welcome to bbc news. i'm ben boulos. our top stories: the worst drought somalia has seen in a0 years: the stark warning from the united nations, as aid camps admit a starving child every minute. you get a good idea here of how quickly this crisis is starting to accelerate. three, even 400 people now, arriving at this more than a thousand towns and villages across ukraine are left without power after russia's latest bombardment targets power plants. president biden promises a national law on abortion rights, if democrats keep control of congress in the mid—term elections.

with your support, i will sign a law codifying roe injanuary. together, let's remember who we are. we are the united states of america, there is nothing beyond our capacity. music and, as the bbc celebrates its 100th anniversary, we look ahead at the challenges it faces. could lead to the deaths of young people on a scale not seen for 50 years. climate change and conflict have contributed to severe food

shortages across the horn of africa. our africa correspondent, andrew harding, reports from the border town of dolow where people walk for days to come in search of life—saving help. we're heading out into somalia's drought lands, with an armed escort on the lookout for islamist militants, but all we encounter are dying villages. a solitary camel, too weak to stand, marks the entrance to a place called kaharai. a 56—year—old farmer, ibrahim, takes us to see what's become of his goats. the last of his herd now dead from hunger. did you ever imagine your life would end up like this? "never," he says, "but when there's no rain, there's no future for this "kind of life." and it's notjust the animals that are dying.

which is why most villages are emptying fast. small convoys like this one setting off in search of food and water. after a long trek, these families have reached the outskirts of a border town called dolow. nine days. and someone else registers them on a list that is people arriving at this one small camp every day now. and the international aid effort lagging far behind. coming.

i guess the international community's also looking at other areas where you know there is a lot of other things going on in the world. distracted? absolutely, they have been distracted with a lot of other things going on everywhere. some aid is reaching some parts of somalia. these women are getting cash from the united nations, sent directly to their phones. makes humanitarian access so difficult. but it's not enough. right now the world is providing less than half of thousands of lives. i mean, i think we are in a completely unprecedented situation here. so we describe the situation here as completely historic in terms of the combination of climatic and conflict effects in the context of something that is so severe,

that means a massive push now to save somalia from another famine and a much longer struggle to help it cope with the accelerating ravages of climate change. andrew harding, dolow, somalia. unicef spokesmanjames elder, who is in dolow, told me about the greatest challenges they're facing. the two biggest things there, nutrition, nutrition, water, water, and in the last few months we have reached 500,000 people with clean water and when you see a child so malnourished you see the mothers go for days and weeks and it is often unclean water, it is disease or diarrhoea that will kill that little boy or girl. so clear water and this one wonder food. this highly nutritious paste and we have treated about 300,000 children this year but these numbers just have to keep growing because as you just saw there, the numbers of children, mums and babies coming into the place across the country and to places where we cannot reach because of instability, these numbers keep growing. i was going to ask about that, the challenges your team is based on the ground. how difficult is it for them

to reach the people who need their help most? i mean, as he saw there, hundreds of people have been arriving today, again in dolow with nothing, and, yet, they tell you stories of the livestock and livelihoods they had. good, rural lives, and it is gone, there is no safety net for them anymore so they come to places like this, and, yes, there is support that unicef gives on the front line but in other areas, children are dying on the way. that insurgency you talk about, al—shabaab, makes it difficult to reach areas and now we are doing find and treat, we have mobile teams that unicef sends out to try and find the children before they get to an absolutely

desperate stage, before they need hospitalisation, before their mothers bury them on the way. those mobile teams are critical but, again, there are insurgents and it is a very difficult place to operate across the country. this is a crisis unlike the famine of 2011, which is starting to spread across somalia. looking back to that famine of 2011, what lessons are there from that and have they been applied this time round you try to avoid any unnecessary loss of life? yeah, look, i think several lessons and some have replied and some haven't. the biggest lesson we keep yelling about and trying to respond to is that a famine has not been declared yet even though people are living in those kinds of conditions here. the declaration of famine in 2011, by the time that happened, more than 100,000 people had died, tens of thousands of children had died.

