welcome to bbc news, i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: a tropical storm is battering the us state of louisiana, with officials warning of potentially life—threatening floods. manhattan experiences widespread power cuts, subway trains are halted and people are trapped in lifts. hello and welcome to bbc news. the southern us state of louisiana is being battered by a powerful tropical storm, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 112 kilometres per hour. but storm barry has lost some of its strength since coming ashore

as a category one hurricane. forecasters have warned of a dangerous storm surge on the gulf coast, with flooding expected to be most severe south—west of new orleans. the bbc‘s sophie long is in new orleans and explained how storm barry remains dangerous. what we are experiencing is sudden down because of rain, forecasters are warning that rain is going to become more persistent. that is what they're become more persistent. that is what they‘ re really become more persistent. that is what they're really worried about here, they're really worried about here, the conditions that preceded this storm, that the mississippi river was very, very high, silence of flooding levels already. forecasters predict they could be up to two feet of rain to fall over the next 48 hours. now it's going to land on already saturated ground, the street behind me was flooded three days ago, and as i said, the mississippi river is already high. so they are worried that there could still be some flooding here in orleans. we had some good news today, that storm was downgraded from a hurricane as it made landfall to a tropical storm

barry. but parts of the coast in particular are still experiencing those very strong winds of up to 70 miles an hourand those very strong winds of up to 70 miles an hour and some flooding there, too. concerns about the new o rlea ns there, too. concerns about the new orleans levees, how are they holding out? actually, concern about the levees is now petering off as well. they thought that could be a problem, the levees are built to withstand up to 20 feet of rain, withstand up to 20 feet of rain, with the storm surge you talked about an older rain we are seeing over the next 48 hours, it was feared that those levels could crest that 19 feet, so dangerously close to the 20 feet are able to deal with. we are told now the authorities are confident they will do theirjob and protect new orleans from the catastrophic flooding that it saw in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. no—one in the city will ever forget that it claimed the lives of 1800 people and devastated the lives of many more. the authorities are confident that the levees will hold, so that will be a huge relief to people here in new

o rlea ns. huge relief to people here in new orleans. they were told by the mayor to hunker down last night, to make their preparations, to shore up their preparations, to shore up their properties with sandbags and stock up on supplies to hunker down forup to stock up on supplies to hunker down for up to three days. that advice was headed last night, and these dudes were almost deserted. the other day we have seen people coming back out, it is still a much quieter scene than you would normally expect for this time in new orleans, but for this time in new orleans, but for now we are seeing families out and about, people have got an brothers and rain jackets and about, people have got an brothers and rainjackets but and about, people have got an brothers and rain jackets but they aren't is linked to that advice as much as they were —— umbrellas, but the message from the mayor has been very clear today is a good as don't be complacent, we aren't out of the woods yet. it is the rainfall they are expecting over the next 48 hours that they think could still cause flooding. a huge amount has been spent on flood defence systems in the past 14 years since katrina and the past 14 years since katrina and the drains system as well. —— drainage system, but we've spoken to meteorologist and people who know this city and they say there are very few drainage systems in the

world that could cope with that kind of deluge. the storm has been a messy storm, a sloppy storm as they say, it's been very slow moving and ha rd to say, it's been very slow moving and hard to predict. if that rental predict in is correct, then they could still see flooding here in the next two days also —— rainfall prediction is correct. let's bring you some live pictures now from times square in manhattan, where a huge power outage has brought parts of new york city to a standstill. you can still see the lights on in times square. it's mainly been affecting the upper west side of manhattan, with at least 40,000 people left with power. mayor bill de blasio has confirmed on twitter in the last hour that the cause of the outage was a manhole fire. disruption has been significant — the blackout left movie—goers stuck

outside cinemas. police directing traffic and evacuations of the new york city subway, which was frozen as power and lights cut off. we'll bring you more as we get it. a briton is now known to be among the 26 people killed in an attack on a hotel in southern somalia on friday. more than 50 other people were injured. militants from the al—shabaab group are thought to have targeted a meeting between local politicians and elders — a month before important elections. among those who died in the city of kismayo were an election candidate, journalists and an aid worker. bill hayton reports. the aftermath of a 14—hour gun battle. a building devastated and lives destroyed. it's been four years since the city of kismayo had suffered scenes like this.

