welcome to bbc news, i'm gareth barlow. our top stories. the us is battered by one of its strongest storms in decades — floodwaters reach rooftops in parts of florida, as hurricane ian leaves more than a million properties without power. as millions of people flee, a small few do the opposite. we'll speak to a hurricane hunter and show you footage from the eye of the storm. here in the uk, an emergency intervention by the bank of england seeks to calm the panic on the markets over the government's new economic strategy. iran's president ebrahim raisi accuses protesters of misusing the death of a young woman in police custody to cause riots.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. hurricane ian is battering the us state of florida with powerful winds and a severe storm surge that has flooded communities along the southwest coast. there's also been flooding inland as the category four storm advances. more than a million people have been left without electricity. azadeh moshiri reports from tampa. a life—threatening hurricane is now barrelling towards america's sunshine state. and put millions under evacuation orders across the west coast. ian is unpredictable. it's already caused widespread damage in cuba, wiping out power to the country's entire grid, with some residents killed. but now its hurricane force winds are leaving the gulf of mexico and taking aim

at florida's coast. this satellite image shows the eye of the hurricane packed with lightning. clearly, this is a very powerful, major hurricane, that will have major impacts, both on impact in south west florida, so this will be a nasty, nasty day, two days. probably we think now it will be exiting the peninsula sometime on thursday. the problem is, while officials are warning of life threatening consequences, with storm surges that could reach as high as 3.5 metres in some areas, they don't know exactly where hurricane ian will hit, and so communities are bracing themselves, unsure of exactly who will face the worst of the hurricane. every hour counts, as the storm surge begins to build, and when it does hit, there isn't much time to react. that's why the message has been consistent to those in danger. leave, shelter, and ride out the storm.

azadeh moshiri, bbc news. jason dunion leads the hurricane field programme at the university of miami cooperative institute for marine and atmospheric studies. hejoins us now from connecticut. thank you so much forjoining us. you have worked with the teams that fly through the storms. you have been flying through ian, what exactly have you been finding out? it’s through ian, what exactly have you been finding out? it's been an interesting _ you been finding out? it's been an interesting storm. _ you been finding out? it's been an interesting storm. we - an interesting storm. we started flying it way back over the weekend, it was a storm that came from a hurricane nursery over africa and came across the atlantic. slowly but surely it started to get its act together and align itself, and some of the models even over the weekend suggested this storm might become a major hurricane, and of course that forecast has come today. seeing some of your — forecast has come today. seeing some of your pictures _ forecast has come today. seeing some of your pictures now, - forecast has come today. seeing some of your pictures now, you| some of your pictures now, you have been on these flights, what on earth is it like? it

really is a surreal experience. mother nature has thrown up a very interesting set of hurricanes. a very calm eye where you can get out of your seat, surrounded by the strongest part of the storm, the eye wall, which can cause the eye wall, which can cause the most damage and generate the most damage and generate the storm surge. very interesting as you are coming in, today's flights were quite rough with ian, sg forces, similar to what rough with ian, sg forces, similarto whatan rough with ian, sg forces, similar to what an astronaut might feel taking off into space. very surreal experience today, and getting into the eye, ultra—calm, but knowing we have a category four storm bearing down on florid, it's also a sobering experience. you mention space, _ also a sobering experience. you mention space, i _ also a sobering experience. you mention space, i can't help but think we have thousands of satellites monitoring the earth. , ., ., ., earth. -- bearing down on florida- — earth. -- bearing down on florida. what _ earth. -- bearing down on florida. what are - earth. -- bearing down on florida. what are you - earth. -- bearing down on i florida. what are you finding out that we _ florida. what are you finding

