the carolina states, on the us east coast, is expected to strengthen over the next few hours. officials are warning that hurricane florence poses a threat to life when it makes landfall. mandatory evacuations have been ordered in some areas. russia has begun its largest military exercise since soviet times. it's taking place in eastern siberia, on land and sea, with 300,000 russian soldiers involved, as well as troops from china, and mongolia. chinese president xijinping has stressed the importance of his country's relationship with russia. brazil's jailed former president, lula da silva, has obeyed a court order and stepped aside before next month's presidential election. the head of his worker's party announced the decision to crowds of supporters outside the police headquarters where lula is serving a 12—year sentence for corruption. welcome to hardtalk, i am stephen

sackur and today, i am at the ambrosetti forum which is the gathering of the italian political lea k gathering of the italian political leak on the shores of lake como. there is no doubt who the dominant figure is here. all the guests are waiting for him and he is my guest today, matteo salvini, the deputy prime minister and interior minister and arguably the most powerful populist politician in europe today. he rose to power —— to power on the back of the anti immigrant, anti— eu message so what mean for italy and for europe? deputy prime minister

matteo salvini, welcome to hardtalk. grazie. we are meeting at the ambrosetti forum forum, where the italian political elite come to discuss the future of your country. and i have been speaking to people and there is a great deal of fear and there is a great deal of fear and suspicion about you and your agenda. some people are calling you dangerous, some people are calling you an extremist. why do you think there is so much suspicion of you? you've and said the question about immigration. there is one of the biggest issues it carried through the election campaign but there is a suggestion that italy and its problems can be completely solved, we re problems can be completely solved, were you to stop all immigration and get rid of the immigrants. is it

your belief that italy's problems can be solved in that way? you say after stopping immigration. does that mean you are determined that no more of these migrant ships will be allowed to land in italy? because over the last few months, we've seen controversy of a controversy upto these boats loaded with hundreds of men, women, and children are forced to sit in the mediterranean because you will not allow them to land on italian soil. but you are breaking the rules that we re but you are breaking the rules that were agreed by the italian government with all of the other member states of the european union to run what is called 0peration sofia and have these migrants landed the nearest port, which is italy, and you are refusing to accept your responsibilities to take these people. but there was a real humanitarian crisis here on the minister, and you have blood on your hands because of the policies you've

adopted. the unhcr is quite clear. they say the new restrictions that you and your government have put on these migrant boats, the new limited access to italian ports for refugees and migrants, has led to a far higher death rate at sea. that is your responsibility. the head of italy's medical agency, stefa no the head of italy's medical agency, stefano vella, recently resigned, saying, "as a doctor, i can't tolerate, as a public body, a time when people are treated in this intolerable way on our territory. you have been in office as interior

minister for what, you have been in office as interior ministerfor what, i believe, about two, three months. already, you face a committal investigation from the authorities in sicily who, with regard to your treatment of one particular migrant boat, are now accusing you of kidnap. and you've only been in office a few weeks. this is going to lead to chaos. the wider point here is that you,

during the election campaign, told the italian people, you said, we are going to get rid of, we are going to deport leased half a million illegal immigrants. your message was simple. you said the good times for these illegal migrants was over. they'd better get ready and packed their bags. but you know as well as i do that it bags. but you know as well as i do thatitis bags. but you know as well as i do that it is going to be impossible for you to deport 600,000 people. italy can't afford it, italy can't contravene international conventions and a lot of these countries these people come from refuse to take them back. italy will not be able to do what you promised. but going back to the point about the way in which the rest of europe sees you. here are some very pointed words from angela merkel on a couple of weeks ago. she says, i believe the soul of europe is humanity and if we want to retain this soul, then europe can't simply decouple itself on the need and the

suffering of others. and those remarks, i suspect, suffering of others. and those remarks, isuspect, were suffering of others. and those remarks, i suspect, were pointed directly at you and your policies. you catch your determination to end the immigration and get rid of the illegal immigrants in your country as something that will solve italy's crime problem, solve many of italy's economic problems but i put it to you that many people believe that you that many people believe that you are also motivated by a form of racism. racism and which is perhaps best expressed by your desire to get rid of the roma in italy who are not formal italian citizens. you have called for a new census of all the roma. you said, unfortunately, we will have to keep the italian roma because we can't expel them but the rest must go. but you know what this is

reminiscent of? you know what this reminds many europeans of? it reminds many europeans of? it reminds them of the darkest days of europe in the 1930s and 40s. it reminds them of fascism. well, what do you say then? what do you say... ok... when you talk of all romas but only

one ethnic group, the roma in italy, having to register and declare themselves to the state, naomi disegni, who is the predators —— the president of the italianjewish association, has a long memory of this, says that salvini has a weakening memory of the racist laws of years ago. did listen to that and wonder if you have gone too far? dyoo admire mussolini? i know you know your history. dyoo admire benito mussolini? but is it true

that on mussolini's, the anniversary of mussolini's birthday last summer, you posted on social media, the quote, "so many enemies, so much honour," which is of course an echo of course of morsel any‘s 0wen saying, "many enemies, much honour." did you do that? but it is an interesting intellectual journey you but it is an interesting intellectualjourney you have made, because as a youth you were a communist. now you are a member of one of europe's leading far right political movements. for a long time you are a supporter of secession for the north of italy, a regionalist, now you claim to be an italian

nationalist. it is quite hard to pin down what is the core of your philosophy. what is it that you actually, truly believe in? when it comes to your style of politics, i look at the people you seem to add my most and are closest to around europe and around the world, it has to be said many of them appear to be authoritarians their styles. of course, them appear to be authoritarians theirstyles. of course, i them appear to be authoritarians their styles. of course, i am thinking primarily of vladimir putin in russia, or do you have been to visit, you described as i think one of the most successful and admirable politicians in the world today. you have said," italy could do with dozens like putin, who truly act in the interest of their citizens". what is it about who can that you admire? —— what is it about putin. but hang on. if i may interrupt,

