in you're in watching beyond one hundred days. 10 devices, 8 targets — the list of senior americans who've received explosives is growing. they are actors, politicians, former presidents — but they have one thing in common. they are all critics of donald trump. the devices were sent in the mail, they were functional but rudimentary, they had pipes and wires. that's what we know — what we don't is who sent them and why. the us military is sending 800 troops to the mexican border in anticipation of the arrival of a caravan of migrants. also on the programme. saudi arabia admits for the first time that the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi was premeditated — president trump is to be briefed by his cia director who has been gathering information in turkey. the billionaire sir philip green has been named in the uk parliament as the businessman accused by a newspaper of sexual harassment. a court has stopped the paper printing his name earlier this week. and why breaking his hip was good for the bank balance of one hospital patient in newjersey,

it's more lottery news. hello and welcome — i'm katty kay in washington and nuala mcgovern is in london. eight top americans have been sent explosive devices and the president today appeared to blame the media for making people angry. donald trump initially urged unity in the face of these threats but now he says the angry culture in the country is the fault of the press. in all ten devices have been sent to barack obama, hillary clinton, john brennan, eric holder, maxine waters, george soros, joe biden and the new york restaurant of robert de niro. they are all either democratic officials or critics of the president. the bbc‘s nick bryant has the latest. these are the scenes that america woke up to — what looked like old footage from the war in iraq, but which were real—time images from a postal facility in delaware. a bomb disposal expert

examining a suspect package, addressed to the former vice president, joe biden. yet another prominent democrat sent a crude bomb. in the middle of the night, lower manhattan became the focus and a package sent to a restaurant owned by the movie star robert de niro, an outspoken critic of donald trump. once again, a suspect explosive device, hauled safely away in a vehicle that is fast becoming a familiar sight. it's called a total containment vessel. at a campaign rally last night, donald trump said acts of political violence were an attack on democracy, but some of his strongest remarks were directed at journalists. as part of a larger national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and often times false attacks and stories, have to do it. have to do it.

the president accepted no personal responsibility for his part in the coarsening of american life. and this morning on twitter, he renewed his attack on the media. "a very big part of the anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposefully false and inaccurate reporting of the mainstream media that i refer to as fake news." that got this response from the former cia directorjohn brennan, who was sent an explosive package. "stop blaming others. look in the mirror, your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies and encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. clean up your act." because none of the devices have exploded, the fbi has manned a mound of forensic evidence to help track down who is responsible. but some prominent conservatives have claimed this is all a liberal hoax, timed to coincide with crucial congressional elections.

with us now is david chipman. he's a retired special agent for the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. if you are still an agent and working on this case, how seriously where are you taking it? this is as serious as it comes. there is nothing fake about this attack, it is widespread and unprecedented. any time in the agent has to come up to a device and determine if it is working the risk their life. there is no bigger investigation in the united states now, and it is ongoing. the priority is to keep people safe and stop this resulting in an explosion, what would your priority be? the priority is to remain in communication with the

media and public. it is that relationship which can help you develop leads and also you are responding to scenes. a mountain of evidence has been collected because the bombs did not explode so agents like myself will be tracing the components, trying to identify unique parts of the advice and looking back at past cases to see if there is a match. leeds will develop as they have been developed in different means. let us talk about that because we have heard about mail bombs and pipe bombs. that because we have heard about mail bombs and pipe bombsm appears that potentially some of their packages were actually mailed. it seems that other packages were delivered through private parties and perhaps others might have been delivered by the bomb itself. it is not clear i would say at this point in the investigation, investigators do know what has happened and it is

important the leaves which will be delivered by this delivery method. with this incident which came together quickly, do we know it would be from the same person or group? can that be identified so far? certainly as an investigator, the first clue would be can be determined from where these devices we re determined from where these devices were originated? if they were all delivered in the same area, perhaps you would think one person would do it but i can tell you ten or nine devices, in this short timeframe, unprecedented in my experience. we made the point that all the people who were sent these packages were critics of president trump or senior democrats, with that factor into the investigation? it might factor in later. i would suggest that right now for agents on the ground, gnome,

later it may explain why the person who i hope they identify did what they did but that had been many cases i worked were the obvious explanation is not what really happens. in some cases, the bomber himself set off a counter story to cover their actions so fallen the evidence, identify a suspect, make a case against the suspect and then we can figure out the why. thank you very much for coming in. thank you. very interesting. joining us now from washington is the bbc‘s nick bryant. what is the latest euro here in? politically speaking, the country is tearing itself apart. this is so highly politicised. donald trump, after making calm statements in the immediate aftermath in the discovery