out that we can't _ florida. what are you finding out that we can't find - florida. what are you finding out that we can't find out - florida. what are you finding i out that we can't find out from the relative safety of satellites above us? that's a ureat satellites above us? that's a great question. _ satellites above us? that's a great question. satellites . satellites above us? that's a l great question. satellites give a lot of information, we have a lot of tools, including a radar, you can think of it as an x—ray of the storm, the satellite gives you a view, but this radar picked it apart in a three—dimensional sense. this radar picked it apart in a three—dimensionalsense. it tells us how the storm is reacting to the environment and whether it will rapidly intensify, which we did see with this storm. once we go in there, we can start measuring and looking at the storm in ways we couldn't do if we just relied on satellites. irate ways we couldn't do if we 'ust relied on satellites.�* relied on satellites. we are seeinu relied on satellites. we are seeing images _ relied on satellites. we are seeing images now - relied on satellites. we are seeing images now from i relied on satellites. we are i seeing images now from one relied on satellites. we are - seeing images now from one of the aircraft that you used, you also released various measuring devices into the storms, as well as a drill, what does that do? at well as a drill, what does that do? �* ., .,, well as a drill, what does that do? �* ., , well as a drill, what does that do? �* . , ., do? a real goal has been to look at the _ do? a real goal has been to look at the rapid _ look at the rapid intensification of the storm. 35 mph injust one day. we dropped mini parachuted weather

stations into measure the winds, the pressure, the humidity. and then a cutting edge drone launched today, spring—loaded wings, so we watched it out of the hurricane, the wings open up and it begins to fly. we got it to fly for about two hours in the eye and then it penetrated into the strongest part of the storm, the eye wall. we are able to take a grown into places where we don't take the crude aircraft. the measurements we get, we can learn a lot about the storm and how it might change stop —— the crewed aircraft. pare how it might change stop -- the crewed aircraft.— crewed aircraft. are we seeing storms change? _ crewed aircraft. are we seeing storms change? things - crewed aircraft. are we seeing storms change? things we - crewed aircraft. are we seeing i storms change? things we were maybe haven't seen in the past? is climate change affecting the weather we are seeing? it’s is climate change affecting the weather we are seeing?- weather we are seeing? it's a ureat weather we are seeing? it's a great question. _ weather we are seeing? it's a great question. we _ weather we are seeing? it's a great question. we know- weather we are seeing? it's aj great question. we know that weather we are seeing? it's a i great question. we know that as the sea temperatures rise, it is fuel for some of the storms. looking at the climate record,

it's frustrating, because it's very short... satellites only go back 60 years, so the record is very short to understand these changes. we even think these changes. we even think these oscillations happen naturally in mother nature, but for the past five or ten years and certainly we have seen extreme activity, so we need to keep looking at this and understanding it. it's a great question and i don't think we quite have the answer yet. itruiith quite have the answer yet. with reuards quite have the answer yet. with regards to _ quite have the answer yet. with regards to ian _ quite have the answer yet. with regards to ian itself, _ quite have the answer yet. with regards to ian itself, what do we expect to see in the coming hours and days? it’s we expect to see in the coming hours and days?— hours and days? it's over florida right _ hours and days? it's over florida right now- hours and days? it's over florida right now so - hours and days? it's over florida right now so we i hours and days? it's over i florida right now so we are putting out a forecast on the weather centre, we should see a minimal category one hurricane, a tropical storm as it emerges off the coast of florida. a lot off the coast of florida. a lot of flooding, one or two feet of rain is forecast. winds still very strong, still a category four storm right now, so it will be a slow decrease in the speed. and if it does pop out

over the water, some of the models suggest there could be a bump up in the wind speed again. tropical storm warnings over the east coast north of florida. certainly a long duration event that we will track for the next couple of days. track for the next couple of da s. g ., track for the next couple of da 5. . . ., track for the next couple of days. jason, from connecticut, thank you _ days. jason, from connecticut, thank you so — days. jason, from connecticut, thank you so much. _ let's get some of the day's other news. european countries say they will ramp up security around oil and gas installations after the suspected sabotage of two major pipelines. the eu, us and nato have suggested damage to the pipelines between russia and germany was deliberate, but have not blamed russia directly. russia has said it was not involved, and asked if the us was instead. a study has found that over the past decade, on average, an environmental activist was killed every two days. the global witness report says more than 1,700 people died while trying to prevent fossil fuel extraction and mining on their lands. it attributes the rise to the growing global demand for commodities,

