this is bbc world news today. i'm karin giannone. our top stories: police in the uk investigate one of the leading donors for the brexit campaign, businessman aaron banks. he says his £8 million donation was within the rules. street protests in iran, as the us gets ready to re—impose tough economic sanctions. floods in sicily kill two families living in the same house. the italian prime minister calls it "an immense tragedy". music remembering the fallen. a concert in france — to begin a week of events marking 100 years since the end of the first world war. hello and welcome to world news today. (pres) with less than five months to go before britain

leaves the european union, the row over the brexit referendum has re—surfaced with a vengence. one of the leading campaigners in favour of brexit, the businessman aaron banks, is being investigated by police, on suspicion that he may have broken strict rules on election spending in britain. in a bbc interview today, mr banks has insisted that all the money he provided for the referendum campaign, amounting to millions of pounds, was generated from his businesses in the uk, and therefore within the rules on political donations. manveen rana reports. arron banks, brexiteer, businessmen and now the subject of a criminal investigation into the source of the funds he provided to the brexit campaign. as he arrived at the bbc this morning to speak to the andrew marr programme, he faced serious questions about where the £8 million had come from. i would just like to say, absolutely for the record, there was no russian money and no interference of any type. all right. let's follow the money, as it were. i just want to be absolutely

clear about that. the electoral commission say they suspect arron banks was not the true source of the £8 million he loaned to brexit campaign groups. mr banks claimed the money came from his uk—based company rock services. however, the electoral commission suspects the money came from the parent company, rock holdings, registered in the isle of man, which would make it an illegal source of funds under uk electoral law. the money trail was at the heart of the interview with andrew marr. i am telling you it came from a uk company which had cash generated in the uk. rock services. we have evidenced that to the electoral commission. rock services is a shell company. it doesn't generate money. you have just said it is a shell company. we don't see how rock services can generate 8 million quid. are we not in a situation where the electoral commission have referred it? we will explain ourselves, and the accounting that went behind it, and i'm very happy with it. you told parliament that rock services was just a service company. you've told me something very different today.

i haven't seen the actual transcript of that. i will go back and look at that, but i am telling you the source of the funding was rock services. the electoral commission, who have seen the accounts of rock services, claim there were insufficient funds to justify such a large donation. you've not given me an answer. you're avoiding it... an mp from the select committee that quizzed mr banks says his explanations so far have been inconsistent and full of bluster. it is clear from what mr banks said today that some of the lines that he is now presenting contradict what he told us on the select committee. it's a very confused picture that he is presenting. i think that's quite deliberate. i am delighted we are now going to have a forensic analysis and investigation of mr banks‘ affairs. as the criminal investigation gets under way, arron banks can now expect months of financial scrutiny by the authorities. manveen rana, bbc news. i asked our political correspondent chris mason if the case might have any bearing

on the brexit process in the uk. the british government says it will deliver the results of the referendum irrespective of what is going on surrounding mr banks. he's absolutely clear that he sees the political attacks on him as being an attempt to try and undermine the case for brexit and the legitimacy of the referendum campaign. what we've got right now is the ongoing trundle of the brexit negotiations and officials in the uk and in brussels talking about it being in the tunnel at the moment and believe you me not much light is getting into the tunnel. officials are meeting but there is no set piece eventin meeting but there is no set piece event in the calendar. the british cabinet will meet on tuesday and they will be updated on brexit, and at some stage, potentially on tuesday they will be presented with what could be a deal and it has to

get through the cabinet and british parliament and has to be agreed by brussels and then there has to be an emergency summit to sign it off. time is running out for that to happen before christmas and to allow the process to be sufficiently smooth that brexit can be delivered as the government hopes next march. we were, not too long ago, hearing a figure of 95% agreed but we don't know what it agrees to what the 5% could be all about. the 596 is about theissue could be all about. the 596 is about the issue of the border between northern ireland and the republic, the uk and the european union after brexit, so they talk about 95% being done by the 5% is rather chunky. it isa done by the 5% is rather chunky. it is a big 5%. the idea of the uk government which is ensuring that the border remains open after brexit in any circumstances, the uk government idea is that the whole of the uk well stay in the customs union for a period of time after any transitional period. as long as it

has a mechanism for the brussels rather the idea that they say there is not a deal yet. the hope is there will be a deal soon because they know that the clock is ticking. rallies have been held across iran, with protesters denouncing sweeping us sanctions due to come into force on monday. it comes after president trump decided earlier this year to pull out of the international nuclear deal with iran. and the demonstrations have been taking place on the thirty—ninth anniversary of the occupation of the us embassy in teheran, which led to four decades of mutual hostility. i've been speaking with bbc persian tv‘s special correspondent, kasra naji. it isa it is a lot of sanctions aimed at cutting iran from the outside world in terms of the economic activity. are the same sanctions lifted

