this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 2pm. hurricane irma causes widespread destruction across the caribbean, leaving at least ten people dead. the extent of the destruction in bermuda is unprecedented. i'm of the view that as it stands now, it's barely habitable. this is the moment irma struck st martin, cutting communications and destroying the airport. parts of the island are unreachable. mps have begun their scrutiny of the government's main brexit bill, which aims to transfer thousands of pieces of eu regulations into uk law. the debate will continue throughout the day. this bill simply brings european union law into uk law, ensuring where possible the rules of law are the same after exit as before. that we are leaving is settled. how

we leave is not. this bill invites us we leave is not. this bill invites us to surrender all power and influence over that question to the government and to ministers. that will betray everything we were sent here to do. we're following that debate through the afternoon as it emerges dozens of tory mps have signed a letter warning the government not to keep the country in the eu by stealth. also in the next hour — the crisis in myanmar continues. tens of thousands of muslim rohingya refugees continue fleeing the country to bangladesh after nearly two weeks of violence and — prince george starts his first day at school with a handshake, escorted by his father prince william. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. one of the most powerful storms

on record — hurricane irma — is continuing to devastate parts of the caribbean. it has almost completely destroyed the islands of barbuda and st martin — ten people, including a child, have been killed — and its feared that number will rise. the storm has now moved past puerto rico, where it knocked out power for over a million people. it is currently heading for the dominican republic, and is due to hit cuba tomorrow, and florida in the united states at the weekend. there are fears for the safety of a number of britons in the area — this morning the government announced it was making £12 million available for disaster relief. in a moment we'll be speaking to our correspondents in cuba and in florida, but first with all the latest, here'sjon donnison. hurricane irma — a storm the size of france — has left a trail of destruction. on the tiny island of barbuda, barely a building left untouched. my whole house caved in. it was seven of us, and all we had to do was to pray and call for help.

i was frightened. i didn't know this was going to happen to me. last night was the most devastating experience i ever had in my life, and i'm almost 60. me and my family of seven, including an infant of two months, had to shelter in a closet. hundreds of families here now find themselves homeless. my house, i lose my home, i lose my shop, also my vehicle, everything damaged. and right now, i don't have nowhere to go to sleep. we had cars flying over our heads, we had containers, 40 foot containers flying left and right, and the story that you're getting from most of the residents here is that the eye of the storm camejust in time. persons were literally tying themselves to their roots with ropes, to keep them down. barbuda's prime minister said

the island was now barely habitable. what i saw was heart—wrenching. i mean, absolutely devastating. i would say that about 95% of the properties will have suffered some level of damage. they would have lost at least a part of their roofs. some have lost the whole roof, some properties have been totally demolished. it is absolutely heart—wrenching. with much of the island's infrastructure destroyed, aid agencies now face the difficult task of getting help to those in need. the damage in barbuda is none like we've ever seen before. we're talking about everything being completely destroyed. its electricity, its roads, its water, its schools, its churches, its supermarkets, shops, everything. there is literally nothing that currently exists in barbuda right now. and imagine the terror of being caught up in this.

this is the neighbouring island of st martin, getting hammered. sustained winds of 185 miles an hour. more than 70,000 people live on the low—lying island which is made up of dutch and french territories. the power of irma everywhere to see. shipping containers tossed around like a lego bricks. the authorities here are warning the death toll is likely to rise. and hurricane irma is farfrom finished. these remarkable pictures, taken from the international space station, show it tracking north—west towards the dominican republic and cuba. its forecast to hit the florida coast at the weekend. jon donnison, bbc news. in porto rico at least half of the

island's homes and businesses are without power. laura bicker is there. as the hurricane came through the streets of puerto rico emptied. at point it sounded like a jet engine. tha nkfully point it sounded like a jet engine. thankfully unmercifully, the eye of the storm, 185 catastrophic mile an hour winds stayed further to the north of the island and bat may have saved many lives, because as people emerged this morning, the damage is not as devastating as had been feared. the main problem here has been power. there were nearly1 million people without electricity, 22 hospitals are relying on

