hello, you're watching bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: fears of food shortages in pakistan — the government says up to half of the country's crops have been destroyed by floods the scale of these floods is difficult to imagine. 80% of dadu district is already submerged. russia warns a key pipeline to europe is facing a new problem — nordstream 1 will remain closed for an indefinite period. china warns of counter measures after the united states approves a $1 billion arms package to taiwan. the mayor ofjackson, in the us state of mississippi, warn residents over ruptured pipes as thousands are forced to live without clean running water for a fifth day.

hello and welcome to bbc news. there are fears of food shortages in pakistan, after the devastating floods washed away nearly half of the country's crops. so far around 1,200 people are known to have been killed but today unicef said many more children could die from a rapid spread of diseases lik cholera and malaria. our correspondent, pumza fighlani is in pakistan. meet this boy, he's two days old, her sixth child. as he sleeps under a tree that's become this family's only shelter, his mother is anxious. this is no place for a baby.

translation: we don't even have a tent, just this tree. . we spent the whole night in the rain running away from the flood, trying to get to safety. when we arrived, this was the only space we could find here. it gets really hot and he starts crying and won't stop. it's very difficult. the baby was born in a nearby hospital, but she was forced to return to the river bank because she'd left her husband and five young children. hundreds of families have taken refuge along a flood wall. their homes were washed away by the floods. this was the only high ground for kilometres. the scale of these floods is difficult to imagine. 80% of dadu district is already submerged. the families that you see around me came here hoping they'd be safe, but they now fear that things are about to get a lot worse. and with good reason —

the water across this district is rising and a quarter of a million people are in harm's way. it's notjust this woman who's worried about her young family. there are children in each tent we come across and scores of pregnant women. on the other side of the flood wall, i meet mariam, who is due to deliver any day. her village is buried under water, 20 kilometres from here. when the floods came, all they were able to save from her old life were the clothes on their backs and four cows. translation: i've already got eight children. - look at where we live. i can barely take care of them. sometimes, we don't eat for days. i'm worried notjust about my health but about my unborn baby. i don't even have money to go to hospital. if i get sick here, i wouldn't know what to do. uncertainty surrounds the families marooned

on this sliver of dry land. not even the next meal is promised. whatever little there is has many hungry mouths waiting, and as always, there isn't enough for everyone. pumza fihlani, bbc news, dadu. the russian energy giant gazprom says it's scrapped plans to reopen a key gas pipeline to europe. the state—owned company says it can't restart nordstream i because of an oil leak in a turbine, and says it'll remain closed for an indefinite period. that will have implications for europe's energy supply this winter. the pipeline has already been completely shut for three days. moscow denies weaponising energy supplies in retaliation for western sanctions. but that's not how the move has been seen in european capitals. the president of the european council took to twitter to express his disapointment. charles michel said... "gazprom's move is sadly no surprise. "use of gas as a weapon will not change the resolve of the eu."

..before going on to say: "we will accelerate our path towards energy independence. "our duty is to protect our citizens and support the freedom of ukraine." the bbc�*s economics editor faisal islam explained more about what russian gas giant gazprom has been saying. it announced that this key artery for european gas supply "has been fully shut down" after it was shut for maintenance. let me show you a map of the pipeline — and you'll see it essentially connects germany with russia, it's a symbol of germans' traditional dependence on russian gas, a0%, up until a few months ago. and the russians claim to have found leaks in this maintenance which was due to start tomorrow, but many in the markets and in amongst the diplomats think this is a predictable escalation of an attempt to essentially blackmail europe over supplies. the timing does seem rather questionable — earlier today, g7 finance ministers,

including nadhim zahawi, the uk chancellor, agreed to cap the price we pay for russian oil, the world will pay for russian oil. it seems to have an element of tit—for—tat — very serious, because even during the height of the cold war, those gas supplies from russia into europe continued. china has warned of counter measures, unless the united states revokes a $1.1 billion arms deal with taiwan, amid rising tensions over chinese military drills around the island, which some see as a precursor to an invasion. china said the weapons shipment "severely jeopardizes" relations between washington and beijing. the us government has been showing support for taiwan since the drills began, including a visit by the veteran us politician nancy pelosi to taipei last month. our north america correspondent peter bowes joins me now. what is in this package that

