welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is ben bland. our top stories: hurricane florence is pounding the carolina coast with powerful winds and devastating rain. severalfatailities are reported — with predictions of more storm surges to come. super typhoon mangkhut has made landfall in the northwestern philippines, with winds of over 200 kilometres per hour. thousands of people are being moved to safety. donald trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort agrees to co—operate with an investigation into links between the president and russia — as part of a plea deal. one of america's biggest basketball stars visits the uk for a series of exhibition matches. he tells the bbc why he's an advocate for those who can't speak out for themselves. hello. it is good to have you with

us. one of the most savage storms of the hurricane season is causing devastation on parts of the us east coast. four people have died in separate incidents in north carolina — including a mother and her child. hurricane florence has been downgraded to a tropical storm, which has left more than 700,000 homes without power. 0ne meteorologist has warned the slow—moving storm could bring eight months worth of rain over the next three days. 0ur correspondent chris buckler is in wilmington. the carolinas knew what was coming, but they could never fully prepare for the force of florence. along this coastline, houses found themselves on the front line for a fierce incoming storm. and a surge of water that flooded streets and homes. despite the many days of warnings, there were people caught out,

and families who needed to be rescued from their homes. in new bern, in north carolina, the emergency services had to move in as people became cut off. i've never been so terrified in my entire life. it was horrifying. just wondering what was going on and where the water is going to go, how high it's going to go and how we are going to get out. in the town of wilmington, street after street was littered with the debris of the storm. huge trees, no match for the power of the winds, even though this hurricane had weakened before it reached land. this morning, people gathered to see what was left of their neighbourhood. it was more than i expected, that is

for sure. they kept telling us how bad it would be, and we thought we were prepared. but you just can't be prepared for that. there's nothing to do when a tree falls, you know? and this storm has already proved to be deadly. a fallen tree near here was responsible for killing a mother and her child. hurricane florence is powerful, slow and relentless. it's an uninvited brute who doesn't want to leave. while florence is here, some families have headed to emergency shelters. places where they know they will be safe. what are you worried about? not having a place to go home to or a job. all those practical concerns are shared as florence continues to hover over the carolinas. she's wheelchair—bound, and it's been really rough. i said, "god, throuthesus christ, our lord, please, please, protect our home and everyone else in wilmington." evacuation warnings remain in place, as families steel themselves for another night of wind, rain and damage here on cape fear.

let's speak to liz browning fox, from the outer banks village of buxton, in north carolina, who has decided to stay in her home and take her chances with the storm. it is good to have you with us, liz. why did you decide to write out the storm? well, there are a lot of reasons. anyone who lives out on a remote island is generally a little more prepared to be isolated for a period of time than folks who live in metropolitan areas. this is the eastern part, the eastern cape in north carolina. we catch a loss of

storms. and we may lose power at any time or internet or any of the services, but the one thing that we do tend to lose more frequently is oui’ do tend to lose more frequently is our road —— lot of storms. right now oui’ our road —— lot of storms. right now our road —— lot of storms. right now our road is closed. but we were spared the worst part of the storm. we have had very little damage. we have been extremely lucky. and our hearts are going out to everyone in the south and west of us. if i had evacuated, well, north carolina is 500 miles wide. if i had gone 500 miles to the furthest west that is still inbee park of this storm. it isa still inbee park of this storm. it is a huge monster storm and there are times when you can just make a judgement as to whether you are prepared to shelter in place are prepared to shelter in place are prepared to shelter in place are prepared to go. —— still be in the path of the storm. those of us who

stayed are involved, one way or the other, in support for emergency services. in my case, i am a ham radio operator, broadcast on our local community radio station. i am also a member of a community emergency response team for helping up emergency response team for helping up the storm, when it is safe. if i had left i would be abandoning a lot of things here that would not have cared, like pets and things like that, and i have tried to prepare. i am on high ground. i am a mile and a half away from the south. am on high ground. i am a mile and a half away from the southlj am on high ground. i am a mile and a half away from the south. i know your brother has a wildlife rehabilitation centre. —— surf. as confusing and devastating as it is for humans, the animals must be

