high—profile investment conference in saudi arabia later this month after the disappearance of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. president trump threatened the possibility of severe punishment if the country is responsible forjamal khashoggi's disappearance and death. rescue teams are renewing efforts to find hundreds of people still missing after a hurricane hit florida on wednesday. at least 17 deaths are confirmed. there are fears the death toll will rise. a lack of food and water is among the most pressing issues. tens of thousands of antiracism demonstrations have been marching in berlin. the organisers say they want it to be a show of solidarity against the politics and xenophobia and exclusion. an outbreak of the disease myxomatosis is being reported in british hares for the first time. scientists fear it could infect hares in a similar way to rabbits, killing huge swathes of the population. countryfile‘s tom heap reports.

myxomatosis is a viral disease causing inflammation of the eyes, ears and lungs with death following extensive convulsions. it's been present in uk rabbits since the 1950s, often killing 99% of the population in an infected area. but now, similar symptoms have been seen in brown hares in different areas across east anglia with hares in distress, dying and unable to run from humans. britain's leading authority on hares and rabbits, dr diana bell from the university of east anglia, is leading the investigations. i wasn't expecting myxomatosis in hares. and i really hope that — hares have no protection in this country. on the continent, there is a closed season for shooting hares, not in the uk, so what i would hope for is an immediate ban on hunting. the scientists are awaiting postmortem confirmation

of the virus. that could tell them how itjumped from one species to another and, most importantly, how virulent it could prove. tom heap, bbc news. now on bbc news, our world. india rakusson visits the us state of montana to find out why so many white, middle—aged men are killing themselves. some viewers may find some scenes upsetting. every year, nearly 115,000 people in america die by suicide. that's over double the number of homicides. in the last 20 years, suicide rates in most western countries have fallen. but in the us, they have gone up by nearly one—third. and there's one particular

group of americans causing the spike in numbers — white, middle—aged men. i was going to kill myself. ijust said, "dude, you'rejust a flunky in the machine "and it's time to get the hell out." the largely white state of montana has the highest suicide rate in america, at double the national average. get busy! i want to try and understand just why so many middle—aged white men are taking their own lives, and what the impact of that is here. there was another gun there, and i thought, can i catch up? how fast does a soul travel? can i please catch up and be with him? i have come to flathead lake

in western montana, where kids are gathering for a summer camp. but they're not here just for a holiday. this is a camp for grieving children. nice to meet you finally! tina barrett is the director of the tamarack grief resource centre, which runs the 4—day event. kids come to this camp honouring different types of losses. the most common type of loss is suicide at our camps. the most common? yes. what are the numbers? how many people... we have perhaps 50 campers here, and about 18 are grieving the death of a family member by suicide. i'm so glad to see you guys. this is the third time

thatjenny has brought her daughters abby and lilly to stay here, and there's a reason why. people who lose someone to suicide are three times more likely to attempt it themselves. tell me what is going on here, what are you making? we call them the — i think it's flags of remembrance. and whose one is this? lilly's. nice. talk me through it. what have you got on here? i love fishing, this is a fishing boat. and who's rick? ourdad. when i was 11, he committed suicide. so, ijust — i come here and i process everything here. so, kind of like a place where you can sort of focus? yeah, it's a place where everybody understands what you're going through, you don't have to explain it, theyjust kind of know in their own way. there is a lot of them that say "dad". what do you say to the girls when you are saying goodbye? be strong, the way i know that

you are, i love you, i'm here, connect with everyone, and heal. white middle—aged men have the fastest growing suicide rate in the us. i want to get behind the statistics and find out more about one of these men, one of these dads. after rick's death in texas in 2014, jenny came to montana to build a new life. she remarried, and now there's a little baby brother for lilly and abby. it is a beautiful picture, isn't it? they look quite a lot younger! yes, they look different. what was he like when you met him? well, he was teaching in the same high school that i was teaching, and i was like, ooh, who is that? who's that chap? right, right, and we started having

