and so much trauma already and to see this unfolding and to know that it is enormously difficult for any of them to do anything about it is really, really difficult. hunter biden is indicted on federal gun charges after a plea bargain fell apart injuly. the bbc learns new details about a russian fighter pilot who tried to shoot down an british raf aircraft last year. and never too old for a challenge — we speak to the 65—year—old who has cycled across the world for charity.

welcome to the programme. the big story continues to develop out of libya where politicians are demanding an official investigation into floods that wiped out parts of the city of derna, after two dams collapsed during a storm at the weekend. the city's mayor says the death toll may reach 20,000. the united nations has also criticised the country's alert system. the head of the world meteorological 0rganisation says most of the deaths could have been avoided, if residents had been warned and given time to escape. the bbc�*s anna foster is in the libyan city of benghazi. something that becomes very quickly apparent is how big the scale of the task facing libya is right now. benghazi is a small airport and it is far from the hive of activity that you might expect in the wake of a devastating natural disaster like this, because this is a country that's also been ravaged by more than a decade of conflict. you can see the split political allegiances in this country, and all of those things

are making it incredibly difficult to get the aid to derna, where it is so desperately needed, where we still don't know how many people have died, but it could be as many as 20,000. and quentin somerville has been speaking to people in derna who witnessed what happened. in the dead of night, they seek sanctuary from rising floodwaters. mariam al—ghaithi with her three sisters and younger brother flee to the seventh floor of their apartment block in derna. the rising torrent is creeping up the stairs of their building. her sister films the panic. 0utside buildings around them collapse. they thought this would be their last moments alive. it almost was, but this is their building now, still standing.

the family survived. mariam recounted to us by phone the nightmare they endured. the men of our building, our neighbours, they were screaming and yelling, they told us we have to get on the roof because the water started getting higher and higher. as we were on the roof, we were able to see other people on other buildings�* roofs and they were waving phones and flashlights, and then suddenly the building collapsed on them. and at that moment we realised that actually we might die. a wall of water as high as seven metres thundered through derna, crushing and obliterating much in its path. some 1 million tonnes of it came crashing down on the city after two mountain dams failed. everywhere there are bodies. the isolated port city has been overwhelmed by grief. and for days they have been left to pick up the pieces alone. now turkish emergency teams are among the first

to arrive in derna. translation: we set up a field hospital very quickly. _ we assessed the situation with our crews and sent our search and rescue teams. we treated trauma patients continuously here throughout the day. this libyan catastrophe has deep roots. after the nato—backed ousting of muammar gaddafi in 2011, the country fell into chaos. promises of western help to rebuild vanished. it has two rival governments — one in the east and one in the west of the country, a pair of failed states. neglect is widespread. this is one of the dams that failed. amid libya's political chaos, warnings that it was in urgent need of repairs went unheeded. translation: it was a catastrophe. all of my friends are dead.

one of my friends at the very beginning was filming from the top of the valley. my friend, he was filming. he died. a quarter of this city is now in ruins. a third of its people homeless, and thousands dead. but the true scale of derna's disaster is unfolding still. all the time, the number of people that we believe have died is rising and rising. in derna, we're talking about potentially up to 20% of the population wiped out by this torrent of water that came through the city. and i think one thing you really see here in libya is a numbness, a grim numbness among the people who are watching all of this unfold. in the airport today, i went to talk to two men who were sitting and they were watching videos on social media. and the sound of of women and children sobbing and screaming was was echoing around the airport hall. and when i went to see they scroll down the page and they were showing me video after video of absolutely heart—rending scenes. and for people here, they have lived through so much conflict

and so much trauma already. and to see this unfolding and to know that it is enormously difficult for any of them to to do anything about it is really, really difficult. i saw a rescue team, but it was a small red crescent rescue team who'd come across here from tripoli. and they told me that they were going to be heading across to derna. but even that journey is difficult and dangerous. the scale of the task facing libya is extraordinary. and even now, as we see those images coming out of derna and other cities along the coast that were hit, and we try and see what people need just in terms of recovering some of those bodies, burials. we're seeing pictures of mass graves filled almost to overflowing. we still really have no idea quite how catastrophic this situation could turn out to be. earlier, i spoke with stephanie turco williams from the centre for middle east policy at the brookings institution. she's also the former special adviser on libya to the united nations secretary—general.

