welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. our top stories: president trump hits the campaign trail ahead of tuesday's midterm elections — amid claims social media's being used to spread fake news discouraging democrats from voting. donald trump warns iran to prepare for sweeping new sanctions — sounding the death knell for diplomacy and the 2015 nuclear deal. following mass protests in pakistan, a christian woman cleared of blasphemy charges could be banned from ever leaving the country. and why did this paraplegic athlete end up dragging himself along the floor at a uk airport? if i didn't have my wheelchair, my legs have been taken away from me. all of my self—sufficiency and independence was no longer there. hello.

twitter has shut down more than 10,000 accounts, which discouraged people from voting in next week's mid—term elections in the us. the company said most of the accounts were posing as democratic supporters. both the president and his predecessor, barack 0bama, have been out rallying their supporters, in the hope that they can increase turnout. however the president seems to be hedging his bets, admitting at a rally in west virginia that the democrats mightjust have a chance of clinching a midterm win. they will try to erase our gains and eradicate our progress. that is what's going to happen, they will fight hard and we will be fighting. it will be... it will be ridiculous, frankly, bad for our country. the democrats, and it could happen. it could happen. we are doing very well and we are doing really well in the senate, but it could happen. you know what you do, my whole life, you know what i say? don't worry about it, i'lljust figure it out.

you know, i'm not saying they don't squeak it by, maybe because they've got a lot of races. and i can't go everywhere. can't go everywhere. but now they are talking about a little... i mean, you know, let's see what happens. it will be an interesting day at the office. meanwhile, former president barack 0bama has been campaigning in florida for candidate andrew gillum in his bid for the governorship. mr 0bama warned against rhetoric he said was designed to sow fear — and encouraged people to get out and vote. we have been at crossroads like this before. and each time we made the right choice, not by sitting back, not by waiting for history to happen to us, but by marching and by mobilising and by organising. and by voting to make history happen. that is how we abolished slavery in this country. that is how we overcame a great depression. that is how we won women's

rights and workers rights and civil rights, lgbt rights and immigrants rights. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes says the president's latest campaign speech, hints at the posibility of the democrats doing better than he hopes. this is the first time we have rarely heard this tone from the president, suggesting that his party may not win as many seats as he would like to see in three or four days. i think specifically he is looking at the house of representatives and the democrats have high hopes of taking control of the house. that is not something that the president wants to see. the president also wants to hold onto what is a slim majority in the senate. perhaps even clinch one or two seats from the democrats to increase majority which would be helpful to him over the next couple

of years, as he tries to progress his agenda. but we are perhaps seeing the president preparing his party were not doing as well. they will be traditional in the mid—term election. usually the sitting president doesn't do well at year's end. but this president has been campaigning hard. clearly he wants to do as well as you can. he has been campaigning hard and this is obviously an arena he enjoys. some of the issues he has been talking about, he has been honing in on immigration. this is one of the hot issues. this is one of the key issues that he wants to continue talking about in the next few days will stop immigration is one of those issues. of course the caravan of asylum seekers that is coming up from central america through mexico at the moment,

and moving very slowly will not actually reach the us border for several weeks. the thing in the last few days that he will send troops down to the border to do with that situation. these are the kind of message that his base, his supporters, this certainly appeals to them. it may well win him some more votes in the next few days. the democrats are taking a different tack. they are focusing on a few issues, and healthcare is one. barack 0bama has been talk about that. this issue of pre—existing conditions, really getting to the minutia of healthcare here, but this is something the democrats talk about a lot. but they are mocking the republicans for seeming to want to be more interested in peak interesting conditions. this is when you have a condition that might affect you getting healthcare if you change the company that provides you healthcare

in the future. the democrats, this is an issue we have heard them talk about for a long time. the republicans are focusing more on immigration and those border issues. the wall that donald trump talks about so much. peter, before you go, i mentioned at the top of the programme that about twitter closing down lots of the fake accounts are beginning to be from democrats. how significant you think this is? well, i don't think it's hugely significant, about 10,000 accounts, these automated accounts, that, as they said collective the impression of being from democrats, but they weren't. if you think back to the 2016 election, then social media used a lot to spread misinformation. millions of the council closed down then. of course the fbi at that account led the russians for spreading that information. this time it seems to be more domestic. we don't know who set up these accounts, but it does not seem to be an attempt to overseas to infiltrate or influence in any

way the elections. thank you very much. the us has confirmed it will re—impose all the remaining sanctions on iran that were lifted under the internationally—backed nuclear deal three years ago. eight countries are being granted temporary exemptions that will allow them to continue importing iranian oil. lebo diseko has more. - i. _ a tweet from donald trump, announcing sanctions on iran, which had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, would be reimpose from monday. donald trump withdrew from the deal in may, it saying it was defective at its core. the us has been gradually reimposing sanctions since then. but this move is considered the most important, because it targets key sectors of iran's economy. indeed, the white house is calling this the toughest sanctions