the us is ascending to taiwan? this is indeed a large package, $1.1 billion, it has been confirmed by the state department, technically congress could push back on it, that seems unlikely because both the democrats and republicans are in favour of the continued support the united states gives to taiwan, so it includes antiship missiles, land to and missiles, support for surveillance radar system, an early morning system for incoming missiles. so altogether this is a significant improvement in taiwan? military defence system and, as you have said, it comes at this extremely tense time, we have had months and months of chinese military exercises close to taiwan things came to a head about a month ago when nancy pelosi visited the island and express her own personal

support of democracy, it continued support of independence, she was not representing joe biden and that is a significant point, she represents a different branch of government, nevertheless she was a seniorfigure of government, nevertheless she was a senior figure from the us visiting taiwan and at the time china said america was playing with fire. ., . ~' china said america was playing with fire. ., ., ~ ., , ., china said america was playing with fire. ., .«r ., _ with fire. not taking anyone by surrise, with fire. not taking anyone by surprise, already _ with fire. not taking anyone by surprise, already angry - with fire. not taking anyone by surprise, already angry word . surprise, already angry word from beijing this time around? yes, we had from the chinese embassy here in the us, saying they will be countermeasures if they will be countermeasures if the $1.1 billion package is not revoked and it severely jeopardises relations between beijing and washington. this certainly increases tension on a number of fronts. clearly tensions between the us and china but also taiwan as well. we will be looking to see potentially what happens over the next few days and weeks.

thank you. let's get some of the day's other news: a sri lankan official says the former president gotabaya rajapaksa, who fled abroad after mass protests injuly, has returned to colombo. sri lankans blame his government for the island's economic crisis. the actress jane fonda has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer and is having chemotherapy. the 84—year—old said she had a very treatable form of lymphoma, and would not let the illness interfere with her climate activism. the academy award winner has worked in films and television for more than six decades. nasa is preparing the second launch of its most powerful rocket in 50 years. technical problems and bad weather thwarted the artemis1 mission lift off on monday and engineers have spent the week reviewing data to find out what went wrong. hopes are high that saturday's takeoff will be trouble free and the 37—day mission to the moon can get under way.

thousands of people, including politicians, cultural figures and human rights advocates, have rallied in the centre of buenos aires in support of argentina's vice president. cristina fernandez de kirchner escaped unharmed when a gun pointed at her failed to go off. the gunman, who's been named as fernando andres sabag montiel, was arrested close to the scene. our south america correspondent katy watson reports. this is the moment the gunman pointed a weapon just inches from the vice president's head. the trigger was pulled, but none of the five bullets inside the gun were fired for reasons that aren't yet clear. amid the commotion, she ducked down to retrieve an object from the ground as people warned her to be careful. she's one of latin america's most controversial politicians. she was the president between 2007 and 2015. she's currently facing

a corruption trial after being accused of defrauding the state why a leader. if convicted, she could face 12 years in jail. she denies the allegations and had been greeting supporters who had been keeping vigil outside her house when the gun attack took place. the home of the suspected gunman has been rated. the home of the suspected gunman has been raided. he's been needed named a argentine police. a citizen of argentina and resident of buenos aires. it's believed he was born in brazil. political violence is rare in argentina. the country's president held an emergency cabinet meeting and has said it's the most serious incident since argentina return to democracy in 1983. translation: we can have deep disagreements, - but hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence. there is no chance of violence coexisting with democracy.

