this is bbc world news today. i'm kasia madera. our top stories... surviving the worst monsoon rains in almost a century. close to a thousand people have already died across in india. some of the families of victims of the collapsed bridge in genoa shun the offer of a state funeral, as anger at the italian government grows. plus, why diets designed to take inches off your waistline, could also take years off your life. hello and welcome to world news today. more than 900 people have been killed so far during india's current monsoon season, according to authorities in the country. with more rain forecast over the coming days, rescue teams are scrambling to reach thousands of people who remain cut off by landslides. india's national rescue force has

dispatched several teams from other regions to carry out the relief and rescue operations. are they stand rescue and evacuation work. —— these teams are a part of. they are handling this situation is coming out of mudslides and helping the state. one of the worst—hit areas is the state of kerala in the southwest, which is said to be experiencing its heaviest rainfall in a century. yogita limaye reports. forced out of their homes by the floods, people are walking miles to safety. beyond this surging water, there are tens of thousands who are stuck, waiting to be rescued. this child is amongst several people who have been airlifted in kerala. dozens of helicopters are pulling

out as many as they can. the monsoon always brings heavy rainfall to kerala, but locals say this year is different. translation: after 36 years, it's the first time such flooding is happening here. it's a disaster for the whole population. shelters have been set up wherever possible. locals are volunteering, cooking food and distributing supplies to people who have been left homeless. cochin airport, the busiest in kerala, is unrecognisable. its runway resembles a river. rescue teams are being dispatched from other airports. river levels are rising, and the government has been forced to open dam gates. and there is more rainfall expected in the coming days. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai.

earlier i spoke to ravi singh, the founder and ceo of the charity, khalsa aid — who has a team in kerala helping with the humanitarian efforts. i started by asking him what his team are seeing on the ground. the team is absolutely shocked at the level of devastation by the floods, and i think, they work in many different areas in india and neighbouring countries. they said that had seen nothing like this ever. it is absolutely shocking and not really sure where to begin. we're going to be expanding the project operations but at the moment they are really absolutely ta ken aback by the scale of the floods. it is something we underestimated. i personally thought it was going to be low level and local would deal with it. actually, it's immense and deaths will go up. devastating.

already in kerala, 300 people are believed to have been killed. 900 across country. this is an area that is used to monsoons. how does this compare then? if you can imagine the nickname for kerala, god's own country. it is a beautiful place. they're devastated. they expect monsoons, we always do in the region and in the country but not at this level. it is like nonstop rain. and now the forecast is for more rain. which is even more devastating. so we have to now warn our own teams as well not to be cut or stranded when the region is affected. so it is really devastating. and shocked the country. india is in shock at the level of scale of the floods. absolutely understandably. when you go down there you say started with the hot foods. what kind of government interactions do you have? what support do you have from them? the government, we're going to be approaching the local military working in the area tomorrow morning.

when i heard is they are doing a good job providing helicopters and trying to reach the most cutoff points. there are people, messaging me on my social media giving me names and addresses, and phone numbers of people, their family members who are stranded in smaller towns and cities. but i can't do anything. we can't do anything. it is heartbreaking. the military, the government, i think they are all trying to do what they can, but the scale of the devastation is shocking. even for them it is going to be a huge challenge and that is why we need all hands on deck. there will be so many people displaced, what kind of carriers do they get moved to to get out of the floodwater situations? —— kind of areas. our volunteers are now feeding three centres. they held a temporary shelter for displaced. universities, colleges, schools, any big building has become a shelter for the displaced. it is wherever they can. basically, safety in numbers.

a lot of people sticking in one place, not going anywhere because they know eventually help will arrive. if you look at my social media, i have tweets saying we have 7000 people in the football stadium, can you please send water, water is urgently required because the flood level huge water shortages now. everything is polluted by dirty water. so anything and everywhere with room, people are absolutely taking shelter, but also rescue team, recovering bodies, which is the worst part of this job. so we have amazing volunteers. they are going into the regions and i pray for them because they are going be be doing a very tough job of rescuing for salvaging or bringing the bodies back home. they have a team on the ground and kerala. the funerals for some of those who died when a major road bridge

collapsed in genoa have taken place in northern italy today. the government had offered state funerals, but fewer than half of the families accepted the offer. anger towards the authorities has been growing, amid claims the structure had not received sufficient maintainence for years. from genoa, james reynolds reports. amid the heavy machinery and the tonnes of rubble, the search for survivors sometimes comes down to a single voice. anybody there, shouts a rescuer. there's no reply. but they'll keep going for a while longer. it's difficult to say we will finish tomorrow, but i can tell you that probably in a couple of days we should finish, but it is really depending on how we can remove the debris. parts of the operation are extremely delicate. here, firefighters reverse a truck, abandoned right next to the edge of the collapse.

