welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: cyclone debbie batters north—eastern australia. parts of queensland are in lockdown as the monster storm brings destructive winds and tidal surges. iraqi forces fight their way deeper into the city of mosul, amid more concerns about civilian casualties. bang. that is an inaccurate weapon. it might be good for the tempo of the military operation, but it isn't necessarily good for preserving civilian lives. the family of one of the victims killed in the westminster terror attack speak for the first time about "feeling the love of so many people". and cracking down on the men who harass women — we go on patrol with india's anti—romeo squads. hello and welcome.

what's being described as a "monster" cyclone has begun to batter northeast australia. tens of thousands of people, including tourists, have been evacuated from coastal areas, amid warnings of winds gusting up to 250 kilometres an hour and dangerous tidal surges. caroline davies reports. cyclone debbie has already made itself felt. people living along the coast in north—east australia in queensland have been battered by high winds and rain. authorities knew it was coming and they have given the advice to get out. it is clear that the time to move

is now, to go to family and friends. this is a severe weather system. move now! don't wait til tomorrow, because you will not be able to move. overnight, the storm was upgraded to a category 4, only one level below the most violent level possible, with winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour. this is the city of bowen. it's been locked down. popular tourist destinations like the whitsundays and airlie beach have also been affected. 30,000 people were told to evacuate from low—lying areas. it is the biggest cyclone in australia since cyclone tracy in 1974. i think i'm glad i'm going because i have been thinking it is time to go. so yeah. i'm happy to go. well, i saw in the news that ayre's

going to be hit more by the cyclone, so i thought, no, i have to find a way. the authorities had time to prepare. sandbags were filled, schools closed, shop windows taped up, and airports shut down, in what has been a four to five day operation. the public have been told to charge their phones. power outages are likely. the slow—moving storm is likely to hit the mainland australia soon. queenslanders will be familiar with the risk of cyclones. now all they can do is wait. caroline davies, bbc news. emma reynolds is a reporter for the australian website news.com.au and shejoins me now from airlie beach. amaq, we're glad you say. tell us what you are seeing and what is happening around you. well, we were on holiday in airlie beach and were

evacuated from our hotel on the waterfront. we are now at another hotel slightly up the hill. it still just a couple of 100 metres from the beach. 0r just a couple of 100 metres from the beach. or we can hear is this terrifying noise, howling winds, cracking of branches, or possibly damaged houses, we don't know is we cannot see. all we can see is branches strewn about the hotel driveway. sheets of rain just moving across the sky and a bit of flooding around the hotel. we do have pictures, radar pictures, of the track of the cyclone, which is appearing right off the coast. i believe you were told to move earlier. tu have fiercely your safety? are people around you feeling safe? —— do you. safety? are people around you feeling safe? -- do you. we were not really given the option to get a bus

out. although we knew some people were. it was quite late by that point, so our hotel suggested that we move to another hotel nearby and that might be easier than taking to the roads, which are dangerous. 0ne person has already died in an accident on the roads. i don't think people in this hotel are worried, although we are safer, we are still near the beach. many people here are locals who have houses right on the waterfront and are worried their houses will be destroyed. are you getting updated information on what you should do, and how long this could last, how long you could be stuck there, essentially? we had a little bit of information from our hotel. they have talked to us about the escape route. we were told to get supplies, food and water, which we have, and battery chargers, because there is no power since last night. and we also lost our, some of

the phone networks, early this morning. so it is not really clear what we can do early on. getting out was not possible. some people were in worse areas, low—lying areas on the water. emma reynolds with news .com .au. hopefully we can stay in touch with you. she is in airlie beach, they are, experiencing cyclone debbie as it hits the australian coast. moving on, iraqi government forces are intensifying their efforts to drive so—called islamic state out of western mosul. they're deploying helicopter gunships and crude rocket launchers to target is militants. but thousands fleeing the city say civilians are being killed because the assault is too indiscriminate. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen reports from western mosul. this is the iraqi solution to an offensive that's stalled over the last week or so, attack again.