having a tough time of it as well. how are they doing?|j having a tough time of it as well. how are they doing? i am sure it is going to be horrible. for him, moving them would be more stressful than trying to care for them in place here. he tends to everything from eagles to owls to falcons and hawks and sometimes turtles. mainly birds and reptiles. all of those birds and reptiles. all of those birds are subject to capture myopathy, i think it is called, where they may, they may die, get an imbalance and died very quickly if they are frightened. so moving venue do very carefully and you don't usually do it in a large number in an evacuation —— moving them you don't. so he has those secure.

sometimes after storms, very frequently after storms, he has even more patience. we see birds washed in from the gulf stream at times. we see all kinds of birds. 0ne in from the gulf stream at times. we see all kinds of birds. one of the things he has been talking about lately is how owls, when they get wet, they don't have any feature to keep their feathers from getting wet and they can starve. liz, thank you very much indeed for talking to us. it sounds like you and your family are incredibly busy there. so thank you very much indeed. thank you. seisay. —— state safe. you very much indeed. thank you. seisay. -- state safe. goodbye. meanwhile, a super typhoon has hit the north east of the philippines, with winds of over two—hundred—kilometres per hour. millions of people are directly in the path of the storm and thousands have been evacuated. officials have warned of storm surges of up to six metres. our correspondent howard johnson has been travelling through the provinces of cagayan and isabela — two areas weather forecasters say are likely to be hardest hit.

within the last few hours, typhoon mankhut has made landfall on the northern tip of the main island of luzon. five million people are thought to be in the path of this potentially deadly storm. authorities had already urged thousands of people to move inland from vulnerable coastal areas. in nearby santa ana, local officials aren't taking any chances. this village school has been turned into an emergency shelter. translation: there is a tendency for landslides in this area in the past, so a village council has advised them to get out early. on the road out of cagayan province, we passed farmers anxious to do what they can to salvage their harvest. the philippines endures about 20 typhoons and storms each year, mankhut is the strongest storm of 2018 so far. it's more than 500 miles in diameter, with sustained winds of over 160 miles an hour.

we're around 100 miles away from where this storm is about to hit hardest. already, the winds are up and it's been raining heavily. as you can see, most people have heeded the warnings to stay inside and wait for this potentially devastating typhoon to pass. president trump's former campaign manager will co—operate with the investigation into links between russia and the trump campaign during the 2016 us presidential election. paul manafort has admitted two criminal charges, and as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors he's agreed to help robert mueller‘s investigation. our north america editor, jon sopel has this update. paul manafort had already been found guilty of bank and tax fraud and month ago, and he was due to face another trial when, at the eleventh hour, he cut a plea deal with robert mueller, the special counsel, the man investigating whether there was collusion

between russia and the trump campaign and whether there was obstruction ofjustice. after manafort was found guilty a month ago and was facing ten years in prison, donald trump tweeted about what a brave man he was for not doing a deal, what an example he was for standing firm. well, now manafort has flipped. it means he will agree to testify in any other proceedings. he will hand over papers. and one other key phrase: "he will help on any and all matters as to which the government deems relevant." in other words, he is giving robert mueller, the special counsel, a kind of wristband with "access all areas" written on it. one of the key areas for questioning will be, what happened at that trump tower meeting with donald trumpjunior and a russian lawyer who had very close links with the kremlin, promising dirt on hillary clinton? now, the white house have issued a brief statement saying, look, all of this, the criminal prosecution, relates to a period before manafort was working for donald trump. but be in no doubt,

in the white house this evening, i think donald trump's mood will have darkened and some of his family members will become a good deal more anxious. let's get some of the day's other news. medical sources in gaza say israeli soldiers have killed three palestinians. one of them is believed to be a 14—year—old boy. the deaths came during a protest on the territory's border with israel. the army said it had used force to prevent breaches of security fences. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo has accused his predecessorjohn kerry of "actively undermining" the trump administration's policy toward tehran. it's after mr kerry met iran's foreign minister for back—channel talks.