combined with the rise of authoritarian governments. most of the killings took place in latin america. danish football officials have announced that the national team will wear a "toned down" monochrome kit for november's world cup in qatar. it's to protest against the host nation's human rights record, and the alleged mistreatment of thousands of migrant workers building the tournament stadiums. denmark's training kit sponsors are also withdrawing their logos to give space for messages critical of qatar. here in the uk, faced with growing alarm on the financial markets about the government's economic strategy, the bank of england, the uk's central bank, has been forced to take emergency action to try to stabilise things. last week's widely—criticised mini—budget unveiled by the chancellor has been followed by a collapse in the pound, and a sharp increase in the costs of government borrowing. our economics editor faisal islam has the latest. what started as an attempt to grow the economy

with the biggest tax cuts in half a century led to havoc on currency markets, more importantly on debt markets, and then within days, led to a tidal wave of interest rate rises reaching every corner of the economy. in an emergency statement, the bank of england said, "were dysfunction in this market to continue or worsen, there would be a material risk to uk financial stability." it said it was "seeking to restore market functioning and reduce any risks from contagion to credit conditions to uk households and businesses." this explains the intervention. since the mini—budget, the effective cost of borrowing long—term for the government has shot up and was spiralling above 5%, a 20—year high. these were rises in two days that would normally take years, increasing the cost of borrowing for the government and everybody. the bank of england intervened today, buying up those debts

in unlimited quantities, which brought down those interest rates, but they remain high. high interest rates mean the value of the government debt, an iou called a bond, decreases. for some long—term loans, they were effectively halved, their worth effectively halved, with severe consequences for one sector in particular. this was a dramatic, surprise intervention by the bank of england to save a trillion—pound corner of the pensions industry. ordinarily, these funds buy up government debts because they're safe as houses, no risks. but their value fell so rapidly in two days that they had to be saved in this way. but this also helps the government at a tricky time by finding a customer — the bank of england — for the tens of billions of pounds of debt that they have to raise. so this is an emergency intervention, it is a crisis. and, whilst this will help buy some time, it doesn't solve the underlying problem, which is the government's economic credibility

with the markets. so this intervention staved off market turmoil turning into the collapse of some types of pension fund. but, in terms of growth and the roots of this crisis, they're still there. let's turn to iran now, where, in a national television address, president ebrahim raisi has accused protesters of misusing the death of mahsa amini to cause riots. as protests continued for a twelfth day, mr raisi said the death of the young woman while in the custody of the morality police had saddened everyone and was being investigated with transparency. at least 75 protesters are reported to have been killed so far, as police have fired live ammunition to try to break up the demonstrations, which have taken place across the entire country. rana rahimpour reports. she reads out list of names. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe

names the women who died as she cuts her hair. she is a british iranian national who spent six years in prison in iran, and named herformer inmates one by one. also her mother and her daughter. and for the women of iran, for freedom and justice, she says. for nearly two weeks, women in iran have been protesting the death of 22—year—old mahsa amini by cutting their hair and burning their hijab. her death has sparked the largest anti—regime protests since the islamic revolution of 1979. here, a woman mourning the death of her brother who was killed in the protests, is cutting her hair. from new york to spain, women

are showing their support. iranians' demand for freedom has been heard across the world, but in iran so far, it has fallen on deaf ears. in iran today, president ebrahim raisi said everyone is saddened by mahsa amini's death, but warned that protests won't be tolerated. stay with us on bbc news, still to come. behind the scenes at the retirement village that became the setting for richard osman�*s bestselling crime novels. 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. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrated the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. the us is battered by one of its strongest storms in decades — floodwaters reach rooftops in parts of florida,

as hurricane ian leaves more than a million properties without power. here in the uk, an emergency intervention by the bank of england seeks to calm the panic on the markets over the government's new economic strategy. translation: if someone over there in russia _ translation: if someone over there in russia think— translation: if someone over there in russia think they - translation: if someone over there in russia think they can . there in russia think they can get away with everything they are doing in the occupied territory, if someone over there in russia hopes the world will betray its own values, frightened by some other russian announcements about annexation, then they are

wrong. if you want to live, fight on the streets for your freedom. activists in the philippines say they are fighting a wave of misinformation, which aims to whitewash one of the darkest periods of the country's history. it's now 50 years since president ferdinand marcos declared martial law in the country. thousands of people were arrested, tortured, forcibly disappeared, and killed during that decade. but since the former dictator's son came to power earlier this year, there have been a series of false and misleading claims posted online. laura bicker has been speaking to the victims of that time, who fear their stories will be lost. 50 years on, these victims of a time of trauma and fear are no longer worried about being heard. they are worried about being believed. santiago martello kept records after he was dragged off the street in 1977 by soldiers who demanded he falsely confess to being a communist. translation: i was beaten

