welcome to bbc news, broadcasting in north america and around the globe. my north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: if you don't get out, you are on your own. more than 1 if you don't get out, you are on your own. more than1 million if you don't get out, you are on your own. more than 1 million told to evacuate as hurricane florence approaches. we are ready but this will be one of the biggest to ever hit the country. residents in the path of these devastating storms should comply with all evacuation orders and other emergency instructions. president putin says russia has identified the men britain accuses ofa identified the men britain accuses of a nerve agent attack and says they are civilians, not criminals. us open winner naomi as sarker a she speaks out over the win against serena williams. —— osaka. the fastest man afloat. usain bolt says he doesn't need a track or gravity to come first. hello, good to have you with us. if

you don't get out, you are on your own, that is the stark warning from the governor of south carolina as hurricane florence looms over america's east coast. more than a million people have been told to leave, shops have been emptied and roads inland are choked. this is the path florence is likely to take. it has weakened slightly but wind speeds are ferocious. chris buckler is in north carolina and sent this report. right along the coast of the carolinas marinas have been cleared of boats and homes have been emptied of people. windows are boarded up and shouted in preparation for florence. this is going to be one of the biggest ones to ever hit our country. residents in the path of these devastating storms should comply with all evacuation orders

and other emergency instructions. 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 yea rs own safety. we have been here 16 years and we have never had to evacuate. we have had a couple of close calls. 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 slowly approaching from the atlantic. no one can be sure where it will land but a long america's east coast they are being told that gathering clouds could bring a storm that has an impact for days. florence might stall as it makes landfall and move slowly south 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. hurricane force winds and hurricane conditions for 24 hours or morem is almost three decades since the carolinas experienced a storm on that kind of scale. hurricane hugo is still remembered today. and there has been panic buying of water and other essentials in shops, even dozens other essentials in shops, even d oze ns of 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 winds 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 longest coastline. —— along this coastline. robbie fowler is chief meteorologist with the tv station wcbd in south carolina and joins us from there.

it looks like you are at work. i guess it is a very busy time for you. tell us, the storm has been downgraded, but still really dangerous, why? well, because it is a slow mover. we think it will make la ndfall a slow mover. we think it will make landfall probably in north carolina late tomorrow, early friday. then what will happen is it will slow down. and when it slows down the amount of rainfall will be really tremendous in addition to the fact we have wind. so our biggest concern in north carolina and where we are in south carolina is the fact that we are going to see very strong wind, heavy rain and prolonged amounts of rain and wind. we can see tropical storm force winds > the mph, gusts may be in the 50s, over a 12 hour time period —— of 50 mph, gusts in the 50s. we could see power

outages here as well. so for the folks who stay, some evacuate and some stay before the ones who stay u nfortu nately a lot some stay before the ones who stay unfortunately a lot of them will probably have to be without power for most of the weekend. a lot of people watching around the world will wonder why people stay in situations like this. i'll be honest with you, we are kind of a tough soul, if you will. a lot of the folks who grew up here have been through it before and they have weathered hurricane is before. i think a lot of them have the opinion that i can do it again. as we know, every hurricane is different. each one has its own personality. you can't compare one which happened 29 yea rs can't compare one which happened 29 years ago, hurriane hugo, with hurricane florence. and then we have a lot of new people that move to the area. we are an area where a lot of retirees come and they might be coming from places where they don't have hurricane is. maybe they have tornadoes and they have snowstorms and blizzards but they don't have hurricanes so they are not sure what to do. they are tried to feel their way around. what kind of

preparations are people making, the ones leading and the ones that are going to try to sit it out? the ones who are leaving have packed up their evacuation kit and they have hit the road. we have an interstate coming m, road. we have an interstate coming in, charleston interstate 26 from charleston to upstate carolina and they reversed it. no one can come into the city. everyone has come out. they have done that for a day and a half to give people the opportunity to get out and not deal with traffic. the ones who are staying, all of the supermarkets, the bread and milk gone off the shelves, batteries are gone, flashlights are gone. gas is gone. it is very difficult to find gas around here. all of the gas stations are out of gas. people took it to get out of town. i know you say it is difficult. we shouldn't compare storms to one another. obviously this is being compared to the last one more than 25 years ago. what makes this so ferocious, what makes it different, and what damage are

