welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: federal agents search a mail office in florida as the us steps up the hunt for whoever is behind a series of bombs sent to leading democrats. saudi arabia admits for the first time the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi was premeditated. the cia director will brief president trump after listening to audio of the killing. new anti—drug laws, as america tries to get to grips with the worst public health emergency in us history. iam i am addicted to heroin. i want to stop, but i can't. the french spiderman scales one of london's tallest buildings before being caught in a police web. hello, welcome to bbc news.

police in the us have intensified their search for a serial bomber after more suspect packages were sent in the post. ten have been discovered after being sent to prominent critics of president trump two weeks before the us mid—term elections. investigators believe some of the pipe bombs were posted from florida. our north america correspondent nick bryant reports. these are the scenes that america woke up to — what looked like old footage from the war in iraq, but which were real—time images from a postal facility in delaware. a bomb disposal expert examining a suspect package, addressed to the former vice president, joe biden. yet another prominent democrat sent a crude bomb. in the middle of the night,

lower manhattan became the focus and a package sent to the office in tribeca of movie star robert de niro, an outspoken critic of donald trump. once again, a suspect explosive device hauled safely away in a vehicle that's fast becoming a familiar sight — the bomb squad's total containment vessel. we are treating them as live devices. as you see the way our bomb squad detectives went into cnn yesterday, this has to be taken with the utmost seriousness. so as far as a hoax device, we're not treating it that way. at a campaign rally last night, donald trump said acts of political violence were an attack on democracy, but some of his strongest remarks were directed atjournalists. as part of a larger national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative — and often times — false attacks and stories. have to do it. the president accepted no personal

blame for his part in the coarsening of american public life. and this morning on twitter, he renewed his attack on the media... that got this response from the former cia director john brennan, who was sent an explosive package. because none of the devices have exploded, the fbi has a mound of forensic evidence to help track down who's responsible. but some prominent conservatives have claimed this is all a liberal hoax, timed to coincide with crucial congressional elections. a focus of the investigation right

now is south florida where some of the parcels were put in the post and it is worth stressing again just how politicised this moment has become. we haven't seen a nation coming together. we are watching once again as america tears itself apart. marc lamberty is a manager at msa security. he worked as a member of the connecticut state police bomb squad and was also on a special fbi task force which dealt with the federal response to weapons of mass destruction or bombing events. marc, thanks for being with us. so the race is on now obviously to find the race is on now obviously to find the person or people behind this. we've all seen the images of the packages that were sent. what clues do you think they reveal? well, looking at the packages, obviously

they have the same type of envelope, it is an nlm below, i believe it is padded. the person or group of people who are sending these are using i believe six stamps to get them on each package —— manila envelope. and in that way you can drop that in a postal bin and avoid going to a counter which would have some kind of cctv. and then the labels themselves i think are all generated off a computer printer. so that's an interesting point there at outputting to many stamps on to avoid the cctv at the counters, but of course there is so much cctv in and around lots of different places with all of these devices being posted, you would have thought he or she or they would have been caught somewhere. and i would think that, you know, my former colleagues in

law enforcement are tracking down a lot of stuff because, as you said, there are cameras everywhere, and it's kind of hard to avoid getting yourself caught on film somewhere. and i know that one of those devices was left at george soros's residents andi was left at george soros's residents and i would only imagine that he has some type of extensive camera system covering all of his property. what do you make of the actual, you know, the devices themselves? they seem fairly crude. of course, none of them went off. what do you make of that? well, it could bejust something in the design, that the person or people that designed these, you know, they made a mistake in how they are doing it, or, you know, maybe they intention was not to have the device go off, maybe it was just to scare someone. but, you know, i'm not a was just to scare someone. but, you know, i'm nota big was just to scare someone. but, you know, i'm not a big fan of the phrase" crude" because when it comes

to making a device, simple works, it is very effective. the more extravagant, the more you add to making some type of device, wanting it to be very elaborate, you actually decrease the odds of it functioning as designed, and simple is very effective. that's a really interesting point, and we appreciate your insights, marc lamberty. thanks very much for your time, thank you. thank you. let's get some of the day's other news: google is reported to have given a huge pay—off to a senior executive after he was alleged to have sexually harrassed another member of staff five years ago. the man in question has denied any wrongdoing. the company says it's fired 48 employees accused of sexual misconduct over the past two years. the us defence secretary, jim mattis, is expected to order the deployment of at least 800 additional troops along the border with mexico. he's received a request from the department of homeland security as a group of several thousand central american migrants make their way towards the us.

at least 18 people, mostly schoolchildren, have died in a flash flood injordan close to the dead sea. a witness said their bus was hit by floodwaters that swept them into a valley. the israeli military says it is helping thejordanian search and rescue effort. a strong earthquake of magnitude seven has struck off greece. the us geological survey said the epicenter was in the ionian sea, twenty one miles west of lithakia, a village in the southern part of the popular tourist island of za kynthos. there are no initial reports of damage of injuries. the eldest son of the murdered journalist, jamal khashoggi, has arrived in the united states after being allowed to leave saudi arabia. salah khashoggi had previously been subject to a travel ban because of his father's criticism of the kingdom's leadership. the saudi authorities have for the first time admitted that the killing of the journalist three weeks ago in istanbul was premedidated.

mark lowen reports from outside the saudi consulate in istanbul. we are here over three weeks since jamal khashoggi was killed, at the spot where he was last seen entering the saudi consulate here in istanbul. friends and colleagues of his here holding a vigil at the spot. you can see they hold candles and photos, posters with his face on it. one man we've just seen dressed in saudi traditional clothing with red paint on his hands, the suggestion that the saudi authorities have blood on their hands. these are people close to mr kashoggi who note that the news cycle moves on, that political deals might try to sweep this under the carpet, but they're determined to keep the pressure on the saudi authorities in their demand for answers.

rushing up the pressure today is report that gina haspel, the director of the cia, has been played by the turkish government audio recordings chronicling mr kashoggi's murder, leaks of which are very graphic, suggesting you can hear the screams, the torture, the dismemberment of the body. the question now is, is that the smoking gun, and will that reveal, on the basis of the recordings, will they be able to trace a direct line of accountability to the top levels of the saudi state? turkey is now very confident this was a planned murder, the saudi public prosecutor saying they believe that is the case, as well, based on the evidence they have received from turkey, that it was a premeditated murder. but the question tonight is still on whose orders the saudi hit squads were operating under. america is in the grip of the worst public health crisis in its history and drugs are to blame. now the government is trying to get a grip on it by introducing new laws. a drugs overdose is now the main cause of death for americans under

the age of 50. in 2016, we reported on the growing problem of opioid addiction in america. darren conway been back to talk to three people he met, steve, anna and brittney, to see what has become of their struggle. you may find their stories upsetting. i'm addicted to heroin. i want to stop, but i can't. i'm not going to die from this. like, i'm not. not going to die from this. opioids are now the biggest drug epidemic in american history. tomorrow's not promised. the number of deaths from opioid abuse have skyrocketed over the past 15 years. it's not a poor people thing any more. it's not an inner—city ghetto drug any more. it's everywhere, and it's killing people every single day. killing tens of thousands

of americans every year. that's more deaths than from car accidents and from guns. when we first met anna, she was a new resident on baltimore's backstreets of addiction. little bit of a rush. two years later, and we find her on the same street. oh, god! someone's missing something. she's just been released from jail after spending two weeks for prostitution. that's two weeks of no heroin. still homeless and relying on hand—outs, anna isjust one of the many faces that are lost in the darkness of america's opioid crisis. i know that heroin can kill me. i know the consequence. and even right now, i'm scared to shoot up again. but i know eventually i probably will if i stay down here.

it didn't take long. anna started prostituting herself for the money need to buy drugs for herself and her boyfriend dave, and is now back in the full grip of her addiction. like, we don't know what else to do. do you understand ? like, when people break their arms and legs, they need rehab to walk. like, we need rehab to learn how to live all over again. brittney had overdosed several times throughout her four years of addiction... (flicking) ..before she was admitted to a rehab centre in florida, where we met her there two years ago. the date resonates in my brain — march 19th, 2016. that's when i got clean, and it wasn't easy, but it was the most glorious experience of my life. but even in recovery, addiction is a daily struggle. i was sick for three months. like, throwing up constantly.