using a cane, and they hit . my body many times. they used ice and let water drip through my nose. i went through almost all kinds of torture, even my genitals were tortured by the militaryjust to make you confess, what you should not be confessing. yet santiago's son is one of millions who helped vote in another president marcos. translation: you want me to just disregard what i wentj through, that cannot happen. the sufferings i went through are already embedded in my mind. president ferdinand marcos declared martial law in 1972, a response to what he described as a communist threat. he and his glamourous wife, imelda, amassed a fortune. her decadent shoe collection just one symbol of their accrued wealth.

public anger at ongoing abuse and corruption led to an uprising in 1986. the family were forced to flee. but his son and namesake has led an extraordinary marcos comeback. now elected president, he's defended his father's rule as a golden era. i haven't read all of the stories. and each one represents a life. the written accounts of more than 11,000 victims of martial law are in this archive. i tremble every time i try to read their stories. fears the past may be rewritten have led to a push to preserve the stories in the hope they can be placed in a museum. a museum is for the younger generation, that this happened to our country, and if we can come together, they can determine what type of country consists

of a government and rules of liberty and democracy they want for the future. searching for the truth about the country's dark past is tricky for generation z. it can be a struggle to pin down the facts on social media. historians now run games and tours to help young people navigate the maze of martial law myths. and many find it emotional. they've lost their dreams, their lives, and i wanted to recognise that, i wanted to tell my fellow friends that. in order for us to have the liberty and democracy we are having today, in order for us to speak freely, there were actual people who sacrificed their lives and their dreams. so it seems voices from the past, however painful, are keeping this country's collective memory alive. laura bicker, bbc news. a team of researchers in scotland have developed a new kind of helmet that could help firefighters

save lives. the team used artificial intelligence to boost its ability to detect people in burning buildings. the new technology has been described as a potentially massive game changer, as the bbc�*s tim allman reports. they are as close as we get to real life superheroes. the men and women who run towards danger when almost everyone else is running the other way. firefighters saved countless lives, but could technology help them save even more? this new bit of kit, devised by a team of scientists at the national robot centre in edinburgh, just might help. firefighters are heroes, everyone knows that. but what we are doing, not only they are heroes, we also want them to have this superhero ability. to see through smoke and darkness

and have the visibility to find effective solutions. this and have the visibility to find effective solutions.— effective solutions. this is how it works, _ effective solutions. this is how it works, attached - effective solutions. this is - how it works, attached thermal cameras and sensors to a normal helmet, then adding a dash of artificial intelligence. that will give the firefighters real—time information that can help detect victims, recognise colleagues and quickly map their environment.- colleagues and quickly map their environment. having a thermal image _ their environment. having a thermal image capacity - their environment. having a l thermal image capacity helps their environment. having a - thermal image capacity helps us massively in location of someone. we can scan a room a lot better, it could take five or ten seconds compared to a couple of minutes without that technology. so for us to have that would be a massive game changer. this is 'ust a massive game changer. this is just a prototypes _ massive game changer. this is just a prototypes and - massive game changer. this is just a prototypes and the - just a prototypes and the researchers are looking for partners to help develop a version that could be used worldwide. a super helmet that saves time and ultimately could saves time and ultimately could save lives. the crime novels by the tv presenter richard osman have sold more than

