a warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's reged ahmad. our top stories: cyclone debbie batters north—eastern australia. parts of queensland are in lockdown as the monster storm makes landfall. 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". hello and welcome.

what's being described as a "monster" cyclone has begun to make landfall 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 hit australia. trees have been ripped up and buildings damaged as the storm moves gci’oss buildings damaged as the storm moves across the queensland coast in north—east australia. the authorities have known that the storm was coming, and their advice has been 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. windspeeds hit 260 kilometres per hour, here. 30,000 people were told to evacuate from low—lying areas. it is the biggest cyclone in australia since cyclone tracy in 1974. —— biggest evacuation. 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 ayr'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. 0ur correspondent hywel griffith is in the town of ayr, a town in lockdown as residents prepared for the worst. this is the centre of ayr. it is one of the counter will be hit very hard by cyclone debbie when she hits. as you can tell, it is pretty much on lockdown. all the shops are close, san every door. —— closed. they expect to reach a rain to fall here

for several hours, and that brings the risk of flooding. people here know that while the cyclone might pass, the impact could be with them for cyril days. —— sever all. the local firefighters, it is a matter of waiting to see what comes. 0nce the windspeeds go above 80 kilometres per hour, they are not allowed to leave the base until it is said to do so. they have all the could then they need. generators and search agreement. and testing equipment so that they know where it is safe to go. even they might get locked. they have cancer that they are soft efficient —— self sufficient. that cyclone has made landfall. dr richard krupar, is an expert in tropical cyclones and extreme weather at the university of queensland, and hejoins me now from there. thank you for your time. first of all, can you explain richly what is making the cyclone so destructive?

yes, thanks that. the cyclone has beenin yes, thanks that. the cyclone has been ina yes, thanks that. the cyclone has been in a very conducive environment for development. it has had warm ocean to bridges are around 30 or 31 celsius. there is not been a lot of change in wind speed and when height to rip it apart. so it is beneficial early but surely happen to the resources over the ocean and become intense. we have been seeing it compare to the cyclone from 2011, which was quite disruptive and impact of farmland there. how does this one compare to that? it is hard to say, given that we are just experiencing loud full right now. and we have not been to get on the ground and look at the impact completely. so i cannot comment and make a comparison, but this is a very intense cyclone, and very similar in terms of intensity. do you think this is still a rare event in terms of cyclones hitting

queensland, all were we see more of these types of strong storms?” think we are seeing ships in the atmosphere that allowing these events to occur. they think the reason why these events are becoming so prolific is because the exposure are longer coast is increasing. and what i mean by that is that there are more buildings and people populating the coastlines in queensland. so inherently, when you have more people developing apartments and resort areas, you are going to have larger losses and impact from these never get events. in terms of cyclone debbie and the destruction we are anticipating it could cause, is the speed that it is moving related to that? the speed has been very slow. and when you have faster moving storms, you tend to see very strong windspeeds because you can think of it as adding the windspeeds on the east side of it relative to the forward motion. so for now, it has been

moving to the south slowly, so the windspeeds are confined to the inner co re windspeeds are confined to the inner core and eyeball region of the storm. it was moving faster, the windspeeds been a lot higher, but the windspeeds are still significant. i do not want to downplay that. so terms of what is causing the damage, is it the windspeeds aware go to sea, or is it some of the rain, as well, that is going to cause a problem? yes. that isa going to cause a problem? yes. that is a good question. the windspeeds a deadly go to cause a lot of issues, as well as the rainfall. notjust of this region, but as it continues to migrate inward and down the coast, we will deal with flooding and so on. but the storm type is quite a concern in the low—lying areas. so it is accommodation of wind, rainfall, and storm tight. —— type. dr richard krupar, thank you for

joining us. 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 group or al-qaeda. masood's mother has spoken of her shock and sadness, saying she's cried for his victims. the family of one of the victims, the american tourist kurt cochran, have been speaking about their pain — but said they bear masood no ill will. our correspondent daniela relph reports.

