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massive evacuation orders are made, buthe president says all plans are in place. plans are in place. pres. trump: we are sparing no expense. we are totally prepared. we are as ready as anybody has ever been. laura: russia is showing off its military mightoowith chinese the guests of honor at these wargames. plus, it is one giant wriggle for wormkind. scientists are sending creatures to the international space

aation for an experiment which could benefit usll. could benefit us all. laura: could benefit us all.

>> this is storm is a monster. it is big and it is vicious. it is an extremely dangerous, life-threatening, historic hurricane. gary: more than a million people have been ordered to leave coastal areas of north and south carolina, and some highways have been made one-way to smooth the flow of hugely increased flows of te ffic. >> peodon't understand that when it is time to evacuate, no emerge are closed, get back to the mainland to get some comforts. gary: for those who have chosen to stay, it has been a panicked rush to buy essentials for the ming days. a we are looking for water. we been to walma the shelves are cleared. we stopped at walgreens. the shelves were cleared. we thought we would bypass the water d come to lowe's. gary: w

gary: l as the threat to life, people's homes and businesses are endangered by florence. everyone doing what they can to daotect against mother nature. likelihood of beinged. at a meeting at the white house iris afternoon, the president was briefed by thetor of fema. he said this would be the biggest storm in decades. pres. trump: the safety of the american people is my absolute highest priority. we are sparing no expense. we're totally prepared. we are ready. are as ready as anybody has ever been. gary: meteorologists say hurricane flence could bring a storm surge of up to 12 feet at

the coast and anywhere between 20 and 30 inches of rainlomaking severeing a real threat. gary o'donoghue, bbc news. the coast and anywhere between laura: for more on hurricane florence, a cbs corresponden joined us us from wrightsville beach in north carolina. >> you see a couple of people out here, but if you were to look left and right down the coast, it is pretty much deserted. this is not peak sea it is not june, july, august, when there are thousands of people out here, but this is the secondary season where you normally see on a day like this several hundred people out heres llustrates how people are orproaching this incoming people are getting out of town here in wrightsville beach, mandatory evacuations in place beginning at 80 a.m. tomorrow. milar story up and down the southeastern coast. for the coastal communities, mandatory evacuations up and down the east coast. when you get further in land,

some mandatory, some voluntary that will eventually be mandatory leacuations. peeally heeding the advice and taking this one seriously from what we have seen. laura: that report from north carolina. au people prepare for florence, president trump isng controversy for his remarks about hurricane maria, which killed nearly 3000 people, leaving many without power for months. here is what he said a short time ago. i think probably the hardest one by far was puerto rico, because of the island nature. i think puerto rico was an incredible, unsung success. laura: every time ago i was joined by -- all brief time ago by our north america reporter rajini vaidyanathan. many people will see that as rewriting pr history. thident describing the response as tremendous. rajini: i think they will see it in the latest chapter in the

president being out of touch and perhaps insensitive to what happened on that u.s. territory. about a month after hurricane maria struck nearly owyear ago fromthe president visited the island and he was criticized in the latest chapter in the president being out of touch and by the mayor for insulting the people there by throwing kitchen roll paper towels and actually making comments saying that perhaps it wasn't as bad as the suffering people endured in hurricane katrina. so certainly this is the latest chapter in wt people say is mpletely insensitive language. laura: when the president says that the response was an unsung success, almost a year after hurricane maria struck the island, what ithe situation there now? rajini: it is dire. of course, apart from the fact that there was infrastructure that was damaged, the biggest issue is that power was lost on the island. six months on from the devastating hurricane, people were still without power, entire villagesentire places. that is one of the issues, because the death toll was inew the lasteeks revised.as at the time it4 direct deaths from the actual

hurricane. when they revised that to nearly 3000 people, laura, it was the deaths as a result of the power losses, people who cget dialysis and health care-related things. power remains an issue in some areas still. esr the president to say it was an unsung success't match with the reality on the ground. power remains an issue in some laura: rajini vaidyanathan, thank you for joining us. russia is beginning its laest military exercise in its history. it is taking place in eastern siberia. thursday, 300,000 russian soldiers will be involved. what really stands out is that for the first time, chinese troops will also take part. our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports. sarah: this is a wargame intended to impress. russia has been rolling its military hardware into place, ready for what it has billed as thbiggest exercise since ready for what it has billed as

the biggest exercise since soviet times.a itlitary drill that will run for a week and involves more than 300,000 troops. russia's defense ministry says 36,000 armored vehicles will take part. the air force and the navy are both involved. it is not only the training and testing logistics acro this vast country. it is also a giant show of strength at a time when relations with the west are tense. wid for the first time, some 3000 chinese troll fight alongside the russians. that sends a strong signal of the two countries' deepening bond. as does this, china's president arriving in eastern russian today as the military drill began. he is attending an economic forum and also meeting vladimir putin. as they sat down for talks, russia's presids t said relatith china in politics, security, and defense were based on trust.

