welcome to bbc news — i'm rich preston. our top stories: quite like the us carries out a drone — quite like the us carries out a drone strike in afghanistan less— drone strike in afghanistan less than two days after a deadly— less than two days after a deadly attack at kabul airport. the taliban say they're ready to take control of kabul airport as soon as american forces leave. it's thought us and uk troops could end their operations there within hours. also on the programme, us intelligence agencies it says covid—19 was not developed as a biological weapon but they remain split on its origins. and, football superstar cristiano ronaldo is returning to manchester united —

12 years after he left. the us has led an the us has led an air the us has led an air strike the us has led an air strike against isis—k at kabul airport. in a statement, the us central command says the unmanned air strike happened in afghanistan and initial indications are that we killed the target. —— "we killed the target". "we know of no civilian casualties". what do we know about this airstrike? president biden vowed to get revenge in the press conference on fridayjust to remind you of the quote," we will hunt you down and we will make you pay". tonight we can confirm that an airstrike, as you mentioned, a drone strike has been launched

against an islamic state member, as you mentioned, eastern province of afghanistan. we are not really sure if the individual involved, if it was targeted. if it was specifically involved in the suicide blast outside the gates butjust to recap the statement that you read there, this is a statement that we got from captain bill urban. who speaks for the us central command. it was a drone strike and they don't know of any civilian casualties so far. it is interesting because, and it is interesting because, and it is extraordinary as well, make rich, because he is trying to get americans out of the country but at the same time he is trying to get revenge and going after this new breed of a terrorist group that is in a very unstable country. there is not much us intelligence on the ground or us military and of course there is an unfriendly group running afghanistan, the taliban, who set this hard deadline of the 31st of august but president biden did promise

revenge and he has carried out this evening. figs revenge and he has carried out this evening.— revenge and he has carried out this evening. as you mentioned, he did promise _ this evening. as you mentioned, he did promise that _ this evening. as you mentioned, he did promise that he _ this evening. as you mentioned, he did promise that he would - he did promise that he would hunt down and make people pay but this really was quite a swift piece of action. it was. when you — swift piece of action. it was. when you think _ swift piece of action. it was. when you think back- swift piece of action. it was. when you think back to - swift piece of action. it was. when you think back to the | when you think back to the press conference, mr biden was a very emotional and defiant press conference but the tone in his voice when he said that, "we will hunt you down and make you "we will hunt you down and make y°u p3)", "we will hunt you down and make you pay", it was very, very strong and at the time said he had told his military officials to start looking at how they can target isis k, go after their assets, their leadership, their assets, their leadership, theirfacilities. this is an extra ordinary situation especially when you talk about it here with americans because as far as they're concerned, 20 years on, they thought the war was over. they can't believe that they are seeing headlines of americans troops dying in afghanistan. they're in mind they have been more alert issued to people of threats happening again and people also

can't believe that this new terror group is emerging, isis-k. terror group is emerging, isis—k. we're not sure if any more will be carried out but the fact that president biden, as you say, has reacted swiftly, suggests that more could come. we don't know when. nomia iqbal in washington, thank you very much was meanwhile, senior taliban officials say they have taken they have taken up positions inside kabul airport and are ready to take control. it's a claim disputed by the pentagon, which says that us forces are still in charge of the site. they insist they'll keep evacuating afghans until "the last moment", but there are now signs that both us and british efforts will end imminently, amid a worsening security situation. 0ur correspondent in kabul, secunder kermani, has the latest — a warning that his report contains distressing images. distraught relatives search kabul�*s morgues, looking for their loved ones. this baby you managed to save? but there's another baby?