i thought it was a bad flu. i got all these different tests done. one of them was a pregnancy test. i remember her coming back and telling me, "you're positive." i was like, "i'm positive for what?" and she said i was pregnant, and i immediately started bawling. brittney had a baby girl. beautiful, sweet baby girl. and about a month after that, sadly, brittney relapsed again. ijust felt nothing but anger — anger, frustration again. and i really... i was so angry at her. i wasn't thinking about my daughter. i just felt like my daughter didn't deserve me. she deserved better. one of the saddest things i would ever have to do would be to have to tell my granddaughter

about her mother — that her mother was an addict, and she tried very hard to get past this addiction, but was unable to, and died from it. steve had hit rock bottom when we first met him, and was living in the same house where his friend had died from an overdose just months before. seeing that scene, like.... it disgusts me, how i looked. couldn't even keep my eyes open. i couldn't form a sentence, slurring. this got hold of me. it took everything from me, and i gave it everything i had, willingly. after rehab, steve moved to kentucky

with his girlfriend, found a job and is living a clean life. two years ago, i couldn't even dream that i could be here, doing what i'm doing. and as happy as i am. my story doesn't end here. i want my daughter to be proud of me. i want people to be proud of me. you know, i want to be proud of myself. if i was your mother right now, what would you want to say to me? i would tell her, i'm sorry. i mean, i can't tell her...

"hey, wait. couple more years and i'll get better." i can't tell her that. i don't know. that's what sucks about this. tomorrow's not promised. for her orfor me. you can get more on the opioid crisis reporting from darren conway, including a story about a stretch of highway that's found itself on the frontline of opioid epidemic. —— the opioid epidemic. a historic moment that many of his victims have waited for for decades. the former dictator in the dock, older, slimmer, and as he sat down, obedient enough.

dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside korem, it lights up a biblicalfamine, now, in the 20th century. the depressing conclusion — in argentina today, it is actually cheaper to paper your walls with money. we've had controversies in the past with great britain. but as good friends, we have always found a good and lasting solution. concorde bows out in style. after almost three decades in service, an aircraft that has enthralled its many admirers for so long taxis home one last time. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: federal agents search a mail office in florida as the us steps up the hunt for whoever is behind a series of bombs sent to leading democrats.

saudi arabia admits for the first time the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi was premeditated. the cia director wlll brief president trump after listening to audio of the killing. japan's prime minister shinzo abe is in beijing, for a summit with chinese president xi jingping. it's the first bilateral talks in seven years. live now to beijing and our correspondent, steve mcdonnell. so, steve, relations between these two haven't exactly been brilliant for the last few years. what's changed? the big thing that's changed is a trade war with the united states. you know, it's funny that the policies of the trump administration do seem to be... whether they're

right or wrong... pushing tokyo and beijing closer together. remember, it's not only china that has trade problems with the us, japan has its own trade woes to deal with with the united states, so i guess both leaders kind of need each other more. their countries need each other more than they previously did and imagine the potential, when shinzo abe and xi jingping talk to each other today, this is the leaders of the number two and number three economies in the world, imagine that potential! up until now, apart from these territorial disputes in the east china sea, a big step to get over is just the just the liking tensions over world war two to tell the truth, and the communist pa rty‘s formation logy communist pa rty‘s formation mythology here is all bound up in fighting against the japanese. but some would say that time has come to

put those things aside because if these two asian powerhouses can get together, well, you know, the sky's the limit in terms of what they really could achieve economically. steve, thanks for that update. we will keep an eye on that meeting in the next few hours. the multi—billion dollar games industry is preparing for the release of what could be another blockbuster. red dead redemption 2 is a wild west adventure from the company behind grand theft auto. much of the work has been done at the company's studios in scotland, as technology reporter marc cieslak reports. red dead redemption two allows players to experience a vast virtual version of the old west. robbing trains, riding horses, and even playing poker. it's all the work of rockstar games, and this latest release is so big, it had to be created in nine different studios across four different countries.

gentlemen, you all know what to do. about as far from the old west as you can get, edinburgh is home to rockstar north. it's the largest of the studios involved in an international effort to make this game. for us, it's the biggest game have ever made. notjust going bigger and broader, but striving for a depth. you know, being able to go into more environments and interact with things, with people and animals and the world in a way that we haven't been able to do before. the games industry is big business. last year in the uk, it generated £3.35 billion in sales, almost as much as home music and video sales combined. but there are concerns in the games industry that those big numbers could be affected as

the uk leaves the eu. one of our critical issues is the ability to hire the best talent from wherever they are in the world. if we don't have clarity over what that immigration system looks like, there will be some uncertainty. a gritty and atmospheric slice of roleplaying as an outlaw, from the extremes of caring for a sick horse to dealing with industrialisation spelling the end of the west at its wildest, even before its launch, this game is getting rave reviews. it seems a little piece of the american frontier will forever have its virtual roots in the uk. marc cieslak, bbc news, edinburgh. a climber known as the french spiderman has been arrested after scaling one of london's tallest buildings. police cordoned off roads in the city's financial district, as 56—year—old alain robert completed what's called a free climb of the salesforce tower, also known as the heron tower. lebo diseko has the story. it's not hard to see why they call

