front—lines, as forces come under attack from so—called kamikaze drones. gabon's deposed president calls for help following a coup as the army officers who staged the uprising pick a transitional leader. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. tropical storm idalia is marching northeast, after making landfall in florida early on wednesday. it's now been downgraded from a hurricane, but is still bringing dangerous winds and heavy rains to the us states of georgia and south carolina. these are the latest pictures we have out of south carolina where winds are whipping across the beach there.

the tide level in charleston harbour was reported as the fifth largest ever recorded. idalia made landfall in florida as a category three storm, before charging across georgia. at least two people have died due to driving accidents in wet conditions, and nearly half—a—million people are without power across florida, georgia and south carolina. now that the rain has mostly cleared in florida, the impact of idalia can be seen. this is footage from cedar key, filmed by our team on the ground there. as you can see, although the skies were blue and the sun was shining, the destruction is clear to see. live now to our correspondent helena humphrey, who is in ha rd—hit cedar key. what are conditions like where you are now? you like where you are now? have to keep in mind, her on you have to keep in mind, here on the big bend of florida, this is the worst storm they have seen in over a century, want to show you some of the destruction we have seen on the ground, if i move out of shot you can see behind me the roof

of a gas station simply flipped and twisted off in those hurricane winds that came in early this morning, we are also down by the coast and people there say we escaped with our lives but in some cases not our livelihoods. hotels hollowed out by those hurricane winds, the storm —— the storm surge coming in and in much of this area and down cedar key submerged. in the last few minutes some of the power has come back on not everywhere but some areas, 40,000 lines men deployed across the state to try to get power running once again. very briefly, the clean—up operation will begin tomorrow in earnest, a job to be done. it's a huge task, it was already under way to day, but people i have been speaking to say it is notjust a case of weeks, they are looking at months, especially in rural communities like this one, they say category three storm can

take three weeks even to get the power back on. they have a massive and very expensive task as well. . , , ., ~ as well. helena humphrey, thank ou for as well. helena humphrey, thank you for that _ the head of the federal emergency management agency, or fema, says idalia is the strongest storm to hit an area known as florida's big bend in more than 100 yea rs. this map shows the peak storm surge as idalia moves up the coastline. you can see in yellow the areas with surges of 5 feet high. the national hurricane center is warning that the risk of flooding, storm surge, and strong winds continues across georgia and the carolinas, even though idalia is now a tropical storm. earlier, i spoke with deputy director of the national hurricane center, jamie rhome, about what is still to come. deputy director of the national hurricane jamie rhome, thanks forjoining us. what's the current situation with the idalia?

idalia has transitioned into a tropical storm but unfortunately no less dangerous than it was this time last night because of the very heavy rains and flood threat that appears to be unfolding as we speak over south—eastern georgia, eastern south carolina and south—eastern north carolina. did idalia make landfall as had been anticipated and how widespread was the damage? unfortunately the intensification into a major hurricane prior to landfall did occur. it went inland within the florida big bend near a small community named keaton beach. we don't know much about how badly they were impacted there because for obvious reasons there is no communication or television, so it will probably take until tomorrow before we truly understand the magnitude of the impact. you have been warning about record levels of storm surges. did we see that it, has the worst passed or people

still need to be wary of water levels? what we do know is a community to the east of where landfall occurred, cedar key, we do have information from there and we do have footage from there and it looked like they got really substantial storm surge, flooded large portions of the island and in some cases cut off transportation and roads so we can only assume that it's only going to be worse when finally get into the communities where the centre of circulation struck dead on. moving on to what is going to happen next, what about the communities in georgia and the carolinas? we see on the map beside you a large red splotch. this red area indicates where the heaviest rain and the highest risk of flooding is going to occur and let me help you understand that. the centre of circulation is down here over south—eastern georgia, so all of this tropical moisture is wrapping around and then there is a front right here.

so all that is being piled into this narrow red swath, so jacksonville, north carolina, wilmington, north carolina, myrtle beach and columbia, south carolina are all in this swathe of very heavy rain. in a practical way, what can people along there expect to see? extremely heavy rainfall rates. when i say rain, you probably think it rains all the time, but the rain rates here are going to come down so fast that flooding is going to occur and then as the sun sets, that's when things will get especially dangerous because it'll be really hard for people to see flooded roads. it's a good night to stay indoors. it's not a hurricane any more, as you are saying, it's been downgraded, but by the sounds of things that's not going to mean the impact of it will be much lessened? correct. if we look back, and we have done this mortality in past hurricanes, we actually end up