following the nuclear deal in 2015? many are, particularly the sanctions against the central bank which has used the whole iranian banking sector being under sanctions and we will not be allowed to cut off trade. there is a sense that we are expecting some 300 individuals and entities to be added to the list of people and entities sanctioned, and these are the new people who have never been sanctioned before. on top of that the american administration is trying to cut off iran's oil exports and bring it down to zero, much quicker than the president obama administration in 2012 before the nuclear agreement, what he was trying to do. they are aiming to cut off iran's oil exports in a matter

off iran's oil exports in a matter of months. so these are tougher than what was in place before, which leads me to ask, how worried are the authorities about the prospect?” think both authorities and the iranian people are very worried. they know that these will be serious sanctions with devastating effects on the iranian economy, on the lives of ordinary people and already we get reports of shortages of medicine and other goods in the market. the value of the iranians currency has gone into freefall and has lost its value by 330% in the last year alone and about 200% in the last six months since president trump announced he was going to do this. so the impact will be massive and i'm not sure whether iranians have a lot of options in terms of hoping that the europeans, the russians and the chinese will come to their help.

the italian prime minister giuseppe conte has visited sicily where flooding has killed two families in one home. mr conte flew over the milicia river to see for himself the extent of the damage. he met emergency workers and described the deaths as an immense tragedy. translation: we must acknowledge the tragedies in recent weeks and months. they have seen the government called on to assist the affected families. i met the relatives of the jordano family. it is an immense tragedy to be in your own house when flooding hits. nine people died in the incident, including children and grandparents. only three people who were outside the house at the time survived. days of heavy rain and winds have killed 20 other people across italy, mainly in the north and west. katie silver reports. it was in this house near palermo in sicily that a family

was all but wiped out. nine people died in the incident, from children aged one, three and 15, to their grandparents. it happened when a small river nearby burst its banks. translation: it's not a good situation. it is something we never would have expected. so much rain in casteldaccia. on the other side of the island, firefighters recovered the bodies of a man and woman whose hire car was swept away by a flooded river. another man's body was found in hisjeep. while rescuers are looking for a missing doctor who was en route to the hospital to start his shift. rescue teams evacuated many families from the agrigento area. "we can't go into our homes," she says. "someone lent me clothes. i don't even have underwear. we are devastated. i am speechless. " italy is reeling after heavy rain

and gales have hit large parts of the country over the last week. many have died from falling trees while a german tourist and an 87—year—old woman were struck by lightning. near a northern city, torrential rain caused a massive landslide, blocking a regional road and cutting off a number of towns and villages. in the region of veneto, which has borne the brunt of the damage, authorities believe it will cost 1 billion euros to repair and 100 years for the forests to regrow. the destruction has been widespread. all of these regions have been hit by bad weather, from veneto and the piedmont regions in the north to sardinia and sicily, which has been the area most affected in the last 2a hours. the danger now appears to have passed in the north—east but authorities in the south and north west are bracing themselves for more wild weather to come. italy's civil protection agency describes it as one of the most complex weather situations of the past half—century.

katie silver, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come. back on land and into the record books, the first person to swim all the way round britain. the israeli prime minister, yitzhak ramdin, the architect of the middle east peace process has been a saturday it. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested and an extremistjewish man has been arrested and an extremist jewish organisation man has been arrested and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths through the country they voted on an historic day for australia. as the results came in it was clear that the monarchy would survive. the

american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound and student leaders have threatened much of the americans attempt a 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 it 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 rafa, but the enduring power of our ideals. —— our rafa. this is bbc world news today. i'm karin giannone. the latest headlines: police in the uk investigate one of the leading donors for the brexit campaign, businessman aaron banks. he says his £8 million donation was within the rules there have been widespread street protests in iran, as the us gets ready to re—impose tough economic sanctions. republicans and democrats

have begun a final, frantic burst of campaigning ahead of tuesday's midterm elections in the united states. with all 435 seats in the house of representatives up for election and 35 in the senate, the two men are trying to encourage as many people as possible to come out and vote. former president, barack obama, has been speaking at a rally in gary, indiana — and later, president trump is due at an event in georgia. speaking at that rally in support of democratic senatorjoe donelly, former barack obama, criticised the republican leader mitch mcconnell‘s recent comments about the deficit in the us economy. you know, to bring the deficits down, we're going to have to cut programmes liked medicare and medicaid and social security. booing don't boo. now, look it up. that's what he said, just a couple of weeks ago. because unlike some people,

