welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: it is one of the most powerful storms in decades. hurricane michael strikes the florida shore, the most powerful storm to hit the south—west coast of the us in a century. thousands have evacuated. police say one person has been killed. extradited from belgium, a chinese intelligence officer appears in an american court charged with spying. new evidence emerges about missing saudi journalist, jamal kashoggi. president trump says he's asked top saudi officials for answers. the christian owners of a northern ireland bakery win the right not to make a cake, with a slogan supporting same—sex marriage. and police in nepal smash a major smuggling ring, trading in baby chimpanzees stolen from the wild in west africa. if they hadn't been rescued here, they would have been driven on to a buyerin they would have been driven on to a buyer in india and an unknown fate.

hurricane michael has reached land in north—west florida, with winds reaching 155 miles per hour. officals confirm one death. gasden county sheriff's office say a tree, knocked down by the strong winds, fell on a house and killed a man. hundreds of thousands have been urged to leave their homes and flee to higher ground, many have not. many want to try to save their homes and businesses or have nowhere else to go. some floridians caught in the path of the storm have posted videos describing what they're going through. teddy jaison rawlings gave this description of the storm damage so far. 0h oh my god. that's my grandmother ‘s house right there. with a tree in her yard and her fence house right there. with a tree in her yard and herfence is drawn.

here is the tree that is trying to become a permanent fixture of the house. the storm will track up the east coast. florida's governor has warned it will be the worst storm in a century. our north america correspondent gary o'donoghue is there. this is what the full force of nature looks like in hurricane form. michael is now pounding the florida panhandle, threatening everything in its path. the sheer power of hurricane michael has started to hurl itself against the florida panhandle now. it is causing some devastation. some powerlines are already down. roofs have been destroyed as well. we're expecting this to go on for the next few hours, late into wednesday, with the winds going up to 145 mph. driving through the streets of panama city beach this morning,

there were almost no other cars on the road. here and there, the odd neon sign still glowed, but many houses and businesses were boarded up after an emergency evacuation order. not everyone, though, had heeded the instruction. dave jackson decided to stay, despite having a homejust yards from the beach. are you worried that you won't survive? not really. not really — i've been a survivor all my life. what gives you the confidence that you will? god, and god takes care of fools. for residents like dave jackson, their next hours are likely to be lonely ones. the emergency services are staying off the streets until the storm has passed. everyone is on their own. as soon as the storm gets to the position where they're no longer safe, my officers, i'll put them in secure locations. we'll sit it out until it's secure, and then when the storm passes, we'll get right back out there and start looking for anyone that needs our help. in washington, the president was getting a briefing from his emergency officials. he plans to head to the panhandle later this week or early next. meanwhile, he is promising all the help florida needs. federal resources are on the ground, at every level,

and so we are absolutely ready. it's a top priority, and the single top priority is the saving of life. the true cost of michael will only be known once the storm has passed, and with georgia and the carolinas in its sights, florida will not be the only state to feel the severe destructive force of this huge hurricane. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, panama city beach. joining me now from georgia is paul ossmann, weather man for television channel cbs 46 news in atlanta. i know you have been solidly on a tracking this storm, so busy we couldn't talk to you before. paint us couldn't talk to you before. paint usa couldn't talk to you before. paint us a picture, how is it looking?” have been doing whether in atlanta for more than 30 years and have seen a lot of storms moved in. this was the second most powerful storm to ever hit the united states. number

one was hurricane andrew back in 1992, this was one mph from what we call a category five storm. what we are seeing from this is how quick it is moving, moving quickly from panama city into south—west georgia and we have reporters now near albany, 150 miles south of atlanta and we have one reporter actually going to what is considered the eye of the storm. it is still a category one hurricane, downgrade in the last hour, but it is still causing a lot of problems, the big problem of what is going on with michael right now is going on with michael right now is that the wind. we have had wind up is that the wind. we have had wind up to 70 mph in the south and in atla nta up to 70 mph in the south and in atlanta through tomorrow morning we expect wind of 20— 30, which will topple trees, knocked down powerlines and cause a lot of property damage. this is a storm whose story is still unfolding and probably will in georgia through tomorrow morning. we tend to think ofa tomorrow morning. we tend to think of a storm travelling quickly is