losing more people in this set up than we do down here at the coast where the full brunt of the storm surge and wind comes ashore and that's primarily because people mistakenly view this downgrade, this quote unquote downgrade from wind speed perspective as less risk. what i'm telling you is the risk isjust as high in this red area for a life—threatening flooding. when do you expect to see this weather system totally move out? yes, so it is really starting to exit georgia as we speak, sort of occurring over south carolina now and will move to south—eastern north carolina over the next several hours and ultimately out to sea. so by tomorrow, things should start to improve except for maybe the extreme eastern portion of the outer banks. you spend your career studying and researching hurricanes. are they becoming more frequent and more intense? i don't know about becoming more frequent but i think

they are becoming more impactful, meaning the same storms are having a bigger impact on communities than they did before partly because they're evolving, becoming bigger rainmakers with an evolving climate and partly because more people are moving to the coastline, in the path of the systems. 0k, jamie rhome, we will let you get back to the important work you are doing. deputy director of the national hurricane center, thank you forjoining us. thank you. turning now to the war in ukraine, which is increasingly becoming one of remote attacks from the sky, with both sides using drones. on tuesday night, russia reported that a small airport in the northwestern city of pskov had been targeted by ukrainian drones. the attack damaged two military transport planes. that was just one of many strikes on russian territory. the red dots on this map show you just how widespread the attacks have become. for its part, russia is escalating its drone use too.

0vernight, kyiv sustained its biggest attack since the spring. and russian soldiers are also using drones on the front lines. 0ur correspondent quentin sommerville and camera journalist darren conway have spent the last few weeks on the front lines between kupiansk and lyman. both cities were occupied by the russians until ukrainian troops won them back. now russia is trying to reclaim the land, with the help of so—called kamikaze drones. the battle on ukraine's eastern front has reawakened. it's in these fields and trenches that the conflict now burns at its hottest, ukraine says. there's been a lot of russian activity in this area over the past couple of days. in fact, there were air strikes on the village just behind me. so we're now having to move before dawn to get to the trenches. south of kupiansk, they cast russian forces out of here almost a year ago,

but their enemy is threatening to return. beyond these fields, russia has advanced in recent weeks. the men of the 68th jager brigade, newly installed, are here to ensure that they go no further. they are up against infantry and artillery attacks daily along these lines. you can see here, that's outgoing artillery. along the front, it's said some 100,000 russian troops have gathered in newly—formed battle groups. some, beyond this tree line. now, if you look all around here, there's been incoming fire here. there's lots of damage. so there's plenty of trench positions to take cover in.

it's easy to forget — with so much focus on the counter—offensive in the south of ukraine — that there are vicious battles going on here in the east and the north. in the south, they're making progress, bit by bit. but here in the east, it's russia that's advancing. this is a war on many fronts, and it's straining russia's resources, but it's also straining ukraine's, too. so in the south and the east, the demands on ukrainian forces are rising. this is front line, front line. i cannot go. andriy�*s taking us forward. but a russian drone spotted his vehicle before we took cover. explosion "we must go," he says, "get in the car!" a dozen shells land in as many minutes. come on, we need to get it together, come on. we first met andriy injune, when he was fighting in the southern counter—offensive around velyka novosilka.

"this eastern front is far deadlier," he says. translation: velyka novosilka was less dangerous. _ there were far fewer soldiers there than there are here. and they have more weapons here, more of everything. that's why it's more dangerous here. its gains are modest, but from kupiansk to lyman, further south, russia is resurgent. and in the serebryans'kyy forest, it's especially fierce. we're heading deep into this forest. there's been a lot of fighting here. this is artillery strike this morning, maybe a couple of hours ago. can you see, it is still burning? all this road is shelled by drones and missile systems. can you see it? no tops of the trees.

the men compare the artillery barrages to the first world war�*s verdun. but there is a new lethal threat to contend with here — kamikaze drones. explosion the gunner has fallen inside. he's unhurt, he signals. that was a drone attack against our car. that was a drone, russian drone. so they saw us, they send a 50—metre drone, and now they are seeking us and hunting us, so we need to go faster. they're just a couple of hundred metres from our position. the drones work in pairs, a surveillance drone is still up above, so they get off the road.

so we've had to stop going forward because the danger here is the deeper you get into the forest, cover doesn't get better. there's constant russian artillery, setting some of the trees on fire, and it's turning these areas into wide—open areas, very exposed. there's no tree cover here, so we've had to come off the road. there are drones up above, and we just saw what they can do. the humvee's thick armour and the driver's quick thinking means that everybody inside was unhurt. but of course, civilians along these re—ignited front lines have no such protection. young and old, villagers around kupiansk are being evacuated from their homes.