i don'tjust make stuff up when i'm talking. jane o'brien is outside fedex field near washington dc, where the home side are playing the atlanta falcons. she's been asking fans for their views on the midterms. the most interesting thing i found out today, is that moderate republican voters don't like to admit that they are going to be voting republican, because as soon as they do that, the trump factor comes into play and everybody thinks they also support president trump, and many of them don't, and they say they don't like the way he talks, they don't like his rhetoric, they wish he would get off twitter but what they do like about him is his work on the economy, and some of the issues he has been tackling, tax reform and lately immigration. spoke to one voter who said that he's a closet republican, he doesn't support president trump, but he owns a construction business and this

year he's bought four new trucks and taken on six new employees, and he said that is because of the work that mr trump has done on the economy, so that's why he is voting republican, but because this is such a divisive election, he is not telling his friends that, and he says that he's going to be making his vote in the privacy of the polling station. so i think if enough republicans are thinking like that, then that could be a serious block to the blue wave of democrats that we've been talking about for the last several months. jane, you have covered midterm elections before, how different do these feel? this is an angry election. a lot of people i speak to tell me that they're angry, they're angry about donald trump, they're angry about his divisive rhetoric, they're angry about the way the country is going. and then on the republican side they say they're angry with the democrats, they don't like the democrats making moral judgments about them. and also the kavanaugh

factor, the supreme court hearings that made the headlines several weeks ago now. they don't like the way that the kavanaugh hearings went. it divided the nation further, notjust down a long party political lines, but also among gender lines. so there is a lot of division that has been reflected across the country and also within families and among friends. this is a very angry election. let's show you what i think is going on in georgia right now. donald trump is at a rally there, addressing the crowds, so let's listen in. so a woman who approved the thenjudge of listen in. so a woman who approved the then judge of horrible, horrible crimes, george kavanaugh, admitted that she never metjudge pro tem

—— kavanaugh. and the actor never happen. well, there you are, a flavour of the intensity of the campaigning going on, just two days before the mid—term elections. as we mentioned, barack obama on the campaign trail in indiana, and donald trump there in georgia. john watson has all the sport. thank you we start with football where there's been no shortage of goals in the english premier league. seven of them at the etihad alone on sunday as manchester city's thrashed southampton 6—1 to put them back to the top of the table. after a southampton own goal in the first five minutes, it didn't take long for sergio aguero to double city's lead with david silva making it three before southampton got on the board. sterling then took over as two goals gave him his fifth and six premier league goals of the season. while leroy sane added a sixth late on. you know, when you are in 3—0 after

18 minutes, and it is not over. it was never not over because if you are in the premier league, we were lucky to score the goal in the last—minute of the first half. ok, sirjoe fought a lot to regain the ball and it was a good finish from him -- ball and it was a good finish from him —— sergio. but the game is not over. meanwhile, chelsea extended their unbeaten start to the season after beating crystal palace 3—1. alvaro morata with the opener and, despite palace pulling one back, their hopes of securing a crucial point were dashed by a second from morata before pedro put the game out of their reach. maurizio sarri's side are up to second, two points behind city. novak djokovic's 22—match unbeaten run has come to an end, losing to the 22—year—

old russian karen khachanov in the final of the paris masters. he got the better of the 14—time grand slam champion in straight sets, 7—5, 6—4, to pull off one of the shocks of the tennis year in his final tournament of the season and claim his first masters 1000 title. it means the world to me. it's one of the biggest titles in my career so of the biggest titles in my career so farandi of the biggest titles in my career so far and i could not be happier to finish the season like this, to win the last tournament of the season, especially the masters 1000 against novak djokovic, the number one in the world, so that is the whole explanation. all credit to him. he deserves it. these are young, up—and—coming player and ease against established player and he showed great quality today and it showed great quality today and it showed why we'll see a lot of him in

the future. definitely a name to watch out for. golf, and england'sjustin rose has reclaimed his world number one ranking after winning the turkish open. rose collected the trophy after beating li haotong, of china, in a play—off, after both finished on 17 under par for his 19th career win as he returned to the top of the rankings. he had held the position for a week in september before american brooks koepka replaced him. this golf course suits my high and when you find a golf course that suits your high you have to have opportunities to win their bit to do it back to back was very special this week. kenya's mary keitany has won the new york city marathon for the fourth time in five years, while it was a sprint finish for the men's title. there had been little drama up front until the last few minutes when ethiopia's lelisa desisa pulled away from his compatriot shura kitata in the final stretch to take the title in an unofficical time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 59 seconds — just 5a seconds shy of the new york men's record set by geoffrey mutai in 2011. that's all the sport for now.