better news, because a storm that lingers creates more damage. better news, because a storm that lingers creates more damagem really interesting, that is a great thought. we have reporters at panama city and they were very thankful it was moving quickly through. what that also does in the meantime, is that also does in the meantime, is that gives you, that sends the power of the hurricane quicker and faster. if it slows down it has more time to minimise, to get to a trouble will storm status, this one didn't, it moved into the south—western part of georgia today as a category three to hurricane. that is like katrina, katrina was a three as it made la ndfall katrina was a three as it made landfall in new 0rleans. we are still dealing with hurricane force wind because it is moving so quickly and we are hoping it moves quickly enough to move out of our area in the next ten hours or so. just briefly, fought for those people staying behind in the path of the storm. we are a way off, but we tend to treat staying behind people as a

bit crazy. a lot of people want to protect their homes or businesses, or they don't have relatives somewhere safe, or the money to stay in hotels for weeks. especially on the coast, the florida panhandle, one guy who was with us early today said that his wife we live in georgia. i mean, in florida, we know the results, we know what strategies here are and we know about the problems that can occur by hurricanes and tropical storms. they moved out sometimes, enjoy the lifestyle, but they will be a lot clearing out tomorrow morning of with the wind producing up to 150 mph was. thank you so much for your time. a chinese intelligence officer has appeared in an american court, charged with spying. the us justice department says yanjun xu was extradited from belgium on tuesday. 0ur north america corespondent peter bowes has more. well, according to us officials, this goes back to 2013.

mr xu, working for the government, but not always revealing his true identity would, according to prosecutors, invite experts, engineers from overseas, and especially america, to visit china, perhaps under the guise of speaking to a university. but it was really to find out technical information about what they were working on. and this specific case relates to a company in cincinnati, in ohio, an aeronautics company that produces — that makes jet engines, has a special technique of making jet engines. and there was a meeting in china involving one of the engineers. but at this stage, this is last year, the fbi had got involved. and he was essentially lured to belgium for another meeting, where he was eventually arrested, clearly lured somewhere where he could be arrested and then taken to the united states, which has just happened.

and he's appeared in court accused of stealing, spying on the united states, especially aeronautics companies, making specialist equipment. let's get some of the day's other news. china has admitted for the first time that it is setting up what it calls "vocational training centres" for vast numbers of people in the western region of xinjiang. concern has been growing worldwide about the disappearance of uighur muslims in xinjiang. a un human rights committee heard recently that china may have locked up a million people. officials say the camps will tackle extremism through "thought transformation. " nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami hit the indonesian city of palu, search and rescue teams are ending large—scale operations. they've given up hope of finding many more of the 5,000 people still missing. at least 2,000 are known to have died. the government has imposed the deadline, it says, because it's increasingly difficult to identify bodies. us stock markets have seen their biggest falls in a single day since february. the three main share indices

all closed down over 3%. the dowjones has been down as much as 600 points and it was the biggest daily decline this yearfor the s&p 500. tech stocks have been hit especially hard. at least ten people have died in floods on the spanish island of majorca. cars and vans were swept away, as flash floods tore through the streets of a town on the east of the island. heavy rain caused a river to burst its banks. several of the dead are thought to be foreign tourists. president trump is saying he's demanded answers from saudi arabia at the highest level, about the missing journalist jamal khashoggi, who disappeared on a visit to the saudi consulate in istanbul eight days ago. he was a prominent critic of the saudi government, well known and respected in washington. turkish authorities accuse the saudis of murdering him.

