though many have gone through school. the bbc‘s aleem maqbool reports from kentucky. michaeljohnson says being unable to read left him an outcast for much of his life. it has afflicted his ability to do even the simplest of

tasks that were. my employer told me to do go find a box that had a certain writing on it. i would not know how to locate that box because i would not know how to correlate the ride into the box. i would know that there were letters on the box but i would not know how to read the letters on the box. it is not that michael did not go to school. he did. but what he faced decades ago still affects so many children in america today. right across this country, there are an astonishing number of people who go right through the school system, even graduating from high school, without ever learning to read. there are now over16 ever learning to read. there are now over 16 million american adults who are functionally illiterate. a proportion of the population that co m pa res proportion of the population that compares badly to other developed nations. but why? there is huge in a quality when it comes to education standards in america with rich districts and poor ones often having

startling differences in school resources . startling differences in school resources. there is a rectangle wherever you look... for peggy, who is now learning to read to help her children, there were other factors as well. what stops you from learning to read? my parents and the schools. they did not to help me. so they sent me into special ed but it did not help. it is a common complaint here that the system does not deal well with those who need a little extra help. i think sometimes we soften our expectations and think that that is doing a service to the child. in reality, what we are doing is while it may build up their self—esteem for a little while, it does not help them to become a contributing member of society. to this day in america, someone's economic background, which can often mean race and learning difficulties um still play such a massive part in whether they get so start a —— startlingly left behind. the white house has also been

getting ready for halloween. president trump and the first lady met trick and treat as dress to the park. everything from minions to which to a ghost to a dinosaur who was quite keen to get away quickly it seemed. they were playing host to the annual open house for the children of staff and military. looking at these pictures, these are not special effects. these are surfers in iceland, taking to the waves beneath the northern lights. you can see the first icelandic professional surfer braising the freezing code. he says surfing helps them cope with adhd and you can see that on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbc mike embley. hello there.

for many of us the weather is on the turn and it is turning that bit milder. we look at the temperatures we had at tulloch bridge on monday morning, reaching —5 but this morning, 10 celsius. a 15 degree rise. cloud and rain around, but is that cloudy weather bringing in mild conditions across much of the country. the rain will be at its heaviest across western scotland, a bit patchy across the east. a little misty over the high ground but no desperate problems with visibility. just a little mist over the top of the hills. further southwards across northern wales, partly cloudy with a few showers. some bright spells to start the day across southern counties of england. possibly an isolated shower for east anglia and the south—east. that will clear away quickly in the morning so what we are left with is bright weather across southern areas. the south—westerly winds bringing in mild conditions but we could potentially see a spell of rain for a time during the afternoon affecting parts of wales and then moving on into parts of north—west england.

always the wettest weather will be actually across western scotland. it should stay dry for most of the day across much of the midlands, southern england and the far south of wales. temperatures reaching 1a degrees also. spooky night coming up for trick and treaters. bits of rain across the north—west and quite wet for western scotland as well. clearer spells further south. temperature—wise overnight we are looking at lows between eight and 11 celsius. this weather front is going to become very slow moving across western scotland with the rain building up in those western hills as we go on through the day on wednesday. that weather front moves nowhere fast. for most of the uk, mild south, south—westerly winds coming in across the country so it will be a mild day. temperatures reaching 15 degrees, turning a little cooler and fresher perhaps across the far north—west of scotland. we have some cool air moving southwards as we go through wednesday night into thursday behind this cold front. we should start to see some bright spells working in, possibly the best across eastern scotland and parts of northern

england. a bit of cloud further south, bits and pieces of light rain and drizzle around. towards the end of the day we will see the return of some cooler air coming back across the uk. that said, on friday we will have a reasonably quiet weather day with a little rain moving southwards. to the start of the weekend we will probably have a spell of heavy rain for a time in england and then some showers following through the north—west. this is bbc news — the headlines: the official us investigation into alleged russian meddling in last year's presidential election has produced its first criminal charges. former trump campaign manager paul manafort has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including concealing earnings from his dealings with ukraine before he joined the trump team. his lawyer has denied any suggestion of collusion. a former foreign policy advisor to the trump campaign has admitted lying to the fbi about his contacts with russian officials. the white house has distanced itself from the arrests. catalonia's sacked leader — carles puigdemont — has gone to belgium —

amid reports he may claim asylum. spain is seeking charges including rebellion, sedition and the misappropriation of public funds against him and other separatist leaders over last week's unilateral declaration of independence. it's just gone 2:30am.