of the devices at that rally last night, was far more critical of the media for their part in ratcheting up media for their part in ratcheting up the kind of anger in the country as he put it. he repeated that on twitter today. we are seeing a return to this polarisation which is such a feature of politics in this country. it seems that nothing can bring this country together any more where that it is mass shootings, or terror attacks where you get the debate about immigration were the latest supreme court nominees or football on a sunday afternoon, everything at the moment in america seems to be politicised. the argument that words matter, how much resonance does that half, the white house saying the president says there is, talking at rallies but thatis there is, talking at rallies but that is a big step between what the

president says and actions actually been taking, is that a feeling that words matter and that is something the white house should be careful about? certainly there is a feeling on the left and the moderate right that some of the president's words have created a climate which is far angrier than we have seen in normal times. politics has always been a rough—and—tumble game, especially in this town but i do not think we have seen the same extent to which political divisiveness has become pa rt political divisiveness has become part of the business model of both political parties. we live in an american policy now where the aim is to maximise turnout among your supporters whether republicans or democrats and that has led to a very tribal politics. we have seen the absence of a kind of middle. in the turbulence of the 1960s, the result was a middle, moderate democrats who

would work with moderate republicans, even through watergate. even during the 1990s when politics got more toxic in the aftermath of the cold war with more partisan figures like bill clinton and newt gingrich, they could find common agreement but that is rare now. the iranian was that yesterday we had an example of that, a bipartisan bill passed by republicans in congress is aimed at dealing with the opioid crisis which is a huge crisis, more of killed through the entire vietnam warare of killed through the entire vietnam war are killed every year but those exa m ples war are killed every year but those examples are very rare in american politics right now because we are talking about this two america's narrative. thank you very much. that sense of unity and division is important. i remember the anthrax attacks in the early to thousands. they came at a

time of unity after 2011. generally what happens in the country, if you get something like this, the country would come together and certainly the body politic would come together to protect people but that has not happened. it lasted about five hours yesterday and we are back into the process of name—calling from the left and right. supporters of the president actually blaming the left for the attacks, saying this is a hoax. this is being called irresponsible by some people. the moment you start in on this debate, you are accused of being anti—or prodl the president. how can those agents conduct an investigation with that kind of political climate. what he said about sticking to the evidence, that is the only baby can do theirjobs. do you think that is

happening at this moment, during the midterms, if this happens at a different time of year would be less politically charged? everything is heightened at the moment. the president wants to talk about immigration. the democrats want to talk about health care. this trend of explosives throws all new scenario into a charged election campaign. i cannot tell you how it will play out on the election trail but every incident is being scrutinised through the microscope of the mid—term elections which it makes —— which makes things more free braille for this time. ——febrile. the name is out — british retail billionaire sir philip green has been identified as the man accused of sexual harassment by five women.

sir green is known as the ‘king of the high street‘ — he owns popular retail brands like topshop, evans, miss selfridge and dorothy perkins. he is famous for his lavish lifestyle — he made headlines for his birthday celebrations — on a private island in the maldives with live performance byjennifer lopez and famous guests. but he has come under public scrutiny after he sold the retail chain bhs for1 pound — the following year the company went into administration with more than a half—a—billion pound hole in its pension fund and 12,000 people out of work. now, he comes in the spotlight for allegations of sexual misconduct. the story was published in the daily telegraph yesterday — but the paper couldn't reveal his identity due to a legal injunction. then, this afternoon, the labour peer, lord hain, used parliamentary privilege to name sir philip. the bbc cannot confirm the allegations and sir philip categorically and wholly denies them. lord hain was speaking in the house of lords. ...serious and repeated sexual harassment, racist abuse and bullying, which is compulsively continuing. i feel it's my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question, given that the media have been subject to an injunction preventing publication of the full details of a story which is clearly in the public interest. our legal affairs correspondent

clive coleman is with me now. this is the name that might not be familiar around the world but very big in the uk. a very big name here. the story has moved very quickly over the last few days. the daily telegraph initially published the allegations and said they could not give details because of the court injunction, granted by the court of appeal. in parliament yesterday the prime minister was asked a question about this and she said she was very concerned about the abuse of what are known as nondisclosure agreements, these are contracts, they have been around for a long time to protect confidential information in commercial instances but there is concern there been used