professor antonio brencic is on the official investigation commission. before he was appointed, he told me the original engineer's bridge design was flawed. he made some decisions that produced a bridge, a new bridge, different from the others, that attempted to find a new way, a new structure format, that failed. it failed? failed, si. this is the result of that collapse. this afternoon, the families of the dead gathered around their coffins. in the morning, the victims will be given a state funeral. it is worth adding that a number of families have decided not to take james reynolds, bbc news, genoa. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the judge in the trial of president trump's former campaign manager paul manafort says he has received threats over the case, and is being guarded by us marshals.

the jury in alexandria, virginia is currrently in its second day of deliberations. judge ts ellis said he would not release the names of the jurors to the media, because he was worried about their "peace and safety". spain's king felipe and prime minister pedro sanchez have attended a ceremony in barcelona to remember the victims of a terror attack on the city which happened exactly a year ago. 16 people were killed when a van ploughed into pedestrians on the popular boulevard, las ramblas. the value of the turkish lira has fallen again following warnings from washington of further sanctions against turkey's detention of an american pastor, andrew brunson. at one point the lira lost as much as 9% against the dollar. in what is the culmination of 22 years‘ of work, today,

the former captain of the pakistan cricket team, imran khan, has been elected by parliament as the country's prime minister. his pti party gained the most seats in last month's elections, and he will be formally sworn into office in a ceremony on saturday. secunder kermani has been looking at some of the challenges he will face in office. cheers for the pakistan next prime minister. but alongside them, angry cha nts minister. but alongside them, angry chants from his rivals. they continued as he gave a fiery speech promising action against corrupt politicians. translation: those who sold the future of our children while in power, those who stole money abroad i will hold them all accountable. he has promised to create a new pakistan. improving education and health care for ordinary people. the

country faces real challenges, amongst them, the highest rate of newborn infant mortality in the world. a lack of facilities and trained staff are amongst the main causes. this government hospital is a better resourced than most. but they struggle to keep up with the bad with patients travelling from more remote regions. we are short and intensive care. at the level of of of we need additional resources. does that mean sometimes you have to turn people away? yes. obviously. health care spending in pakistan has been far below international guidelines. if this new government was to give these children a better chance in life. it will take a bold investment and reform with the country poor economic situation, means he will only have limited funds available. manufacturing has

been one of pakistan's main sources of income. this company produces 600 million pairs of socks every year. some of the world's best—known brands. but at the moment, imports are vastly outstripping exports. and the country needs a loan of around $12 billion, making plans to increase spending difficult. for mr knan to expand his budget for social protection or social safety nets, at least it will be difficult to do it in the first two years. that has to be some belt tightening of fiscal discipline that have to go. outside parliament, even the policemen ate the celebratory sweets. khan supporters have high expectations of what he can deliver. with only a slim majority in parliament he will have to do his best to live up to them. all the sport including cricket — and the build up to the third test

tomorrow with england preparing to take on india at trent bridge. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines. the current monsoon season in india has killed more than 900 people. one of the worst—hit areas is kerala where at least 300 people have died. the authorities in italy have reduced the number of people still missing after tuesday's genoa bridge collapse to five. it comes as relatives have been gathering in a hall lined with coffins containing some of the 38 victims. dozens of fans have flocked to the motown museum in detroit to leave personal messages in remembrance of aretha franklin. the mood was upbeat with people first queuing then dancing as they filled books with notes of gratitude to the singer, and condolonces for her relatives.

it's been reported that her family are planning a public viewing funeral at the charles h. wright museum of african american history in detroit. our correspondent aleem maqbool is in the singer's home city of detroit. here in detroit, the trickle of mourners turned into a crowd of people celebrating the life of this incredible artist. aretha franklin was one of the spearheads of an extraordinary group of musicians in detroit at the time that lived in these streets, performed at venues like the fox theatre, people like smokey robinson, the temptations, diana ross and, of course, the legend that is stevie wonder. he knew aretha franklin from the age of four years old. he saw her in herfinal days, and as recently as two months ago talked about collaborating with her again. there's a song that i had written called the future, and we were going to sing it together. and so, er...