they are now in range of russian guns, and russia doesn't discriminate. last year, they endured six months of occupation here. they refuse to again. once more on the eastern front, the advance of russian guns is casting ukrainian families apart. viktor gives his family a final hug before they separate. sophia is just five months old — too precious to remain in harm's way. why are you leaving? translation: because it's very scary to live here. - i want to safeguard my children. it's very scary not knowing if the shelling will hit or not, if we will survive or not. viktor hoped that he was

done with goodbyes... ..but as russia advances, he's once again left praying that he'll see his family again. quentin somerville, bbc news, kupiansk. powerful reporting there from our team on the ground in ukraine. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news: the mother of the president of spain's football federation has been hospitalised on the third day of a hunger strike. angeles bejar locked herself in a church earlier this week to protest accusations against her son, luis rubiales. he's facing calls to resign after he kissed a player on the lips at the women's world cup.

the uk foreign secretary has defended talks with officials in china, telling the bbc it wouldn't be credible to disengage. james cleverly is the first senior member of britain's government to visit beijing in more than five years. he insists that a pragmatic relationship with the country is necessary to tackle global issues like climate change. the biden administration is moving forward with efforts to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana. the us drug enforcement agency tells the bbc it's reviewing findings from the country's top health safety regulator on whether marijuana should be treated the same as other drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potentialfor abuse, like heroin and lsd. you're live with bbc news. military officers who seized power in gabon early on wednesday, have named general brice 0ligui nguema as the transitional leader after claiming the re—election of long—time president ali bongo 0ndimba was a fraud.

the military announced they are annulling saturday's election results and closing the country's borders. earlier, mr nguema was carried triumphantly through the streets of libreville by men from the republican guard. thousands have gathered in the capital in support of the junta with some chanting, "time for change". president 0ndimba is under house arrest and has since released a video appealing for help, asking for supporters to "make noise" on his behalf. there are reports that his phones have since been seized by soldiers. mr 0ndimba and his father have ruled gabon for over 50 years. the us department strongly condemn the events in gabon writing in statement: a short while ago i spoke with former us ambassador

to gabon, eric benjaminson, about the coup. eric benjaminson, thanks forjoining us. president bongo was elected shortly before your ambassadorship to gabon. what do you make of his removal so soon after his re—election? i think my broadest statement and, by the way, i should say thank you for having me on, i very much appreciate it, the broadest statement i can make is, nothing in gabon is ever as it seems. he is a complicated figure, the coup has complicated reasons, and again, at a broad level, i would say, we should not associate it with the other coups going on in africa recently. this one is entirely separate from the others. i am a little surprised by the coup. there was an attempt at this at the last election but it failed. i guess he has not understood how badly some of his actions or maybe lifestyle has hurt him

with regular people in gabon. 0n the point you make about you view this as different from the other recent coups in africa, ecowas in the wake of the coup in niger said it was worried about contagion in the area but i am interested to hear why you think it's different this time. i think ecowas is right to have a broad concern and the state department of the us also indicated specific concern today about what's going on in gabon which i completely agree with even i don't work for them anymore but what i would say is the antecedents to this coup have nothing to do with other countries, nothing to do with fundamentalism, they have nothing to do with religious schisms, but what it does have is a very specific gabonese—centric reasons behind it. when we think of a coup, military seizing power with force, it often happens without the support of the people and it would appears in this case that there is some support.

we've seen images and heard reports of people chanting, "time for change." why is it so different in that regard? i think there is a level of popular support for it and back to my earlier statement that it's very hard to know what's really going on. i think president bongo had legitimate support, a certain level of it. i think the elections were not managed carefully and the support he had in the election was overstated from the people. i was hesitant before to mention ethnic tensions because there is one. it's not a violent tension but president bongo is a different ethnic group than the opposition party leaders and that has a long history going back to the 1960s or before, so part of this is people from different ethnic groups but i think the main reason and you are alluding to this, the main reason is that there is a huge disparity in wealth between elite gabonese and other people and i don't think the president, he in the first place did not

understand how his owning a fleet of fast cars and travelling a lot globally made him look to his own people and i don't think that there is enough action on his part to fight corruption in his own government. he has done certain steps but there is a lot of anger at corruption that has been in gabon since the 1960s at least. he is under house arrest at the moment and we saw a video appealfrom him asking his friends to raise their voices. do you see a role here for the international community? yes, he is under house arrest and i say that not least because i recognise the room in which he was having a videotape from, part of his residence at the presidential palace. of course there is a role for the international community. in the first place we all certainly don't want this to become violent anymore than the minor gunfight might already have been, and i think you can analyse why this is different from coups in other countries but at the same time we don't want to look

