now it's time for a look at the weather with phil. tha nkfully thankfully i haven't got anything quite as dramatic as that, it was already looking a bit tame by comparison certainly my word it is. pretty much what you've got out your window is what you will keep, lots of dry weather there, still pretty cloudy for many, the odd spell of cloud, down to parts of western wales and one or two spots in the south—west as well. there has been crowded times for the odd drizzly shower to running off the north sea and we may see more of that through the course of the night as the cloud becomes a bit thicker and more extensive, some of those holes are beginning to fill in, if they are the well with you during the course of the day. temperatures 8—10 during the night up north, to the south up

to 14 will cover it. generally speaking, pretty much where we have been over the past few days, sunshine getting into northern ireland, the north—west of england and scotland, with some sunshine up to 20, or if you don't down to 14 degrees.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines... the islamic state group has claimed responsibility for firing a spokesman from the foreign office as saying that due foreign secretary dominic raabjoined a meeting with

us counterparts about the situation in afghanistan and emphasise the importance of like—minded people to discuss arrangements for those people who are still in afghanistan and have not been rescued so far. he said that tell of that for the nationals and citizens with travel authorisations will be allowed to leave the country but mr rab also underlined that we have to judge them on their actions on whether people are allowed to spend safe passage to league. —— to leave. that is the latest on the afghanistan situation. the headlines... the islamic state group has claimed responsibility for firing rockets at kabul airport, where the us evacuation operation is drawing to a close. the rockets were intercepted by the american anti—missile system. the bbc is told ten people from one family — including six children — were killed by a us drone attack in the afghan capital, kabul. the us says they are taking reports of civilian deaths �*very seriously�*. warnings of life—threatening floods

and dangerous storm surges as tropical storm ida churns its way along the coast of louisiana and mississippi states. more paralympics success for great britain as lee pearson, andrew small and phoebe paterson pine claim golds. now on bbc news. on the travel show there's another chance to see the second part of rajan datar�*s epic railjourney across the united states. i am on a coast—to—coast trek across the south of the usa, exploring the places that have grown up along the sunset limited train line. myjourney started in the unique port city of new orleans, and continued across from louisiana

to texas, and one of america's most distinctive national parks. this is the rio grande. welcome to the border! this week, as i continue myjourney along the rail route, but off the beaten track, i find out how close we came to the end of the world. three, two, one, release. you and i have just started something that we can't stop. and discover a wonderland conjured from the imagination of a groundbreaking artist. i literally microwaved a microwave while it is microwaving. i'm the only one in human history that has successfully pulled off this accomplishment. this is americana, but not as we know it. in the middle of the west texas desert, you can walk for miles and miles before you come across anything resembling a homestead, or civilisation.

this is one of the most remote areas in the country. and then, you come across this... i've got to be honest, that is the last thing i would imagine i would see in the middle of the desert... you can't actually buy anything here — it's an artwork — but that doesn't mean people don't come for miles to see it. like these two, who have driven eight hours from dallas. i think it's a really interesting social commentary on branding, and i think it's very ironic to have it here in the middle of the desert. and the fake prada boutique is just a foretaste. we're on the outskirts of an unusual oasis of art in the once anonymous

ranch town of marfa, that began life as a railroad stop. and marfa's transformation is largely down to the arrival in the 1970s of a leading artist from new york, the late donald judd. with this space and freedom he created one of the world's largest installations of contemporary art. that an artist from new york city at the height of his career left new york. he thought it was, as he wrote, a harsh and glib environment that did not support artists or their art, and what he created has inspired this whole other group of artists, writers, film—makers, musicians to come and have a life here. the artists live and work at the museum, they have a studio space... jenny was one of those budding creative pilgrims, so impressed byjudd's work,

she moved from new york to marfa with her young family. then there'sthese concrete blocks, judd's first works here, met with bemusement by many locals. some of the jokes were they look like culverts or cattle pens, and though i think that there was scepticism at first, but the local people who have come and walked on these pieces now have a sense of belovedness towards them. back in the town's main drag, i decide to get a local�*s point of view. this used to be a mechanic shop, and blacksmith shop. this lot, now it's a big art gallery and studio. as i quickly discover, the saloon bar owner is not your average joe.