you worried about? definitely the fa ct you worried about? definitely the fact that it's going to be a long duration of them. i was here for hurricane hugo in 1989 at this tv station in charleston which took a direct hit from hugo and hugo was devastating. it did a tremendous none of damage and it was very depressing to see some beautiful places destroyed. but amen it went out quickly. we didn't have to deal with it for a whole day. this one, the personality of florence is it will slow down when it hits landfall, the steering current will leave it behind, so when it is meandering, then you are looking at flooding. we have had several years a different times when we have rivers and streams overflowing. we are the low country of south carolina for one reason, we are very low, only seven feet above sea level in parts, and if we have a tied over a new 01’ in parts, and if we have a tied over a new ora in parts, and if we have a tied over a new or a full moon phase and many times it is seven feet so you will inherently have water in the streets a nyway inherently have water in the streets anyway on a beautiful sunny day. now you throw a lot of rain on top of

that and it is tough to get around. ca rs that and it is tough to get around. cars stall out. people have floods, water in their homes. and downtown oui’ water in their homes. and downtown our business district has to suffer that as well. robbie fowler, stay safe and we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. thank you. thank you. you can track the progress on the website with loads of information, including this video about why so many americans ignore hurricane warnings as we were talking about. just had to... russia's president vladimir putin says two men accused by britain of trying to mortarformer says two men accused by britain of trying to mortar former spy sergei skripal and his daughter are not criminals. it is one week since they we re criminals. it is one week since they were named as members of the russian intelligence. president putin says the men are civilians and he encouraged them to give their version of events. these are the men accused of a nerve

agent attack on the streets of salisbury. it is one week since police released pictures and named the suspects as russian intelligence agents. a week that russia spent denying any of this is evident. now vladimir putin addressed the claims directly with a half smile. he used the stage at this economic forum to an ounce the suspects were not agents at civilians. translation: we know who they are. we found them. i hope they will appear and explain everything. this would be best for everyone. there is nothing special here, nothing criminal. iassure you. be salisbury poisoning targeted sergei skripal, a former russian spy who betrayed his country. but his daughter fell who betrayed his country. but his daughterfell sick too who betrayed his country. but his daughter fell sick too and a policeman who visited their home. dawn stu rgess policeman who visited their home. dawn sturgess was poisoned and died three months later. her boyfriend

had found a perfume bottle filled with novichok. officials have been mocking the case against russia as absurd, a soap opera, they claimed even cctv footage was faked. so it's not clear who might come forward now. uk police say suspects used aliases, so could it be men with the same names, not the actual men with the mugshots? one former kgb officer told me russia could be behind the salisbury attack, but the culprits never expect to be discovered. behind their public statements, he thinks russian officials are worried. translation: all of the elite understands the mess that russia is in but the leadership sets the tone. they say the british made it up, that is rubbish. it is bravado. everyone knows the consequences will be serious.

outrage over the poisoning has brought diplomatic expulsions and sanctions. after vladimir putin's surprise comments on the suspects, all eyes are now on moscow for the next move. 0k, ok, some of the other news for the day now. president trump has signed an order to impose sanctions on foreigners who try to interfere in us elections. it means the administration can order asset freezes and travel bans on anyone found to have done so. with congressional polls due in eight weeks, some republicans and democrats say the action is too little too late. the former president of el salvador has been sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption. he pleaded guilty to money laundering and in —— embezzlement involving $3 billion of public funds. turkey is reinforcing its military post inside syria's rebel held province of idlib in an effort to deter a government offensive which