in employment cases by rich and powerful people to gag less rich and powerful people to gag less rich and powerful people to gag less rich and powerful people who have made allegations of abuse against them. lord hain said he had a duty to act, was he doing something in the public interest or undermining the rule of law? really interesting question. we can have a lesson about the british constitution here. you have a court orderfrom the courts, constitution here. you have a court order from the courts, three of the most seniorjudges in the land, they had read all the evidence, he heard all the legal arguments and have written along and considered judgment. if you get parliamentarians who have not done that, have not heard the evidence, if you get them second—guessing judges, many people would say that would undermine the rule of law. we have an important principle in our constitution which is that mps have the right to speak fearlessly in parliament, that is very important

to speak out on behalf of their constituents and not fear they will be dragged off to court if they do so. some say what lord hain did undermine the rule of law, it reached the injunction. thank you very much. i will read a little bit from the statement of sir philip green, to the extent that i have been accused of unlawful sexist behaviour, i categorically deny these accusations. we take accusations from employees very seriously and when it is raised, it is thoroughly investigated. we will continue to followed this story. perhaps injunctions do not work any more for silencing people. perhaps injunctions do not work any more for silencing peoplem perhaps injunctions do not work any more for silencing people. it is certainly the case that injunctions and court orders are looking more week. the world we live in, some yea rs week. the world we live in, some years ago we had a well—known

footballer, ryan giggs who again had an injunction, he was named in parliament. 75,000 people had named him on twitter. the courts are asking how can a tie these things down in the way of injunction in the world we live in. thank you very much forjoining us for that. when the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi disappeared from the saudi consulate three weeks ago, the saudi authorities denied all knowledge of his whereabouts. after investigations commenced they admitted he was murdered. now, they say that his murder was premeditated — that's according to the saudi public prosecutor. meanwhile, security sources say the director of the cia gina haspel — who was in turkey this week — has personally listened to audio recordings of the killing. our correspondent mark lowen is in istanbul. we're here, over three weeks since jamal khashoggi was killed, at the spot where he was last seen entering the saudi consulate here in istanbul. and friends and colleagues of his are holding a vigil at this spot. you can see they're holding candles, they're holding photos, posters with his face as well. there is one man who we've just seen dressed in saudi traditional clothing with red

paint on his hands, a suggestion that the saudis, the saudi authorities have blood on their hands. these are people close to jamal khashoggi who know that the news cycle moves on, that political deals might try to sweep this under the carpet, but they are determined to keep the pressure on the saudi authorities in their demand for answers. ratcheting up that pressure today is reports that gina haspel, the director of the cia, has been played by the turkish government audio recordings chronicling jamal khashoggi's murder. leaks of which, over the last couple of weeks, are very, very graphic, suggesting that you can hear the screams, the torture, the dismemberment of the body. the question now is, is that the smoking gun and will that reveal, on the basis of that recordings, will they be able to trace a direct line of accountability to the top levels of the saudi state? turkey now are very confident that this was a planned murder. the saudi public prosecutor saying that they believe that is the case as well, based on the evidence they've received from turkey, that it was a premeditated murder.

but still the question tonight on whose orders the saudi hit squad was operating. it's almost eight months since the poisoning of the former russian spy, sergei skripal and his daughter yulia, in salisbury in the south west of england. they had been poisoned by a nerve agent, novichok, and spent weeks in hospital. now there's increasing evidence that far from living quietly in retirement in salisbury, skripal had been travelling across europe and to the united states, providing information to western intelligence agencies. richard galpin reports. sergei skripal, a colonel in russia's military intelligence agency the gru, who betrayed his country, was brought to britain in 2010 in a spy swap. so why were he and his daughter attacked eight years later? perhaps part of the reason lies here in the czech capital prague. this is the first place where it was revealed he had been actively assisting european and other western

intelligence agencies. sources here tell me that czech secret services were in a battle with russian spies operating in the country, claiming they were trying to subvert the czech government. so intelligence experts say the insights mr skripal provided into the workings of russian military intelligence were important. given the track record of mr skripal, i could imagine he would be very valuable. i am not aware if there would be any more interesting defectors right now in the hands of the intelligence. while it is not unusual for defectors like skripal to brief the intelligence services of allied countries, a well—placed source said czech intelligence officers possibly did ask him for names of russian spies operating in the country. this seniorjournalist believes sergei skripal still had relevant information. he was working in a high—level position, he still had the knowledge about the guys from gru who are all over europe. so he would have known names,