he clears his throat. i,er... i thought i had cried my last tear. i said i would get it together. i wanted and i did want to see her, so i decided on monday i would go, so i flew out from la to detroit and went to see her, and spoke with her. she wasn't able to speak back, but her family felt that she could hear me, and so ijust said all the things that i wanted to say, and told her to say hello to my sister. hey! written and produced by mr stevie wonder, called me late one night and said, re, i've got a song for you. i said, i'll take it! he said, send somebody down to get it. # yo—ho, yeah yeah yeah yeah... the greatest gift for me

was when i heard her sing till you come back to me. when she sings your song, she takes it and you don't get it back, and that's what she did. # give me a freedom like this. # i'm gonna walk back... she was just consistently a great human being. incredibly moving stuff from stevie wonder. of course, in terms of aretha franklin's funeral, we have had no official word from her family but we are hearing rumours it could be a four—day event. in any case, lots of the venues at which she performed are going to hold their own memorials. as many people as possible will be able to pay their own tributes to the queen of soul. chris mitchell has all the sport.

i bet defender getting decided. and ben stokes will be too. —— i bet cricket fans are getting excited. ben stokes will make his return to the england cricket side on saturday in the third test against india at trent bridge, just four days after being found not guilty of affray. andy swiss reports. from the courtroom to the cricket field, ben stokes, back in the in the england team at the end of a dramatic week. it was only on tuesday stokes was cleared of affray, and just four days later he will once again represent his country. the unlucky player to make way is sam curran, with five wickets and a half century, being man of the match in the first test. his captain says dropping him was one of the toughest decisions he has had to make, but that stokes is ready to return. tuesday's practise to engage him in terms of practise and making sure he was right to play physically. —— we had two days of practise. i sat down

with them last night and ask them quite readily and honestly are you in the right place to go out and play for england. he assured me that he is absolutely ready to go and perform at his best level. i have no worries or doubts that he will be able to go and deliverjust like he has done on so many times before. as for india, well, lose here and they will lose the series, so the return of england's star all—rounder is surely all they need, but they say they are looking forward to facing stokes once again. he is a terrific cricketer. we like to play against top cricketers, as simple as that. if he was cleared by the courts, what is the reason for him not to play? if i was in england's position i would have wanted him to play. once again today stokes looked relaxed. posing for photos with the fans, but he knows come tomorrow all eyes will be on his cricketing comeback. andy swiss, bbc news. the english county cricket side durham have signed cameron bancroft, the australia opener who was banned for nine months after admitting ball—tampering during a test match.

just to warn you, there's some flash photography coming up. he was part of the scandal that shook the sport, with australia captain steve smith and vice—captain david warner also suspended. bancroft admitted to using sandpaper on the ball in a game against south africa in march and his deal with somerset was cancelled. he'lljoin durham next year. if you've done a search on manchester united/pogba, over the last couple of days you'd think they were a team in turmoil — with plenty of negative headlines regarding united midfielder paul pogba and his managerjose mourinho. it was reported the pair had had a fallout and following their premier league win over leicester. but mourinho says their relationship couldn't be more positive. we are together for two years and a couple of weeks. and i have never been so happy with him as i am now.

that is the truth. i cannot demand more from him. i cannot ask more from them. he came here on monday, he trains three days, i asked for his support for his contribution important match for us with the team had difficulties, he did it, he did it better and for more time than we could expect. 0s os said with a smile. united away to brighton on sunday... that's all the sport for now. thank you. diets designed to take inches off the waistline, could potentially end up taking years off someone's life. that's according to researchers in america who suggest cutting down on carbohydrates — in foods like pasta and bread — may reduce life expectancy by up to four years. chi chi izundu explains.

this is the kind of carbohydrate—heavy food that, for years, has had a bad reputation when it comes to our diets. low—carb, high carb, just meat, plant—based, sugar—free — there are so many different pieces of advice on what's best to eat. but a new study of more than 15,000 people over 25 years suggests that cutting carbs altogether could increase the risk of an early death. when people think of carbohydrates, they might think of foods like this, and this report is saying that those who substitute their carbohydrates for more meat isn't the best option. in fact, what they would rather you did was substitute it for more nutritious carbohydrates, so effectively eating more fruit and vegetables. researchers of the report say people who consume very small amounts of carbohydrates will have a life expectancy of around 79 years. those who only focus really on foods like breads, potatoes and cereals will have a life expectancy of around 82 years. but those who eat between 50 to 55% of carbohydrates in their diet, the healthiest, expect to live