gunfire it feels as if the air war over mosul is intensifying. the gunship pilots fly low. they seem confident they won't get shot down. and every day, a few thousand more people come walking out of the areas of mosul still held by the jihadists who call themselves islamic state. many said is used them as human shields, shooting out from the cover of their homes and streets, but the response, more air strikes, horrified them. translation: they destroyed our homes, our cars, everything. they destroyed us. entire families are gone, they are under the rubble. translation: a lot of people died,

children, women and men. houses collapsed on them. i lost both my sons. some very sophisticated modern weapons are in this fight, and so are these, locally made rockets used over a short range. a blunt instrument. that is an inaccurate weapon. it might be good for the tempo of the military operation, but it isn't necessarily good for preserving civilian lives. but they want to win this battle, and they're using everything they've got. most of the people arriving in government—held territory are bussed out to camps. many said is fighters forced

themselves into their homes. nine of this woman's family were killed in the big raid on the 17th. she said she wasn't escaping the jihadists, but air strikes that used tons of bombs on a single sniper. translation: they destroy the houses when there are one or two or three so—called islamic state men inside them. they turn houses into cemeteries. they bring the dead out burned. we can't recognise them. my children, nine of my family killed. they call them smart bombs, but this is stupid. my grandchildren, two are gone. the people of mosul have been left with impossible choices, risk death in their own homes or risk death crossing a frontline. iraq has been shattered by the years of war and sectarian conflict that

followed the us and british invasion. it might be too late to put this country back together. jeremy bowen, bbc news, mosul. scotland yard says there's no evidence of any link between khalid masood, who killed three pedestrians and a policeman in westminster, and the islamic state it had been their first visit out of the usa — a tour of europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. but on the final day of their trip, kurt cochran was killed on westminster bridge. his wife, melissa cochran—payne, seriously injured. today, 13 members of theirfamily spoke publicly for the first time.

from utah, they are a mormon family, who have found strength in their faith. i think it's hard for most of us to imagine here what it must be like to lose somebody in this way. can you give us some sense of the impact on the family? i think it's brought us really close together. our family's been always close together, and we've also had some wonderful, wonderful times together. we just love and support each other so much, and i think it's made us even that much stronger. kurt cochran ran a music studio back home, an enthusiasm supporter of local bands. —— enthusiastic. their song was featured and they're about to get going right here... there have been tribute concerts in his honour. his family overwhelmed by the thousands of messages they've received. what the cochran and payne families have shown today is what happens when you are suddenly affected

by an event of this magnitude. it has brought with it trauma, grief and, for them, forgiveness. none of us harbour any ill will or harsh feelings towards this. so, we love our brother, we love what he brought to the world. that lack of resentment or bitterness, a feeling shared by others injured in the attack. we should sort of try and unify through love and compassion, rather than through our hatred and anger about what happened. today, tobias ellwood was in parliament square to pay his respects and see the tributes. the foreign office minister had tried so hard to save the life of pc keith palmer last week. this, a chance for him to remember all of those killed. daniela relph, bbc news, westminster. well, police are to install new security barriers around the queen's residence at windsor castle, ahead of the next changing the guard ceremony on wednesday. officers said the measures weren't

in response to specific intelligence, but followed a review in light of the attack in westminster. stay with us on bbc news. still to come... with president's tump's healthcare plan in tatters, where does he go from here? could infrastructure renewal be the key to bridging political divides? let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. applause so proud of both of you. with great regret the committee have decided that south africa be

excluded from the 1970 competition. streaking across the sky, the white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers in fiji. this is bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. the latest headlines: people living in low—lying parts of north—eastern australia are in lockdown — as cyclone debbie sweeps across northern queensland. government forces in iraq are intensifying their efforts to drive so—called islamic state out of western mosul. the campaign is raising further concerns about civilian casualties. more now on our main story —

cyclone debbie which is currently battering parts of queesnland. with me from the bbc weather centre is stav danaos. thank you forjoining us. what is filling the cycling? these systems developed over the sea and are fuelled by the moisture of warm seas. the temperatures over 27 celsius are where hurricane ‘s and tropical cyclones forms. this system has been slow—moving over the coral sea. it has had time to strengthen over the very warm waters of the coral sea. temperatures over 30 celsius so it has been a perfect breeding ground for a severe storm. it isa breeding ground for a severe storm. it is a category for severe storm and is producing destructive winds over the whitsunday islands and is