regime on iran. it will target shipping, oil, and banking. us secretary of state, mike pompeo, says the sanctions were aimed at fundamentally altering behaviour of iran and depriving the regime of revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world. mike pompeo says iran must meet the demands in order for the sanctions to be lifted. for example, tehran must end military intervention in syria and halt nuclear and ballistic missile development. iran has dismissed the move, saying it has both the knowledge and capability to manage the economic affairs. but it will penalise countries and companies trading with iran. the other signatories to the 2015 deal are still tried to make it work. the eu is trying to create a financial

mechanism to help businesses work around the sanctions. with access to the huge us market at stake, it might be a risk that many companies just aren't willing to take. let's get some of the day's other news. president erdogan says turkey knows that the order to kill the saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi, came from the highest levels of the saudi government. mr erdogan said he did not believe the saudi king commanded the murder, but he pointedly stopped short of absolving the crown prince. an islamic cleric known as the father of the taliban has been killed in pakistan. maulana sami ul—haq was killed in the city of rawalpindi, after a group of men burst into his home and attacked him with knives. pakistan's prime minister imran khan has condemed the killing. the brazilian president—elect, jair bolsonaro says there's no point in keeping diplomatic relations with cuba. speaking to a local newspaper, mr bolsonaro accused cuba of violating human rights and said

the communist—run island had little to offer in terms of trade and business. the actor alec baldwin has been arrested in new york for reportedly punching a man over a parking space. police say the 30 rock star was taken into custody over the incident which took place in the east village. baldwin's been in the spotlight lately for his impersonations of president trump on nbc‘s saturday night live. a christian woman, cleared of blasphemy charges in pakistan, could be banned from ever leaving the country. the authorities have started legal proceedings against asia bibi, to place her on a travel ban list, as part of a deal struck with islamists. the agreement ended three days of violent protests across the country. sucunder kamani reports from islamabad. the punishment for

blasphemers — hang them. this was the chart at this demonstration in islamabad. today saw thousands of protesters out on streets in cities across pakistan. they are angry this christian woman, asia bibi, had her death sentence overturned by the country's supreme court. she had been convicted of blasphemy following an argument with a group of muslim women in her village who refused to drink water from the same cup as her. after the verdict, supporters of hardline clerics set up these roadblocks, occupying key interchanges, causing huge disruption. but today, the government announced an agreement with the protesters, allowing them to challenge the acquittal and letting a court decide whether asia bibi should be banned from leaving the country. we have two options, either to use force, and when you use force, people can be killed. we tried negotiations and negotiations are always, you take something and you leave something. tonight, here, the protests

are coming to a close. for many it will be a relief but others are already criticising the agreement as being a sign of the government's weakness. for those taking part in the demonstrations, this feels like a victory. translation: if they try and set her free again, we will be back on the streets. we will sacrifice our lives. asia bibi has spent nearly a decade in prison. her family say if and when she is released, she needs to flee the country. for the moment, though, she is still waiting for herfreedom. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: dragging the treatment of disabled passengers into the spotlight. an unsual protest at london's luton airport. the israeli prime minister yitzhak

rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested and an extremistjewish organisation has ta ken responsibility for the killing. at polling booths around the country they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear — the monarchy would survive. for the american hostages there was no chance, they are being held somewhere inside the compound and there have been threats that should the americans attempt rescue they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyager one is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going. tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideas. this is bbc news,

the latest headlines: president trump has taken his message to voters ahead of tuesday's midterm elections — amid claims social media's being used to spread fake news discouraging democrats from voting. the central american migrants currently passing through mexico towards the united states are deciding what steps to take next. earlier, president trump reiterated his administration's position that the group would be prevented from entering (gfx 00v) the country by a deployment of thousands of troops. the migrants have now reached wahaca in southern mexico. 0ur correspondent will grant is travelling with them, and sent us this report. in the desperation to cross mexico as fast as possible,

even the most dangerous of lifts will do. on this trip, a helping hand can cut the migrants‘ journey time by hours. for decades, one of honduras‘s main exports has been coffee. now it seems is coffee farmers. translation: our crops had a disease called leaf rust. it meant they wouldn't mature at harvest so we lost our entire livelihood. no—one here has money. 66% of hondurans live in poverty, but the rural poor maybe have least of all. jose maria didn't even let his family know he was leaving forfear they might talk him out of it. now he is struggling to reach them to tell them he's 0k. translation: when the coffee harvest was ruined, there was no money, no work, nothing. if there is regular work, we could try to stay, but right now we just don't have enough to live on. i even had to pull my daughters out of school because i can't afford for them to study. not everyone is leaving over failing crops and poor harvests, though. others are fleeing for their lives.