generators, and the power company had already warned before the storm went through it may be some time before the power went back on. around 46 months, they warned. the authorities are still trying to get in touch with many of those in remote areas of this island and there has been some destruction and major flooding there has been some destruction and majorflooding in some parts. but there is a collective sigh of relief that they have escaped the devastation brought by hurricane irma in parts of the caribbean. our correspondent will grant is in the cuban capital havana. now they know what's coming it must be getting quite tense there. now they know what's coming it must be getting quite tense therem now they know what's coming it must be getting quite tense there. it is, i think that's exactly right. because they've seen exactly what irma has done to the eastern caribbean, because they've heard those testimonies we saw injohn‘s report, people know the full power of this vast storm and what it can do to these countries in the

caribbean. cubans are getting nervous, trying to take steps to do what they can, stock up on drinking water, fuel for generators, to board up water, fuel for generators, to board up their homes. they think nervousness captures the spirit exactly about what people are feeling at the moment. how is that manifesting itself, what are people able to do? be seen quite long queues for a gas station, at supermarkets, basic goods. drinking water is of real concern here. of course, people are trying to secure their homes as best they can. it's worth remembering the country is already economically in a difficult place. it's lived under the us economic embargo for decades. it's also hard for derry people to find construction materials with which to board up their homes. it's a difficult outlook. perhaps people

here in havana feel they might get lucky with the storm, it may not make it this far. on the eastern tip of the island evacuations are already underway. going where? to places like trinidad, a colonial city that has better infrastructure than coastal zones. perhaps back here to havana itself. you mentioned tourists as well. there are thousands here in havana. this is the height of the season, really, for many countries. who come out to cuba a lot. canada, cuba is particularly popular with canadian visitors. there are a lot of people trapped along the coastline and the authorities are trying to get them to more secure places than the coastal resorts they are currently in. looking behind you, there is a huge chip coming into port. i wonder what other shipping is doing as this thing is bearing down on the island.

that ship is leaving. it's a cruise ship taking tourists with it. it's a good example, time an example of what people are doing. if you are on a cruise ship in havana, you would wa nt a cruise ship in havana, you would want it to leave, feeling the storm is on its way. we know certain tour guide companies have changed plans, a lot of individual tourists have changed plans. the us state department has told its citizens to be wary of coming to cuba and change plans if they already have trips planned for the country. so yeah, i think we're going to see a lot of people trying to either leave the country altogether or certainly leave those areas likely to be hit. thank you, will grant, in havana. cbs news correspondent meg oliver is in miami, florida where the hurricane is expected to make landfall at the weekend. mandatory evacuations are going into effect here along miami beach at noon today. there are a few people that are out along the beach right now. there are even a few people in the water,

taking a last—minute dip. but authorities are urging people to take precautions. people are boarding up, filling up their tanks with gas and hitting the road. the big thing with this storm, they don't want anyone to get stuck on the highways. so they are urging people to do their preparations today, tomorrow at the absolute latest, and saturday. the wind and the rain is going to start to pick up before the storm makes landfall on sunday. they don't want anybody on the road on saturday or sunday. maggiejohnson is maggie johnson is outside maggiejohnson is outside the cabinet office at the moment. the government about to have a cobra meeting. a lot of areas involved are british overseas territories. absolutely right. we are outside the cabinet office where some michael fallon the defence secretary is chairing a meeting of cobra, the governed emergency response committee. it is a key

acknowledgement of the severity of the crisis engulfing large parts of the crisis engulfing large parts of the caribbean at the moment, as you've been hearing. in particular, british overseas territories such as anguilla and commonwealth countries like antigua and barbuda. we don't know what's happening in the cobra meeting at the moment but what we do know is the foreign minister alan duncan has spoken in the house of commons this morning, he's given a statement in which he pledged £12 million for the government's rapid response mechanism for disaster relief and his serve the foreign office and department for international development were on full alert. more recently we've had confirmed by the defence secretary sir michael fallon that the royal fleet auxiliary ship is in the vicinity and has on—board around 40 army engineers and royal marines with access to water transporting and earth moving equipment. we also know to reason may have spoken this morning to the french president emmanuel macron, they discussed a

