this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm... hurricane irma, the most powerful atlantic storm in nearly a century, is leaving a trail of destruction across the caribbean. the category five storm with gusts of up to 225 mph is now heading west towards puerto rico and the dominican republic. these are live pictures of the situation in san juan, puerto rico, where a state of emergency has been declared. irma has already wreaked havoc on the eastern caribbean, thousands have been evacuated and there are reports of widespread destruction. business leaders warn government proposals to cut the number of low skilled eu migrants after brexit could be catastrophic.

but theresa may says things have to change. overall immigration has been good for the overall immigration has been good forthe uk, overall immigration has been good for the uk, but what people want to see is control of that immigration. as tens of thousands of rohingya muslims flee myanmar into neighbouring bangladesh, military chiefs in myanmar deny they're conducting a campaign of indiscriminate violence, against the rohingyas. also on the programme... fears of an emerging crisis in dentistry. a bbc investigation finds half of dentists in england aren't accepting new adult nhs patients. and john motson, with one of the most distinctive voices in football commentary, is calling it a day and hanging up his mic. heading into retirement. i did my first ever commentary for bbc television from this very gantry and in those days no one had ever heard of the internet, although i can vouch that once upon a time i did say "it's in the net." good evening and

welcome to bbc news. hurricane irma, the most powerful atla ntic hurricane irma, the most powerful atlantic storm ever recorded, has caused major damage on a number of caribbean islands. it made landfall, hitting antigua and barbuda before moving to saint martin in some parts, and is believed to have caused widespread flooding. the category five storm with sustained winds of one had an 85 mph has had the british virgin islands and a state of emergency has been called in puerto rico —— sustained winds of 185 mph. it is thought automated florida by the weekend. airports have been closed and many islands and people have been stocking up on emergency supplies. this is what it sounds like to be

in the heart of one of the strongest storms recorded in the atlantic. the winds, like a jet engine, roar through the eastern caribbean. the category five hurricane ripped roofs off homes, devastating some of the oldest buildings in saint martin. and all communication was lost to 2000 people stuck on the island of barbuda where there are reports of a 20 foot storm surge. irma has become known as a beast. and as she barrelled towards the virgin islands, hundreds tried to get to safer ground. this rare view from the air gives you an idea of the sheer scale of the storm. around the eye are catastrophic 185 mile an hour winds. and this is what they fear on the island of puerto rico. the aim is to try to save as much as possible. neighbours in this area are handing out wood boarding and supplies. this shop owner describes them as angels. we are a strong island, you know, we have been through this before. it's a lot of emotions

going on, you know? the governor inspects one of the shelters set up for the thousands who are expected to evacuate low—lying areas. he says the next few hours of preparation could be the difference between life and death on this island. a big impact, should those hurricane winds hit puerto rico. we are hopeful that it will skid off somewhere north—east of puerto rico, but we are prepared for the worst as well. we can't leave anything to chance and our priority right now is to make sure the people of puerto rico are safe. these families hope they will be safe in this school. this woman tells us her house is already filled with water. irma is closing in and all people here can do now is watch and wait. laura bicker, bbc news, puerto rico. we're joined now by nada marjanovich, the executive director of the air ambulance service in haiti which is in

the path of hurricane irma. shejoins us from there now via webcam. hello, thank you very much for being with us. just how bad could it get for the island of haiti? well, u nfortu nately for the island of haiti? well, unfortunately this storm (inaudible) moving away from us, whereas yesterday (inaudible) all right, nada, i am sorry but the line is very, very difficult to understand, understandable given the circumstances in the caribbean at the moment. thank you forjoining us, we will try to get back to you if we can establish a better line.

you are looking at some of the pictures coming out of the caribbean, just how ferocious hurricane irma has been so far. i think we have managed to get from nadain think we have managed to get from nada in haiti that the storm was beginning to move away from the island of haiti, and of course the dominican republic. so the island of hispaniola. so the folk in haiti feeling that perhaps they have dodged this one, to a degree. but many other islands further along the caribbean, moving east to west, still lie in the path of this thing. earlier i spoke to our weather presenter ben rich about the ferocity of the storm. the whirling swarf —— the warnings we re the whirling swarf —— the warnings were for a catastrophic storm, and from the early reports from eastern side of the caribbean that is exactly what we are seeing. the storm system made landfall across the leeward islands, the eye of the storm is moving across the island of

