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 virginia and the carolinas 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 the leader of north korea has requested a second meeting with president trump and that officials are looking

into scheduling one. the request was made in what they say was a very warm, very positive personal letter from kim jong—un to mr trump. caroline rigby has more. this is what kim jong—un is hoping for a repeat of — another face—to—face meeting with the president of the united states. the white house press 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 the 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 a 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. but the white house insists this letter is evidence of progress in washington's relationship with pyongyang, and demonstrated north korea's commitment to the denuclearisation of the peninsula. 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 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 returned. there's been no testing of missiles

or nuclear material. so when and where might this follow—up meeting take place? well, the white house has refused to be drawn on that, saying, "we'll let you know when we have further details." caroline rigby, bbc news. professor robert kelly is a korea expert and professor of political science at pusan national university. he told me these talks could happen soon. yes, people have talked about kimjong—un going to the white house or going to the un or something like that. trump floated this idea briefly in passing in singapore. it'll be amazing if he flew all the way to the united states. that is even further in singapore. the north koreans worry when he goes overseas because he worries about a coup and that is one of the reasons why he only stayed in singapore for a couple of days. i'll be surprised that was that far afield. but it'll probably be soon because it's in the news. why do you think the breakthrough has come now?

i would not call it a breakthrough. its small form over substance. -- its small form over substance. a meeting does not take us far. ultimately what matters is that the north koreans move nuclear weapons and missiles, and so far they haven't, despite what the trump administration said. but you know, the north koreans, broadly speaking i think the north is looking for a deal. they are looking to talk to us. they are pushing pretty hard. trump would like something before the elections, or something soon. he is facing domestic troubles at home. there is momentum on both sides. both sides are still circling each other, waiting for each other to make the first move on something big. this could be a bluff, then, couldn't it? this could be another occasion to talk, and then nothing happens afterwards? that's right. that is probably what will happen. that is what happened at singapore and at the inter—korean summit a couple of month ago. the north koreans are great at this. they love talking. sitting down with kim jong—un in singapore was not a great achievement, because we know that they love to talk. the problem is they talk and they talk and they talk, but don't do a whole lot. we are into the ninth month of the detante of this year, and the north koreans have not made any serious concessions. that's ok, but that is not what we are focused on. what we want is more

information and ultimately some sort of rollback. and we have not anything on that. and if donald trump cannot move this forward, then nobody else, not the neighbours — the chinese, the south koreans — nobody appears to be able to make kim jong—un budge much? i don't think the north koreans will send much back. the best thing would be if they would cap and freeze with what they have now. that means about 50 warheads and some icbms. maybe we can get them to give back some stuff. mike pompeo talked about them giving up two thirds of their arsenal. maybe they can give at 10% or 20%, and get back into the iaea. in some way get inspectors in. i think they will allow that, but they will ask a lot, and the white house will have to make concessions on sanctions and aid and that discussion has not happened yet. but for the utilisation, that will not happen. the americans and chinese, we will not get that. —— fold denuclearisation. -- fold denuclearisation. bashful

denuclearisation. —— full denuclearisation. we're talking about verification processes. who checks that they do what they say are doing? that's a big thing. the north koreans have talked about how they have built down a little bit over the summer. they had that explosion at the test site and things like that. but we did not have inspectors there, scientists and people who know what to look for, engineers and things like that look at these things. it is difficult to know if that was something meaningful, and that is something tricky, too. the north koreans will want the chinese if there will be inspectors at all. the americans will reject that. they will want to be friendly. this will be a real tangle. but that is a whole other question. even if we sign something with them, had we verify it? there are a lot of things to come. professor robert kelly speaking a little earlier. a million people have been told to evacuate their homes as the us east coast prepares for what may be strongest storm to hit the region in decades. hurricane florence is currently a category 4 storm, but gaining strength as it approaches the coastline of south carolina. north america correspondent peter bowes reports. a monster storm that could bring

catastrophic levels of rain and flooding. hurtling towards the us east coast with growing wind speeds, the authorities fear hurricane florence could have a deadly impact on several states with the carolinas and virginia the hardest hit. it'll be dumping water on us in north carolina, all of which will flow through south carolina, much of what's in north carolina, so we're liable to have an awful lot of flooding, especially in the pdm area. an estimated 1 million flooding, especially in the pdm area. an estimated1 million people area. an estimated1 million people are fleeing to safety, not sure whether they'll have homes to return to. we do have a plan to perhaps evacuate. we want to watch it through today and see what's happening. see what happens, hopefully we have a business to come back to. the authorities are taking no chances. this could be the most devastating storm to hit north

carolina since hurricanes you go ravaged the state and claimed many lives almost 30 years ago. north carolina is taking hurricane florence seriously —— hurricanes you go. and you should too. get ready now. the white house says the us government is preparing to offer whatever help it can. lines of communication remain open and the federal government stands ready to assist. these tropical storms and hurricanes are very dangerous and we encourage anyone in the path to heed the warnings of state and local officials who have the expertise and knowledge of their communities to provide the best on ground information. close on the heels of florence, two other storms are expected to increase in for a city in the coming days. the atlantic hurricane season is proving relentless. peter bowes, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. a petrol station has exploded in the nigerian state of nasarawa, creating a fireball that killed at least 35 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 organization. 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. here in the uk, 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. the white house national security adviser, 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 world news, still to come: almost ten years after the end of sri lanka's civil war, families of the missing are still searching for answers. 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 world news. the latest headlines: the white house says kim jong—un has requested a second meeting with donald trump. a state of emergency

