But first, a look at the impact in lebanon where the health ministry said 33 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in new israeli air strikes on saturday. Our senior international correspondent orla guerin has the latest from beirut. Explosion. This is what beirut has been enduring, massive israeli strikes that could ignite the whole region because israel killed its target, sheikh hassan nasrallah. For his followers, it's a devastating blow, for his iranian backers, a strategic loss. The long—time leader of hezbollah was a long time in hiding. This was the moment, in a new york hotel room on friday, when binyamin netanyahu approved the strike on his old enemy. Translation: the state of israel yesterday eliminated the master murderer hassan nasrallah. We settled accounts with the one responsible for the murder of countless israelis and many citizens of other countries. Nasrallah was not another terrorist, he was the terrorist. Israel claims this is a historic turning point. For many in beirut, it's a time of fear. Plenty were fleeing the city today, clinging to the hope of finding safety somewhere. But there is danger in every direction in lebanon. We travelled through dahieh, the hezbollah stronghold now looking anything but. It's been bombed time after time. This is just one of the locations that has been hit. There's smoke still rising here. There's ash in the air and you can smell the explosives, and i can hear a drone now overhead. The strike here happened overnight, and since then, there's been no let—up. In beirut�*s martyrs�* square, many slept in the open and remained there today, new homeless from the middle east's newest war. The governor of beirut, who has no connection with hezbollah, fears for his city. What do you think is the israeli plan here, what are they trying to do? i don't know, but israel want to kill and to kill and to kill. You cannot predict what israel can do. But you fear the worst? may god protect this country. It seems a very sad moment for you. It's the saddest moment in my life. Thank you. And a moment of grave danger for lebanon and the middle east. Israel says its work is not finished. No—one can be sure what will come next. Orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. Let's bring you some more reaction now from the region. Isreal�*s chief of general staff justified the strike saying, nasrallah indiscriminately murdered israeli civilians and aimed to end this war with the destruction of the state of israel. Adding, we are determined to continue destroying the hezbollah terrorist organisation and to keep fighting. In the past hour iran has called for an emergency un security council meeting. Its ambassador saying this: iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law to take every measure in defence of its vital national and security interests. And the iran—backed houthis in yemen released a statement saying: the martyrdom will increase the strength of sacrifice determination and continuity. Our reporter meghan owen is taking a closer look at the timeline of nasrallah's assassination. On friday afternoon around 5pm beirut time, is really by minister benjamin netanyahu tells world leaders of the un general assembly in new york our enemies, are your enemies and that israel will continue to strike 11 on. Well, around an hour later, there are reports of a huge explosion in the southern suburbs of beirut. This is the moment the bbc breaks the news. I want to share the live pictures that are coming into us from beirut. Because there are pictures of a huge amount of black smoke over beirut. And that explosion was captured on the street by our team in beirut. Around 20 minutes later, the idf claims that it has attacked hezbollah�*s central headquarters. Moments ago, the israel defense forces carried out a precise strike on the central headquarter of the hezbollah terror organisation that served as an epicentre of hezbollah terror. While in the hours that unfolded, we have seen scenes of utter devastation, we see buildings reduced to rubble, fires and rescue workers searching desperately for survivors. Reports then emerged that hezbollah�*s leader hassan nasrallah was a target of the strike. That hezbollah sources tell various media that he is alive and safe. Shortly after 8:00pm in beirut, the pentagon announces that the us had no advance warning of the strike. Having no involvement, having no knowledge of the strike was actually going to occur, we are still pulling for more details and trying to understand the operation itself. Meanwhile, benjamin netanyahu's office after releasing this photo that they say shows him approving the strike in beirut from his hotel room and announced that he will cut his trip to new york short and return to israel. 0vernight, israel launches a fresh wave of strikes on hezbollah targets, we see smoke and flames are rising across the night sky. Beirut is under intense bombardment. In the early hours of the morning, it is unclear whether nasrallah is alive or not according to a us official. The city wakes up to thick smoke rising from several locations in southern beirut suburb. Shortly before 11:00am, local time, at the israeli military post on x that hassan nasrallah, will no longer be able to terrorise the world, in their words. And at around 2:30, hezbollah confirms the death of its leader and pledges to fight on. One of the big questions now is how will countries in the region will respond to nasrallah's death. 