this is bbc news — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. fresh warnings for the uk from senior us politicians — jeopardise the good friday agreement and there will be no trade deal. hurricane sally makes landfall in america causing catastrophic flooding with winds exceeding 160 kph. the former head of world athletics‘ governing body lamine diack is jailed for covering up evidence of russian doping. is this a second world war submarine scuttled off thailand 77 years ago? we'll speak to a diver who believes he's located the uss grenadier.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. the us house speaker nancy pelosi has repeated her warning that congress will veto a us—uk trade agreement if brexit undermines the good friday agreement, which secured peace in northern ireland. in a statement after she held talks in washington with the uk foreign secretary dominic raab, she said... mr raab earlier told congressional leaders that the good friday agreement was under threat from the "politicisation" of northern ireland by the eu. and shortly after ms pelosi issued her statement

joe biden, the democratic candidate has tweeted this... these comments by nany pelosi and joe biden — come a day after four members of the us congress have written to prime minister borisjohnson threatening to veto any trade deal between the two countries if the uk fails to uphold its commitments to northern ireland. the bbc‘s katty kay spoke to one of the representatives behind that letter — congressman richard neal, who is the democratic chair of the house's ways and means committee. he outlined the importance of the good friday agreement to the good friday agreement to the us. the success of the good friday agreement was indispensable. we see ourselves as the arbiters

of the agreement. i was involved now for more than 30 yea rs involved now for more than 30 years to remind people what the situation was like in the north before the good friday agreement. there were 30,000 british soldiers on the ground and much of the parts of the northern ireland were ravitch. i think the success that we have had represents to the rest of the world conflict resolution and should not be disturbed. is this to do with antipathy towards brexit itself amongst members of the democratic party on the hill? absolutely not, that is a sovereign decision that the nation made. we are not concerned at all with the decision that they made, we might have a disagreement on white but the truth is that was up white but the truth is that was up to the people of the uk. they made that decision. 0ur argument is that ireland and a successive good friday agreement are not to be used as a part in a dispute between the uk and the european union. success of the good friday

agreement is there for the world to witness and included the elimination of the border and the republic of our own game of article 20 of their constitution with the purpose of helping the agreement. what we wa nt of helping the agreement. what we want to do is remind people how grim the situation was and there ought not be any threat. we saw the clarity today from secretary dominic raab. congressman richard neal speaking to katty kay. now let's get more on dominic raab's visit from our washington correspondent, nomia iqbal. brexit is really high on the agenda here in washington, dominic raab has been visiting to try to reassure us politicians on the latest british developments, he had a press conference with the us secretary of state mike pompeo and when asked a question by the bbc about the concerns around it, mr pompeo said that he trusted the uk to get it right. but nancy pelosi a very powerfulfigure here has her reservations, she said there is no chance of a uk—us deal getting through. she is a very

powerful woman here. her party controls the lower house of congress. joe biden also adding his viewpoint in saying if he becomes president on november the 3rd, he will not allow peace in northern ireland to become a casualty of brexit. nomia, i want to also put to you something that president trump has said a short time ago. president trump was claiming about a vaccine being rolled out imminently in the us. let's have a listen to what he had to say just a little while ago. we are on track to deliver and distribute the vaccine in a very, very safe and effective manner. we think we can start sometime in october. so as soon as it's announced, we will be able to start from mid—october on. maybe a little bit later than that but it will be all set. so, as soon it's given the go—ahead — they are doing trials as you know. as soon as it is given the go—ahead, we will get it out to defeat the virus.

that was donald trump speaking just a short time ago. he is talking about a vaccine be potentially available by october which is an incredibly short timeframe. yes, he probably should have a conversation with the director of the center for disease control and prevention robert redfield who is completely contradicting that. he says if a vaccine is indeed available it will not be given to the us public at least by next summer because they have to test it to make sure it's safe and donald trump was asked about mr redfield's comments today at the press conference we saw the clip from and mr trump said something quite remarkable. he called mr redfield "confused". he said that mr redfield, "totally got it wrong, he's mistaken," but mr trump did not elaborate on that. it's not coincident that mr trump is saying all this in the run—up to the election.

