i'm mariko oi in singapore. the headlines: welcome to newsday on the bbc. a stark warning to those in the path of hurricane florence in the us. if you don't get out now, you're on your own. we've had some... couple of close calls. we thought the water might rise and the storm surge. but this one damn right scares me. "they're not criminals." president putin says he knows the identity of the two russian suspects in the uk nerve agent attack. i'm rico hizon in london. also in the programme: japanese tennis star naomi osaka opens up about that infamous tennis final with serena williams and admits she thought the crowd were booing her. at the time i did kind of think they we re at the time i did kind of think they were booing me... oh, no.

at the time i couldn't tell what was going on because it was so loud, so itt was a little stressful. and we meet thesouth korean artist with a unique creative ability. —— the south korean. live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm in the us eastern states of north and south carolina, where a million people have been told to evacuate as hurricane florence heads their way. the governor of south carolina has warned people who've been told to leave, that if they don't get out, they're on their own. this map shows the storm's probable path which is thought to be one of the biggest in decades, but president trump insists the authorities are ready. north america correspondent chris buckler is in wilmington

in north carolina and he has the details. right along the coast of the carolinas, marinas have been cleared of boats, and homes have been emptied of people. windows boarded up and shuttered in preparation for florence. no one will be allowed back on the beach after eight p.m.... the police have been roaming the already—quiet streets, warning that before the storm arrives, families living here should leave for their own safety. we have been here 16 years and we've never had to evacuate. we have had some, a couple of close calls, we thought the water might rise and the storm surge. but this one downright scares me. on cape fear, they are closely studying the satellite images of this huge hurricane that is slowly approaching from the atlantic. coast, they're being told

that the gathering clouds could bring a storm that has an impact for days. florence may stall after it makes landfall and then move south very slowly down the coast. this could mean that parts of north and south carolina near the coast will experience hurricane force winds and hurricane conditions for 2h hours or more. it's almost three decades since the carolinas experienced a storm on that kind of scale. hurricane hugo is still remembered today. and has been panic buying of water and other essentials in shops. even dozens of miles away from the coast, supermarket shelves have been emptied as people stock up ahead of the forecast ferocious wind and rain. we don't know the devastation of this storm, so. forecasters are predicting it could be the storm of a lifetime and protecting lives here is now the priority along this coastline. chris buckler, bbc news, wilmington.

in the past hour, i've been speaking the bbc‘s laura trevelyan, who is on the coast in wilmington, north carolina. she's been telling me more about preparations for the coming storm. just now, the power company turned off the electricity all along rights milled beach, and in two hours, a mandatory evacuation order goes into effect here. as you can see, there are very few people on the beach, most people are clearing out. as you observe, the services getting up behind me. we expect the hurricane, which is currently about 400 miles out to sea, to get here thursday night into friday. and here's the thing, rico, the current projections have its stalling just off the coast

and have it churning for 24—36 hours, that could mean we get very strong winds and catastrophic levels of rainfall, leading to a men's flooding. that happened in last year in houston, which i covered, and the fear is the same thing could happen here. the government of this state has been very clear, disaster is at the doorstep, he said, and it's coming through. indeed it's coming through and the people being left behind are members of the media. it's being described, laura, as the storm of a lifetime? that's right, rico. the last time there was a direct hit on north carolina like this was actually 1954 with hurricane hazel. i spoke to one woman who was here then as a child, she remembered the utter devastation that hurricane hazel brought. now aged 68, she and her husband are

getting out of dodge because they don't want to risk the damage to their life they believe staying put would actually represent. so, yes, normally in hurricanes i find, rico, at least one third of the people ignore the warnings and stay put, but here on wrightsville beach, most people are fleeing for the hills. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the european parliament is to begin disciplinary proceedings against hungary for flouting the union's core values. more than two—thirds of meps backed the motion, the first such vote against a member state. prime minister viktor 0rban‘s government is accused of attacks on the media, minorities and the rule of law, charges he denies. here's our europe correspondent adam fleming. so now that this boat has passed in the european parliament, it's in the hands of the 27 other member states. their ministers and their leaders.

