welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. 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 had been taken away from me. all of my self—sufficiency and all of my 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 racists. 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 we have heard this turned from the president, suggesting that his party would not win as many seats as he would like to see. specifically, talking to the house of representatives and the democrats have high hopes that taking control of the house, not something the president wants to see. he also wants to, of course, hang on to what is a slim majority in the senate, perhaps clinch one or two seats from the democrats to increase that majority, which would certainly be hugely helpful for him over the next couple of years as he tries to progress his agenda. but we

are seeing, perhaps the president just preparing his party for not doing quite as well, which would be traditional in a mid—term election. generally the party of the sitting president doesn't do too well two yea rs president doesn't do too well two years in, but this president has been campaigning extremely hard and clearly was to do as well as he can. he has been campaigning hard and it is an arena that he enjoys, the rallies, the speeches, something he finds quite effective. some of the issues he has been talking about, honing in on immigration. yes, this is one of the hot issues. he is quite open about those key issues, that he wants to continue talking about in the next few days. immigration is one of those issues, of course the caravan of asylum seekers that is coming in from central america through mexico at the moment, moving very slowly, it will not reach the us border for

several weeks. saying in the last few days that he will send troops down to the border to deal with that situation. this is the kind of message that his base, his supporters on it certainly appeals to them and may well win him a few more vote is in the next few days a week the democrats are taking a com pletely week the democrats are taking a completely different tack, focusing ona completely different tack, focusing on a few issues, healthcare is one of them and that is funding that barack 0bama of them and that is funding that ba rack 0bama has of them and that is funding that barack 0bama has been talking about, this issue of pre—existing conditions, getting into the minutiae of it here, something the democrats talk about a lot. we have heard it recently, quite a lot from republicans and the democrats seemingly mocking the republicans in wanting to be interested in pre—existing conditions, when you have a condition that might prevent you getting healthcare if you change the company that provides that healthcare in the future. the democrats focusing on one of their core issues we have heard them called out for a long time, the republicans are guessing more on immigration and those order issues,

the wall as well that donald trump talks about so much. just before you 90, talks about so much. just before you go, i mentioned at the top of the programme about twitter closing down a lot of the state accounts, pretending to be from democrats. has the confusing this is? —— how significant are you think this is? not hugely significant, but about 10,000 accounts, automated accounts of giving the pressure that they we re of giving the pressure that they were from democrats but they won't. if you think back to the 2016 election, then social media used a lot to spread disinformation, millions of clouds at the accounts we re millions of clouds at the accounts were closed down and the fbi at that time blaming the russians for spreading that misinformation. this time it seems be more domestic, we don't know who has set up his accou nts don't know who has set up his a ccou nts of don't know who has set up his accounts of that doesn't seem to have been an attempt on overseas to infiltrate or influence in any way, the us elections. 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. "

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. sanctions are coming. the tweet from donald trump announcing that all us sanctions on iran, which had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, will be reimposed on monday. president trump withdrew from the deal in may, saying it was effective at its core. the us has been gradually reimposing sanctions since then, but this move is considered then, but this move is considered the most important because it targets key sectors of iran's

economy. how does this make america safer? indeed, the white house is calling this the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed on iran. it will target the country's we will, shipping and banking sectors. the us secretary of state from mike pompeo, said the sanctions were aimed at fundamentally changing the behaviours of iran and... iran has dismissed the move, saying it is has the knowledge and capability to manage its economic affairs. but despite the bravado, it is like the met —— likely the measures will have a big impact, analysing countries trading with

iran. the other signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal are still determined to try to make it work. the eu is tragic create a financial mechanism to help dismisses work around the sanctions. up with access to the huge us market at stake, it might bea to the huge us market at stake, it might be a risk that many companies just aren't willing to take. lebo diseko, bbc news. 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 beebee, 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 world news. still to come: footballers and fans prepare for leicester city's first match following the death of the club's owner in a helicopter crash last weekend. 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 world 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 white house has warned iran to prepare for the return of all us sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. staying with that story. back to our top story: one of the most controversial midterm races is in georgia — which could make american history next week, by electing the first black female governor the country has ever seen. the battle is mired in controversy over accusations of voter suppression — in a state with a world famous history of racial discrimination. emily maitlis reports. evening worship at the baptist church is a full—throated affair,

a congregation unafraid to raise its voice in prayer or psalm. but this week, they are being asked to participate in more earthly matters too. just days away from mid—term elections, they are being encouraged to vote earlyjust to make sure nothing goes wrong. in the soul of america's deep south lies georgia. electoral lore will tell you they don't see political upsets here very often. its recent history, its heart, are a deep, sonorous red, but clinton was the last president to turn it blue — that was more than 25 years ago. yet this time round, there is a nailbiting race, the likes of which could determine notjust who gets to govern, but who is even allowed to vote. meet stacey abrams. if she wins here next week, she will be the first black female governor the country has ever seen.