mr pompeo told a news conference: "what secretary kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented." the venezuelan president, nicolas maduro, says he's signed 28 trade and investment deals with the chinese government. on a visit to beijing, mr maduro said china would invest in gold and iron mining in venezuela, which is going through one of the most serious crises in its history. china is one of venezuela's biggest creditors. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: why the south african capital is currently over—run with superheroes, androids, and masters of the universe. 30 hours after the earthquake that devastated mexico city, rescue teams still have no idea just how many people have died. there is people alive, and there is people not alive. we just can help and give them whatever we've got. it looked as though they had come to fight a war,

but their mission is to bring peace to east timor, and nowhere on earth needs it more badly. the government's case is being forcefully presented by monsieur badinter, the justice minister. he's campaigned vigorously for the abolition, having once witnessed one of his clients being executed. elizabeth seton spent much of her time at this grotto, and every year, hundreds of pilgrimages are made here. now that she has become a saint, it's expected that this area will be inundated with tourists. the mayor and local businessman regard the anticipated boom as just another blessing of st elizabeth. hurricane florence is pounding the carolina coast with powerful winds and devastating rain. severalfatailities are reported — with predictions of more storm surges to come. let's stay with our top story now.

rob fowler is chief meteorologist with television station wcbd in charleston, south carolina. what is the latest on the course of the storm? i tell you what, it did move through north carolina, it still is in north carolina, the radar loop is showing lots of rain still in north carolina, but now it has been bleeding over into south carolina. what we have seen in the charleston area in the last couple of hours, the wins have really picked up. it is no longer a hurricane, it is a tropical storm, but we have had wind gust is between 50 and 60 miles an hour, we are hearing reports of powerlines down in the charleston area and at least one report of a big tree that has fallen on a house in one of our suburbs outside the charleston area. so it is starting to get nasty. this is the time we thought we would see the storm and what we are seeing is prolonged wind gusts between a0 and

50 miles an hour, rainfall that will last through most of the night and into the day on saturday. last through most of the night and into the day on saturdaylj last through most of the night and into the day on saturday. i heard that at one point the concern was shifting, it was not about the severity but more about the fact it could linger and could just be dumping more and more rain on these areas which are already dealing with areas which are already dealing with a bottle of water. what is the latest on that, on its part? that is exactly right, it is only moving about three miles an hour. that is like if you put a top on the floor and spin it, it isjust wobbling, and spin it, it isjust wobbling, and that is all it is doing right now. we don't know where it is going to go and how long it will take to get there. what that means from an impact standpoint is that the rains that have been falling, especially in north carolina, have been continuing. the rains are also continuing. the rains are also continuing to fall here in south carolina. some places in north carolina. some places in north carolina have picked up 20 inches of rain. they anticipate maybe a0 inches before it is all said and done. in charleston we get about 52 inches of rain per year, and many

places in north carolina will get that in just places in north carolina will get that injust a places in north carolina will get that in just a couple of days. one year of ra i nforest, that in just a couple of days. one year of rainforest, in just two or three days. we have these reports of fatalities and of course it is still early days, it is very sad to hear, but i just early days, it is very sad to hear, but ijust wonder how important the warnings you guys have been giving people, have contributed to the fact there hasn't been more of that?” heard people listened to them, the verbiage was pretty strong, that this was coming and it was going to lingerfor this was coming and it was going to linger for a this was coming and it was going to lingerfor a while. we put all the cards on the table and hopefully everybody did listen. obviously you don't want to lose even one life, but i believe we are now up to five fatalities, unofficially. that is five to many. this is a storm that because of the high storm surge and the potential for flooding, flooding really is one of the biggest killers, if not the biggest killer