well, it's. .. it fills me with enormous sadness. what i see and what i hear from my libyan friends. i was in contact with someone today who lost 27 members of his family in derna. so it's it's impossible to comprehend, to understand the agony and the suffering that these poor people are enduring in derna and elsewhere in in eastern libya, in areas that have been that were hit by this storm. and these are areas that i that i know well from my time spent in the country. so it's been very difficult to watch. and ijust, you know, my my heart goes out to all of those who have been affected by this tragedy. you say you know the area.

you say you know the area well, i just want to understand a little more about the context. derna, which is one of the worst affected areas, has seen years of turmoil. how has the internal libyan politics contributed to its neglect and how has that played out in the present day as they deal with this crisis? well, the issue of neglect is a historic one in libya. it didn't really start 12 years ago. it goes back to the days of the gadhafi regime. derna was was an area, a city of a certain rebellion against mr gadhafi. and so he punished the city and it gained notoriety later as a hotbed of extremism. and then after the revolution, like much of eastern libya, it got caught up in the maelstrom of the violence and the emergence of extremist groups. and so the conflict

and the chaos continued. derna was a particular center of of conflict. it was remained under siege by the forces of mr haftar until 2019, which is the year in which also mr. haftar�*s forces attacked tripoli. so, you know, the derna context is is specific. of course, the issue of infrastructural neglect is more general. we in that period also we had from 2020 until well into 2021, covid crippled a lot a lot of efforts. so you have this you have the climate catastrophe, you have this historic context, you have administrative chaos. and it's just a terrible recipe for for the kind of tragedy that has unfolded.

we will be following developments out of libya very closely here on the bbc much more on the website as well. but for now let's switch focus to us. news from the us where joe biden�*s son, hunter, has become the first child of a sitting us president to be criminally prosecuted. he's been charged with three counts of lying when buying a gun while he was a drug user. a plea bargain deal that would have prevented the charges fell apart in july. if convicted, he faces up to 25 years in jail. here's our north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue. well, these gun charges go back to 2018 when hunter biden was a self—confessed drug addict and he at that time filled in a couple of forms, say the prosecution, on which he lied about being a drug addict and then bought a .38 revolver which he possessed for 11 days before his then girlfriend threw it in a dumpster. now, hunter biden believed

he'd reached a plea deal with prosecutors back injuly in which he would avoid prison on these charges and some misdemeanor tax charges. but that deal all fell about, and that's why we're here today with this indictment. he could still face further charges. we don't know whether prosecutors are going to do that at this stage. there's been no reaction so far from joe biden and the white house. we know that matters to do with his family, famously rile up the president. so he's not likely to be pleased about this. and of course, it does come in the week when congressional republicans have begun their impeachment inquiry intojoe biden, in particular, his connections to his son's business affairs while he was vice president. that all will present a political problem for democrats, no doubt. but of course, the republicans have problems of their own with their leading candidate for the nominee for the republican nomination, donald trump, who's also facing 91 separate criminal charges in state and federal courts. 2024 may be a big presidential election year, but a lot

of people are going to be spending a lot of time in courtrooms. some news from the uk now. it's emerged that last september, a russian military pilot tried to shoot down a british raf surveillance aircraft — which had dozens of military personnel on board. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale has the details. this is the type of raf surveillance aircraft that was nearly shot down. called the rivetjoint it nearly shot down. called the rivet joint it sucks nearly shot down. called the rivetjoint it sucks up intelligence and electronic information and the crew got up to 30 would have been able to listen in to the russian communications that could have resulted in their own deaths. the british spy plane was on a surveillance mission over the black sea in september last year. it was unarmed and flying in international airspace. to freshen fighterjets in international airspace. to freshen fighter jets were

in international airspace. to freshen fighterjets were sent to intercept it. when the russian jets approach, they received a command from the ground telling them they were approaching their target. 0ne pilot wrongly interpreted that as permission to fire. he launched a missile, but it failed to lock onto its target. it missed. a row then broke out between the pilots. the other russian jet did not believe it had been given permission to fire. at the rogue pilot than for another missile. that went just dropped from the wing. but if one of the missiles had hit the target, it could have sparked a much wider conflict. i think this is a great example of how tactical mistakes can have strategic consequences. what we're talking about here is negligent, highly dangerous russian activity, very poorly controlled, running the risk of a major escalation. the ministry of defence immediately requested an explanation from the russians.

the then defence secretary described it as potentially dangerous, but accepted moscow's explanation. the reply by the russian ministry of defence on the 10th of october stated that they have conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the incident and say stated it was a technical malfunction of the su 27 fighter. but the pentagon later described the incident in starker terms. leaked us intelligence documents called it a near shoot down. 0ne official said the incident was very, very scary. it's not the only time russian pilots have displayed unprofessional, reckless behaviour. earlier this year, a russian fighterjet forced a remotely piloted us drone to ditch. it was also flying a surveillance mission over the black sea. now despite this sneer shoot down, raf surveillance aircraft continued to fly missions over

the black sea. though, now, they are exported by tycoon ships —— typhoon jets they are exported by tycoon ships —— typhoonjets now armed with missiles. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the united kingdom's health secretary is backing the introduction of what's known as �*martha's rule', to ensure hospital patients know they have the right to a second opinion. the name comes from martha mills who died from sepsis after a biking injury, her mother had raised concerns about her treatment. nhs england will now work to implement the rule. three officers from london's met police will face a misconduct hearing over the 2020 strip—search of a 15—year—old schoolgirl, known as child 0. the incident sparked protests. the trio face allegations that it was inappropriate

to carry out the search, while the girl was on her period. the uk government has refused to guarantee that the hs2 rail line will run to manchester as planned after reports that the prime minister and chancellor are in talks about scrapping it. downing street suggested the government would need to balance the interests of "passengers and taxpayers", you're live with bbc news. the family of a colombian man who's believed to have taken his own life at a heathrow immigration removal centre earlier this year says he had begged for help and was willing to leave the uk. the 39—year—old died within a month of being locked up — even though, according to his family, he had no existing mental health problems. here's our home affairs correspondent tom symonds. 5,000 miles from london, a family is in mourning. translation: he wanted to return to colombia - to continue his work. he was a civil engineer, a professional.

the sister and brother—in—law of frank 0spina are bewildered by his death in a british immigration detention centre, but they are sure he wasn't an asylum seeker. translation: he said i he could pay his ticket out but they said he would stay there for months. he was in the uk to visit his mother before studying in spain, but he was caught working illegally and sent to the detention centres at heathrow. the family believe his mental health was fine when he went in but it went rapidly downhill. translation: he didn't ask| for help, he begged for help. and he was begging for help not only to us but also to the people there, like the guards. 0n the 26th of march, he was found dead. family have been told he took his own life. they believe a critical factor was being detained. immigration removal centres are like prisons, with one difference, no set release date. although detainees

can get bail. home office says detention should be as short as possible, but then it has also promised to stop the boats. the government has toughened the law, one change, it will be removing more migrants who use deception to come to the uk. small boats for example. it says these centres are essential to that policy, so they will be filling up. but pressure is already starting to tell. in one of the heathrow removal centres two days after the death of frank 0spina there was a protest involving what appeared to be a coordinated suicide attempt according to reports by custody officers obtained by human rights journalists at liberty investigates and the charity medical injustice. 0fficers said it was... staff prevented injuries. a detainee representing those involved told us they were angry that...