mr redfield testified in front of senate lawmakers and he said that any suggestion that the government has tried to get a vaccine ready as politically motivated is not true. he said that and, i'm reading a quote, the scientific intergrity agency of his agency would not be undermined under his watch. so, both men completely at odds with each other there. 0ur correspondent with the latest winds from the us. tropical storm sally has made landfall along the gulf coast in the us state of alabama, causing devastating flooding and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. sally was downgraded to a tropical storm in the last few hours — but the national hurricane center in the us says it could still drench the region with an estimated 60 cm of rain. alabama, florida and mississippi have all declared states of emergency. skyler henry from cbs news is in mobile, alabama. as we've been here in this region for the last few days, several people that we spoke with have said that they aren't

necessarily worried about where hurricane sally is going as it has kind of shifted east on the south—eastern part on the united states, they are still concerned about those other tropical storms in that area for that reason. 0bviously, cities like a new orleans or a biloxi, mississippi — all in that kind of projected area that could be impacted by these hurricanes and so i think you're starting to see a lot of people, particularly officials, take the necessary precautions in terms of warning citizens to either evacuate or prepare their buildings — whether that's sandbags in front of the buildings or board up their windows to try to prevent as much storm damage as possible. but we're here in mobile, alabama that saw a significant portion of the storm damage from hurricane sally. if you can look behind me, you can see several toppled over trees and things like that. this is one of the historic parks right in the middle of the city here, and basically what has been going on so far here is showers, heavy winds all throughout the day today. we had officials earlier today kind of rope off all of this park here just to try to get

people from coming inside of the park because there's still several dozen trees here that could fall at any momentjust because of how wet and windy it is here in alabama. he was once one of the most powerful men in world sport. but now lamine diack, the former head of the world athletics governing body, has been sentenced to four years in prison, two of them suspended. he was convicted of taking bribes from athletes to cover up positive drugs tests, and of delaying anti—doping procedures against russian athletes, thus allowing them to compete in the 2012 olympics. diack‘s laywers said they will appeal against the conviction. translation: we have just heard the verdict and we are telling you straightaway that diack‘s defence team will appeal that decision. this decision is unfairand inhumane. unfair because we see that the judges have tried to be politically correct and have wanted to use mr diack as a scapegoat. many have welcomed the decision, including athletes that lost out

to people who used performance—enhancing drugs. translation: you can't see the smile on my face with the mask i'm wearing but i'm very happy to have been recognised as a victim of the corruption by the iaaf leaders, and i'm also happy for the all the athletes who were. we need to continue the fight against doping and to have been recognised is important for us. jason henderson, is the editor at the track and field magazine athletics weekly. i asked him what this means for the world of athletics. it is a pretty grim day for athletics. i think this story is right up there with things like ben johnson at the seoul olympics of his drugs positive, just a dark day for athletics. 0n the good side, he has been found guilty and is out of the sport now, he has a jail sentence and he has been fined

but the stuff that he has done in the past reallyjust beggars just beggars belief — as president of the iaaf as it was known back then, he is supposed to be a guardian for the sport, the man who protects the integrity of athletics and he was doing anything but that during his reign as president. so i think most people in the sport will be glad that justice has been served today. it's hard to underestimate just how high this corruption went at the highest level of the sport. what's your understanding on how on earth this was allowed to happen? well, it's almost unimaginable. it is crazy how it could actually happen. here is the guy who is president of the world global governing body for athletics and he was just right in the middle of this corruption involving doping and russians... it's crazy. i don't think there were enough checks that were in place at the time and procedures

where a person in his position was checked up on and people were able to actually keep an eye on what he was doing. he was obviously able to run rampant during his 15 or 16 years in that position and it led to the mess that we have got ourselves in since. this concept he claimed he was looking out for the financial interests of the athletics organisation, what do you make of that? is there any possibility in that? —— plausibility in that? i don't think so. the french court has found him guilty of corruption and has handed out a prison sentence and a huge fine for him and his son and other people that were involved. so, he's still proclaiming his innocence but the court has decided today that he's guilty and i think we have to go by that.

jason henderson the editor of athletics weekly speaking to me earlier. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... renewed calls for brazil to do more to protect the amazon, as more devastating wildfires hit the region. 30 hours after the earthquake that devastated mexico city, rescue teams still have no idea just how many people have died. one day there is people alive, and there is people not alive. we just can help and give whatever we got. a state funeral has been held for princess grace of monaco at the church where she married prince rene 26 years ago. it looked as though they had come to fight a war but their mission is to bring peace to east timor, and nowhere on earth needs it more badly. the government's case is being forcefully presented by monsieur badinter, the justice minister. he's campaigned vigorously for abolition having once

witnessed one of his clients being executed. bells ring elizabeth seton spent much of her time at this grotto and every year, hundreds of pilgrimages are made here. now that she's become a saint, it's expected that this area will be inundated with tourists. the mayor and local businessmen regard the anticipated boom as yet another blessing of saint elizabeth. this is bbc news. the latest headlines. more warnings for the uk from senior us politicians jeopardise the good friday agreement and there will be no trade deal. hurricane sally makes landfall in america — causing catastrophic flooding with winds exceeding 160 kph. there's more evidence

