hello. this is bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: damage to russia's nordstream pipelines — the president of the european commission says it was sabotage. international condemnation as occupied regions of ukraine claim overwhelming victory in their self—styled referendums on joining russia. we will not, indeed we will never, recognise the annexation of ukrainian territory by russia. florida braces itself for the arrival of hurricane ian — after the storm system devastates cuba leaving the entire island without power. and the international monetary fund warns that the uk government's planned tax cuts could increase inequality across the country.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the president of the european commission has said rare gas leaks in two major pipelines connecting russia and europe were the result of sabotage. ursula von der leyen has warned of the "strongest possible response" if active european energy infrastructure is attacked. earlier, ukraine accused russia of causing the leaks — in what it described as a "terrorist attack". here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. nord stream 1 and nord stream 2 are huge pipelines that bring gas from russia to germany, 700 miles along under the baltic. they are the largest pipelines of their kind in the world. but look at this, significant

disturbance to the sea near denmark, caused by leaking gas, it is thought. the danish military say this area of turbulence was more than half a mile wide and shipping is being kept out of the area. the gas is leaking here near a danish island, bornholm, it is thought there are a couple of leaks in nord stream 1, and a third in nord stream 2. it's not known what caused the leaks, they are being investigated, but many in europe are pointing the finger at russia, including the polish prime minister. we do not yet know the details of what happened but we clearly see this as an act of sabotage. this is an act that probably signals a new phase in the escalation of the situation in ukraine. and that's the point — these pipelines are at the heart of the energy battle between vladimir putin and the west. russia is already restricting gas supplies and some experts say this could be the kremlin

showing it can attack critical infrastructure. that is the question, is the conflict in ukraine spreading? it's most likely that a state actor is involved. only one state actor in the baltic has the possibility, the capabilities and the motivation to come together, and that is obviously russia. ukrainian officials are even more certain, one claiming in a tweet that explicitly this was an act of aggression, he says, by russia against the european union. regardless of who or what is responsible, these leaks won't have an immediate impact on energy supplies to europe, because neither of them were pumping gas, but the leaks will take time to repair, which means it's unlikely europe will get any gas from these pipes for quite a while. four overwhelming votes in favour ofjoining russia

have been recorded in the four russian—held regions of ukraine — the referendums, which have been widely criticised across the west as a sham were held in the east of the country, in donetsk, luhansk, zaporizhia and kherson. the american secretary of state, antony blinken, said they would never be recognised. voting ended earlier, and russian state media has been reporting support of 97 to 98% for the proposal. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, considers what these votes will mean — and how that will affect the russia—ukraine conflict. first, i want to stress the key point here that these so—called referendums were not real referendums, they were hastily arranged, kremlin—created, kremlin—controlled events designed to pave the way to russian annexation of huge swathes of ukrainian territory. we may well see this happen later this week. i expect at some point this

week, russia will come out and say, right, this land is now ours, even in the absence of international recognition. the question is, what happens then? the kremlin has made it pretty clear that if kyiv attacks and tries to get back these territories, then russia will view that as an attack against its territorial integrity, and it will respond with all means available to it, including, potentially, nuclear weapons. we know that washington has warned moscow that if russia uses nuclear weapons, that would have catastrophic consequences for russia. what we don't know is whether that american warning will influence vladimir putin's next move. steve rosenberg. let's get some of the day's other news. riot police and security forces in iran have clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities, as protests rage on over the death of a young woman in police custody.

state media puts the number of dead at 41, though activists say the true figure is far higher. hundreds of people have also been arrested, including 20 journalists. members of a far—right us militia are going on trial, in the most high—profile case to stem from the assault on the us capitol last year. the group's leader, stewart rhodes, is charged, along with four others, with seditious conspiracy — plotting to oppose the transfer of presidential power. all have pleaded not guilty. the president of the uganda medical association has expressed support for medical workers who have taken industrial action — accusing the government of not creating a safe working environment for them to handle the ongoing ebola outbreak. at least seven medical workers have potentially been exposed to the virus. the colombian singer shakira has been ordered to stand trial in spain, in a tax evasion case. prosecutors said injuly that they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years against the singer after she rejected a plea

deal over accusations of tax evasion. in an interview last week, shakira said she was confident she did not owe the spanish tax office anything. the entire island of cuba is currently without power after hurricane ian tore across the western end of the island. the cuban government says the electrical system is experiencing a complete collapse after one of the main power plants could not be brought back online. hurricane ian had already left the western province of pinar del rio in darkness as well as much of the capital, havana. now, however, the authorities admit the task in bringing the electricity back soon is complex. the category three system has left a trail of destruction and flooding in its wake, as it moved onwards towards the gulf of mexico. hurricane ian is now moving towards the us — and is expected to strengthen before making landfall in florida on wednesday.