that and these wargames are perhaps a warning to washington about where isolating these countries can lead. for years, vladimir putin has made modernizing the military priority, his way of making russia great again. this is a display to the west of the results, a show on the scale not seen since the cold war.ra sarasford, bbc news, moscow. laur for more on this, i was joined earlr michael carpenter, former deputy assistant secretary n defense who at the penn biden center. what do you think russia is strying to signal with t soviet-era display of military strength? michael: it is a very large exercith. the hundresand russian troops, 300,000 chinese troops. i think they are trying to do a number of things here. they are trying to message the hina aret russia and together, that they are operating, they are exercising in unison, they present a united front against the w ot. that is pait. despite the fact that we know

they are spying on eaczyother like cthat is the message they want to portray. they want to also practice for what is called access denial anp area deniaventing to the united states from being able to move into east asia should there in some military contingency. they're practfor that. thirdly, they are doing a large-scale exercise to practice logistics, primarily the russians on their own, and to see if they can mobinough troops for that theater of war. laura: is the presence of the chinese troops kind of of my ieenemy's enemy is my ? well, if they he this large-scale exercise and not invited the chinese, it would have really piqued c on the chinese side. they brought them in the fold, t enemy number one is the united states, make no mistake. laura: that is despite president trump's good personalti reship with president putin. michael: well, i think putin understands well that the united

states has a two track policy, one from president trump and another from congress and the rest of thexecutive branch. he understands that the u.s. is one of his largest competitors in the world, if not his chief adversary. this: nato is seeing in exercise as extremely provocative and maybe a rehearsal for an actual conflict. ell, it is a rehearsal for an actual conflict, no doubt about it. it is prticing area denial and anti-axis capabilities, so things like anti-ship weapons, air defense systems. in the event of a u.s. contingency in east asia. the u.s. is the adversary that is beingorlannedn this scenario. laura: this is all happening despite the u.s. trying to work with china on north korea. it seems like an era of shifting alliances, butaybe it isn't really. michael: well, on north korea, china and russia are not really following the u.s. script. when we were trying to apply pressure, the russians and the g chinese weing the north koreans a safety valve.

now that the u.s. is in talks with north korea, maybe there is a slight commonality of terest, but it is only a matter of time before we go back to the pressure track. laura: has there been huge spending on defense by russia and china?os michael: by coe, yes. russia spends a large per gntage of the on defense. this is existential for them. the chinese as well. laura: michael carpenter, thank you for joining us. in other news, and overcrowded habus fallen into a valley in southern india, killing at least people. 50 others have been injured and taken to hospital. ue efforts are ongoing. police say the driver of the bus may have lost control of the vehicle. minister hasrior asked the u.k. for more help dealing with people smugglers.ug they traffic rs and migrants. overnight, almost 100 alleged

traffickers were detained in belgian raids. some of police and politians claim is operations are a waste of time. most of those caught our released within an hour. damian grammaticas reports. damian: it is the motorway to calais, the route to london. every few nights, belgian po ce scour the truck stops. since security in the channel tightened, this is the new frontline of people smugglers. belgium's police forces say they are overstretched by the scale of the work. >> we do everything ch the smugglers, but at the same time, all those thousands of people who desperately want to find a oww future, we don't f we can help them. damian: nearby, officers checking ids found 21 people, most eritrean asylum-seekers. they are eligible atr refugee stus in belgium, but it is the u.k. they want to reach.

looking looking on, belgium's interior minister. being tough on migration is one of his signature policies. looking on, belgium's interior miugster. being on migration is one of his signature policies. he believes the real problem is the u.k. has no id card system. refugees this is where they end up, a park in brussels. lgium does not want to take on the task of processing claims. the resulting cat-and-mouse game pushes many towards the smugglers. >> it is an unuseful game wi a lot of damages.e th a lot of violence. for the smugglers, it is easier to make pressure on migrants to

give money,su so the presre on migrants is bigger and stronger. ordamian: so the local may has now instructed police in his area not to waste their time arresting and releasang the same mi every few days. it would be better, he says, for the government to house them and deal with their cases.