today they released cctv, said to show a saudi hit—squad arriving in turkey and leaving hours later. from istanbul, the bbc‘s mark lowen. the last timejamal khashoggi was seen alive, entering the saudi consulate in istanbul last week to get papers for his upcoming marriage. turkey believes he was killed inside. in his most recent interview, the journalist was again a voice for democracy in the arab world. a man once close to the saudi monarchy, now critical of its repression. did that cost him his life? the trail begins at istanbul airport, early morning. a private jet arrives, carrying a group of saudis. they are captured passing through security. turkey claims this was a saudi hit squad. the turkish authorities have confirmed to the bbc these were the men, and we've been told this man was a colonel in the saudi intelligence, based at its embassy in london.

another is thought to be a forensics expert. at 1:14pm, jamal khashoggi is seen entering the consulate building. his fiancee, hatice cengiz, waited outside. just after 3pm, blacked out vehicles left the consulate. they drove 200 metres away, to the saudi consul general‘s residence, and they are a focus of the turkish investigation. what did they carry? could they have contained jamal khashoggi's body? cameras caught one of the vans entering the garage. at 5:30pm, jamal‘s fiancee is seen still waiting. but six of the saudis are already back at the airport, leaving by private jet. a second flight carries the others away. both planes head for riyadh. today, donald trump, who has formed close ties with the saudi crown prince, said he's raised it at the highest levels.

it's a very bad situation and we want to get to the bottom of it. for mr khashoggi's close friends and journalist colleagues, hope fades further. he was the kindest person i knew — kind, i mean, on a very personal level. he always wanted to show the world how great his people were and how great saudi arabia was. was his trust misplaced? saudi arabia denies the allegations and says it is looking forjamal khashoggi. but turkey, it seems, is closing in on a direct accusation of state—sponsored murder. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: why, after 130 years as the gold standard in us retail, department store sears is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom.

they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded, and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the parade and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but, even as divers work to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: hurricane michael strikes the florida shore — the most powerful storm to hit the south—west coast of the us in a century. so far reports of one death. a chinese intelligence officer has appeared in an american court charged with spying. gay rights campaigners have expressed disappointment, after the uk's supreme court ruled that a bakery in belfast did not break anti—discrimination laws when it refused to ice a cake with a message supporting same—sex marriage. the five justices said the christian owner of asher‘s bakery objected to the message on the cake, and not to any personal characteristics of the customer. the decision overturns the findings of two lower courts. emma vardy reports. it is four years since gay rights activist gareth lee walked into this belfast bakery to place an order.

his purchase of a cake became a bitter legal row over the extent to which businesses can refuse to promote certain views. the cake was to be iced with the message "support gay marriage". today, the supreme court ruled that the bakery‘s refusal to take that order did not amount to discrimination. this court has held that nobody should be forced or have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe. the bakery‘s owners had previously been sued for discrimination. today's decision by the uk's highest court to overturn previous rulings marks a hard —fought vindication of their views. we did not turn down this order because of the person who made it, but because of the message itself. thejudges have given a clear signal today. in fact, it couldn't be clearer. family businesses like ours are free to focus on giving all their customers the best service they can, without being forced to promote other people's campaigns. gareth lee spoke of his

disappointment at the turnaround. i paid my money. my money was taken, and then a few days later it was refused, based upon the beliefs of the business owners. that made me feel like a second—class citizen, and the judgement today tells me that that's ok. northern ireland is the only part of the uk which has not introduced same—sex marriage. the so—called gay cake case has been watched closely in belfast, where there have been protests from those on both sides of this debate. i'm so glad today that ashers has won the case, and that takes a lot — i'm sure it was a lot of pressure on them. i feel personally offended, and i feel that the lgbt community would be offended also. the supreme courtjudges said that the conclusions reached today were not intended to diminish the need to protect people who are gay from discrimination,