this is the expected path — and residents along parts of the state's west coast have been warned of �*catastrophic�* storm surges and life—threatening flooding. florida governor ron de santis has already declared a state of emergency for the entire state. people have been urged to stock up on supplies — and some mandatory evacuations are under way. earlier i spoke to kevin guthrie, the director for the florida division of emergency management — he gave us an update on the approaching hurricane. we are maybe 28—30 hours away from landfall in florida. it is expected to get to a category four storm. it will be just barely category four, but it will bring, as you mention, life—threatening storm surges, catastrophic flooding, catastrophic storm surge to the state.

the message is, it's a mandatory evacuation, you've got to get out. are you confident people will, given their past experiences? it's a tale of two states. those that are new to the state have typically heeded the warnings. those that have been here for a long time usually do not heed the warnings. we do have people evacuating. we would love to see everyone evacuate. but we don't think we will get 100% compliance. what are you expecting or concerned about in terms of damage? still a lot of timber homes, for example. do you think they will go? how much can a category four do? category four is going to cause a lot of vegetation damage, trees will probably be a 100% loss. anything that has a gable roof will most likely come off.

some of the areas in south—west florida, and across the southern portions, are concrete block brick homes, those will probably stand. the roof will come off or significant damage, and then you will have flooding inside the home. then we will have another incident with the record rainfall. some areas of florida could have anywhere between 20—30 inches of rain in 36 hours. so rising water is also going to be an issue. in vietnam, typhoon noru has been downgraded central vietnam has been hit by a powerful tropical storm, typhoon noru, bringing heavy rainfall and winds of a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. the storm felled trees

and blew off roofs, and left many areas flooded, including the streets of the historic city of hoi an, a popular tourist attraction. the government has warned residents to remain alert for flash floods and landslides, which may pose a greater threat than the storm itself, which is now weakening as it heads to thailand. the international monetary fund has urged the uk government to rethink its economic policies, saying the package of measures set out by the chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, last week is likely to increase inequality. in an unusually outspoken statement, it also says "given elevated inflation pressures in many countries, including the uk, we do not recommend large and untargeted fiscal packages at this juncture, as it is important that fiscal policy does not work at cross purposes to monetary policy." the uk treasury insists it will push ahead with the plans despite a slump in the value of the pound, and warnings of further sharp rises in interest rates. uk banks and building societies are already

withdrawing mortage deals — with almost all lenders pulling the deals they had on offer last week. our economics editor, faisal islam, reports. in lincolnshire, will runs superfoil, a successful manufacturer. but this insulation business can't be cushioned from falls in the value of sterling that we've seen in recent days. as most of the products we use are kind of global products — plastics and aluminiums, etc — they're all placed in the dollar. so any drop in the pound directly increases our costs proportionately. so over the last 20, 25 years that we've been running, our purchasing power for our main components is halved, making our products twice as expensive. the currency was stable today, but it remains close to historic lows. this is one of the trading desks where the credibility of britain's finances is up for question. i've never seen a budget move the pound like this in my entire career. essentially, with interest rates rising like this in the uk, it's going to be

more expensive to fund the deficit, but the deficit keeps getting wider, especially with all the announcements we had in the budget. so this kind of doom loop, the only way out of it, really, is we've got to tame inflation and get interest rates back down. so, the first thing is tame inflation and all this goes away. the problem is, the budget that we had on friday last week, the only thing it will do is probably add to inflation. the bank of england's chief economist made clear today that by november, it would deliver significant interest rate rises. i think it's hard not to draw the conclusion that all this will require a significant monetary policy response. let me leave it there. those rises from governor andrew bailey are dependent on just how much borrowing the chancellor does. he told bankers and his mps he was going to stick to his plan. as the cost of mortgages surges, the markets may not wait till november for answers.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: with no pomp, and little ceremony, the prince and princess of wales make their first official visit to the principality. in all russia's turmoil, it has never quite come to this. president yeltsin said today would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act, here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility that produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. this man, israel's right—winger ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea unthinkable to palestinians.