amongst those killed, mohammed niazi, a taxi driver from london who had travelled to kabul to try and help his family get inside the airport. his eldest daughter and youngest child are still missing. his wife was also killed. his brother was at the airport alongside him. i saw some small children in the river. it was so bad. it was a dark day for us. many of those we meet say their relatives were not killed in the blast but by firing in the confusion afterwards, they believe by foreign soldiers. somehow, i saw an american soldier... and beside this there were turkish soldiers, so the fire comes from the bridges, the towers. from the soldiers? yes, from the soldiers. america's department of defense didn't reply to our request for comment. the suicide bombing claimed by the islamic state

group would have ripped through the densely packed crowd, causing panic. is has repeatedly launched devastating attacks in the city. the blast has left two—year—old mohammed reza fighting for his life. this looks set to be one of the deadliest incidents ever in this horrific conflict. so many of the victims those who had worked with the international community. noor muhammad had been employed alongside american forces. the guy has served us army for years. and the reason he lost his life... he wasn't killed by taliban, he wasn't killed by isis. us army started shelling. how can you be sure? because of the bullet. the bullet inside of his head, right here, near to his ear. he didn't have, he doesn't have any injury. these are noor mohammed's

eight children. he had hoped to give them a better life. instead, this afternoon, they said a final goodbye. those killed in this awful attack were trying to escape years of violence in afghanistan. instead, they became the latest victims in a country torn apart by bloodshed. tens of thousands of people have been flown out of the country but now only foreign nationals are being allowed inside the airport. the british government has acknowledged some of those who want to leave will be left behind, like this former interpreter. there is no place for us to stay and we are so worried about our future. i think it's not fair. it is like a betrayal of their own heroes. these are the last days of a chaotic evacuation effort. for those who haven't made it out, a deeply uncertain future. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. the death toll from thursday's

attacks has climbed to 170, and the united states has warned of another credible threat to kabul airport. as we've heard, the taliban says it has taken up positions on the site and will take control of the security situation as soon as american forces leave. more on that now from our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, in kabul. it seems in the same way the taliban fighters stole a march suddenly on kabul last week, they're doing the same tonight at the airport. for the past few hours, we've been watching on social media as senior officials among the taliban and their supporters are posting photographs with exclamations like: "the foreign occupation has ended." "the islamic emirate is entering the airport." pictures of luxury vehicles, their lights blaring, going into the airport ground. of course, we checked with the pentagon.

they say, "we still control the gates, we still control the operation." the mod in london says the military flights are continuing, but it underlines again it is just a matter of time. but such is the desperation of those who got so close and now feel they may lose out, i'm even receiving messages tonight. a friend said, "my sister got an e—mail tonight saying she can go to the airport. how can you get her there?" and people there showing passports, their afghan passports, saying, "how can we get there?" this door is closing and closing loudly, but other windows are going to open. but will they be open enough? chief international correspondent lisa doucet. i have been speaking tojohn ashlyn schroeder. —— jonathan. i asked him about the final evacuation flights. the priority _ evacuation flights. the priority first _ evacuation flights. the priority first and - evacuation flights. tue: priority first and foremost evacuation flights. tte: priority first and foremost for the us military will be the safety of its own forces.

us servicemembers, as well as any civilians that may be on the last few flights to depart the airport. that will undoubtedly be the priority. it's been president biden�*s priority throughout the withdrawal. he made it clear that was the number one thing he was concerned about — was the safety of us servicemembers. so i would expect that remain the priority until all of those servicemembers are on aeroplanes departing the airport. took us through how the practicalities of how that works, getting the last few people on the planes and in the skies. there are a couple of different ways it could probably go down. the first would be if the us decides that it needs to unilaterally collapse the security perimeter and get out. most likely what you would see is, if you were inside the airport and able to see it, you would see a thinning of the forces that are there. so they would first load up all of the support forces, logisticians communications, those types of folks, and get them out. and then, you know, behind them they would start to thin out the infantry, you know,

the rival holders that are standing guard around the perimeter. they would start to thin out out the perimeter and get as many of folks out as they could. then you would see a very rapid collapse of the perimeter itself, while those last remaining individuals, you know, made a dash for the plane and very quickly got out. that's one way they could do it. a second way that they could do it is to do a co—ordinated handoff with the taliban. and, as odd as that sounds, the us has clearly been co—ordinating security around the airport with the taliban, sharing intelligence with them. just today a two star general on the united statesjoint staff made a comment about how the communications with the taliban about have been improving by the day of the last two weeks. so it is at least plausible

that the us could decide to undertake an orderly handoff to the taliban of security at the airport in an attempt to try and not have the types of chaotic scenes that we saw early on in this evacuation. when the us vacated some of its other military bases earlier on this year, it wasjust personnel and they left a lot of the machinery and equipment behind. do we know whether will be the case in kabul as well, whether it is just getting the people out or they are taking kit with them? at this point i think it will be mostly the people, if not entirely the people. i'm not aware of them having brought a whole lot of gear along with them. presumably they would have withdrawn most of that gear already, so that the last few flights out, really, there's only people to be left. the things they would leave behind would likely be pallets of water, food. those types of extraneous things that they would have brought in to support themselves that there is no real purpose in taking back out. you mentioned a security earlier on. a big concern, especially in light of thursday's attack, how risky are these last few moments?