government ministers and opposition leaders have condemned the attack, as have leaders across the region. brazil's former president, who is running in next month's presidential elections, lula da silva, said she was a victim of a fascist criminal who doesn't know how to respect divergence and diversity. argentina's president is declaring friday a national holiday to show solidarity with his deputy. katy watson, bbc news. voting has closed in the voting's conservative leadership race. we are down to two candidates. we will find out on monday who has been chosen by party members to be the next leader of the conservative party and succeed borisjohnson as britain's prime minister. after a long rancorous campaign, it is time to cut the

ballot. just 160,000 tory party members are picking their next leader, the next prime minister. and the challenges facing them are huge. they were spelt out today by the current chancellor. he's backing liz truss, the presumed frontrunner. there are no easy options. we have war on our continent. we'vejust come through a pandemic. but this economy is resilient. how will they handle soaring inflation? borisjohnson�*s ejection from office injuly triggered a stampede of wannabe successors. tory mps had the job of picking two final candidates. sunak, 137. truss, 113. leaving the former chancellor and liz truss to slug it out in front of party members. good evening. it's fantastic to be... here in darlington. it's fantastic to be... here in eastbourne. gosh, it's fantastic to be... here in birmingham. and at hustings around the country, one issue dominated. this autumn and winter, a conservative government that

i'm privileged to lead will be proud not just to cut vat on energy bills, but to go further to support the most vulnerable in our society, because that's what compassionate conservative governments do. i would lower taxes. we shouldn't have put up national insurance, we said we wouldn't in our manifesto, and i will have a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy to make sure that customers' bills are lower. she promised immediate tax cuts. rishi sunak said that would be a huge mistake. both avoided spelling out precisely what they would do in a coming budget. in downing street today, a clear sign change is coming. borisjohnson is moving out, but the two candidates vying to replace him have very different views about the departing prime minister. he's one of the most remarkable people i've met. i was very grateful that he gave me thatjob and i'm proud of all the things we achieved in government together, actually. but it got to a point where for me, personally, and these things are personal decisions

and liz made a different decision to me on this, but that's understandable, enough was enough. he admitted he made mistakes, but i didn't think the mistakes he made were sufficient that the conservative party should have rejected him. borisjohnson remains pretty popular among tory party members and liz truss sounded more loyal to the outgoing leader. she also pitched herself as a born—again brexiteer despite voting remain in the referendum. decision—making in government has been paused while the candidates court the tory party faithful. the winner will have to grip the troubles facing the country. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: there are fears of food shortages in pakistan. the government says up to half of the country's crops have been destroyed by the floods. and russia warns a key pipeline to europe is facing a new problem — nord stream 1 will remain closed for an indefinite period.

people injackson, mississippi are struggling to cope with an ongoing water crisis. it's now the fifth day they've been forced to live without clean running water. more than 150,000 people injackson, mississippi's state capital, which has a predominently black population, are affected. the problems started after flooding disrupted a water treatment plant. chi chi izundu reports. i don't want no brown water, i don't green water. there's me and six kids here, and i have to remind them, do not brush your teeth with that water, do not wash your face with that water. this is currently life for most of the 200,000 residents injackson, mississippi. queuing for a basic human necessity — water. have a good day. all right, man! thank y'all for everything, man! the residents in this majority black city say for years,

they have been dealing with problems with their water supply. this time, a pump failed after recent flooding. schools have been forced to switch to online learning because toilets wouldn't flush. 0fficials here are asking for more support from central government. president biden says he will do what he can. we've offered every single thing available to mississippi. the governor has to act, there's money to deal with this problem. and that help has come in the form of the national guard supplying people with bottled water they can drink, wash and cook with. it has been terrible. it is so terrible and i really fault our governor, our officials, period. i really fault all of them because all of them should work together and solve this problem. it shouldn't have just started now, it should have been fixed years ago. this isn't a quick—fix problem. the roots lie in years of underfunding and infrastructural neglect. but residents don't have that kind of time to wait.

