conclude a rare summit. and top tech talent head to the us capitol as lawmakers consider regulating artificial intelligence. i'm helena humphrey. it's good to have you with us. at this moment, aid groups and rescue workers are still trying to get to some of the most devastated areas of libya following catastrophic flooding. more than 5,000 people are now known to have died after torrential rain sunday. these satellite images show the scale of the damage after two dams and four bridges in one area collapsed. thousands of people are still missing. earlier, i spoke to international rescue committee's ciaran donnelly. ciaran, thanks

for being with us. i understand that the international rescue committee has around a dozen teams on the ground there in libya. what are your teams seeing? what are they telling you? we have been _ what are they telling you? - have been operating in libya for a number of years working at about a dozen locations with different programmes covering healthcare and essential protection, but equally for women and children. about a staff in the country. we are not operative in derna, but we are operating in an area west of derna, also affected by the floods. none of our staff are directly affected. thankfully they are safe but many of their family have been put at risk and many have lost belongings and many have lost belongings and homes. 0urfirst priority is taking care of our staff. but secondly and immediately after that looking to assess needs. we are sending in an assessment team to derna to get assessment team to derna to get a sense of on the ground needs. everything we are hearing points to overwhelming devastation, confirming the kinds of images people have

been seeing in the media. entire neighbourhoods washed away. these are neighbourhoods and parts of libya that have suffered from the direct and indirect effects of conflicts over a number of years and so these are not areas with particularly resilient or strong public infrastructure, public service provision. there are 800,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance in libya on any given day and so what we're seeing is real disaster of — of really tragic proportions on top of quite a significant degree of underlying fragility, underlying fragility, underlying humanitarian need. i underlying humanitarian need. i want to touch on the fragility because as you have pointed to commit libya has experienced a great deal of tumult for over a decade now. has that impacted preparedness and then also response? the fact that you have two rival governments there. in

have two rival governments there. , ., there. in terms of preparedness, - there. in terms of| preparedness, any there. in terms of- preparedness, any country there. in terms of— preparedness, any country that has experienced the conflict, the division, the political turmoil that libya has inevitably suffers in terms of public service provision, infrastructure and maintenance, the basic duties and functions of everyday life that we often take for granted in europe or the us. simply put they aren't really there for many in the community. and so there has definitely been a direct impact of years of conflict there in terms of preparedness, notjust preparedness in terms of the physical infrastructure but in terms of local services and civil protection teams' ability to respond. but we're working closely with our government partners who are mobilising effectively so the second part of your question, in terms of the response, we are seeing a lot of goodwill, a lot of divisions, not directly at this point a response. it is a real opportunity for all parties in

libya to put their differences aside and really motivate — mobilise and demonstrate good intent in enabling aid to get intent in enabling aid to get in as quickly as possible. the roads are washed out and it is logistically difficult to get to those directly affected, especially with the quantities of support that people are likely to need. so they will need to be a real political will, ithink, across need to be a real political will, i think, across the conflict spectrum, of everyone involved in libya, to really make this happen. tell involved in libya, to really make this happen.- involved in libya, to really make this happen. tell us more, then, make this happen. tell us more, then. about _ make this happen. tell us more, then, about the _ make this happen. tell us more, then, about the immediate - then, about the immediate needs, ciaran, the support that is to get it right now?— is to get it right now? we're still assessing _ is to get it right now? we're still assessing - _ is to get it right now? we're still assessing - we - is to get it right now? we're still assessing - we will- is to get it right now? we're| still assessing - we will learn still assessing — we will learn about more about this in the coming days. our teams were underground sending to reports overnight to us. but we know that medical support will be needed, at the libyan healthcare needed, at the libyan healthca re system needed, at the libyan healthcare system is ready quite fragile and so we as they will need to get medication, basic health supplies, getting health facilities up and running to people, and we will be looking at safe water

provision. 0nce be looking at safe water provision. once the floodwaters recede i'm sure we will find that water supply has been affected. in those environments it is common to see disease, cholera, things like that breaking out. we will look a lot we can do to keep people safe from that perspective. dozens of people as we have heard, tens of thousands have been displaced. many of them have lost their homes and livelihoods and so are in very short order they will need just basic supplies, things like food, things to cook with, blankets, we are working with local civil society organisations in libya to assess what supplies are there already, and what we can get to the affected areas as quickly as possible. we're also paying particular attention to the needs of women and girls and we know that in any humanitarian disaster women and girls are disproportionately suffering. so from the beginning of our assessment we are looking at the needs of women and girls are deciding what we can do to particularly support them in