this doctor has overseen assessments of 66 detainees. 13 had attempted suicide. throughout clients, that kind of sudden nature of detention and the indefinite nature of detention can really be a crisis in their mental health and really can cause a great deal of stress and exacerbation of any current mental health problems. the home office, but incidents of self—harm are treated very seriously and every step is taken to try and prevent incidents of this nature. our staff are rigorously trained to ensure the safety of residents. but the family of frank 0spina believe that if the government is locking up someone who wants to leave britain, something may have gone wrong. tom symonds, bbc news, harmondsworth. a long—awaited study by nasa has concluded there's no reason

to believe aliens are behind hundreds of ufo sightings. but the american space agency says it can't rule out whether they have an extra—terrestrial origin. the bbc�*s nomia iqbal has been finding out more. my gosh... that is the voice of a navy pilot. the grainy blob he has zoned in on appears to be a ufo. it is the kind of unclassified material nasa has been looking into. we went to the space agency's headquarters hoping for answers. the nasa independent study team did not find any evidence that uap have an extra terrestrial origin. but we don't know what these uap are. ok, no alien life yet, or the kind many space watchers hoped for, but it is the public nasa is now relying on to help them gather data on uap. it is the new term for ufos. the rebrand is partly to encourage everyone to report sightings without feeling they will be judged but most of us still use the term ufos.

i wonder how much is the stigma still a problem for you? by releasing this report publicly, nasa says it is being open and transparent. for decades, the space agency and the us government have been accused of covering something up, which they deny, but not everyone is convinced. injuly, some former military pilots gave stunning testimony to congress, claiming the government wasn't telling the truth. parts of our government are aware more about uap than they let on. excessive classification practices keep crucial information hidden. top pentagon officials said it was insulting to staff. some still don't know what to believe. no concrete answers yet, then, to the question, is there alien life out there. but if you spot anything strange in the skies, nasa wants you to please get in touch. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. to a special focus on the programme this friday and the story of 65—year—old ian wallis. in 2011 he hopped on his bike in the uk and started heading east.

he cycled all the way to here in singapore raising money for charity, before his long service leave ran out, he had to head back to work. now, he'sjust completed the journey by cycling from his home in canberra, australia to singapore. such a feat of endurance is impressive enough, but he's also decided to cycle back from sydney to canberra, just to add a few extra kilometres on to his trip. i'm delighted to say that we can cross live to new south wales and join ian in sydney. thanks very much for coming on for us i believe you are on your way and took some time out to speak to us so i think you for that. just congratulations on the feet. it takes a fair bit of commitment, what inspired you to decide to do this? look... that's a great question and sometimes i question myself what i'm doing here. but look, i think i am called to some unfinished business and i think

you have summed it up. i have cycled from england to singapore and all around southeast asia on many trips and ijust southeast asia on many trips and i just saw this unfinished bit of work, you know, from canberra to darwin and then across the whole of indonesia. i have always been doing by grades so i'm at the risk of sitting there waiting to be done so i have now done it. there's one thing about going on a bike ride for weekends but another thing going cross country and continent. what was the most difficult part of your journey do you feel? this the most difficult part of your journey do you feel?- journey do you feel? this is a very hard _ journey do you feel? this is a very hard thing _ journey do you feel? this is a very hard thing to _ journey do you feel? this is a very hard thing to get - journey do you feel? this is a very hard thing to get across| very hard thing to get across to people, but it's nothing to do with cycling. i can handle the hills, i can handle the heat, humidity, flat tires, all these things. this thing is a mental game. and you are never quite sure what the mental game is. it could be getting savage