she has spent years fighting changes championed by georgia's secretary of state that have removed thousands of people from the electoral register. those changes appear to hit ethnic minority voters most who, guess what, tend to vote democrat. are you worried about voters being removed from the ballot in georgia? i'm concerned about voter suppression but the antidote is voter engagement. he's made it his mission to tilt the playing field. we can win by overwhelming the voting box with a number of eligible voters and he's concerned, and he's right. if everyone who is eligible votes, he will not win, and we intend to prove him right. it's hard to talk about voting in the south without going back to the civil rights movement and atlanta's most famous son, martin luther king. because of the racist disenfranchisement that existed here for decades, georgia was put on a watchlist of states with the history of discrimination. and any change to voting measures had to be preapproved by the federal government.

five years ago, the us supreme court struck down a key provision of the 1965 voting rights act, allowing georgia to make the rules for registration much stricter. the result was overwhelming. associated press reported that 670,000 people were purged from the electoral roll last year alone. the question is this — how much of that was intentional racial voter suppression? the problem is not new but with a race this tight, it feels even more critical. clearly i need to put questions to the office enforcing electoral rules. but here is where that gets complicated the man in charge is also... brian kemp. ..the republican candidate for governor, georgia's secretary of state, brian kemp. he's come to cobb county, one of a handful that voted for hillary clinton in 2016.

he has refused a request for an interview, but time is tight. but we try anyway. mr kemp, you've been accused of voter suppression. that's ridiculous. we have a record turnout, minority participation up, we have1 million more people on the rolls than we had when i took office. you've got hundreds of thousands of people purged from the register, many of them african—american. we are following state law, and i took an oath to do that. is that your law? it's the state law in georgia that the legislature passed. i took a oath of office to defend and protect those laws. so did the attorney—general. you should get your facts straight. he argues abrams is trying to add people to the register right to vote. i called stacey abrams and i said, "stacey, this is 0prah." this race has become one of the hottest in the country. surrogates on both sides both have georgia on their minds. # georgia on my mind...#

but perhaps this should be a big wake—up call to questions about america's future. the next governor gets to influence who counts, and who gets erased from the picture. players for leicester city are preparing for their first match, following the death of the club's owner in a helicopter crash last weekend. the strikerjamie vardy, says the game against cardiff, will be in honour of vichai srivaddhanaprabha who was one of five people who died in the accident, outside the king power stadium. it's been one of the hardest, i think, weeks that myself and the lads have had to go through. it was another day of quiet reflection for leicester city players today.

but this isn't just about an owner. it is more personal than that. he wasn'tjust the chairman. he always made sure that he went out of his way to get to know you on personal levels as well with your families, he took us in as his extended family. so close with the players's relationships with vichai srivaddhanaprabha that he was a guest atjamie vardy‘s wedding to wife rebecca. as the shock subsides, honouring his memory is now at the forefront of the players's minds. 0bviously, at first you think no, that hasn't happened, it's not possible. everyone is feeling the same. we are all hurting, but we know that he would want us out there, and we as a team and club wants to do him proud. they will attempt to do that tomorrow against cardiff city, their first game since the accident. senior members of the team will then fly to thailand for the funeral of vichai srivaddhanaprabha where his body has arrived at a buddhist temple in bangkok for a seven—day period of mourning.

air accident investigators continue to work outjust what caused the death of all five people on board, and say they have gathered some data. the players have tried to ease their pain by reflecting on their memories together of their friend, who always had a smile for everyone. natalie perks, bbc news. 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. 0ur 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? clive coleman, bbc news. 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. scientists say the research is in its very early stages and more tests on animals are needed before they begin human trials. and — you can keep up to date all with the latest news, business and sport on our website. you'll find reaction and analysis from around the world, download the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. hello.

friday was a chilly day, a 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 this 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 clears away from belfast, london mostly dry, mild and quite windy as well. deeper into saturday night, sunday morning, that front fizzles away. it'll 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, rain quite light and patchy initially and picking up later across the south—west, particularly as a new area of low pressure spins inwards. elsewhere, 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 bibi —