it says would unleash a humanitarian disaster on its border. idlib is home to around 3 million people and is the last major rebel stronghold in syria. tens of thousands of civilians have escaped in the last few days as russia resumes airstrikes in the area. the us is considering banning the sale of flavoured e—cigarettes because of an apparent epidemic of use among teenagers. the food and drug administration and announced the proposal as part of an effort to try to stop teenagers using nicotine products. it has sent more than 1000 warning letters to stores selling e—cigarettes to underage vapers. the hungarian foreign minister condemned the decision by the european parliament to begin disciplinary proceedings against his country which he called petty revenge from pro— immigration politicians. strasbourg is imposing the measures in response to a report

accusing hungary of disregarding the rule of law and core european values. the moment the european parliament made history. never before has it voted to discipline the member state of the eu. applause. it required a supermajority of two thirds. it was a triumph for the mep who led the investigation into the hungarian government's policies on the courts, and refugees. hungarian government's policies on the courts, and refugeeslj understood the courts, and refugees.” understood that we in the end got quite a nice majority, 69%, of the votes present voted in favour, and i feel assured, i think it's a positive sign of this parliament taking responsibility and wanting action. parliament had been unconvinced by this fiery speech given by the hungarian prime minister a day before. translation: you're not going to condemn the government by the country as well as

a nation. you're going to denounce hungary that has been a member of the family of christian european nations for thousands of years. you're going to condemn hungary that contributed to the great history of europe with hard work and shed its blood when needed. this place runs ona blood when needed. this place runs on a system of pan european political parties. victor orban is a member of the centre—right european people's party and many of them voted against him. no one knows what that means for the future of that group. walking into the middle of all of this, the european commission presidentjean—claude juncker who delivered his state of the union address here today. it is a moment thatis address here today. it is a moment that is meant to show unity, not division. now the issue mers from the european parliament into the hands of the member states, but none of them are talking about the so—called nuclear option of removing hungary's right to vote on eu business. stay with us on bbc news. still to

come: morocco introduces new laws on sexual harassment and violence, giving women more protection. but do they go far enough? 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: president trump warns that hurricane florence will be one of the biggest to ever hit the us, but she was resident on the east coast that authorities are prepared to. by the says russia's identify the two men britain suspects of a nerve agent attack, but says they are civilians, not criminals. it has been ten years since the start of the financial crisis which almost crippled the global economy. williams of americans lost their homes, stock—market plummeted and people ‘s savings were wiped out. the us economy has since recovered,

but the impact is the being felt. we went to revisit a family that the bbc met during the crisis in rhode island to see how they are getting on now. september 2008, the us stock market is sent into a panic after the colla pse is sent into a panic after the collapse of the investment bank lehman brothers. these images of staff leaving with boxes are on the —— a reminder that confidence on wall street turned to crisis. main street america was hit hard. across the country, millions of people lost their homes and unemployment skyrocketed. here in rhode island, some of the biggest impact was felt, with more than one in ten people left out of work. so what has changed, a decade on? at the height of the recession, we are wholly, a mother of five who lost her business, home and her marriage. mother of five who lost her business, home and her marriagem is not easy as a mum to not know if you are going to be able to feed

your kids. coming home and hearing them say i am hungry. today she has a good job and is renting a home.” don't live in fear any more. she has bounced back through hard work but is still angry that banks were bailed out by the government while she struggled on her own. the government didn't step in and say we see that you need some help with your mortgage, here is some help. knows. it went to the corporations, the banks, to nail them out, but where was the bailout for the people who were affected? it literally took me up until this year to get out of debt. for the generation who grew up with the crisis, the economic future looked uncertain. i wasjust so sad and angry and ijust want to be around anyone. her daughter is now 24 and a mother to a five—year old. she is so cute. with unemployment

rates falling, she has found work but lives with her dad, having her own home remains a distant dream for her and many other millennials. trying to make your pay cheque stretch, mum i want that lollipop, i cannot give it to you because mum has a budget and i have got to make this check go as long as i can. so i can't give you that lollipop. it is tough. it was the verse -- the worst financial crisis in living memory. although the data shows the recovery is strong, a decade on, the ripples from the crisis are still being felt farand from the crisis are still being felt far and wide. women's activists in morocco have welcomed a new law making sexual violence and harassment a criminal offence. there is growing concern about abuse in the north african country, one recent survey found 60% of moroccan women have suffered some kind of violence. campaigners say the new legislation doesn't address the new legislation doesn't address the salt in their home. —— assault.