this self—proclaimed cowboy out of the box is a bit of a southern dude, and he knows it. you want a beer? i'd love a beer. all right. tell me what's the story of this town? i think you've been here for more than 30 years? or the first time you came here was more than 30 years ago. how has it changed? marfa was just a small town. it was kind of dying, maybe. there were more mom—and—pop shops back then. and the thing that changed this town was what? it was art that changed the town. you could say it saved the town. marfa would have never had a five—star restaurant, or new york or asian food, different types of food, things like that, we didn't have as nice a hotels. initially, though,

it was a culture clash, and the locals weren't too keen on the new breed. they butted heads, they didn't like it, very prejudiced against one another, and now they've learned to coexist, and it's getting better and better and will continue to get better and better. there seems to be a bit of a marfa effect. and there seems to be a bit of a marfa effect. tai is now a feature film actor, and model. what kind of roles are you playing? all i can play is myself. i'm just myself, i play tai mitchell real well. and he seems to be having a ball doing just that. every weekend there is somebody from some different culture, continent, anywhere from the northern realm, south america, australia, asia, africa, europe,

just everybody comes here, so i get my culture fix without ever having to leave home. i think you could finish this game off in a moment. where did the black go? you sunk it. you were very polite, i didn't even notice i put the black down by mistake! time to leave the remote expanses of texas behind and continue west, through the arizona desert, following the train route. so here we are, tucson, arizona, one of those place names i heard so often, but never thought i would actually visit. it owes its existence to the train line, which transformed this isolated frontier post into a major urban centre.

and they are proud of their rail history here. is that a bell? can i ring that? sure, go ahead. yeah? bell rings. wow, that is a slice of history. just in that noise, that sound. it's beautiful. but there's more to this area than meets the eye... this is a typical arizona landscape, vast desert and mountain ranges. but what the state is less famous for is something that could have changed the course of history in a momentous way, and it's right beneath my feet. an intercontinental ballistic missile complex, one of only two in the world open to the public.

now decommissioned, but for two decades, capable of delivering a nine megaton nuclear warhead to targets more than 10,000 kilometres away. that's 650 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on hiroshima. when we get to the bottom we will be about 35 feet underground, on what's considered level two. yvonne was a crew commander here in the 1980s. so, if you'll take a seat there. am i going to be in charge? i am going to sort of let you be in charge... she took me through a simulation of what would have happened if the president had ordered a strike.

beeping. after a complex series of checks and verifications, it all comes down to two people turning a key. three, two, one, turn to the right. four, three, two, one, release. you and i have just started something that we can't stop. there is no big oops button down here... i've got to be honest with you, it's quite chilling already, as you're talking about this, as those sirens and alarms go off. you just saw and heard everything that the crew would have seen and heard if they'd ever been ordered to launch their missile. it's really, kind of, silent. three, two, one, turn, give it a turn when it is green. why do you let people

in to witness the simulation? what's the purpose? this site is a national historic landmark, and that designation is given to historic sites that have so influenced the american psyche as to have had an impact on almost everyone in the united states. there's no way to call this missile back, there's no destruct package on the missile. it's that feeling in your gut, when we're going through the launch sequence, it's chilling, so cold war sites, they can drive the necessity for peace home almost better than anything else. yvonne leads me through the complex to get a look at the missile itself. this is the nerve centre of the missile site.

all right, so we going to be going inside the launch duct now and when we go in, watch your head. 0k. and we're going to be standing directly underneath the missile here. that's incredible. it's so, so high up. 103 feet. 103 feet, and you can feel its power and, you know, in a scary kind of way. and have you ever talked to a counterpart of yours who was doing the same thing on the soviet union side? i've actually — yes, i've actually had the opportunity to meet one former soviet crew member. he came with his son to tour the museum. so they brought him into my office, just really nice guy, and as he was shaking my hand, he said "thanks for not launching". and i couldn't think of anything to say but, "thank you for not launching".

i mean, this was... it was just — we were both so grateful to have the opportunity to meet each other, and in peace. and you are two human beings who personally could have easily have led to... right, either one of us. ..the destruction of the world. yes, either one of us. and on that apocalyptic note, i continue my exploration west, where the nightmare scenario of titan ii mutates into fantasy. crossing the arizona border into the californian desert, and where the hollywood dream for a select few became reality — palm springs, the home of classic americana. well, hello, ken. hello, welcome to palm springs!