vladimir putin represses opposition at home, we know that. in terms of his foreign policy, he has annexed crimea, the british prime minister, as you know, has accused him and his government of signing off, authorising a chemical weapons attack on uk soil, for which sanctions have been imposed by europe and the. and yet, you described him as a politician you admire most in the world today. that really doesn't seem to make much sense of. has your party, the

league, received money from russia? we know that marine le pen's party has received millions of dollars... zero? and it yet, your party does have a corporation with united russia, putin's party. where does this leave the european union? in the past you have called ita union? in the past you have called it a gulag, you describe the euro as one of the biggest economic and social crimes ever committed against humanity. and yet, it italy is a

founding member of the european union and prides as one of the central players in the european union. are you proposing that italy should take itself out of the european union? but, i guess the key question is, are you prepared to play by europe's rules ? are you prepared to play by europe's rules? we have discussed migration policy, which you said you will change and you will not accept the way it works at the moment. but when it comes to economics and finance as well, with the government has an ambitious economic programme based on slashing taxes, your partners have a universal basic income idea, there is commitment to massive, new public spending on infrastructure. all of this suggests that you are not interested in the eu's basic financial budget very rules, which tell us that a country like italy is running an unacceptably high debt of something like 130% of gdp, which must come down. your plan looks like it makes it will go up —— your plan

makes it look like it will go up, not down. udo there is fear in brussels and in berlin and other european —— european capitals about what italy could do to the eurozone and the european economy. to quote one person close to angela merkel, he said italy is playing with fire and it is now endangering the eurozone. 0ne

one interesting challenge facing all of the members of the european union is what to do about brexit. now, there has been a great effort led by michel barnier, who is the chief commissioner ghosh on brexit, to keep and maintain european unity, and yet you have said recently that you think the eu, i am using your words, is trying to swindle the uk out of the brexit that it voted for. what do you mean by that? soi so i guess the specific question for you is, will italy, the italian government, encourage france and germany to be more flexible and make real concessions to the uk? if in the future you lead a league

government, that is you are the dominant partner and perhaps become prime minister, would you at that point consider taking italy out of the european union? 0k, ok, so you say no to leaving the eu, what about the eurozone? can you imaginea day what about the eurozone? can you imagine a day where italy will leave the euro? to finish, we began talking about

the ambrosetti forum, you are about to go and address the political business leading men and women of italy, do you think anything you said to me will alleviate their fear and their suspicion of you? we have to end there. but matteo salvini, i thank you very much for being on hardtalk. my pleasure. hello there. a full uk weather forecast coming up in a moment, but first of all, the latest on that

massive hurricane that's heading towards the eastern side of the united states. it is of course hurricane florence. it is a category four hurricane, four out of a five—point scale. sustained winds, 140 mph at the moment, but it's forecast to strengthen, with wind gusts getting up to 185mph over the next 2a hours or so. it's going to make landfall friday morning north carolina, but the effects will be felt up and down the mid—atlantic coast, with a risk of flooding, and those damaging winds as well. here in the uk, we've got a cold front sinking its way slowly southwards today, and that's going to have an effect on the temperatures. yesterday we saw highs of 25 degrees in both london and exeter, as well, but today we're looking at highs of around 18 degrees. so a 7 degrees celsius drop in temperature. not that it's going to feel cold, but it will feel a good deal cooler. this is how we have the weather over the next few hours for the early risers. a lot of cloud around, and outbreaks of rain. always heaviest across north—east england and the north—west of wales

as well, but there'll be plenty of heavy showers working into north—west scotland over the next few hours, with a slice of clearer weather across northern ireland, northern england and eastern scotland. it's here where we'll have those temperatures dipping down into single figures. mild, though, further south — 15 degrees the low in london. now, looking at the weather picture through the rest of wednesday, our cold front sinks its way southwards, the rain becomes increasingly light and patchy, but there'll probably still be some left over across parts of south—east england well into the afternoon. there'll be some blustery showers for western scotland, but in between, a slice of sunnier weather. but the temperatures a good deal lower in the south, highs expected to reach 18 degrees celsius. now, looking at the weather picture through wednesday evening and overnight, our rain finally clears away from south—east england. heavy rain comes into the north—west of scotland, but there will be some clearer skies for the bulk of england and wales, and it's going to be one of the cooler nights that we've seen so far this september, with temperatures down across eastern parts of england, down to around 3 or 4 degrees in the coldest areas. so it will be quite a chilly start of the day on thursday, but there'll be plenty

of sunshine around here. a band of rain pushes southwards across scotland and northern ireland, weakening as it does so. just a few spots possible into cumbria to take us into the afternoon, but for many of us it's a dry day. showers again affecting western parts of scotland, though. temperatures in the sunshine — about 15 degrees for aberdeen and edinburgh, 21 degrees in london. bit more sunshine, so starting to feel warmer. and reasonable weather, actually, across southern england as we head through the weekend, but there will be some heavy outbreaks of rain across the north and west of the uk this weekend. that's your weather. it is being called america's vicious monster and a threat to life. homes evacuated in businesses boarded up as hurricane florence closes in. send them back. in an exclusive interview, the italian deputy prime minister says why he wants to be bought most of their migrants. translation: we can't accept that all migrants get to the italian burst —— coast and we have to pay them. on patrol in the siberian

skies as russia holds military exercises with china for the first time. we will have the latest from eastern russia.