welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: thousands forced to evacuate as hurricane harvey heads towards texas. the category four storm could be the biggest to hit the us in more than a decade. the latest short—range missiles launched by north korea appears to have been unsuccessful. one missile blew up almost immediately and two failed in flight. protests turn deadly in india, after a self—styled spiritual guru is convicted of rape, curfews are in place across several northern states. and counting down to the most hyped fight of the year, mayweather versus 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 as hurricane harvey makes landfall. the authorities warn it will be the worst to hit mainland america for more than a decade. this is a satellite picture of the category four 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 three 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. well, let's get more on this.

earlier, i spoke to dr chris landsea, operations officer from the national hurricane centre in miami and i asked him for an update. as of 8pm, hurricanes harvey was just offshore from texas in the united states. it is located 60 kilometres east of corpus christi. it is continuing to strengthen u nfortu nately. it is continuing to strengthen unfortunately. it is a category four hurricanes. 215 kilometres per hour. very strong. the concern is with multiple hazards, extreme winds, which can cause substantial structural damage to buildings, roofs, agriculture, and these strong

winds will produce storm surges up to four metres. we are hopeful that most of it will come ashore in a not very populated area. lastly, there is going to be rainfall for the next five days because hurricanes harvey is not going to be moving quickly. —— hurricane. we will see a metre of rain in some parts of texas in the next five days. that is extremely severe. there will be catastrophic flooding for the next few days. severe. there will be catastrophic flooding for the next few dayslj was just flooding for the next few dayslj wasjust going to flooding for the next few dayslj was just going to say, five days is an incredible amount of time. a lot of areas will not be able to watch this water away. no. that is part of the problem. water being contributed by the ocean with the onshore flow joins the rain. with it's been

around for a few days, the ocean will not recede. —— it being. the rain will continue to add to the water on the ground. the cities in harm's way are houston, corpus christi, and that is because of the rainfall. the change in category from three to four only happened in the past few hours. why was it upgraded? we are fortunate with the technology we have. a brand—new satellite, ground—based radar, and both the us air force and hurricane hunters that have been watching and going through the storm all evening. the winds got stronger. a dramatic jump. ten kilometres per hour up. it

went from category 3 to category four. the hazards of extreme winds and storm surges, and a metre of rain, they will be difficult. the us military says north korea has fired three short—range ballistic missiles. but the latest test appears to have been unsuccessful. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent in seoul, yogita limaye, who told me that us territory wasn't threatened. the us and south korean military is saying these were fired early saturday morning. they said it was fired ina saturday morning. they said it was fired in a north—eastern and eastern direction. a commander said all three failed. two exploded midflight and one pretty much exploded as soon as it was launched. they have said

there was no threat to guam and any other american territory. that is a reference to a threat north korea made ten days ago saying it would fire four rockets at the waters around wylam. it is important to distinguish this from the two in july. distinguish this from the two in july- -- distinguish this from the two in july. —— guam. those were intercontinental ballistic missile isles. long—range. north korea even said it could hit the us mainland. north korea conducts these regularly. the timing is important because us and south korean forces are conducting joint military exercises, they have been since last week. they will continue for the next few weeks. we always see some response from north korea when those are conducted. north korea actually fired a nuclear test a while back. the timing is significant, especially after donald trump said

north korea may be backing off. and 110w north korea may be backing off. and now for some more stories making the news 110w. a man has been shot and killed by security forces in brussels after attacking two soldiers with a knife. the man, a belgian of somali origin, shouted "allahu akbar" or " allah is the greatest." prosecutors said they were treating the incident as a terrorist attack. the soldiers were slightly wounded. two police officers in london have been slightly wounded tackling an armed man outside buckingham palace. a man in his 20s has been arrested. the metropolitan police said it was too early to speculate on a motive. us president donald trump has taken another step towards barring transgender people from the military. he 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. president trump's deputy assistant, sebastian gorka is no longer working