exactly what they were doing? most likely he had the information about the guys who are still working for gru. if he had been uncovering russian spies, that could have been a motive for moscow trying to kill him. but one source here in prague told me that czech intelligence officers were also interested in what he knew about russian organised crime and said that mr skripal was planning to produce analysis about it. my source said that potentially could have been part of the reason why mr skripal was eventually attacked. this is spain, another at least five countries skripal is believed to have travelled to in recent years. the costa del sol has been a favoured location for russian mafia, who have been accused of money—laundering and links with moscow officials. i was told skripal‘s planned analysis on the russian mafia

and its alleged links with russian intelligence agencies was to be shared with the spanish secret services. so if skripal‘s visit was about russian organised crime, there would be a parallel with the former russian alexander litvinenko, who worked for m16 and spanish intelligence on the issue, but was murdered before he could give evidence to spanish prosecutors. translation: the litvinenko and skripal case are almost identical. if litvinenko helps the british, spanish and other secret services, he is an enemy of the russian government and they decide to silence him. the story is repeated with sergei skripal, the exact same thing happens. proving these theories is extremely difficult but sergei skripal was far more active than expected from an intelligence officer who betrayed his country and had been allowed to settle in britain as part of a spy swap, which would normally mean a very quiet life. 18 people— many of them children—

have died in flash floods injordan. a major search and rescue effort is underway after the floods, which occured close to the dead sea. about a0 children and their teachers were reportedly on an outing in the area at the time. a french court has ruled that former president, nicolas sarkozy, must stand trial, on charges that he spent well above the legal limit in his re—election campaign six years ago. mr sarkozy denies that he knew about it and says he'll appeal. women in the uk will now be able to apply for any role in the military — including the special forces, such as the sas. defence secretary gavin williamson made the announcement, while on a visit to salisbury plain, where he was joined by some of the first women to join the royal armoured corps. he said for the first time, the "armed forces will be determined by ability alone and not gender".

i have waited patiently for my favourite story of the day. after a week of megamillions mania here in the us — we're all too aware that the chances of winning are pretty slim. but life has a funny way of working somtimes — none more so than for one man from newjersey. 87—year—old earl livingston was walking to buy a lottery ticket when he fell and broke his hip. when he went to hospital — earl shared his disappointment in not being able to get one. doctors working there kindly offered him the chance to go in on the hospital's lottery pool — and he did. much to everyone's surprise — that pool ended up winning a million dollar ticket — needeless to say earl was delighted. their years, he tries to buy his

ticket, falls over and breaks his head. —— there he is. of course he will now have to be a big hospital bill to have his leg fixed. however, the million dollars will help. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — as president trump and barack 0bama campaign for their parties ahead of next month's midterm elections — we discover just how divided their supporters are. with that in mind — we head to minnesota to find out the issues whats important to voters there. that's still to come. hello there, we have done well with

the dry and sunny weather recently. if you thought it was chilly, weeks took the weekend, it will feel much colder. there will be an arctic blast right across the uk which will produce wintry blasts across the uk with the risk of ice in places. the next few days we start off with milderair next few days we start off with milder air but then the cold blues spread southwards. pulling right across the country with a biting strong northerly wind as well. we still have the milder air with us at the moment. behind the rooms are cold here which will eventually move southwards as the night moves on. this is the weather front lying across central parts of the country, behind at much colder. she was already turning wintry over high ground. let's cold for now in the south. some showers but also clear

spells. but cloud across southern regions but the sunshine moves in but the cold air move southwards as well. showers will be increasingly wintry in the north. further south, some good sunny spells. into the weekend, you can see the isobars showing close together meaning a strong north and easterly wind blowing across the country, pushing showers into northern scotland's, along the east and west coast and wintry in nature. plenty of sunshine percent and southern regions. that strong winds will make it feel cold indeed. temperatures at around six, perhaps eight or nine across the south. perhaps ten in the south—west of england. add—on the strong winds and it will feel like low single—digit is. a little less cold

across the east coast, some showers pushing in, wintry over the north yorkshire, a lot of sunshine around with temperature is 1 degrees up on saturday but still feeling cold. into next week, it starts wet and windy but it starts to become less cold as the week goes on. this is beyond 100 days. with me katty kay in washington, nuala mcgovern is london. our top stories: the investigation continues into who's behind the explosive devices mailed to a growing list of senior americans who've been critical of donald trump. the us military is sending 800 troops to the mexican border in anticipation of the arrival of thousands of central american migrants making their way on foot. coming up in the next half hour: hundreds of civilians have been killed in recent months, and aid agencies say millions more are at risk of starvation. what will it take to bring the war in yemen to an end? and we look at the big issues