but on friday evening its relative peace was destroyed by the militants of the al—shabaab group. the asasey hotel was protected by blast walls and security guards, but the attackers still found a way in. translation: there were four assailants. one was the suicide bomber who blew himself up in the car filled with explosives. two were killed while fighting. and a wounded attacker was captured alive. those three were the ones who were fighting inside the hotel. it's thought the attackers were targeting a meeting at the hotel where regional officials were discussing elections due to take place in the southern region ofjubaland in august and september. among the many people killed were a politician running for the provincial presidency, a regional minister, a prominentjournalist, and several somalis who had returned from living abroad. one was hodan nalayeh, who had recently returned from canada and set up a popular television station. she was killed along with her husband. many others were injured. the regional president came

to visit some of them. the most severely wounded were evacuated from kismayo to the capital, mogadishu. the al—shabaab group recently defended its targeting of hotels, calling them military barracks and headquarters for apostates. this attack on kismayo threatens to stall southern somalia's long journey to peace. bill hayton, bbc news. borisjohnson and jeremy hunt have both defended the right ofjournalists to publish leaked government documents, after police warnings that it could be a criminal offence under the official secrets act. scotland yard is investigating the leak and publication of secret dispatches by sir kim darroch, britain's former ambassador in washington, which were highly critical of the trump administration. sir kim resigned on wednesday. here's our political correspondent nick eardley. the leaking of kim darroch's e—mails about president trump has caused

diplomatic chaos, political controversy, and led to the ambassador‘s resignation. now it's caused a furious row about press freedom and what papers should be able to publish. scotland yard has warned publishing further leaks could be a crime, last night urging the media to return any documents to the government. but many have raised concerns — including the candidates to be the next prime minister. it cannot conceivably be right that newspapers or any other media organisation publishing such material should face prosecution. it is embarrassing but it is not a threat to national security. and it is the duty of media organisations to bring new and interesting facts into the public domain. jeremy hunt said journalists should judge if the leaks are in the public interest. i think it is also very important to defend in a free society the right of the press to publish

material that they think is in the public interest. leaks that they get obviously mustn't breach the official secrets act. scotland yard, though, believes it does exactly that. in a statement, assistant commissioner neil basu said: "the metropolitan police respect the rights of the media and have no intention of seeking to prevent editors from publishing stories in the public interest in a liberal democracy." "however, we have been told the publication of these specific documents, now knowing they may be a breach of the official secrets act, could also constitute a criminal offence and one that carries no public interest defence." but, again, there's a warning. journalists can't use the defence of public interest because itjust doesn't apply to state secrets. there would still be a public interest test to prosecute, though, but many think that is unlikely. the only prosecutions we've had are of civil servants who've leaked information to the media, in some circumstances they've leaked information to mp5. but the media who reported those materials weren't themselves prosecuted.

and so it would be very unusual and rather unlikely that any sort of prosecution would happen. the leak of sir kim's e—mails has caused headaches for government and curtailed his time in one of the uk's most important diplomatic postings. now it threatens to put the police against the press too. nick eardley reporting there. meanwhile, the mail on sunday has published more leaked diplomatic cables from the former ambassador. the paper reveals that in may last year, sir kim darroch said donald trump was set upon "an act of diplomatic vandalism" — unilaterally abandoning the international agreement limiting iran's nuclear programme. sir kim accused the president of acting for "personality reasons", because his predecessor, barack obama, had helped to negotiate the deal. joining me on the phone is the former american ambassador to canada, bruce heyman. let's get a little bit more on this.