for the administration. in his letter of resignation, the national security expert said people in the white house were undermining the president's policies. and in a separate move the us president also pardoned the controversial former arizona sheriff, joe arpaio. ben schreckinger is a staff writer with poltico magazine has more on this latest white house departure. sebastian gorka was a national security adviser who seems to have never been given a security clea ra nce. never been given a security clearance. he was never been given a security clearance. he was never on never been given a security clearance. he was never on the national security council once hr mcmaster took over from michael flynn. he was not even based in the white house. he was next door. he was under the protection of steve bannon, wasn't really doing much in

hisjob. and now that bannon, wasn't really doing much in his job. and now that steve bannon, wasn't really doing much in hisjob. and now that steve bannon has gone, sebastian gorka has gone as well. in terms of its other announcement, this former arizona sheriff, that will be controversial, the pardoning of this man. that is correct. he was convicted of co nte m pt of correct. he was convicted of contempt of court. a federaljudge had ordered him to stop a practice of racial profiling of hispanics in his attempt to crack down on immigration. 0bviously, donald trump was elected on a promise of cracking down on immigration. arpaio supported donald trump in 2015. this is on message for donald trump. but obviously this is going to be controversial. now, it is friday evening on the east coast of the

united states, and a natural disaster, we think, possibly in the making with hurricane harvey. yes. donald trump his earlier this week ata donald trump his earlier this week at a rally in arizona that he was likely to pardon arpaio. he said it was perhaps too controversial to do it at that time. but this hurricane has given him a window. thousands of residents in texas have been told to evacuate their homes as hurricane harvey makes landfall. the authorities warn it will be the worst to hit mainland america for more than a decade. this is a satellite picture

of the category four storm as it approaches texas with winds of 130 miles per hour. it looks mild in this picture, but the coast has been battered by wind and rain and storm surges. there have been warnings this could have catastrophic flooding. up to 8 million people have been put under a hurricanes warning. moving on now. a curfew has been imposed in two states in northern india after clashes which left 28 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 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, 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 is that violence could spread in north india. guru ram rahim 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 sometimes 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 400 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. justin rowlatt, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the driverless cars being deliberately crashed as insurers try to work out who'd be to blame in an accident, the motorist or the computer? he is the first african—american to accept the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts 45 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 four storm could be the biggest to hit the us in more than a decade. it has now made landfall in texas. the latest short—range missiles launched by north korea have been unsuccessful — one missile blew up almost immediately and two failed in flight. iraqi forces say they have broken through the defences of so—called islamic state and reached the centre of the city of tal afar. close to the syrian border, the city is one of the jihadists' last remaining strongholds in iraq after they were driven out of the city of mosul. sarah corker reports. iraqi soldiers fire rockets at is positions in tal afar. so—called islamic state has held the city in northern iraq since 2014. the battle in alleys, streets, and houses is fierce. iraqi forces say they have now seized about three quarters of the city, breaking

through is defences. translation: the units move towards the neighbourhood, which has only about 5% left to retake from islamic state. then we will announce the liberation of this area. what remains is one neighbourhood, the citadel known as the old city of tal afar. sitting on a major road between mosul and the syrian border, the city was once a main supply route for is, and is one of its last remaining strongholds in iraq. tens of thousands of civilians have already fled. food and water in tal afar is running out. in one neighbourhood, soldiers found these vehicles, believed to have been prepared as car bombs by is. translation: while inspecting these liberated areas, we found these storage warehouses and these vehicles. we are continuing our search of the whole area. they also discovered

a network of tunnels, packed with missiles and mines, which government troops then blew up. explosion. it is estimated up to 2000 militants remain in the north—eastern quarter. iraqi commanders, though, say they are certain victory is new. the un warns that around 30,000 civilians are trapped by the fighting. sarah corker, bbc news. the united nations says airstrikes in yemen by the saudi—led coalition have killed more than forty civilians in the past week, including many children. the latest hit a residential neighbourhood in the capital, sanaa, killing at least 12 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. 7 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 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. nawal al maghafi, bbc news. we're told that driverless cars are the future, and some have already been trialled on the roads in some countries. now it's the turn of lorries because from next year convoys of semi—automated, self—driving lorries will be trialled in britain. it raises a number of questions — including who would be responsible for a driverless car crash — the driver or the computer?

