this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at apm: theresa may defends her brexit plan — as the prime minister hits out at speculation over her future. this is where i get a little bit irritated. this is not — this debate is not about my future. this debate is about the future of the people of the uk and the future of the united kingdom. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, calls for a second eu referendum — as he attacks the government's handling of brexit. in other news, around 50 people are killed in flooding and landslides in the philippines as typhoon mangkhut moves towards the china coast. the french far right leader, marine le pen rebrands her party to try and broaden its appeal. lewis hamilton wins the singapore grand prix to extend his lead in the championship to a0 points — withjust six races remaining. and the inside out team examine the ongoing rail crisis in the north of england. that's in half an hour

here on bbc news. good afternoon. theresa may has said she gets "irritated" by the ongoing speculation over her position as prime minister. mrs may told the bbc , the debate should be about the country's future, rather than her own, with only six months to go before brexit. her comments come days after conservative mps opposed to her brexit plan met to discuss how and when they could force her to stand down. nick eardley has more. at chequers, where her brexit proposal was born, a sight we don't often see — the prime minister at ease, defending her plan for life outside the eu. this week, some discussed replacing her over that policy,

but theresa may says it's not her future that is important, it's the country's. this is where i get a little bit irritated. this debate is not about my future. this debate is about the future of the people of the uk and the future of the united kingdom. that's what i'm focused on and that's what i think we should all be focused on. ensuring that we get a good deal from the european union, which is good for the people of the uk, wherever they live in the uk. some brexit backers would say the plan would be a disaster. they are flexing their political muscles to change it. michael gove says he backs the prime minister, saying he is compromised. but he says compromises needn't be forever. a future prime minister could always choose to alter the relationship between britain and european union. the chequers approach is the right one for now, because we need to respect the vote and take advantage of the opportunities of being outside the european union. but with so many different views still on the table, who makes the final call?

london's mayor thinks it should be voters in a referendum in the final deal. the question should be a choice between the deal done by this government or staying in the european union. the deal done by this government we can now actually see what the consequences would be. labour's leadership remains to be convinced on another referendum. the prime minister insists it won't happen. she says she'll fight for her plan. you know what some people say, they rather liked it when you joked about being "that bloody difficult woman", they liked that. and they sometimes say, "where's she gone? we want her back." she's still there. but there's a difference between those who think you can only be bloody difficult in public and those of us who think, actually, you bide your time and you're bloody difficult when the time is right and when it really matters. and it's that resolve that will be tested in the coming months. nick eardley, bbc news. all next week here on bbc news, we mark six months until brexit. we'll take a closer look

at the potential impact of the uk leaving the eu, beginning in salford and burnley. that's tomorrow morning from 11 here on bbc news. at least 50 people are now known to have been killed in the philippines by typhoon mangkhut, many of them caught in landslides set off by heavy rain. the typhoon has now moved across from the philippines , to southern china and hong kong, with winds of up to ioomph. from hong kong, robin brant sent this report. this was a monster typhoon that hit three places in three days. hong kong was in the middle. more than 100 people here have been injured, but no deaths have been reported. the biggest casualties were shattered windows and fallen trees. dozens of roads were blocked. there's some flooding in lower—lying areas, as well. this is obviously not what sunday evening in one of the main streets in hong kong is supposed

to look like. there is rubbish everywhere. we've got about half a metre of flooding there, as well. the worst of the winds have passed, but there's a big clean—up operation that needs to happen. people still being urged to stay indoors. it wasn't a direct hit and the worst has passed, but the rain is falling and there's a landslide warning in place. it's still dangerous to be out. translation: i'm here to feel the strength of the typhoon. it's quite strong. in the philippines, it was more serious. the death toll there is rising — the damage more widespread in smaller communities in a country less able to protect its people. in a flooded home, rescuers found a mother and child, stranded. both were saved. the child passed first to safety. here, too, though, there is now the threat of mudslides. mangkhut has now made landfall in mainland china, hitting guangdong province,

the final stop on its devastating westerlyjourney. thousands had already been evacuated there. they'll know the full extent of the damage once monday comes. robin brant, bbc news, hong kong. the east coast of the united states is facing an "epic amount of rainfall," particularly in north and south carolina where at least 12 people have died as a result of storm florence. many people in the area have been moved to safety and those that have attempted to return home are being urged not to, as further flooding is on the way. our north america correspondent, chris buckler, reports. this storm has left streets submerged across north carolina. towns along the coast and now inland have become badly flooded, leaving rescue teams as the only route to safety for some families. from the air, you get a better sense of the scale of the problems here, and during the brief breaks in the weather, this has been the most effective way of getting

people out of cut—off areas like new bern. driving conditions are increasingly difficult. motorists have been advised to avoid this state completely if they can. and new evacuation warnings have come into force for more of these carolinan towns. the worst is yet to come. mandatory evacuations for areas within one mile of the cape fear river in fayetteville, and one mile of the little river have been implemented. the number of people who have died as a result of this extreme weather is continuing to rise. florence is no longer a hurricane, but this sprawling storm is moving slowly across the carolinas, dumping months of rainfall injust days. the effects of hurricane florence are still being felt — and the authorities say as long as the rain falls, there is the danger of further catastrophic flash flooding. and after this week in north carolina, both man and beast are well aware of the impact of that. chris buckler, bbc news, wilmington.

