hello, this is bbc news, i'm gavin grey. these are our top stories. thousands forced to evacuate as hurricane harvey heads towards texas — the category 4 storm could be the biggest to hit the us in more than a decade. not only are we going to be dealing with the high winds that typically come with what should be category 3 hurricane, we are going to be dealing with immense really record setting flooding. protests turn deadly in india, after a self—styled spiritual guru is convicted of rape — curfews are in place across several northern states. the un condemns the saudi—led coalition for failing to avoid civilian deaths in yemen — at least 1a people are killed in in the latest airstrike. in the latest airstrike. the white house imposes tough new sanctions on venezuela — president maduro warns it will halt oil exports to the us. and counting down to the most—hyped fight of the year —

mayweather v mcgregor — it could be the richest in boxing history. welcome to the programme. thousands of residents in texas have been told to evacuate their homes because of hurricane harvey, which is expected to make landfall within hours. the authorities say the category 4 storm will be the worst to hit mainland america for more than a decade. this is a satellite picture of the category 4 storm as it approaches texas — with winds of 130 miles per hour. the national hurricane centre said storm surges may bring life—threatening floods in and around houston — and harvey could remain in the area until the middle of next week. james cooke reports from texas.

the view from space as hurricane harvey barrels towards the united states of america. the storm blew up fast in the gulf of mexico, taking texans by surprise. now time is scarce to prepare for the worst. it's a hurricane that will prove more dangerous than many hurricanes. not only are we going to be dealing with the high winds that typically come with what should be a category 3 hurricane, but we are going to be dealing with immense, really record—setting, flooding. in some coastal cities, though, evacuations were urged, not ordered. many people here are determined to ride it out. we're going to go ahead and stick it out here. we've got sand bags ready, food for about a week, we've got water, everything we need. but even before it arrives, harvey is threatening lives. here, ten critically ill babies

are being evacuated from its path. getting out is not easy. the roads are clogged as tens of thousands of people seek shelter away from a dangerous storm surge. the oil industry is bracing for a battering too. the area at risk produces some 7 million barrels a day. with production already slowing, oil prices are rising and at the pumps there is a rush to fill up, meaning that supplies are running short. so too is food and water. supermarket stocks are dwindling amid warnings about catastrophic flooding from torrential rain which may linger for days. in neighbouring louisiana, those warnings send a shiver through new orleans. in 2005, it was devastated by hurricane katrina. the city was ill—prepared and disaster followed. and yet this time it looks exposed again, with pumping stations not at full capacity. this is the first big domestic urgency for president donald trump, but the white house rejects claims

that his administration is understaffed and inexperienced. some may defy the storm for now, but not for long. the authorities say a major disaster is just hours away. our correspondent, david willis joins me now from washington. david, the texas state governor says taxes is facing a very major disaster. yes, it is now a category for is harvey, and it is bearing down on the golf coast of texas —— gulf coast of texas. it is due to hit landfall in a matter of hours. president trump has been briefed by the drill emergency officials, this is of course the first potential national disaster that he has to face as president. of course we all remember hurricane katrina and those

images still haunt federal emergency officials to this day, more than 1000 people died, and there was devastation caused a course of the city of new orleans. resident trump obviously very keen to avoid that are ironically he was talking only a few months ago of limiting the amount offunding few months ago of limiting the amount of funding to the federal emergency response team, but there has been no progress on that and president trump may be quite pleased by the time that this is all finished that there was not cut in funding, at least thus far. and one of his assistants saying it is likely he will visit texas early next week. exactly, presumably to inspect the damage, and there could be quite a lot of damage, they are talking about 22 million people being in the path of this horror

came, winds expected up to —— hurricane. winds expected to 20 —— 120 mile an hour and expecting up to 40 120 mile an hour and expecting up to a0 inches of rain, which could make some buildings uninhabitable for not only days but weeks and months after that. the bbc‘s nick miller gave us an update on the storm's progress. since we spoke to him a short time ago, there hurricane has been upgraded from a category three to a category four. the latest advisory has maximum sustained winds right near the centre of this hurricane, 125 mph. there will be stronger gusts associated with that as well. so clearly it's a very powerful hurricane in terms of strength. but it's not just the wind that matter. we heard about some of the other features. you get the wind speed, which is how hurricanes are categorised. you also have the storm