ambassador heymann, thanks so much for your time. first of all, these further reported legs, if they are found to be confirmed, given the uk ambassador has already resigned, does actually change the situation ambassador heyman? it doesn't very much at all. we are in an environment today... inaudible sanctions and tariffs. and he is continuing to break agreements in tpb and the paris accords, iran, it puts the value of an agreement here very low stop when we talk about iran in these new cables, i think the uk ambassador came to reasonable conclusions based on what he was seeing in washington and what out of everything i've heard. part of the contents everything i've heard. part of the co nte nts of everything i've heard. part of the contents of this new reported leak is that the — basically donald trump

pulled out of the iran deal in order to— pulled out of the iran deal in order to — because it was from his predecessor, brock obama. but there's still a lot of support for what donald trump has done within the united states for pulling out of this deal —— barack obama. so isn't necessarily an accurate assessment? i think the word diplomatic vandalism is a new term that i may be using more often about president from. —— president trump. he has broken away from agreements in the paris accords, tpb, daca and other things —— tpp, so his behaviour around the world. the organ reducing nuclear risk that we did is something that is unfortunate that the president has put injeopardy

something that is unfortunate that the president has put in jeopardy by walking away from. again, there is still a lot of support for what president trump has done, doesn't really co m e president trump has done, doesn't really come down to president trump's personality? -- does it really? he is a unique character that has continued to isolate the country. the out of the deal for him is about his winning, somebody has to lose. —— art of the deal. is about his winning, somebody has to lose. -- art of the deal. this further league, i wonder — it's unclear whether are more lea ks further league, i wonder — it's unclear whether are more leaks to come. how will the diplomatic community in the us at least, be able reacting to theirs, especially now that the ambassador has resigned? i think the fallout as a result of the president's treatment of the uk ambassador will potentially hurt the president's own ambassadors globally. i think he's cutting off the uk ambassador, which

gives other countries, including our allies, just that approval to shutdown communications with other ambassadors if they don't like what they are saying. this is very harmful to the entire diplomatic structure that have been operating on for many decades. former american ambassador to canada, bruce heyman, thank you very much for your insight stop thank you. —— inside. thank you very much for your insight stop thank you. -- inside. thank you. a tropical storm is battering the us state of louisiana, with officials warning of potentially life—threatening floods. let's stay with tropical storm barry. kiran chawla is a reporter for local tv station, wafb. she's in denham springs — up—riverfrom new orleans — where there was severe flooding three years ago. this river, the reason i show you this is — you can see how calm it is right now.

it would have come up 31 more feet, that was a projection and because it has not come up yet, at least, and they‘ re expecting the projection to go down, the fears are starting to go downjust a little bit, however, we still have the rest of the night to go here. we have been hearing there is a lot more rain expected. how are people still preparing for that? are people still quite worried even as you say concerns have lessened slightly? of course, they are still concerned because, i guess, it kind of goes back 2016, the fears are still there. that was not a named storm, it was simply rain which led to that much flooding. this is a named storm. however nobody is taking any chances. our local officials, our parish officials, everybody has been prepared for this. we have high water vehicles on standby, we have crews, police officers, firefighters, everybody has been on standby. in talking to them, to the officials as well as people in the community, they all say they are not finished

and calling it quits just yet however they are cautiously optimistic. we can hear that it is still quite windy where you are. we have been hearing about some evacuations. in terms of your specific area, have a lot of people left? is it quite an empty town? no, we do not have many evacuations here in livingston parish. a lot of people ended up raising things up or maybe even moving their vehicles but i do not know of many evacuations where we are. that is more towards the coast of louisiana where they did do evacuations, or people we live along the river, not this specific river right here. chippies happen paid it to the tipster who has been killed in a crash in south london, the 35—year—old was riding electric scooter when she was involved in an accident. —— tributes. she shared

lifestyle advice and had hundreds of thousands of followers online. more now on the situation in venezuela, where senior officials have led a march in protest against a recent un report, which accused the government of widespread human rights abuses towards opposition activists. those marching in caracas dismissed the report as lies — saying its findings are biased and aimed at discrediting president nicolas maduro. alfredo romero is a human rights lawyer — and president of foro penal, an organisation providing legal assistance to those suffering human rights violations in venezuela. he says the un report by human rights chief michelle bachelet echoes the findings of his organisation. a week or two weeks ago it was a visit from mrs bachelet and actually the government said publicly that they were so happy with the visit of mrs bachelet, and actually they said that they would recognise,

they will follow all the recommandations. actually they took pictures, with bachelet, here in venezuela, i'm talking about the president, i'm talking about the attorney general, and it seems to me very contradictory that now they are against this report. this report basically says what ngos here in venezueal and internationally, ngos like amnesty international, human rights watch, have said many times before, that there are forced disappearances in venezuela, that are still going on, political prisoners still there, that people have been tortured for political reasons... sorry to interrupt but you do your own research on human rights and i was wondering, when you looked at that un report, did some of the evidence concur with the people you speak to and help? of course.