thank you so much. sheltered from the elements by these enormous mountains, the town of palm springs became a desert playground for the rich and famous in the �*40s, �*50s and �*60s. they couldn't go anywhere in hollywood without having people photographing them and people wanting their autograph and... ken was part of this exclusive world as he ran a luxury resort catering for hollywood's millionaire celebrities. everybody in the film industry would come here because they had privacy, by and large. they built homes here, they bought homes here, and so that's where we got the movie economy and we had everybody from bob hope to sinatra, elizabeth taylor and all those people, they were all super nice and... so you met elizabeth taylor then? oh, yeah. elizabeth taylor was a sweetheart, yeah, she — and barbra streisand.

by the mid �*60s, palm springs had more swimming pools per capita than anywhere else in the world. but over the years, as more people were drawn to the glamour, palm springs lost its cachet and a new generation of dream—makers took over and none so original as ken's son. you're going to see... when you come to our carnival it'll become pretty apparent. it'll be pretty apparent, will it? 0k. oh, you won't miss it. here it is. wow! look at that! that is astonishing. welcome to the wacky world of kennyjunior. an artist whose work is now luring sightseers away from frank sinatra's

old house around the corner to see this fantastical creation instead. what do you think is more interesting, this place or frank sinatra's house? this. this place! laughs. kenny irwin junior�*s robots. ken senior likens his son's worked to michelangelo, and has become his proud patron. do you know what these mean? do they mean anything to you? well, everyone of them means is some — kenny has created a unique sculpture out of material that would be in a landfill. yeah. so he uses tons and tons of material that would be in a landfill. he's recycled and made it into great works of art. where is kenny? he's out here. kenny? where's kenny?

uh! chuckles. he's behind you! kenny! i think this is kenny. that's the man! this is astonishing. your father has told us a little bit about what's going on here but could you take me on a little tour? yeah, absolutely. yeah? fantastic. and you've made every single one of these pieces, obviously. yeah, made them all by myself. and over how many years? i've been working on my art for, i'd say, at least the last four decades, since i've been living and breathing. really? yeah, i was just born an artist. on these four acres of land, kenny has used 1000 tons of recycled stuff to create 350 works of art so far. here's the hockey bot. and what is that? it's made out of refrigerators. made out of refrigerators! yeah. right there's the robo bear, it's made out of an air—conditioning

compressor, and that is santa's wagon up there. that is astonishing. what are the reindeer made of? everything! basically everything is made of everything. is made of everything! yeah. and that is the what bunny? this is the mongolian easter bunny's mobile throne. i'm just reading this — this is one of the world's only two microwaved microwaves? that is correct. this is a genuine microwaved microwave. i literally microwaved a microwave while it was microwaving. i'm the only one in human history that's ever successfully pulled off this accomplishment. shall i ask a silly question? why? why not? both chuckle. again, it's a why not world in a why world and these are the kind of things that i do with my art. this why not attitude runs throughout kenny's work. he tells me he'll make art out

of any unwanted item. it's a mind—boggling spectacle. a mishmash of household items painted in bubblegum colours and a whole host of themes, some religious — kenny converted to islam while at college. this is the gorilla bot here, and the look out is behind the gorilla bot. as this thing grew and grew and grew, and obviously it's very tall, and you are overlooking your neighbours�* houses and lawns. what do they think? well, they love it. they bring me stuff to make my art out of. this neighbour over here, well, he bought one of my microwave artworks — it�*s a microwaved laptop — for $1500. $1500? yeah, and he gratefully displays it in his living room and brags about it. and they�*re fans, every one of your neighbours fans of your work? they love my work. in fact, just about the entire town of palm springs knows about it. people come from germany,

japan, the uae, france, india — all different places, telling me they came here just to see this. where do you think this fits in, where you fit in, even, to contemporary america? i don�*t know where i could fit in. i don�*t think it fits in anywhere really to speak of. how we got men on the moon and how we�*ll get men on mars or people on mars isn�*t going to happen by how things fit in with other things, it�*s going to happen by how things that have been — never been done before is how it�*s gonna happen. at christmas, the whole place is lit up. and kenny has big plans for the future, too — he wants to build a 300—acre theme park based on his designs. he reckons once investors and engineers are on board, he could have it built in ten years. in the meantime, we will have to settle for a ride on this. i physically can�*t get in this! of course you can fit in there! you�*re not that big! i�*m not that big at all.

do you think grown—ups should be riding around in these, too? absolutely, there�*s no excuse not to. kenny, there�*s only one problem, right? what, what�*s that? we are on this thing and there�*s no—one to turn it off. does that mean we are on this flight forever? well, in theory, that could happen. time to leave this garden of dreams behind and head westward to america�*s so—called city of dreams, los angeles. it�*s the final stop on the sunset limited train line, which i followed here all the way from new orleans. they call this one of the last great railway stations in the us and it marks one end of a line that created the hugely important artery carrying

cargo and passenger traffic from coast to coast. and, i tell you what, it�*s absolutely beautiful. like a church. and this is one reason why so many people make the trip to the californian coastline — for its beautiful weather and beaches. this is it! finally! the pacific ocean! new orleans seems an eternity away. so with 2000 miles under my belt, having travelled coast to coast, i kind of realise it�*s difficult to talk about a single shared american dream when this country has become so diverse. travelling off the well—worn tourist trail, i�*ve discovered such

different communities, each with an independent spirit, colourful history and a unique story to tell... all of which go towards what it means to be a modern american. hello. once again, that was all very idyllic, wasn�*t it? him evade the sun in the british isles that was as bright as it got today. —— i�*m afraid. many british isles that was as bright as it got today. if you�*re making a plan for the evening what you have got by now is probably what you�*re going to keep. lightly dry,

some sunshine, though none exclusively flowing to the west parts of scotland, west of northern ireland, western fringes of wales and parts of the south—west of done quite nicely as well. you will have been very lucky to have seen any sunshine because this onshore breeze around the big area of high pressure to the north west of scotland has been feeding in, as it has the semi days now, quite a bit of cloud towards the eastern side of the british isles and that is where it has worked his way towards the eastern side of the midlands time although it is not overly cold although it is not overly cold although if you are fully exposed to that onshore breeze out east and you have got a lot of cloud you might have got a lot of cloud you might have struggled to get to, sort of, the mid—teens towards the cost of the mid—teens towards the cost of the day. overnight, not a great deal changes over the club becomes a lot more expensive. some of the cloud filled in and settles in the hills on the north of england and perhaps other than scotland too. not a cold night in a city the gap. central scotland perhaps of at eight, 9 degrees only. next few days, no wish

to change things. subtle there is a doll —like variations on the theme, dry and cloudy for the most part, temperatures much where we expect that i�*m here. just take a lot of cloud to start with. again, may be a drizzly shelving of the north sea to the midlands as was the case today but i�*m hopeful that a bit of brightness gets into the south and those that envisions a 20 but stuck with a cloud you may be at 1a or 15 degrees. in the middle part of the week on tuesday and into wednesday not a great deal changes except perhaps we think a little bit more of an influence of that high pressure coming into scotland of the north of england, northern ireland, and perhaps a few more people get to see some decent spells of sunshine and further south not without hope at least a little bit of brightness, loss of dry weather again, tops around about 20, may be a 21 somewhere in the western side of scotland, sheltered from the pieces and little sunshine. even as far ahead as thursday and friday and was expecting to see a massive amount of change across the british isles.

that cloud still there, a loss of dry weather. it is the weekend, particularly as we moved or sunday that we begin to see the first signs of significant change, the high declines, low pressure comes in, and it turns a bit more unsettled. this is bbc news i�*m martine croxall. the headlines at 5 the bbc is told 10 people from one family — including six children were killed by a us drone attack in the afghan capital, kabul. the us says it is taking reports of civilian deaths very seriously. how... sobbing. why they killed our family, our children. seven children. we're investigating this, i'm knocking to get ahead of it. but if we have verifiable information that we did in fact take innocent life here then we will be transparent about that too. as the taliban say it�*s a more moderate force than before, we investgates report of revenge killlings and ask if the reality