coffee, and writing letters to one another, so we fell in love with letters. and to me, i think part of the reason i was so attracted to him, because he was this really strong, powerful man — but he was always a little emotionally standoff—ish. before they met, rick had been in the army. hejoined straight out of high school, and within months, was deployed to a frontline hospital during the first gulf war. he returned to build a life, which looked happy and successful, but under the surface, rick was struggling. i came home and i noticed he was off. i reassured him, i held him, and i am so glad i did. the next morning, he dropped lilly off at school, and later, lilly would tell me that he looked at her with really sad eyes... and then walked away from her. so that's hard. he went back to the house, he called the sheriff, and said, "this is

what i'm about to do," and he walked out the door, took the gun with him and took his own life. he sent me a text, said, "i love you so very much," and i know by the time of death, he sent me that text as the very last thing that he did. so i went to the house and i ran in to the closet, and i saw the safe open, where the guns were, and... i couldn't believe it. i thought — there was another gun there, and i thought, can i catch up? how fast does a soul travel? can i please catch up and be with him? i cannot imagine, like, how that day must have been. i'm so sorry. unfortunately, with suicide, everybody goes back to that day, or the few days before, and says, "what could i have done?" i think, my goodness, if i had any idea

what he was going to do, i would not have gone to work. i would have lost myjob, i would have done anything... to keep him from doing that. back at the grief camp, the girls are able to relax and have some fun. are you a bit of a braid master? it really depends, not on myself. eww! what does the camp mean to you? it'sjust kind of a place to come, to express yourself, be yourself and accept yourself. part of learning to deal with grief involves the girls thinking about their dad, and how they want to remember him. what was he like as a dad? he was the best dad, to answer your question. yeah? yeah. he was stern, but he was still fun, and kind, andjust like... like a best friend —

to me, at least. when you found out that your dad had taken his life, can you remember... yeah. like... isaid, 0k. ijust kind of walked out. you walked out? yep. i had a different reaction. for me, it kind of felt like i was being stabbed repeatedly in my stomach, in my heart. it's a pain that you really just can't describe, that you don't feel twice. i'm still mad at him. my grandma's up there, she will... she will whip his booty. oh, my gosh, yeah. wherever they are, he's in for it from my grandma. why are you mad at him? because he left. rick: alright, y'all have a good time... he left with a lot of promises broken. what were those promises? that he'd never leave —

that's the biggest one. andjust, like, little things like threatening my first boyfriend, or walking me down the aisle or taking me to my first school dance. just things that your dad is supposed to do with you that he's never going to do with me. in the last 20 years, suicide rates for white, middle—aged men have skyrocketed, whilst those for black and asian americans haven't changed much. just south of the camp is the largely white county of missoula, where there has been a 50% increase in suicides in the last five years. we are moving on to our tumbling... i came to missoula's biggest event, the county fair, to try to understand the pressures that men are facing here. the first number is b4 — b4...

do you think it is getting harder for men? it is getting harder to make the money, to provide for your family. what does it mean, as a man, if you're not able to provide for that family? itjust feels like i failed, i failed my wife, i failed my kids. tv is guarded it round of applause. —— give these guys a big round of applause. do guys talk to each other about their problems? no! laughs in general, no. at least... none of the guys that i know. i met up with mayorjohn engen who was born and raised in the county. today, missoula montana is a lot different from it was when i was born in 1964. we manufactured and depended on the timber industry. that industry was largely a man's world. it's truck driving, it's logging, it's equipment operation. if you're a person of my generation,

much of your identity is wrapped up in what you do. what's the first thing you ask a stranger in a social situation — what do you do? what do you do? yeah. so for a very long time, the answer might‘ve been, i am a logger, which meant that you put in a solid day of work for a reasonable wage, and at the end of the day, you provided for your family, you've created a product. when i ask people what they do for work in missoula, the answers are far more complex than they used to be. "i am between jobs, i don't do anything right now. "but this is what i was — this is what i was." in a world where you grow up with that label and that label is important, and somebody suddenly tears the tag off, who are you? but this isn'tjust a rustbelt town in decline.

missoula's economy is thriving. but the old jobs are disappearing, and many white, working class men are feeling left behind. the folks you see here today, a lot of them are going to be from places where what was the traditional western lifestyle is still very much alive to them. that sense of self—sufficiency and that you ought not rely on really anybody but yourself, and as boys, we're taught from a very young age — "man up, toughen up, you don't cry." when problems compile to a point that you can't shake it off, and there's no way in hell that you're going to have a conversation with another adult human being about how miserable you are, your options start to narrow considerably. it's hard not to see a connection between the distress felt by so many of these men and the challenges of adjusting to a changing world.