ina killers, if not the biggest killer in a tropical system, because people get into a place they can't get out of, because the water can rise so quickly. so we hope folks did listen, i think they did, the city officials and the emergency management officials in the carolinas were management officials in the ca rolinas were constantly management officials in the carolinas were constantly on tv reminding people not to take this lightly. take it very seriously, don't let your guard down. robert, i am sure it is abe busy time for you and your colleagues. —— a busy time. thank you to taking the time to speak to us. thank you very much. on september 15th, 2008, lehman brothers filed for bankruptcy — a move which marked the beginning of the global financial crisis. the seeds of the problems had been planted in the years before, including the selling of subprime mortgages in the united states, when too many people were given mortgages they couldn't afford to repay. our north america correspondent correspondent nick bryant has been to one of the areas affected, in southwest florida. fort myers in florida was once the home of the american dream. but in 2008, it was dubbed the ground zero

of the great recession. affluent, dream suburbs where more than a0% of properties were repossessed. everything in this area was totally in foreclosure. estate agent machoseph witnessed the mystery of the crash, saw the tears of people who not only lost their homes, but also their faith in the economic promise of america. that whole dream of working hard and actually reaping the benefits of working hard, i think, for me, the american dream was that. that wasn't reality. the dream would have been i would have been retired ten years ago. not so many americans own property any more, a child's chance of earning more than their parents has plunged from 90% after the war to just 50%. and as lynn williams and her daughter emma will tell you, the children of the financial crisis are finding it harder to leave home. i have twojobs, plus an internship, and i'm probably getting about four to six hours of sleep. maybe three. maybe three, some nights. it depends on, like, when i get off of work.

and you still can't afford to move out? no. it's not any longer that you can go and get a degree and automatically get a well paying job. that isn't... that'sjust not how it runs any more in this country. what we didn't anticipate ten years ago was how the financial earthquake would upend the american political landscape. how voters like brenda biddle, who lost two luxury homes, would become donald trump's forgotten people. i had a really horrible eight years of just trying to get back on my feet. for a couple of years it was hard to feed my children, to be honest with you, especially when i did become single. and so your feeling when donald trump came along? excitement. i think hope was instant, day one. i think everybody was lifted. much of the us economy has rebounded. unemployment is at an 18—year low.

but even in the sunshine state, 2008 continues to cast long shadows. and its sprawling suburbs are no longer such a symbol of american upward mobility. nick bryant, bbc news, florida. in the world of basketball, steph curry looms large. at six foot three he may not be the tallest in the sport but he's the highest paid player in the nba and is considered by many to be an all—time great. the superstar of american sport has been shooting hoops in east london, and our sports editor dan roan went to meet him. apologies, we seem to have a problem bringing you that report. we will look for that and try to bring it to you later. comic con is in africa for the first time this weekend. thousands of fans will be dressing up and heading to the convention in south africa.

the event, which is one of the largest gatherings for fans of gaming, comics, and all that go with them, is usually held in san diego. but the genres are becoming increasing popular on the african continent. lebo diseko has more zombies, superheroes and more. thousands of comic and science—fiction fans all dressed up for comic con in johannesburg. science—fiction fans all dressed up for comic con injohannesburg. it is the first time the convention has taken place in africa and organisers say it has brought in people from all around the continent. it is a chance for comic book lovers to dress up as their favourite characters. the outfitters to out there, though costume to crazy. you get to dress up and be somebody else for a day and i think that is pretty awesome. you get to be your favourite person. i think dressing up, i never pass up a chance to dress up. i think it is very important to promote diversity, that you can cosplay anybody you want outside of your skin tone. your body

type, your ethnicity, it is a form of van expression. it is notjust about it dressing up. there are exhibitions, performances, and a chance for those who come along to meet their favourite artists. the three—day event co— exist with a big push by streaming services to cash in on the continent's love of all things comic related. but if you are hoping to get in on the action, it is too late. organisers say it is a com plete is too late. organisers say it is a complete sellout for all three days. the upside for the cosplay community, though, is that this year may be the first of many to come. earlier this week the archbishop of canterbury criticised amazons are paying almost nothing in taxes. it has now emerged that amazon is one of the church's the guest investments. packed full of references