and it can be quite a long winded, bureaucratic process, this article seven, as was demonstrated when it was triggered against poland by the european commission last year. ever since then a whole load of reports have been provided and written and a lot of meetings, and i'd imagine that situation that's happening with poland is going to be replicated with hungary now, so it could be a very, very long time before we see anything concrete. and remember, nobody here is talking about using the so—called nuclear option which would strip hungary of its voting rights and european summits. they're talking about the much kinder, gentler version of article seven, which involves a lot of talking and a lot of paperwork. europe correspondent adam fleming. also making news today: apple has unveiled its new iphones. the company's ceo, tim cook, presented the new iphone xs, an upgrade of last year's iphone x, and a larger version with a 6.5in screen. earlier this year, apple became the first publicly traded us company to hit a market value of more than $1 trillion. more on this story coming up in asia business report in

about 20 minutes time. donald trump has signed an executive order authorising sanctions against any countries or individuals found interfering us elections. national security advisorjohn bolton says the move is intended to be a broad effort to prevent foreign manipulation. us intelligence officials warn china, north korea, iran and russia have the capability to create problems in the run—up to november's mid—term elections. it's notjust america bracing for a big storm, authorities in the manila are preparing for a catergory 5 typhoon barrelling towards the northern philippines. typhoon mangkhut, which the us has classified a super typhoon, is expected to bring heavy rains and flooding along the philippines' northern coastal provinces of cagayan and batanes as early as september 15. the us is considering banning the

flavoured e—cigarettes, citing an epidemic among teenagers. the fda announced the proposal as part of a broader effort to curb teen use of the nicotine devices. it says more than 1000 warnings are in stores for selling e—cigarettes to underage vapours. and look at this amazing new building in dundee in scotland, it's been designed by the japanese architect kengo kuma who said he wanted to create a living room for the city. mr kuma said he was delighted that this was his first building in the uk. we've been telling you a lot this week about japan's tennis star naomi 0saka, who just won the us open over her idol, serena williams.

she's been speaking to the us talk show host ellen de generes about winning her first grand slam title in such controversial circumstances. here's what she had to say. you were playing an amazing match. i mean, your level of play was incredible and people are calling you, like, a young serena. you're playing like that. when you were receiving the trophy, there was a lot of bowling in the crowd and then serena leaned over and said something to you. what did you say to you? what do you think she said? " girl, your good! " no, she said, like, she was proud of me and i should know the crowd wasn't booing at me. so i was really happy. you knew the crowd wasn't booing at you, they were booing the whole situation. did you think they were booing you? at the time i did kind

of think they were booing me. i couldn't tell what was going on because it was so loud in there. it was a little bit stressful. naomi 0saka was a little bit stressful. naomi 0sa ka speaking to was a little bit stressful. naomi 0saka speaking to ellen degeneres. russia's president putin says two men accused by britain of attempting to murder former spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia in salisbury are not criminals. it's a week since alexander petrov and ruslan boshirov were named by the uk as members of russia's military intelligence and suspects in the novichok poisoning. but president putin says the men are civilians, and has encouraged them to give their version of events. sarah rainsford reports from moscow. ca ptu red captured on camera, the two men accused of a nerve agent vx on the streets of salisbury. —— nerve agent attack. it is a week since british police released these pictures and named their suspects as russian intelligence agents, a week that russia has spent denying any of this is evidence. now vladimir putin has addressed

the claims directly. 0n on stage at an economic forum, he announced that the men were no agents but civilians. wouldn't translation: we know who they are. we found them. i hope they'll appear and explain everything. there is nothing special here, nothing criminal. i assure you. officials here have been busy mocking the british case against russia as absurd, a soap opera, they've even claimed that cctv footage was fake. so it is not clear who might come forward now, uk police say the suspects used aliases. president putin has raised the prospect they could appear in public perhaps very soon. but all along moscow has dismissed the allegations

from london as nonsense, so whatever happens now, it seems unlikely to ta ke happens now, it seems unlikely to take the british investigation any further. this former kgb officer told me russia could be behind the salisbury attack, but the culprits never expected to be discovered. so behind their public statements, he thinks russian officials are worried. translation: all of the elite understands the mess that russia's now in, but the leadership sets the tone. they say the british media made it all up, that it's rubbish, but that's just laddish bravado. everyone knows the consequences will be serious. the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter has already led to diplomatic expulsions and sanctions. now all eyes are on moscow for a first glimpse of the key suspects. but whoever appears, the chances of them facing criminal charges in britain are as slim as ever. sarah

