i'm mariko oi in singapore. this is newsday. the headlines: a stark warning to those in the path of hurricane florenc in the us — if you don't get out now, you're on your own. —— hurricane florence. we've had some... couple of close calls. involuntary evacuations, yeah. we thought the water might rise and the storm surge. but this one downright 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 were booing at me... oh, no. i couldn't tell what was going on because it was so loud in there. so it was a little bit 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 8am in singapore, 1am in london and 8pm in the evening in the us eastern states of north and south carolina, where one million people have been told to evacuate as hurricane florence heads their way. the governor of south carolina has warned those 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.

our 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. police radio: no-one will be allowed back on the beach after 8pm.... 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've 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're closely studying the satellite images of this huge hurricane that is slowly approaching from the atlantic. no—one can be sure where it will land, but along america's east 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 there's 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.

i've been speaking the bbc‘s laura trevelyan, who is on the coast in wilmington, north carolina, where a mandatory evacuation order has now gone in to effect. she's been telling me more about preparations for the coming storm. as you can see, there are very few people on the beach. most people are clearing out. as you observe, the surf is 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 it stalling just off the coast, and churning for 24—36 hours, that means we could get very strong winds and catastrophic levels of rainfall, leading to immense flooding. that happened last year in hurricane harvey in houston, which i covered, and the fear is the same thing could happen here. the governor 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 remembers 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 right now, most people are fleeing for the hills. laura trevelyan in north carolina. 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 orban‘s government is accused of attacks on the media, minorities and the rule of law, charges he denies. here's europe correspondent adam fleming. so now that this vote 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 has been demonstrated when it was triggered against poland by the european commission last year. but 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. of article seven, which involves a lot of talking and a lot of paperwork. 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 sale of flavoured e—cigarettes, citing an epidemic of use among teenagers. the food and drug administraion announced the proposal as part of a broader affort to curb teen use of the nicotine devices. it's sent more than 1,000

warning letters to stores for selling e—cigarettes to underage vapers. 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 osaka, who just won the us open over her idol, serena williams. she's been speaking to the us talk show host ellen degeneres 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 booing in the crowd, and then serena leaned over and said something to you. what did she say to you? what do you think she said? "girl, you're 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 that she did that. you knew the crowd wasn't booing at you, right? they were just booing the whole situation, that is was just... 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. 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. captured on camera, the two men accused of a nerve agent attack on the streets of salisbury. 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. on stage at an economic forum, he announced that the men were no agents, but civilians. translation: we know who they are. we found them.

i hope they'll appear and explain everything. this will be best for everyone. there is nothing special here, nothing criminal, i assure you. the president's tone matches this. other officials have been busy mocking the british case as absurd, a soap opera, even claiming that cctv footage was faked. british police say the suspects' names are likely to be aliases, so it's possible whoever russia has now found, it's not the men who travelled to salisbury at all. with these surprise comments, vladimir putin has raised the prospect that the suspects in the salisbury poisoning could appear in public, perhaps very soon. but all along, moscow has dismissed the allegations coming from london as nonsense. so whatever 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 that the british media made it all up, that it's rubbish, but that's just laddish bravado. everyone knows that 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 rainsford, bbc news, moscow. 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 part of the hugejoint military exercises between russia, china and mongolia. it's taking place in eastern siberia, and is 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 of relationships with the us, and as we know they are both under pressure. china from the trade tension standpoint, and russia from the sanctions standpoint, for a myriad of activities, including incursion into eastern ukraine. people are asking why it is happening now, and we would say, why not? the impetus is the economic forum that xi is attending in russia, their relationships have been strengthening in the last few years. this is a friendship of convenience. we don't expect long—term alliance or axis, 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 want from each other. well, russia needs financing, they need investment. the us and european investment into russia in things infrastructure, 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 a technology component they are interested in. that really fits nicely. what's interesting is we saw announced quite recently the alibaba investment in one of russia's largest internet companies, mail.ru, hasjust got announced last week, and that's an interesting shift. typically, historically, it has been investment in the natural resources space, now they are expanding into things like tech and they are even coming together on things

like the arctic exploration. in 2015, they announced joint co—operation to open a commercial sea route together. you see an expansion away from the traditional investment in oil and gas. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: he was known as the king of good times. businessman vijay mallya will find out in december if he's to be extradited from the uk back to india. 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! welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. i'm rico hizon in london. our lead stories: almost two million people are ordered to leave their homes, as hurricane florence approaches the us east coast. vladimir putin insists two men accused by britain of attempting to murderformer spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia are not criminals.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we start with the front page of the japan times, which has russian president vladimir putin suggesting 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 possibly 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 edition 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 were the papers. now rico, what stories are sparking discussions online? area! a are a! a hollywood trending! —— hollywood trending! 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. unbelievable. mark and i have the same daily regimens. —— mark and i have the same daily regimen. we are all waiting for that sixpack makkah to. —— that sixpack selfie. an indian businessman in britain will find out in december if he is to be extradited to india. vijay mallya who was once known as the "king of good times" because of his lifestyle, is accused of fraudulently

