welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: the search for survivors intensifies in mexico city after an earthquake kills over 200 people. hurricane maria knocks out power to the whole of puerto rico, isolating more than three million people. thousands take to the streets of barcelona to protest against attempts by the national government to stop an independence referendum. and human life and how it all starts — for the first time in the uk, scientists use gene editing on an embryo. in central mexico, teams of rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors, after a powerful earthquake claimed at least 200 lives. dozens have been saved from the ruins of buildings

which collapsed over 2a hours ago. but the nation is mourning 21 children who were killed when their primary school collapsed. many others are still missing. almost half of the deaths were in the densely—populated capital, mexico city, where power lines and gas pipes have been cut. the magnitude of the earthquake was measured at 7.1 and the epicentre was around 120km south of the capital. our correspondent aleem maqool is in mexico city where the rescue work is continuing. it is today the full scale of the destruction in mexicocity it is today the full scale of the destruction in mexico city has been revealed. more buildings weakened by the frightening force of the earthquake collapsed overnight. and this is just one of the terrifying dramas playing out here. children trapped under rubble, confused and scared, but first one gets pulled out and then the other.

they were among the young pupils trapped when their primary school collapsed, it happened at lunchtime moments after the earthquake struck. at least 20 children are known to have been killed here, many more are missing. this school has become the grim symbol of mexico's loss. translation: i am desperate, i want them to get the children out, i want to see something. this is my building. this is the moment the earthquake hit yesterday. those who escaped felt lucky to be alive. (crying) i was inside the building and it collapsed. everything came around. cctv footage from a shopping centre showed the roof start to collapse. this woman getting out of the wayjust in time. on their mobile phones, people captured countless

shocking videos of buildings collapsing. many who survived wandered around in shock. it is extraordinary that even though much of mexico city appears to be ok, you can turn a corner and find something like this, a building that used to be apartments or an office block but where it has now been reduced to rocks and dust and where people lost their lives. also, all over the town, lines of volunteers, people trying to help those who may still be alive. as we spoke to the rescue workers they began to raise their hands to ask for a few moments‘ silence to try to hear any cries for help. but no joy this time. people all over this city and beyond in the rural areas affected

arejoining to focus their energies on saving any life they can. translation: we are organising with the volunteers, we have doctors and nurses, and working with our own materials and supplies from the people. translation: we need antibiotics, healing patches, wooden boards and ropes, blankets and food and medical help. but some now sleep on the street, afraid to be inside, traumatised by the violence of the quake. there may be a spirit of togetherness here now but there is also an acute sense of loss and fear. aleem maqool, bbc news we can now speak to veronica calderon, a journalist in mexico city. what have you seen of the rescue efforts 7 what have you seen of the rescue efforts? it has not stopped yet. the

president said 52 people have been rescued. there are rescue efforts all over the city, with volunteers helping in any way they can stop it is starting to rain in mexico city so is starting to rain in mexico city so it becomes very much more difficult for the rescue efforts right now. i think it will be a couple of days more. we have been hearing there is a huge all and tear effort. have officials been able to cope with the scale of the task? this is an issue that is interesting in mexico because since the trauma of 1985's earthquake, the society,

the civilians... made a lot of operations that usually are done by the government. in a matter of second, the earthquake just happened and you could see all the traffic signs, right here in mexico city, went down and regular civilians were directing the traffic. so to see this kind of effort is just overwhelming. not only bring in third and tried to get people out of the rubble, engineers offering to see if the buildings that are damaged if they are still... if the people can still live there. hospitals, private hospitals, have

offered services for free to patients. it is quite amazing to see this. it is a bittersweet moment for mexico right now. thank you for that update. and don't forget you can get much more detail about the mexican earthquake on the bbc website. you'll find reports from our correspondents, eyewitness accounts and further background information. a curfew has been imposed across the caribbean island of puerto rico as it struggles to deal with the aftermath of hurricane maria. the island is now without power after the category five storm hit the us territory. it brought wind speeds of up to 225km/h, although the storm has weakened slightly as it moves across the island. the us virgin island of st croix has also been hit.

