this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at lipm: one of the most powerful hurricanes in history is sweeping across the caribbean, destroying buildings and knocking out power supplies. thousands of people seek shelterment the storm is headed for puerto rico. in florida, officials urge people to get out of its path. do not ignore evacuation orders. remember, we can rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your life. after a leak of controversial immigration proposals, theresa may tells mps people will expect the level of immigration from the eu to fall after brexit. people want to see control of that immigration. also in the next hour, protests over public sector pay. hundreds of nurses stage a demonstration outside parliament calling for an end to the i% pay cap. sinn fein calls for new talks to try to restore a power—sharing government in northern ireland.

and the unmistakeable voice of football for 50 years, john motson, says he's hanging up his sheepskin coat and retiring next year. i did my first ever commentary for bbc tv from this very gantry and in those days, nobody had heard of the internet, although i can vouch i did say at the time "it's in the net." good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the atlantic has been battering the caribbean islands of antigua, barbuda and anguilla causing major damage. the category 5 storm, with sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts of up to 225mph, is now heading towards the british virgin islands, puerto rico and then may hit florida by the end of the week. airports have closed on several islands and people have

flocked to shops for food, water, and emergency supplies before taking shelter. french ministers says it's already caused major damage in french—run saint martin and st ba rts. in st martin, government buildings, the most sturdy there, have been destroyed. richard galpin reports. the leeward islands of the caribbean are now being battered by this huge storm. this unverified video apparently showing winds of more than 180mph hitting the tiny island of saint martin. it's becoming clear that there has been significant damage here. the storm stu rj been significant damage here. the storm sturj flooding this area near the coast and the wind ripping apart some buildings. the whole roof is

gone. in the sky above, this special us research plane also takes a battering as it flies right through the hurricane, collecting vital data. for the crew, it's a wild ride. higher up, a satellite captures the seething, churning power of this, one of the biggest atlantic storms on record. and from the international space station, a sense of how big an area the storm clouds cover. knowing that the islands of antigua and barbuda will be amongst amongst the first to be hit by the hurricane, people here started moving to safety yesterday. here we are on market street, usually a very, very busy street in stjohn‘s. it's not busy today, it's a ghost town. while antigua may not have been hit too badly, the situation in barbuda is not known. the biggest cause for concern right

now is we seem to have completely lost contact with our sister island, barbuda. they're getting really the full force of this right now. i think they're currently in the eye and that should be coming to a close soon. and then they are going to get those 185 mile winds happening again shortly. so we will be very grateful when we hear and finally get some news back from barbuda. hurricane irma is steadily moving west and according to latest reports, has already caused major damage. so now, even as far away as florida, people are stocking up with supplies. the hurricane is expected to make landfall here by the weekend. the storm is massive, and the storm surge that is predicted will go for miles and miles. it's incredibly important that all floridians keep a close eye on this incredibly dangerous storm. do not sit and wait to prepare. get prepared now. and already, the us authorities have ordered everyone living in the very vulnerable area

of key west to leave. our correspondent will grant joins us from havana. how long before it hits? we think by the weekend it should begin to make land fall along cuba's north coast and there are a lot of low lying kind of coastal communities there too. obviously we've heard in richard's report there that the smaller islands in the caribbean have been hit hard again in those lie lowing coastal plains and so on and that they are very, very concerned about the storm sturj. i think it is a similar story here. that's the thing that most people are most worried about and i heard now that the us state department is revising its travel advisory to cuba and telling its citizens to re—think

planned travel to the island. some suggestions this storm surge could be anything up to ii—feet which would be obviously devastating anywhere let alone somewhere like cuba? right, ablutly. you can see perhaps behind me that is an inlet to the coast here in havana. havana isa to the coast here in havana. havana is a city that already has a lot of crumbling and damaged buildings because partly the decades and years of sea spray and coastal winds coming into the city, but also the fa ct coming into the city, but also the fact that there has been decades of the us economic embargo. it is hard to find construction materials to support your home to rebuild damaged roofs and things. that's been going on for a long, lyle and definitely complicates matters. so the idea of a storm surge of the kind of magnitude you're mentioning is really very worrying to residents here. well, how worrying, will? islands like cuba, all those in the

path of the hurricane, they have had hurricanes before, it is not a huge surprise. what is it about this particular one that has them so worried? to be honest, i this it is the magnitude. you're right, cubans are good at this. they obey government instructions and they don't tend to sort of rebel against the instructions to evacuate so they leave their homes and go and stay with families in more secure areas and so on so they know the drill, but when we are talking about a storm that could be dumping as much as 20 inches of rain in a very, very short amount of time, it could be bringing the winds of somewhere in the region of 175 to 185mph, there isn't an island in the caribbean that has the infrastructure to deal with that, whether it is a puerto rico orjamaica or trinidad & tobago 01’ rico orjamaica or trinidad & tobago or cuba where other factors make