barbuda. in the idea itself, the winds are extremely light. the eye of the storm is a phrase we have for a good reason. but it is the white cloud you can see on the edge, the eye wall, that is where we have had really strong winds, sustained winds, a steady wind of i85 really strong winds, sustained winds, a steady wind of 185 mph. a strong category five hurricane, stronger gusts. next it moved further west and was st martin, we have seen some pictures from blair and some significant damage which is no great surprise when you imagine the intensity of the storm. the way it develops, on the moving satellite picture you can see that when you see a storm like this with a big cloud shield, a very clearly defined eye, you know we are talking about a major hurricane. so the big question is what happens next. the virgin islands are going downhill rapidly, then we're looking at puerto rico, is seeing some wet weather during

thursday, extremely windy as well. the north of hispaniola, parts of haiti, for example, the dominican republic, cuba and then we have moved all the way through to saturday and sunday, it is not until this point that the south—east of the usa and the bahamas gets in on the usa and the bahamas gets in on the action. by this stage, of course, the track is a little bit uncertain. with so many of these weather stories, the track becomes more uncertain the further out to be low, but it is no surprise that such large swathes of florida have been evacuated already when you think of the low—lying areas on the storm surge, the big waters of the sea rising sun 12 feet potentially above sea level, it could well inundate whole communities along but coast. what is horrific and fascinating at the same time is it is literally island hopping, as it heads landfall with barbuda some of the winds may die down a little bit but then it gets over warmer water, it gets refuelled and then it goes on,

getting more powerful as it island hops across the caribbean? what you need to break these hurricanes up, cooler water can do it, you will not do that because the sea temperatures are above where they should be, above average in this part of the caribbean. we also have very little land mass, we're talking about small islands, you would need a big landmass with mountains to break it up. one of the interesting things is the track it takes across hispaniola and cuba is quite crucial to its future development, because those are fairly big islands with big mountains and a direct hit would ta ke mountains and a direct hit would take some of the energy out of it, at the moment the track does not give it a direct hit, it takes it to the north where it remains over the warm waters, gathering fuel and it is likely to remain a major hurricane, perhaps category three or four, as it arrives across the south—east of the usa. four, as it arrives across the south-east of the usa. hurricane

harvey was downgraded to a storm, thatis harvey was downgraded to a storm, that is when the trouble began because it sat over parts of louisiana and texas and just dumped rain? this is a very different storm. when harvey arrived it was much weaker, it was briefly a hurricane and then a week and back toa hurricane and then a week and back to a tropical storms. the winds were not the story, itjust to a tropical storms. the winds were not the story, it just sat there for so not the story, it just sat there for so long pulling in tropical moisture and dumping more and more rain. this is moving a lot more quickly, it will take a few days to get to its final destination, if you like, but it is moving more quickly and the big question will be how quickly does it move up the coast of the usa, how quickly does it continue its journey? given we are talking so many days ahead, we will have to keep a close eye, but at the moment it looks like a different storm to harvey, much stronger in terms of the winds but one which seems to be moving more quickly. our weather presenter, ben rich.

we can show you these live pictures from puerto rico. this is the capital, sanjuan. we have shown you the shot from the same position over the last hour, hour and same position over the last hour, hourand a same position over the last hour, hour and a half or so. if you were not watching as early as —— watching us not watching as early as —— watching us earlier, these pictures have got gradually more cloudy and much, much wetter in the space of about a0 minutes or so. the outer edge of hurricane irma is beginning to really make its presence felt on puerto rico is this thing moves east to west across the caribbean. it has already caused a lot of problems in antigua and barbuda, in st martin, which is a french territory. president macron has made it clear that he believes there may be casualties, there may be deaths. we are not sure where he is getting this information from bertie he believes that there may be fatalities as a result of irma moving across. in fact, i can tell

you now that there have been casualties, at least two deaths, according to the french foreign minister, the overseas minister. this is on the reuters news agency, two people have been killed, two seriously injured in the french caribbean territories. it has had st martin quite hard, heading towards the british virgin islands, puerto rico, the pictures you are seeing now of that territory. that could be hit next. on to cuba. and then according to satellite photographs and modelling from weather experts in america, this thing could fear further north and head towards a sudden united states, hitting the florida keys sometime over the weekend. we have already heard the local authorities down there are

giving out sandbags, water, people are stocking up on supplies before they are heading to underground shelters in order to deal with what has been described as the worst hurricane ever produced in the atla ntic hurricane ever produced in the atlantic basin. we were talking to nada marjanovich, the executive director of the air ambulance service on the island of his spaniel, one of the biggest landmass is in the caribbean. as a result, if this thing hits hispaniola, the dominican republic and haiti, that could help take some of the herath —— some of the ferocity out of this thing moves along the islands of the caribbean. nada talk to us but the line was not the greatest. i think we have there again, can you hear me, nada? good day everyone, thank you for having us on day everyone, thank you for having us on the show. no problem, it is great for you tojoin us on the show. no problem, it is great for you to join us. you were saying earlier on a line that was