terms of particular programmes, safe spaces, access to education for girls, boys as well, obviously. that is a big part of what will be needed. but given the level of devastation, places like derna will have to start almost from scratch so every aspect of human life in those places needs attention and effort in the coming weeks and months. ciaran donnelly from the international rescue committee bringing us up—to—date on the devastating situation there in libya. ciaran, thank you. thank ou. now to neighbouring morocco, which is still recovering from friday's earthquake. you can see this moment of panic wednesday after an aftershock hit a village close to the epicentre of last week's quake. ore than 2,900 people are dead and at least 5,330 are injured, according to the latest official figures. the country has accepted aid from four countries — the united kingdom, qatar, spain and the united

arab emirates, but resources from several other countries and the united nations remain on standby. survivors have been pleading for more help. please, help us, ourfriends, ourfamily. we have lost everything. we have no place to live anymore. we need help, please. north korean state media report its leader kim jong—un has invited russian president vladimir putin to his country. it follows a rare summit between the two in russia's far east. north korean reports say the two agreed to strengthen strategic and tactical cooperation. kim toured a russian cosmodrome with putin. us and south korea worry kim could send weapons and ammunition to russia for its war on ukraine, in exchange for satellite technology, food and fertilizer. a top south korean minister has now warned of "deep concerns" over arms transactions. for more on the ties the two leaders seem to be forging with each other, i wasjoined earlier byjennifer welch,

chief geoeconomics analyst at bloomberg and former nsc director for china and taiwan. great to have you with us. thank you for coming to the studio. if we look at what we have been seeing it appears that we are seeing an ever strengthening relationship between vladimir putin and kim jong—un. is that what you are seeing and how concerned do you think we should be about that? i think that is exactly right, especially comparing this meeting to their last meeting in 2019 when kim jong—un sought sanctions relief under wrong us pressure. not a lot from moscow at that time. she didn't offered six party talks but other than that didn't reach further forward. other than that didn't reach furtherforward. today other than that didn't reach further forward. today we are seeing two leaders was something to gain and a lot to lose —— less to lose facing us sanctions, heavy sanctions. 0nly sanctions, heavy sanctions. only a few needs munitions and workers. england needs

technology, military technology, military technology, and food. if you see the prospect _ technology, and food. if you see the prospect then - technology, and food. if you see the prospect then of- technology, and food. if you see the prospect then of a i see the prospect then of a serious weapons deal or any kind of weapon still on the table, you mentioned the fact that russia needs munitions for its war in ukraine. do you think that this could potentially prolong the aggression that we are seeing against ukraine? i aggression that we are seeing against ukraine?— against ukraine? i think that is a really — against ukraine? i think that is a really good _ against ukraine? i think that is a really good question - against ukraine? i think thatj is a really good question and exactly what washington and a lot of ukraine's partners are worried about. i think any north korean artillery is not likely to have a decisive impact on the battlefield but as noted it could extend the conflict that is already having a serious toll on ukraine, not just material but economically. at a time that the united states and many partners are struggling to fill ukraine's existing military needs. because more curiously, what about the promise for help for north korea's space programme? how concerned should we be about that? what would that look like and what would that enable, i guess, look like and what would that enable, iguess, pyongyang look like and what would that enable, i guess, pyongyang to do? , , do? pugh considered himself that they met _

do? pugh considered himself that they met at _ do? pugh considered himself that they met at the - do? pugh considered himself that they met at the space i that they met at the space launch centre for a reason and it is because they are interested in seeing whether they can co—operate with north korea. he made vague references to aware of sanctions on north korea but sees prospects for cooperation. north korea is looking to get their satellite programme off the ground, literally. the challenges the technology for satellite lodges overlaps a lot with rocket launch technology and i think thatis launch technology and i think that is where the us and partners are really concerned about any technology that would enable not only north korea's nuclear programme but its ability to get the programme off the ground. 50 ability to get the programme off the ground.— off the ground. so we are talkin: off the ground. so we are talking about _ off the ground. so we are talking about what - off the ground. so we are talking about what bozos| off the ground. so we are - talking about what bozos could potentially gain from this. i also wonder about the optics of it and how it could potentially backfire on a global stage. what we are now seeing is that russia has few backers and is looking to north korea to be one of them. what does that say about its isolation on the global stage? about its isolation on the globalstage? i about its isolation on the global stage?— global stage? i think is washington _ global stage? ithink is washington put - global stage? ithink is washington put it, - global stage? i think is washington put it, this global stage? i think is - washington put it, this must be an act of desperation to go to north korea. the distinction

back to 2019 when moscow was reluctant to engage in any discussions of sanctions relief to where we are today where russia might be feeling its backis russia might be feeling its back is up against the wall and has a lot less to lose from cooperating and a lot to potentially gain. 50 cooperating and a lot to potentially gain.- cooperating and a lot to potentially gain. so is there any way. — potentially gain. so is there any way. then. _ potentially gain. so is there any way, then, that - potentially gain. so is there | any way, then, that western governments can operate and work together to push these two sides further apart? i work together to push these two sides further apart?— sides further apart? i think the challenge _ sides further apart? i think the challenge is _ sides further apart? i think the challenge is immense l sides further apart? i think - the challenge is immense given that russia north korea are already facing heavy sanctions. earlier this year the united states sanctioned a number of individuals, entities, but it is unclear if there are individual sanctions given the totality of what the regime is already facing. it could deter cooperation going forward. jenny, beijing will be watching this closely. how do you think they could react? the this closely. how do you think they could react?— they could react? the foreign ministry commented - they could react? the foreign ministry commented early - they could react? the foreign| ministry commented early this morning and indicated support for the talks. we know vladimir

putin will be heading to china later this fall, in october, for the bri forum. we know conversations i was continuing between beijing and pyongyang. i don't think china will express open concerns about this sort of deal. we see that china has continued to indicate its partnership with russia knows no limits and continues to educate support for north korea. �* g ., ., korea. and jennifer, what about the us? how— korea. and jennifer, what about the us? how do _ korea. and jennifer, what about the us? how do you _ korea. and jennifer, what about the us? how do you think- korea. and jennifer, what about the us? how do you think they l the us? how do you think they will watch this and how will they reacted as? washington is watchin: they reacted as? washington is watching closely. _ they reacted as? washington is watching closely. an _ they reacted as? washington is watching closely. an advance i watching closely. an advance ——in advance, they previously was likely to happen, that the leaders had been exchanging letters, low level conversation between the regimes. washington has also threatened sanctions over any agreement. we will have to wait and see what washington does but the challenges additional leverage might be limited due to sanctions in place. jennifer welch, greta _ sanctions in place. jennifer welch, greta doherty. - sanctions in place. jennifer. welch, greta doherty. thank sanctions in place. jennifer- welch, greta doherty. thank you for being with us.—

for being with us. thank you. -- great _ for being with us. thank you. -- great to — for being with us. thank you. -- great to have _ for being with us. thank you. -- great to have you - for being with us. thank you. -- great to have you with - for being with us. thank you. -- great to have you with us. across the world and the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the un envoy to sudan says he's stepping down from the job. it comes more than three months after sudan declared him unwelcome in the country, refusing to recognise him. volker perthes told the un security council that fighting between rival military factions was heading towards a full—blown civil war. he'd been in the role for 2.5 years. argentina has released new inflation data indicating prices surged 12.4% last month. that's the highest since 1991. prices for food, especially for beef, are leading the elevated costs for staples in the countries. —— the country. argentina is also grappling with a plummeting value of the peso and a sagging economy. a two—week man—hunt for an escaped killer came to a dramatic end on tuesday in the us state of pennsylvania. 0fficers recaptured danelo cavalcante, wednesday. some posed for a picture with him. cavalcante had survived since his escape by robbing people's homes, even taking possession ofa gun. he escaped from prison

by crab—walking up between two walls, in video that captured the attention of the world. you are likely bbc news. —— live with bbc news. one of the largest unions in the us says it's preparing targeted strikes at auto plants if new labor agreements aren't reached with three detroit—based automakers by late thursday. the united auto workers says it has rejected initial pay raises offers. automakers say their companies already face significant investment costs to build more electric vehicles, and that higher labor costs could hamstring them against foreign competitors. here in washington, us lawmakers and tech giants held a first—of—its—kind private summit to discuss regulations for artificial intelligence. tech billionaire elon musk was there, calling it historic. 0ther tech titans in attendance included bill gates and mark zuckerberg.