life very, very complicated. will, thank you very much. will grant there in havana. the prime minister has told the commons that people want to see control of immigration after brexit. she was speaking after a leaked draft home office document suggested that heavy restrictions should be placed on the number of low skilled workers coming to the uk and that employers should be encouraged to hire british people first. but the government's insisting it won't shut the door on eu migration. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. for many voters, it was the key issue on which they made their choice in the brexit referendum. what should britain's immigration policy be for eu citizens? today, a government document leaked to journalists from the guardian newspaper gave some answers. the key philosophy being that immigration should benefit notjust the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off. those who have campaigned for years for lower immigration are delighted. it's broadly on the right lines. it's to be welcomed. if implemented, as proposed, then we see a considerable,

significant reduction in the sort of numbers coming from the eu, which is what people broadly voted for a year and a bit ago. the document is clearly a recent draft of the home office's long—awaited white paper on immigration after brexit. officials here insist it is not the latest draft, it's very much a work in progress and the cabinet is still arguing over it. that said, it's not back of the envelope stuff either. it is more than 80 pages of proposals. one of the key phrases in the draft says that, "wherever possible, uk employers should look to meet their labour needs from resident labour." but businesses insist they're already doing that. they do everything they can to employ british workers, it's just very difficult. sometimes you have skills gaps that you need to fill with people from outside the uk, and that's just the way it is. the draft proposes that any eu

citizen already living here before a certain not yet specified date would be allowed to stay. and even after brexit, there would be a transition period of at least two years. but at that point, the key proposals suggests that free movement for eu citizens ends, they would need passports, not id cards at the border, two year work permits would be available for eu citizens, though highly skilled workers could get longer permits. for the holiday and hospitality industry, like butlins in bognor regis, the future could be a real challenge. 30% of their workforce are eu citizens and they may find themselves applying for lots of work permits. i think nationally coastal resorts struggle to recruit, so recruiting from the european market is really important to us. today's leaked document will only fuel the debate about britain's future immigration policy. there has been a mixed reaction to

the report in the commons. here is iain watson. when britain leaves the european union, the government wants to reassure businesses that the economy won't, as they put it, fall off a cliff edge. so there won't be massive changes to eu migration for at least a couple of years. but the leaked document points to a sea—change in attitudes after that, with far more restrictions on unskilled workers. in the commons today, the snp asked the prime minister to restate the benefits, rather than the burdens, of immigration. does the prime minister agree that immigration is essential to the strength of the uk economy as well as enhancing our diversity and culturalfabric? overall immigration has been good for the uk. but what people want to see is control of that immigration. that is, i think, what people wanted to see as a result of coming out of the european union.

we are already able to exercise controls in relation to those who come to this country from outside the countries within the european union. and we continue to believe as a government that it's important to have net migration at sustainable levels. theresa may knows the only way she can get net migration down to the tens of thousands is if she cuts eu immigration significantly. that said, non—eu migration is way above that level, even with tighter controls. so some leave campaigners are hoping the government will officially adopt some of the ideas in this document for further restrictions. people were fed up with people just coming in from the eu into this country, putting public services under pressure. that was the number one issue why people voted to leave, i would say. the government is acting on a promise to end free movement. the document is marked "sensitive". but restrictions on immigration are far more sensitive in some parts of the country than others. this extreme, hard brexit is a blueprint for strangling

the london economy. why do i say that? i, on a regular basis i speak to chief executives and employers, speak to businesses in london, and i know the positive impact eu workers make. this summer the home secretary commissioned research into the impact of immigration, so, some mps say, she shouldn't be floating the idea of new restrictions until she sees the result. they really must wait for the evidence from the migration advisory committee about the overall impact is and what the needs are in different sectors of the economy before they take decisions. the cabinet is yet to finalise what restrictions it wants to see on immigration. but critics say it's important that skilled workers who might benefit the economy will still feel welcome. duncan hawley a farmer joins us from birmingham. you voted brexit, is that right?

yes, that's right, yes. but you have concerns about the government's policy on immigration? yes. i mean oui’ policy on immigration? yes. i mean our concerns are policy on immigration? yes. i mean oui’ concerns are there policy on immigration? yes. i mean our concerns are there of course we're in, we've got the lowest employment rate for a number of yea rs employment rate for a number of years at 2% unemployment rate and we just haven't got the people who fulfil all the jobs within our industry. can you give me an idea of what that actually means in terms of numbers of people? how many people you use in one year and how many of those you're having to bring in from the eu? well, within the industry we're employing in the region of 500,000 to do things for example like pick fruit, and pick vegetables, things like that which we would seriously struggle to fill those positions with people from the

uk. what do you say to those who say well, there are plenty of people in this country who want those jobs and they should have - priority? this country who want those jobs and they should have . priority? yes, they should have the priority? yes, they should have the priority? yes, they should have the priority? yes, they should have the priority. we're quite happy to obviously employ brits. but if we can't have the positions filled then things are going to go wrong for us. for example, fruit and vegetables will be left in the fields to rot because we won't have the workforce to pick them and harvest them. when you voted brexit in the weeks before that, we heard all the arguments for this, have you perhaps changed your mind? no, i haven't changed my mind. the main thing for me why i voted to leave was because as an industry, i was fed—up with having all the legislations put on us, put on our businesses, which was making things very ha rd