not so good that the hurricane seems to have veered away from the western half of his spaniel and that may be haiti has missed the brunt of this thing —— the western half of hispaniola. it appears that that is how it is going to shape up. the far edge of the storm will skirt across the coast, the northern coast of hispaniola which would include haiti. we are expecting that. many would argue that perhaps we might dodge this bullet. you are the head of the airambulance, dodge this bullet. you are the head of the air ambulance, there is no way you can take off in these conditions, even if you get distress calls ? conditions, even if you get distress calls? we are monitoring the calls now throughout the storm and into friday, but do not expect to be able to fly before friday at this time. have you had many calls? today i think everybody is in preparation mode. we have had calls from some of

the government personnel in charge of first response as well as the hospitals in the north. we will be supporting them should the need arise on friday morning. haiti has suffered a lot of national disasters, earthquakes and so on in recent yea rs. disasters, earthquakes and so on in recent years. one wonders just how prepared the country can be for something as devastating as this?” think what we are expecting on the north coast is anywhere from five to ten inches of water, which is a considerable amount of rain. we have two helicopters that are fully equipped for medical evacuation purposes. nevertheless, we can't lump them in sites with water or fly them in 80 mph winds, which are currently expected. but we have protocols, we're permanently based here so we have the relationships with the hospitals, that should they

need attention and if they have patients they need to transport out, due to the overwhelming number is expected to them, we will be there to support them and balance the capacity of the overall medical infrastructure in haiti. and the northern coast, was that affected in the earthquake in 2011? not as much as port—au—prince was. most of the devastation during the earthquake was here in port—au—prince, and then recently when matthew came across the island it was primarily in the south. u nfortu nately we have it was primarily in the south. unfortunately we have a little bit ofa unfortunately we have a little bit of a round—robin going with the disasters coming into haiti. nevertheless, the people here are, of course, resilient, they have seen a lot. many of the people we talked to almost see this as a nonevent, almost thinking, well, things could

change, it could be enormous, at which point i can't do anything anyway, it could be nothing, so i am going to go on with my day and take my precautions and see what happens tomorrow. yeah. in the south, for instance, many of those areas that are ahead by hurricane matthew last october has not yet recovered and they —— there probably will be many inches of rain. we have done some outreach to the key hospitals to make sure they have numbers at the ready as well. thank you very much indeed for that update, nada. stay safe, as it were. nada marjanovich, head of the air ambulance in haiti. giving us the latest. the modelling seems to suggest that the hurricane has skirted the northern edge of the

island of his spaniel, the dominican republic and haiti, of course, but bringing with it high winds and a lot of rain —— the island of his spaniel. these are live pictures of puerto rico in the eastern caribbean, these pictures, we have been showing the camera shot for the last few minutes and it has gradually got worse, this guys have darkened and the surf has really riled up as the winds increased. hurricane irma moving across the caribbean are making its presence felt in puerto rico. let's get the latest from laura bicker, who centres this report, she is in puerto rico. the full force of hurricane irma is several hours away from puerto rico and already you can see and feel the effects on the island. the power is out, people have been told to stay indoors and stay safe. several evacuation centres have been set up

to ta ke evacuation centres have been set up to take around 60,000 people in case they need to. the governor has already called for the federal national guards help in the aftermath of the storm. over the next few hours we are expecting that these winds to pick up, the rain will pick up. low—lying areas will be flooded, they expect. when the eye of the storm heads puerto rico, the current forecast is it will hit just 30 miles north of here. already we are seeing winds of 185 mph in the eye of the storm. round about it, you could see up to 160, 150 mph hitting these low—lying islands. this is a poor part of the world, they are already struggling with a debt of $75 million. they do not need to be saddled with the debt of a clearup, need to be saddled with the debt of a clear up, something the governor is highly aware of. also, he says,

his priority is lives. the preparations made over the last few days could be the difference between lives lost and lives saved. laura bicker, reporting from puerto rico. the headline sock there are reports that two people have been killed and two more injured as hurricane irma goes across the caribbean. a leaked government document shows that eu citizens could face tighter border controls, with cuts in the number of low skilled workers allowed into the country. tens of thousands of fingers fleeing to bangladesh, but the government in myanmar rejects the allegations that the government is conducting a campaign of indiscriminate violence. now the sport from bbc sports centre. coco vandeweghe has entered karolina

pliskova's reign as world number one made it three american women in the us open semifinals with a straight sets win. the 20th seed won 7—6, 6—3 in the last eight at flushing meadows. fellow american madison keys could make itan fellow american madison keys could make it an all—american semifinal line—up for the first time since 1981 if she wins a quarterfinal tonight. rafa nadal is on court right now and has raced to a first set lead in his quarterfinal. the world number one took only 23 minutes to take the first set 6—1 against andrey rublev of russia. the winner could face roger federer in the semifinals. meanwhile andy murray says he is likely miss the rest of the season because of his ongoing hip injury. the british world number two pulled out of the us open two days before the tournament began and has not played since wimbledon injuly. chris froome's lead at the vuelta a espana has been cut by his main rival vincenzo nibali.

