welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a trail of destruction left by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the united states. and there is lift off. russia suspends all manned flights to the international space station, as it investigates why the crew of a soyuz rocket were forced into an emergency landing. mum's the word — researchers in china say they've created baby mice with two mothers and no father. a special report from kabul on the taliban and so—called islamic state prisoners jailed for violence and disruption. people on florida's gulf coast have spent the day assessing the damage to their homes and businesses,

from one of the strongest storms that's ever hit the united states. hurricane michael tore into north—west florida as a category four on wednesday, with winds over 150 miles an hour — 240 kilometres an hour. it weakened as it moved inland, towards the north east. at least six people have died. mexico beach, showcased online as a perfect holiday destination, where the sand is as white as snow. now described as ground zero. the place that bore the brunt of hurricane michael as it slammed into florida. florida's governor flew across the state to see the extent of the destruction for himself. especially the damage at mexico beach, it is devastating. you just pray to god that everybody survived that. crews

from the coastguard worked tirelessly, rescuing 37 people during ten missions. this survival was found and brought to safety a helicopter team scouting the devastation in alabama. some homeowners in florida returning to look over what can be salvaged from the ruins. it will be months before life returns to some sort of normality. i think there is a lot of, you know, anger and shock. just emotion, you know, that is at its peak right now. i think we just need a few days todayjust peak right now. i think we just need a few days today just what peak right now. i think we just need a few days todayjust what has happened and see how the rebuilding is going to happen. but for many life will never be the same again. i spoke just now to vicki eichstaedt from the red cross, in tallahassee, florida, on the phone from there because electricity is still in short supply. here in tallahassee, things are starting to return to normal.

power is coming on sporadically. very few stores are beginning to open on generator power. lots of clean—up going on here of... of vegetation, trees down, lines down, that kind of thing, also power down with lines affecting roads and that sort of thing. but very slowly starting to come back. i guess it is mercifully rare to see a category 4 hurricane making landfall, but pretty rough i know and i gather that the further west to go towards panhandle, it's really quite catastrophic there? it absolutely is. tallahassee only suffered from the outer bands of the storm, and really got off fairly likely. but the further west to go from here, there's

absolutely catastrophic damage. how was it overnight? a lot of people i've talked to who been through hurricanes talk about the sound of it being particularly terrifying, especially, of course, in the dark? yes, and i think there's not a way to compare it or to try and paint a visual picture of that sound. you can talk about freight trains moving very fast. you can talk about the sound of wind in a tunnel, but that doesn't come close. the sound is deafening. let's get some of the day's other news. ajudge in new york has dismissed one of the six sexual assault allegations against harvey weinstein. the dismissal relates to lucia evans, who accused the movie producer of forcing her to perform a sexual act. weinstein‘s lawyer believes this

development taints the whole case against his client. president trump has said he's reluctant to block saudi investments in the us despite concerns over the fate of jamal khashoggi. the saudi journalist and government critic was last seen entering the saudi consulate in turkey more than a week ago, to get papers that would allow him to marry. the saudi ambassador to london has told the bbc he is concerned about the disappearance. china says there is no basis for allegations by the united states that a chinese intelligence official attempted to steal sensitive trade secrets from a us company. yanjun xu was arrested in belgium in april after meeting an engineer from ge aviation, which makes aircraft engines. russia has suspended manned flights to the international space station, while it investigates what went wrong with a soyuz spacecraftjust after take off from kazakhstan. it was dramatic and dangerous and it hasn't happened for decades, but the crew — a russian and an american — survived the emergency landing unharmed.

here's sarah rainsford. and there is lift—off of the soyuz ms—io... a burst of fire and noise, as a soyuz rocket lifted its crew into orbit. at first, this was a routine launch to the international space station. then came this. less than three minutes into the flight, the commander, alexey ovchinin, reported an emergency. the booster system had failed. the launch had to be aborted. moments later, the two men were plunging back to earth in their tiny capsule. the crew did train for this nightmare scenario, the gruelling g—force their bodies would have to endure. but russia's soyuz rocket hasn't failed on launch in over three decades.