on voters' minds ahead of the us midterm elections, tonight focusing on the key state of minnesota. as we heard earlier in the programme, police in the united states say they've intercepted more suspicious packages similar to the ones found yesterday. the latest were addressed to a restaurant in new york owned by robert de niro and to the former vice presidentjoe biden. at least ten devices have now been sent to leading democrats — including barack 0bama and hillary clinton — as well as critics of president trump and the broadcaster cnn. joining us now from new york is our political analyst and former advisor to george w bush, ron christie. i want to begin with a tweak i saw you were treating over the past days, so much anger on twitter, let us days, so much anger on twitter, let us take a collective deep breath. did the nation take a breath?” don't think so. tensions in the us

are running so high right now. i was here in new york city yesterday when the terrorist alarm went off on my phone and there were so many frightened people in the bbc newsroom and cnn and other outlets around the city. i wondered what in the world is going on? the anger and tension and the division with politics has a lot of things on edge andi politics has a lot of things on edge and i am one of them. i want to move to another story we are following. at least 800 us troops are being sent to the southern border, to help authorities on the ground stop a so—called caravan of migrants from central america moving through mexico to enter america. president trump hinted at the effort with a tweet earlier today, saying he was "bringing out the military for this national emergency". what do you make of sending extra troops to the border, is this

politics in play? i think it is part politics. i am very worried about the integrity of our border. you're talking about several thousand people who have no claim on citizenship, have no right for asylu m citizenship, have no right for asylum in the us who are attempting to cash our border and have a presence here. if you look at american history at the turn—of—the—century america was put on notice when it was invaded and the military were on the border. this is not unprecedented but it is certainly one of donald trump's favourite subjects, talking about building a wall. he has in the last couple of minutes tweeted again, telling people to turn round and that they will not be allowed into the us. this is exactly where he would like to be talking, this is the rallying cry for his supporters.

no question. what has he said even before he announced he was running for president? he wanted to build the wall and have the border secure and since he became the nominee for the republicans and he has become president that seems to be has rallying cry. he talks about it all the time in his rallies across the united states, building a wall, and as we head into the midterms if you look at this from a political standpoint this place more than the president's favour. those people making their way, not all, but they have the right to present themselves, to ask for asylum. we do not know their stories of what they have gone through. that is part of international law that the us has signed up to. no question. the lawyer in me would say that as part of international law if you present yourself or as violent and have to present yourself to the first date, the first country, after fleeing

persecution that you find yourself in. the first date they would present themselves in would be guatemala. the second state would be mexico. the third would be the us. from a matter of international law i look at their son say this is not asylum, this is migration based on shaky legal ground. thank you for joining us. i want to read the tweet, to those in the caravan, turnround, we are not letting the poll into the us illegally, go back to your country and if you want apply for citizenship like millions of others. the united nations has this week warned that more than 1a million people could die from starvation if the war in yemen continues. that statement was made ahead of a report from 0xfam, claiming that one civilian has been

killed every three hours in yemen, since the beginning of august. the saudi—led coalition and the internationally recognised government are battling with the houthis to control key ports and cities in the country. according to 0xfam, since august 575 civilians were killed in the fighting, including 136 children and 63 women. and there have been more than one million cases of cholera in the last 18 months, with over 2,000 of those proving fatal. for more on this, we're joined now by our bbc international correspondent 0rla guerin. you returned to yemen, you were there two years ago, i spoke to you at that time, give us a sense of what has happened to their country in those two years. this was my first trip to yemen. my second opportunity to go back to the capital. it took as two years to get

the relevant permissions and put the arrangements in place. 0ne the relevant permissions and put the arrangements in place. one of the most important things to say about yemen is while it is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world todayit humanitarian crisis in the world today it is also one of the most uncovered stories because it is extremely inaccessible. i was quite shocked to see how much worse things had become. we were in the country a few months ago when the southern port city had a cholera outbreak. the worst recorded in history. in the north in the capital one of the doctors said i never knew about cholera, i never cheated it before, i read about it in text books and movies. diseases that should no longer be a threat to people have made a comeback, cholera, diphtheria, measles. the gravest concern is about the threat that millions of people may starve. we we re millions of people may starve. we were told by the co—ordinator for