110w over the whitsunday islands and is now making landfall on the actual mainland of queensland. the wind speeds will considerably drop down to about 100 mph because it is starting to lose the inflow of moisture of the sea. i think cyclone debbie is going to be more of a rain event as we had through the course of tuesday. can you give us an idea of tuesday. can you give us an idea of the path and forecast? it has been excellently forecast. moving over the whitsunday islands to make la ndfall over the whitsunday islands to make landfall between bowen and north of mackay. it will head inland very slowly so there will be phenomenal amounts of torrential rain in a small space of time in a small area. what this will usually do is head inland very quickly because they lose the supply of moisture from the sea. what the forecasting is for the storm to move south—easterly down

towards brisbane, maybe even reaching northern new south wales to syd ney reaching northern new south wales to sydney so it will continue to have a moisture inflow of the cso system moves down. it will never really be —— decay really until it burns itself out. it will be an incredible rain feature as it moves down to maybe even sydney. is that mean it will stay just as maybe even sydney. is that mean it will stayjust as powerful maybe even sydney. is that mean it will stay just as powerful as maybe even sydney. is that mean it will stayjust as powerful as it is 110w will stayjust as powerful as it is now as it continues to move? no, it strea m now as it continues to move? no, it stream power and destructive winds that we have now is because it has been over the coral sea. as it moves inland, the minute it encounters a large land mass, it begins to weaken. it is moving along the coast and it continues to have some inflow of moisture from the sea and then this is what will continue to fuel it. it will be a rain feature rather than a wind feature, i think, for the rest of the week. some phenomenal flooding around the storm which is creating some storm surges

as it makes land role. stav danaos from the bbc weather centre, thank you. —— landfall. after last week's healthcare defeat for president trump — the big question now is what it will do to the rest of his agenda? another major promise made during the president's campaign was to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. but as james cook reports from california it will be no easy task. the tallest dam in the richest nation on earth is no longer a source of pride. last month after heavy rain, its overflow channels began to crumble. nearly 200,000 californians had to flee. now the water level has fallen and the damage is laid bare. what happened here at the dam is a wake—up call in a country where infrastructure spending has been out of fashion for decades. the lesson is simple. the longer you put off repairs or upgrades, the greater the risk and

the higher the cost in the end. that is exactly what the us has been doing. more than 2000 american dams are rated as both deficient and high hazard which means failure would lead to loss of life. i think what we thought we were doing was enough but clearly we missed a few things. when we say we it is the global regulators, third—party consultants, everyone. this is a catastrophic event and we are all learning from this. the bands and parading troops along the hudson river's huge tunnel. the first big boom came in the 1930s. roosevelt put billions of americans to work on projects like this one. the second was in the 50s and 60s with the construction of the interstate highway system. minutes after he was elected to president, donald trump promised at the third. we will rebuild our infrastructure.

which will become, by the way, second to none. mr trump is particularly scathing at about america's airports. once icons of progress, he now calls them third world but not —— la international is already spending thousands on —— millions on upgrades. funded not by the government but passenger fees and private capital. are we where we wa nt to and private capital. are we where we want to be? no. but is today's experience third world? no. we are an incredible robust airport. we have fantastic facilities here already. we are taking them to the next level which will be the gold standard. showcased projects are one thing but when it comes to more mundane repairs to roads and bruce jenner is, pipes and dams, the us is trillions of dollars short. —— bridges. the imac it will

increasingly look at what is normal. —— we will increasingly look at what is normal. it is webby 21st-century western country. -- it won't be. the challenge is not to make america great again but to keep it from crumbling. sexual harassment is a huge problem in india. some surveys suggest more than 80% of women there have been harassed at some time in their lives. now india's most populous state, uttar pradesh, is taking action, sending out what it calls "anti—romeo squads". justin rowlatt, has been to see one of the police teams in action. this seems pretty random to me.

they are just stopping guys, like this guy here. asking them what they're up to, checking their id. there is no evidence that this guy was harassing women at all. you can go to everyone and say, what are you doing? why are you doing that? what is this? this is not the way to correct your country. russia's opposition leader alexei navalny has been sentenced

to 15 days in prison for organising the biggest anti—government protests in the country for several years. tens of thousands of people attended the anti—corru ption rallies in cities across russia. the kremlin said the demonstrations were illegal — describing them as ‘a provocation and a lie'. our correspondent steve rosenberg reports from moscow. it wasn't difficult to guess what this verdict was going to be. the police bus ready and waiting to take russia's main opposition leader to jail. inside the court room, alexei navalny was upbeat. he had called russians onto the streets yesterday. there'd been tens of thousands of protesters, he told me, but there were millions of russians who backed the fight against corruption. when the verdict came, he was guilty. the crime? disobeying police orders. the punishment? 15 days injail. as mr navalny emerged, his supporters held up good luck messages, hoping he'd see