him spiderman. alain robert setting out on his climb of one of london's tallest buildings. he used no safety gearand no tallest buildings. he used no safety gear and no rope, just a bit of talk and some like gloves as he scaled the 202 metre tower. traffic had to be diverted and workers are stepped out of their offices to watch the spectacle in the city of london. crazy, work in that building so we we re crazy, work in that building so we were walking, looking out of the window to see what the police were doing and we were really confused and then i see this guy climbing up. crazy but i'm all for that.|j and then i see this guy climbing up. crazy but i'm all for that. i saw these people standing looking up there, wasn't sure what was happening and someone told me there was a man climbing up without any support. ivy thought... it's crazy to see something like that. he's brave and more crazy, i think. the

rock climber turn his attention to skyscrapers in the mid—19 nineties. it's thought he's done about 160 of these climbs, including the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa in dubai. he tookjust a0 minutes to reach the top of this tower. but not eve ryo ne reach the top of this tower. but not everyone was impressed. the police arrested him for causing a public nuisance. they say macro, robert's antics took officers away from real emergencies and posed significant risk to people in and around the tower at the time. the message from them seems pretty clear, don't try this yourself. lebo diseko, bbc news. wise words! that's about it from the. i'm lewis vaughanjones. —— that's about it from me. hello there. the weather is dishing

up hello there. the weather is dishing up something significantly colder than we've been used to oblak as we head towards the weekend. the winds switching round to northerly is. we'll see some sunshine, yes, but showers as well and some of those showers as well and some of those showers over hills in the north will bea showers over hills in the north will be a little bit wintry. the cold air is going to be coming from a long way north. the winds bringing that airdown way north. the winds bringing that air down from the arctic behind this cold front. the fronts through friday morning bringing a band of cloud and patchy rain across central and southern parts of england, the south of wales and behind that, the skies will brighten. yes, we'll see some sunshine but the showers will start to pack in on the brisk north—easterly wind, especially for the north of scotland, these of england, northern ireland and parts of wales and may the far south—west. the showers over hills in the north will be wintry and temperatures at best between six and 12 degrees. we spend friday night, all of a sudden,

in that cold air. some showers most likely around the coast, but perhaps... snow levels in scotland coming down to 350 metres. a few hills in the northern half of scotla nd hills in the northern half of scotland could see a bit of snow and temperatures are through the night since the first part of saturday morning dropping close to freezing with ic stretches. a similar sort of day on saturday, a bright day for many, lots of sunshine around but those showers most plentiful in parts of northern and western scotland. some at this stage starting to spill into eastern england, moving inland to the midlands and a few for west wales, the south—west and northern ireland. the winds will be noticeable, brisk northerly wind. while the thermometer will read 6—11, not particularly impressive, but add on the strength of the wind and it will feel like this. in aberdeen, it will feel like this. in aberdeen, it will feel like this. in aberdeen, it will feel like one degree, maybe five feels like temperature in cardiff. on sunday the wind direction shifts

su btly on sunday the wind direction shifts subtly more to a north—easterly, so that will confine most of the showers to eastern areas. further west, largely dry i suspect with spells of sunshine but still not particularly warm with those temperatures between eight and 12 degrees. a bit of a change on the way as we head into next week. a frontal system could bring rain into the west but more likely we'll seem dull max rain from this low pressure spinning its way up from the near continent. the potentialfor spinning its way up from the near continent. the potential for wet spinning its way up from the near continent. the potentialfor wet and windy weather into next week, but slowly but surely it should turn a little bit less chilly. this is bbc news. the headlines: investigators in the united states believe some of the pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of donald trump were posted from florida. they're concentrating their inquiry on a sorting office near miami. another two suspicious packages were identified on thursday, saudi arabia has admited for the first time the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi was pre—meditated. mr khashoggi's eldest son salah has

arrived in the united states after being allowed to leave saudi arabia. he had previously been subject to a travel ban because of his father's criticism of the kingdom's leadership. google says it's sacked nearly 50 employees over sexual harassment allegations in the past two years. the statement was issued in response to a newspaper report that one executive received $90 million when he left the company four years ago, despite credible claims of sexual harassment against him. now on bbc news, thursday in parliament.