is declared in virginia and the carolinas and head of the arrival of a hurricane. the coroner at the inquests into the deaths of the 5 people killed in the westminster bridge attack has described how the lives of many were torn apart. the attacker khalid masood raced his car along the pavement driving into pedestrians before jumping out and stabbing to death pc keith palmer outside parliament. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports from the old bailey. the westminster bridge attack last march was the first in a year of terror, and left four members of the public, one police officer and the attacker, dead. 0pening their inquest this morning, the chief coroner, judge lucraft qc, said the lives of many were torn apart by 82 seconds of high and terrible drama. among the lives, those of kurt and melissa cochran from utah in the united states — tourists in london, calmly walking across westminster bridge when tragedy struck. kurt cochran was the first to be hit by the attacker khalid masood's car.

he pushed his wife melissa out of the way, before being knocked over the bridge's balustrade — falling five metres to the thames footpath below. in court, melissa's sister, angela stoll, called him: next, the car hit a retired window cleaner from clapham, leslie rhodes, dragging him 33 metres along the bridge. his family said he was greatly missed. his niece amanda said she always remembers him as smiling and happy. then, aysha frade was knocked i7 metres into the path of a number 53 bus, falling under its wheels. in court, her husband john spoke of their two young daughters and said: the last victim on the bridge was andreea cristea from romania. she was knocked over the railing, falling 12 metres

into the river thames, before being recovered 100 metres downstream. herfamily said: the cctv the court watched was often harrowing and graphic, showing victims being thrown into the air and under vehicles. before it was shown, some of the victims' relatives took the opportunity to leave the courtroom. 0nce off the bridge, masood crashed his vehicle and ran round to the gates of parliament, where pc keith palmer challenged him, but he knocked the unarmed officer to the ground and stabbed him to death. his sister, angela, told the court: khalid masood, who was carrying two knives, was shot three times by a close protection officer and died soon afterwards. his inquest will follow the inquest of his victims next month. daniel sanford, bbc news, at the old bailey. 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, 1,000 planes and eighty warships are involved. 0nly moscow's former soviet allies have been invited tojoin in its previous 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 war in sri lanka ended in may 2009 with the defeat of the tamil tiger rebels. but the country is still struggling to come to terms with its past. tens of thousands of people were killed and many others went missing. their relatives have been holding protests seeking answers. the bbc‘s anbarasan ethirajan, who reported there during the conflict,

went back to see what has changed for the minority tamils. kolinochchi, the former tamil rebel stronghold in northern sri lanka. i was here, at the height of the conflict, ten years ago and the place was in ruins. today, it is a bustling town. these people want answers about their loved ones, who went missing during the war. translation: during the final stages of the war, when we came out of the rebel area, we were kept behind a barbed fence. the army then asked all those linked to the tamil rebels to surrender and promised general amnesty. so my son, my daughter—in—law and their two young children gave themselves up. the army took them away in a bus. we were all crying and watching them go. that was the last time i saw them. these women are not alone.

around 20,000 people, mostly tamils, disappeared during the three—decade long conflict. i think, as a country, we can progress and we can have reconciliation only when people acknowledge that there have been violations, there have been instances of hundreds of people, of thousands of people, going missing, and that we must acknowledge that that should never occur again. a busy morning here in the city of jaffna, the cultural capital of tamils in northern sri lanka. nearly ten years after the war, life seems to be returning to normal but there are still underlying tensions and concerns among the tamil community and they feel that some of the core issues which triggered the conflict more than three decades ago have not yet been addressed by successive sri lankan governments. the government says it is looking

into tamil concerns, particularly the issue of enforced disappearances. anybody can say 40,000, 10,000, 30,000, 100,000, but now the mechanism officially investigating into that. back in kolinochchi, relatives of the disappeared say only when the loved ones return home will the war be over, and peace return. when asked how long they will continue to protest, this woman says, as long as she lives. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, northern sri lanka. a baby girl who survived being born with her heart outside her body, and without a breastbone, has been allowed home after 9 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. an auction of furniture owned by sir rod stewart takes place later on tuesday. more than sixty items are upforgrabs, including armchairs, side tables and bookcases. it's believed sir rod decided to have a clearout after recently moving home. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. (sings maggie may): # wake up, maggie, i think i've got something to say to you...# legendary singer, knight of the realm, but everyone has to downsize eventually. sir rod stewart reportedly put his home up for sale last year, and what you do when you move house? you get rid of some of the clutter. dozens of household items will go under the hammer. so what's on offer?

well, for starters, there is a pair of guilt bronze—mounted side tables, estimated to be worth £2,000 to £3,000 - that's nearly £11000. an italian walnut credenza — a sideboard to you and me, expected to fetch anything up to £1,500 — just shy of $2000. and how about a teak lounge armchair? a snip at £350 or $450. and appropriately enough, it comes with a faux leopard skin cushion. do you think it's sexy? (sings you wear it well): # you knew it didn't cost the earth, but for what it's worth you made me feel a millionaire and you wear it well...# wear it well, sell it well — this should be what the auctioneers have described as a good old—fashioned clear—out. tim allman, bbc news. and that is it from me. thank you

for watching. 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. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur.