At least 17 people are reported to have died in powerful storms across the United States.
Authorities in Missouri say 11 people died there, with another three deaths reported in Arkansas, and three others in car crashes amid dust storms in Texas on Friday.
Around 138 million people are at risk of severe weather in central and southern US states.
Tornado warnings are in place in parts of Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Indiana, and Kentucky.
In Missouri, where a state of emergency was declared on Friday, they are predicted to reach EF2 on the tornado strength scale, which requires wind speeds of between 113mph and 157mph.
Hail the size of baseballs were reported in Christian County, the US weather service said.
Snow of up to six inches is expected in western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota, the National Weather Service said.
Image: The remnants of a destroyed house in Florissant, Missouri. Pic: Reuters
Writing on X, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said two people died in Bakersfield, Ozark County, and several others were injured.
A man died after his mobile home was hit by heavy storms in Butler County, on Missouri’s Arkansas border, authorities told Sky’s US partner network NBC News.
Butler County coroner Jim Akers said the man and his wife were sleeping when the tornado came. Rescuers were able to pull the woman from the debris – but could not save the man.
“It was unrecognizable to be a home. Just a debris field,” he said, describing the scene. “The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls.”
County authorities added that the number of dead there could rise, with rescue operations ongoing.
Large vehicles were also pictured overturned across the state.
Image: Debris covers the road amid storms in Webster County, Missouri. Pic: AP
Image: Debris flies in Webster County, Missouri. Pic: AP
Image: A tornado destroyed house in Florissant, Missouri. Pic: Reuters
Lorries fall over in dust storms
In the Texas city of Amarillo, three people were killed in car crashes caused by a dust storm on Friday, according to the state’s public safety department.
One of the deaths happened after three lorries collided with four other vehicles in Palmer County, Bovina’s fire chief Cesar Marquez said. Another occurred after a pile up of an estimated 38 cars.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” public safety department sergeant Cindy Barkley said, calling the near-zero visibility a nightmare. “We couldn’t tell that they were all together until the dust kind of settled.”
Image: The scene of one of the fatal crashes in Austin, Texas on Friday. Pic: AP
Image: The crash scene in Austin, Texas. Pic: AP
Wind speeds in northern Texas were as high as 62mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Dramatic videos from across the state – and Oklahoma – show huge trucks falling on their side with the strength of the dust storm.
Three of the deaths happened in Independence County, Arkansas overnight, with a further 29 people injured across eight different counties, authorities said.
The extreme weather has destroyed buildings, compromised power supplies, and caused at least 100 wildfires in multiple states.
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Fires across the Southern Plains are likely to spread rapidly amid warm weather and strong winds, with evacuations ordered for some communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and New Mexico on Friday.
More than 400,000 households are without power in midwestern and southern states, according to the monitoring website PowerOutage.us.
Appealing to residents after implementing emergency measures, Missouri governor Mike Kehoe said on Friday: “I urge all Missourians to stay alert, monitor weather forecasts, and follow official warnings.”
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.
They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.
It came days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil.
Asked during a news conference at the White House if the talks would take place, Mr Trump said: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”
He said it had not been determined where the talks would take place, but added: “We had some very good talks with President Putin today.”
However, he said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”
Asked if Mr Putin made any kind of concession to lead to the development, Mr Trump did not give much away, but added: “We’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kyiv and other places.”
Trump might finally be a step closer to ending the war
Seven hours is a long time in US politics.
At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.
At 5pm, Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.
There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.
It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.
Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?
Is Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?
The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of breakthrough.
Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.
On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.
More tariffs ‘could happen’
Mr Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% he announced on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
“Could happen,” he said, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions intended to pressure Russia into ending its war with Ukraine.
Earlier, he imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, on top of a previous 25% tariff, over its continued purchases of Russian oil.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the additional tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Image: Vladimir Putin welcomes Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
It came after Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Mr Putin in which “great progress was made”.
He said he had updated America’s European allies, and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war “in the days and weeks to come”.
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4:11
Correspondents in Washington and Moscow break down a busy day of diplomacy
‘The war must end’
Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow”.
He added: “Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started.”
Mr Zelenskyy later said: “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire.”
He added that the pressure on Moscow “is working”, without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.
Five soldiers have been injured in a shooting at an army base in the US – with authorities placing the location in “lockdown”.
“The installation was locked down at 11.04am and law enforcement is on the scene,” the Fort Stewart base in Georgia wrote on Facebook.
It said the incident took place at the 2nd Armoured Brigade Combat Team area and casualties had been reported.
The gunman has been arrested and there is “no active threat to the community”, the base added.
“The incident remains under investigation and no additional information will be released until the investigation is complete,” it said. The lockdown was lifted at 12.10pm local time.
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Governor Brian Kemp said he and his family were “saddened by today’s tragedy”.
“We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers, and we ask that Georgians everywhere do the same,” he wrote on X.
Fort Stewart is around 25 miles (362km) southeast of Atlanta and is the largest US Army base east of the Mississippi River. It houses thousands of soldiers assigned to the army’s 3rd Infantry Division and their family members.
The fort’s three schools, which have nearly 1,400 students, were also placed under lockdown. Three schools outside the base also took steps similar to a lockdown “out of an abundance of caution”.
Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and the US president is monitoring the situation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X.
America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.
The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.
The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.
RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.
Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
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Is US politics fuelling a deadly measles outbreak?
Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.
MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.
Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.