0ur security correspondent, frank gardner, looks at what might happen next. This is assasination taken the middle east one step closer potentially to a much wider and even more damaging regional war. It's not inevitable by what happens next depends on severalfactors. Firstly, what will hezbollah do next? it's command structure has been decapitated, its communication sabotaged, many of its weapons destroyed but it's vowed to carry on fighting israel and its members are baying for revenge. It still has a large arsenal of missiles, many of which can reach tel aviv. They will be pressure within its ranks to use this soon before they get destroyed. But if they do, in a mass attack, then is response could be wreaking havoc on lebanon or even iran. So what will run do? so what will iran do? this assassination is a smoker�*s a blow to iran as hezbollah. It's announced five days of mourning and rallies across the country have taken place. It's already taken precautions, hiding away its leader in case he too is assassinated. Hardliners will also be pushing for a response to this latest humiliation by israel. Iran has a whole galaxy of allied militias around the middle east — as well as hezbollah, they got the houthis in yemen and armed groups in syria and iraq. Iran could ask these are to step up their attacks on both israel and us bases in the region. But whatever response iran chooses, it will likely calibrate to bejust short of triggering a war it cannot win. And what will do next? and what will israel do next? the one thing it's not doing is pausing for a ceasefire. It reckons it's got hezbollah on the back foot now so, it'll want to press on with military campaign until the threat of those missiles is removed. Short of a hezbollah surrender and that's pretty unlikely. It's almost inevitable we could see this. Israeli ground troops going into lebanon. They've been training for week, the prioritise to find and destroy those remaining missiles. Many of which are underground. Going in will be easy getting out, like gaza, take months. And if you'd like more information about what might hezbollah, israel and iran do next, you can read frank's article on the bbc news app. Joining me live is thomas juneau, professorat the university of 0ttawa's graduate school of public and international affairs. To begin with then, hezbollah now without a leader. Some say that many of its followers, this is the only leader that they've ever known if you look at the past three decades. I wonder if your assessment where this leaves the group? clearly in some kind of disarray right now, but how diminished do you see it as being? 0r now, but how diminished do you see it as being? or could realso face the possibility of it reorganising in a way that we might not fully understand yet? we might not fully understand et? ~ ~. , , yet? well, i think the last art of yet? well, i think the last part of your _ yet? well, i think the last part of your question yet? well, i think the last part of your question is i yet? well, |thinkthe last. Part of your question is really the most important one. We need more time and more. . . We need to let the dust settle much more before we have a good idea of how to answer that question. In the past, looking at other terrorist groups, when there has been instances of leadership decapitation, the impact is extremely unpredictable and can go in mull imways. If the dead leader is replaced by a more competent and radical leader, you can be worse off with that. That's what happened after hassan nasrallah himself came to power 30 years ago. It's notjust hassan nasrallah who was killed. Several other layers of leadership have been killed. According to media reports, significant damage has been done to hezbollah infrastructure, weapons caches. There was the pager attacks from a cup of weeks ago that injured hundreds of hezbollah fighters and created significant psychological damage as well. So at the very least, hezbollah is very much off balance and is will likely be weaker down the road. How much weeker, we will have to see. �* , �* , see. I'm sure you've seen the comments — see. I'm sure you've seen the comments of _ see. I'm sure you've seen the comments of hezbollah see. I'm sure you've seen the | comments of hezbollah vowing see. I'm sure you've seen the comments of hezbollah vowing to avenge hassan nasrallah's killing. I wonder how they can do that without escalating the situation further? does it essentially have to calibrate its response here? iran essentially have to calibrate its response here? essentially have to calibrate its response here? iran is in a very difficult _ its response here? iran is in a very difficult position its response here? iran is in a very difficult position now. . Very difficult position now. And iran has been suffering a lot of losses in the last few months, with hamas being severely weakened and now with everything that's going on with hezbollah. The dilemma for iran is that if it doesn't respond, if it doesn't do anything, it will lose face. It will lose face with its adversaries, especially israel. They will perceive weakness and push harder against iran. That's already what we're seeing. But iran will also lose face and credibility with its own allies and partner, such as hezbollah and partner, such as hezbollah and hamas and the houthis who will see iran as not responding. At the same time, if iran does