ai has witnessed a boom in investment and popularity since the release of 0penai's chatgpt but congress members and tech moguls are grappling with the potential dangers of the emerging technology. bbc�*s north america correspondent was also on capitol hill, and spoke to people who were in that closed—door session. this was a real who's who of tech tycoons gathered behind me. they met all 100 senators in order to discuss ai, to discuss the benefits, the risks and how to regulate it. the meeting was bipartisan, but so has been the criticism, with some lawmakers on both sides questioning why the meeting was closed to the public, closed to the reporters, there was also concerns over how this wasn't a congressional hearing, as such, so they weren't subject to a grilling, they were given questions beforehand to answer them and had their lawyers

with them. earlier i spoke to a senator, ed markey, during a break and i asked him if he and the older senators understood ai and the risks of it and how to regulate it and he made an interesting analogy with the bbc, saying, look, bbc listeners don't understand how radio waves work, but it doesn't stop them from receiving news that is fair and impartial. so i think what he is implying is that you don't need to know the minutaie of the technology in order to understand the risks of it or the benefits of it. but how to regulate it, that is something that they need to reach a consensus on and no closer to understanding how they plan to achieve that. us senator mitt romney of utah, a republican moderate, says he won't seek re—election. he says it's time for a younger generation to lead. the times we're living in, we need a man of the next generation to step up and express their point of view, and make decisions that will shape american politics

over the coming century. having a bunch of guys around from the post—war era, we are not the ones to be making the decisions for tomorrow. us house speaker kevin mccarthy spent his day trying to shore up support for his impeachment inquiry into presidentjoe biden. the inquiry accuses the president of lying about knowledge of his son hunter biden's business dealings and other allegations. republicans have not found any concrete evidence of misconduct. democrats say it's distracting lawmakers from focusing on avoiding a government shutdown by the end of the month. to talk about all of this, i spoke with conservative republican louisiana congressman clay higgins. speaker mcarthy met today with the republican conference. what did he say about the impeachment inquiry and what comes next? speaker mccarthy has decided that we should begin a formal impeachment inquiry, to enhance the work that we have been

doing on the oversight committee now for the balance of this year. and some of us were looking into, through our own offices, since, really, last year and before but the impeachment inquiry gives us particular rights to request and to subpoena information and data and evidence that, without the formal declaration of the impeachment inquiry, we were limited to what is called a legislative purpose, so the oversight committee on which i sit, we are leading the investigations into biden's criminal actions, and his... his actions have... we've determined that they are impeachable, clearly impeachable. so it was time to begin a formal impeachment inquiry and, that is what speaker mccarthy has initiated.

we don't yet know whether they are criminal actions and for months, as you have been talking about, republicans have been investigating the bidens. they are yet to prove allegations that biden directly profited off his son's foreign business deals. your colleague ken buck has also said that they haven't seen any evidence linking president biden to his son's business activities, so what do you say to members of your party and outside of your party as to whether impeachment should be on the table? you should have a clear understanding of what the constitutional parameters of impeachment are. impeachment was never a process that was used by government to control the actions of executives that had breached the trust of the people. it has its own set of standards and that is loosely defined in the constitution as high crimes and misdemeanours,

which actually is an old british description that was used for hundreds of years by parliament. you tweeted yesterday, after this quote, "impeach him", after we saw that announcement by speaker mccarthy. and speaker mccarthy, the process is going about is taking this through the committees which essentially slows this down without a floor vote. are you happy? are you satisfied with the way he is handling this? it i think we should be, at this point, very aggressive, and the speaker has chosen a judicious and cautious rout and the evidence that we have harvested and revealed has been quite shocking, and incredibly condemning of the president and his family and the president's involvement, primarily, when he was vice president, a great deal of corrupt monies has been exchanged, we identified shell companies and millions

and millions of dollars funnelled into the biden family banks through very suspicious financial transactions that, six banks, six major banks have identified as laundering money. congressman, i have to say that not everybody in your own party agrees on that. and, at this stage, these are allegations, not evidence. i respect my colleagues. but my personal background, i was a police officer before congress. i'm an investigator. i'm fifth in seniority on the oversight committee, and have seen the evidence. i've watched it unfold and have looked at it very calmly, through the eyes of an investigator. and although i respect my colleagues, anyone that disagrees about that we should righteously move forward with impeachment, is not grasping the significance