businesses, which was making things very hard for us for farming in the uk. so what would be an acceptable compromise for you now?|j uk. so what would be an acceptable compromise for you now? i think that if we did have a controlled immigration unit we should have visas for people to come in, do the harvest, help us out with the harvest, help us out with the harvest a nd harvest, help us out with the harvest and then we know that they are going to go back at the end of the summer because there is seasonal, the problem is a lot of oui’ seasonal, the problem is a lot of our work is seasonal and the guys in this country obviously want full—time employment when they know that they are going to be getting paid ona that they are going to be getting paid on a full—time wage. we can't offer that. so, seasonal workers would come in say injune on a maybe a six month visa and then we know that they are going to go home again. that is, i think, that they are going to go home again. that is, ithink, a kind of that they are going to go home again. that is, i think, a kind of a compromise so we know who is coming m, compromise so we know who is coming in, who is going out, we know the numbers of migrants that might be in

the uk which currently we don't necessarily know at the moment. duncan, thank you very much. that's duncan, thank you very much. that's duncan hawley there in birmingham. our business editor simon jack is here. the issue of free movement central to the whole brexit argument and businesses, it seems, they have different views from others? first of all, they understand the government has to tread a balance between controlling immigration, satisfying voters concerns whilst at the same time acknowledging the needs of business and business have a lwa ys needs of business and business have always accepted there is a line to be trod. having said that are, on the basis of these proposals and they are just proposals, they are not yet government policy, we've had some strong reaction today from various industry groups, the uk hospitality industry where 70% of wait irs come from the eu say it would be catastrophic for their industry. the manufacturing lobby the eef say they have got grave

concerns. the food and drink federation says it shows a lack of understanding of the contribution that migrant workers make. they find it easier to deal with the high skill, you know bringing people in for particular areas and having a work permit and expressing need and getting the right people in for that, but what they are saying is this proposal as it is written makes it much harder to bring in low skill jobs and we have a need for both. it's not the question that we just, we've got the low killed ones here and we are not training them. we heard from duncan hawley a farmer says look, we know when we need the low skilled workers to come, particularly for seasonal work, we give them a visa, we give them an exit date, that would make him happy? when we get to the further

iterations ones, the seasonal workers might fall out of this, they arejust here workers might fall out of this, they are just here seasonally, this includes building workers and waiters and chefs. it is those people who are planning to stay here longer thanjust the people who are planning to stay here longer than just the season where they are focussing their attention. what they are saying is you could be here for a max maria miller of two yea rs, here for a max maria miller of two yea rs , we here for a max maria miller of two years, we don't know if you could renew that work permit and for the higher skill levels. one person pointed out to me, in areas for example like academia, teaching, people come in here, but rely on to pay for example if you go and become an academic in cambridge, expensive housing costs, they rely on their spouse to be able to work when they come here and the proposals clamp—down on the ability to bring infamily clamp—down on the ability to bring in family members and that's got the higher skilled workers worried as well. i have got sir vince cable waiting. anything else? there is reports that the government has been

asking ftse 100 reports that the government has been asking ftse100 ceos to sign and supporting their approach to brexit. the couple of ceos i have spoken to say they haven't seen the letter and also they say that actually issuing such a letter would be a high risk strategy in the sense that don't ask for something you might not get! simon, thank you very much. we have got sir vince cable waiting for us at the house of commons. vicki young is there with him. downing street saying that this is a leaked document that they don't officially comment on such things. they say it has been redrafted several times since that version back in august. but it hasn't stopped people commenting on what is of course a hot talking point here at westminster because everyone knows the uk will need a new immigration system the uk will need a new immigration syste m o nce the uk will need a new immigration system once we leave the european union. so let's talk to the leader of the liberal democrats, sir vince cable who is with me now. theresa may making it very clear that this is about control and we know that millions of people probably voted for brexit partly because of the issue of immigration and controlling who comes into this country. what's

wrong with that? nothing wrong with the principle of having fair managed migration. absolutely right and i fully understand millions of people are concerned about it, but what we do has got to be based on evidence and fact and not assertion and theresa may made a claim in parliament today about how unskilled migration for europe was driving down british wages. it's simply not true. we did a lot of work in government. i was a cabinet colleague of her‘s, my department, we commissioned and brought together a whole lot of research which found there was little impact on wages or employment, but the home office wouldn't allow it to be published. it was inconvenient truth. but that, you know and most of the people who come here, come here to do work, that the british people don't want to do or they come in highly specialised skilled roles and create employment thereby. but what is wrong with for example seasonal workers, we were hearing from a farmer saying as long as the workers are allowed to come in, it is about

breaking the link with them staying here long—term or forever, breaking the link with them staying here long—term orforever, isn't breaking the link with them staying here long—term or forever, isn't it in they can come in and have a working visa and leave when the work is done? well, there are all kinds of ways within the european union, within the single market, governments can exercise some degree of control over freedom of movement while retaung the broad principle which is surely right —— retaining the broad principle which is surely right. some countries say you can't just come looking for work, you have got to have a job. the germans exercise control over professional qualifications the i believe it is very much in britain's interests that we stay within the single market and the european union and we should be looking at how to operate a system within that rather than simply breaking out of it because the great danger of the government just acting unilaterally and developing in 18 months, two years our own system is that we lose all the enormous trade benefits that we get from our close links with the european union. so you think there isa european union. so you think there is a transition phase of two or three years that that the government