communications with the island of dominica remain largely cut off but the latest pictures and aerial photographs show flattened buildings and fallen trees. 0ur correspondent will grant is in puerto rico and sent this update. there is still no end in sight to this uncommonly powerful hurricane season in the atlantic. and the longer it goes on, the more records it seems to break. hurricane maria, now the strongest storm to make landfall in puerto rico in almost a century. when it hit, it certainly felt like it. maria struck the island with winds of up to 165 miles per hour and dumped as much as 25 inches of rainfall in some areas along its path. that was on top of everything hurricane irma did here barely a week ago.

the tiny island of dominica was directly in the path of the storm and apparently suffered some of the worst of the damage. the country's prime minister described the situation as it was unfolding, calling the damage "mind—boggling". maria is slow—moving, creeping its way over puerto rico, meaning the window for potential damage and destruction lasted for many hours. the islands authorities had tried to prepare as best they could with thousands housed in evacuation shelters, others took refuge with friends and family. this is absolutely the worst hurricane experience i've had. we've lived in puerto rico for about the last 30 years, so we have experienced some. it was very loud, we heard a lot of glass breaking. we heard the waves or water hitting against the window. puerto ricans were relieved to have avoided the worst of hurricane irma, but it looks like they've not been so lucky this time around with hurricane maria.

many here fear the same kind of devastation seen elsewhere in the caribbean, all of this happening on an island that is, lest we forget, currently essentially bankrupt. manpower from the us emergency agency, fema, is on hand and millions in federal funds will be needed, particularly in the days to come. but most people in puerto rico can't get think about the clean up until they're sure it's safe to step out from their homes and shelters. 0nce maria eventually moves on, they can begin to assess the extent of the damage left in her wake. for many communities, though, maria has already finished off what are left behind. will grant, bbc news, puerto rico. the national hurricane centre said

the hurricane is moving away from puerto rico but torrential rains continue and weather conditions deteriorate in the east dominican republic and the cake is island. at the united nations in new york the us secretary of state rex tillerson and iran's foreign minister have held talks on the nuclear deal with tehran. javad zarif and the european union's foreign policy chief federica mogherini defended the nuclear deal between iran and world powers. ms mogherini said iran was in full compliance of the agreement. donald trump has said the agreement was "the worst deal ever signed". earlier the iranian president, hassan rouhani said his country will respond "decisively and resolutely" if the united states walks away from the nuclear deal. translation: it will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics. the world would have lost a great opportunity but such unfortunate behaviour will never impede iran's course of progress and advancement. as such, it belongs

to the international community in its entirety and not only to one or two countries. spain's prime minister has urged catalan separatists to respect the law after protests were held in barcelona against government attempts to halt an independence referendum. the leader of the catalan government accused the central government of coordinated aggression after 14 catalan officials were detained for organising the referendum. 0ur correspondent tom burridge spoke to some of those taking part in the pro—independence demonstrations. there is a real sense of defiance here. these people were already angry at the spanish authorities who have please blocked attempts of a referendum on independence in catalonia but as of today, the sense

of political tension has moved up again. i like what independence and i want again. i like what independence and iwanta again. i like what independence and i want a vote. it is our right. what do you think? spain is not going to allow a vote, so what are you going to do? it is not illegal. i cannot understand how spain is not letting us understand how spain is not letting us do that. from much of the time here, it has been a carnival atmosphere. beyond the crowd, officers were raided by officers at ina high officers were raided by officers at in a high state manoeuvre by the spanish state to try and prevent the referendum which they say it would be illegal. police came and wanted to arrest people. everybody is angry. it is just

to arrest people. everybody is angry. it isjust a joke that to arrest people. everybody is angry. it is just a joke that they are calling democracy and illegal thing. they cannot stop us. even if they bring the army and everything, they bring the army and everything, they cannot stop us. i do not really ca re they cannot stop us. i do not really care about the consequences any more. if i have to print my own papers, i don't care what i have to do. this crowd, though, is not representative of wider catalan society. when they have been asked whether or not they want an independent catalan state, despite the efforts of separatist parties to foster the spanish government's came, we have now reached an uncomfortable and predict the ball stand off. —— unpredictable. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: his art now fetches record prices — a new exhibition celebrates the wild world ofjean—michel basquiat. ben johnson, the fastest man

on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. and so the british government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: a powerful earthquake has killed more than 220 people in mexico. in the capital. the search for survivors in collapsed buildings is continuing, including at a primary school. hurricane maria has torn a path of destruction across puerto rico. flooding and severe winds have knocked out power to the entire island. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidyanathan is in mexico city and she sent this report. well, the focus here in the la condesa neighbourhood of mexico city is on the rescue efforts. more than a day after the earthquake struck, people here in mexico city are still taking in the horror of what exactly happened, but there is also huge amounts of hope.