the race exploded into life in the last five miles of stage 17 as the riders tackled inclines of up to 30%. while froome struggled to keep up, nibali surged forward, cutting the briton's advantage by a2 seconds. austria's stefan denifil claimed the stage win. froome retained the leader's red jersey, but is now one minute and 16 seconds ahead of nibali with four stages to go. meanwhile stage four of the tour of britain has been won by colombia's fernando gavidia. in a tight finish in newark—on—trent. earlier james lowsley—williams and bryan lewis were disqualified for riding on the pavement. 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 1—1. 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. this week we went in, we've gone in thinking, what side will win in these conditions, looking at the surface, the way toby has been bowling this summer, it was a big asset, chris coming back in. and producing the form that he did last summer. and i fully expect toby will be able to come in and produce a similar sort of performance that he has done throughout this summer. the wales and lions fly—half dan biggar will join northampton from ospreys next summer. after more than ten 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. i think if you look around the premiership, teams are getting stronger. you only have to look at leicester, who were playing with an all

international back line this weekend, the quality is going up and we need to keep improving our squad. dan biggar, as well as being a real professional, has a great attitude, that real desire to win, he is a warrior, dog, he would 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. that's all the sport for now, i will have more in the next hour. many thanks. we will go back to our

top story, hurricane irma, moving east to west across the caribbean. it is expected, according to satellite tracking and projected models, to veer slightly north towards the weekend, meaning the florida keys and the great state of florida keys and the great state of florida could be hit. governor rick start tom okker scott has been explaining efforts to prepare for the arrival of hurricane irma. —— governor rick scott has been explaining. the national hurricane centre is recording but hurricane irma remains a dangerous and life—threatening category five storm with winds of 185 mph. that is big. president trump has offered the full resources . trump has offered the full resources. the storm is massive on the storm sturges predicted will go on for miles. in some senses it

could cover homes and go very far beyond. burma is travelling at around 16 mph and the track has had forecasted to directly impact the florida keys on sunday, is a devastating major hurricane. the florida keys should be prepared to start feeling the effects of this storm as early as friday night and into saturday. storm surge and extreme winds are the biggest concern right now. this storm is bigger, faster and stronger than hurricane andrew. many of you here experienced andrew, the strength of this exceeds that. we are being very aggressive in our preparation for this storm and every floridian should take this seriously and be aggressive to protect their family. it is important to not focus on the exact pattern of the storm. a storm of this size could have effects state—wide and everyone has to be prepared. it has shifted a little to the east in the latest forecast but you have to understand that this is serious and we can't ta ke that this is serious and we can't

take chances, it is life—threatening. you cannot sit and wait to this storm. so many states have reached out to voice their support. ijust have reached out to voice their support. i just spoke to have reached out to voice their support. ijust spoke to newjersey governor chris christie and he offered the support of the new jersey national guard. new york also offered full support. one of our top priorities right now is fuel availability. i spoke with the governors of alabama in south carolina today, and i reached out to request out of stay resources moving expeditiously into florida. we are moving as much fuel to the system as fast as possible. their weight restrictions and drivers are helping to move a so we can get it you very quickly. we are doing all we can to streamline fuel delivery but you might see lines and even some outages. we are doing everything possible to get gas to everyone as quickly as possible. we will do everything we can to get everybody out of the keys, if there is an evacuation we will do everything we can to get people out.

rick scott, the governor of florida, going through some of the measures that he is taking and the authorities in florida are taking to deal with hurricane irma, which is expected to begin to cause problems for florida and the florida keys in particular some time over the weekend as it moves east to west across the caribbean and then further north up into the southern united states. let's get more eyewitness reports and reviews of what is going on from the ground. on the line is iby ashraf, a british tourist staying at a resort on the northern coast of the dominican republic. thank you for being with us. we heard someone speaking from the other half of hispaniola, haiti, how bad is it where you are in the dominican republic? at the moment it is on and off, there is a lot of preparation is putting in place for what is

going on. we've been speaking to the locals quite a bit and the locals have no power to... they don't seem convinced that they seem like they are leaving it to be quite a lot. at the start of yesterday they cut all the start of yesterday they cut all the palm trees, took of the coconuts, took all the birds off the beaches, isolated lots of areas already, shut down the coast, shut down the bars and restaurants. they are telling people on the first floor to move rooms to the second or third. lots of people evacuated the hotel this morning, there are probably hotel this morning, there are pro ba bly less hotel this morning, there are probably less than 100 people in this resort with around 2000 people capacity. the local people who live in america, lots of them have flew back home already. who can get flights. lots of flights have been