white guys have had it pretty good for a long time. but some of the edges are being nipped at. if i am not the boss, who am i? if my boss is a woman, what does that mean for me? if my boss is a muslim woman, what does that mean for me? "that's not the way i grew up, none of that is the way it was," right? the missoula police are on the frontline of this crisis, and the number of mental health and suicidal callouts has doubled in three years. christian cameron is a patrol officer with the force. within seconds of being in the patrol car, a suicide—related call comes through. i copy, thank you.

it draws a lot of our resources. we are responding to this right now, two officers, there could be crimes going on that we are not able to respond to because we are handling these types of calls. ok, so we are pulling into the complex now. how is it going, bud? you don't need any assistance or anything from us, no thoughts about harming yourself or anything like that? no. if you need anything from us at any time, call 911, ok? is he 0k? he is, we made contact with him. he works a graveyard shift, so he was just sleeping. so, this is the third suicide related call today for the force? i believe so, yes. one was a person that was... at a residence in their front yard, holding a hand gun to their head. oh, my gosh, in theirfront yard?

yes. another individual went into one of the local sporting goods stores and was attempting to take a firearm in order to try and harm himself. and that is the thing that gets mentioned again and again — guns. they are the most common method of suicide for american men and there are a lot of them in montana. the men here are killing themselves with firearms at a rate far higher than the national average. in missoula, people in suicidal crisis are brought to st patrick's hospital, which is under increasing pressure. hey, it's brooks. brooks bear is a mental health professional here. you're a busy man. that is the way the job goes.

it is a lot of chaos. so, you work a straight 48—hour shift? yeah, i am covering the emergency department for a 48—hour stretch. how many people would you see in your shift? 20 is probably average. so if i see 20 people in 48 hours, 12, 13, you know, 14ish will be suicidal. what are you seeing? it's getting worse? i think it is getting much worse. just in the time i have been working in this hospital, i think our numbers are coming up 20% or 30% each year. wow. my gosh. yeah, noticeable. but despite the growing need, this year, montana has seen huge cuts to its mental health budget. i think the mental health cuts are having a pretty big impact. if there were stronger outpatient services, about 30% of what i've been seeing lately, i would not see. because they have nowhere to turn. this place is going to go wild for hours. it won't be too long. across america,

many men turn to substances to cope with their distress. in montana, those who go on to end their life are twice as likely as other americans to have alcohol their system. a few hours later, i caught up with brooks to talk more about this. we do love alcohol here. you through alcohol at any suicidal individual and you have exponentially increased the risk. literally loneliness and alcohol. i talk to so many men who just talk about this crushing loneliness. loneliness literally hurts. the brain reads loneliness like physical pain. all they know is to them this pain is unbearable. and along with alcohol and loneliness, there is another factor. montana has the fastest growing income inequality in the country.

and it is the poorest communities that more and more people are taking their lives. the more disparity between the haves and the have—nots, the higher the suicide rate. if you are rubbing your shoulders with the wealthy, and you are not wealthy, it makes us white middle—class males feel inadequate. we are a burden on people. we are not producing. it only highlights more that the more i am a have—not, the more i want to and my life. since arriving in montana, i wanted to talk to one of these white middle—aged men who have tried to take their own lives. but there is a lot of stigma around suicide. and it's hard to get anyone to talk. then right at the end of my visit, i get a call. as soon as i left work, i was going to kill myself. ijust said, "dude, you have nothing to show for all your efforts — "you are just a flunky

in the machine, and it is time "to get the hell out." go. russell is 63 and has lived in his family home for the last 40 years. he has suffered with depression for decades. a few years ago, he was determined to take his own life. ijust ran in here and i — i took the shotgun out and then i looked at the dog and said, "what am i going to do with the dog?" and then i started putting another — i started putting another shell in the shotgun. because i thought i would have to shoot her too. and she gave me this look whichjust said, "what's going on? " and, "i just said i can't do this. i can't do this." what was going on in your life,

russell, that made you feel like you wanted to take your life? i mean, at the time, i was alone. alone? yeah, i — it was just me living here. and one dog. and loneliness can be kind of a terrible taskmaster. this can be a tough country to live in. if you are not a competitive person — and i'm not — it's not easy. americans like a winner. they don't like people who are not winners. all our lives we are given this false notion of american superiority — that we are supposed to be superhuman. i'm superman, clark kent. i will rip off my shirt and i will have a cape plastered on my chest and i will save the free world. and of course we are not going to.