this building here was a 6—storey commercial and residential property. as you can see it was completely flattened. it isjust a big pile rubble and twisted metal now. but throughout the day rescuers have been picking through the remains, trying to find signs of life, and officials say they have rescued as many as 2a people from here, and they are not giving up hope that they will find more people. as well as that, hundreds of volunteers have also flocked to the area, many of them handing out bottles of water, handing out hot meals and medical supplies. there is still a sense of caution here, as many people fear the possibility of after—shocks and also there were gas leaks that happened in the wake of the earthquake and so many people here have been holding up cardboard signs, urging people not to smoke and not use mobile phones, in case there may be gas explosions.

in the wake of the earthquake in mexico city, as many as a0 buildings were completely destroyed, notjust here, in this neighbourhood, but across the city, including at a school in which many young children's lives were lost. for the first time in the uk, scientists have altered the dna of human embryos. the research — using a technique known as gene editing — was performed at the francis crick institute in london. it's aimed at increasing understanding of the first days of human development. the scientists say it might eventually lead to improved ivf treatment. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. in this lab in central london, scientists are trying to unlock the mysteries of life — how one fertilised cell can go on to create a human. they're doing it by studying the dna of embryos in a dish in theirfirst week. this is basic research that's

providing us with a foundation of knowledge about early human development within this first seven—day window, and our hope is that this information can be used as a basis to build further understanding about underlying causes of infertility. inside the nucleus of our cells is our genome. made of dna, it's the instruction manual for life. the key sections are genes — 20,000 of them, which control how cells function. scientists at the crick institute were targeting a single, super gene called oct—4 to see what would happen if it was switched off. now this is one of the donated human embryos they used, left over from ivf. you can see that the nucleus of the sperm and the egg haven't yet merged to share their dna. they injected the gene editing system, known as crisper,

into each of them. now, the crisper system scans the billions of letters of dna like a spell—check, until it gets to the oct—4 gene and cuts both strands, removing a tiny section which inactivates or silences the gene. now we can see what effect that had. the healthy control, on the left, shows how an embryo should develop over five days, it's getting bigger and eventually developing a cavity at the centre. now compare that to the gene—edited embryo, it keeps collapsing, confirmation thatjust one tiny section of dna is crucial for healthy development. in the long—term, it could help explain why women, like natasha, keep losing their pregnancies. last year alone she had four miscarriages. it's the unknown. we don't know exactly what's going on and to be able to research and find out the crux of what it is, what potentially it could be,

could just save a lot of heartache. this research in the journal nature was not about creating babies. but in theory, embryo gene editing could one day be used to get rid of inherited disease. that would raise major ethical issues. the aim of this study was basic research, it was to produce knowledge about human development. the embryos that were used in the study were never intended to be implanted. so we should, with respect to this study, put all talk of designer babies off the table. the crick institute, in london, is a world leader in gene editing, a technology which has the potential to transform medicine and our understanding of human biology. fergus walsh, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories

making the news. police in the uk have detained a sixth man in connection with last week's attempted bomb attack on a london tube train. in the last few hours officers arrested a 17 year old man in south london — earlier two men were arrested under the terrorism act in south wales. the manager of england's women's football team, mark sampson — who's been embroiled in allegations of racism and bullying — is to step down. the 34—year—old left his role after evidence emerged of "inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour" during his time at a training academy. before banksy there was basquiat — a graffiti artist who became a sensation in the art world. jean—michel basquiat died of a suspected drugs overdose in new york at the age of 27 in 1988. now the first large—scale exhibition of his work is going on show at the barbican in london. there's no mistaking a jean—michel basquiat painting, there's that sense of improvisation, the crudely drawn figure and the graphic, poetic rhythms which are like a pictorial form of free jazz. it's a visual language, partly inspired by picasso and partly by new york's street art scene in the late ‘70s — in it which he was a major player —

