welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: a stark warning: if you don't get out, you're on your own. more than a million people are told to evacuate, as hurricane florence approaches. we are ready, but this is to be one of the biggest one is to ever hit oui’ of the biggest one is to ever hit our country. residence in the path of these devastating storms should comply with all evacuation orders and other emergency instructions. the catholic church in germany says its ashamed, after a report found priests there abused thousands of children. president putin says russia's identified the men britain accuses of a nerve agent attack, but says they're civilians, not criminals. us open winner naomi osaka arrives back in japan, as she speaks out over that win against serena williams. hello and thank you forjoining us.

if you don't get out, you're on your own. that's 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 heading inland are choked. this is the path florence is likely to take over the next couple of days. it has weakened slightly, but windspeeds are still ferocious. chris buckler is in wilmington 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 boarded up and shuttered in preparation for florence. this will 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've been here 16 years, and we've never had to evacuate. we have had some... a couple of close calls... voluntary evacuations, yeah. ..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 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 along this coastline. chris buckler, bbc news, wilmington. rob fowler is chief meteorologist with television station wcbd in charleston, south carolina. he told me why the storm

is still so dangerous, despite being downgraded. well, because it is 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 of 30mph, gusts may be in the 50s, over a 12 hour time period. we could see power outages here as well. so for the folks who stay, some evacuate and 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 years ago, hurricane 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 trying to feel their way around. what kind of preparations are people

making, the ones leaving 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 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 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 amount 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 or a full moon phase and many times it is seven feet

so you will 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. cars stall out. people have floods, water in their homes. and downtown our business district has to suffer that as well. rob fowler, meteorologist in south carolina. you can track the progress of hurricane florence on our website. there's lots of information there, including this video about why many americans ignore hurricane warnings. just go bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. let's get some of the day's other news. president donald trump has signed an executive order to impose sanctions on foreigners who try to interfere in us elections. it means the administration will be able order asset freezes and travel bans on anyone found to have done so. but with congressional polls due in just eight weeks time, some republicans and democrats say the action is too little, too late. the former president of el salvador, antonio saca, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption. he had pleaded guilty to money laundering and embezzlement involving more than $300 million of public funds.

several senior officials in his government were also convicted. colombia's eln rebel group has released six people who'd been held captive for over a month. three others were freed last week. colombia's new president, ivan duque, has been demanding the release of all hostages as a condition for resuming peace talks with the eln. germany's catholic church has expressed shame over thousands of cases of historic child sex abuse by priests, which have been revealed in a leaked report. it comes as leaders of the catholic church in the us are due to meet pope francis at the vatican, to discuss allegations being made against clergy in america. here's caroline rigby. just last month, pope francis condemned what he described as atrocities of child sex abuse and clerical cover—ups in a letter to roman catholics around the world. now, a new study has revealed

the potential scale of the historic abuse by priests in germany. it suggests that between 1916 and 2014, over 3500 children were assaulted, most of the victims boys, half under the age of 1a. they found some 1620 clergymen carried out various degrees of abuse but only 38% of those accused were prosecuted. the leaked report was released by the german magazine der spiegel, and it was due to be published later this month. researchers sifted through thousands of documents by, worryingly, the authors say the true extent of the abuse could be even greater than what they found. translation: it is scary. above all, it is terrifying that it took us along to finally be able to identify the numbers.

responding to the findings, a spokesperson for the german bishops conference said the extent of the abuse was depressing and shameful, adding the study shed light on what he calls the dark side of our church, so it can do everything to prevent such errors from being repeated. this report is the latest in a long series of revelations that have uncovered decades of sex abuse by roman catholic priests it comes as a meeting is due to take place at the vatican between pope francis and leaders of the catholic church in the us. they will be discussing a summer of scandals in america, most notably, allegations against 300 priests in pennsylvania. russia's president vladimir putin says two men accused by britain of trying to murder former spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia, are not criminals. it's a week since the suspects were named by the uk as members of russia's military intelligence, and said to be involved in the novichok poisoning in salisbury. but president putin says the men are civilians. and he's encouraged them to give their version of events. sarah rainsford reports from moscow.

these are the two men accused of the 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. with a half smile, he used the stage at this economic forum to announce that the suspects were not agents, but civilians. translation: we know who they are. we found them. i hope they will appear and explain everything. this will be best for everyone. there is nothing special here, nothing criminal, i assure you. the salisbury poisoning targeted sergei skripal, a former russian spy who betrayed his country, but his daughter fell sick too, and a 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 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. so could it be men with the same names, or the actual men from the mugshot? one former kgb officer told me russia could be behind the salisbury attack, that the culprits never expected to be discovered. behind their public statements, he thinks russian officials are worried. translation: all of the elite understands the mess that russia is now in. but the leadership sets the tone, they say that the british made it all up, that it is all rubbish. but that is just laddish

bravado, everybody knows that the consequences will be serious. outrage over the poisoning has already brought diplomatic expulsions and sanctions. after vladimir putin's surprise comment on the suspects, all eyes are on moscow now for the next move. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: he's taken olympic golds and championship titles, now usain bolt‘s winning races in zero—gravity. 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: president trump warns that hurricane florence will be one of the biggest to ever hit the us, but assures residents on the east coast that authorities are prepared. a report has found that more than 3,500 children in germany were assaulted by roman catholic priests over a 70 year period.