cancelled already as well. were you hoping to try to get out? were you hoping to try to get out? we looked at possibilities this morning and considered it. we are flying from punta cantor, which means we would have been going towards the direction of the hurricane and with the roads and the infrastructure, it could be more dangerous to drive to the airport from where we were. on our own recommendations we decided to stay in the hotel and hopefully help out where we can afterwards, with whatever the situation is. you are keeping abreast of what is going on on television but you say a lot of other people in the hotel have got out. the american tourists. they managed to get out in time? yes, we were speaking to a few americans this morning and a few of

them said they have witnessed harry kane ‘s quite often in the previous few years but never a category 5 in the dominican and whatever this outcome could be, they say it could be colossal and the damage could be catastrophic so they were saying that category 5 is something they never wanted to witness. that is why they got onto the next flight home as soon as possible. there was a couple from new york and she said her son was crying on the phone, you have just got there butjust come home. good luck to you and stay safe as you stay hunkered down in that hotel in the dominican republic. thank you forjoining us. some of those pictures showing us just how ferocious error came irma is at the

moment. let's get the weather. it is more sedate than that! nick has the details. wetter and windier weather towards the weekend but a quiet night to come with clear spells around, especially down the eastern side of the uk with spots dipping into single figures, especially in eastern scotland. cloud for the west and just the chance of more showers developing as the night goes on and outbreaks of rain pushing into the western isles but for most places, around 13 degrees overnight. tomorrow, the rain turning heavier across north—west scotland but the wind picking up quickly in the morning with outbreaks of rain for the rest of scotland, northern ireland and northern england through the afternoon and some patchy rain developing in wales and west of england and a large part of the

south—east, with the exception of the odd shower, will stay dry during daylight hours. south wales and southern england could see persistent rain on friday and sunny spells and scattered showers elsewhere on a blustery day. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. there are reports coming in that at least two people have been killed and two others injured as hurricane irma sweeps across the carribbean, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. with winds of up to 225mph, there's been catastrophic damage to buildings, power cuts and fires, with the islands of st martin, st barts and barbuda badly hit. the category 5 storm — seen here from the international space station — is now heading west towards puerto rico and the dominican republic. business leaders are warning that draft government proposals to cut the number of low skilled eu migrants after brexit could be catastrophic. but theresa may says the free movement of workers has hurt some

of the lowest paid in the uk. overall, immigration has been good for the uk, but what people want to see is control of that immigration. as tens of thousands of rohingya moslems flee myanmar into neighbouring bangladesh, yangon's military leaders deny they're conducting a campaign of indiscriminate violence against the rohingyas. there are fears of an emerging crisis as a bbc investigation finds half of dentists in england aren't accepting new adult nhs patients. but health chiefs say 95% of people do get an appointment if they want one. caribbean islands are being pounded by hurricane irma, a huge storm that is travelling west towards puerto rico and the dominican republic. winds of almost 300km per hour have been registered and there's been flooding, damage to buildings and loss of communications between some islands.

joining me now from santo domingo in the dominican republic is daniel urena. he's from the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies. thank you forjoining us. how bad has the situation been where you are? the situation has been not bad yet, we expect the herbie kane to start and we will of —— feel the effects tomorrow. throughout the dominican republic, turks and caicos and haiti on friday and saturday. you have some time to prepare, what are the contingency plans? right now what we are doing in terms of the islands, haiti and the dominican republic, cuba and the bahamas, supporting the national societies in the red cross, to provide messages

to the communities and support the governments with mandatory evacuations from the vulnerable areas. as well as preparing with emergency teams that we have in the countries, the equipment and stock that we have two provide search and rescue and relief efforts as soon as the all clear is given. how bad is it expected to be? we are expecting for the dominican republic and haiti, quite severe damage on the north coast in terms of wind damage as well as in the east coast, but actually we are concerned not only about the wind that can impact but throughout the whole island, we will have tropical storm winds and massive flooding and throughout this year there has been so much rain in the country that all the river basins are full and the saturation of soil is quite big. we are

expecting to have more than just the setting but massive flooding in haiti and the dominican republic. yes, the big fear of storm surges that have caused problems in the french antilles. yes, we are expecting that and are expecting the northern end area in haiti, and very vulnerable city, with an important population, living in very difficult conditions and we are concerned about the damage this can cause. the loss of life and how we can mount support. this is going to be a massive undertaking for the international federation, massive undertaking for the internationalfederation, irma has the potential to be the most deadly storm in the caribbean for many yea rs storm in the caribbean for many years and this will be a multi—country relief effort we are trying to coordinate with the french red cross and the netherlands red