that is why we are trying to move like this for months and months but money needs to come and come early because supply chains take time. so, those lessons are being applied and money is filtering in now and the uk government and us government have the european commission and the money is coming but the level of the crisis is still outstripping the supply. that is a key one as your correspondence there, climate. that was not a big message of 2011 but there is no doubt, beyond rising food prices because of the invasion beyond rising food prices because of the russian invasion of ukraine and what that is done to fuel and food, we have to look at the impact the climate crisis is having and look at the excesses that have gone on in the west and how they are being paid for by the world's poorest children. james elder, the spokesperson for unicef. russia's new military commander in ukraine has said he's preparing to evacuate people from the occupied city of kherson. general sergei surovikin has been put in charge of trying

to hold back ukraine's counter offensive, but has admitted that the situation on the ground is difficult. tom brada reports. children, the elderly and even family pets, waiting for their turn to be taken to safety. this is the southern city of kherson, occupied since february. citizens are getting ready to leave in fear it will become a bloodied front—line stop to. translation: i stop to. translation: ., a stop to. translation: . , ., stopto. translation: ., translation: i ask you to interpret — translation: i ask you to interpret my _ translation: i ask you to interpret my words - translation: | ask you to | interpret my words seriously. we will not abandon the city understand until the end stoplight kherson is a strategic and symbolic target for ukraine's government and for ukraine's government and for the past few weeks, ukraine forces have been gaining ground. the man charged with halting the fight back is

general sergei surovikin. nicknamed �*general armageddon�* he was recently appointed the top commander in ukraine but in his first televised interview since taking the role, he offered a rare acknowledgement offered a rare acknowledgement of russian difficulties. translation: of russian difficulties. tuna/mom- of russian difficulties. translation: , ., ., translation: the situation in the area of— translation: the situation in the area of the _ translation: the situation in the area of the special- the area of the special military operation can be described as tense. the enemy is not abandoning attempts to attack russian troop positions. facing such staunch resistance, moscow has identified a new objective, away from the front lines, the devastation of ukraine�*s electricity supply. more than 1000 towns and villages across the country are without power and millions face the prospect of a freezing winter. translation: , , translation: it is scary, i don't know— translation: it is scary, i don't know how _ translation: it is scary, i don't know how to - translation: it is scary, ij don't know how to prepare. don�*t know how to prepare. seems like we�*ll be sitting without light and in cold.

moscow seems intent on causing maximum chaos to achieve its goals, which means civilians, and critical infrastructure, are now squarely in the firing line. tom brada, bbc news. in other news, the british prime minister, liz truss, has been trying to bolster support for her leadership by meeting mps to try and get them on side. downing street insists that her full focus is on the challenges facing the country. she is likely to face difficult questions in parliament on wednesday. the florida county devastated by hurricane ian last month has seen a surge in cases of flesh—eating bacteria illnesses and deaths. lee county recorded 29 illnesses and 4 deaths due to the infections. the bacteria lives in warm brackish water, like standing floodwaters. a french cement company has pleaded guilty in the united states to charges of supporting the islamic state group. lafarge admitted that

its syrian subsidiary paid armed groups to help protect factory staff. it�*s been ordered to pay nearly $780 million. it�*s three weeks to go until the us midterm elections, at stake is which party will control congress. democrats are hoping that abortion will be a major issue for voters, after the supreme court overturned the national right to have one. president biden has called for abortion rights to be codified in us law. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, has been explaining how the democrats are hoping to shift the focus and the debate in these midterms onto the issue of abortion. the president is certainly trying to shift the interest of voters onto those issues where he feels as if he has an advantage and certainly opinion polls since the supreme court acted several months ago would suggest that most people believe in the right of a woman to have an abortion, if she chooses.

the challenge for the president and the democrats is to get the attention shifted away from the problems that most people are facing, and that is the cost of living crisis, rising inflation, you only have to drive down a high street in california in los angeles and look at the petrol prices and realise that those are the issues that most people are struggling with, can they pay rent, meet mortgage at the end of the month? as you indicate, those traditionally are the issues that people will vote on at any election and especially in a mid—term election. the governing party, the party that holds the white house, the democrats, in this case, are likely to lose seats in congress and the same would apply to republicans. this is a big challenge forjoe biden and that is why clearly he is speaking out now, some three weeks before the election. this is blatant electioneering but he wants to try to focus on those people around the country, especially younger people and especially women, from different political persuasions.

the republicans and independents as well who may well be sympathetic with his views on the views of the democrats on abortion. well, earlier, ispoke tojennifer kerns who�*s a republican strategist and host on the all—american radio network. i asked what she made of biden�*s pledge to codify the right to have abortion. well, i thinkjoe biden is hitting the panic button 21 days out from tonight on what will be, i think, sealing his fate. i don�*t think now that the democrats are going to win the elections. you look at this new poll out today and not by a conservative outfit but by the new york times that says independent women are now flocking to the gop in droves. in fact, there was a 23—point swing towards the republican party. what this tells me is that the white house and president biden have a bit of a tin ear, maybe they are a bit tone deaf, they are not quite understanding the struggles that the american people are going through right now,

