this is bbc world news today. i'm tanya beckett. our top stories... hurricane florence is pounding the carolina coast with powerful winds and devastating rains. the first fatailities are reported, and the worst could be still to come. as far as as farasi as far as i know the eye is still off the coast and heading south, so we will be in this wind for a long time. waters rising hours after the hurricane made landfall in north carolina, flooding is now the greatest threat. meanwhile in the philippines thousands of people are being moved to safety as super typhoon mangkhut closes in. the manager this hotel has taped up the windows to stop them from blowing in when the storm comes. livelihoods, properties and lives are all at risk tonight. and was this the news the white house was dreading? donald trump's former campaign manager agrees to co—operate

with the investigation into links between the president and russia. hello and welcome to world news today. hurricane florence has claimed its first victims. authorities in the us have confirmed three people, including a mother and her baby were killed in wilmington, north carolina, when a tree fell on their house. rain and strong winds continue to batter the area. experts say there's more bad weather to come, some areas could see a0 inches of rainfall in just three days, that's more than a metre. florence made landfall at around quarter past seven in the morning local time at myrtle beach in south carolina. the category one storm is expected to follow this path in the coming days. emergency services are struggling to rescue hundreds

of people trapped in their homes by flood waters unleashed by the hurricane. more than 600,000 properties in north and south carolina are without power, and energy companies warn up to three million more are at risk of black—outs. a short time ago, south carolina's governor, henry mcmaster warned about the risk of flooding. this is something we have not seen before, this much rain or hurricane staying on top of us for this long, so that means ladies and gentlemen we are going to have to have patience, we're going to have to be carefulfor a long time, and then we are going to have to deal with lot of water after the winds leave and that brings a whole new set of consequences in addition to the high rain and high wind and a surge that we are experiencing now. we cross live now to laura trevelyan in the city of wilmington, north carolina where, as we heard a little earlier, a woman and her baby were killed

after a tree fell on their house. what can you tell us about these fatalities? tonya the police department said the tragically a woman and her infant were killed when a tree fell on their house and of course the trees are falling because this morning here in wilmington, we had the highest winds recorded, 105 miles an hour we have not seen wind like this since the 19505. not seen wind like this since the 1950s. and what we're seeing now is this massive slow—moving gigantic storm, hurricane florence, and it's churning its way across north and south carolina. dumping enormous amounts of rainfall, you can see behind me the scene, the floodwaters arriving and we are told the river, that we are sitting next to it's not expected to peak until tuesday, because the storm will dump rain on

us because the storm will dump rain on us for the next two days. my colleague chris has this report. the carolinas knew all of this was coming but they could never fully prepare for the force of florence. as expected, winds caused destruction and, at the coastline, the flooding was, for some homeowners, simply fierce. this morning, people who had chosen not to abandon their houses gathered in the streets to see what was left in their neighbourhoods. although after all the warnings, there was a genuine sense of relief. i'm still worried because, as far as i know, the eye is still off the coast and it is heading south, so we're going to be in this wind for a long time. and that is the fear. along all of these streets already littered with the debris of the storm. there are still places further out towards the coast that are cut off completely because the water levels are simply too high

to drive through. new bern in north carolina was on the front line, as florence made her way off the atlantic and onto land. although it soon disappeared underwater and these kind of storm surges are expected to cause plenty more flooding in the days ahead. to anyone still unwilling to take this storm seriously, let me be clear. you need to get yourself to a safe place now and stay there. many people have taken that advice and have gone to emergency shelters where they know they will be safe. but they remain worried about their homes and their neighbours. she's wheelchair— bound. it has been really rough. i said "god, throuthesus christ our lord, would you please, please protect our home and everyone else in wilmington."

dozens of people have had to be rescued from homes and hotels. florence is expected to hover over this area for some time. forecasters are predicting that north carolina could see eight months of rain in just two or three days. that means more nights of worry forfamilies here on cape fear. earlier, i spoke with the mayor of wilmington about the impacts on his community. we will have power for will not have power for we will have power for will not have powerfor ten we will have power for will not have power for ten days possibly lots of people who will need additional assistance in trying to get out of their homes, the unusual thing about their homes, the unusual thing about the storm is it's been hovering over for two whole days. tell us about

the geography of wilmington, we are on the coast but you also have rivers in lindh which now there is risk of flooding. yes because we are sandwiched between the river and the ocean, so we sandwiched between the river and the ocean, so we literally are a peninsula. we have several beaches that are attached to this city, and those beaches are going to be covered in water as the surge comes over. anywhere from 7—11 feet. here in downtown, we are expected to crest in 25 feet on tuesday so this is going to be with us through tuesday of next week, so it's a significant event for our community we are going to have to deal with it for the next few days. you lived your all your life have you seen anything like this? not this size or magnitude this is 400 miles wide, and moving at five miles and hours you can literally walk with it, but that's why it's taking so long for

