welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is martin stanford. our top stories: kim meets donald, the sequel. reports a second summit between the two world leaders is being planned. a state of emergency is declared in parts of america ahead of the arrival of hurricane florence. a possible brexit breakthrough. the eu's chief negotiator says a deal with britain could be reached within weeks. and, what doctors have called a miracle. the baby girl born with her heart outside her body. the white house says that the north korean leader, kimjong un, has requested a second meeting with president trump and that officials are looking into scheduling one. the request was made in a "very

warm, very positive" personal letter from the north korean leader to mr trump. relations appeared to have stalled over the issue of denuclearisation after the two leaders‘ historic summit in singapore injune, leading the us secretary of state mike pompeo to cancel a scheduled trip to north korea last month. caroline rigby has more. this is the kim jong—un this is the kimjong—un is hoping for a repeat of, another face—to—face meeting with the president of the united states. the white house secretary told reporters the north korean leader made the request in a letter to donald trump. it was a very warm, very positive letter. we won't release a full letter. we won't release a full letter u nless letter. we won't release a full letter unless the north korean leader agrees that we should. the primary purpose of the letter was to request and look to schedule another meeting with the president, which we are open to and are already in the process of co—ordinating that. negotiations over the regime's nuclear programme appeared to have stalled, following the two leaders historic summit in singapore in june. us secretary of state mike

pompeo even cancelling scheduled trip to north korea last month. and in august, a report commissioned by the un security council found north korea had not stopped its nuclear and missile programmes, violating un sanctions are. but the white house insists this letter is evidence progress in washington's relationship with pyongyang and it demonstrated north korea's commitment to the denuclearisation of the peninsular. the white house also points to a recent military parade, in which the north did not show off its nuclear arsenal, and a series of other events which they say offers further proof the regime is moving in the right direction. the president has achieved tremendous success with his policies so tremendous success with his policies so farand tremendous success with his policies so far and this letter was further evidence of progress in that relationship. a number of things that have taken place, the remains have come back, the hostages have been returned, no testing of missiles or nuclear material. 50

when and where might this follow—up meeting take less? the white house has refused to be drawn on that, saying we will let you know when we have further details of. caroline rigby, bbc news. ijoined by i joined by professor ijoined by professor snow from new york. why you think kim jong—un has sent this note now? well, he picked quite a week to send it. this has been a tough week for the trump residency, so depending on where you sit you might think there is an advantage for him to reach out to trump when he is particularly vulnerable and taking a lot of hits from the anonymous letter in the new york times, the release of the woodward will, which points to trump almost starting something like world war three with the tweet that he was going to send directed at kim jong—un. so he may be seeing an

opportunity here and there are those who say that denuclearisation is a really long way off and this is just going to be a sitdown of two egos and those who want to hold onto their power. this can help trump in foreign policy when there is so much division in domestic politics of. letters are one thing. meetings are another. when do we see action? well, we have a mid—term election this fall and i think this will be very calculated. it could be this back and forth like we saw earlier, where trump abruptly cancelled and said that the singapore summit was back on. so even though the letter was cast as a warm and positive, things could change on diana and i get to again, how this president communicates via the digital media.

—— dime. just one tweet that gets misinterpreted change the attitude of the kim administration.“ misinterpreted change the attitude of the kim administration. if they wa nt to of the kim administration. if they want to get on with this, there is a date in the diary, september 11 the united states —— un assembly is due in new york to meet, they could use that as a cover for the meeting. they could, but there is a lot of other things going on in new york and a lot of other players and i think for these two they would rather have all the focus on the two of them because they have again a lot that they need to get out at this meeting. they really are codependent in this process and as far as codependent in this process and as faras any codependent in this process and as far as any permanent peace on the peninsular, that is a whole different calculations here. this is very much a battle of personalities. vijay in in south korea may have a view on all of this, do you think he

is watching somewhat perplexed as to what these two are up to? —— moon jae—in. what these two are up to? —— moon jae-in. yes, he must be a bit perplexed and i am sure he wishes he had more say in the matter because it is not just had more say in the matter because it is notjust between kimjong—un and trump. he has been very helpful in shepherding this alone —— along and it would be too bad if he was sidelined. nancy snow, thank you very much. you're welcome. here is how the category four storm looked at the international space station. hurricane is likely to make la ndfall station. hurricane is likely to make landfall on thursday. robert fowler is the chief meteorologist of the television station in south carolina. hejoins our. you stay television station in south