yemen that within three months up to 40 yemen that within three months up to a0 million could be facing famine. it isa a0 million could be facing famine. it is a man—made famine. this is not the result of climate change or crop failure or anything else, this is a consequence of the war that has devastated the country and the infrastructure over the past three nights years, a country that was the poorest in the arab world to start with. let us see some of that report. i think many of us felt that it was unthinkable that we could see a famine like we saw in ethiopia, mike in parts of the soviet union, it was unacceptable. many of us had confidence that would not happen again but in yemen that is what we are looking at. do you think we should be ashamed? yes.

there's no question. we should be ashamed and we should every day that we wake up, renew our commitment to do everything possible to help the people that are suffering and end the conflict. there are reports coming in today of a fresh assault of people being killed, civilians being killed, by an attack in a pot, are their concerns these assaults may be ramping up again? there is a key concerns centring around that strategic red sea port. it is a lifeline for yemen, the gateway through which about 80% of the food aid supplies are brought into the country. even before the conflict yemen was importing about 90% of its food supplies. it is a lifeline for the entire country. it is held by rebel forces. there has been an attempt by the saudi led coalition

which began in june attempt by the saudi led coalition which began injune to try to push forward and get control of the city and drive the houthis out of the pot and drive the houthis out of the pot and they believe they may be able to bring them to the negotiating table but they would be in a position of weakness. the problem is that any fighting around that pot could disrupt the aid supplies. the un has warned that if there is fighting for a few days within those few days hundreds of thousands of people may not have the food they are relying on. if it was weeks it could rise to millions. it is a very dangerous gamble that the coalition is undertaking and all of the aid agencies have been begging them not to ta ke agencies have been begging them not to take this step because of the huge cost that may result in civilian lives. the crown prince of saudi arabia who has been pushing this war in me too has been under pressure recently, the you get any indication that pressure may spill

over to renewed scrutiny of saudi arabia's actions in yemen. the war has cost them a great deal in financial terms. they said that the time it would be a short sharp operation to restore the internationally recognised government. i was in yemenjust after that campaign began. here we are three years later and many thousands of years strikes later and the internationally recognised president is still living in exile, he lives in —— most of the time. there has been immense damage to saudi arabia's reputation because of the number of errors strikes that have hit civilian targets, schools, hospitals. we went to the scene of one tragic and notorious for strike two months ago and this was an are

strike which hit a bus full of schoolboys, a2 school boys were killed. the coalition apologise for what it called collateral damage but we met some of the parents of those children. i met one father in the market who held up the photograph of his son and explained that he had basically nothing left to billy and he and other parents were almost arguing over the remains of their children so they would have something to put into a coffin and he said he was only able to bury his son because he was able to identify him by his teeth. 0ur son because he was able to identify him by his teeth. our strength like that have caused grave questions about the loss of civilian lives and whether or not saudi arabia is guilty of committing war crimes. you can see her report online and on twitter. this is a war that has been

not forgotten but ignored. this is beyond 100 days. still to come: we're taking the temperature in some key states in the us, to find out what matters to voters ahead of the midterms. a coroner has ruled that a first year student at newcastle university, 20—year—old ed farmer, died from the toxic effects of excessive drinking on an "initiation—style" bar crawl. danny savage reports. ed farmer, 20 years old and a student at newcastle university. he died after drinking so much alcohol at a banned initiation style event that his heart stopped. ed was a new member of the university's agricultural society. this is them on the night he died, heading off for drinks. later they egged each other on to drink large measures of vodka. the inquest heard that around 100 triple vodkas were ordered by the group at one bar they went to that evening. they then drank from other bottles of spirits

as they went from pub to pub. by the time they got to this metro station to head off to a student house, one witness says ed farmer was very drunk. in the station he fell over and had to be helped up. at the other end he was carried off the platform. surrounded by the friends ed was drinking with that night, his father today criticised the university and the tradition of initiation events. ed's is not the first utterly needless and wasteful death to come about through this potentially fatal practice. we heard in evidence how initiations have been ongoing at newcastle university in excess of ten years. despite such events being apparently banned by both the university and student union. we have heard in graphic detail about the nature of ed's death and i don't think there is a stronger message that should go out to students about the danger of excessive alcohol consumption and initiations.