like we're treating one coup differently from another, it's not respecting a democratic process, we need to be consistent, that is not only us but everybody else needs to consistent in speaking out and worrying about coups disturbing democratic processes. but i think we can do that and still amongst ourselves recognise that there are national differences between these things and they are not all symptoms of the same cause. another interesting element we saw with the arab spring, the rise of social media performs and in this instant tiktok seems to have played quite a role in what happened. i think that's true and i am no world expert on tiktok but i can tell you the role of the internet and social media has started in gabon well before the invention of tiktok. i was there from 2010—2013 and it was a country that lept from no phones to smartphones. they reallyjumped over

the hardwired phone stage and so everybody was even using cheap smartphones, they all had facebook, they all had instagram, they were all using some other popular methods and that did exactly what it did. at a different pace than what happened in tunisia and elsewhere but it has connected young gabonese with the world and give them an independent viewpoint on what's going on in their country and everywhere else. eric benjaminson, i know you are under time pressure so i will let you go. thank you forjoining us. thank you. i really appreciate it. and before we go, memorial stadium, in nebraska, played host to a record crowd on wednesday night. more than 92,000 people showed up to watch a double—header of women's volleyball. to be more precise: 92—thousand—and—three people, was the official count that's the most ever for a women's sporting event. 0rganizers had announced a day—long celebration of volleyball in a state where the sport enjoys wide popularity.

in the main event, the nebraska huskers swept 0maha in three sets. country singer scotty mccreery performed afterwards. the previous record was set last year when barcelona defeated real madrid 5—2 at the camp nou stadium. that's all from us here in washington. i'm caitriona perry. we leave you with these live pictures of london. 0ur colleagues there will pick up at the top of the hour with the latest headlines. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. for those of you that enjoy a big moon, there's a real treat outside at the moment — a super blue moon. what's one of those? well, the "super" bit is when the moon's closest to the earth for the year, and the "blue" bit is the second full moon of the month — so a super blue moon. and this is how sam's house spotted the rising moon here in derbyshire, just over the last few hours.

now, looking at the weather picture at the moment, we do have some thicker cloud out to the west. that's going to rather spoil the sight of the moon. but across the eastern side of the country, we've got the clearest of the skies. now through the day on thursday, we do have some rain that's going to be spreading in from the west, and that will start to make inroads towards south—west wales and south—west england over the next few hours. as that arrives, so will quite mild air. so 14 degrees in plymouth as we start the day on thursday. cooler across the north and east of the country. so north—east, south—west split with the weather for thursday, lovely start to the day for scotland, across much of northern england. bright with hazy sunshine for east anglia. but across western areas we've got the rain moving in, and some of the rain will be quite heavy across southern areas of wales, southern areas of england. otherwise it's probably going to come through quite light and patchy, really. top temperatures around about 18—20 degrees for many areas. now on into friday's forecast,

the remnants of that area of low pressure still with us. and really it's a day of sunny spells and a few showers. probably the cloudiest zone of weather will be across northern england, north wales, the north midlands and northern ireland, where there'll be a few patches of rain. one to two showers elsewhere. temperatures, again, high teens to low 20s. but as we head into the weekend, we've got a real change in the weather patterns. an area of high pressure is set to move in across the uk. we're not seeing too many of those over the last couple of months, i can tell you. now saturday morning there might be a few mist and fog patches first thing, but otherwise it's a fine—looking day. lots of sunshine to look forward to, with just a little bit of fair weather cloud popping up for a time. temperatures rising across the board pretty much into the low twenties. 23 towards south—east england. and that is going to feel warm in the september sunshine. and we've got more of that to come through sunday, and deep into the new week as well. so quite a long spell of dry and sunny weather finally looks set to arrive.

bye for now.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. whatever we call them — extreme right, far right or ultra nationalist —

it's clear parties far to the right of the conservative mainstream are gaining ground across europe. perhaps most significant, and to many europeans, most alarming, is the rise of the afd — alternative for deutschland — in germany. they're running second in national polls and winning local elections. my guest is peter boehringer, vice chairman of the afd. is his party stirring sentiments that threaten german stability? peter boehringer in munich, welcome to hardtalk.

good afternoon, stephen. good to hear you again.