wind for a long time which i did not actually get, but it turned out to be the noise, the garbage and the smoking in indonesia. the things that were a real catch. and i will tell you why, i remember as i was cycling a hell the size of which most people cannot imagine cycling up and i was doing it really easy, i was just back there in the right gear enjoying myself and then “p gear enjoying myself and then up behind me come someone on a motorcycle without a muffler and itjust hit me in the head if you know what i mean. —— ——hill. and i realise i was not doing that all that easy i was probably working fairly hard and things like a very loud noise right behind me was the sort of thing that pushed me over the edge of it. figs sort of thing that pushed me over the edge of it.— sort of thing that pushed me over the edge of it. as we let ou no over the edge of it. as we let you go and — over the edge of it. as we let you go and before _ over the edge of it. as we let you go and before that - over the edge of it. as we let you go and before that what. over the edge of it. as we let i you go and before that what are your next plans and what are your next plans and what are

you planning to do next in terms of venture?- terms of venture? cycling around the _ terms of venture? cycling around the lake _ terms of venture? cycling around the lake in - terms of venture? cycling i around the lake in canberra, terms of venture? cycling - around the lake in canberra, 35 km. . , ., , , km. that sounds very little fruit until _ km. that sounds very little fruit until he _ km. that sounds very little fruit until he might - km. that sounds very little l fruit until he might compare km. that sounds very little - fruit until he might compare to what you've already done. i will let you go and peddle on it and wishing you all the best for your next adventure. thank you very much forjoining us. and that note we have peddled our way to the end of the show. thank you very much for watching and much more on our website. hello. the weather is looking a little mixed over the next few days. certainly some sunshine on offer and really quite warm weather in the south of the country, but the further north you are, you're more likely to run into the cloud with some outbreaks of rain. and that's exactly what's happening right now. if we look at the satellite picture, you can see a weather

front there spreading across ireland into more central parts of the uk. so here it's the case of thicker cloud and some outbreaks of rain. to the south of the weather front we've got that warmer, more humid air spreading in from spain and also france and that will be in place across most of england and wales through friday. so here's the forecast then through the early hours, you can see where the rain is and the cloudier conditions for the north. in the south, it's warmer and clearer temperatures of around 12—14 degrees celsius, fresher there in the glens of scotland, around 5—7 degrees celsius. so in the morning it's cloudy and rainy across the far north of england, parts of northern ireland, the south of scotland, though the north of scotland is fine in the morning. and then further south across england and wales, i think through the course of the morning, into the afternoon, we'lljust see fair weather, cloud building. it will be a really warm day. temperatures in the low to mid 20s, 22 for birmingham, 20 for norwich and london could get up to about 26. for the north, only around 1a degrees. now on saturday the weather front still with us.

it's kind of stuck in this area of high pressure, very little wind to move things around. so it'll be here until it reallyjust rains itself out. so thick of cloud and spots of rain through this part of the country. notice the blobs of blue here, the potential for one or two showers and thunderstorms later in the day. but on the whole, it's a dry day for most of us, at least. really warm in the south—east, again, 26 or seven degrees with that continental influence as the fraction higher, i think in the north. now on the showers and thunderstorms, they really get going i think on sunday spreading in initially to south—western and western areas and they'll probably move further north and east. frequent lightning, gusty winds, maybe hail, that sort of thing. so it could be quite lively for some of us, at least later on sunday. lower temperatures in the south on sunday, slightly higher in the north. now, here's the outlook then — we've got a couple of really warm days then across more southern parts of the uk. but after that, the temperatures are closer to the seasonal norm. and the weather, well, of course, a little more unsettled with rain and showers at times.

bye— bye.

arm flexes its muscle on its first day of trading on wall street. the bbc speaks to its chief executive. with the rising cost

of living squeezing budgets, we'll take you to the us where the big three auto workers are about to go on strike. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. shares in softbank�*s arm holdings opened ten per cent above their offer price on wall street. the british chip designer is now valued at nearly $60 billion. this has been seven years in the making. the japanese investment giant took arm private in 2016, but later had to abandon that plan due regulatory roadblocks. the bbc�*s simonjack spoke with company's chief executive about its debut. euphoria in new york as one of the world's most important technology companies had one

of the biggest sale of shares in years.