welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: china warns of counter measures after the united states approves a $1 billion arms package to taiwan, saying it's to maintain its self defence capabilities. russia warns a key pipeline to europe is facing a new problem — nordstream 1 will remain closed for an indefinite period. 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. thousands rally in argentina to support vice president, cristina fernandez de kirchner, after she narrowly

avoids assassination. # there is a star man waiting in the sky... and the hand—written lyrics to david bowie�*s 1972 hit, starman, go up for auction later this month. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. china has warned it'll take counter measures unless the united states revokes a $1.1 billion arms deal with taiwan. it comes amid rising tensions between washington and beijing over the island. the deal includes anti—ship missiles, air—to—air missiles and support for taiwan's surveillance radar programme.

our north america correspondent peter bowes joins me now. what more do we know about what is in this deal?— is in this deal? we know that this is a very _ is in this deal? we know that this is a very big _ is in this deal? we know that this is a very big package - is in this deal? we know that this is a very big package of. this is a very big package of measures. 1.1 billion dollars, it includes now to air missiles, and the major investment in taiwan's surveillance radar system, and early morning system for incoming missiles. —— warning. washington's assessment of taiwan's defence needs under threat posed by china. it is clear that this is a response of what has been happening over recent weeks and months. we have seen chinese military exercise close to taiwan and to some extent it came to a head about a month ago when nancy pelosi, a senior us politician, visited taiwan to express her own personal support for its independence, its democracy and

for the people of the island. she was not presenting thejoe biden administration, she is from a separate part of us government and that was a strong point made by the us at the time but nevertheless china did not like it and the time but nevertheless china did not like itand i the time but nevertheless china did not like it and i think what is happening now is only going to raise tensions between beijing and washington. you say china did not _ beijing and washington. you say china did not like _ beijing and washington. you say china did not like it. _ china did not like it. unsurprisingly, already an angry reaction from beijing? b, angry reaction from beijing? very swift reaction. a spokesperson at the embassy here in the us saying there will be countermeasures if these $1.1 billion package is not revoked. there are no signs from washington that it will be revoked, indeed there is widespread political support in washington. democrats and republicans all in favour of the us continuing to support taiwanese independence, especially the democracy of

that island. the spokesperson at the chinese embassy also saying it severelyjeopardises relations between washington and beijing. relations between washington and beijing-— the russian energy giant gazprom says its key gas pipeline to europe will remain closed indefinitely, due to an oil leak in a turbine. the pipeline has already been completely shut for three days. the turbine maker, siemens energy, says there's no technical reason to stop pumping gas, but 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 posted his disappointment on social media.

the bbc�*s economics editor faisal islam explained more about what 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. aid agencies are warning of food shortages in pakistan, after the devastating floods washed away nearly half of the country's crops. around 1,200 people are known to have been killed, but unicef says many more children could die from the rapid spread of diseases such as cholera and malaria. our correspondent, pumza fighlani is in pakistan. meet badul. he's two days old, najma's 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. baby badulwas born in a nearby hospital, but najma 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 najma 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. you can get much more on the situation in pakistan on the bbc news website. let's get some of the day's other news: the hollywood 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 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. nasa is preparing the second launch of its most powerful rocket in 50 years. technical problems and bad weather thwarted the artemis 1 moon—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 underway. 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, following thursday's attempt on her life. she escaped unharmed when a gun pointed at herfailed 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, ms kirchner

ducked down to retrieve an object from the ground as people warned her to be careful. cristina fernandez de kirchner 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 while 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 raided. he's been named by argentine police as 35—year—old fernando andres sabag montiel, 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 alberto fernandez 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, lulu de silva, who is running in next month's presidential elections, 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.

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. gotta 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 crudites. 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 crudites. guys, that's $20 for crudites 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. people who might have otherwise voted republican and were maybe excited to sort of send a message tojoe biden and the democrats, now they're looking at these republican candidates and saying, "i'm not sure i can vote for them, "they're so extreme." at his mar—a—lago residence in florida, donald trump has other things to worry about. the classified documents found there by the fbi are a huge problem, but won't stop him hitting the campaign trail this weekend in pennsylvania.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: how these swimcaps designed for athletes with black or afro hair have been approved for use in competitions, after having been banned from last year's 0lympics. she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in india's slums. the head of the catholic church had said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. we have to identify the bodies, then arrange the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting, so... hostages appeared, - some carried, some running, trying to escape _ the nightmare behind them.