another exhausting feet to bring you. five years ago, he became the first person to swim the length of britain. it took him 135 days. he has battled strong tides and he spoke to the bbc after crossing the finishing line in the seaside town of margate in kent. the highs are so high and the lows are so low. the scenery high and the lows are so low. the scenery is stunning in scotland but it's also very humbling getting slapped on the face with jellyfish everyday. it feels weird now to be

looking back and reflecting because 157 days, i didn't allow myself to do that so now it feels nice. well, one man who's got an idea of how ross edgley would be feeling right now is sean conway. five years ago, he, and his legendary beard as his website puts it, made history by becoming the first person to swim the length of britain. it took him 135 days. he lived to tell the tale and has in fact he has battled strong tides and he spoke to the bbc after crossing the finishing line in the seaside town been texting ross on his journey. sean joins us live now from coniston in the lake district in the north west of england. great to see you. how will ross be feeling now? probably relief. i remember when i finished my swim and that was only half losses —— of his, it felt like a lifetime and i remember when i finally got into john o'groats harbour and i thought, i don't have to put on this stinking wet ever again. people will look at the two of you and wonder why. why?

you know, at the time, i wanted to make more out of my life. i had spent my whole 20s living miserable existence and this was something to add a bit of spice to my life and i thought somebody had done it before i attempted it and in fact the only person who had done it was the chap who put a swimming pool in the back ofa van who put a swimming pool in the back of a van and did a length and drove it. yours was a little more interesting. exactly. it was to get my confidence back in life. i was in confidence as a youngster, even in my 20s and something like that opened up opportunities for the rest of my life. people also seem to be fascinated in the horrors you encountered on your way. ross was talking about the jellyfish slapping him in the face. tell us how bad things were. the jellyfish are as bad as you can imagine. it is why i grew the beard. i wondered if the

beard provided protection. the tentacles would get stuck on my beard and elwood lookalike a christmas tree, or —— i said to ross to grow a beard and i'm glad he followed the advice. but they are going up your nostrils, your eye balls, going up your nostrils, your eyeballs, going on your hands and then you forget about them and then later in your day you rub your eyes. but to be in that water which is about 11 or 12 degrees at its cold est, about 11 or 12 degrees at its coldest, your hands go white and your feet go white and you end up stubbing them and they start getting infected because of a lack of blood. iamso infected because of a lack of blood. i am so sorry but we are out of time andi i am so sorry but we are out of time and i would love to hear more. thank you forjoining us on talking about your achievement in the lake district. let's show you pictures before we go of the scene in strasbourg. france beginning a week of events to mark the centenary and we we re of events to mark the centenary and we were going to show you those pictures to show you the end of the first world war. thanks for

watching. once we lost the wind across northern scotland it was a fine day for scotland and northern ireland with plenty of sunshine a further south there was more sunshine in england and wales and even some rain all tied in with the next feature moving north as we speak and pushing into the irish sea. we could have damp weather in the west country across wales and that will spill into the irish sea overnight into northern ireland and into western scotland. there could be heavy bursts mixed in by dawn but elsewhere it should be a dry night with variable cloud, clear spells and quite chilly with mist and fog developing. most of the pressure charts sees a weather front draped across scotland and northern ireland producing cloud and outbreaks of rain which should eventually clear north and then it should be dry in the afternoon with sunny spells with spells in the south—east where we

could see 16 or 17 degrees and that could see 16 or 17 degrees and that could set off an afternoon or evening shower which could develop more widely in the midlands and into bonfire night evening, so if you're heading out for a any celebrations for most it will be dry apart from the showers through western areas. as we head into tuesday and we had to the west, it's likely to encroach onto the shores into tuesday and wednesday and bring wet and windy weather. or tuesday it will turn windy and some of the rain could be heavy and the further east you are better chance of staying dry and seeing the sunshine as well and it will be very mild with the southerly airflow with temperatures may be in the upper teens and into wednesday the upper teens and into wednesday the weather system pushes further east so it could be wet pretty much anywhere across the uk for wednesday

but the greater chance of seeing the rain is southern and western parts with your heavy bursts mixed in. sunshine will develop in the afternoon and it will be quite a windy day as well. temperature wise maybe not as high as we started the week but still 11 to 16 is good for this time of year and it should stay mild and turn increasingly unsettled as we go through the week. this is bbc world news. uk police are investigating one of the leading donors for the brexit campaign. businessman aaron banks — on suspicion that he may have broken guidelines on election spending. mr banks says his £8 million donation was within the rules. there have been rallies across iran with protesters denouncing american sanctions that come into force on monday. they‘ re being imposed following president trump's decision earlier this year to pull out of the international nuclear deal with iran. at least 12 people have died in floods on the island of sicily. nine of them were from two families trapped in the same house. the italian prime minister

has called the flooding "an immense tragedy". a week of commemorations marking 100 years since the end of the first world war is under way in france.