the price of gas, the price of inflation, the price of groceries, all those kitchen table issues that are critically important to the mid—term elections. i think becausejoe biden can�*t win on those issues now, the economy certainly didn�*t pull up before now, and that is still on the forefront of americans�* minds, i think biden now is betting it all, he is putting his chips all in on abortion in the hopes that his very far left base will turn out and save him in the mid—term elections, i think the result of the election... it�*s notjust the abortion issue, though. he is making overtures to those who are feeling the cost—of—living crisis with the student loans debt forgiveness scheme, which will be, what, $20,000 per borrower potentially being written off? that is an economic offer, it is not solely focused on abortion, is it? right, and a lot of people saw the student loan debt forgiveness as sort of a bribe and you could also look at this as, is this sort

of a bribe to women? "hey, vote for us and we will codify abortion." well, guess what, the democrats control the white house, they control the us house and the us senate, they could call a session right now back into session and vote to codify abortion rights. why do they have to dangle these carrots in front of people and say, "vote for me." the truth of the matter is american women are proving that they care about more than one issue, they care about more than just one body part, they care about a range of issues from the fact that the democrats and they feel unsafe on the streets... jennifer, you say as a bribe, but political parties stand on a ticket and make pledges, that�*s what politics is about, isn�*t it? it�*s not a bribe, it�*s a manifesto. look, he�*s making this statement on behalf of his party. he is not even on the ballot and here he is saying, "hey, if you vote for our party, we will do this after the election." why can�*t they do it now?

in fact, why didn�*t they do it earlier in the session? they�*ve been in session this year, they could have done it then, but it�*s just that the democrats are the dreamers, they do all these election promises to the voters. you made the point at a moment ago. i want to go back very briefly to the point you made about the polls and an indication of a swing, is that any different to what we would normally see in mid—terms? the party in power, traditionally, the mid—terms go against them, it�*s part of the ebb and flow of politics, isn�*t it? it would be the same if the republicans were in power, no? i agree, this is part of the checks and balances of the american system, however i think democrats thought they had a shoo—in, they thought they had this in the bag when the supreme court overturned roe vs wade, i think they were banking on the abortion issue, coasting into the election and they clearly made a serious miscalculation. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:

as the bbc celebrates its 100th anniversary, we look ahead at the challenges it faces. and its early years. a historic moment that many of his victims have waited for for decades — the former dictator in the dock, older, slimmer and, as he sat down, obedient enough. dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside korum, it lights up a biblical famine now, in the 20th century. the depressing conclusion — in argentina today, - it is actually cheaper— to paper your walls with money. we�*ve had controversies in the past with great britain but as good friends, we have always found a good and lasting solution. after almost three decades in service,

an aircraft that has enthralled its many admirers for so long taxis home one last time. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the united nations has issued a stark warning that somaila is facing the worst drought in a0 years — with aid camps admiting a starving child every minute. more than a thousand towns and villages across ukraine are left without power after russia�*s latest bombardment targets power plants. clean up efforts are continuing in venezuela after at least three people were killed in a landslide. it�*s the latest disaster to hit the country — heavy rains have killed dozens and left hundreds homeless in recent weeks. emer mccarthy reports. a torrent of muddy water, from above, the damage from weeks of intense

rains in maracay is laid bare. this landslide, which killed at least three people in the city less than 100 miles south—west of the capital caracas, is the latest disaster to hit venezuela. translation: i saw water coming, branches, cars, i it was horrible and the water came into the shop and i was there with two employees, and we barely managed to get out, thank god, it was horrible. wading through calf—deep mud, danielle�*s home isjust one that was destroyed. translation: the downpour of rain came down and - we heard the rumble, when we saw the garage door on the street and we saw an avalanche making pum, pum, pum sounds. all the river came in and filled our house, inside of the house there�*s a metre and a half of water and mud, wejust arrived to see what can be salvaged from inside the house.

heavy rains have killed dozens and left hundreds homeless in the state of aragua in recent weeks. for nervous residents, rubble and rocks have now become makeshift flood barriers as they try to protect everything they can salvage. emer mccarthy, venezuela, bbc news. the bbc is 100 years old today. it started in 1922 as the british broadcasting company — with just four employees and a promise that there would be no news broadcasts before 7pm. a lot has changed since then. our media editor amol rajan reports. 2l0, marconi house, london, calling. a century ago, this country did a curious thing. it set up a company that would use wireless communication to engage the public. and so the bbc was born. put the statement in. get everything off. hang on, 10 seconds. over that century, it has faced few bigger tests than the death

of her majesty queen elizabeth ii. do we have the go? yeah. we can go, chris. 0k. let�*s do it. yeah. announced the death of - her majesty queen elizabeth ii. bbc is interrupting normal programmes. for 100 years now, the bbc has been a mirror to the nation. from the announcement of war... this country is at war with germany. ..reflecting every aspect of our lives. from sporting glory... they think it�*s all over. it is now. it�*s four. ..to the birth of local radio... we�*ve had the postmaster general the lord mayor of leicester... after hours of shooting... gunfire. ..and facing a line of troops, the crowd is still here. i'm going to give you i a damn good thrashing!