in berlin, a million germans celebrated the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the president of the european commission has said sabotage was the cause of rare gas leaks in two major pipelines connecting russia and europe. recognised by the west.

the saudi arabian crown prince mohammed bin salman has been made prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle. the post is traditionally held by the king. mohammed bin salman has in effect been running the country for several years, bringing in social and cultural changes, but also overseeing widespread repression of dissident voices. earlier, i spoke to drjessie moritz, from the centre for arab & islamic studies at the australian national university. i asked her what we should make of these changes in government. yes, it's true, king salman has been sick, he was hospitalised in may this year, but there's more going on in this story as well. the crown prince mohammed bin salman, mbs, has also been facing a civil lawsuit in the united states. brought by the fiancee of washington post journalist jamal khashoggi. there is questions about whether he has diplomatic immunity, but the us says they only offer it to heads of state and senior ministers, so until now bin salman hasn't

been sure he would enjoy that immunity so this is an attempt to give him a more formal senior ministerial position to nudge the us to give him that diplomatic immunity. so you see this as a shoring up of his position and his diplomatic security, but will it have any impact on his domestic priorities or his international ones? you brought in the us there. domestically, it probably won't change much immediately on the ground. the crown prince mbs was already the de facto ruler, he has vision 2030, numerous transformation projects in saudi arabia. diplomatically, they have been trying to improve relations with a number of international actors, including qatar, turkey, israel, and also with the united states.

so there's a pattern of trying to improve mbs�*s international image and warm saudi relations with a number of international states. time now for our regular weekly focus on a key issue of climate change. in climate critical today, we are casting back nine months to when tonga was hit by a volcanic eruption and tsunami which further showed its huge vulnerability to rising sea levels, resulting from climate change. that experience has hastened the tongan government's decision to take the lead in pursuing ways to bolster the country's resilience against this changing climate. and it's taking aim at what are called �*invasive species�* — animals and plants which have found their way onto the islands of the pacific, undermining the natural habitats and the ability of these small islands to look after themselves. here's how it works. from on high, a thing of beauty, pacific islands,

one after the next, dotting an azure sea. but on a ground level, this is a biodiversity disaster. rats, invaders of so many of these islands over so many years. they have systematically devoured the local birdlife and sea life. as they have feasted, they have disrupted the natural order of things on each uninhabited island and at all. anyone who has lived in the pacific looks at the pacific as a paradise. it's quite different to what it used to be, so many species have become invasive. they have outcompeted and taken over from our native species. as the seabirds have gone, so the fish has gone, and the coral reefs off the island have lost critical nutrients for their own growth and resilience, making them more vulnerable to the changes

in climate which are among these islands�* greatest challenges. but perhaps the tide is turning. this is a rat eradication programme and it�*s working. dropping poison by drone, the invasive species have themselves been wiped out. and heralding the return of the natives, the birds, and behind them, the fish, the sea life replenishing vital fishing grounds for local islanders to harvest in a sustainable world. research has also shown that if we can remove rats, the seabird populations will recover, and the nutrients will improve health and productivity of the coral reefs. it is a rare cause for optimism in a world where small gains can have a significant impact on their chances of survival. richard griffiths is

the head of operations, island conservation, pacific regional invasive species management support service. he says it�*s essential to stop the use of fossil fuels. we can remove invasive species from islands, we have been very successful in doing that over the last few decades. rats for example have been removed from more than 600 islands now. removing invasive species is one tangible action that we can take to improve the health of islands. and also our reefs. a quick point, money, these things always cost. is this an expensive project? eradication projects are expensive. but they are achievable. there is funding out there, we know that, david. but we do need pacific

leaders to understand that this work is possible. and that, in doing so, they will improve their chances to weather the storm, so to speak. there�*s lots more detail and background about climate change on our website — head to bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. william and katherine have made their first official visit as prince and princess of wales, visiting anglesey in north wales, where they lived in the early years of their marriage. prince william�*s office says there are no plans for an investiture on the scale of the one seen in 1969 when the then prince charles was crowned. hywel griffith reports. a first tentative step back