carolina. he joins our. you stay put so carolina. he joins our. you stay put so far, what you think of the prospects of south carolina being really badly hit come thursday?” tell you what, south carolina is in an area of concern but a lot of commuter model —— computer models that we are using track it north of. what we are seeing along the coast is that the fact that this is a large storm getting bigger, the wind is growing out from the centre of the storm. you don't have to be 50 miles away, you can be 100 miles away and still feel the impact from the storm and that is what we are expecting. 0ur governor has issued an evacuation tomorrow, getting out of charleston, for your viewers, charleston is on the coast, we are right next to the ocean, so there is no barrier or buffer between us, those horrid canes and land. no barrier or buffer between us, those horrid canes and landm no barrier or buffer between us, those horrid canes and land. it is a triple whammy possibly, because you got high wind, the storm surge pushing that the sea and then an

awful lot of rainfall, potentially. that is our big concern, especially to the north of. i am basing this on the current track, if the track of the current track, if the track of the storm changes and comes further south then we will be in the highest wind and the storm surge. i can tell you that carlton is a city that is only about seven feet above sea level, when we have higher than normal tides we have water on the roadways. so any rainfall is going to create even more problems with the normal situation we have got in the normal situation we have got in the morning and afternoon. we are a little bit concerned about that right now based on the current track, most of south carolina should be ok. it is our area north of charleston, including myrtle beach, thatis charleston, including myrtle beach, that is closer to potential landfall that is closer to potential landfall that would certainly be watching this very closely, as are we in charleston. even though it is a mandatory evacuation, lot of folks choose to stay back. why do they do that? you know what, i think a lot

of folks are a cane weary. 0ver last three years we had major floods here and in twitty 16 we had harry kane you and last year we had character and irma. lot of folks that i could have stayed, but this is not matthew, irma all the floods of 3013, this rivals what we had in 1989, for a cane hugo, which was the last category four to make landfall at the i happen to be the chief meteorologist at this station at that time, i was young and saw that first—hand what a hurricane can do. i wouldn't advise anybody to stay in harm ‘s way with this hurricane, i would leave as soon as possible. sometimes hurricanes will lose power as they hit landfall, are you expecting that to happen on thursday as well? what is interesting is right now it is category four, we expect it to be on the cusp of five

where the wind has to be greater than 156, we think they could see 155 at times tomorrow. hurricanes exert a lot of energy, we think by the time it gets close to land it will weaken just slightly back to about 140 mph wind. that is still a very strong category four, almost category five. a little bit of weakening could take place before landfall, it will still be very dangerous and the big concern is the way that the blocking patterns are, we think that it could make landfall and be blocked from moving further north, which means it willjust sit there and we can. at the same time it is going to dump rain. we will be measuring this in feet. in the metric system i know that is a lot of rain too. robert fowler, chief meteorologist at the bbc be in this —— in south charleston, thank you. let's get some of the days are the news. —— other.

a petrol station has exploded in the nigerian state of nasarawa, creating a fireball that killed at least thirty—five people and injured hundreds more. local media said a blast at a nearby gas facility sparked a bigger explosion at a petrol station which engulfed vehicles, shops and offices. many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. the us state department has confirmed it's ordered the closure of the washington mission of the palestine liberation 0rganisation. a statement said plo leaders had failed to engage with us efforts to bring about peace with israel, and had attempted to prompt an investigation of israel by the international criminal court. a senior palestinian official called the decision a dangerous escalation. volkswagen has gone on trial in germany in what is the first court case against the car maker over the diesel emissions scandal. investors are pursuing vw for about 9.2 billion euros in damages, claiming the company should have come clean sooner about falsifying emissions data. vw shares crashed after disclosure in 2015 that its diesel technology emitted illegal levels of pollution. the police match commander

on the day of the hillsborough football disaster in 1989 has denied multiple charges of manslaughter. david duckenfield appeared via videolink to face 95 counts following the tragedy at an fa cup semi final. a provisional trial date has been set forjanuary. a brexit deal on the first stage of the uk's withdrawal can be reached within a couple of months, according to the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier, but he said it was dependent on realistic negotiations. and he warned again that several issues remained unresolved. a special brexit summit of eu leaders is now expected in november. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has the latest. arriving at the office back door. work in the red box, tory woes splashed over the paper, the prime minister's clutching too. in 200 days, she's to be the leader

that takes us out of the eu. but the actual deal must be done long before. today, europe's negotiator sounded more friend than foe. i think that if we are realistic, we are able to reach an agreement on the first stage of this negotiation, which is the brexit treaty, within six or eight weeks. the rivalries at home are bitter, though. borisjohnson, holed up at his country house, no word on his private life, but objections aplenty to the government's plan for brexit. many tories at westminster hate the so—called chequers plan, where parts of the economy would stay closely tied to the eu, but with no hard border in ireland. and one former brexit minister says dozens of his colleagues would vote against it, and it could even break the party.