vince cable has said his party will "not buy" any brexit dealfrom brussels — based on theresa may's chequers proposal. the liberal democrat leader was speaking at the party's annual conference in brighton. mr cable criticised the prime minister's plan — suggesting that it has "an enormous hole in it" — because there is no provision for services which make up 80% of the british economy. wall two big issues which you can't escape that the lib dem conference in brighton this year, one of them you were just talking about there, brexit and the party's policy to oppose and stop brexit in what way they can and the other one is merely the state of the party itself, and whether it needs to undergo the changes as the leader, sir vince cable, has put forward

and suggested in order really to survive and broaden its appeal, to bring more people in as unpaid supporters to allow non—mps to stand for leadership, that something so vince cable was facing questions on in the main hall early on. a bit of nervousness it's fair to say among lib dem members who have heard these proposals and worry their party is going to be open to all and sundry and that someone who was not an elected member of parliament who the membership weren't particularly happy with could come in and install themselves as leader of the party, as one person put it to sir vince cable, they were worried someone like chuka umunna, the labour mp campaigning for a second vote on the final deal with brussels, could come in and end up as the party leader. this was sir vince cable's response. there is no leadership election in prospect except in the longer term. we have very good mps, i see nothing wrong with opening up the talent pool and looking at people who share our values.

it may be that the party rejects them, maybe they don't get through the nomination process, maybe they don't get through the star chamber interrogation process. at least not rule things out from first principles, because we can think of somebody who we distrust who might get through it hypothetically. that seems completely the wrong way of looking at it. in a liberal party, surely we are open to choice. looking at possibilities. applause applause for sir vince cable as he answered those concerns about potential changes to the party which will only happen of course if the membership agree to them and get behind them. lots of seniorfigures in the party is certainly saying he has got the right idea with those suggestions. brexit, the big policy the lib dems have they are struggling really to capitalise on as a major party who oppose brexit.

yesterday, the brexit spokesman tom brake said there would not be time for parliament to scrutinise the deal that the government reached with the eu on the terms of britain's withdrawal from the eu so what what would lib dem mps do regardless of the deal that the government comes back with when parliament gets its chance to vote on it? sir vince was asked about that in a question and answer session earlier today. there is an enormous hole there that has been exposed. but if you are left ona late—night in early january with that in front of you, you can't possibly go for no deal. we are not going to buy it. a clear signal that was sir vince cable that regardless of the deal the government manages to get, if indeed

there is one with the eu on britain's exit from the eu, then lib dem mps will vote against it in parliament. that may have a big impact because the parliamentary arithmetic is tight as we know, to may does not have much of a majority in parliament at all. it will not take much for, if a handful of labour mps or indeed most of them, vote against it along with the lib dems to put the government in a very difficult position over that. the french far—right leader marine le pen — has rebranded her party in an effort to broaden its political appeal. formerly known as the front national — the party is now called ‘rassemblement national‘. our correspondent, hugh schofield, is in paris, and sent this update. rebranding, a new name but the message is identical to what was there before. she has had a tough year and a half, she lost the election of course against macron after a pitiful performance in the second round of the elections, then there have been these judicial problems, money problems, the defection of her very important number two,

so people have been tending to say it is all a bit of a bust and flush but i have to say there is a sense that the hard right in the form of marine le pen is very much back. this was the opening salvo in a period leading to the european elections in which we will see a lot of her and a lot of the confidence she used to have back in action. largely, down to the opinion polls. the opinion poll, a very important one last week, showed that in voting intentions for next year's european elections in may, she and her party, the national rally, on now neck and neck with emmanuel macron‘s party. this is crucial and very interesting because it shows the traditional parties, the moderate right and left are still not resurrecting themselves from the ashes of the debaucle in the presidential election and still if you want to position yourself as somebody who does not like macron and wants to undo his liberalising, globalising policy, then the place

you will go to is not the far left which for a time seemed to be the port of call but once again the hard right represented by marine le pen and her party. she also has this sense which is hardly the first time we are reporting on it, but that she is representative of a transnational movement across europe. she brought this up over again in the speech, you look across europe to salvini, to hungary, to what's happening in sweden, denmark, and you have a sense, she has a sense that as she put it, there is a big shake—up going on in europe and she wants to be part of it. the headlines on bbc news... theresa may has revealed her ‘frustration‘ with the continued speculation over her leadership — as the prime minister defends her brexit plan. at least 50 people are killed by flooding and landslides in the philippines — as typhoon mangkhut batter the china coast. the french far right leader,

marine le pen rebrands her party to try and broaden its appeal. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. a great result come on his brother putting distance between himself and his rivals in the standings. he world champion made winning here look easy. vital for victory.