will not be able to bring in #234i any controls on immigration because of what the eu will say in our negotiations? it will be very difficult for the government to secure a transitional arrangement in which the british government does its own thing on immigration and assumes that the rest of the european union will be happy to continue with the existing trade arrangements. they won't and there isa arrangements. they won't and there is a very real risk of proceeding in this way that actually we finish at crashing out of the european union with very damaging consequences. crashing out of the european union with very damaging consequencesm vince cable, thank you very much indeed. we will know what the government's final version of this document will be sometime, they say, before christmas when they come forward with what the immigration system for the uk will look like once we have left the european union. thank you very much. let's return to the hurricane, hurricane irma which is a category 5 storm. it caused widespread damage on several caribbean islands already. joining me now is a doctor

based at durham university. thank you forjoining us. explain why this particular hurricane seems to be causing so much destruction? well, every hurricane is a bit different from every other hurricane. in this particular case, hurricane irma has extremely powerful winds. so the winds are the strongest recorded for an atlantic hurricane and that's what makes hurricane irma destructive. hurricane katrina where it was the storm surge that was high. in this case, it is the winds. we are looking at pictures. it is huge. that's right. it's a massive storm. it's likely to cause quite extensive damage across the caribbean as well as potentially florida in a couple of days unless

it veers off to the east which we hope that it does. what's made this particularly so strong is it the journey that it has travelled? it's a combination of factors. so typically for a hurricane you need water temperatures that are above 26 celsius. sea surface temperatures at the moment are one degree warmer than that so that contributes. it did have its origins almost all the way to the east of the atlantic basin and it did travel a long way gaining strength as it travelled. another contributor is the lack of he will nen owe. it contributes to wind shear and it ple vents the hurricanes getting too large. there is no he will nen owe event at the moment and no he will nen owe event projected to occur and this helps the hurricane gain strength without a control on maximum strength the hurricane with achieve. perhaps it

is anecdotal, but do the hurricanes seem to be getting worse over the yea rs ? seem to be getting worse over the years? well, they do. and there has been the so—called hurricane drought. you may have heard of it. it has been a while since a hurricane, a major hurricane has struck the us mainland, but it has been the case in other basins. the pacific has seen a number of hurricanes on mexico like hurricane patricia. there does seem to be an increase in the number of extreme powerful hurricanes, not necessarily an increase in the frequency of all hur kaebs, but there is an increase in the number of powerful hurricanes and this makes perfect sense if you consider sea furfas and this makes perfect sense if you consider sea fur fas temperatures have been rising and humidity from the sea is the main contributor to power of a hurricane which is what has been predicted for years and is what we're seeing. i don't know if

your role as principal investigator as the hurricane project means you have stood in the middle of a hur kaeb, not in durham, i suspect, have stood in the middle of a hur kaeb, not in durham, isuspect, but in terms of what it is like to stand in winds of more than 100mph, can you stand in that? i have never stood in a powerful hurricane before. in weaker ones, yes, but! suspect in something like hurricane irma you simply just suspect in something like hurricane irma you simplyjust do not want to stand in the winds and i don't think it's possible. they are far too strong. i wasn't suggesting we fly you out! you wouldn't want to be there anyway, none of us does. i have seen the list of hurricane names that they have produced for next year and bis they have produced for next year and b is going to be hurricane brian. can you think of a hurricane called brian that could be really threatening? no. it is funny that you mentioned that actually, but there has been research on the psychology of hurricane names and

a p pa re ntly psychology of hurricane names and apparently some names are viewed as less threatening than other names and fewer people evacuate, so the name ofa and fewer people evacuate, so the name of a hurricane does matter. certain names cause more devastation because people take them less seriously, they imagine them being more benign and potentially hurricane brian might be one of those. i suspect you and i have made hurricane brian one of the most terrifying things to come! thank you. let's find out what's going on with that and the weather. it is time to get a forecast from chris fawkes. disturbing news that hurricane irma mowed across the island of barbuda earlier on. it was about seven o'clock our time and it made a second land fall across st martin. this is expected to be a

catastrophic storm in terms of damage. winds expected to reach 225 my. we will see some nasty scenes over the coming days and hours. tonight, it is going to be a quiet night. the cloud will increase across the north—west. there will be patchy outbreaks of rain. temperatures 12 or 13 celsius. colderfor temperatures 12 or 13 celsius. colder for the north—east of scotland. in the countryside a chilly one. temperatures low single figures. tomorrow, it will be a cloudy day across the north—west of the uk with outbreaks of rain and turning windy and with that cloud and rain, it will be a cool day, just 1a celsius in glasgow. a dry morning and probably much of the afternoon across central and eastern england, but here things will cloud over later in the day. that's your weather. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy at 11:30. the headlines. caribbean islands are being hit by hurricane irma, one of the most powerful atlantic storms in a century. it has blown the roofs off buildings

on saint barts and saint martin, and has cut communications. the mayor of london says leaked documents... a new approach is needed after brexit. nurses have staged a protest outside parliament calling for an end to the 196 parliament calling for an end to the 1% public sector pay cap. there have been indications the government is preparing to relax the limit proposed seven years ago. sinn fein's called for new negotiations to try to restore a power sharing government in northern ireland. the stormont executive collapsed in january after months ireland. the stormont executive collapsed injanuary after months of talks failed to overcome a series of disputes with the dup. time for the sport now. he hasn't played sincejuly but today andy murray has confirmed he's likely to miss the rest of the tennis season with a hip injury.