our transport correspondent richard westcott has more. on a military base in switzerland, important tests are going on. one of the world's biggest insurance companies is deliberately crashing cars. for the first time, they're simulating what driverless vehicles might do when things go wrong, like if the computer was hacked, so the brakes don't work. well, this car is obviously a complete write—off, you can really smell that the airbags have gone off, but all of the sensors are now full of data, telling them what the car did, what happened to the driver here and all of that information will be used to determine how much insurance we all pay in future. not too many rockfalls in britain, but it's a problem in switzerland. there's not a lot a computer can do about this.

so what are insurers hoping to learn? we want to demonstrate that we can't have the same accident investigation methods as we had before for autonomous cars. we need to know whether the driver or the car was in charge of driving the car. and that's a key question. if a computer's driving, who'll be responsible for the crash? i don't think people need to worry about whether it's their fault or the computer's fault. the uk government has decided an insurance policy will be required and that will deal with the claim in the first instance, so people will be compensated and then the insurance companies, motor manufacturers, they can argue amongst themselves in the background. they save the real drama until last. this next test is about giving the computer a moral dilemma. when an accident is inevitable, does it hit the person on the quad bike or someone in a car? the bike's causing the accident, but the rider's more vulnerable,

so who should the computer hit? for this test, they simulate a car choosing the rider. it's just a dummy, but it's still hard to watch. computer—driven cars are inevitable and these tests will determine how our insurance will work. they already predict that premiums will come down because computers make better drivers than humans. richard westcott, bbc news, zurich in switzerland. that is the way it is looking this hour. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @duncangolestani for a round—up of the news had to our website. stay with us.

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. but it's a hurricane that's just 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 are talking hundreds of millimetres of rain, here. catastrophic, life—threatening flooding could well be taking place over the next few days in texas. we'll keep you updated. onto our weekend weather, and some warm, sunny spells on the way for many of us. the chance for catching a shower. for saturday and sunday, even though there'll be some around, most of us will not. sun for england to begin with on saturday. some showers — one or two dotted about in northern england. most places will avoid those and stay dry. if you do get shower in scotland, it could still be on the heavy side, maybe with a rumble of thunder, but 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 picture. broken cloud and sunshine. it will turn breezier by the time we get to monday. as to the women's rugby world cup final in belfast on saturday evening, a fair bit of cloud around, by then, but is likely dry, and temperatures will ease away after the warmth of the day. now, this is a picture through saturday night. it's looking dry for nearly all of us. the odd mist and fog patch developing, after a clearer night on saturday night in sunday morning. so temperatures for some of us will be a little bit lower. but a fine start to sunday. there will be a bit more cloud about in northern scotland. a bit more breeze, too — some patchy light rain to be had. but the vast majority will be dry. i don't necessarily expect clear blue sky. there will be some areas. there will be some areas of cloud.

sunday looks like it will be a warm day, too. eastern scotland, temperatures will get to 20 celsius, but the higher temperatures will be in england and wales, low to mid—20s. that warmth 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 can 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. the latest headlines: hurricane harvey has made landfall in texas. the category 4 storm is expected to bring sustained winds of 130 miles an hour and up to a metre of rain. thousands of residents have boarded up thousands of residents have boarded up their homes and fled. donald trump has signed a disaster proclamation. the latest short—range missiles launched by north korea appear to have been unsuccessful.

the united states military says one missile blew up almost immediately and two failed in flight. the latest firings come during a joint us—south korea military exercise, which has been strongly criticised by pyongyang. and 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, gurmeet rahim singh. now on bbc news, newsbeat take a look at the arguments for and against the legalisation of cannabis.