for american nick hague, it was an abrupt end to his first ever mission. he was due to spend six months in orbit. ever since yuri gagarin launched into orbit, russia has been immensely proud of its space programme. this accident, then, will be a major blow. but it is notjust a matter of prestige. russian rockets are currently the only way up to the international space station. what happens now, then, is a big question. rescuers were quick to reach the remote landing site, hugely relieved, too, that the crew emerged unharmed, even walking. but all soyuz flights have now been suspended as an investigation is launched. the safety measures of this space — of this launcher are very good, and the two astronauts are well, they are in good shape. so therefore i think we should investigate the case, and as soon as possible fly again. tonight, the astronauts were reunited with their families. for them, it was a moment ofjoy. for russia, though, a time of tough questions over what exactly went

so wrong here. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. bruce betts, chief scientist with the planetary society, which describes itself as the world's largest and most influential non—profit space organisation. i asked him what went wrong with the soyuz mission. well, we don't know exactly what went wrong, but about two minutes into the rocket flight with the astronaut and cosmonaut on board, around the time the first stage boosters on the side were coming off the spacecraft something went wrong. and that caused them to go into an aborted mode, where the space capsule that the people on board was ejected from the rocket and as part of this emergency mode. and then they had a harsh but safe descent onto the steppes of

kazakhstan. harsh but safe, as you say. most of the response would have been automated by the soyuz on—board computers. they must have had a pretty rough time. for a while when they getting seven times their body weight? yes. usually things are done so that you limit the g load, the exhilaration is to 3gs. in these emergency aborts, like this one, in order to get them down safely, they were experiencing about seven times the normal acceleration of gravity on the earth. quite the intense wild ride for a while there. what happens next? there are other ways to get supplies to the international space station, are there other ways to get astronauts and cosmonauts up? there are not, at this particular time. there are other ways to get supplies up, there are american rockets scheduled to take supplies in the next month or so, but right now be soyuz rocket,

which suffered the failure, is the only way to get astronauts up to space. we anticipate some time in the next year in 2019 spacex and boeing will provide a us access, until they have resolved the soyuz issue in the near term, first investigating what went wrong and then figuring out what can you do about it and can you convince everyone is as safe, no one else is going up. there are three astronauts on the space station right now. they are safe, they have got supplies, they have their own soyuz capsule to return to earth. that is scheduled for december. they cannot extend it too much because of things that degrade in space. kanye west has met president trump at the white house.

in an epic monologue in the oval office, which seemed to leave the president fairly speechless, the rap star who now wants to be known as yay, declared himself a huge fan. he said mr trump made him feel like a superhero. he also said the best way to keep black americans off welfare and out of prison was to create more jobs. this from our washington correspondent chris buckler. over and over and over again... with his appearance in the white house, kanye, truly made this the west wing. how does it feel to be in the oval office? oh, it is good energy in this. good energy, really? good energy. you know, i love hillary, i love everyone. and he had a fair amount of energy himself — at one stage he delivered a long and produce beach that silenced even president trump. trump is on his hero's journey right now. and he might not have expected a crazy bleep like kanye west run up to support, but we are going to make america great. that was quite something.

he talked enthusiastically, about criminaljustice reform, jobs and education — showed off a picture of a hydrogen—powered plane he thinks should replace air force one. but perhaps most memorable of many memorable moments came when he talked about the superhuman qualities of donald trump's signature make america great again campaign caps. it was something about when i put cap on that it made me feel like superman. you made a superman. that was — that is my favourite superhero. and you made cape for me. kanye west is one of the world's most famous entertainers and there is a serious political point to all of this. trump doesn't poll well with african—america ns, and kanye west is his most high—profile black supporter. judging by his performance in the white house, possibly his most enthusiastic one. when i say i like donald trump to someone that is liberal, and they say "oh, but he's racist!"

you think racism can control me? that don't stop me, that is an invisible wall. it's a sign of this era of personality politics in america that kanye even referenced his own presidential ambitions, although he made a pledge not to run against the man he called his bro, and there seems to be quite a bromance. you said — you said — i guess you know i love you. i know. did i — did i...? but i don't want to take — i don't want to put you in that spot. i'm standing in that spot. i love this guy right here. let me give you a hug right here. i love this guy right here. that is really nice. come here. that is from the heart. i didn't want to put you in this position. that is from the heart. special guy. often critics compare this presidency to reality television. but if anything, this meeting of two self—proclaimed geniuses verged on the surreal. and it was kanye west who stole the show. chris buckler, bbc news. there is already talk of a kanye

west wing. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: reagan returns. how one of america's most revered former presidents is making a — sort of — comeback. parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life. but in the marina area, where most of the damage was done, they're more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here, he's gone from being a little—known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. it was a 20lb bomb which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken. democracy will prevail. it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. this catholic nation held its breath for the men they call the 33.

and then... bells toll bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue, and chile let out an almighty roar. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: a trail of destruction left by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the united states. russia suspends all manned flights to the international space station after the crew of a soyuz rocket were forced to make an emergency landing. afghan voters go to the polls this month in important parliamentary elections. swirling around them, a deadly cycle of violence. 15 border police were killed on thursday by taliban insurgents in the north, and the taliban now control more territory than at any point since their regime was removed 17 years ago. the group that calls itself islamic state has also been active

in recent years, but many extremists have been captured. the bbc‘s ben zand was given rare access to a jail in kabul. kabul, afghanistan, a city in lockdown. the threat from groups like the taliban and the so—called islamic state were constant and real. the country's been in a state of war since the us invasion in 2001, and now, attacks are worse than ever. if i was to find myself talking to the taliban or the islamic state on the streets of kabul, that would mean something has gone very wrong. so realistically, the only way to do it is to speak to them in a prison. i'm headed to afghanistan's biggest prison. i had heard about a taliban commander who'd been involved in numerous ied attacks on afghan and foreign forces.

but would he talk? the prison was separated into an area for the so—called islamic state, and one for the taliban. the prisoners were free to talk, and first up were what the guards claimed were members of is, or daesh. do you admit you are members of is, or do you say you are innocent? if you're all not members of islamic state, are you happy to renounce what they do, the tactics they use, the people they kill? i mean, do you think the act of beheading people, killing people, is acceptable? when i asked that question, though, you two both smiled. what is funny about the concept of killing people and blowing them up? it seems unusual, if you're not members of islamic state, and you think what they do is wrong, that you'd be so unwilling to comment on anything that they do. it seems like you're scared because you are in fact members of islamic state.

the so—called islamic state clearly weren't in the mood to talk, so it was time to try the taliban. ok, so this guy is supposedly a dangerous member of the taliban. he was the taliban commander i had heard about. i mean, there have been some pretty deadly suicide bombings, killing many innocent civilians in kabul. do you condone those attacks? why can you not have talks, ceasefire, communication? what if you get to the gates of heaven, and you tell god you've killed all these people, and he tells you they are innocent, and that you have not been a good muslim? before we could challenge him

further, we were told we had to leave. yourtime is up. 0k. the guards were concerned with our safety. the taliban were angry at my interview. we're now rushing out of the prison. that was my chance to meet the guys who terrorised this place. they are the people literally killing civilians, on an almost daily basis now. and you can see why, because death is really nothing to them. this is a country desperate for peace, but for many here, it feels further away than ever. ben zand, bbc news, kabul. ben doing fine work around the world. and you can see more of ben zand's film in the series

the world's most dangerous cities, which you can see on bbc iplayer. researchers at the chinese academy of sciences are saying they've created created baby mice with two mums and no dad. the researchers say the bi—maternal animals were healthy and went on to have pups of their own. the team also had a go at mice with double—dads, but they died within days of being born. professor monika ward is from the institute for biogenesis research at the university of hawaii. she gave me her thoughts on the research. well, this is a very fascinating and comprehensive study, that taught us a little bit new about the special imprinted genes. and the team, the chinese team, made some progress over what was known before. in 2004, a japanese group also developed offspring from the maternal parents, but the efficiency of this process was much lower, and the mice were not normal. the new study shows that plenty of the offspring could be obtained.

they grew up well, and they were able to have offspring of their own. however, there is still a lot we don't know about these mice. as you know, you cannot ask a mouse if she has a headache, so i believe a lot of follow—up studies are necessary to investigate these mice, and to be really sure if they are normal and healthy. there's been some talk about it breaking the rules of reproduction, but i guess these things called rules, actually, they may be rules for humans, that you need a dad and a mum, but not so in the rest of nature at all. well, if we're talking about the mammals, maternal and paternal compliments are clearly needed, and they complement each other. so for humans, we do need maternal and paternal genes. what we are doing now with difference assisted reproductive technologies, and different genetic manipulations, is trying to overcome this barrier and see if we can obtain offspring

from only mums and dads, and that's what the team from china was trying to achieve. and, of course, i think it's some female fish, isn't it, reptiles, amphibians and some birds can go it alone. where do you hope that this might lead eventually? i think for now it's teaching us a lot about imprinting genes. the technologies are being developed, and perhaps in the future we will be possible to obtain live offspring from two dads. we are definitely not yet there. and even with the offspring from two mums, i believe we need more investigations on the normalcy of these mice. professor, thank you very much. you're very welcome. monika ward. whenever an american president leaves office, a presidential library invariably follows. it's a place to showcase historic documents, and burnish the legacy of your time in the oval office. one presidential library has gone