he posted on social media he was confident after an extended period of rest and rehabilitation, he'd be challenging for grand slams again next season. he plans to return at the brisbane international which starts on new year's eve. england have made one change to their team for the third and final test against west indies at lord's. the series is level at one—all. bowler toby roland— jones comes into the team for chris woakes. he was dropped for the game at edgbaston in favour of woakes, who was returning from injury. this test will be england's last before the winter's ashes. the labour party wants a ban on gambling firms sponsoring this week we went in thinking, which side is going to win in these conditions. we looked at the surface, the way toby's been bowling, it was a great asset to have him come back in and produce the form that he did last summer. we

we re the form that he did last summer. we were fully expecting toby could come in and produce a similar performance that he has done throughout this summer. the labour party wants a ban on gambling firms sponsoring football shirts because they believe young fans are being targeted. at the moment 25 league clubs and nine premier league sides are sponsored by betting companies. the wales and lions fly—half dan biggar will join northampton from ospreys next summer. after more than 10 years in south wales, biggar will move to franklin's gardens after completing this season with ospreys. biggar has won 56 caps for wales and was a member of the british & irish lions squad in new zealand this summer. if you look around the premiership, teams are getting stronger. you only have to look at leicester playing with an all—international backline this weekend so the quality is going up this weekend so the quality is going up and we need to keep improving our

squad. dan biggar, as well as being a real professional, has got a great attitude. i think he's got that real desire to win, he's a warrior, he's dog and he'll do anything he can to bea dog and he'll do anything he can to be a winner. that will only rub off on the rest of our team. leicester city missed out on signing midfielder adrien silva by 1a seconds. leicester believed they'd completed a 22—million pound dealfor him from sporting lisbon but fifa rejected their application to register the player because it came just after the deadline of the summer transfer window. leicester are appealing against the decision. former two weight world champion carl frampton has confirmed jamie moore as his new trainer. frampton recently ended his long term relationship with manager barry mcguigan and his trainer—son shane. the bbc unsung hero award is open

now for votes. you can find out everything you need to know at the bbc website website. catch up with the latest on the tennis pages at the bbc sport website. that's all from me. more in the next hour. one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the atlantic has been battering the caribbean islands of antigua, barbuda and anguilla causing major damage. here are some of the latest pictures from st martin. this, according to the french interior minister, has resulted in severe damage. government buildings on the island are the most sturdy there, they've

all been destroyed. this is the interior minister talking after the french government lost contact with the island. as you can see, the wind and rain is battering the island. winds of up to 200mph. surprising that there are any moving pictures of that at all but it does look to be affecting the island, even though, as you can see, power still seems to be available on the island. more on that later and chris fawkes has been explaining just how strong hurricane irma is. it's the second strongest hurricane ever. only ever been one stronger one back in 1980, alan, then there was only five miles per hour difference. we are getting hints of some damage being caused. the afp news agency is quoting an interior ministry saying government buildings on st martin, the most

sturdy buildings there, have been destroy and they've not heard from barbuda at all. it seems to be that we are getting reports of impacts coming in. we have a clearer idea of its path? yes. look at the graphics, ican its path? yes. look at the graphics, i can show you that barbuda was the first place that got hit. the satellite picture, we can see straightaway in the middled of that, thatis straightaway in the middled of that, that is the island of barbuda going through the eye of the storm and it's around the eye wall that we have the most fierce winds. south of thatis have the most fierce winds. south of that is antigua. the irony is that anybody on barbuda when that picture was taken would have thought this is rather a nice day, they hadn't have realised that what they saw was coming back at them. ? absolutely. 1 o'clock our time, the next place to get hit was st martin. we can see again that is passing through the eye of the storm and to the north of st martin, we have the island of anguilla going through the second most powerful atlantic hurricane there's ever been. so the catastrophic damage, that is an

inevitability really. from here, it's going to track in a west—north—west direction so the next place on the hit—list is the british virgin islands. in the next five hours, there will be a land fall here, same wind strengths, 225mph. we have talked about the devastation they themselves can bring, but don't forget, in the middle of this hurricane underneath the low pressure, the sea bulges up underneath that low pressure and that bulging water, the storm surge gets washed inland. the british virgin islands are expected to receive 11 foot of waves. 11 foot? yes, two of me. it's inevitable that the scenes we see coming from the islands will show scenes of absolute apocalyptic damage. it's an incredible storm. as it travels over water, does it get stronger? there seems to be an upper limit of how strong hurricanes can be, so i've mentioned this is the second most

powerful hurricane there's ever been on record. it's got sustained winds of 185mph. through another three had the same winds, there was a labor day hurricane in 1985, they didn't bother naming them back then, but since then we have had gilbert and wilma that were 185mph. this is the strongest they can get it seems. since we have been naming them, they've got worse? who is to say. the simple fact with global warming there could be an angle there. if you are putting hurricanes over warmer waters, they get the energy from the warm waters so you might expect them to get stronger over time. a 15—year—old boy has been charged with stabbing and killing a boy.