most of us are just people like me. i think that a lot of people in montana, they reach that same level of panic because they don't make enough money. there's a level of terror among people as they work longer and they fall farther and farther and farther behind. i noticed you have a tattoo on your arm. what is this for? when you end a sentence with a semicolon, you're basically saying, 0k, that's not the end of the sentence, there's more to come after that. thank you so much. this is my way of saying there's more to come after this in my life. thank you for sharing it. all right, thank you for giving me the opportunity. i'm not going to give in or give up. i hope. back at the grief camp

at flat head lake, things are drawing to a close. there is no single reason for the growing suicide crisis amongst white middle aged men in america. but what is clear is that people are not talking enough, and that is one thing this camp is trying to change. it is ok to seek help. it is ok to have tough days. and when we do, it is ok to ask people that we think are hurting. asking about suicide does not cause suicide. camps like this are rare. coming here year after year has been life—changing forjenny and her girls. and it has given them hope. the three of us are sitting there with our feet in the water and i looked at my two girls

and realised that life is going to be ok. that it could be good again. that we could have moments like this at this incredible lake and we actually can have a lot of fun making a lot of new memories together. hello. some parts of south wales have seen in excess of 200mm already since friday morning when the rain began. there are numerous flood warnings still out, notjust in wales, and yet more heavy rain to come through the day today. though eventually it does dry up in the west. it was really miserable in the rain and cold, only eight degrees in dalwhinnie.

contrast that with 26 degrees in the sunshine in lincolnshire. that makes it the warmest day so late in the year. the reason for that is the air is being drawn up from the south. i need to point out this massive cloud which is the remnants of hurricane leslie. it has been bringing very powerful winds, 100mph, in across iberia. a real battering from those winds and potential flash flooding from the rains. with our weather front, we have another pulse of rain heading northwards along that weather front through the day as it edges eastwards. we are hoping it will have cleared away from northern ireland by the time we get to the morning and then we have this fresher atlantic air coming in. it means a chilly start. still another day of really warm weather in eastern areas but not as warm as it was yesterday because we've got the rain. chilly start from northern ireland, potential for mist and fog, and then our weather front is sitting a little bit further east with further pulses of heavy rain running northwards so that may well

exacerbate the flooding situation. we'll keep an eye on that. further west, some drier weather coming in. still met office yellow warnings out for the rain across wales, north—west england, southern scotland. you can see further east, a very different day. even if it stays mostly dry in east anglia and kent, we could get 20 degrees. we'll have a lot more cloud here and across central and north—eastern parts of england. western scotland, northern ireland, much brighter, 13 degrees. pleasant in the light winds. but even as we go through the night and into monday, the rain is still potentially hanging on across the south—eastern areas. but as it eventually clears away and we get under a ridge of high pressure, we will see temperatures dipping away overnight but but by day, nowhere near as high on monday. a fresher air stream. it does mean some chilly nights. the weather front still close by to the south and east but under a ridge of high pressure, at this time of year, we can expect some fog and frost problems before we get the next atlantic weather system in. generally speaking, as we go into the start of the new week, the weather slowly improves. not for the short term, not through sunday, lots of heavy rain to come.

but hopefully monday and a much weaker weather front on tuesday. bye— bye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: the bbc learns britain and the us are considering a business boycott if saudi arabia is proven to have killed a journalist at its turkish consulate. president trump threatens severe punishment. i will be also calling king salman of saudi arabia, because i think it's appropriate for me to ask him what is going on. after anti—racism demonstrations in the german capital, the far right is expected to make gains in sunday's crucial elections in bavaria. march of the migrants — on the road with the honduran families defying washington to seek

a better life in the united states. and like father, like son —