britain lost a princess today. described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable. an early morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: china warns of "countermeasures" after the united states approves a $1 billion arms package to taiwan — saying it's to maintain its self defence capabilities. russia warns a key pipeline to europe is facing a new problem — nord stream 1 will remain closed for an indefinite period. voting has closed in the uk conservative party

leadership race. after two months of campaigning, and eight initial candidates whittled down to two, we will find out on monday whether liz truss or rishi sunak has been chosen by party members to be the next leader, and therefore succeed borisjohnson as prime minister. here's our political correspondent ben wright. after a long, rancorous campaign, it's now time to count the ballots. 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. reporter: 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 to him 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. a swimming cap designed for athletes with black, or afro hair has been approved for use in top level competitions. the specialised covering, which is designed for thick, curly hair and styles such as dreadlocks, weaves and braids, was banned from last year's 0lympics. swimming's world governing body, fina, said the decision to approve the soul cap followed a period of review and discussion. rwanda has held its annual baby gorilla naming ceremony. it's the eighteenth time the event has taken place, aiming to protect the endangered species and promote tourism. about twenty baby gorillas

were given names, mainly in the kinyarwanda language. the ceremony was held in the foothills of the apes' habitat, the volcanic mountains that border uganda and the democratic republic of congo. the hand—written lyrics to david bowie's starman are going up for auction later this month. the track was initially released in 1972 and was a part of the hit album the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars — let's have a quick reminder of the song. # there's a starman waiting in the sky # he'd like to come and meet us # he's told us not to blow it # �*cause he knows it's all worthwhile # he told me, let the children lose it # let the children use it # let all the children boogie.# jem aswad is the deputy music editor at variety and also a self—confessed david bowie fan — hejoins us now from new york.

thanks for being with us. david bowie recorded over 300 songs, why are the lyrics to this song so important?— so important? this is a song that really — so important? this is a song that really made _ so important? this is a song that really made him - so important? this is a song that really made him into i so important? this is a song that really made him into a l that really made him into a superstar, killian britain. if you read any number of david bowie biographies you can find a galaxy of future movie stars from the 80s saw top of the pops that day, i think it was 6 july 1972 and said "it changed my life. boy george, echoing the money men, the pet shop boys, joy division, they all saw that performance and said it completely changed them. a lot of them saw him on that that year. so people call it the summer of ziggy stardust, the summer of ziggy stardust, the summer of 1972. so i feel like the lyrics represent the beginning of that, represent the cornerstone of something that really did change a lot of people's lives.— that really did change a lot of people's lives. and what was it for ou people's lives. and what was it

for you that — people's lives. and what was it for you that changed _ people's lives. and what was it for you that changed your - people's lives. and what was it for you that changed your life | for you that changed your life from david bowie, what was it that drew you towards him? initially i was ten years old, and they used to be these late—night television shows here in the states that had rock bands on them. i saw the new york dolls, i saw sly and the family stone and all those groups and they add the footage that became the ziggy stardust concert film. and i wasjust transfected by his presence, but mostly by the songs, and i just started diving in album after album, throughout my teens, and to this day, there are lots of artists who you can look at their hot streaks of brilliance, joni mitchell, stevie wonder, prince, kanye west, and david bowie in the 1970 was that. almost unparalleled innovation, and every record was so different and so challenging, and how did he think of that? and i still feel that way about them. i have a copy of these lyrics

here, and the remarkable thing about them is of course they are hand written. and in an age when people are writing things on their phones, tablets, laptops, this is quite precious. this is something thatis precious. this is something that is dying out, isn't it? yeah, not quite the same thing as, i don't know, i guess you can get a file of somebody�*s voiced notes or attacks or something like that, but there is something much more intimate and personal about something that was hand written by someone, someone famous, someone, someone famous, someone someone, someone famous, someone legendary, as opposed to type. so i think that does make a big difference. we will leave it there, thank you for joining us. much more on those stories on the bbc news website, or you can download the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. from me and the rest of the team here in london, thanks for your company, and we will see your company, and we will see you next time.

hello there. september can often be a contrasting month as the battle between summer and autumn really takes 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, well, 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 sort of organised bands up through parts of east anglia towards north east england but with the sunshine, we could see highs of 2a degrees. 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 2a or 25 degrees — 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's not going to 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: china has warned of counter measures unless the us revokes a $1.1 billion arms deal with taiwan as chinese military drills take place around the island, which some see as a precursor to an invasion. the white house says the us is providing taiwan with what it needs to maintain its self—defence capabilities. 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 nord stream 1 because of an oil leak in a turbine, which will have implications for europe's energy supply this winter. there are fears of food shortages in pakistan after 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 says many more children could die from a rapid

spread of diseases like cholera and malaria.