the system to get through here but it's only impacting us, to impacting the entire state and cities under miles from us, so that's what is lots of rescues would people say in their homes not expecting it, then damage we had here they're being rescued because of another river coming into the city and overflowing into the city. that's then mayor bill sappho, talking to us then mayor bill sappho, talking to us earlier about the conditions here, and the fear for what the hurricane may bring. if you want to really examine the strength of hurricane, the best thing to do is go out with the hurricane hunters and that's what my colleague has done. she went on board when of the aircraft from the air force reconnaissance mission here is what she found. one of the most accurate, and turbulent, ways of collecting another mission complete, but there is no time to waste to ready the next. with millions vulnerable to the force of florence these hurricane hunters have been flying around the clock right into the eye of the storm.

the team of pilots and scientists from the us air force reserve will pass through florence five times during the exhaustive eight hour mission. dropping sensors to collect the temperature, pressure and wind speed of the storm. this cargo plane with its cutting—edge technology is essentially a laboratory with wings. an hour after take—off we enter the storm. we are flying through hurricane florence now, and you can see that there is zero visibility. on top of that, we are hitting winds of up to 100 mph. now, these pilots are experienced with flying in danger situations, but they know that the information they collect will be critical to determining the storm's next move. we will now release one in the eye wall and another one onn the eye wall on the way out as well. sensors get dropped at specific points in the storm. he gave me the command

so i am launching it. that was the drop, that sound, that was the drop, the capsule being released from the plane. information gets sent back to the national hurricane centre every ten minutes. it's used to constantly update the storm model and can improve forecasts by 20%. when we reached the eye of the storm, it's clouded over. hurricane florence has been weakening, but it's no less destructive. we're out here with boots on the ground, eyes on the scene. i've had other storms i've gone through where on the side—line it looked like a tropical storm, when you went into the storm and all the wind it turned it to category three hurricane. after a long day they turned for home in darkness. 0n the ground, the next team of hurricane hunters prepare theirjourney back into the storm. taking a look behind you it started

pretty flooded. there's rainfall already, and presumably most people have chosen to evacuate by far. that's right, most people have and the question is when can they return. if you think we're going to get at least another two days of rainfall from the back end the hurricane, and the floodwaters are going to carry on rising with the rivers here, not even peeking until tuesday. do you really want to take the risk of returning to your home only to have it flatted and have to evacuate again and this is the kind of dilemma people have, the director of dilemma people have, the director of the national hurricane centre said in the last few hours that this storm is exactly his nemesis because of its size, and the incredibly slow movement, it's moving at five miles an hour you movement, it's moving at five miles an houryou can movement, it's moving at five miles an hour you can practically walk with it and it'sjust an hour you can practically walk with it and it's just dumping an hour you can practically walk with it and it'sjust dumping rain that you can see and it's this

rainfall, which may lead to absolutely catastrophic flooding, not just absolutely catastrophic flooding, notjust gonna absolutely catastrophic flooding, not just gonna coast absolutely catastrophic flooding, notjust gonna coast but also inland. all the way from virginia down to georgia potentially. thank you very much, laura. meanwhile thousands of people have been evacuated from coastal areas of the northern philippines ahead of super typhoon mangkhut. the authorities say more than five million people are in the path of storm which is due to make land shortly. it's approaching the country's northern coastal tip, forecasters say it's the strongest typhoon yet this year. howard johnson sent this report. there is a sense of calm here. but a storm is on its way and it's likely to devastate this coastline. the owner of this homes says he is staying put and he does not want thieves stealing his possessions. this man says he will watch the waves and pray to god before making any decision

to evacuate his family. nearby, local officials are not taking any chances. this village of school has been turned into an emergency shelter. translation: there is a tendency for landslides in this area in the past, so the village council advises to out early. 0n the road outside of the province we passed farmers anxious to do what can to they salvage their harvest. rice prices have been steadily increasing in the philippines, and many fear the storm will only reinforce that trend. as we crossed into this other province, the weather began to worsen. electricity company was busy at work cutting down trees near power lines. as we enter the commercial hub, many were setting up shop early. the mood in this town is changing as a storm gets closer, people are beginning to go home to hunker down to stay safe. the manager of this hotel taped