to about 83. carbs are good for us. it's really about making the most of getting a balanced diet, with everything in moderation, lots of colour — that's the key. the findings of this study did rely on people's self—reporting, remembering the amount of carbohydrates they were eating, and that's something those who are conscious of what they are putting inside their bodies also keep an eye on. i watch my carbs a little, yeah, but i don't restrict myself a lot, because i like pasta too much, i like bread. ijust like to keep an eye to see what i'm putting into my body and just keep an eye, really. i don't watch them. i think it should be about balance. as long as you've got a little bit of everything, if your body is craving something, it's for a reason, so you've just got to listen to what your body is telling you, and that's the healthiest way to be. the report also supports the advice of public health england, which suggests starchy carbohydrates should form the main components of a healthy diet. the overall message is there is a sweet spot of consumption levels for all nutrients.

eating too much or too little will be damaging. chi chi izundu, bbc news. everything in moderation. the i do tend to crave a little bit too much chocolate. —— even though i do tend. the british graffiti artist, banksy, made his name, and huge fortune, by displaying his art without consent. now he's had a small taste of his own medicine. banksy has expressed irritation that a gallery in moscow is holding an exhibition of his work — and charging visitors to enter — without consulting him. but speaking to a fan online, he has admitted he's probably not "the best person to complain about people putting up pictures without getting permission". could this australian nurse be the world's strongest woman? go on, go on, yeah. 29—year—old leigh holland—keen has become just the second woman

ever to lift two massive boulders, weighing a whopping 332 kilograms. the so—called ‘dinnie steens' are said to be named after a legendary scottish strongman who carried them in his bare hands in 1860. only a few dozen men and one other women have managed to lift them before. congratulations to her. more on a website. great to hear from you. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of my team on twitter — i'm @bbckasiamadera. thank you for watching. goodbye. good evening. that of a weather

clich but a west east of i with our weather through the day today in the best of the break in the cloud and sunshine has been for eat. beautiful weather. beautiful picture here. illustrating this quite nicely. further west, the cloud came in from the atlantic and brought her rain. thanks gene for perhaps getting a little bit soggy. we will take this photograph. the rain pushed into the afternoon across northern ireland, western scotland in northwest england and north wales and will continue to move this way eastwards overnight. reading quite a lot of cloud with it as well and a south—westerly flow all tied in to this weather fronts, it will stay quiet when far north on the expos cause and without clouds around, temperatures are not going to fall very far. it will be a cloudy night and a windy day in the far north and we will see outbreaks of rain into northern ireland. look at the

temperatures in comparison to the night, it will be a milder one, 12 to 16 degrees. quite a humid muggy start to the weekend, and looks likely that saturday we will see the best of the drier weather, outdoor plants, some of the rent on sunday could be quite heavy. —— some of the rent. we start off on a cloudy no. outbreaks of light rain sitting across the scottish border. still when the us well into the far north of scotla nd when the us well into the far north of scotland here perhaps some sunshine coming through. the cloud will break up, sunny spells at warm 21: will break up, sunny spells at warm 2a degrees the mid—70s as a top temperature. as we moved out of saturday into sunday, looks likely that we could see in injection perhaps more tropical air and saw that means that the rain that we see pushing into the west could be quite heavyin pushing into the west could be quite heavy in places. but not everywhere will rain. looks likely looks to be across central scotland and northern england. and perhaps the best of the

sunshine and the southeast. in the wind started to ease just a test. 16 to 24 wind started to ease just a test. 16 to 2a degrees. 77 fahrenheit. the looks likely that any rain that we will see will be open to the far north and the best of the warm conditions continued in the south. take care. this is bbc world news, the headlines: more than 300 people have died in monsoon floods in the indian state of kerala, many of then crushed by landslides. aross the country, authorities say more than 900 people have died. in northern italy, the funerals of some of the victims of the collapsed bridge in genoa have taken place. the government had offered state funerals, but fewer than half of the families accepted, as anger towards the authorities grows. a high court in turkey has upheld the decision not to release the american pastor andrew brunson from house arrest. he's on trial for alleged terrorism in a case that's damaged relations

between turkey and the us. fans and musicians around the world are continuing to pay tribute to the "queen of soul", aretha franklin, who died yesterday. mourners have been paying their respects at sites across the us.