in the uk, of the severe problems being faced by people who need a test for coronavirus, and of thousands of results being delayed. the prime minister boris johnson blamed the shortage on what he called a "colossal spike" in demand, with the re—opening of schools being the prime cause of the spike. boris johnson's critics say it's also the case that the government has failed to deliver on its promises. 0ur health editor hugh pym has the latest. long waits and frustration for people in southend queueing at a walk—in virus testing centre today — further evidence of the immense strain on the whole system. i dropped my daughter off with my granddaughter, she was about 350 people behind all these, to be told that they cannot get tested because they don't have enough. they only had enough tests to do for about 150 people. beth, who lives in surrey, has been trying repeatedly since yesterday to book a test, but can't. she and two of her children have symptoms. it is extremely stressful, it has added a lot of stress

to what is already an upsetting time for us while we are managing everybody being poorly. trying to get through and constantly trying to check my phone to try and hope that we find a test somewhere, and it is really frustrating, to be honest. the government says the uk is testing more than other leading european countries, and that is the case with the number expressed relative to the population. there are, though, some smaller european nations doing more. but laboratories analysing the tests here are struggling to keep up with the workload. the government says new labs are coming on stream, but not for a few weeks. here is how much community testing, not including nhs staff and patients, has gone up in recent weeks. on september the ist, there were just over 119,000 tests processed. that day, lab capacity — the ability to handle those tests — was 156,000. then, over the next couple of weeks, demand soared, with 163,000 tests processed in one day.

on september the 10th, capacity was 161,000. it would have gone up a bit over the next few days, but it still shows how tight things have become. 0ne health expert told me all this should have been anticipated a few months ago. the surge in demand for testing as we enter autumn was extremely predictable. particularly because we expected covid cases to increase again as autumn comes, which we are seeing they are, but also because we were expecting covid—like symptoms from conditions such as the common cold and flu to increase too, and both of those combined for an increased demand in testing. back in july, people were being actively encouraged to get tests. if you are just worried, if you have got a temperature, you've got a cough or you are just not quite sure that you feel right, the sensible thing to do in this covid world is to go and get a test. now it is very different. capacity is much tighter and the message is that only those with symptoms like high

temperature should book a test. confusion over what to do may well have added to the recent surge. hugh pym, bbc news. staying in the uk and almost two million people in north—east england are expected to face local restrictions as coronavirus cases rise. areas including newcastle, sunderland and county durham are due to be subject to new measures, which reportedly include pubs closing at 10pm, with "no mixing with other households" and public transport reserved for "essential travel" only. a full announcement detailing the measures is expected on thursday. south america is currently going through one of its worst fire seasons on record with the blazes extending beyond the amazon and into the world's largest wetlands, the pa nta nal. they're home to some of the planet's most unique species, some of which were already endangered and which now face the loss of their home environment.

katy watson has visited the amazonian state worst—affected by the fires — and sent this report. above the canopy, unmissable signs that the amazon is burning. but it's on the ground where the damage has been done. this virgin forest gone forever. this is one of dozens of fires we've seen while driving through the forest today and this is a specially protected area. clearly, few people are paying attention to the fact there's a fire ban that's been put in place after the international outcry we saw last year. you wonder what hope there is when the government says that the fires don't even exist. for this man, the fires are all too real. a cocoa producer, he shows me where the neighbouring cattle farm burnt its land a few weeks ago. and nearly destroyed his livelihood.

translation: they set fire to the fields after the decree was introduced. i don't know why they didn't comply with the law. we often ask that. they must have special contacts. they know that they can commit the crimes and they aren't afraid of anything. small farmers like raimundo face powerful opposition, though. with the backing from the president, the agricultural lobby is more formidable than ever. and they keep burning. yet jair bolsonaro remains defiant. he slashed the budgets of brazil's environmental agencies, instead putting the army in charge of protecting the rainforest. and earlier this month he publicly called environmental ngos a cancer. the president has problems with democracy. he can't deal with people that

have different opinions. the cancer against the future of brazil is the government action against the environment. it's notjust the amazon, though, that's burning. further south, the world's largest wetlands, known as the pantanal, is also ablaze. exacerbated by the worst drought for almost half a century. it's home to rare species like jaguars. those who have survived are badly injured — so many more did not even stand a chance. jair bolsonaro sees the amazon as a cash cow, a way for brazilians to prosper, but the way it's going, this is what the future will be, the slow death of the world's biggest forest, and time is running out for one of the most unique places on earth. katy watson, bbc news, in the amazon. now for a deep dive into the second world war and the story of a us submarine

scuttled off the coast of thailand after being bombed by japanese forces. the whereabouts of the uss grenadier were unknown for 77 years. but now after several months searching the waters south of the island of phuket, four divers — including lance horowitz — believe they've found the missing vessel. i asked lance how sure he was that the wreck was indeed the uss grenadier. we are quite certain, there is not that many of them missing out there. so, due to several different reasons, we are very sure that it is the grenadier. just talk us through the moment that you found it, what was it like, what did you experience? it is quite emotional. it's quite a large vessel, it is very deep and quite dark as your light starts

to eliminate it and you get this feeling of history flooding back. other than that, it has created a freak ecosystem on the bottom of the sea floor. it is teeming with marine life so it is a very vivid ceiling when you are down there. it gives you goose bumps. -- it is —— it isa —— it is a very vivid feeling. it certainly looks extraordinary. it was not an easy expedition. tell us a bit about how it came about and how it went. it has been a bit of a dream of our team to find and discover things that are thought to be lost. so, we started searching for possible wrecks and located this after a lot of looking with the sonars on the boat. then we have to use quite

an advance diving technique diving with a mixture of mostly helium, and diver propulsion vehicles to move us around. we're laden with heavy tanks and using closed—circuit breathers, so quite a technical dive and a lot to be considered. it is at about 83 metres deep — so getting to the limit a human diver can take really. it sounds like an extraordinary feat and the submarine itself, the uss grenadier is quite an extraordinary story and an emotional one. tell us a little bit more about it. i think so. it was out on patrol in the area when it was attacked by some japanese aeroplane. and the vessel was damaged, it sunk to the bottom. they spent 13 hours trying to repair the systems, managed to get back to the surface so that they were surrounded and they had to basically scuttle the ship — so tank it on purpose — to stop it from falling into enemy hands. then they were taken prisoner and there's been some

books written about it but it was thought to be lost forever and it's. .. i think nice, we have been contacted by family members of the survivors saying how nice it is to have a bit of closure and bring this whole story, just wrap it up. and when do you find out? when you find a for 100% that this is it? it is currently under review with the navy and we expect to hear back in a week or two. what an extraordinary story from our thanks to the diver lance horwitz for bringing us that story, remarkable. time to tell you that music lovers in hungary can now use the pandemic to their advantage. masks fitted with ‘ears' or plastic cupped palms are allowing concert goers to enjoy enhanced acoustics.

according to the creator orchestra conductor ivan fisher the masks make sounds much more beautiful. his invention has proved very popular with audiences. hello there. it will be a notably fresher start to the day, particularly across the southern half of the uk because the transition was taking place further north yesterday. but there will still be plenty of dry weather on offer, some good spells of sunshine will break for the cloud and make it feel pleasantly warm. we have seen the transition as we come behind this cold front through yesterday and overnight to slightly fresher air back to where we should be for the time of year. quite a brisk easterly wind blowing in the south. always a little bit more cloud close to the north of scotland with this weather front, and there could be some patchy fog elsewhere first thing, the first couple of hours after dawn there could be some dense patches, but then it clears the way. as should the low cloud near the north sea coast, and the misty low cloud we have had in southern and western areas for the

last couple of days. the exception really to seeing that sunshine for most is the north and east of scotland. and with the return of the sunshine elsewhere in scotland and northern england i think it will feel warmer than it did yesterday, but the 27 we had in the south not being repeated. more like 21, 22 which is where we should be for this time of year. and so under the clearest skies again through the coming night it's going to turn quite cool, and yes again the exception being northern scotland where we have those weather fronts close by. down into single figures quite widely in the countryside setting us up for another date with perhaps some patchy mist and fog again first thing. brisk wind in the south, but otherwise some good spells of sunshine. and even north as that weather front weekends at times it will be bright. 19 to 21 around about average for this time of year. and we keep that high pressure close by into the weekend particularly in the north. but this low pressure in the bay of biscay is giving us a little bit of a headache as it comes northwards it is likely to tighten the isobars. the winds will strengthen again, and possibly it's

going to bring some showers close to southern parts of england in particular. so a keen breeze coming off the north sea which will make it feel cooler. some low cloud as well plagueing the north sea coast. so here temperatures will be as high, but 19 to 22 further west. and then just the possibility of some showers, the question mark is how far north they will come into the southern half of the uk. they are still meandering around the area of low pressure into sunday as well. with that breeze coming off the north sea also risk a little bit more cloud around here, but still a good deal of dry and settled weather with high pressure largely in charge for the north. as ever, there is more on the website.

this is bbc news — the headlines... the us speaker of the house — nancy pelosi — has repeated her warning that congress will veto a us—uk trade agreement if brexit undermines the good friday agreement — which secured peace in northern ireland. joe biden — the democratic presidnetial candidate — has voiced similar concerns. the us states of alabama, florida, and mississippi have declared states of emergency after hurricane sally battered coastal areas. experts at the national hurricane centre said the storm had caused catastrophic and historic flooding to the region. the storm is now moving inland at a walking pace, exacerbating flooding. lamine diack — the former head of athletics' govering boby — has been sentenced to four years in prison — two of them suspended — after being convicted of taking bribes to cover up positive drugs tests. he was also found guilty of delaying anti—doping procedures against russian athletes.