a leading provider of care for people with learning disabilities says it might have to pull out of some services if a row over back pay for staff is not settled soon. mencap says it might have to end its involvement in running more than 200 residential care homes and services affecting more than 2,000 people with serious learning disabilities. our health editor hugh pym joins us now. this was an issue raised already this year. what are the government saying? it was flagged up in july by mencap, another charity providers for care with serious learning disabilities. this could be residential accommodation where a carer stays overnight. just to explain the issue — formerly, the proprovider of the care paid a flat fee to a care worker who stayed overnight, say £30, but then hmrc ruled they should pay the minimum wage for all those hours, eight hours overnight, so more like £60 was owed. mencap and the other charity providers have started

paying that, but hmrc are saying you have got to pay six years back pay to all those workers who should have been paid the £60 rather than the £30. they are saying that is impossible, the bill is £400 million and there'll be dire consequences if they have to find it. the government said injuly, they have to find it. the government said in july, we'll give they have to find it. the government said injuly, we'll give you until october before enforcement gets under way and we'll have a lack at the issue. what mencap are now saying is, we are into september, we have had no sign of any movement from the government, they haven't come up with a plan. if they don't and hmrc come back to us and start demanding we pay back pay for six yea rs, demanding we pay back pay for six years, we'll have to seriously cut back on services to people with serious learning disabilities, people who need the services and some of the smaller providers, including one in the west midlands is saying, we'll have to go into administration and hand services back to the local authorities. what are the government saying? mencap and the others are saying that, but

the government are saying they understand the issue, they have a delicate balance, they say, between ensuring people are paid what they're owed ensuring people are paid what they‘ re owed under ensuring people are paid what they're owed under minimum wage legislation and, at the same time that services are continuing. unions have said before, hang on a minute, if mencap, which has got resources, employed these people, it should pay them their dues, it's down to them. mencap's answer is, we haven't got that sort of money. so it's back in the government's court and they are looking seriously at it, but not many more weeks to go until the enforcement action gets under way. breaking news. the body of salvador dahly was exhumed after claims from a woman that she was in fact his daughter. so we havejust a woman that she was in fact his daughter. so we have just had the results of the dna tests. it shows that the woman in question is not

his daughter. this is coming from the dali foundation. so the dna tests show that salvador dali is not the father of a spanish psychic claiming to be his illegitimate daughter who'd asked for his exhumation. that news just coming in. there was concern over the exhumation of his body for that cause. sinn fein has called for the resumption of formal negotiations to try to form a power—sharing government in northern ireland. the stormont executive collapsed in january and months of talks have so far failed to overcome a series of disputes between unionists and republicans. our ireland correspondent chris buckler explained more about the complexity of the negotiations. sometimes it does feel like politics in northern ireland sell a series of talks and negotiations to get to this next step of talks and negotiations. we spoke earlier this

week, we had the secretary of state for northern ireland, james brokenshire, meeting each of the individual parties. today's statement by sinn fein does indicate that they want to get back into the proper talks, to try to restore power sharing here in northern ireland. there has been no power sharing government now for a matter of months. since january, there's been no real government. as a result, they've said, listen, we have been talking to the dup behind—the—scenes and we think some kind of progress has been made there, or that some kind of agreement could be possible. that is agreement could be possible. that is a big statement for them, it does indicate some of the party negotiations that have been going on behind—the—scenes have been to an extent successful. another indication of that is the fact that as soon as michelle o'neill, the stormont leader stops speaking, there was a statement from the dup saying, yes, we have been involved in the chats and negotiations behind—the—scenes, let's see where this all goes. there was a slightly

more muted response from the democratic unionist party. they were saying, let's see if an agreement is possible before we start to get the parties around the table again. in a moment a look at how the financial markets in europe closed the day, but first the headlines on bbc news. hurriance irma, a life threatening category 5 storm, has caused widespread damage on several caribbean islands. it could hit florida by the weekend. the government insists it won't shut the door on eu migration, but says the current system can't continue after brexit. mps sparred over the subject in this week's prime minister's questions. nurses stage a demonstration outside parliament calling for an end to the 1% public sector pay cap. now the business news. now a look at how the markets in europe have ended the trading session. stock markets in europe and the states broadly recovering today — the north korean nuclear crisis rumbles on — markets hesitant in the face of continuing tensions.

gold hit near one—year highs as investors continued to flock to what are seen as safe haven assets ahead of the european central bank's regular policy meeting tomorrow — we'll get to that in a minute. first we are going to talk about storms — as hurricane irma rips through the carribean the financial markets are also feeling its force with insurance companies seeing their stocks fall. with estimates that irma could match hurricane katrinas bill of $50billion dollars — the most of any storm in us history, insurance companies will also face payouts for hurricane harvey tomorrow the european central bank is meeting and investors are looking for clues as to when they might begin to scale back monetary stimulus. the recent strength of the euro will certainly be a talking point. and sports direct chairman keith hellawell has survived a shareholder vote this morning. mr hellawell has won re—election to his post with the support of 53% of independent shareholders.