to scripture, justin welby delivered his speech to the tuc on wednesday. the bible is political, from one end to the other. he took on zero—hour contracts the gig economy and then attacked the online retail giant amazon for paying so little in tax. and, having leeched off the taxpayer once, they don't pay for our defence, for security, for stability, forjustice, for health, for equality, for education. but it's now emerged that amazon is one of the church's 20 biggest investments, out of a total portfolio of almost £12 billion. and, despite the archbishop condemning zero—hours contracts, several churches and cathedrals are advertising zero—hours vacancies. he either chose to ignore or was unaware that the church of england had significant holdings in amazon. ijust cannot understand why the leader of the church of england, the leader of the nation's church, chose to be so poorly briefed or just ignore facts that he knew about. the church commissioners issued a statement defending

its investments, saying... "we take the view that it is more effective to be in the room with these companies, seeking change as an active shareholder, than speaking from the sidelines. justin welby chairs the church commissioners' annual general meeting. he also heads up the archbishops' council, which provides guidance to the church of england on its investments. so, if he's so opposed to companies like amazon, why hasn't he used his influence to disinvest? unfortunately, lambeth palace has declined our request for an interview. amazon has rebutted the archbishop's criticisms, saying that it paid all taxes required in the uk and every country where we operate. martin beshir, bbc news. that's it for now. thanks for

watching. hello again. before we look at the weather in the uk let us have a round—up of what is happening with the storms elsewhere in the world. for northern parts of the philippines battered by typhoon mangkhut, that is heading out into the south china sea, not far away from hong kong on sunday, not as powerful by this stage. back over the pacific, into north america, where we find florence. that will weaken over land this weekend it will continue to bring flooding rains to the carolinas. this area of cloud contains remnants of an ex—hurricane that could be heading our way next week. this weekend, bit of a mixed bag. wetter windier weather in the north—west that will start to push its way will start to push its way into england and wales next sunday. the best of the weather will be in the south—east. we have this link of drizzly rain across northern england. perhaps even into north wales. the wetter weather a rise

as the winds pick up in the afternoon across northern ireland and into western scotland. elsewhere dry weather. the difference in temperatures in the sunshine. through the evening and overnight you can see how this rain develops more widely in northern ireland, in scotland, pretty heavy rain. quite windy out there as well. some of that will edge of the irish sea. the south—east dry and clear. and across the board it should be quite a warm night on saturday night. the rain should move away from scotland and northern ireland. being replaced by sunshine and showers in the north—west. the rain gets stuck across northern england, wales, not far from the south—west. the east midlands, east anglia, the south—east likely to be warm but towards the north—west of the uk a different story, quite a bit cooler with the show

is coming in was the south—east, the temperatures continuing to creep up and up. into the early part of next week, this area of low pressure contains remnants of ex—hurricane helene. it will drive its way quickly northwards up the western side of the uk. uncertainty about the detail. the winds will collect really picking up as it sweeps its way northwards and is threatening to bring heavy rain briefly as well. the system has come from a long way south and contains tropical air. that will be felt across the east and south—east of the uk for monday and tuesday. it will be not as warm in the north and west of the uk. stronger winds. rain for a while. towards the south—east this is where temperatures will continue to climb into the mid—20s. this is bbc news. the headlines: at least five people have died as hurricane florence lashes down on the us east coast. a mother and child were killed when a tree fell on their house in wilmington. emergency workers are battling strong winds and floodwaters to try to rescue hundreds of people

trapped in their homes. a super typhoon has hit the north—east of the philippines, making landfall in baggao, with winds of over 200 kilometres per hour. more than four million people are directly in the path of the storm and thousands have been evacuated. president trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, has pleaded guilty to two charges, relating to his former role as a lobbyist in ukraine. as part of a plea deal, he will co—operate with the investigation into russian electoral interference. the white house say the new deal has nothing to do with mr trump. it is just after