we've seen samuel's family at almost every stop. they keep dragging their daughter north, insisting life in honduras would amount to a death sentence after sameul refused to join a gang. ask the migrants why they left central america and most will either say extreme violence or extreme poverty, especially those involved in honduras‘s decimated coffee production. ask them why now and many say they simply grabbed the opportunity when it presented itself. three weeks ago, the group set off from honduras in a wave of optimism. the caravan‘s supporters say it was a spontaneous exodus. the trump administration says it was organised, paid for by everyone from the democrats to venezuela to george soros. in reality, there are politics at play here, both from honduras and the us mid—term elections, but most of the migrants are just caught in the middle. frustrated venezuelan drivers have faced lengthy queues for petrol

following reported problems at state refineries and delays in payments forfuel imports. despite having one of the largest fuel reserves in the world, venezuela has faced critical petrol supply problems this year. president maduro's government claims power cuts have caused the shortages, but government critics say inept management of venezuela's oil industry is to blame. destructive storms have killed five more people in italy, bringing the death toll to at least 17. landslides in northern italy have cut off entire villages, and hundreds of thousands of houses are without power. tiffany werther—mer has the latest. tiffany wertheimer has the latest. the italian alps, usually so picturesque, but look at it now. this main road connected two villages, but now

it is broken in half. houses buried in rubble from the landslides that have rocked northern italy, following the deadly storms that swept across the region over the past few days. most of the people who died were killed from falling trees. the worst affected areas were trentino and veneto in the far north. schools are close, public transport has been thrown into chaos. and 160,000 homes are without power. large parts of italy have been hit with gale force winds and torrential rain for most of the week. venice was overwhelmed with rising floodwaters. on monday st marks square had to be closed. and luxury boats now broken ruins in this port near genoa. the moment veneto will stay red alert with storms predicted to continue over the weekend. a man who's paraplegic,

is suing london's luton airport, after staff failed to provide a wheelchair he could use himself. justin levene says the one he was offered was too rigid and could give him pressure sores. it also meant he'd be less independent, having to rely on others. his own chair had been left behind on a flight, and so he was left he says with no option, but to drag himself through the airport on the floor. our legal correspondent clive coleman has the story. what could have led to this? luton airport, thank you very much. justin levene, a paraplegic, dragging himself through luton airport after his wheelchair was left behind by an airline. aged 20, justin coughed and herniated a disc, and an operation went wrong. but it hasn't held him back. he's become an international wheelchair athlete, trainer, and mentor to disabled athletes. in august last year, justin arrived back on a flight

to luton airport. stranded without his self—propelling wheelchair, the airport offered him a rigid, high—backed one which had to be pushed by someone else. i've worked very hard for a number of years to try and maintain all of my independence. and one of the biggest problems i had was, if i didn't have my wheelchair, my legs had been taken away from me. all of my self—sufficiency and all of my independence was no longer there. and to be in one of those chairs, it made me feel humiliated and degraded. if you are in those chairs and they insisted on trying to strap me down in it, i wouldn't have been able to adjust myself. and i would have been at risk of getting a pressure sore. pressure sores can occur very quickly, sojustin asked if he could be transported by a motorised buggy. but luton airport doesn't have them. at the heart ofjustin‘s dispute with luton airport is his claim that, by failing to provide him with a self propelling wheelchair, the airport was in effect leaving him only one viable option, to haul himself along these floors for hundreds of yards,

denying him both his independence and his dignity. 0nce outside the terminal, justin used a luggage trolley to wheel himself to his taxi. his own wheelchair was returned a day later. in a statement, luton airport said: a significant number of international and uk airports do provide self propelling wheelchairs. paralympian anne wafula—strike, who has also faced problems at airports, understands justin levene's actions. i would feel like my independence was being taken away, and honestly, as a disabled person we are still in charge of the type of people we want to be.