they need clean, usable water now. chi chi izundu, bbc news. kali akuno is co—founder and co—director of cooperation jackson, and joins us now. thank you for making the time for us, i know this thank you for making the time for us, i know this is thank you for making the time for us, i know this is a thank you for making the time for us, i know this is a very —— busy period for you. give us a sense, what do people in jackson see when you turn on the tap? jackson see when you turn on the ta - ? ~ .,, jackson see when you turn on theta? , ., the tap? most people are seeing groundwater- — it is brown in degrees. some of it mayjust look like gin, or may look like diarrhoea. we are still about phase —— at that phase of what people are confronting and facing right now. , , ._ confronting and facing right now. , , ., now. this is the fifth day of this crisis, _ now. this is the fifth day of this crisis, how _ now. this is the fifth day of this crisis, how people - now. this is the fifth day of - this crisis, how people coping? people are struggling, there is no question about that. the

response primarily from most civil society and the government is doing very well, my organisation is doing its second water distribution tomorrow morning. the lines and the queues are hours long, luckily there are many organisations outside of government who are now stepping up. but we're running of water. sources within the region. we need some aid coming from the federal government.— federal government. you are “oininu federal government. you are joining us — federal government. you are joining us from _ federal government. you are joining us from new - federal government. you are joining us from new orleans | federal government. you are i joining us from new orleans for practical reasons, what is it your organisation specifically is doing to help people on the ground? we is doing to help people on the round? ~ ., ,., ground? we are here with some of our allies _ ground? we are here with some of our allies to _ ground? we are here with some of our allies to pick _ ground? we are here with some of our allies to pick up - ground? we are here with some of our allies to pick up some - of our allies to pick up some water. we were here a year ago in new orleans after hurricane delivering to some of our ally organisations in the region, the new orleans workers group and our sister organisations, and our sister organisations, and they are now returning the favour. in our time of need. we

are trying to gather that up and bring some more down for the coming days and weeks we anticipate this lasting for an indefinite amount of time. so we're trying to build some other infrastructure, some ongoing support. that is one of the critical reasons why i am here in new orleans, and looking to head back early tomorrow morning to get my boots back on the ground and support my mates there, who are trying to provide our community with the resources it needs. you mentioned federal assistance, president biden said everything is available and there is money to deal with this, does it feel like that to people in jackson? this, does it feel like that to people injackson? ha. this, does it feel like that to people in jackson?— this, does it feel like that to people in jackson? no. one of the commentators _ people in jackson? no. one of the commentators was - people in jackson? no. one of the commentators was really i the commentators was really spot—on in pointing the finger at the governor who has been denying jackson in particular federal resources byjust denying a number of programmes,

he has been adhering to a fairly strict ideological view around what the federal government should or should not do and who it should provide aid to and who it should not. so we are really calling on him, demanding him right now to accept aid and to stop with the politics. and take what is being offered and spend it appropriately. find being offered and spend it appropriately-_ appropriately. and 'ust briefly. i appropriately. and 'ust briefly, the i appropriately. and 'ust briefly, the us i appropriately. and 'ust briefly, the us is h appropriately. and just briefly, the us is the i appropriately. and just - briefly, the us is the richest country in the world, they are sending over $1 billion to taiwan, sending money to ukraine, does that feel fair when people injackson can't drink water out of the tap? hat drink water out of the tap? not fair at all. _ drink water out of the tap? not fair at all, not _ drink water out of the tap? not fair at all, not fair _ drink water out of the tap? iirrt fair at all, not fair at all. and i want your audience to know this is an ongoing problem. we knew, all of us in our community, we knew the system was going to fail at some point and i think the mayor has an excellentjob over the past four or five years, really trying to rally support from the past governors. just

fundamentally being railroaded and denied. meanwhile they keep promoting the idea of our city being a failed experiment, and it is really at the heart of some old school, very corrupt racial dynamics and politics that are at the root of this particular problem. so we know there is resources available, just as biden said. the community knows that. but they are not being tapped into, and unfortunately, because they are not going through an institution like hud, they have to go through the state legislature and the governor. if they came directly to the city you would fear —— see a profoundly different outcome, i firmly believe, our city does not have the revenue base, it has been declining and shrinking over the past couple of years to solve the problem.

