'Hi from CNN, this is Madeleine Thompson with five things you need to know for Friday, September 27th. CBS news has announced the official rules for the vice presidential debate on October 1st -- that's next Tuesday -- at 9 p.m. eastern. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance will debate for 90 minutes with no opening statements or studio audience. The network notes it, quote, reserves the right to mute the candidate's microphones. But unlike the presidential debates, those mikes will otherwise be hot. Vance won the coin toss to determine the order in which the candidates give their closing statements and chose to go last. A person involved with Vance's debate prep said his main goal is to needle Walz on his record, specifically his handling of the Minneapolis riots in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in 2020.

'U.S. federal prosecutors have unsealed criminal charges against three Iranian government linked hackers. Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi are accused of a multi-year hacking effort aimed at current and former U.S. officials and journalists, including the breach of former President Donald Trump's campaign this summer. Here's Attorney General Merrick Garland at a news conference this afternoon.

These authoritarian regimes, which violate the human rights of their own citizens, do not get a say in our country's democratic process.

According to the indictment, over the summer the hackers used access to a Trump campaign officials personal email account to steal, quote, debate preparation material and information on potential vice presidential candidates. Separately, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on seven people, including Jalili, as part of a sweeping response to Iranian efforts to, quote, influence or interfere in the 2020 and 2024 U.S. presidential elections.

Tropical Depression Helene's winds are continuing to weaken, but the storm has left a mess of flooding, downed trees and power outages in its wake. The Defense Department says nearly 4000 National Guardsmen in Florida are assisting with storm recovery efforts. The state's Big Bend region was hit hardest when Helene made landfall there as a category four storm last night, but the entire southeast has felt Helene's impacts today as the storm dumped rainfall on the region and prompted flash flooding. In Erwin, Tennessee 54 people are stranded on the roof of a hospital because of rising floodwaters, and high winds prevented ambulances and helicopters from reaching the building safely. In western North Carolina, the state Department of Transportation said all roads in the area should be considered closed due to severe flooding. University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann says climate change is making storms like this one more dangerous.

It's not rocket science. It's pretty basic physics that tells us that the warmer you make the oceans, the more moisture they evaporate into the atmosphere, the more energy there is to intensify these storms, the more rapidly they intensify. And when it makes its way towards the coastline, you get the sort of catastrophic flooding that we're seeing even inland in the southeastern US.

Sean "Diddy" Combs's attorney says the rapper wants to testify at his criminal trial. In an interview for a new TMZ documentary, Combs's attorney said his client is, quote, very eager to tell his story. CNN reached out to a representative for Combs, who declined to elaborate or say whether Combs will in fact take the stand. The music mogul is accused of orchestrating a criminal enterprise through his business empire that engaged in multiple crimes, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnaping and decades of physical abuse against women. Coming up, something for your household to do list.

Free Covid tests are back. As the US heads into respiratory virus season, with high levels of the coronavirus already circulating, households are once again eligible to receive for free at home test kits. They can be requested from CovidTest.gov starting today. This is the program's seventh round of distribution since it started in the winter of 2021. This next set of tests will be able to detect currently circulating variants, and can be used for testing in people who have Covid 19 symptoms and those who don't. That includes those who are up to date on their Covid 19 vaccinations and those who aren't. That's a wrap. Tune in tomorrow for a new episode of Five Good Things.