surge, the amount of water above normal tide level, which will come into the coastline around this hurricane. we are talking several feet above normal tide levels. that process is already under way. so that inundation of the coastline through that higher level of water is already taking place. so you've got the storm surge, but you've also got how much rain will come out of this. 0ne metre of rainfall, that's extraordinary, especially for hurricane. especially for a hurricane. it's a huge amount and the reason for that is it so slow—moving. some hurricanes will go through quite quickly. yes, they will be destructive and will produce a lot of heavy rain and there will be a storm surge, at the worst of it can be over in a couple of hours. this hurricane is forecast to just meander close to this texas coastline, notjust for a few hours, but several days. that's why although the storm surge

aspect of it will ease, as devastating as that may be, the winds will ease once it has interacted with the land and lose some of its power, but the rain is set to continue and the forecasters say the rain could be there for a wednesday. so we are still seeing the possibility that some of the brain is still falling on the same parts of texas some of the rain is still falling on the same parts of texas by wednesday and the flooding continues after rain has even stopped, so we could still be talking about this flooding even at the end of next week. the official line is catastrophic flooding is expected due to heavy rainfall and storm surge. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the us military says north korea has fired three short—range ballistic missiles. it said the first and third missiles failed in flight, and the second appeared to have blown up almost immediately. us pacific command said the launches did not pose a threat to the us territory of guam, which pyongyang threatened to target last month. a man has been shot and killed

by security forces in brussels after reportedly attacking soldiers with a machete. the man, a belgian of somali origin, shouted allahu akbar. authorities believe it was a terrorist attack. police in london say they've arrested a man in possession of a large knife near buckingham palace. the weapon was found inside his car when it was searched by officers — two of whom suffered minor arm injuries as they detained him. us president donald trump has taken another step towards barring transgender people from the military. he's signed a memo banning recruitment and stopping payment for gender—related surgery for those already in the armed forces. he's left the fate of those already serving up to the pentagon. a curfew has been imposed in two states in northern india after clashes earlier which left twenty eight people dead. the violence in the town

of panchkula followed the conviction of a self—styled holy man on rape charges. more than 100,000 supporters of gurmeet ram rahim singh had gathered there ahead of the verdict. after he was found guilty, thousands of them went on the rampage, setting vehicles, buildings and railway stations on fire. justin rowlatt reports. violence broke out almost as soon as the guilty verdict was handed down by the court in north india. more than 100,000 of gurmeet ram rahim singh‘s followers had flocked to the town to demonstrate their support. they went on the rampage, burning cars and attacking the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. when that didn't subdue the crowd, they fired live ammunition, and there have been clashes elsewhere, too. this train was torched by an angry mob here in the indian capital delhi. elsewhere in the city, buses have been set on fire. the guru has an absolutely

enormous following, he estimates 50 million people, and the fear is that violence could spread in north india. guru ram rahim singh is a charismatic figure, he makes movies calling himself the messenger of god. his huge beard and flamboyant style has led to him being called "the baba of bling." despite his extraordinary appearance, he is regarded as a living saint by many of his followers. this is the latest in a series of scandals here in india involving ascetics who claim exceptional spiritual powers. guru ram rahim insists his sect is a social welfare and spiritual group, but these two rape convictions aren't the only allegations of criminal behaviour. he has been accused of helping plan a murder and it is also claimed he persuaded a00 of his acolytes to have themselves castrated in order to get closer to god. it is that kind of devotion that explains the scale and intensity of the violence here in north india

and also why the authorities are so concerned about it spreading. the united nations says airstrikes in yemen by the saudi—led coalition have killed more than a0 civilians in the past week — including many children. the latest hit a residential neighbourhood in the capital, sa naa, killing at least twelve people — women and children among them — sparking more international condemnation. yemen, one of the poorest countries in the middle east, is now in its third year of war. seventeen million people are struggling to feed themselves — seven million more are facing famine. the war is between a saudi—led coalition backed by the us and uk — which supports the government — and the houthi rebels who have some support from iran. nawal al maghafi reports. another ruined building in yemen's battered capital. this is what's left of an apartment block in sanaa. amongst the rubble,

bodies of dead children. the pictures, too distressing to show. this man says civilian homes are always targeted. local people are convinced the attack was from a saudi coalition air strike. today, the coalition has responded and said it will investigate these reports. we were in the same neighbourhood just two weeks ago when we met nine—year—old nujood. you could hear the sound of coalition fighter jets. she told us they hit everywhere and how she and herfamily have been living in fear. "stop the war", she told me then, but today another tradegy has struck "stop the war", she told me then, but today another tragedy has struck just a few streets