actually bbc people have gone to our office and they have found many people waiting to talk to us, many testimonies that every day we listen to and that we see. we see not just the families of political prisoners that are injail this moment, people that have been tortured, for example, suffocated with plastic bags, or victims of electric shocks, but also people that have been injail and have been released and they told us what happened to them and it is exactly the same pattern. the important thing here is notjust torture, for example, it is notjust political detainees, it's notjust political prisoners, what is important here is the pattern, the systematic torture that has been going on against political dissidents. i have always said that the most important tool of maduro is political repression and, actually, he has been very effective using political repression to keep in power. it is a shame to say that i do not see an important change after this un report. what i see is a more political prisoners, more political detainees and, actually, the week after bachelet came to venezuela, she actually said that 22 people were released — 22 political prisoners —

but actually the same day. simona halep has upset the odds to claim her first wimbledon title. the 27—year—old romanian becomes the first player from her country to win any singles title at the tournament and in doing so she also prevented serena williams from claiming another piece of tennis history. our sports correspondent andy swiss was at the all england club. it was the day one wimbledon dream was realised while another was ruthlessly dashed. serena williams had emerged to royal approval in search of a record—equalling 24th grand slam title. but simona halep clearly hadn't read the script. halep won the first four games in 11 magical minutes. taking the first set in a blaze of brilliance. desperately, williams dug deep. at last, some flickers of that familiar fire. but they were soon snuffed out. in less than an hour, it was all over. cue delight and utter disbelief. halep had produced the performance of her life and her opponent knew it. she literally played out of her mind! congratulations, simona!

applause. it was my mum's dream whenever i was about ten or 12, she said if i wanted to do something in tennis, i had to play the final of wimbledon. so the day came. so, my mum, thanks! applause. thanks to my parents, actually. well, what drama the fans here have seen. most were expecting to watch serena williams make history. but instead, they have a new champion. and as a fan of the duchess of cambridge, things got even better. really well done. honestly. a quick chat before even more cheers. for simona halep, the perfect ending to a near—perfect performance. andy swiss, bbc news, wimbledon. sunday is the men's final at wimbledon as well as the british grand prix on an exciting day for sports fans. it all starts here in london

with the cricket world cup final. and we know there'll be a new name on that trophy. england and new zealand contest the game at lord's and while new zelaand's last appearance in the final was just four years ago england have had to wait 27 years for a crack at the top prize. joe wilson reports from lord's. commentator: england are through to the world cup final! so they are here. whoever wins tomorrow, a new nation will be world champion. lord's has hosted the men's world cup finalfour times before. england's men have reached the cricket world cup final three times before and never won it. it is indisputably a big deal. it is that far removed i never even in my wildest dreams dreamt of it. it is awesome. i dreamt of hitting the runs in the world cup final, i never dreamt i would lead my country out in the world cup final, so that probably sums up how much it means. new zealand were the beaten finalists in the last world cup. they knocked out the mighty

india in this semifinal, and yet, as the captain knows, they're always described as the underdogs. england deserve to be favourites. whatever dog we are, it is just important we focus on the cricket that we want to play and we have seen over the years that anybody can beat anybody, regardless of breed of dog. both nations hope victory can inspire cricket participation. both captains will now look no further than 100 overs, right here. joe wilson, bbc news. an ancient pyramid just south of cairo, that marks a key step in the evolution of egyptian pyramid construction, has been opened to visitors. dubbed the bent pyramid, it was built more than 4,500 years ago. tourists will be able to clamber down a narrow tunnel — to explore two chambers deep inside.