world champion made winning here look easy. vitalfor victory. his bridle vettel creche at the start and almost did so again as he fought with max verstappen the ferrari got ahead while others got caught up showing what can go wrong. vettel stopped early for fresh tyres but when verstappen for doubt after his stop, he snatched back, the dutchman delighted. focus, now. vettel slighted. this race is supposed to bea slighted. this race is supposed to be a bogey one for mercedes but with metal coming third, hamilton's championship lead has grown to a0 points. the battle isn't over yet but the finishing line is getting closer. burnley are still searching for their first burnley are still searching for theirfirst premier burnley are still searching for their first premier league win of their first premier league win of the season after a 1—1 defeat of rules. last season's championship winners were on top but could only manage one goal. west ham have a 1—0

lead against everton. it had been billed as the fight of the year — the rematch between canelo alvarez and gennady golovkin one year on from their previous fight — a controversial draw in las vegas. last night, canelo became the new unified middleweight champion — winning by majority decision but there is already talk of a third encounter between the pair. 0ur reporter ade adedoyin was in las vegas and says last night's fight was close. three matches don't always live up to expectation but this was a highly contest. i spoke to manyjournalists ringside who all had it closed, some even calling it a draw. alvarez got the decision and described it as one of the greatest moments of his life. he said it was a proud moment for mexico, this bout happening on the weekend of mexico's independence day

celebrations. as for golovkin, he came to the news conference wearing sunglasses after having stitches for a cut eye. he says cvs the arena a defeated man but in his heart he still feels he's is the champion after he he did enough to win. he says he is open to a fair fight. there was certainly an appetite for trilogy and both men will earn over $50 million for two ‘s fight. another bank holiday weekend for mexico, a real possibility they could do it again then in may and anotherfight, could do it again then in may and another fight, great for vegas and the local economy. great britain will be seeded in next year's revamped davis cup competiion after beating uzbekistan 3—1 in their world group play off tie this weekend. britihs number two, cameron n0rrie beat sanjar fayziev in glasgow in the first of today's singles matches to give great britain vicotry in glasgow. kenya's eliud kipchoge has set a new marathon world record after destroying the field in berlin with a time of ‘two hours, with a time of two hours, the 33—year—old took more than a minute off the previous best. kipchoge is regarded as one of the greatest marathon

runners of all time, he is the current 0lympic champion and won the london marathon for a third time earlier this year. and the vuelta a espana is coming to a close in madrid. britain's simon yates is set to win his first grand tour title as long as he crosses the finish line. plenty more on that on the bbc sport website. we will have more for you in around an hour's time, i think. let's return now to news that at least 50 people are now known to have been killed in the philippines by typhoon mangkhut, many of them caught in landslides set off by heavy rain. large expanses on the main island of luzon are under water, including farms which produce a big portion of the nation's rice and corn. 0ur correspondent howard johnson sent us this update. today, we made the 50 milejourney to a seaside town that we visited a day before the storm struck.

we wanted to go back to see how people had fares during the storm. 0n the way we saw electricity poles felled, forests ripped to shreds and we saw crops completely destroyed. when we got there, we went along to meet a man who we had seen the day before the storm struck, he told us at the time he would wait to watch the waves and pray to god before they decide whether he would leave his home or not. when we saw him today, his house had been completely destroyed. the roof had been ripped off and his living room was in tatters. he was fighting back tears as he told us he was sad because his house had been completely destroyed. president duterte has blown over this region today to assess the damage, he said he will dig deep to give to those most in need. he says he shares the grief of those who have lost loved ones because of this typhoon. the final death toll is still not known because more

information keeps coming in. there have been lots of landslides affecting particularly the north of the country and tonight we have heard details of a landslide where at least 32 miners have died, they are still looking for other survivors and the hope is they will work through the night to find as many people as they can. earlier i spoke tojoy maluyo, communications officer at aid organisation world vision, who is on the island of luzon — and began by asking her what conditions were like on the ground. it is still chaos here, actually i have travelled here and i have seen at least two or three landslides. clearing operations are still ongoing. we are starting to get more information about the extent of typhoon mangkhut‘s damage, especially here in this province, as you mentioned, there have been at least 50 deaths already including children.