5.5 million copies. the books, including the thursday murder club and the man who died twice, were inspired by his own mother and the retirement village where she lives. now, for the first time, our arts correspondent rebecca jones has been behind the scenes to visit the real—life setting for the books. it may look a tranquil scene, but this retirement village in sussex holds a dark secret. lots of the stuff in the book is in the geography of this place, and in the first book someone is murdered in this car park, right here, and plenty more murders this way. these are the sedate surroundings that inspired richard osman to write his thursday murder club novels, about four elderly amateur detectives who live in a retirement village. it's home to his mother brenda. we have a thursday knit and natter club, but we don't have a thursday murder club. not yet anyway. you have to be careful with the knitting needles. you never know. you could be right there. richard, one of the joys

about the books is the way they portray elderly people. this is a group of people who are overlooked, who become invisible, who are underestimated and actually, culturally, it's important to represent the fact they're not, but also, as a detective, being invisible is perfect, so i sort of have my cake and eat it. so thank you for your cultural invisibility. but while the village and its residents inspired the books, the characters aren't based specifically on brenda and herfriends. you have a little bit of that person and a little bit of that person, rolled into one. there's some very interesting people here. and we've had a couple in the secret service, haven't we? we have, we have. real spies. mi5. it was fascinating, - having coffee with them. so no thursday murder club, but friday line dancing instead. plenty to spark richard osman�*s imagination for the next two books in the series, and while brenda is his biggest fan, you can always rely on your mum to keep your feet on the ground.

i think the books are very good. i've thoroughly enjoyed then. come on, you prefer hilary mantel to... no, i don't. really? no. - cj sansom. yes. — yes, there we go. absolutely. sorry, you can't compete there. listen, it's good. murders up here, murders up here... and there's still more to come from the thursday murder club. steven spielberg has bought the film rights. rebecca joan, bbc news, east sussex. we are getting reports that the us rapper coolio has died on wednesday in los angeles. the legendary rapper, whose real name is artis leon iveer, was fifty—nine years old. coolio was an up—and—comer in the late 1980s who rocketed to fame with gangsta's paradise, which he recorded for the soundtrack for the film dangerous minds. an official cause of death has not yet been released.

more on the website. hello. yesterday was a day of sunshine and showers. today, it's a pretty similar theme, but if anything, i think more in the way of sunshine and fewer in the way of showers. still quite a cluster around first thing on thursday on the tail end of this weather front that's sliding off towards the continent, but actually this little finger, a brief finger of high pressure is going to try and settle things down for this thursday. so, there's some showers to start the day across the south—west of england and pembrokeshire, gone through the morning, but winds in off the north sea will feed some scattered showers into northern england, the north midlands, perhaps the north of east anglia through the afternoon, a few across scotland, too. but predominantly, i think, dry and sunny and temperatures upa degree or so

on wednesday, 15—17. through the evening and overnight, it's going to turn quite chilly across eastern areas of england, winds fall light light and the skies stay clear. different picture towards north—west, winds kick up, cloud comes in and rain by the end of the night for northern ireland and western scotland. so, 10—11 the overnight lows here. perhaps the odd three across the south—east of england. friday, we are going to be dominated by low pressure. we start the day fine with some sunshine across central and eastern england, but wet towards the north—west. and this whole system will swing its way through during the course of the day, brighter but with some showers through the afternoon for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures dipping behind the weather system yet again, and then it's a wet end to the day across eastern england. that whole frontal system, though, does push away quite quickly, and in time for the weekend, we're left with low pressure, yes, but i think more in the way of sunny intervals again. some showers, just the chance of some more persistent rain running into the south of the uk later on on saturday. so, in comparison to friday,

well, yes, it's still quite breezy on saturday, but we shouldn't see so much cloud around and outbreaks of rain will come and go rather than being persistent, aside from potentially this area pushing into southern england later on in the day on saturday. and that could linger on overnight saturday into the early part of sunday, too, but sunday daytime, of the two days, perhaps the one offering up less in the way of showers. it's still quite a notable westerly breeze. our greatest chance of getting caught in the rain will be along many of our west coasts, but in the east, with some shelter, it should feel pretty pleasant again. temperatures getting up into the mid—teens.

this is bbc news, the headlines: hurricane ian is battering the us state of florida with powerful winds and a huge storm surge that has flooded communities along the southwest coast. governor ron de santis said the hurricane would rank as one of the top five ever to strike the state. the bank of england's taken emergency action over the market turmoil in the uk, saying it would buy government bonds to protect the uk's financial stability. the pound plunged and the cost of government borrowing soared after the conservatives announced their new economic approach last week. iran's president has accused protesters of misusing the death of mahsa amini to cause riots. as protests continued for a twelfth day, mr raisi said the death of the young woman while in the custody of the morality police

had saddened everyone and was being investigated with transparency.