up his windows to stop them from blowing in with a storm comes. livelihoods, properties, and lives are all at risk tonight. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: all the sport, including a few bumps and scrapes in practise at the singapore grand prix. and every year hundreds of pilgrimages are made here, now that she's become a think it's expected this this areas inundated with tourists, the mayor and local businessmen regard the anticipated boom as yet another blessing of saint elizabeth. this is bbc world news today. i'm tanya beckett. the latest headlines: four people have been killed by hurricane florence as it hit

america's eastern seaboard. there are warnings of extensive flooding, with heavy rain expected to fall for three days. president trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, has agreed a plea bargain with the prosecutors investigating claims russia meddled with the 2016 election. it means he will co—operate with the team led by special counsel robert mueller, and in return will see some charges dropped. but the exact nature of that co—operation has not been revealed. here's mr manafort‘s lawyer outside the courthouse in washington. he has accepted responsibility and this is all contact that we want to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. he has accepted responsibility and this is all contact that dates back many years, everyone should remember that. thank you, everyone. the white house has seen fit to issue a statement, saying that the events ‘have

absolutely nothing to do with president trump or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. i asked our washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue how significant this latest development is for mr trump. this has the potential to be enormously significant in the sense depending on what he has to say to special counsel when he begins or continues the cooperation he's agreed to. in the plea agreement he said he will get over documents, interviews, briefings and he may testify in future proceedings in other words appearasa future proceedings in other words appear as a witness, it does run the gamut of cooperation. what we do not know exactly at this moment in time is what is the precise nature of the special counsel's interest in his is it to do with his experience with the campaign of and the famous meeting in the tower between the people connected to the russian

government dad the organisation, including manafort. is it all the side of the investigation that he wa nts to side of the investigation that he wants to detail, or is it something else, is a something connected with these charges he's pleaded guilty to in terms of lobbying, is it about other lobbyists in washington, other people not obeying the law in terms of registering as a foreign agent etc. there is a loss at stake, but if you are the warehouse this a man who you thought would not dip as donald trump likes to say, have slipped, and is quite operating with the special counsel and you have no real idea what he has to say. does reminding ourselves up —— of the role of him, he was brian as a steady hand, this strong irony here. he was brought in as an old campaigner someone he was brought in as an old campaigner someone who knew how to run elections and the way the us political system works. he was brought in in the lastjust around

the time donald trump was about to become the nominee through the primaries. he was there until august, three months before the general election. he was regarded as a seasoned republican operator. but when the story started to appear about his work for the ukrainians, per russian ukrainian, political parties that proved difficult than they got rid of them in the campaign. this is someone who knows the landscape here, in the united states. interestingly i thought from the lawyer when you saw his speaking there, he said what other reason is ma nafort there, he said what other reason is manafort agreed to plead guilty and do the deal was to keep his family safe, that to me sounds very cryptic phrasing you would not think there's a risk to your family through this process , a risk to your family through this process, but you do not know what is behind all of it so there's a lot going on behind the scenes here we do not know about. in terms of the calculus that manafort is making.

gary 0'donoghue there in washington. lizzie greenwood—hughes has all the sport. good evening. britain's simon yates is on the verge of winning his first grand tour after extending his lead in the vuelta a espana to nearly a minute and a half with just one competitive stage left. joe lynskey reports. at this in the programme p —— three leading by over a hundred of a second. his title rival sebastian was on course to clock the fastest time until he hit the wall, he is 30 points ahead in the championship with seven races to go. manchester united says him and his team—mates are behind or under pressure manager stop romelu lukaku has defended manager jose mourinho. stop

united have lost two of their opening three league games but the belgian striker believes mourinho is the right man in charge. to it he is he's a winner. but you know what i like about them, he's not going to take as a motion. when he's not, you know he is not. when he's not, you know he is not. when he is happy you see it. and i do not understand why people do not like the realness about him. you know what i mean? to me, when he is mad at me what i mean? to me, when he is mad atmei what i mean? to me, when he is mad at me i know he is mad at me and you know, i try to do what he wants, so he is happy again. there is a 4-way tie midway through the midway golf majorfor the ladies, debbie on championship, the american isjoined by south korea and maria torres all on eight under par after their first two rounds. georgia hall who won the last major british opens two shots behind on six. when america passes