saying it would be an affront to human dignity to refuse someone a service based on their sexual orientation, but that that was not what had happened in this case. instead, said the court, it was the bakery‘s right not to print a message with which they disagreed. and this could be a taste of things to come if other businesses wish to refuse to promote political views in future. emma vardy, bbc news, at the supreme court. part of a highway bridge on the italian island of sardinia has been swept away after three days of heavy rain. the road was already closed because a sink hole opened up. but the bridge collapse has effectively cut the highway in two. a final scientific paper containing the work of the renowned physicist, stephen hawking, has been published. the study was completed by three of professor hawking's colleagues after his death earlier this year. the paper is a further contribution to understanding what happens to objects that disappear into black holes and where their information goes, which was a central part of hawking's work during his decades

as one of the world's leading cosmologists. police in nepal have broken a major smuggling ring trading in baby chimpanzees, stolen from their mothers in the wild in nigeria, then flown thousands of miles to kathmandu. stealing a baby chimp usually involves the poachers killing most adults in its family. police say they were responding to a bbc news report which revealed the extent of the illegal trade. a global conference opens in london tomorrow aimed at tackling the problem. 0ur science editor david shukman reports from kathmandu. a baby chimpanzee clings to the hand of a keeper. at this age it should be with its mother, but the tiny animal is a victim of wildlife traffickers. seized in west africa, two chimps were being smuggled halfway around the world when they were intercepted here in nepal. the men accused of smuggling them are awaiting trial. it's terrible what these little

animals have been through, captured in the jungle when they were just a few months old. drugged, crammed into a packing case, driven across nigeria, flown to istanbul and then here to kathmandu. and if they hadn't been rescued here, they'd have been driven on to a buyer in india and an unknown fate. the deal began when one of the men now facing trial posted this video. the chimps were on offer for $12,000 each. but after a tip—off, the police in nepal were keeping watch on kathmandu airport. a large crate arrived, containing some birds which can be legally imported. but detectives thought there was more to it, so they followed the delivery, and it was then they discovered the two baby chimps. the policeman in charge says he was shocked that they looked so like human babies. so, they were just

like a small baby human. they were just sucking their thumbs. and when you look closely into their eyes, obviously you feel, you know, sorry for them, because... i know they don't speak, but the way they look, you can make out that they were very tired and in a very bad condition. this is the place of the hiding. the smugglers were using a technique that we exposed last year, with a crate specially designed to hide animals that aren't allowed to be traded, like chimpanzees. the monkey, here it is. the chimp also. our investigation had revealed how baby chimps are in big demand as pets, but how capturing one infant alive involves killing the adults in its family. police! a police raid in the ivory coast led to the country's first convictions for wildlife crime.

and when our coverage was seen in nepal, detectives there launched their own investigation. the bbc story is now taught to undercover officers in kathmandu. the police know that nepal is seen as an easy transport route by animal traffickers. the demand is very high and it is lucrative for people who smuggle them. because when there is a lot of money, there is a lot of temptation for people to do that. drugs, human trafficking and now wildlife trafficking. that is where the money is. kathmandu is a busy trading hub. and because nepal is one of the world's poorest countries, and learned how

weaselly international criminals can bribe their way around. but the authorities here have their operation against the chimpanzee smugglers will signal that this route is now closed. and the chimps themselves, they are doing well, gaining weight, but they are caught ina gaining weight, but they are caught in a diplomatic tussle. nigeria wants them back, but nepal says they are evidence for the trial. so, for the moment, this small cage is their home. david shukman, bbc news, in kathmandu. a story david and his team will be staying across. shares in sears holdings plunged by more than 30% on wednesday, on news that the us retail chain is preparing to file for bankruptcy. monday is the deadline for a $134 million debt payment, according to the wall streetjournal. sears hasn't commented on the report. lebo diseko has the story. it was once america's largest retailer and employer. now, sears could be just days away from filing for bankruptcy.