we are unfortunately out of time, but kali akuno, thank you forjoining us. the fbi recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during the search of donald trump's home in florida last month, according to court documents now made public. the details come after president biden warned that donald trump and some of his supporters threaten democracy. 0ur north america editor sarah smith reports. election season has begun in america, so fun times at this wayne county fair in pennsylvania come with a serving of politics on the side. i'm voting republican. got to get the democrats out. they had their chance and they haven't done anything, in my opinion. donald trump is not on the ballot in november, but he still dominates the debate. i'm definitely voting for trump again, absolutely. this guy has got to go. his whole party has got to go. they scare the clap out of me. anybody but trump, anybody that he supports, i do not. so republicans have lost their shot

at getting your vote because donald trump has made himself front and centre here? yes, and i'm a republican. voters in pennsylvania had better buckle up. they are going to be getting a lot of attention from politicians in the coming weeks. this is one of the key states that will determine whether republicans can seize control of congress in the mid—term elections and it will be a real test of donald trump's current electability, because he has got a number of hand—picked candidates on the ballot. my wife wants some vegetables for crudite. including the tv celebrity dr oz, who is running for the senate in pennsylvania. like many of trump's inept choices, he could lose a winnable seat with clumsy campaign messages, talking about crudite. guys, that's $20 for crudite and that doesn't include the tequila. i mean, it's outrageous. we've gotjoe biden to thank for this. in the pa we call this a veggie tray. the democratic candidate, john fetterman, is having a lot

of fun at dr 0z�*s expense, and it may cost the republicans a senate seat. president biden came to pennsylvania to launch his mid—term campaign with a dramatic warning of the threat to the soul of the nation. there's no question that the republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by donald trump and the maga republicans. and that is a threat to this country. unusually calling out donald trump by name, and saying he is undermining democracy. they promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence. they are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit ofjustice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. joe biden is telling the nation the coming elections are a choice between him and trump, between democracy and extremism. much more on the bbc news

website, orthe much more on the bbc news website, or the bbc news app. thanks for your company, see you next time. hello there. september can often be a contrasting month, as the battle between summer and autumn really take shape. in fact, on friday, we saw a high of 27 celsius — 80 fahrenheit in suffolk. it was pretty humid, as well. but out to the west was a different story — and as we head through the weekend, we will see heavy, thundery rain with the wettest of the weather continuing out to the west, and the winds strengthening to gusts in excess of 40mph at times. so this low pressure not really going very far, very fast, and it will flick these frontal systems in an anti—clockwise direction around that low — that's where the heaviest of the rain is likely to be. take a look at the accumulation totals as we go through the weekend, take a look at northern ireland

and parts of south—west scotland — the darker blues, the brighter greens suggest that we could potentially see as much as 50—100mm of rain before the weekend is through. so that's where this relentless wet weather is likely to be, but elsewhere, we will see some sunshine. and if you dodge any showers and keep that sunshine, once again, you could get some warmth. some of the showers merging together in organised bands up through parts of east anglia towards north—east england, but with the sunshine, we could see highs of 2a celsius. through saturday night, into the early hours of sunday morning, as the low shifts position a little, we might see a squeeze in the isobars with this next pulse of wetter weather — that suggests that we could see those winds gusting in excess of a0 mph. and some of that rain, again, quite heavy — the brighter greens suggesting that, across north—west england, south—west scotland and, at times, parts of northern ireland. there will be showers elsewhere, but not everyone will see the showers.

it'll be a slightly windier day generally, but the wind direction still coming from the south, we could see some more persistent showers arriving across the channel coast by the end of the day. but again, those temperatures may well peak at 211—25 celsius — that's still into the high 70s. early into next week, that low pressure really stays with us, so we will continue to see frontal systems moving in across the country. it won't be consistent in terms of where the showers are likely to be, but some of us will see showers on and off throughout the week, and some of them could be heavy.

this is bbc news, the headlines: there are fears of food shortages in pakistan, after the devastating floods washed away nearly half of the country's crops. so far around 1,200 people are known to have been killed and unicef say many more children could die from a rapid spread of diseases like cholera and malaria. the russian energy giant gazprom says it has scrapped plans to reopen a key gas pipeline to europe. the company claims it can't restart nordstream 1 because of an oil leak in a turbine, which will have implications for europe's energy supply this winter. china has warned of counter measures unless the us revokes a $1.1 billion arms deal with taiwan, amid rising tensions over chinese military

drills around the island, which some see as a precursor