respond, there is a serious risk of escalation, as you said, and that is something that iran absolutely wants to avoid, because in a scenario of escalation, israel and probably the us, will hit back iran much harder than iran can hit israel, and iran will suffer the most. And that's right now priority number one, i think, for iran to avoid. Looking down the line at this, if iran feels that it may be perceived as being weakerjust by the fact that hezbollah has been dented in this way, where does it go next? and does it make the regime, for example, look towards its nuclear capabilities and think about that being important in terms of a deterrent on the world stage? of a deterrent on the world state?. , �*,. , , stage? so that's an extremely important _ stage? so that's an extremely important question. _ stage? so that's an extremely important question. There's. Important question. There's been a fair bit of talk that has intensified a lot in the past 21t hours, but that was already intensifying in the past few weeks given iran's mounting losses. Could this be the final shove that would push iran towards taking that last step with its nuclear weapons programme? and actually getting a nuclear weapon, which it doesn't at this point, even though it is getting close. 0n the one hand, with iran's other deterrent capabilities being very much weakened, hezbollah and hamas, there is a good argue am on that side from iran's perspective. But the counter argument to that which think is also quite convincing from iran's perspective is that israel has very clearly shown, especially since yesterday, but also in the last couple of weeks, that its own red lines have been significantly pushed back, and that israel has made the decision to push back much harder than it did until not so long ago against hezbollah in particular, but also against iran and the houthis in yemen. So if israel sees iran as making those last steps towards a nuclear weapons capability, there is a very, very high chance that israel would hit iran hard, and again, it comes back to this point that that is exactly what iran wants to avoid. �*. , exactly what iran wants to avoid. �*. . , avoid. I'm glad that you mentioned _ avoid. I'm glad that you mentioned the avoid. I'm glad that you mentioned the houthisl avoid. I'm glad that you mentioned the houthis there, because ijust mentioned the houthis there, because i just wonder mentioned the houthis there, because ijust wonder — do you think that all of a sudden, the spotlight at least from iran's perspective could be shining more brightly on them as a group, as them as an ally proxy, and so on, in light of what we've seen happen to hezbollah — often referred to as the crown jewel? hezbollah often referred to as the crown jewel? as the crown “ewel? absolutely. With as the crown “ewel? absolutely. With names — as the crown jewel? absolutely. With hamas severely _ as the crown jewel? absolutely. | with hamas severely weakened, hezbollah weakened but not severely — at least not at this point, the houthis are the one player in iran's axis of resistance, the network of violent groups that it supports throughout the region that has been rising. The emergence of the houthis in the last year has been very strong. And now, they are, i think, much more prominent in iran's calculus given the weakening of hamas and hezbollah in particular. That being said, there is a major difference between hamas and hezbollah on the one side and hezbollah on the one side and the houthis on the other, and the houthis on the other, and that's geography. It's 2,000km. The houthis are dominant in yemen. They have strong capabilities to pressure saudi arabia, in particular on the arabian peninsula, but they're 2,000km away from israel. They have shown the capability to have drones that could hit israel, but because of distance and israel's very strong air defences, their ability to seriously hurt israel is really not as much as hamas's capability. So yes, at a regional level, ithink hamas's capability. So yes, at a regional level, i think that we will see the houthis continue to gain in prominence, but from israel's perspective, thatis but from israel's perspective, that is a bit less concerning. And lastly, and briefly if you don't mind — we've been talking about de—escalation, diplomatic solutions, of course, around the world, for around 11 months in all of this. Do you see anything that could potentially work in terms of a diplomatic de—escalation that hasn't been touted so far, that could work here? in touted so far, that could work here? ,. , here? in the shortterm, i don't. Here? in the shortterm, i don't in — here? in the shortterm, i don't. In the _ here? in the shortterm, i don't. In the shortterm, l here? in the shortterm, i don't. In the shortterm, i don't. In the short—term, i think israel perreceives that it has momentum. Israel perreceives that its adversaries are on the back foot, and that is from a technical perspective, correct. I don't think for domestic reasons. But for the military reasons, israel will be seriously interested in talking about anything else but de—escalation, but not actually doing it. Deescalation, but not actually doin: it. Deescalation, but not actually doin. It,. , deescalation, but not actually doin: it. . ,. , ~. , deescalation, but not actually doin: it. . ,. ~. , doing it. Good to talk to you. Thanks a _ doing it. Good to talk to you. Thanks a lot. _ doing it. Good to talk to you. Thanks a lot. Thank doing it. Good to talk to you. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Several southeastern us states are seeing significant flooding, after hurricane helene hit the region. At least 57 people have died and officials fear that number will increase. At least three million people are without power. The category it hurricane is the most powerful storm on record to hit florida's big bend area, and moved north into georgia and the carolinas after making landfall overnight on thursday. With gusts of 140 miles per hour and heavy rain, damages from the storm are estimated to be as high as $110 billion. Helene unleashed the worst flooding in a century in north carolina, essentially cutting off access to the western part of the state with forced road closures. And in atlanta, 13 inches of rain fell over 48 hours — the most the city has seen over two days since 1878. Florida governor ron desantis says authorities are assessing the storm's damage throughout florida. Clearly, you saw a storm surge in excess of 15 feet. So that is much, much more significant than what we've seen in recent storms, like idalia and also debbie that hit, and that is really, really destructive. So as you look around here, you see some homes that are now just rubble. This stuff's coming in. It's fierce, and it just is unstoppable. So there's a lot of damage that we're seeing here. I spoke with cristiarn benavides, miami correspondent with our us news partner, cbs. Bring us up—to—date with the level of destruction that's been seen on the ground. I should mention that you mentioned how helene impacted north carolina, the carolina scene, the most deaths up to this point. There are also part of north carolina that currently have no cell service or internet service so there are officials or internet service so there are officials that are trying to get communications up and running there. This was a monster of a storm. If you just take a look at it, it was fast—moving, still over tennessee. The state of tennessee in fact has some flash flood warnings at this point. The clean—up will take some time, it will — it's quite incredible to see some of the images particularly when you look at florida and cedar key, this is a small community which wass impacted by idalia last year you have this major storm impacting it once again. These are homes that have been completely wiped out there. It'sjust so much rebuilding that needs to take place across the south—east. At this point, we've got about 3 million customers, 3 million homes that have no power across the southeast, most appear to be in georgia where there are a million customers without power there but again, the impact in the carolinas, particularly north carolina is of historic proportions. I have to say, i know cedar key, i was there on the ground last year for hurricane idalia, some people using the entire homes, not everyone there having insurance because of the risk so how are they doing? how are they coping? it's going to be a difficult road ahead. You had a number of insurance carriers that have pulled out of the state of florida at this point. For many residents in florida, the only available insurance company is the one that is a state—funded and funding for that company is quickly running out. It's got a lot of people seeing premiums that are larger than their mortgage payments. So, there is a real reckoning that is happening with florida residents that they have to decide whether or not the state continues to be affordable. 0verall, you have to — it's notjust what's happening in cedar key, you have to take a step back and look what when hurricane ian mad landfall two years ago in fort myers beach, completely wiping out the community and now, the having to rebuild. They re still not up to speed to where they should be. They haven't fully rebuily so this is a process that takes years and it's going to be quite challenging. I think what's even more incredible at this point is that there is potentially another system that is developing out in the gulf, exactly where helene developed and that could turn into a storm in the coming weeks. You were just you werejust mentioning you were just mentioning the thought process that people have to go through when they're think being this. And when making that calculation, are they also having to think about whether these hurricanes are becoming more frequent? is the science seeing that?— science seeing that? well, the 're science seeing that? well, they're becoming science seeing that? well, they're becoming certainly| science seeing that? well, they're becoming certainly more impactful in that these are major storms that are developing in under 21t hours. In the sense that they are rapidly intensifying from a tropical system to a tropical storm, to a major hurricane. And all of that is happening within such a short amount of time. And thatjust appears to be the norm. That we've seen in the past three years. So i think a lot of people are looking at that anecdotally, and there has been some reporting on this that there are folks that are looking at florida and considering whether or not it is worth to live down here. At least 66 people have been killed in nepal since friday after persistent downpours triggered widespread flooding and landslides. Most of the deaths took place in the country's capital in kathmandu valley. Home to more than four million people, flooding closed major roads and disrupted domestic air travel. 