cross and other partners and agencies. have you seen anything as bad as this before? no, the last time we saw something category —— similar was with category four in 1928 and the last hurricane five was hurricane katrina. this looks like ivan, who went through hurricane katrina. this looks like ivan, who went throuthamaica and cuba, but this has the potential of being even more destructive because of the high winds but also because it has a northern part of the dominican republic, haiti and cuba under its path. 30 million people are under the path of hurricane irma so we are very concerned are under the path of hurricane irma so we are very concerned about providing all of the relief necessary in support of the government actions. do you know if any communications have been re—established with barbuda? be no communications were down when irma made landfall overnight. right now

we are in communication with antigua and barbuda red cross and other societies in the affected area through radio and we are trying to start to establish the relief efforts. they are still trying to gather information in terms of damage and loss of life and the needs of the population and an important element that i would like to highlight is sometimes we focus on the injuries and dead people but we are very on the injuries and dead people but we are very much concerned with providing relief to all of the people who have been left homeless and who require support. these islands are isolated so we will need to import everything, including water, to support these victims. indeed. the rebuilding will be incredibly difficult. thank you very

much forjoining us. we have some live pictures from puerto rico. the island being buffeted by the outer edges of irma. it has not hit the island but look at those winds and rain and the surf being whipped up. this is the outer edge of irma, you can imagine what the bulk of this thing in terms of the damage has caused to places like antigua, barbuda and st maarten and we have already heard that according to french authorities in the french antilles, two people have apparently lost their lives and two others are injured. this is according to the french overseas minister. we will bring you all the latest continuing

coverage on the worst storm in the atla ntic coverage on the worst storm in the atlantic basin. and how it is being dealt with by the authorities right across the caribbean and potentially the southern united states. we will go back to matters over here. a lea ked go back to matters over here. a leaked draft on the government policy on immigration has caused concern. ministers have been explaining why they believe low skilled immigration should be. theresa may's says there are some of the lowest paid in the uk but business leaders argue eu leaders are good for the economy. there in black and white, a plan for immigration after we leave the eu. leaked ideas to answer the demand the prime minister believes millions made when they voted to go.

prime minister, is your immigration policy going to hurt the economy? a draft of a tighter system of control that could come with its own costs. 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 want 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 is important to have net migration at sustainable levels. the document from august says freedom of movement, where unlimited eu citizens can come here, will end when we leave. new arrivals after 2019 would have to register to stay long term. there will be tighter rules for lower skilled workers, to prioritise british employees, perhaps even with a cap on numbers. and for eu citizens who do come to the uk, it'll be harder to bring family along. this birmingham food factory

is already losing one italian chef who's worried about brexit. and boss rosie ginday is concerned it will make it harder to attract new arrivals, the staff she needs. it will definitely hinder ourjob as an employer but actually as a food manufacturer. we do have chefs from all over the world. it will impact our ability to recruit people. officially, labour is rather silent on the leak, not yet government policy, but prominent voices fear cutting off low skilled immigration could choke business. the idea that we stop eu citizens coming here, the lower skilled ones, who are important in hospitality, construction and social care, will somehow lead to us being more prosperous, is ridiculous. that's why i'm hoping this leak is not genuine government policy, and if it is, i hope the government rethinks. is it not time we took back control of our immigration policy? the government won't budge

on its view that the referendum was an instruction from the public to control immigration. exa ctly how ? well one minister admitted it won't be an easyjob. since this draft was put together only last month, there have been six more versions of the plan. with notjust the home office but the treasury, the brexit department and number ten all determined to chip in. and don't forget, whatever they decide here, they have to try to persuade the eu. leaving the eu is notjust about obscure negotiations in the back rooms of brussels, but government departments right now engaged in rewriting the country's rules. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. some news coming in from north wales police and they say that one person has died following a light aircraft

collision at caernarfon airport, this. north wales police received a report at 6:30pm at a light aircraft had collided on the runway and was on fire. the emergency services were called to the scene however, sadly, the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene and the chief inspector of north wales police said a cord and is in place and they urge the public to remain clear of the area to allow the emergency services to deal with this incident. this from north wales police that one person has died following a light aircraft collision at caernarfon airport this evening. half of dentists in england are not accepting new adult nhs patients and two—fifths are not accepting new child nhs patients, according to research carried out by the bbc. the british dental association says it is evidence of an emerging crisis in dentistry. but nhs england says 95% of patients do manage to get an appointment if they want one. david rhodes reports. this is a familiar sight for fozia,

who's been trying to find an nhs dentist in bradford. i was absolutely gobsmacked in a sense, i was quite devastated there are none locally. a mum of two on benefits, she needs a local nhs dentist for her son mansoor, who has an overcrowded mouth and a mineral deficiency with his teeth. i tried calling up, going through the yellow pages, using the internet, and then i used 101, where they find you the nearest nhs dentist. they said there wasn't one in bradford. now, open really wide for me... the bbc has analysed the data of 2500 dental practices across england, and provided information about whether they were accepting new nhs patients. a8% stated that they were not accepting new adult patients, while a0% were not accepting new child patients. there is an emerging crisis about more and more dentists not accepting new patients, simply because they are not allowed to see more patients.