samir isa samir is a moroccan activist, she has been campaigning to years for a eight law criminalising violence against women. are hard work has finally paid off. translation: we will not stop here. this law is an asset, but it has shortcomings that we have to work on. those shortcomings of include a failure to provide protection to victims of domestic violence and it does not explicitly can analyse marital rape. translation: we lack the appropriate tools to comment this law. in case of marriage violence it is difficult to provide proof and we don't even have shelters for victims. violence against women, especially in public, has become a hot topic in morocco. after social media and rights groups highlighted shocking cases of sexual harassment. this woman is a member

of the parliamentary committee that drafted the law. translation: no law is perfect. its effectiveness will depend on approach by the police and thejudicial depend on approach by the police and the judicial body. as depend on approach by the police and thejudicial body. as it depend on approach by the police and the judicial body. as it goes depend on approach by the police and thejudicial body. as it goes into effect it is normal to discover gaps, but they can be commended in the future. in the street, the main talking point of the law is the part comprising sexual harassment in public spaces. a government survey in 2009 found that more than 60% of moroccan women had been subjected to some kind of violence. translation: women are often harassed in the streets of. this law is badly needed. it is important to protect women against harassment. women in public spaces suffer a lot from public spaces suffer a lot from public harassment. i am against this law because it is women now who

harass men. and many women like to be harassed, but then they go and complain about it. this new law is a significant step forward, but many critics here wonder to what extent it will help change the harsh reality in the lives of many moroccan women. they say education and awareness are just as important to see real change. reporting from the moroccan capital. the us open tennis champion, naomi osaka, has returned to tokyo after her win against serena williams. she was born in japan her win against serena williams. she was born injapan and raised in america is now a career—best seventh in the world ranking. at her achievement was overshadowed by that dispute between serena williams and the umpire. before leaving for japan, she spoke to the us talk—show host ellen degenerate. —— ellen degeneres.

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? laughter "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. he is one of the greatest athletes of all time, usain bolt has won gold medals at the olympics and world championships and has run all over the world. but what about sprinting in space? tim allman explains. there is no denying the fact that

usain bolt is the fastest man on earth. the medals and the various world records are proof of that. but what about in the fastest man not on earth? finding the answer to that question will lead you pointing in just one direction. so, to this airport in northern france and a so called zero—g flight. normally this plane is used for scientific research, this time, it was a little bit different. ready, set, go! 100 metre aircraft not being available, they had to use a somewhat shorter track. the running style wasn't quite as elegant, more of a pop than a sprint, but it turns out class is permanent, no matter what the altitude. kid in a candy store, that is how i felt. for me, it was just

fun, you know what i mean? it is running ina fun, you know what i mean? it is running in a different type of atmosphere. it is like you are on the moon and. it is a different. at first when you get into that first node, the mind is blown. for me it was outstanding. glasses of celebratory champagne all round, which is easier said than done in a zero gravity environment. and as for usain bolt, he was dancing on the ceiling. quite literally. and before we go, just time to remind you of our top story, that is hurricane florence which is making its way to the east coast of america, likely to be the worst in 25 years of. you can track its progress are on our website. 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. into 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. this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump says hurricane florence could be one of the biggest to ever hit the us but insists that authorities are prepared. more than a million people have been told to evacuate their homes. landfall is expected in north and south carolina in the next 24 to 36 hours. vladimir putin says the men suspected by britain of carrying out a nerve agent attack in the english town salisbury are not russian spies. he said the pair, who are accused of targetting sergei skripal and his daughter in march, are ordinary civilians

and not criminals. us open tennis champion naomi osaka has returned to tokyo after her win against serena williams. before leaving the us, osaka who was born injapan but raised in america. she is the only japanese player to ta ke she is the only japanese player to take the title but her achievement was overshadowed by a dispute between serena williams and the umpire. it'sjust gone 2:30. time now for wednesday in parliament.