the company has been described as being to last century what amazon is to this one, yet the once innovative, iconic store has failed to keep up with its online competitors. i think they had a really hard time modernising, unlike some other stores that have been kind of keeping up with the times, like walmart, for instance. obviously not as old a retailer as sears, but they have been evolving for quite some time, whereas sears just kind of stalled in place. you have to be relevant online and in store in order to survive, and i think that the stores which were not able to do that will fall by the wayside. sears roebuck and co was founded 125 years ago, and at one point had stores in almost every big mall across the us. it sold everything from clothes to car parts to mail—order homes. but a firm which also owns kmart has been losing money for years. it now owes more than $5 billion, and has until monday to pay $134

million on its debt. the chapter 11 filing is expected ahead of that deadline. it is possible the company could try and fight its way back after that, but it would likely be an uphill struggle, and so it looks like the writing is on the wall for what was once an american retail giant. the cuban president, miguel diaz—canel, has sent his first message on twitter. in it he celebrated the 150th anniversary of the start of cuba's fight for independence from spain. he tweeted: "we are in la demajagua" — the place with the greatest amount of patriotic feeling — a reference to where the revolution began. cuba currently has one of the world's lowest internet connectivity rates, something the leadership wants to change. more at any time on the bbc website. thank you for watching.

hello. wednesday brought some unseasonably warm if somewhat breezy weather to the shores of the uk. a big contrast with what we saw piling into florida, into the panhandle here. we saw hurricane—force winds, torrential rain, and a big storm surge around the coast thanks to category 4 hurricane michael. that system, now moving over land, will start to weaken significantly, but it's still going to bring a lot of rainfall, particularly to the carolinas and parts of virginia, before eventually weakening into an area of low pressure that pulls offshore into the atlantic by friday. back closer to home, and for us today, quite a mixture, actually. some showers around in the east first thing, rain coming into the west, and decent sunshine between times. breezy, but not quite as warm as yesterday. but it will still be mild first thing, and our temperatures look like the figures we'd typically expect in the afternoons at this time of year. there are the showers across eastern england first thing. i think they'll quickly move off into the north sea. into the west, though, some wet weather for the start of the day for the south—west of england, for south wales, also for western scotland some showers around initially,

and then more persistent rain, really, as the afternoon wears on. central and eastern areas may escape, then, with a fine day, east anglia and the south—east of england, for example, and there will be some sunshine behind the rain for wales and the south—west of england. still getting up to 22, 23 in the south—east, cooler to the west of this front. some showery outbreaks of rain for central and eastern england out of the tail end of that front thursday evening. some heavier rain pushing north across scotland, and then look out towards the south—west, because this really is the low to watch. now, this is callum. it's a named storm, it's a very deep area of low pressure, it's been named by met, and as it rolls across the uk on friday, we can expect gale—force winds, with severe gales in exposure. gusts in excess of 70 mph, likely to be damaging winds. some pretty heavy rain piling into the west through friday, as well. again, eastern areas definitely spared the wet weather, i think, for much of the day. but that wind is going to be the biggest problem, in association with this system on friday. still quite mild, even warm in the east, temperatures 19, 20, but much cooler weather eventually coming in behind callum. we've still got the trail

of the weather front behind that system, though, with us for saturday. so some quite wet weather towards the north and west, pulling away at the moment, it looks like, eastwards for sunday. that should be the drier and brighter day of the two this weekend. still, though, a lot of uncertainty in the detail. it will be worth keeping regularly up—to—date with the forecast. the latest headlines to retain michael, the most powerful subject its east coast of the us in decades, has made a fool in florida, with wind up to 200 metres per hour were. 0ne death has been reported. a chinese intelligence official has appeared in the us caught on espionage charges. man is accused of stealing sensitive trade secrets from an aviation company. he is an official from china's state ministry official from china's state ministry of security. he was extradited from belgium. president trump as steady as had high—level talks with saudi officials about the disappearance of a prominent saudi journalist and government critic. the man was last seen government critic. the man was last seen entering the saudi consulate in istanbul last week, but was never

seen istanbul last week, but was never seen leaving. newly released cctv is appeared to showing a saudi hit squad arriving in turkey. you are up—to—date on the headlines.