biggest sports stars steph curry is the highest—paid player in the nba and already considered all—time great, while on a trip to england he took time out to tell our sports editor dan that he can relate to serena williams on court during the open final and says it's important to start a conversation. open final and says it's important to start a conversationlj open final and says it's important to start a conversation. i think on the court, we all have reactions to things that happen. i've done mouthpieces before, i've had outbursts where you might want to ta ke outbursts where you might want to take you back but the way she handled the post match, without eloquently she put her sentiments around gender equality in her sport, and created a conversation i think we can all kind of access for ourselves whether you agree with her and not, ithink ourselves whether you agree with her and not, i think the way she wanted not take from naomi post roundabout that hurt moment i was her chance to shine, but the issues that she wa nted shine, but the issues that she wanted to deal with and those conversations are going to keep

going because of how she took the stand. is a big weekend for the davis cup, great britain playing with whose pakistan, more on that in a moment, but the semifinals under way with the competition with croatia already well ahead. they took an early to nil need. he beat johnson in straight sets the home cloud loving the action they were on their feet after this. cheering . former us champion doubled lead officiating by carlos ramos the umpire in the centre of the controversy earlier this week. cilic also one that sets, the winner of the tie will play france or spain currently france to nil up in best—of—5. there were also plenty of world group playoffs going on grid and are playing —— britain are playing right now. beating dennis in

five sets, and the other matches are going on, but cameron is to set all against europe. that's the sport back to you tonya. thank you. the swiss intelligence service has reported that two russian agents were picked up and deported from the netherlands — after planning to infiltrate a high—security laboratory. this is the building in question — in the swiss town of spiesz. it analyses chemical substances. and, intriguingly — at the time, it was checking samples from a nerve agent attack in england. anna holligan has the story... these undercover agents, according to the newspapers‘ sources, were carrying the kind of equipment that would have allowed them to hack into the laboratory's computer network. this swiss lab was, at the time, understood to be dealing with highly sensitive material, so the samples taken from syrian chemical weapons attacks, but also from the attack in salisbury, the targeting of the former russian spy sergei skripal. the arrests in the hague weren't made public at the time, the dutch prime minister did say

that to russian agents from the russian embassy here in the hague had been expelled back in march. the foreign ministry has refused to confirm whether these two men are the would—be hackers. why does all of this matter? well, the timing is critical because it comes just after two russian citizens were identified as the prime suspects in that salisbury attack. it also suggests that president putin has an increasing willingness, desire to meddle in european affairs, but also possibly the kremlin's desire to intercept and interfere with the kind of material that being dealt with by the independent chemical weapons watchdog, the 0pcw, which is now dealing with more alleged cases of chemical weapons use than at any time in its history. that's it for me, bye—bye.

hello. while we closely monitor the weather on the other side of atlantic as he moved into the evening hours who keep the few showers particularly parts of northern england and wales in southwest england and wales in southwest england and wales in southwest england and scotland, elsewhere most showers are set to ease away tonight, so it'll become dry and widely clear as well. dan is single figures across parts of scotland, chilly sarra saturday, mild orfurther south. lots of of scotland, chilly sarra saturday, mild or further south. lots of dry weather through the day saturday and the south and east, cloud increase from the west and rain into northern ireland later in the day a few showers for northern england as well but for the southeast 21 degrees with spells of sunshine. during sunday looks like the rain will edge further south across northern england into wales as well, sunshine andi england into wales as well, sunshine and i decided that if you showers in the far northwest, but in the south

east sunshine, 22 degrees, quite breezy. the wind picks up as he looked towards the new working week particularly windy on tuesday there's also turning warm, goodbye. later this hour, we'll have more on the weather for the week ahead. then, at 10pm, jane hill will be here with a full round—up of the day's news. but now, it's time for the second of two programmes from the bbc tent at the edinburgh festival fringe about the first—time and professional comedians and storytellers. and all of whom are disabled or have mental health difficulties. (music) music applause

welcome back to bbc 0uch, storytelling life. tonight we will be hearing stories from disabled people and people with mental health difficulties on the subject of going up. iam difficulties on the subject of going up. i am lost voice guy and i'm your host for the evening. i got the train to the deed today. i always like to sit in those seats for disabled people. it's just like to sit in those seats for disabled people. it'sjust easier to get off. anyway, i was in that seat and was about halfway here one another disabled person got on and asked me to move. i will be honest, idid not asked me to move. i will be honest,

i did not realise i'd be playing disabled top trumps when i got on. needless to say i didn't move. who ca res if needless to say i didn't move. who cares if he was both blind and deaf? i was there first. it was very awkward. he couldn't see that i was still there and i couldn't tell him i wasn't moving because i can't speak. he wouldn't have heard me anyway. in the end, i had to throw his guide dog a stick. laughter ididn't mean his guide dog a stick. laughter i didn't mean for them to end up under the train. are you ready to welcome your first ask? yes! please