the bbc‘s tim allman has more. ancient egypt always has more secrets to reveal. before the great pyramids of giza, there was the bent pyramid, sneferu. built for the founder of the 4th dynasty, its unusual design a stepping stone for what was to come. government officials delighted to show it off. dahshur is a very important archaeological site, with five pyramids at least. two pyramids of sneferu, the bent pyramid, and the northern or the red pyramid. and three pyramids of the middle kingdom, the 12th dynasty. and now, people can see it like they never have before. a narrow, albeit fairly steep, 80—metre long tunnel leading down into the heart of the pyramid. it doesn't look like the easiest of trips but at least one visiting dignitary believes it will be worth it. this is one of the less known places

here but one of the most beautiful. those two pyramids are reallyjewels which tourists must come and see. also on display, mummies, masks, tools and coffins discovered during recent excavations of the site. it won't actually be opened to the public for another two years but, in this place, where history stretches back millennia, that is no time at all. tim allman, bbc news. let's get the weather. hello. the first half of the weekend has been mainly dry and fine for most. for others, a few hefty showers, particularly across the eastern side of scotland, into the pennines, through the midlands, east anglia and south—east england. this building area of high pressure through the early hours of sunday morning will tend to ease away most of the showers but we could keep one or two going first on sunday

across east anglia and south—east england. a lot of cloud around to start the day. it will thin and break. we'll all see some spells of sunshine, particularly across northern ireland, a fine day here. still the chance of one or two showers across the higher ground of scotland, northern england and wales. maybe one or two across south—west england, but most will have a mainly dry day, fairly light winds as well, except for eastern coasts. brisker breeze here, a bit more in the way of cloud at times, just keeping temperatures pegged back to around 17 or 18 celsius. further west, in the best of the sunshine, 21—24 celsius. some fine conditions for the cricket world cup final at lord's. a lot of cloud around through the morning, but it will thin and break and by the afternoon some spells of sunshine, lighter gentle north—easterly breeze, highs of 21 celsius. similar conditions at wimbledon as well. so it's a fine evening for most. late spells of sunshine. as the night wears on, more cloud feeding into northern scotland, eastern parts of scotland and england. could be low enough that cloud to bring some patchy drizzle but for most it is a dry night.

clearer skies further west. slightly cooler night as well, lows of between nine and 13 celsius. it's a quiet start to the new week. we've still got our area of high pressure so it's mainly dry. some cloud around through the morning, will thin and break, much more sunshine by the afternoon, fewer showers as well, if any. most will stay dry. temperatures up a notch, 21—24 celsius. a little bit warmer along eastern coasts as the winds subtly changes direction. as we go from monday into tuesday, here's our area of high pressure still with us. look what's happening in the the atlantic, though, a frontal system starting to make inroads. so that's going to start to produce some showers on tuesday, perhaps across northern ireland, the western side of scotland and just filtering their way a bit further north and eastwards, across scotland through the day. it could become heavy in places. for much of england and wales, dry, fine, very warm — 24 or 25 celsius on tuesday afternoon. but here's our front as we go into wednesday, starting to push its way further eastwards. so whilst most of england and wales will probably stay mainly dry for a time on wednesday, we will see increasing

cloud and eventually some outbreaks of rain. and that means in turns more unsettled by the end of the week. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: tropical storm barry is bringing torrential rain and high winds to the southern us state of louisiana. millions of people are bracing themselves for potentially life—threatening flooding. tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without power and new orleans airport has been closed. a powerfailure in new york has halted subway trains and trapped people in lifts. the fire department said

it was responding to a blaze in an electrical transformer and to smoke in multiple buildings in manhattan, the most densely populated of new york's five boroughs. al—shabaab militants have killed 26 people and injured many more in their biggest attack in years on the southern somali port of kismayo. politicians, aid workers, and journalists were among the victims who were gunned down in an exclusive hotel. the authorities say three of the islamist militants died, a fourth was captured alive. financial pressures on private and independent day nurseries are creating a workforce crisis in england. that's according to the national day nurseries association, which says people are leaving forjobs in areas such as retail, where they can earn more. the association is calling on the government to provide more money to support free childcare places. our business correspondent, katy austin reports. this private day nursery in east manchester wants