them through the window. the police saw them and took them away. yesterday's anti—corru ption protests were the largest in russia for five years. in moscow, riot police moved in to clear the crowds. more than 1,000 people were detained. but why have they come out in the first place? one reason is this film posted online. in it, alexei navalny accuses russia's prime minister of massive corruption. he alleges that dmitry medvedev had used charities to conceal vast assets. mansions, yachts, even a vineyard. propagandist attacks, says the prime minister's office. but the film has gone viral with 13 million views. mr navalny called the protests to demand an official investigation. today the kremlin complained that

many of yesterday's protests had been unsanctioned and were therefore illegal. but the fact that one man, one kremlin critic, had been able to bring so many protesters onto the streets shows that alexei navalny is now a force to be reckoned with. he's certainly drawing crowds. mr navalny has been opening campaign offices across russia. he wants to run for president. he's under pressure, though, from the authorities and he's come under attack. here sprayed with green ink. but he remains determined, he says, to clean up russia. he may be spending tonight injail but these protests have reinforced alexei navalny‘s reputation as president putin's most serious rival. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. hello there.

after a glorious weekend, glorious start to the week, things are set to turn more unsettled now as we continue to head through the week. that's because we've got this area of low pressure out in the atlantic slowly encroaching in, it will be bringing increasing cloud, outbreaks of rain and increasing wind as well. meanwhile, high pressure remains anchored across the near continent. this feature will be bringing some showers into the south—west corner of the country during the course of the night. and i think generally it will be a cloudy and night to come for most, certainly central and northern areas, a bit of mist down the east coast there. so as a result, not quite as cool by the time we reach first thing on tuesday morning. could see the odd pocket of frost, though, across the north—west corner of scotland. that's because skies will remain clear here. so we've got showers from the word go across the south—west for tuesday morning. a bit of sunshine through the midlands and the south—east. more in the way of cloud across northern areas but a line of showers will continue to northwards and eastwards

as the afternoon wears on, some of them could pep up to be quite heavy. a cloudier day i think for much of scotland than what we've seen of late through the afternoon. probably the best of any sunshine across this sheltered north—west highlands corner, where we could see some pretty decent temperatures. but a cooler feel to things. some rain getting into awards dumfries and galloway. for northern ireland, scattered showers, some sunshine. some of the showers could be heavy with a rumble of thunder, and that's also the case for much of northern england and in towards the midlands. but there will be some good sunny spells through the midlands eastwards and that really will boost temperatures again, up to 18—20 celsius. the breeze, though, more of a feature across the south—west. and we'll also see another weather front moving in, and that'll herald more persistent rain, which will spill its way northwards and eastwards during the course of tuesday night into wednesday. so actually wednesday day is looking pretty cloudy, quite a damp one with outbreaks of rain. most of it across the north and the west of the country, the odd heavy burst mixed in, it will feel cooler as well. we'll still make 15 or 16 celsius across the south—east given some brightness.

so, we're into a more unsettled regime midweek onwards. as you can see, tighter packed isobars, more of a breeze, outbreaks of rain, and most of this across northern and western areas closer to this area of low pressure. this warm front, though, will be moving its way northwards and in fact will let us tap into some warmth across the near continent for thursday. so east anglia and the south—east, given some sunshine, could have a really warm day and potentially the warmest day of the year so far. 18—20, maybe 21 degrees. but further north and west, it'll be cooler, breezier, without breaks of rain. then through friday, that weather front spreads its way northwards and behind it is a regime of sunshine and showers and it'll feel cooler for all. and that cooler theme continues on into the weekend. the latest headlines from bbc news: tropical cyclone debbie has made land in the australian state of queensland. strong winds and heavy rains are battering the coast. thousands of residents have been evacuated from coastal towns, leaving homes sandbagged and boarded up. forecasters say it could last for up to 18 hours. government forces in iraq are intensifying their efforts

to drive so—called islamic state out of western mosul. the use of helicopter gunships and crude rocket launchers is raising further concerns about civilian casualties. many of those fleeing the city say the assaults are too indiscriminate. the family of one of those killed in the westminster terror attack has spoken for the first time. relatives of the american tourist, kurt cochran, say they bear no ill will, following the atrocity. those are the headlines. now on bbc news, reporters.