a step further in enhancing the visitor experience as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. ronald wilson reagan, 14th president of the united states. a hero of conservative america, credited by some with winning the cold war. he died in 2004, but if you happen to be paying a trip to his presidential library in california, you might think he had been reborn. welcome to the oval office... a 3—d hologram welcomes visitors, an opportunity to look history in the eye. i think that people are just going to be drawn into this incredible image. it'll be the first time... if you've never been in a room with president reagan, this will feel like you're standing right there with them. we've been blessed with a vast and beautiful land... the audio comes from speeches president reagan made during his time in office,

but the visuals are a mixture of an actor providing the body and a computer providing the face. the team behind it are proud of their work. it is the greatest hologram that we've ever done. it is the greatest hologram that exists anywhere in the world. all the feedback that we're getting are positive. the designers describe this as something that has never been done before. the possibilities are endless, or, as reagan himself would put it... you ain't seen nothing yet. a singapore airlines plane is currently in the air, for what the carrier says will be the longest non—stop passenger flight on record. it's currently about 11 hours into the 19—hourjourney from singapore directly to new york. tickets aren't cheap on the airbus a350, there's no economy class on board. it's due to end its trip of 9,500 miles, that's almost 16,000 kilometres, at newark airport just after 10:30am gmt on friday.

a reminder of our top story: people on florida's gulf coast have spent the day assessing the damage to their homes and businesses from one of the strongest storms that's ever hit the united states. hurricane michael tore into north—west florida as a category 4 on wednesday, with winds over 150mph, 2a0kph. two people, including a child, were killed by falling wreckage. emergency workers say the town of mexico beach was worst hit. much more on the website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. thanks for watching. hello there. storm callum is approaching,

and it is set to bring us some pretty wet and windy weather over the next few days. on thursday, it was a breezy day, with a few showers around. this was the picture as we ended the day, taken by one of our weather watchers in reading. now, our attention is turning to the west, and this is storm callum, this developing area of low pressure. as it moves in through the course of friday and lingering into saturday, it will bring particularly windy and wet weather on the cards too. the rainfall totals could be mounting up, particularly in parts of south wales, where we've got an amber warning for that heavy rain, around a0 to perhaps 60mm of rain. could be even more over high ground, up to 100mm over the two days. so this is how friday is looking then. let's focus in on the regional detail. on friday morning, look at those wind speeds, 50 or 60mph, maybe a bit more than that over some of these exposed irish sea coasts, and heavy rain in the south—west of england, wales,

through the midlands too. northern ireland will have seen the worst of the wet weather by sam friday morning, but still very windy here, and wet and pretty windy conditions in the bulk of scotland and northern england too, with those strong gusty winds. so particularly windy in the north and west too, but wherever you are, you'll notice the strength of those winds. down towards the south—east of england and east anglia, you're more likely to stay dry for quite a good part of the day, and it's still pretty warm. in fact, temperatures once again up to 22 or so in the south—east. cooler further north and west, but actually mild wherever you are. but we have got strong winds and heavy rain to contend with too, so this area of rain becomes quite slow—moving through friday evening and into saturday morning, especially heavy in wales. and remember, we've got that amber warning in force for heavy rain in south wales, could be some flooding, perhaps some disruption to transport as well. as we move through the weekend then, the trailing weather front from storm callum stays put through the day on saturday. it's just slowly edging a bit further eastwards. but again, it will be parts of scotland, northern ireland, northern england, wales and the south—west of england that will see the bulk of that heavy rain.

strong winds again, especially down towards the midlands and the south—east of england. with that mild air in charge, though, in the sunshine, we could see temperatures up to 2a degrees, well above average for this time of year. then, as we move into the second half of the weekend, we'll see the rain edging its way further eastwards. so perhaps a soggy start for london and the south—east. some rain and even snow over the mountains of scotland. once the rain and hill snow clears to the east, an improved today in much of the country but temperatures will be almost 10 degrees cooler on sunday than they are on saturday. into next week, then, still pretty unsettled and breezy, with some showery rain at times. bye— bye. this is bbc news. the headlines: the scale of destruction wrought by hurricane michael in the us is becoming clearer. the storm hit florida and then made its way northeast. video shot from a helicopter shows rows of houses near coastal areas ripped from their foundations. hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are without electricity. russia has halted manned missions to the international space station, while an investigation is held into why the crew of a soyuz spacecraft were forced to make an emergency landing minutes after lift—off.

the russian cosmonaut and his american colleague are spending the night hospital under observation. scientists in china say they've managed to genetically produce healthy baby mice with two mothers — and no father. they took an egg from one female mouse and a type of stem cell from another. they then used gene editing to delete some of their dna to make them compatible.