away from her home. tensions have been rising. wednesday's attack on a hotel has now led to a call from the un for an independent investigation. more than 30 were killed here. the saudi—led coalition said they were targeting armed houthi militants who they've been fighting in this brutal war. but aid agencies on the ground in yemen say they're increasingly concerned about what they call "the blatant disregard "for civilian lives". the high cost paid by civilians, in terms of deaths and casualties, is unimaginable, and that comes in a situation where the war sees no sign of ending and we see the lack of political progress and, therefore, people see this as a daily... this is the new normal for people here in sanaa. the war, now in its third year, has crippled yemen. disease has spread, more than half a million people here have cholera and a quarter of the population are on the brink of famine. this war has created what's now being called the world's worst

humanitarian crisis, and with the failure of international diplomacy and the growing threat to civilians, there's no end in sight for the people of yemen. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: counting down to the most—hyped fight of the year, mayweather versus mcgregor — it could be the richest in boxing history. he is the first african—american to accept the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts a5 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared, "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear

in the south—eastern sky. an orange, glowing disc that is brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet mars. there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it will take months, and billions of dollars, to re pair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clockmaker john vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: thousands forced to evacuate as hurricane harvey heads towards texas. the category a storm could be the biggest to hit the us in more than a decade. let's get the latest now on that.

matt woolbright is a reporter with the corpus christi caller—times, part of the usa today network, and hejoins us from corpus christi now. what is the weather like outside at the moment the wind is howling. rain is falling sideways. we are getting reports all over the town that trampolines are flying, trees are split, science coming down. it is intense. have most people evacuated? are you getting the feeling most people have stayed put? that is a ha rd people have stayed put? that is a hard question to answer. i imagine a third of the city has evacuated, perhaps more than that. personally, i have been driving at times most people would be sleeping. i am not

sure how many have evacuated but we see very sure how many have evacuated but we see very few people during the day that aren't there for work. not many people seem to be taking leisure in the storm. most are taking it seriously. what preparations have people been making? boarding up houses. many people have left. some have stayed together in houses in the city that are higher. sandbags are aligning homes. i have seen sad stories. i saw a woman with two young girls who was afraid of the storm. they are hoping everything is 0k storm. they are hoping everything is ok when they come back. people trying to move cars away from areas known to flood, areas like on the island with flooding of substantial amounts expected. most people don't have places to go. it has been a

tricky storm. it developed extremely rapidly and exceeded most expectations, if not all. most people did not have an idea that category four was even in the conversation. we thought it would be a rain event. we have some live pictures of galveston. it looks windswept, as you were describing. for those living near the coast, they are talking of one metre of rainfall. that is quite extraordinary. yes. galveston... there are two parts to the hurricane. where it is coming in now, 130 miles per hour winds, wreaking havoc across the region. further south, past the pass, smaller communities north of corpus christi, they are expecting the rain

will fall there for extended periods of time. that place will do tremendous amounts of flooding. it could go back out into the gulf and around that region and gather strength again. we have to leave it there. thank you so much. thank you. the venezuelan president, nicolas maduro, says that new financial sanctions imposed by the white house will lead to a halt in oil exports to the united states. earlier this month the us imposed sanctions on president maduro himself and some of his closest aides, branding him a dictator. 0ur correspondent, will grant, has more. as the months of violence and chaos in venezuela have worn on, the trump administration has gradually ramped up their response. now, they've increased the pressure significantly. these latest sanctions are intended to hit venezuela where it hurts the most: its crippled economy. specifically, the all—importa nt energy sector.

the executive order bans trade in venezuelan debt, and blocks the state—run agency pdvsa from selling bonds in the us. for an economy like venezuela's, predicated on its vast oil wealth, it could have a serious impact, even hasten a default. but the trump administration insists it is seeking the right course of action. it's a strong message for the people of venezuela, and it's a strong message to maduro. we're not going to tolerate the dictatorship he has tried to create, and we are not there to respect the sham assembly. add to the new sanctions the strong rhetoric, too. the white house now routinely refers to nicolas maduro as a dictator, and donald trump recently warned that all options remain on the table. we have many options for venezuela. and, by the way, i am not there to rule out a military option. we have many options for venezuela. unsurprisingly, that kind of language, and the new sanctions, have provoked an outcry in venezuela. translation: the imposition of sanctions, or the attempt to impose sanctions,

just like the military threats, correspond to uncivilised politics. we ask notjust the united nations' secretary general, but the general assembly, to take a position on these extraordinary, anachronistic, hostile, unfriendly threats, that we cannot except under any circumstances. cuba has been under a us economic embargo for decades, and it has done little to remove the leadership, and much to hurt the poorest on the island. in response to the steps by washington a march was held in havana in solidarity with their socialist allies in venezuela. this has been a decisive roll of the dice by the trump administration. there are few further options after economic sanctions. but some consider the decision misguided. the irony might be that it might not hurt mr maduro, but strengthen his hand. sources close to the family