of the evidence. we already have. and we are getting more, as the days and weeks unfold. 0ur investigative effort continues, and is quite productive because bank records are... it is like gold for investigators. there is no republican bank records or democrat bank records, there are just bank records. i want to move on because we do have to talk about the fact that the government is due to shut down, essentially, if congress does not take action by the end of the month. would you support a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and give congress more time to come up with their spending deal? not under the current circumstances, i would not support a continuing resolution. we require a more comprehensive agreement with leadership. when i say we i mean the most conservative amongst us demand, respectfully,

but we demand a larger, more conservative and comprehensive concurrence on what we shall do with the 12 appropriations bills that we have written and that we are prepared to pass but there has to be a larger plan and strategy. let me ask you, then, about that plan. what kind of deal on federal spending do you want to see and can ukraine continue to rely on funding from the united states going forward? we agreed to 2022 spending levels by and large. it is how the media has phrased it. not exactly true. we divide discretionary spending into categories that does not restrict defence spending and does not touch social security

and benefits, etc, but, basically, the freedom caucus, which i am a member of, most conservative of us, we recognise that america requires a change of the trajectory of spending. we're just asking for a reasonable and wise adjustment to the trajectory of our spending. we insist upon that. so, congressman, should americans than prepare for the prospect of a government shutdown? a government shutdown is not an accurate description of what would happen. it would be a pause of non—essential services. we reached that abyss before, and stepped back from it. but this is where gentlemen of distinguished accomplishment and deep principle stand upon those core principles and we ultimately come to an agreement. i believe that will happen. none of us want a government shutdown or a temporary pause of the essential services. we don't want that, and we don't have to have that. what we require, in order to avoid that,

is a conservative agreement on how we move forward with spending in america. congressman clay higgins, thank you for being with us. thank you. finally, a picasso painting set to be auctioned in november by sotheby�*s could sell for at least $120 million. the femme a la montre portrait was painted by picasso in 1932 of his 17—year—old lover marie—therese walter. in 2015, picasso's women of algier�*s version sold at christie's in new york for a record $179 million. that's all from us here in washington, we leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleagues there. bye for now. hello.

thursday promises to bring a real mix of weather across the uk. for much of wales, parts of the midlands and northern england, we will have a band of cloud bringing some outbreaks of rain at times. to the south of that, it will be dry and warm. to the north of that, a mix of sunshine and showers. and in the far north, in northern scotland, some strong winds. it's all because of an area of low pressure and this dangling frontal system here. this weather front, will be very, very slow—moving through the day on thursday, so we will see that band of cloud and rain across wales, parts of the midlands, some parts of northern england. we start the day with gales across the north of scotland and some heavy rain drifting its way across the northern isles. scotland, northern ireland, the far north of england can expect a day of sunny spells and scattered showers. then here's our rain bands, the rainjust waxing and waning across parts of wales, the north midlands, northern england. to the south of that, some spells of sunshine and some warmth, highs of 23, 2a, maybe 25 degrees. now, through thursday night, our rain band will tend to pep up again and it will also drift northwards across northern

england, into northern ireland, southern and central parts of scotland by the end of the night. to the south of that, clear spells, 11 or 12 degrees. to the north of that, actually rather chilly in the north of scotland. but for friday, well, it looks very wet indeed across northern ireland, rain also affecting southern and central parts of scotland. and underneath the cloud, with the outbreaks of rain, temperatures in glasgow only getting to 13 degrees, 1a there in belfast. compare that with 25 in london. some warmth and humidity building down towards the south. into the weekend, this area of low pressure swirling to the south—west of us will try to throw some showers or longer spells of rain in our direction. and with that, some relatively warm and humid air. that said, many places on saturday will see a fair amount of dry weather. a little bit of cloud, some bits and pieces of rain here and there, maybe some thunderstorms in the channel islands and the south—west of england. but towards the south—east corner, in the sunshine, highs of 26 or 27 degrees.

always cooler and fresher further north, but some warmth and humidity for many of us on sunday. with that, some heavy showers and some thunderstorms. that's all from me. 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. for those who want to see vladimir putin defeated in ukraine, this was supposed to be a decisive phase of the war, a counter—offensive to break through russia's defensive lines alongside a chokehold on the russian economy. is it working? well, at first glance, no. the fighting on the front lines is attritional and hugely costly to both sides. putin's home front has shown cracks, but it hasn't crumbled. my guest is vladimir milov, once a russian minister, now an anti—putin activist in exile. can putin outlast his enemies?