extremely risky. there is no military operation more difficult than withdrawing under fire or withdrawing under threat. and this is an extremely, you know, risky situation where us military is going to have to do exactly that. and not only withdrawing under threat of attack from the likes of of isis, et cetera, but withdrawing under threat under that type of threat, with many, many civilians around as well, that's an incredibly messy and potentially chaotic situation that's going to have to be very, very delicately and extraordinarily well for it to not look like type of scenes that we saw at the outset of this evacuation. you are watching bbc news. our main headline: the us carries out a drone a strike in afghanistan less than two days after a deadly suicide

attack at kabul airport. hurricane ida has brought heavy rain and winds to western cuba as it heads into the gulf of mexico. the tropical storm officially grew into a categoryi hurricane as it made landfall along cuba's isle of youth. winds have reached 80 miles per hour. the us national hurricane center says ida is likely to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it makes landfall in louisiana. the mayor of new orleans has called for residents to evacuate unprotected neighbourhoods. earlier i spoke to professor barry keim who is a louisiana state climatologist at louisiana state university. he gave us the latest. it's just getting ready to enter the gulf of mexico and once it gets into the gulf it's going to travel over some extraordinarily warm water — over an area we call the loop current, which is in a very odd configuration, it has a kink in it

and basically it is a very long superhighway of incredibly warm water all the way to the shores of louisiana. and along the way that is going to feed energy into the storm and they're expecting rapid intensification of the storm. and right now it has 80 mph, well, they expect it to come onto the shores of louisiana with winds at 140 mph, making it a category four hurricane. we're bracing ourselves over here, it is the calm before the storm, it's a little ominous right now, but we know the storm is coming, and tomorrow i'm sure we're going to start seeing some serious evacuations taking place, and bracing ourselves for the storm to hit us sometime on sunday. we'll come to those evacuations in a moment, what damage is this storm capable of? with hurricanes, we have a triple whammy if you will, the triple threat being storm surge, this thing can produce storm surges up to 15 feet, that's a big wall of water that gets pushed up in front of the storm, and it can reach 15 feet higher

than mean sea level. we also have heavy rain, there's predictions of between anywhere from 10—20 inches of rain across south—eastern louisiana, which is obviously going to create some problems, it'is a very flat area, it doesn't drain very readily, and then it's going to be complicated by the storm surge. and then we are looking at wind, 140mph wind will create some pretty serious damage along the coastline. but the storm is moving relatively swiftly, at a forward velocity of about ismph, and it should hold together fairly far inland with fairly strong winds, in fact it's expected to move right over baton rouge where i'm located. we're probably, depending on how you want to define the coastline of louisiana, we have a lot of marsh here, but we're about 60 or 70 miles inland, and we are expected to see close to surricane strength winds here, which could rough the city up pretty badly. new orleans was devastated by hurricane katrina 16 years ago, are we expecting similar scenes with hurricane ida?

i don't think ida is in quite the same class as hurricane katrina, but the irony of it is at the landfall, i think this storm is likely to be stronger than katrina was at landfall. but hurricane katrina before landfall was a category five, and it built up this big storm surge, and when it finally, it weakened as it got closer to the coast, it brought this category five search up against the coast, we had a 28 foot surge in mississippi in hurricane katrina. i don't think we will see anything like this — even though we'll have higher wind speeds and probably a stronger storm when it comes onshore, but it earlier history will have been a weaker storm, and as a result i think our surge will be somewhat smaller. so i think the potential is we will have less storm surge with this event, but we could have more wind damage. a parole board in california has recommended that the man who assassinated robert f kennedy, the brother of presidentjohn f kennedy,