46% voted against. the firm faces criticism for its treatment of workers and the influence of founder and chief executive mike ashley, who owns 61% of the company. let's get detailed analysis of all of this with george godber, fund manager, polar capital. let us start with sports direct. share price up 1 let us start with sports direct. share price up1.7% let us start with sports direct. share price up1 .7% today. the chairman is staying on. where does the company go from here? well, it's obviously been a difficult agm for the company and it's a business in which the main shareholder, the founder, does run it very much as a private company. that is the problem for a business that's a listed public company. many, many shareholders did vote against the chairman's re—election. they want to see change. they want to see a fundamental shift in the management of the business. he has survived, but all eyes will be on for how long he can actually keep that post. 0k,

what impact is the hurricane having on the financial markets? what you see in london particularly, there's a huge insurance market through the lloyds market in london where insurance contracts are written for losses and insurance risks all over the world. a number of businesses have seen share prices under pressure over fears that this could be—we pressure over fears that this could be — we are talking about the biggest storm almost on record — and it obviously has a big impact on the companies that might be exposed. long—term, it will mean insurance rates for category hurricane risk insurances are likely to rise because it will be a significant hit to the industry. 0k, let to the industry. ok, let us talk about the big e cb policy meeting tomorrow. lots of investors waiting to hear if there'll be tapering. explain what tapering means and what circumstances might prompt the ecb to ta ke circumstances might prompt the ecb to take that step or not? what tapering is is really the term for

the end of quantitative easing which is where the central bank goes in and buys government bonds and bonds of companies to push the yield which is the price of those bonds down so that companies can borrow money cheaply and therefore stimulate economic growth. you will remember at the time the ecb undertook this, the spanish government was having to pay 7% to borrow money in the open market, a high rate for what should have been a low—risk investment. now that the bonds are much more normal and infact that the bonds are much more normal and in fact very, very low, the fact that it's in place, the policy, means it doesn't need as much. no—one has ever undertaken such a huge stimulus programme like this. the language how they use it and how they are going to exit this emergency response that's been around for so many years is being watched very closely because no—one's ever done it before. all eyes and ears will be on the tone of

which mario drag give sets forward his policy tomorrow —— mario dragi. thank you very much. lets‘ take a look at markets in the states us stocks opened higher driven by gains in energy and financial stocks, but investors still cautious about north korea and hurricane irma. those cautious moves we talked about on the markets, with uncertainties of north korea, hurricane irma, investors are of north korea, hurricane irma, investors a re not of north korea, hurricane irma, investors are not doing too much until they know more. that's all from me, there is a roundup of all the other top business stories on our website — bbc.co.uk/business. nearly two thousand nurses have held a demonstration over pay

in parliament square today beginning straight after the first prime minister's questions of the new parliamentary year, the rally is part of a union campaign calling on the government to scrap the 1% cap on public sector pay. the royal college of nursing warns that its members may strike if nothing is done. our correspondentjon donnison was at the demonstration for us and he spoke to some of the nurses there about their grievances. never known it ive so bad. i've been in the nursing profession 30 years plus. my entire working career is flays and it breaks my heart to see the way nurses are treated, they are not valued and recognised for the job they do. as a consequence, patient safety is at risk and we need to see staffing levels improve and they are not with the pay being offered at the moment. brian, what does that mean in terms of shortages? difficulties recruiting? absolutely. it's very difficult to recruit into the nursing profession. we know from recent research that there's as many as 50,000 vacancies

at the moment and things like the government decision to stop bursaries for nurses is not drawing people in. we've got 10% of nurses likely to be retiring within the next two to three years, another 10% of our nurses that are going, and having this cap, not having an attractive pay to try to draw people in is damaging the health service. i guess the government would say look, we've had very difficult financial times in the last seven or eight years, they needed cuts? well, it's the political decision in deciding not to pay the nurses an appropriate rate. i mean money has been found for other projects. the government found money to give to the dup for example. whereas that money could have been diverted to provide nurses with a decent living wage. for 50 years he has been the voice of football.