ra i nsfo rd , britain are as slim as ever. sarah rainsford, bbc news. on the ground, columns of tanks and armoured vehicles. at sea, warships on the move. in the air, combat helicopters and fighter aircraft taking off. all this is part of the hugejoint military exercises between russia, china and mongolia. it's taking place in eastern siberia and is the biggest military exercise since the fall of the soviet union. i've been speaking to angela mancini from consultancy company, control risks, about the growing relationship between russia and china. their relationships have been strengthening in the past few years. what's interesting is their relationships with each other are almost directly correlated with the state relationships with the us and as we know they are both under pressure, china from the trade tension and russia from the sanctions standpoint for eight myriad of activities including incursion into eastern ukraine. people asking why it is happening 110w people asking why it is happening now and we would say why not. the impetus is the economic forum xi is

attending in russia and the relationship has been strengthening in the last few years. this is a friendship of convenience. we don't expect long—term alliance or access as it were. as you say, the timing is quite interesting. but you talked about what they want to get out of it briefly. tell us the details of exactly what china and russia won from each other. russia needs financing and investment. —— want from each other. us and european investment into russia in things like resources have been frozen largely since the sanctions and they need money. china can provide that. china is very keen to explore oil and gas. there is the agriculture component and technology component they are interested in. that really fits nicely. what's interesting is we saw announced recently the alibaba investment we saw announced recently the aliba ba investment in we saw announced recently the alibaba investment in one of russia's largest internet company has just got announced last week and that's an interesting shift.

typically, historically, it has been investment in the natural resource now they are expanding into things like tech and coming together on things like the arctic exploration. in 2015 date announced a joint corporation to open a commercial sea rout together. you see the expense away from the traditional investment in oiland away from the traditional investment in oil and gas. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we meet the south korean woman named as the most outstanding woman entrepreneur of the year in the asia—pacific. 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 newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. i'm rico hizon in london. our top stories: hurricane florence is expected to strengthen as it approaches the us east coast. president trump insists

the authorities are prepared. vladimir putin insists two men accused by britain of attempting to murderformer spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia are not criminals. a nine—year—old schoolgirl sparked intense debate in australia after refusing to stand for the national anthem to protest alleged institutional racism. student harper nielsen was given detention last week for notjoining classmates in a rendition of advance australia fair, a song she says ignores the nation's indigenous people. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. on the front page of the japan times, russian president vladimir putin has suggested that moscow and tokyo should sign a deal that solves their long running territorial dispute by the end of the year. in response to putin's comment, the chief cabinet secretary

yoshihide suga said japan stands by its long standing position that the territorial dispite must be resolved before the two nations can ever sign a peace treaty. the south china morning post has a story about foreigners being banned from using the internet in china. it says they could all be banned from surfing the internet under draft new rules to promote and preach religions on the mainland. the international addition of the new york times has a story regarding isis. it reports that the militant group has lost all but 1% of the land it held in iraq and syria. those are the papers. now, rico, what stories are sparking discussions online? marico, it is all about the diet. actor mark wahlberg has revealed a punishing daily routine, involving getting up in the middle

of the night to work out. on a typical day, the actor wakes up at 2:30am and follows a strict diet. marico, what a coincidence, i have the same diet and schedule as mark. i know you've been on a bit of a diet here in singapore! now, moving on. a south korean woman has been named as asia—pacific's most outstanding woman entrepreneur for 2018 for helping other professional women who also happen to be mothers re—enter the work place. having a baby and returning to work is always hard for any family. miran kim says the barriers for professional in south korea are especially high. miran was recently given her award at the apec women and the economy forum and joined us earlier from korea to talk about her experiences of being a working mum and why it was such a struggle for mums to combine working with parenthood. because even if they studied really