>> they need to eat, they need someplace to rest, they need someplace to stay. not staying in the streets dams of damaging the environment. opposition to the use of hydropower is growing. our correspondent wen.to find more it is a powerful

showcase for the natural it is l showcase for the natural beauty of bosnia. the river is a havnd for wildlife magnet for tourists in search of the spectacular. he has lived here all his life, a river guide taking businesses on fishing and rapid tours. he says the waterways aid of insulation bringing together people from all of the country's ethnic groups. others see kilowatts and hard cash in the rivers, and if have their way, bosnia will become the h ropower capital of the balkans. the consequences wouldn't be pretty. dam that opened earlier this year, and iichas caused r changes to the river. this is just one of around 300 hydropower projects anned for bosnia's rivers and waterways. it is a typical example of what known as the mini-hydroplane.

pplies to anything which produces under 10 megawatts of activity. this produces fewer than five, and environmentalists say that makes very little sense. he has successfully rallied people to prevent plans to dam the river. he says other communited to wake up to the danger before their waterways meet the same fate. a new poll shows a sharp decline in president trump's approval rating. one opinion poll does not make a trend, but 8 different ones over the last few weeks show a pattern despite a booming economy. many will see the midterms as a referendum on the president's record. why the disconnect?

my colleagues katty kay and r ristian fraser spoke to an rnc spokeswoman for thogram "beyond 100 days." katty: thanks very much for coming in. how frustrating is it that you look at eight polls in the last two weeks that shows the 'presidens approval rating decline and yet you see this good economic news? kayleigh: we are not frustrated by it at the republican national committee, and the reason i say that is the rasmussen poll has cue president 10 points higher. it was the most te poll during the 2016 election. we don't necessarily believe those numbers. katty: right, but it is hard tdi dismiss eigherent polls. i would take your point if it is just one poll, but we have eight different falls with a three-point decline over the past two weeks. you cannot dismiss that totally. kayleigh: well, there were dozens of polls showing hillary clinton winning in pvania and wisconsin and michigan. all of those were wrong. we believe there is a phenomenon where voters do not trust rsstitutions and they don't want to talk to polls they hang up the phone, they don't register support on the record, but nevertheless harborp their t inside.

we believe the economy will overcome any public pollingca, e it is record numbers we're seeing in these. >> they need to eat, they need'e latest one out today, a cnn poll, it shows the biggest drop in the approval rating. the teresting thing out of oll is when you ask people if they are in favor of what is happening with the economy, it is up over 60%. people are really impressed with what is happening with the econom and yet down six points. let's just show you that alongside those othes, you see the pattern we are talking about. all those other polls over the last few weeks -- you see the latest on the left and the previous on the right. i suppat you were hoping is that you have silent trumpers -- pardon the pun --ng people who are go vote for donald trump but not admitting it to the polling agencies. kayleigh: that is exactly right. it is something i talked aheut going into016 elections and it did manifest itself in the three states i mentioned. w no doubt that t we believe, and we believe our

positive force is the economy. to quote the famed democratic strategist james carville, it's the economy, stupid. we believe the economy is great. it will help us in november. christian: yeah, when you don't ist to be talking about

the woodward book and elderly population.rt re: this would be the

first u.k.-led experiment on the space station. these bags contain thousands of microscopic worms suspended in fluid. by sending them up into space, the research team can determine how their muscle structure is affected. perhaps surprisingly, the muscle of a worm that keeps a worm moving in a line is similar structurally to a human. not mean it is directly translatable, but it might be causing the same changes in humans. reporter: some of the worms will be treated with a drug to slow down the muscle wastage. >> we're looking at years to decades, and if we can find other molecular reasons why other molecular reasons why worms lose muscle mass in space, we can then apply thatmans to prevent the loss. that allows spaceflights such as this

fumars missions for thre. reporter: the test in aitzerland is essentially dress rehearsal. the preparations have to be absolutely meticulous, because the next time will be just ahead of launch in florida. the pressure is really on. thiss an opportunity to refi and practice the techniques to make sure everything goes exactly according to plan when the worms are prepared for spaceflight. >> if something doesn't work, there are other facilities on board. dook, somethinn't work, we will repeat. >> looks like the battery is charging. reporter: the experiment will last six days.es that equoughly two y around 20ears of human life. h ey will then be frozen and returned to eartr analysis. one microscopic step, or wriggle, for the wormst it is hoped it could provide a giant leap in understanding howi our age, not just in here, but also back down

on earth. ws, switzerland. whoa: worminpace -- knew? i am laura trevelyan. thanks so much for watching "bbc world news america." world news america." h the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so n swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up-to-date with the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, icvler foundation, pursuing solutions for am's neglected needs,na and purepoint ial. or>> how do we shape our tw? it starts with a vision.

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> brangham: good evening. i'm william brangham. judy woodruff is off today. on the newshour tonight: more than a million and ohalf people aered to evacuate the carolinas ahead of potentially catastrophic flooding and storm dage from hurricane florence. then, 17 years after the 9/11 attacks, the war in afghanistan remains a deadly stalemate. we take a look at where the u.s. strategy stands. and, lingering concerns. scientists deploy new technology to study the impact of inhaling smoke from the wildfires in the west. >> as these fires become morend commonore likely to hit urban areas, we just need to know, what are the best actions to take to reduce some of the risks for long-term and short-s term health im >> brangham: all that and more,

on tonight's pbs newshour.