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 enthusiastic supporter of local bands. 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: cyclone debbie has made landfall in the australian

state of queensland, buffeting resort towns and islands with winds of up to 270 km/h. 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. well, more on our main story now: stav danaos from the bbc weather centre said cyclones, like debbie, are fuelled by warm seas. sea temperatures over 27 degrees celsius are where hurricanes and tropical cyclones form. so this system, so well—forecast, actually, has been slow—moving over the coral sea. it has had time to strengthen over the very warm waters of the coral sea.

we're looking at temperatures over 30 celsius, so this has been a perfect breeding ground for a severe storm. it's a category 4 severe storm. it's producing destructive winds over the whitsunday islands, and as it's 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 off the sea. i think cyclone debbie is going to be more of a rain event as we head through the course of tuesday. so can you give us a bit more of an idea, then, of the path and forecast? it has been excellently forecast. moving over the whitsunday islands to make landfall between bowen and north of mackay. it's going to head inland very slowly, though, so there will be phenomenal amounts of torrential rain in a short space of time, in a small area. what this will usually do is head

inland, and choke themselves out and decay very quickly, because they completely lose the supply of moisture from the sea. if you notice, what they're forecasting is for the storm to move south—easterly down towards brisbane, maybe even reaching northern nsw to sydney. so it will continue to have a moisture inflow off the sea as system moves down. so it will never really decay properly, had it moved inland, in to the desert and burn itself out. it will be an incredible rain feature as it moves down to maybe even sydney. thousands of water pipes will be replaced in the city of flint, in michigan, after lead contaminated the water supply, sparking a public health emergency. the state is putting aside almost $90 million to complete the work by 2020. the bbc‘s global health correspondent tulip mazumdar reports from washington. when officials switch the city's

water supply in 2014 to draw from the flint river, they hoped it would save millions of dollars. but soon, people started feeling unwell. some reported getting rashes and their hair falling out. nearly reported getting rashes and their hairfalling out. nearly 100,000 residents were exposed to high levels of lead for at least 18 months, because waterfrom levels of lead for at least 18 months, because water from the river was more corrosive. it hadn't been treated properly, so lead started leeching from the pipes. the city and state has now agreed to to replace at least 18,000 pipelines as pa rt replace at least 18,000 pipelines as part of a deal to settle lawsuits by residents. water quality has improved in the city, but people are still being advised to use filters. back to iraq now, and the human rights group amnesty international has said the large number of civilian casualties in the iraqi city of mosul suggests the us—led coalition is not taking adequate precautions. the group said evidence gathered on the ground pointed to an alarming pattern of airstrikes that have destroyed houses and killed families.

donatella rovera is a senior crisis response adviser at amnesty. she told me more about her team's findings. family after family in east mosul, whose relatives were killed when their homes were bombed in coalition airstrikes. in many of these cases, isis fighters were on the roof of the houses, or in the gardens or around the houses. however, the targeting of some isis individuals should not be done at the expense of killing entire families by bombing and completely destroying entire houses. the point that we're making is that not everything is allowed in war,

and the fact that isis uses civilians as human shields does not relieve the iraqi forces or the coalition forces from their obligation and their international law. 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, the damage is laid bare. what happened here at the oroville dam is a wake—up call in a country where infrastructure spending has been out of fashion for decades. and the lesson is simple. the longer you put off repairs or upgrades, the greater the risk, and the higher the cost in the end. but that is exactly what the us has been doing. more than 2,000 american dams

are rated as both deficient and high—hazard, which means failure would lead to loss of life. i think we have been doing what we thought was enough, but clearly we missed a few things. when we say "we", it's the global regulators, third—party independent consultants. this is a catastrophic event, and we are all learning from this. file: with bands and parading troops, new york and newjersey dedicate the huge lincoln tunnel under the hudson river. in the past century, us saw two big building booms. the first came in the 1930s, when roosevelt's new deal put millions 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. and minutes after he was elected president, donald trump promised a third.

we're gonna rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. mr trump is particularly scathing about america's airports. once icons of progress, he now calls them third world. but los angeles international is already spending billions on upgrades, funded not by the government, but passenger fees and private capital. are we where we want to be? no. but is today's experience third world? no. we are an incredibly robust airport. we have fantastic facilities here already. we're 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 bridges, pipes and dams, the us is trillions of dollars short. we will increasingly look

at what is normal. it won't be a 21st—century, western country. 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. so this seems pretty random to me.

they're 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 "eve—teasing", as they call it, harassing women, at all. you can go to everyone and say, what are you doing? why are you sitting like this? you stand up, what is this? this is not the way to correct your country. this is not the way. this is bbc news. 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. and that is 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 cloudier 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 is 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 in towards dumfries and galloway. for northern ireland, scattered showers, some sunshine. some of the showers could be heavy with a rumble of thunder, and that is 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. that will 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 heavier 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 celsius, maybe 21 degrees, but further north and west, it'll be cooler, breezier, with outbreaks 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, i'm reged ahmad. tropical cyclone debbie has made landfall 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. meanwhile, the mother of the attacker has expressed her shock and sadness, saying she's cried for his victims. the meeting between theresa may and nicola