newcastle university says it was shocked by the events which led up to the death of ed farmer. the coroner says students should be educated about how to look after a drunk friend. danny savage, bbc news, newcastle. returning now to the political climate in the us. after the packages containing explosive devices were sent to a number of prominent democrats, many on both sides called for a stop to the vitriol that often fuels our politics. but the reality is america is divided and nowhere is that more apparent than at the competing rallies held recently by president trump and his predecessor ba rack 0bama. neither are on the ballot but, as rajini vaidyanathan found, their supporters don't see eye to eye on pretty much anything. three words to describe barack 0bama. intelligent, encouraging and hopeful. treasonous, traitor, corrupt. three words to describe

donald trump. racist, homophobic, and unkind. he is great. both donald trump and barack 0bama are back on the campaign trail to help their parties in these mid—term congressional elections. we fight back. call it whatever the hell you want. we fight back. right now we can tip the balance of power. the democrats have been looking to their past to help boost their future but will it be a help or hindrance? it depends on which supporters you ask. what do you think about barack 0bama being back on the campaign trail to help out the democrats? i think it's amazing. i mean, he is the most powerfulfigure in the democratic party right now. he still has a really big following with the base. people really miss him. they realise the impact he had in this country. if somebody can get the job done, somebody can get the voters, somebody can get people out to vote, it is barack 0bama.

voting helps. what do you think of president 0bama's speech? i said, i'm sorry, i watched it but i fell asleep. tell me whether you think it is a good idea that barack 0bama is back on the campaign trail. it is a good idea for trump people, a good idea for republicans and for democrats to take a look at it and go, he was horrendous for eight years. we don't need that guy back out there. 0bama, like the previous presidents, sold us down the river. they let all ourjobs go out of the country. i'm not worried as a republican because we voted trump in. so the forgotten people stood up then so i have full faith that they'll stand up again. democrats want to raise your taxes... tell me one good thing you can say about republicans.

i'm not able to. all republicans are not bad. can you say one nice thing you can think about the democrats? no. not one thing. i don't have a problem with any democrats, i just don't agree with their stance. news moves so fast here in the us that it's hard to predict what will be on voters minds as they go into the polling booth on november 6th. ahead of the midterms we've been taking the temperature in some key states to find out what matters there. last week we were in texas. this week we're in minnesota, more specifically eden prairie, from where we're joined by radio talk show host andrew lee. the news of the day, these devices that have been sent to a different

people in the us. is that playing with your audience? are they interested ? with your audience? are they interested? what do they think? yeah. this is for a mid—term election. i have been covering politics in minnesota and other states for close to 20 years and i have never seen a mid—term election that has the passion and interest level this one does. it is unprecedented. passion and interest but i suppose these devices cathy was mentioning, something that is so sad and the divisiveness of the language that has come since they we re language that has come since they were discovered... apologies, i misheard the question. i thought you we re misheard the question. i thought you were asking about the divisiveness of this election. now, this bomb scare that is going on right now, it is tough to know how it is going to play out in terms of impact in the

it is still so fresh and new. we do know a lot. we do not know who is sending them, the motivation behind why. everybody can speculate and it seems to be a pattern with them going to democrats and outspoken liberals in the states, so there is easy assumptions that can be made but until we know and until we really learn who is behind this and why it is really hard to say what impact it is going to have. let us talk about the divisiveness you mentioned. minnesota generally fairly a liberal state but president trump did pretty well there. how many people do you think have not made up their minds? are there people who are still persuadable in the middle? i do not believe so. this idea that there is undecided people, i think the only decision people, i think the only decision people have left to make is whether they are going to participate and

vote or not. if you have made up your mind you are going to participate you have to know who you we re participate you have to know who you were going to vote for. most polarised i have seen our politics and about 20 years or so. if you are and about 20 years or so. if you are a liberal, a democrat, the chances are what is driving you is your resistance, your opposition to donald trump, whereas if you are a republican, what is driving you as you want to see the trump agenda continue, you are happy with what you have seen so far and you want to see him continue to get more support in congress. well, let's go to a very differnt part of the country, to chicago illinois, from where we're joined by radio host maze jackson. i will ask you the same question. in illinois, are there people who still have not made up their minds which way they are going to vote in the