but nowjohn motson has decided to hang up his microphone and sheepskin coat. ‘motty‘ — as he's famously known — has covered ten world cups, 200 england games and 29 fa cup finals. his final bbc commentary will be for the fa cup final in may. our sport's editor dan roan went to meet him. and there it is! the crazy gang have beaten the culture club. here is gascoigne. .. brilliant! yes! oh, yes! goal! platini for france! it's dramatic, it's delightful, it's denmark! they are the european champions. what was, for you, the secret, the keys, to be able to call those moments in time so quickly? it's like saying to your postman, how do you prepare the letters? you know, people don't have do know that, do they? and people didn't need to know that i was spending two days in this office banging myself over the head with who the substitute was going to be for this team on saturday. they were only concerned with the end product, and i had to make that as good as i could. that'sjohn motson, reporting for us tonight of course on the southend and liverpool match,

looking there rather like an orphan in the storm. your big breakthrough was the 72 cup match? oh, ronnie's goal... without that, would you be here? it changed my life. newcastle winning1—0 with five minutes to go. radford. .. now tudor has gone down for newcastle. radford again! what a goal! when i see ronnie radford, i always say "you changed my life, ronnie!" and he said, well, "that goal changed my career", which it did. and when i see it again, as i have hundreds of times, i still think to myself, please go in. don't hit the post. because if that had not nestled in the newcastle net, i would not be here now. i'm afraid that mark west and martin o'neill are going to have to wait a few days longer if they are to add another chapter to wycombe's famous cup history. the sheepskin coat, it has sort of entered folklore now. did you ever think at the time it would become a trademark? no, ididn't.

i bought it for the warmth, because you could not buy a sheepskin full—length coat. it was only a jacket that you could get in the shops, so i started having these made—to—measure. people started saying "oh, you are the bloke in the sheepskin." "where were you when you were in the snow?" and that's when it grew. i didn't set out to make that a trademark, honestly. but it hasn't done me any harm. so we can't get down there to actually find out what's happened. but i think trevor brooking's is next to... well, he is next to me. and i think... laughter i did my first—ever commentary for bbc television from this very gantry, and in those days, nobody had heard of the internet, although i can vouch for the fact that i did say once upon a time, it's in the net. what do you think made you a great commentator, looking back now? i think you've got to be passionate about it. i also feel you've got to remember as well that it's only part of life, you know. i mean, while people are listening to football matches or commentating on them, there are people going to the theatre, and the cinema, and reading books. i think one or two people tend to forget that.

i was going to say it was like being paid for your hobby, that's what people always say to me, but there is a little bit of hard work involved. you know, the preparation and the homework, and watching players and going to see games so that you could do the one that you are doing next a bit better... it was a challenge, but it was a challenge that i always enjoyed. our sports editor, dan roan talking to john motson. i want to show you this footage that has gone viral. listen to this. it's a bat loose in a house. get the bat. get the bat. get it out of the house. get out. will you catch him? catch him. catch him. catch him.

bigger towel. that's it. get him now. quick. marie, will you stop looking in the door! oh... catch him. catch him. you're doing great. you're doing great. just... that's it. he nearly got it that time. nearly. no, he's still flying around the place. quick. oh. time. nearly. no, he's still flying around the place. quick. 0h. that raises a smile on a pretty difficult day for many. let us catch up with the weather and chris fawkes will begin his forecast by telling us what is going on with hurricane irma. hi, there. full uk forecast in a moment but firstly a look at hurricane irma. now, irma roared

right over the top of barbuda, about 7 o'clock our time. remember this is a category 5 hurricane, the second strongest hurricane that's ever been in the records. for here, it's working north—west—horse. the winds on this brute of a storm gusting up to 225mph. it is the second strongest hurricane ever. there's only alan that's been stronger and we are going to see catastrophic damage, notjust we are going to see catastrophic damage, not just from the we are going to see catastrophic damage, notjust from the winds but an 11—foot storm surge. that's the ocean waters raised up and slammed into the islands. that is heading to the british virgin islands. catastrophic damage expected. here in the uk, a quiet weather day. partly cloudy skies, sunny spells. one or two getting into the midlands, one or two for northern ireland and northern scotland. it

feels like a fresher day. temperatures ranging between 15 and 20. overnight, the cloud will tend to break up a little as we go through the night. still a few showers in the coasts of north—west england, western scotland and northern ireland. temperature wise, 12-15 northern ireland. temperature wise, 12—15 for most but chilly in rural parts of north—east scotland. let us ta ke parts of north—east scotland. let us take a lack at thursday's weather. the winds will start to blow more strongly across the north—west. there is a band of rain pushing into the uk and scotland. temperatures on the low side for glasgow, just 14 and feeling cooler in the wind. it will be a windy day on friday, potentially gales towards the south—west. a band of rain comes into the south. to the north of our general area of rain, a mixture of

sunshine and showers. temperatures 14-18. sunshine and showers. temperatures 14—18. feeling on the cool side across the north—west. this weekend with low pressure in charge, widespread showers, often cloudy and becoming increasingly windy, particularly through sunday night. today at 5:00pm, the most powerful atlantic storm in a decade — hurricane irma — is already causing major damage, as it sweeps across the caribbean. the category 5 storm has destroyed buildings and caused majorflooding, with communications down on several islands. the the hurricane is now heading for the british virgin islands and cuba. we'll have the latest from the caribbean, and we hope

to be talking to the prime minister of antigua. the other main stories on bbc news at 5:00pm... the immigration debate, and reaction to a leaked government document proposing cutting the number of unskilled eu migrants after brexit. overall, immigration has been good for the uk, but what people want to see is control of that immigration.