should be released from prison. sirhan sirhan has served more than 50 years injailfor the killing in 1968, which was one of the defining events of 20th century us politics. the recommendation does not mean sirhan will be freed automatically, however — it would have to be approved by the governor of california. president biden has accused china of blocking an investigation by the us into the cause of the coronavirus. a three—month investigation by american intelligence agencies failed to agree on whether the virus stemmed from exposure to an infected animal or an incident in a laboratory in the chinese city of wuhan. meanwhile china has consistently rejected claims that the virus originated from an incident at a government facility and has even suggested that it might have escaped from a lab in the us. well, earlier i spoke to thomas bollyky who's the director of the global health programme at the council on foreign relations. i asked what, if anything, did

this latest report agree on. well, the report agreed on a few things. the first, and this outcome is not surprising, is, as you said, that without china's cooperation and a rigorous independent investigation on chinese soil, it is impossible to reach a definitive outcome on whether this pandemic began as a spillover event, a virus thatjumped from animals to humans, or the product of a lab accident. the types of evidence you need to determine that — lab records, the medical records of lab employees, testing of various species in wuhan to determine what the source might be — all that is in china. so they determined that it's impossible to do this without that cooperation and being on the ground. they did, however, also agree that there is no, that this was not a bioweapon, which some conspiracy theories thought it might be. and most us intelligence agencies also agree there is no sign that this was genetically engineered.

the researchers were split on whether the virus leaked from the lab. some people still do believe that. what is the evidence that they cite in their argument? so, really, the only evidence that it emerged from a lab is that — the location of the earliest cases in this pandemic, wuhan. wuhan does have a laboratory there that engages in research with coronaviruses. it is far from the caves that are normally the hosts of bat colonies and they haven't been able to determine what species might have spread the virus initially. that's it. that's the entire case for lab accident — for it being a lab accident. everything other than that really is just speculation. the evidence for it being a spillover is that, you know, every other coronavirus outbreak that has happened has occurred from the virus jumping from animal to a person.

president biden, as we mentioned, has accused china of obstructing the investigation. he says the world deserves answers. what can researchers and intelligence agencies do next? well, i think it's important to acknowledge what the point of determining the origin of this pandemic is. and the only point really is scientific — to make us safer from the next pandemic. knowing the origin of this virus could help build momentum for tougher rules on lab safety or to shut down the wildlife trade or wet markets, if it emerged from there. but achieving those outcomes depend on more cooperation — from between china and the us, and the united states and us allies, not less cooperation. a us intelligence review is not going to produce that.

an investigation at the world health organization, which has struggled to litigate or mediate disputes, rather, between member states, is probably not going to produce that either. we really do need a scientific investigation, such as one involving national academies, ideally including the national academy from china. we need an answer here, but that answer is really only going to come from scientists. one of the world's most successful footballers, christiano ronaldo, has agreed new terms to return to his old club manchester united. and the fee — around £13 million, more than $17.5 million. he first played for united back in 2003 when he was just 18 — and now he's leaving juventus in italy. jon donnison has the full story. 12 years after he wore a united shirt, guess who's back? most of the faces at old trafford may have changed, but speaking just before the signing was announced, the new boss clearly excited. cristiano has been a legend of this club. he is a legend of this club. he is the greatest player of all time if you ask me.

i was fortunate enough to play with him. i coached him. the deal was confirmed in a short but sweet tweet, "welcome home, cristiano. " viva ronaldo! hooting cue celebration outside the club's ground. it is superb! i cannot describe the feeling that we have. 0ur man is back, yes! all the talk this week, though, had been that ronaldo was heading to the other side of manchester. and this afternoon, city fans were putting on a brave face. thank goodness for that! what a waste of money he'd have been! way past his best. ronaldo was a fresh faced 18—year—old when he first signed for united in 2003. now twice that age, at least one half of manchester will be hoping one of the greatest players of all time still has more to give. jon donnison, bbc news. an extraordinary alpine rescue has been taking place in the mountains

of switzerland. emergency teams had to leap into action and carry out the operation, taking to the air in helicopters. but this rescue isn't quite what you'd expect — as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. flight of the valkyries plays look, in the sky, is it a bird? is it a plane? look, in the sky, is it a bird? is ita plane? no, it's a flying cow. flight of the valkyries plays a bovine aviator being serenely brought down from the alpine meadows where it had spent much of the summer. flight of the valkyries plays quite aside, but we are told, not as unusual as it may look.