institutions, from shows across genres such as comedy... laughter. ..and programmes in drama... ..to national treasures. ..meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance. along the way, the bbc has made a habit of annoying prime ministers... thank you for what the bbc, if they are true to their usual form, will tonight describe as a hostile reception. laughter. and been through some appalling scandals. new technologies allow the bbc to reach ever bigger audiences and secure its emotional contract with the people. but today�*s new technologies — the internet, smartphones, social media — have weakened the bbc�*s grip on our culture, and, together with political pressure, threaten its future.

this is the bbc television service. to remain relevant, vital and loved, it needs to use the latest technology to secure a new contract with the people, and persuade them that it is worth paying for. across the nations and the regions for the news where you are, goodbye. amol rajan, bbc news. now, if you�*ve got a sweet tooth, we�*ve found something that you will absolutely adore. an art gallery in los angeles offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy a massive amount of cake, without putting on an ounce. wendy urquhart reports. everywhere you look, there�*s lavishly decorated cakes with lashings of frosting and huge dollops of whipped cream. it may make your mouth water, but none of it is real. everything is fake, it needs to look beautiful. i can�*t go around maintaining everything, i�*ve got to use acrylic instead of sugar, otherwise it�*ll be ant land, there will be bugs everywhere and we don�*t want that. the exhibition contains 3,000 cherries and around 250 gallons of frosting, which has been lovingly

piped onto the cakes. and the walls are dripping with thousands and thousands of swarovski crystals. scott hove has never baked a cake in his life, but his childhood obsession with artificial food has led to the creation of one of the strangest installations ever. i love how weird it is, i love the dark rooms and the creepy things mixed with the happy pastel aesthetic of this room. it�*s bizarre. it's awesome, there is so much detail, the experience is immersive, and it'sjust beautiful experience. cakeland was founded in 2020 and its creator keeps adding more and more pieces. some are stunningly beautiful, others are creepy and bizarre, and locals and tourists are lapping it up. wendy urquhart, bbc news.

quite the exhibit. you can reach me on social media. i�*m on there, ben boulos. hello again. yesterday, once the early morning mist and fog patches had cleared out of the way, most parts of the uk had plenty of sunshine but there were some big contrasts in the temperatures from north to south. across england and wales, very mild weather. in parts of sussex, temperatures as high as 20 degrees but even though we had sunshine across the north of the uk and scotland, here, it was much cooler, with temperatures in shetland just reaching 10 degrees. the reason, well we had this cooler air mass underneath this area of high pressure and that will be slipping eastwards over the next few days and this area of low pressure to our south—west really is going to dominate and will be very slow—moving so we will transition to even more unsettled weather conditions, really, and that transition is taking place right now. we are seeing outbreaks of rain

arrive with strengthening winds and look at this, towards the start of wednesday morning, the end of the night, we�*re looking at temperatures of 16 degrees in plymouth and those temperatures are higher than they should be during the middle of the afternoon, let alone at the end of the night. through the west of wednesday, these bands of rain are going to erratically work their way northwards and a little bit further eastwards as we go through the day. i suspect parts of east anglia, north—east england and scotland will stay dry but there will be more cloud around, a few bright or sunny spells and a windier kind of day, gusts running into 30s of miles per hour but still very mild, 15—19 for england and wales, those temperatures a bit below average for scotland and northern ireland. for thursday, another band of rain comes up and this one is going to be heavier, perhaps with some rumbles of thunder as it swings across all of the country. just tending to clear, the skies brighten up there could be further hefty showers arriving late in the day from further south. temperatures are still mild,

16—19 for england and wales, temperatures rising a bit and northern ireland but still close to average really in scotland. on friday, the low pressure is still firmly in charge. there will be plenty of showers around, potentially merging to give some lengthier spells of rain towards parts of wales, western england and northern ireland, closest to that centre of low pressure but it�*s mild again, temperatures are starting to rise a little bit in scotland with highs heading to 15 degrees or so through the central belt. that low pressure, though, is stuck with us through the weekend, so it�*s a case of further rain or showers, but it does stay on the mild side. that�*s your latest, bye—bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the un has issued a stark warning that somaila is facing the worst drought in a0 years. aid camps have been admiting a starving child every minute, often from families who have spent days walking in search of life—saving help. climate change and conflict have both contributed to the severe food shortages. the authorities in ukraine say the latest russian air strikes have left more than one thousand towns and villages without power. president zelensky criticised moscow�*s widespread use of iranian—made drones in the current spate of attacks, and said the situation was now critical, with water supplies also affected. president biden has promised

that the first bill he will sign into law next year, if the democrats retain