are we the people thatjust want to be pushed around, you know, for people to be feeling sorry for us? no. justin levene's story is at the cutting edge of thinking about disability issues. is it enough for service providers like airports to give some assistance, even if what they offer denies the disabled person independence? scientists in the us have found an unlikely ally in their efforts to combat the flu. llamas have been used to produce a new type of therapy that has the potential to work against all types of influenza, including deadly pandemics. llama antibodies are much smaller than human ones, making them more effective in attacking flu viruses. scientists say the research is in its very early stages and more tests on animals are needed before they begin human trials. a towering figure in the hong kong film industry,

raymond chow man—wai — who introduced the world to martial arts legend bruce lee — has died aged 91. chow gave lee his first lead role in a major movie, catapulting him to globalfame. he was widely regarded as the "godfather of the hong kong film industry", producing over 600 films. the olympic sprint champion usain bolt‘s first attempt to become a professional footballer has come to an end. the australian club central coast mariners announced it had terminated his trial. the club said it was unable to agree to terms for a commercial deal with bolt. phil mercer has more from sydney. this is probably the end of usain bolt's football fairytale in australia. it appears to be money, not ability that has forced d—link

champion to leave the central coast mariners. the club had offered the jamaican legend contract that was well below his reported wage demand of more than £1.5 million. third—party sponsorship could not be found and the mariners who finished bottom of australia's a—league last season bottom of australia's a—league last season have banked usain bolt for his dedication. it was great to see usain bolt grow so much with us, we said before he came that we knew he would be a fast learner and he showed that. and the goals he scored in campbelltown will go down in history and he has that to take around the world and is a real credit to his football ability. his ability has been under intense scrutiny. the former republic of ireland striker andy keogh who plays for perth glory said the former sprinter‘s first touch was like a trampoline, and he would never make it as trampoline, and he would never make itasa trampoline, and he would never make it as a football player. his box office appeal however is beyond doubt and office appeal however is beyond doubtand a office appeal however is beyond doubt and a crowd of over 10,000 people turned out to watch bolt in a

preseason friendly for the mariners. in october bolt turned down a two year deal with maltese champions valleta fc. famed russian strongman, elbrus nigmatullin, has wowed spectators at a sporting event by pulling a 26—tonne truck for 41 seconds. the feat was called an undoubted russia—wide record, and maybe even a world record...but no officials were present at the event to verify that claim. nigmatullin‘s previous feats include pulling a two—storey, 30 ton wooden house over three metres. the 44—year—old has won numerous prizes for powerlifting and armwrestling over a lengthy career. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. hello.

friday was a chilly day, as sunny day for many, generally speaking quite a quiet day. but the weekend sees things turning a little bit more lively, in fact they have already started to liven up over recent hours, the wind has been strengthening and through the weekend we will see some rain at times. this is the satellite picture from a little earlier, you can see this swirl of cloud here, this was a hurricane, hurrican 0scar, not a hurricane any more it still a deep area of low pressure pushing to the west of the uk, bringing a surge of mild air from the south—west. a milder start to saturday compared with recent mornings, particularly in the west where we will see outbreaks of rain continuing across northern ireland, scotland, 50—80 millimetres of rain across parts of western scotland, later in the day that spills down into north—west england and parts of wales. and it will be windy, wind gusts of 60—65mph at times close to the western isles of scotland, but north—east scotland with some shelter from that

south—westerly wind and some sunshine, you could get to 17 or 18. quite gusty winds for northern ireland, but brightening up here through the afternoon as rain slides into north—west england and parts of wales, flirting with the west of cornwall. but for the midlands, east anglia and the south—east it will be breezy but not as windy as further west and it will be mild. as we go into saturday evening it will be the central slice of the country that will continue to see outbreaks of rain, so for fireworks displays in cardiff and perhaps edinburgh are likely to see some rain. rain tending to clear away from belfast, london mostly dry, mild for all and quite windy as well. deeper into saturday night, into sunday morning, that front will fizzle away. it will be some clear spells either side, but minimum temperatures, 8—11, considerably more mild that it has been of late. this is the weather set—up going into sunday morning, still with this slow—moving weather front providing rain across some

central parts of the uk, the rain quite light and patchy initially and picking up later in the day across the south—west, particularly as a new area of low pressure spins inwards. elsewhere there will be some spells of sunshine, still windy in the north—west but not as windy as it will have been on saturday, temperatures still doing 30 well for this time of year, 11— 1a. into the new week, most of the rain will be found in western areas, more dry weather further east, it will be often windy and it will stay mild. this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump has taken his message to voters ahead of tuesday's midterm elections. it comes as twitter has deleted thousands of fake accounts posting messages purporting to be from us democrats discouraging people from voting. polls show the race in many states is too close to call. the us is reimposing all sanctions on iran that were lifted under

the 2015 nuclear deal. the measures, which the white house say are the toughest ever imposed, target the country's energy, shipping and banking sectors and will come into effect on monday. pakistan authorities have reached agreement with protesters who've been demonstrating against the acquittal of asia beebee, a christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. under the agreement, aasia bibi will be barred from leaving the country, but it's unclear for how long. in a moment we'll have newswatch, but first here's click.