translation: one reason for the helicopter transport is that you can't reach some pastures by car. and the other, is that some cows are injured so they don't have to walk all the way down. . ., ., ., ., , down. around ten of the animals from a herd _ down. around ten of the animals from a herd of— down. around ten of the animals from a herd of 1000, _ down. around ten of the animals from a herd of 1000, had - down. around ten of the animals from a herd of 1000, had to - down. around ten of the animals from a herd of 1000, had to be l from a herd of 1000, had to be hooked up to a helicopter. but if you think this might have been a little traumatic for them, think again. translation: i didn't ask the cow how it feels after such a flight, as it couldn't answer. but feels after such a flight, as it couldn't answer.- feels after such a flight, as it couldn't answer. but it was onl a it couldn't answer. but it was only a short. _ it couldn't answer. but it was only a short, calm _ it couldn't answer. but it was only a short, calm flight. - it couldn't answer. but it was only a short, calm flight. i i only a short, calm flight. i didn't notice any difference between the ones that flew in the ones that didn't walk. the rest of the — the ones that didn't walk. the rest of the herd _ the ones that didn't walk. the rest of the herd will be escorted down the old—fashioned way over the weekend, before an annual parade takes place. no flying allowed. what are moo—ving story.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. hello. the weather on the last weekend of august last year didn't cover itself in glory — a high ofjust 16 throughout the weekend in edinburgh, in birmingham and manchester. it is going to be warmer this weekend, at least to start with. it's going to be dry throughout the weekend with this area of high pressure that's going to last into next week as well, although as the weekend goes on, there will be more cloud and breeze, so it will start to feel a bit cooler once again. and actually quite chilly as the weekend begins in rural spots, with temperatures into single figures. but in the sunshine, we're all going to warm up really quite nicely as the day goes on. there will be some areas of cloud in north—west scotland, some patches of cloud in eastern scotland and in england, though a lot

of this will start to break up to allow some sunshine to come through, increasingly so in the afternoon. on the breeze, it's quite stiff in east anglia and south—east england. a stray shower can't be ruled out, and the breeze pushing into north sea coasts will keep temperatures right along the coast close to16, 17 degrees. but for many, it's low 20s, and up to 23 in glasgow, so very pleasantly warm in some of that sunshine. and it will stay dry through saturday night, but notice how the cloud is increasing into scotland, north—east england and into northern ireland. here, temperatures will be hotting up compared with the night before. so, as we start sunday, there will be more cloud across scotland, northern ireland, north—east england, pushing in across more of eastern england during the day. the lion's share of sunday's sunny spells will be in wales, parts of the midlands and southern england. and this is where the temperatures will be highest. whereas elsewhere, it will feel a bit cooler and the breeze is starting to pick up more widely as well, coming in from the north—east.

as this area of high pressure just backs a little bit more towards the north—west of us, allowing more of us to feel that east or north—easterly breeze going through monday and into the week ahead. it may be a bank holiday where you are, there will be a lot of cloud around on monday, so only limited sunny spells. so you'll notice by then the temperatures have come down a few degrees. just towards the south—west of the uk, where we'll see most of the sunshine, breaking into the 20s. so, it will feel cooler next week. there will be a lot of cloud around, just occasional sunny spells coming through. and it's still dry, with that high pressure in control as we get into september.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: the us military has carried out a drone strike, killing a member of the islamic state group in afghanistan following thursday's deadly attack the militants at kabul airport was not a spokesman said the first indications are that no civilians were killed during the operation. the us embassy has appealed for its residents not to travel to the airport because of security concerns. they have taken up positions inside kabul airport and are ready to take control as soon as the americans leave. does make the has. to the airport, because of security concerns. a us intelligence report has concluded that covid nineteen was not developed as a biological weapon by china. but officials were unable to provide a more definitive explanation for its origin, and blamed beijing for hindering the global investigation. in a few minutes it'll be time

for the film review —