the chequers answer is threatening to split the tory party in two, with even proponents of remaining in the eu opposing chequers. your plan is where? where's your alternative? we will bring forward our ideas, but what we're not going to do is pre—empt them today. the fundamental issue here is that we've ended up in a trap, in a sense, of our own design, which we need to help the government out of. but there's no sign of the government budging. ministers hope enough mps will choose a deal rather than none at all. reporter: can a chequers deal survive? of course it will. could the conservative party split over chequers, do you think? no, i don't think we will. i think we'll reach a good agreement and all have the right brexit that will work for the country. hello. yes, i'm sorry, i've got a bit of a sore throat. do you think the chequers deal can survive, mr gove? this is more than tory squabbling about europe, way past the point of who backed leave or remain, who hates or really supports brexit. but this is whether theresa may can find a compromise

with the rest of the eu that ultimately she can get through parliament. the belief in government is most mps would support her rather than choose unknown chaos and no deal. but the truth, with no majority of her own, there can be no guarantee. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the row that keeps on giving. the women's tennis association defends serena williams' outburst in the us open final. freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes the spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears.

enough! translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the white house says the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has requested a second meeting with president trump. a state of emergency is declared in virginia and the carolinas ahead of the arrival of hurricane florence. the un is warning that

a large—scale military offensive to recapture idlib could provoke the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century. syrian government forces and their russian allies resumed their bombardment of the rebel—held enclave last week, forcing around 30,000 people to flee their homes. middle east correspondent yolande knell reports. there's no tranquility in rural idlib. rescue workers rush to help survivors of another blast. this injured boy, another casualty of the intense bombardment by syrian government forces and their allies. here, it's a frantic scramble to rescue elderly villagers from what's left of their home. increasingly, this looks like the buildup to a major military offensive, and that worries un officials. there needs to be ways of dealing with this problem that don't turn the next few months

in idlib into the worst humanitarian catastrophe, with the biggest loss of lives, of the 21st century. in recent days, over 30,000 syrians have fled from their homes in southern idlib and nearby rebel—held areas, according to the un. 0thers, staying behind, resort to desperate means to try to protect themselves. this man is putting together a makeshift gas mask. the syrian government says it is targeting terrorists. this area is the last stronghold for many different opposition groups, islamist militants, jihadists linked to al-qaeda and secular rebels, but the un warns that for every rebel fighter, there are 100 syrian civilians now in danger. yolande knell, bbc news, beirut. the body of the former un secretary general, kofi annan, has been flown back to his native ghana. russia is beginning what it says is

the largest military exercise in its history in eastern siberia and for the first time china is taking part. 300,000 soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 1000 planes and 80 warships are involved. 0nly moscow's former soviet allies have been invited tojoin in its annual drills. the body of the former un secretary general, kofi annan, has been flown back to his native ghana. the casket with his remains, draped in the blue un flag, was received by numerous dignitaries. a state funeral will be held for the nobel peace laureate on thursday where many world leaders, past and present, and royalty are expected to attend. the us open women's final was on track to be one for the history books, but now it's going to be there for all the wrong reasons. serena william's bid to win a record number of grand slam tournaments ended with a surprise defeat to naomi 0saka after the umpire penalised williams multiple times. the tennis star says her treatment was sexist. the bbc‘s richard conway has more.

incensed of accusations of foul play, she directed her anger at umpire carlos ramos, saying, "you will never ever be at another court of mine." she then called him a thief, and said he had stolen a point from her. that prompted him to escalate the penalty by awarding an entire game to the eventual winner, naomi 0saka. after the match, williams claimed she was fighting for a greater cause than simply her own. i've seen other men call other umpires several things, and i'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality, and for all kinds of stuff. and for me to say "thief", and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. she has been backed by steve simon, the chief executive of the women's tennis association.

that's prompted further debate, with the international tennis federation siding with the umpire, saying that he acted with professionalism and integrity. the statement has added fuel to the fire. novak djokovic, fresh from his own victory in the men's tournament last night, disagrees over questions of umpiring fairness between the genders. i don't see things as mr simon does, i really don't. i think men and women are, you know, treated in this way or the other way depending on the situation. it's hard to generalise things. but on the streets of new york today, it was the 23 times grandslam winner who attracted support. it feels like a lot times they think the worst of us, instead of saying "i am a woman, i am strong, you made a mistake, you need to apologise to me publicly. " i think there's sexism

and some racism involved. at the same time, she's got to stay in control of her actions as well, and she can only really blame herself for losing it like that. serena williams spent her early years being coached by herfather, richard, overcoming racism and financial obstacles on her path to sporting greatness. a seventh us open victory a year on from nearly dying giving birth to her daughter would've been a crowning moment, instead this final will be debated and remembered for very different reasons. richard, conway, bbc news. a baby girl who survived being born with her heart outside her body and without a breastbone has been allowed home after nine months in hospital. vanellope wilkins made medical history when she was born with one of the world's rarest conditions. specialists say her recovery has been remarkable, as our medical corrspondent fergus walsh reports. this is the moment vanellope's parents dreamed of,