the government has only commissioned enough dentistry to treat about half the adult population, which is an absolute disgrace. people that need an nhs dentist should be able to get one. nhs england says the latest patient survey found that 95% of people seeking a dental appointment were able to get one, and overall, the number of dentists offering nhs care is now 3800 higher than a decade ago. david rhodes, bbc news. we can speak now to eddie crouch, vice chairman of the british dental association. hejoins me from our birmingham studio. thank you for being with us. i don't know if you heard what was coming in from the report, that the government says there is no shortage and no problem. it is strange that you have carried out this survey and i have been on 1a different radio stations across the country today talking about this story and that is not the

picture i see. it is not the story that i hear from the regions. surveys can prove one thing but in practical terms, a lot of these patients are not able to access nhs care, it is something the bda are very unhappy with, we want to provide care for patients struggling to get a nhs dentist. why is that server is not provided? the money that nhs england have commissioned for dentistry has dried up in relative years and the problem with queueing around the block for a dental practice, ten years ago, was supposed to be solved by the contract they introduced in 2006 and here we are, ten years later, talking about a problem with nhs dental contracts were good practices are not allowed to expand and take on more staff and allowed to see more patients. it is ridiculous, we go through a terrible tendering process and when they have

additional capacity to commission dental services, dental charges in the last two years have gone up 10%, 596 the last two years have gone up 10%, 5% last year and 5% the year before and done this additional money is coming from the patients is being invested into practices to allow them to see more patients. where is it going? into the treasury coffers. it isa it going? into the treasury coffers. it is a tax that practices are collecting for the government. some practices are collecting more from the patient and the nhs is paying them. they are having to give money back to the nhs for treating patients. why are practices allowed —— not allowed to expand? patients. why are practices allowed -- not allowed to expand? every practice has a contract for a certain amount of activity every year and certain amount of activity every yearand a certain amount of activity every year and a lot of practices are struggling to head that activity and are having money taken aback because the activity measures do not reward practices that take on patients who have lots of dental disease so if

you see a patient and spend many hours putting that right, at the end of that time you might be out of pocket as a business and at the end of the year, worse still, nhs england might penalise you because you have not hit your target on activity. it is a bonkers system and in 2007 the health select committee, i give evidence then, and it said that the type —— be 2006 contract was unfit for purpose and 11 years later, we still are no nearer to developing the contract that works for the dental practices to allow them to see patients and provide the ca re we them to see patients and provide the care we want for patients. do you have any sense that this is a situation that might change soon?” am afraid not. the government and the department of health do not listen to us, they regard us as morning dentists. and patients are not complaining to mps. the only thing that will change things is if

people write to their mp, fill their postbag with their problems about getting access to a nhs dentist and then the ministerfor getting access to a nhs dentist and then the minister for dentistry might do something about it. maybe they are doing this because 95% of patients do manage to get an appointment if they want one? that is clearly not true. as i say, you have done research over 2000 practices and you have not been able to gain an appointment in half of them and everyone i spoke to in all of the regional radio stations today, they were full of stories of dental practices that were unable to ta ke dental practices that were unable to take their patients on when they went to the practice. my own practice in birmingham has a waiting list of about 12 months and there are no plans to commission any more activity in that area of birmingham for the foreseeable future. eddie crouch, thank you. this time yesterday we reported on the plight of rohingya muslims

fleeing violence in myanmar. today, the country's civilian leader — the nobel laureate aung san suu kyi — described reports of the crisis as a "huge iceberg of misinformation". in the last 12 days nearly 150,000 rohingyas have arrived in neighbouring bangladesh. many have accused myanmar‘s military of murder and rape. caroline hawley reports. the exodus seems to be accelerating. terrified rohingyas are fleeing from myanmar however they can. several children are said to have drowned today trying to escape to bangladesh. translation: they burned our houses. we couldn't take our belongings. we were hiding near a hill for two days. we were there in the rain without food and with my children. when we heard the sound of shooting, we took a boat across the sea to come here to bangladesh. the refugees bring with them new reports of atrocities that have drawn international condemnation. the world had hoped the country's de facto leader would use her moral authority to speak out. aung san suu kyi won