midterms? i don't think there are people who have not made up their minds on how they are going to vote in the mid—term elections for congress. in a lot of cases. when you talk about illinois the biggest differential is our governors‘ race. illinois is the bluest state in the midwest but if you go south our state is a dichotomy. south our trump supporters and north in the city in chicago and the surrounding suburbs, most of those people in the city areas are voting democrat but in the suburban collar counties i expect there will be people voting republican still. in the city, talk to us about turnout, particularly because african—america ns will to us about turnout, particularly because african—americans will have to come out in chicago if in fact they are going to start a blue wave going as someone‘s. they are going to start a blue wave going as someone's. yes. the biggest

issue, illinois is the bluest state in the country, excuse me, in the midwest, but right now for democrats to be successful they are going to need an overwhelming turnout regarding the black community. u nfortu nately regarding the black community. unfortunately here in illinois the democrats have really only focused on those issues of immigration and donald trump, neither of which are on the ballot. black people in chicago, if you are going to win the state of illinois, there are 102 counties but you have to win one cou nty counties but you have to win one county for the democrats and you need a motive and black turnout which i do not see because there are no real issues that democrats are focused on which resonate with black people. the biggest issue they have is the governors‘ race. people. the biggest issue they have is the governors' race. briefly, your predictions. do the democrats ta ke your predictions. do the democrats take back the house of

representatives? i believe the democrats take back the house of representatives by a slight margin. what does your crystal ball sure? my gut says no. i do not think they will take back the house. i think it will take back the house. i think it will be closer than they will pick up will be closer than they will pick up seats but i think republicans will win out. we will call you back on election night to see.” will win out. we will call you back on election night to see. i will ta ke on election night to see. i will take you up on that. thank you both. both of them need to come back once the results are in. before we go — an update on a story we told you about yesterday. to remind you this image of a suspected thief in the north of england went viral — after many people saw his ressemblance to the actor david schwimmer best known for his role as ross from friends. the actor got in on the fun and made

this clip in response, which has been viewed 6.5 million times in the last 2a hours. and today police confirmed they‘ve identified the suspect after being "inundated" with responses. how did they even get through the responses on social media?m how did they even get through the responses on social media? if you have a resemblance to a superstar on television, be careful because lots of people will post that image and then they may do a video and you are likely to get picked up by the police. there is some morality tale that, i am police. there is some morality tale that, iam not police. there is some morality tale that, i am not sure what it is. do not look like ross if you are going to steal. 0r anyone from friends. look like someone else if you are going to steal. i will be in pennsylvania on tuesday. we will be

looking at key suburbs to see if the democrats can flip a few of those. coming up next on bbc world news, kasia madiera is here with 0utside source and for viewers in the uk we‘ll have the latest headlines. hello there. we have done pretty well with the dry and sunny weather recently. if you thought the last few days were chilly, just wait until the weekend, it will feel much much colder. there will be an arctic blast right across the uk which will produce wintry showers, mainly across the hills of the north but overnight frost will also mean the risk of ice in places. the next few days, we start off with milder air, look at those cold blues spreading southwards as the arctic blast pours south right across the country with strong northerly winds as well. at the moment we have the milder air with us, behind these looms the cold

air and it will eventually move southwards as the night moves on into northern areas. this is the weather front across southern parts of the country. behind it is much colder, especially over high ground. less cold in the south with some rain showers, cloud and some clear spells. we start off with cloud early tomorrow morning across southern regions with the mild air then the sunshine moves in. the cold air moves southwards as well. the showers will turn increasingly wintry. further south, some good sunny spells around. for the weekend, you can see isobars showing close together meaning a strong north easterly wind blowing across the country, pushing showers into northern scotland, down the east and also the west coast as well. plenty of sunshine in southern areas but that strong northerly wind will bring cold air, making it feel cold.

temperatures around six, maybe eight or nine in the south or ten in the south—west. add on the strong winds and low single—digit figures across the board. into sunday, the winds moved to the north—east, a little less cold across the east coast. some showers but there will be a lot of sunshine around, temperatures a degree or so up on sunday but still feeling cold. next week, we begin on a wet and windy note but gradually it will be less cold as the week moves on. this is bbc news. i‘m julian worricker. the headlines at 8pm: sir philip green categorically denies allegations of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour —

after being named in parliament as the businessman who took out an injunction against the daily telegraph. i feel it is my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question, given that the media have been subject to an injunction eventing publication of the full details of the story. police in the united states are investigating more suspicious packages, this time sent to the former vice presidentjoe biden and the actor robert de niro. debenhams becomes the latest retailer to announce the closure of some of its high street stores — putting a,000 jobs at risk. and the first—year student who drank so much alcohol on a night out that his heart stopped.