majority of these deaths were caused by landslides, world vision is really worried about the effect of this experience, especially to the children. we are also elsewhere at the moment, they were able to go to the place where the typhoon made its landfall. farmlands were reduced to nothing, and parents are now worried on how to provide for children. their children's needs, in the coming days. obviously there are some areas you have not yet been able to access. what is proving to be the most difficult aspect of this weather event when it comes to accessibility and knowing the true extent of the typhoon? it is very challenging, especially here, because going here this afternoon, there have been a lots of closures

on roads, we had to take longer routes. there is still a threat of more landslides. going to this area at the moment is a bit dangerous, it is dangerous especially, rescue operations are ongoing. a russian activist supporting the protest group pussy riot, pyotr verzilov has been flown from moscow to berlin for specialist treatment following a suspected poisoning. he became seriously ill on tuesday. he is best known for an anti—putin protest at the world cup final in moscow earlier this year. 0ur correspondent damien mcguinness is in berlin, and he told me a bit more about this story. he arrived late last night here in berlin on an ambulance plane that was funded by a german ngo that has in the past also helped other anti—putin activists. that's because he became seriously ill in moscow,

his fellow anti—putin activists say that's because he was poisoned. that's what they suspect. it seems he was unable to speak, could not walk or hear anything, was rushed into hospital in a very serious condition. he then was sent over here to germany to a very famous hospital here in berlin where he is right now being given treatment. he is apparently much better now according to a statement by one of his fellow activists. we still don't really know what exactly happened because doctors and officials here in germany have not yet confirmed whether this was in fact a poisoning, and if so, what's behind it. we still don't really know why he's ill. but he is ill and he is in hospital right now in berlin. any reaction from russia? he's also a canadian citizen so what have officials been saying, if anything? he is quite a controversial figure in russia. so far no official statement about him being in germany right now.

in russia, he really divides opinion because this group is not necessarily very popular with many russian voters. they have done quite a few anti—putin stunts which many russians would feel as disrespectful, for example a performance in a cathedral, "punk prayer" is what they called it. he has also engaged in an orgy in a museum and released cockroaches into a court, lots of things his supporters and anti—putin opposition activists quite like because it really gets publicity and shakes people up. some russian voters don't like it because they feel it's very disrespectful. he does divide opinion in russia. he himself is not a massive name in russia but his group, pussy riot, is very famous. he was previously with an art connective, whose name is "war" in russian, a group also known for controversial acts. right now, this group wants to create publicity to get opposition going against putin, some people like that and some don't.

but he has got a lot of support in the west so it's likely that people who don't like or criticise the russian government will also be very interested to see what happens to him here in germany. interesting to point out he still faces charges in russia because after that stunt which you mentioned which many of us will have seen at the world cup when he ran onto the football pitch dressed in a fake policeman‘s uniform, he was fined and put into jailfor 15 days. after he was released, he was then given other charges which he has not yet gone to court for. it might get controversial still, it might be quite a difficult situation if he does not go back to russia to face these charges so that could be the next problem that we now see here in berlin. the leader of the conservative party in scotland, ruth davidson, has said that she never wants to be prime minister because she "values her mental health too much".

in an interview with the sunday times newspaper she's spoken for the first time of her struggle with depression, suicidal thoughts and self harm. ms davidson, who is pregnant with her first child, had frequently been tipped as a future leader. a major study into taking an aspirin—a—day suggests the drug should not be taken by healthy, elderly people. aspirin is taken widely for its impact on the heart but the clinical trial on 19,000 people in the us and australia found no benefit for people in good health over 70. president barack 0bama received 65,000 letters each week when he was in office and would try to answer ten of them each day. this week a book byjeanne marie laskas will be published about this unusual correspondence. ahead of its release we've been taking a look at some of the messages he received. his wife and two children paid $1200

a month for health insurance. its tickets to the franklin institute in the heart of philly. the president 0bama, i'm very concerned about what i'm hearing about your new health care plan. dear president 0bama, i hear you are good at correcting homework, i was wondering if you could take a look at this. particularly the highlighted portion on the back. how didl highlighted portion on the back. how did i do? it was cool. how many people get a

letter from the president of united states states imprisoned ?m letter from the president of united states states imprisoned? it gives you a sense of what's best about america will stop and it inspires you. it makes you want much now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. looks like we are stepping into a spell of autumnal, wet and windy weather. still some rain in behind, our next area of low pressure from the atlantic. wind and rain on its way. through the evening and overnight, drizzly rain, misty over the hills. behind it, clear skies, a bit cooler with showers toward the north. already by the time you get to monday we will start to see the next area of wet weather starting to move in. the remnants of ex—hurricane helene, so some tropical endings there will be quite a lot of rain. in the south, despite misty,

murky weather, it is improving a bright with sunshine and warm as well, even across the eastern side of scotland.