onto familiar ground. for this inaugural visit as prince and princess of wales, william and catherine returned to anglesey — somewhere they knew the welcome would be warm. hip hip... hooray! the island was their home for three years, when william served as a search and rescue pilot. it�*s a place where he can claim some local knowledge. half a century ago, the tone was very different as charles was formally invested as prince of wales. the palace has made it known that there are no plans to repeat this kind of ceremony any time soon, as most people struggle with the cost of living. i don�*t think we need a grand investiture as it was before. and i think prince charles, the old prince charles — king charles now — has said he doesn�*t want that for his son. they were talking about the investiture and whether to have it or not, and i think it'sjust,

i don't know, politics and... you know, they're different to the politicians. but some of those politicians ultimately don�*t want there to be a prince of wales at all. it doesn't really fit with - the modern democratic wales. it doesn't really symbolise the nation as it is today... j so you wouldn�*t have a prince of wales at all? no, we don't think... there is a role for it - in modern democratic wales. a crowd in swansea clearly see things differently. while everything�*s tightly managed, there�*s clearly been effort to make this first visit less formal, with long walkabouts and plenty of handshakes, consciously avoiding that image of pomp and ceremony. this, then, was about persuading a nation to embrace a new prince and princess. another visit is being planned before christmas. hywel griffith, bbc news, swansea. and before we go — the shortlist for the british city to host the 2023

eurovision final has been narrowed down to two — liverpool and glasgow. the uk was asked to stage next year�*s contest because this year�*s winner — ukraine — wasn�*t able to. the final decision will be made within weeks. it has been said sabotage was the cause of the leaks in the baltic sea. residual gas has been seen bubbling up to the sea surface and denmark, sweden and holland have all said that those leaks do seem to be the result of deliberate acts and the polish prime minister went

so far to say as they were linked to the war in ukraine. the eu has been trying to free itself from dependence on russian gas. that is the news here. thank you. hello. there has been an autumnal story to our weather day and night. more sunshine and showers to come, plenty of rainbows in the sky. but the wind strength will ease through wednesday. still coming from the north so still cool. this weather front could be a key player as we go through wednesday. it will enhance some showers of the north sea. these will gradually drift their way towards newcastle and down towards newcastle and down towards hell, some will be heavy and thundery. ahead of it, largely fine with some sunshine and some scattered showers running down through the coast of wales and south—west england. we will see temperatures struggling for the

time of year, still around 13-16. time of year, still around 13—16. some of the showers could turn heavy and thundery. they are likely to drift steadily south through wednesday into the early hours of thursday morning. still there to clear first thing on thursday. 0n the whole, this ridge of high pressure builds and quietens things down for many on thursday. early showers clearing south of the m4 corridor. generally fine and settled, lighter winds. temperatures will be a degree orso temperatures will be a degree or so higher, temperatures will be a degree orso higher, back temperatures will be a degree or so higher, back to where they should be for this time of year. however, it is all change into friday. we are likely to see some pretty wet and windy weather. so useful rain for all of us at some point on friday. ahead, it will be largely fine and dry so not a bad start. if you have got plans for outside, get out and do it, that rain turning into western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england as we go to lunchtime

and then gradually going south—east. not arriving into east anglia and south—east england until the end of the day. top temperatures of around 17. as we move into the weekend, that weather front could be a bit of a nuisance for some of us. it will continue to push steadily south and east, and as you can see, we trail it all the way back out into the atlantic, suffer central and southern england, we could see some rain persisting for the start of the weekend. but eventually sunday will see drier, brighter and warmer conditions returning. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the president of the european commission has said sabotage was the cause of gas leaks in two major pipelines connecting russia and europe. ursula von der leyen has warned of the "strongest possible response" if european energy insfrastructure is attacked. ukraine has accused russia of causing the leaks. 0fficials installed by russia in four occupied regions of ukraine have reported huge majorities of votes, in self—styled referendums, in favour ofjoining russia. the us secretary of state has said the votes are a "sham" and that the west will never recognise the four regions. residents of florida are preparing for the arrival of hurricane ian, which is expected to make landfall there on wednesday.