3,000 rescue workers have been using helicopters and rubber boats to help people stranded on rooftops and elevated ground. Home minister officials say another 69 people are reported missing and 60 injured. Here's what one local truck driver said about his experience with the floods. Translation: water gushed into the cabin of our truck at around 1am, wejumped, swam and got away from it but my purse, bag and mobile got swept away. I have nothing now. We stayed the whole night in the cold. Let's turn to some other important news around the world. 17 people have been shot dead in two mass shootings on the same street in the same rural town in soth africa. One person is in a critical condition in hospital. Police say a search is under way for the suspects after two homesteads in the town of lusikisiki — in the eastern cape province were targeted. Nine people have been killed in twin russian drone strikes on a hospital in ukraine's north—eastern city of sumy, according to to ukrainian officials. The building was first hit on satruday morning and then again as rescuers were evacuating peple. A nurse and police officer who had been aiding the evacuation were among those killed in the strikes. A space x crew bound for the international space station took off on saturday with a mission to shuttle back two stranded nasa astronauts. Suni williams and butch wilmore were meant to return to earth after a brief mission, but technical problems with the boeing starliner craft turned an eight—day test into what will be an eight—month mission. The spacex capsule has two seats reserved for the stranded astronauts, and will make its way home in february 2025. Stay with us here on bbc news. Hello there. Saturday's sunny skies will gradually be eroded by cloud and then wind and rain for many as we close out sunday. Yes, it's going to gradually turn wet and windy, particularly from the south and west. Now, we've already, in southern england, seen some record—breaking rainfall totals for the month, and we're just going to add to those totals over the next few days. Some areas could see another 50—60mm before we close out the month. So here's that area of low pressure gradually winding its way in from the south—west. Ahead of it, though, clearer skies, so it will be a chilly start to our sunday morning. Some early—morning sunshine, but gradually we'll see that cloud pushing its way steadily north and east. Perhaps north—east england and eastern scotland clinging on to the best of the brightness throughout the day. So as we go through to the afternoon, we mightjust see some sunny skies continuing. Cloudier skies out to the west. A few isolated showers. Temperatures generally between 12 and 1a degrees. Not too bad in the afternoon into northern ireland and north—east england as well, but you can see the cloud arriving. There'll be a few outbreaks of showers ahead of it moving through the midlands. Gradually, the heaviest of the rain pushing into south and west wales, along with south—west england, and the winds will strengthen to gale—force gusts with it too. Top temperatures generally, then, 12—15 degrees as we go through sunday afternoon. So the gusty winds will strengthen further overnight as that rain continues to move its way steadily north and east, pushing into the midlands, south—east england and to the north of england by dawn on monday morning. We keep the clearer skies in scotland. Here, still single figures, but not quite as cold to start monday morning, with the cloud, wind and rain. There is still a level of uncertainty exactly where this low pressure is going to sit. It's going to be pretty slow—moving. Potentially, the heaviest of the rain will always be across england and wales, with a few scattered sharper showers into northern ireland and a drier story for much of scotland. But we'll keep a close eye on that. Some of that rain really quite heavy across north—west england for a time, potentially brightening up by the end of the afternoon across central and southern england, 13—17 degrees. The low pressure slowly starts to ease away on tuesday, and then on wednesday a quieter story, with a greater chance of seeing more sunshine for early october. 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. Hello, and welcome to the global story. The united states has long been seen by many as the world's leading superpower. It is home to the globe's biggest military and political force, but its diplomatic challenges are many. From the wars raging in europe and the middle east, to the growing influence of global rivals like china, to the potential proliferation of nuclear weapons in iran and north korea. The job of president of the united states is one which has long stretched beyond its national borders. But this year's presidential candidates, donald trump and kamala harris have very different ideas about how to manage america's complicated relationship with other powerful nations. The outcome of the 2024 us election could have far—reaching impacts on people across the globe. So, what is america's place in the world today, and how would donald trump and kamala harris shape that role? i'm speaking with our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. Hi, lyse. Hello, sumi. Really good to — well, not face—to—face, but at least speak to you down the line. Indeed. And we also have our diplomatic correspondent, james landale.