ha rd because even if they studied really hard it is difficult for them to get back to society. they have their own duty at home. and it doesn't meet their expectations with their own backgrounds and careers actually, to the society, and social welfare as well. you yourself were a stay at home mother before starting this business. tell me how you are helping other working mothers?” business. tell me how you are helping other working mothers? i am helping other working mothers? i am helping working mothers with especially they are highly educated into re—employment, also their start—up statistics, so we help highly educated women get back to society and still keep the working life balance. so you used the term "recycling" their careers — tell me what that means. we study to become specialists in our society but if we are staying at home and spending a

ra res are staying at home and spending a rares and ed! —— we need to recycle back into society and use our career, so back into society and use our career, so that's why i used the term recycle. i thought it was interesting that many of the professional women are starting their own business, is that partly because some of the big, traditional companies are still not welcoming towards those working mothers? well, i have to say there are a lot of changes in korea at the moment, but still there are glass ceilings, they exist, and also there are social views for them to get back to work, it is still not comfortable enough, so it is still not comfortable enough, so that's why it has some difficulties out there. and staying in south korea where artist seok chang—woo paints

with his own body after an accident left him with two prosthetic arms. he says he took up drawing to show his son what he could do. amazing story. thanks for watching newsday. stay with bbc world news. hello there. the morning is starting ona hello there. the morning is starting on a chilly night after lengthy clear spells overnight. temperatures dipping to close to freezing across the midlands and the south—east. however there will be lots of sunshine through the day. a few showers around mostly across scotla nd showers around mostly across scotland and northern ireland thanks toa scotland and northern ireland thanks to a weak weather front. you can see we start the morning on a dry note for the south. mist and fog patches tending to clear quickly. more of a breeze across the northern half of the country. scattered showers for the country. scattered showers for the northern isles into the outer hebrides. showery rain is essential is in scotland into northern ireland. south of here it is dry

with a little cloud here and there like i mentioned. any early mist we re like i mentioned. any early mist were clear. so are fine morning to come for many. into the afternoon cloud will tend to build as temperatures rise. we will stay rather cloudy across scotland into northern ireland, further showery rain here and further showers for the northern isles. after that call start in england and wales temperatures should rise quite rightly to 18 or maybe 20 or 21 in the south—east, the midteens further north. the reason for the showers in northern areas, close to this area of low pressure, and the weather fronts. that area of rain moves away. it is replaced by another one, away. it is replaced by another one, a bit more significant with this or the finance we had into friday, and stronger wind. so i think a wet end to the week. and, northern ireland, and late in the day parts of the north and west of england too, followed by sunshine and showers. it will remain quite cool. central and southern and eastern england will be dry with temperatures of 18 to 20

degrees. onto the weekend and we start on a fine note thanks to high pressure. part of the country will hold onto the sunshine into the afternoon. cloud building across western areas at the weather front brushes into western scotland. it could bring fairly strong winds here. temperatures 15 to 21 in the south—east. the ridge of high—pressure ebbs a way but it continues to bring weather to the south—east into sunday —— fine weather into the south—east on sunday. this will bring unsettled conditions to the north and west of the. strong winds at times, cloud and outbreaks of rain. followed by showers into sunday afternoon across scotla nd showers into sunday afternoon across scotland and northern ireland with the rain mainly across wales and parts of northern england and the midlands. temperatures midteens in the north, a little bit warmer in fa ct the north, a little bit warmer in fact in the south—east with the sunshine, 22 or 23 celsius. the weekend is mixed, windy and u nsettled weekend is mixed, windy and unsettled with rain in the north and the west, the best of the sunshine in the south and east. i'm rico hizon with bbc news. our top story: nearly two million people have been ordered to leave their homes

as hurricane florence nears the us. it's forecast to hit north and south carolina in around 24 to 36 hours, bringing with it hurricane—force winds and torrential rains. vladimir putin says two men accused by britain of attempting to murderformer spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia are not criminals. the russian president says the men are civilians and has encouraged them to give their version of events. and this story is popular on bbc.com. a nine—year—old schoolgirl has sparked intense debate in australia after refusing to stand for the national anthem in protest at alleged institutional racism. student harper nielsen claimed the song ignored the nation's indigenous people. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, time for hardtalk with stephen sackur.