obtaining a $100 million loan for an airline venture which later collapsed. richard lister reports from outside the court. well, vijay mallya looked on quietly from the dock as over the course of the day the two barristers in this case it set out the arguments for and against his exhibition to india. the indian government maintains that he forjulie obtained $100 million loa n he forjulie obtained $100 million loan for his kingfisher airline by misrepresenting the financial health of the company. they also say that he never intended to pay the money back if, as later happened, the airline later collapsed. he says it is defence counsel clare montgomery qc, that the application was full, accurate and complete and she also said that the indian government had made a number of palpably false, in her words, accusations. she said there was no direct evidence of any false statements being made by vijay

mallya or kingfisher airlines. speaking for the prosecution service which is representing the indian government, said that he stood by his case that vijay mallya and kingfisher airlines new about its financial health and knew that its health was markedly different from the picture they gave to the bank when they made the loan application. it is now up to the judge to decide which of these arguments she believes. and whether or not there is enough evidence for mr mallya to be prosecuted for fraud is enough evidence for mr mallya to be prosecuted forfraud in india. in making that decision she also has to decide whether his human rights will be breached if she sent him to an indian prison because of the conditions faced by prisoners in the jail in mumbai. she said she will make the decision on december ten and in the meantime it mr mallya is free on bail and living at his house outside london. the south korean 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. lovely works. an amazing artist, despite all of the adversity he has succeeded in art. you have been watching newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in london. and i'm mariko oi in singapore. stay with us. i will be back with business news. all eyes on apple as they reveal new iphones and a health—focused watch, but do they live up to all the hype? we'll have the latest. and mariko, before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures of the fastest man on earth. usain bolt is defeated by zero gravity. he took off on a zero—g plane, an aircraft used by scientists for research. see him fly! the plane's aim was to reach micro—gravity conditions, in which people or objects appear to be weightless. to achieve this, the pilot

performed jumps in the sky, called parabolas, which allow a free fall of just over 20 seconds long. thanks for watching. bye for now. hello there. this morning is starting off on a chilly note after lengthy clear skies overnight. temperatures dipping close to freezing one or two spots across the midlands and into the south—east. however, there will be lots of sunshine through the day. a few showers around, mostly across scotland and northern ireland, thanks to a weak weather front. you can see we started the morning off on a dry note further south. any mist and fog patches tending to clear away quite quickly. more of a breeze though, across the northern half of the country. scattered showers for the northern isles into the outer hebrides. showery rain through central eastern scotland into northern ireland. south of here, it's dry

with a little cloud here and there, like i mentioned. any early mist should tend to clear away. so, a fine morning to come for many. heading into the afternoon, cloud will tend to build as temperatures rise. it will stay rather cloudy across scotland, into northern ireland, further showery bursts of rain here and further showers for the northern isles. after that cool start in england and wales, temperatures should rise quite nicely, to 18 or maybe 20 or 21 degrees in the south—east, closer to the midteens further north. the reason for the showers across northern areas close to this area of low pressure and these weather fronts. that area of rain moves away. it's replaced by another one, a bit more significant with this weather front as we head into friday, and also stronger wind. so i think a wetter end to the week for scotland and northern ireland, and then late in the day, parts of the north and west of england too, followed by sunshine and showers into the afternoon.

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 a ridge of high pressure. much of the country will hold onto the sunshine into the afternoon. cloud building across western areas as this weather front brushes past northern ireland into western scotland. it could bring heavy rain, fairly strong winds here. temperatures 15 to 21 in the south—east. the ridge of high—pressure ebbs away but it does continue to bring fine weather to the south—east into sunday. this low pressure will bring unsettled conditions to the north and the west of the country. strong winds at times, a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. it will be followed by showers into sunday afternoon across scotland and northern ireland, with the main area of rain mainly across wales and parts of northern england and the midlands. temperatures midteens in the north, a little bit warmer in fact in the south—east with the sunshine, 22 or 23 celsius. the weekend is quite mixed, turning windy and unsettled with rain in the north and the west, the best of the sunshine in the south and east.

iam rico i am 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 2a to 36 hours, bringing with it hurricane—force winds and torrential rains. vladimir putin says two men accused by britain of attempting to murder former 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. and the top story in the uk: pro—brexit conservatives say they've found a way of dealing

with the irish border after britain leaves the eu,