taking her home from hospital. it is just for one night for a trial home visit, but it shows the remarkable progress this baby girl has made. she's fought all the way to be here. it's nine months down the line. it don't seem real. she's finally sat in our front room. during pregnancy, ultrasound scans clearly showed vanellope's heart was outside her chest. so, at birth at glenfield hospital in leicester, she was immediately sent for surgery. it took three operations to put her heart back inside and close the wound. her parents were told she had less than a 10% chance of survival, but vanellope has defied the odds. she has no breastbone, and so nothing protecting her heart. that's why she wears this purple brace, which will be crucial once she starts to crawl.

in a few years' time, she'll need more surgery to build a breastbone. the bigger she is, the easier it will be for us to do some reconstructive surgery, and using her own cartilages and bones or using some artificial materials. vanellope was transferred to queen's medical centre in nottingham in may to be nearer home. she's continued to make excellent progress, but needs help to breathe, and sometimes a mask to ensure a constant supply of oxygen. her parents are being taught how to manage her care. if they are taking over charge of a child who needs breathing support to sustain their life, they need to be adequately trained and competent to manage all the equipment, to know when to escalate care, when to check for help and to manage emergency situations at home. and despite the challenges ahead, vanellope's parents say they're looking forward to having her home for good. fergus walsh, bbc news. a reminder of our top story:

the white house says the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has requested a second meeting with president trump and that officials are looking into scheduling one. sarah sanders, the white house press secretary, told reporters the request was made in a very warm, very positive personal letter from the north korean leader to mr trump. she said the letter had demonstrated a continued commitment on the part of pyongyang to the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula. that's it from us for the moment. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @martinstanford. thanks forjoining us and. —— thanks for joining thanks forjoining us and. —— thanks forjoining us and. hello there.

full uk weather forecast coming up injust a moment, but first of all, i thought we'd cast an eye with what's going on on the other side of the atlantic. you might have heard, we have a major hurricane on our hands. this is hurricane florence, which is a very powerful category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 140mph. but it's forecast to strengthen, up to 155mph with 190mph gusts, and that is heading to the east coast of the united states. landfall probably thursday night around north carolina. it's going to cause big, big problems. just to the north of florence, we've got an area of cloud that extends of miles across the atlantic, right over to the united kingdom. yes, it's a massive weather front, or a couple really. it's going to be pushing southwards, bringing some heavy rain. the rain always heaviest across the hills and coasts of north—west england and wales. to the east of higher ground, it's one of those fronts where the rain's probably not going to amount to too much. but nevertheless there will be some damp weather getting into the east of the pennines, for example. given it stays quite windy overnight, temperatures will stay up into double figures. and this massive long weather front marks the dividing line between some

coolish air that we've got flowing into northern areas, and air that's come in more from the mid—tropical atlantic across the south. so a lot of cloud around, but we are going to see the highest temperatures across southern counties of england. now, i wouldn't even rule out an odd spot of drizzle towards the coasts and hills in the south to start the day. but, for many of us, probably a dry start. now, through the day we'll see outbreaks of rain pushing southwards across wales, quite murky through the bristol channel for a time. and there'll be further showers in western scotland as well. temperature—wise, coolish air across the north of the uk, with temperatures between around 13 and 16 celsius. but, further south, well, the temperatures still into the low 20s. 22, 23 degrees, something like that around the london area. now, through tuesday night, we're going to see that weather front have a pulse of energy running along it, and that will push the rain back northwards, back into north—west england, back into the north of wales. that's where it starts the day on wednesday, and then wednesday, the rain will very slowly trickle its way

southwards, where it will become confined to southern counties of england to take us into wednesday afternoon. so it'll stay quite dull and damp across these southern areas, with the rain perhaps even a bit slower to clear than this. and temperature—wise, 16 degrees in london. so those temperatures around seven degrees lower. it is going to be a much colder—feeling day in the south, particularly on wednesday. the rest of the week sees a bit more sunshine in the south, so temperatures do tend to recover, but the north—west will see further showers from time to time. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: the white house says the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has requested a second meeting with president trump and officials are looking into scheduling one. an official said the request was made in a "very warm, very positive" letter from the north korean leader to mr trump. the us states of north and south carolina as well as virginia have declared states of emergency ahead of the arrival of hurricane florence. the governor of south carolina has ordered the evacuation

of about a million people from coastal areas. it's strengthened to a category 4 storm. the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, has said that if both sides are realistic then they could agree the first stage of the divorce deal with britain within six to eight weeks. he said the main risk was failure to work out how to solve the irish border question.