producing work that continues to be influential to this day. i think it's definitely true to say that a lot of artists working on the street today take a lot of inspiration from basquiat‘s work and his attitude to public space. when he made his work on the street, he particularly made it around the soho district where the galleries were. he wanted his work to be seen by the media, by the galleries. he was a man with a plan? i think he was a man with ambition. he became a well—known character on the scene. he started to make drawings, he made friends with andy worhol and then, as he turned 20, made the very tricky transition from street artist to fine artist. he saw that his art career was just going to be, you know, massive. he knew that. he knew he was going to be famous from the very beginning, the first time i spoke to him. the rest of us, we were like making our art and trying to impress the other 300 or 400 people that were downtown on the art scene. basquiat was looking well past that, he was looking at global domination. he became the toast of manhattan's

super wealthy collectors. he was called thejimmy hendrix of art, the post—modern picasso, but he was, and for a long time after his death in 1988, largely overlooked by the art establishment. partly that has to do with him being black. there really wasn't a black presence at the highest levels — blue chip levels — of the art world ,and also the sense of, like — you know, black people, you're great at the singing and dancing and all that, but the conceptual stuff, leave that to us. you know, leave that to white europeans. and that's really offensive and that alone made jean crazy. jean—michel basquiat‘s hybrid artworks with their raw combination of graffiti drawing and abstract painting synthesised the political, social and cultural landscape of america in the late ‘70s and ‘80s with a veracity and power few others could match. will gompertz, bbc news. jake lamotta, the american boxer, played by robert de niro in the martin scorsese film raging bull, has died at 95.

according to his wife, the former world middleweight champion died in a nursing home, due to complications from pneumonia. raging bull was based on lamotta's memoir and showed a fighter struggling with life outside the ring. robert de niro won an oscar for his portrayal. of 0fa of a leopard has been discovered in a wildlife reserve in northern nigeria where the big cats were thought to be extinct, photographed by hidden camera while roaming the game reserve at night, an extraordinary picture there. stay with us on bbc world news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmregedahmad. hello.

the very same weather system that produced a very wet wednesday in northern ireland is gradually pushing further east across the uk during thursday. here it is. at least to begin the day, there will be heavy rain bursts in western areas. we are looking at things at eight o'clock in the morning. you can see it in the west of wales into south—west scotland. all points east of that should be fine and dry. a mild morning compared to wednesday. but the overnight rain is pushing away from northern ireland. something sunny not far away. it is a bit lighter the further north you are. some of us in eastern scotland will start the day dry. it is very slowly going east. even by the end of the afternoon it won't be into eastern england. ahead of this weather system, in some sunshine, feeling quite cooler. but the sun will come out. northern ireland,

scattered heavy showers. some pushing in the western parts of scotland through the day, especially into the western isles. that weather system is just creeping into western parts of eastern england that stayed dry on thursday. thursday night, a chilly night into friday morning. widely into single figures, low single figures in some spots, a few patches of mist and fog. northern ireland, another system of weather coming in with rain. a gale in the irish sea. that rain is gradually edging into other western and northern parts of the uk into friday. again, leaving much of central and eastern england dry. pulling away from northern ireland, with sunny spells coming back. the weekend starts with a frightening area of low pressure, but most of the energy is pushing away to the north. a weaker weather front heading our way slowly as the weekend goes on.

a gale in places. a mild breeze blowing elsewhere across the uk. sunny spells developing from the south. the odd spot of rain shifting northwards through the day. a weather front weakening in the west of the uk. ahead of that, we'll see the higher temperatures. some spots are into the low 20s perhaps. hurricane maria is out of mexico and is moving close to the north—east coast of the dominican republic. it could be a major hurricane cloe to the turks and caicos islands by friday. this is bbc news, the headlines: the search for survivors of the mexico earthquake continues, with emergency crews and volunteers digging through rubble with their hands. more than 200 people are known to have been killed across the country, including at least 21 children at a school in mexico city. dozens more children are feared to be trapped. emergency officials in puerto rico say hurricane maria has knocked out power to the entire island which is home to 3.5 million people.

the head of the disaster management agency said it had damaged everything in its path. demonstrations are expected to continue for a second day in the spanish city of barcelona after tens of thousands of people protested late into the night against government attempts to stop a regional vote on independence. now on bbc news stephen sackur speaks to the turkish novelist 0rhan pamuk on hardtalk.