womens' activists in morocco have welcomed a new law making sexual violence and harassment a criminal offence. but campaigners say the new legislation doesn't address assaults in the home. our correspondent moona bah has more. samira is a moroccan activist. she has been campaigning for years for a a law criminalising violence against women. her 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 include a failure to provide a definition of domestic violence, and it does not explicitly criminalise marital rape. translation: we lack the appropriate tools to implement this law. in case of marital 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. bouthaina karouri 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 the judicial body. as it goes into effect, it is normal to discover some gaps, but they can be amended in the future. in the street, the main talking point of the law is the part criminalising 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 street. this law is badly needed. it is important to protect

women against harassment. women in public spaces suffer a lot from public harassment. i'm 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. moona bah reporting from the moroccan capital, rabat. some news in brief now: myanmar‘s de—facto leader, aung san suu kyi, says the reuters journalists jailed for violating the official secrets act can appeal their sentence.

there's been widespread criticism over the jailing of wa lone and kyaw soe oo who were investigating violence against the rohingya minority. turkey is reinforcing its military posts inside syria's rebel—held province of idlib. it's in an effort to deter a government offensive, which it says would unleash a humanitarian disaster on its border. idlib is home to around three million people and is the last major rebel stronghold in syria. thousands of civilians have escaped in the past few days, as russia resumed air strikes 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 administraion announced the proposal as part of a wider effort to try and stop teens using nicotine products. it's sent more than a thousand warning letters to stores for selling e—cigarettes to under—age vapers. hungary's foreign minister has condemned a decision

by the european parliament to begin disciplinary proceedings against his country. he called the decision petty revenge by pro—immigration politicians. strasbourg's imposing the measures in response to a report accusing hungary of disregarding the rule of law, and core european values. adam fleming reports. the moment the european parliament made history. never before has it voted to discipline a member state of the eu. applause. it required a supermajority of two thirds. a triumph for the mep who led the investigation into the hungarian government's policies on the courts, the media and refugees. i understood that in the end we 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 a government but a 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 on a system of pan—european political parties. viktor 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 president, jean—claude juncker, who delivered his state of the union address here today. a moment that's meant to show unity, not division. now the issue moves 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. adam fleming, bbc news, strasbourg. us open tennis champion naomi osaka has returned to tokyo after her win against serena williams. osaka, who was born injapan and raised in america, has now climbed to a career—best seventh in the world rankings. but her achievement was overshadowed by a dispute between serena williams and the umpire. before leaving for japan, naomi osaka spoke to the us talk show host ellen de generes. 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. oh, no! i couldn't tell what was going on because it was so loud in there. it was a little bit stressful. us open champion naomi osaka speaking to the talk show host ellen de generes. he's one of the greatest athletes of all time, usain bolt‘s won multiple gold medals at the olympics and world championships, and he's run all over the world. but what about sprinting in space? well, he's not quite managed that yet, but he got pretty close, as tim allman explains.

there's 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 being the fastest man not on earth? finding the answer to that question will leave you pointing injust 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! 100m aircraft not being available, they had to use a somewhat shorter track. the running style wasn't quite as elegant, more of a hop than a sprint, but it turns out class is permanent, no matter what the altitude. kid in a candy store, that's how i felt. for me, it was just fun, you know what i mean? it's running in a different

type of atmosphere. you know what i mean? it's like you're on the moon. there's no words. it's different. at first when you get into that first mode, the mind is blown. so 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. tim allman, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter. let me know what you think about any of the stories we have covered. i'm @ lebo?diseko. it is always lovely to hear from you. i will have the headlines shortly. stay with us on bbc world news. 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 east 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're starting 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. scattering of 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. as we head on into the afternoon, cloud will tend to build as temperatures rise. it will stay rather cloudy across parts of 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, those temperatures should rise quite nicely to 18 or maybe 20 or 21 degrees in the south—east, closer to the mid—teens,

though, 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, but 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. much of 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. our 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 some unsettled conditions to the north

and the west of the country. strong winds at times, a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain. it will be followed by sunshine and showers into sunday afternoon across scotland and northern ireland, with the main area of rain lying through 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's quite mixed. it will turn increasingly 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 has warned that 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. landfall is expected in north and south carolina in the next 2a to 36 hours. a report has found that more

than three and a half thousand children in germany were abused by roman catholic priests over a seventy year period. a church spokesman said they were ashamed by the findings of the study, which was commissioned by the church itself. us open tennis champion naomi osaka has returned to tokyo after her win against serena williams. osaka is the only japanese player to take the title, but her achievement was overshadowed by a dispute between serena williams and the umpire. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.