the nobel peace prize in 1991 for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights. here she was accepting it in 2012. she had spent 15 years under house arrest during the country's military rule. but today, at a press conference with the indian prime minister, aung san suu kyi was conspicuously silent on the victims of myanmar‘s military crackdown. she said misinformation was distorting reality, and she blamed terrorists for the crisis. we believe that together we can work to make sure that terrorism is not allowed to take root on our soil or on the soil of any neighbouring countries. so who are the rohingya? they are muslims who've faced discrimination and persecution for decades in mainly buddhist myanmar, which considers them illegal immigrants from bangladesh. but bangladesh denies they are its citizens. many were forced from their villages by communal violence in rakhine state in 2012.

the latest refugee crisis has been caused by what the military is calling "clearance operations", following attacks by rohingya militants on police positions. 150,000 rohingyas have fled myanmar in the last two weeks alone. more than 230,000 have escaped to bangladesh since last october. malala yousafzai, a fellow recipient of the nobel peace prize, this week called on aung san suu kyi to condemn what she called the tragic and shameful treatment of the rohingyas. aid agencies haven't been allowed into the areas they are fleeing from, and the un secretary—general has warned this crisis could spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe. caroline hawley, bbc news. for half a century, his was the voice of football. but nowjohn motson has decided to hang up his mic and trademark sheepskin coat. motty, as he's affectionately known, has commentated at ten world cups, 200 england games and 29 fa cup finals. his final bbc commentary will be

for the fa cup final in may. well, i'm afraid that mark west and martin o'neill will have to wait a few days longer if they are going to add another chapter to wycombe's famous cup history because, as you can see, this part of buckinghamshire is absolutely snowbound and there is a bit of a gale hurtling around me now as well. match of the day theme. now tudor has gone down down for newcastle. radford again. oh, what a goal! what a goal! radford, the scorer. ronnie radford. and there it is. the crazy gang have beaten the culture club. wimbledon have destroyed liverpool's dreams of the double. tigana... tigana, platini... goal! platini for france. brian, you're just saying anything, just to be awkward. certainly not, i'm saying, the hills are alive with the sound of music. the last time you and i were seen doing an interview on television, we were a couple of puppets.

i'm not sure if that's a compliment or whether itjust shows how long we've both been around. he won't be shaken off. oh, dear. oh, dear me. he's going to be out of the final if england get there. povlsen put his arms up. is it over? it is. it's dramatic, it's delightful. it's denmark who are the european champions. motty is going to be mr! let's get the weather with nick miller. hurricane irma is a catastrophe in the making with barbuda and saint martin's today and the virgin islands, puerto rico and close to the north coast of the dominican republic during thursday, haiti, turks and it gust, cuba and florida. we will keep you updated. our

weather on wednesday, one of the better days, little bump in the isobars and the odd shower arrived but most places staying dry and developing no pressure to the north—west turning things went for thursday. overnight we have applied for the western side of the uk and more showers whereas on the eastern side we will have spells for the longest and sunspots dipping into single figures. especially towards the north—east of scotland. most of us the north—east of scotland. most of us around 10—13. fine tomorrow, i dry start with some showers for the south west but also sunnier moments and early sunshine. south east ingrained through the east midlands and the pennines whereas the north—west could catch the odd heavy shower to begin with. northern ireland, plenty of cloud first thing with rain on the way and already raining at this stage in north—west scotla nd raining at this stage in north—west scotland and a brisk wind. the wind

will pick up during thursday and is rain spread south east across scotland, heaviest in the west with outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and towards north—west england for the afternoon, lighter, patchy rain for wales and south—west england whereas for the east midlands and the south—east still mainly dry with the highest temperatures here compared to elsewhere. and the wind picks up, around 1a degrees. pretty breezy ending thursday and some outbreaks of rain towards east anglia and parts of the south—east and another convocation on friday, and rippling weather front giving a longer spell of rain were last to the north of that, sunshine to be had but showers. they could be heavy and thundery. the weekend will keep the showery theme with no pressure close by and the risk of gales for the south—west and certainly on the cool side. hello, i'm karen generally, this is

outside source. hurricane irma hit the caribbean and heads north towards florida. the category five storm has already passed over the leeward islands and the eye of the storm is over puerto rico. the track hazard forecasted to directly impact the florida keys on sunday as a devastating major hurricane. the florida keys should be prepared to start feeling the effects as early as friday night and early saturday. myanmar‘s de facto leader aung san suu kyi has spoken for the first time but the exodus of rohini and muslims from myanmar to bangladesh. vladimir putin, the russian president, has called for diplomacy to resolve tensions with north korea, saying sanctions can