of the former thai prime minister, yingluck shinawatra, say she fled thailand just hours before the verdict in her trial for criminal negligence. a bbc correspondent says the military had earlier urged ms yingluck to leave thailand but that she had refused. the circus has begun in las vegas ahead of one of the biggest fights boxing has ever seen at the weigh in a short time ago, floyd mayweather and the mixed martial arts star, connor macgregor, stood before the crowd where they will go head to head on saturday night. the high—stakes show is already being billed as the richest and most unlikely matchup in boxing history.

from las vegas, richard conway reports. that is the worst shape i have ever seen him in. he looks blown out, out of shape. i'm going to breeze breeze through him. trust me on that. there was a lot of talk about you having trouble to make weight, how tough was that? 153. it is dedication and focus, but i make it. and that's it. look at me, i am in peak physical condition. i put in the work, as everyone can see. i'm ready. it won't go the distance, mark my word. this was the last time in your life that you will ever have to get on the scale. has that set in, and what role does that play in final fight, that this will be your final fight? 7 ijust want to thank the fans.

i'm not worried about the scale or the last time. this will be conor mcgregor's last fight, also. floyd mayweather and conor mcgregor will fight to my night. the top story. thousands in texas have been told to evacuate because of hurricane harvey which is expected to make landfall within hours. it could be the worst to hit mainland america in more than a decade. it is now a category four storm as it approaches. it is likely to be upgraded. it could reach 130 miles per hour with winds. there could be life—threatening floods around houston and it could remain until the middle of next week. this is bbc

news. hello. i'll get to the uk weekend forecast in just a moment, but first of all, what a night in texas. dealing with a major hurricane. this is it on the satellite picture, here. it is a hurricane going to hang around for several more days to come, which means the rain willjust keep on coming. this is how it looks during saturday, bright colour showing the intensity of our rain. but sunday into monday, as well, it's still close by. we're talking hundreds of millimetres here. catastrophic, life—threatening flooding could well be taking place over the next few days in texas. we'll keep you updated. 0nto our weekend weather, and some warm, sunny spells on the way for many of us. the chance for catching a shower. but for saturday and sunday, even though there is some around, for most of us it will not. sun for england to begin with on saturday. some showers one or two even in northern england. most places will avoid those and stay dry. if you do get shower in scotland, it could be on the heavy side, maybe with a rumble of thunder. pleasant when the sun makes an appearance, and some spots with temperatures into the mid—20s.

the cricket at headingley, as it continues for the next few days, things will warm up. it is a mainly dry pitch. broken cloud and sunshine, turning breezy by the time we get to monday. as to the women's rugby world cup far north in belfast on saturday evening, some cloud around, but is likely dry, and temperatures will ease away after the warmth of the day. this is a picture through saturday night. dry for most of us. mist and fog developing after a clearer night on saturday night in sunday morning. temperatures for some of us will be a little bit lower. a fine start to sunday. a bit more breeze in scotland, some patchy light rain to be had, here. but the vast majority will be dry. i don't expect necessarily expect clear blue sky. eastern scotland, temperatures will get to 20 celsius, but the higher temperatures will be in england and wales, low to mid—20s. that will continue on monday. ahead of the weather system, more outbreaks of rain in scotland and northern ireland on monday. if it is a bank holiday where you are, there are big contrasts across the uk on monday. so you see the rain moving across scotland gales in northern ireland, but that sunshine for many

across england and wales. and quite a range of temperatures, too. it will be on the cool side in the wind in scotland and northern ireland, but becoming very warm for a time in south—east england. this is bbc news, there's other headlines. a hurricane is travelling towards the coast of texas and has developed into a category for mac storm with sustained winds of 215 kilometres an hour. thousands of residents have boarded up their homes and fled. up to one metre of rain is expected to fall on texan cities. at least 23 people have been killed in violent protests over the rape conviction of a popular religious leader in northern india. the victims are believed to be followers of the self—styled spiritual guru. the united nations has condemned the saudi led coalition forfailing to has condemned the saudi led coalition for failing to avoid civilians deaths in yemen following an airstrike on an apartment block. at least 1a people were killed in

macro three buildings have been destroyed. —— killed in sanaa. a former rock star who has been jailed former rock star who has been jailed for multiple cases