potential joint emmanuel macron, they discussed a potentialjoint response to this crisis, which might include the dutch government. there are several french, dutch and british overseas territories in the region. it's presumably the kind of thing they're talking about right now in the cabinet office behind me. i expect we'll know more in the next hour or so as the meeting adjourns and we'll expect to hear from the defence secretary sir michael fallon. thanks very much, matthew thompson. with the latest on the path of hurricane irma — and where it's heading — here's chris fawkes. yesterday, we were talking about this category five hurricane. it's the second strongest hurricane outside of the pacific basin that we've seen on record. the strongest was hurricane allen, back in 1980. now, you might remember of course that it came onshore first of all yesterday, making its first landfall in barbuda. now, it's caused catastrophic damage here. indeed, the prime minister, gassed gaston brown, has described barbuda is being barely habitable. we were expecting winds gusting to 225 mph. this was the storm at its peak.

barbuda was in the wrong place. from there, it worked west north—westwards, and made a second landfall across the island of san martin. again, it's caused catastrophic damage. one of the local councillors on the island has talked about 95% of the buildings being damaged. from there, the storm's been working in a west north—westward direction. and during yesterday evening time our time, it went across the british virgin islands, particularly the northern coast, bringing huge rainfalls, really strong winds, and a massive storm surge was expected, too. overnight it is bringing torrential rain to puerto rico. but the centre of the storm, where we get the strongest hurricane winds, has thankfullyjust stayed off to the north coast. nevertheless, the rain could still cause problems. across haiti and the dominican republic, torrential rain on the forecast as well. but this storm is heading over towards the turks and caicos islands, that's where it's coming next. about midnight our time, which is about 7pm local time, we're expecting it to make

landfall once again. we could well see some big damage here, as the winds are still gusting to around 220 mph, so it is still a very powerful category five hurricane. as well as that, we were talking about the storm surge yesterday — that big wall of water that you get underneath hurricanes that just inundate coastal areas. well, the storm surge that will be working into the turks and caicos islands and across the bahamas indeed could actually reach 20—foot—high in places. that is going to cause catastrophic damage. it's not just about the winds as the storm surge and torrential rains as well. chris fawkes. he'll bring you the weather closer to home later in the hour. you're watching bbc knew, the headlines at exactly quarter past two. hurricane irma cut a trail of destruction across the caribbean leaving at least ten people dead. the small island of barbuda is said to be barely habitable. officials warned that think martin is also destroyed. mps begin their scrutiny of the government main brexit bill which aims to transfer eu laws into

eu legislation ahead of a law on monday. the crisis in myanmar goes on as tens of thousands of muslim rohingya refugees continue to flee the country after nearly two weeks of violence. in sportjames anderson is one away from becoming the first englishman to take 500 test wickets. he's helped restrict west indies to 57-2 he's helped restrict west indies to 57—2 on the opening day of the third and deciding test at lord's. arsene wenger is confident alexis sanchez will soon be back to his best for arsenal despite being the subject of a deadline day bid from manchester city. birmingham beat liverpool for the right to host the commonwealth games in 2022. the government must now decide whether to put a formal bid forward for the games. i'll be back with more on those stories in around 15 minutes. many in the commons including some

conservative backbenchers have expressed concerns about the bill. labour says it will vote against it, arguing it simply a power grab labour says it will vote against it, arguing it simplya power grab by the government. my colleague and friend jane hill is in westminster. you don't normally say that, simon. good afternoon, welcome back to westminster. that debate has been underway for a couple of hours now, and we are going to talk plenty about it over the course of the afternoon, as you would expect. in a fume and it i'll be talking to alistair carmichael for the liberal democrats. we also talk more about that letter that has emerged that we mentioned in the headlines, signed by about 40 conservatives. we'll hear more about that as well. first, let's assess the debate so far. and what it all means. our political correspondent chris mason has more on that. brexit is about bringing

powers back to this place. westminster. it is now the government's. to make that a reality. it's what the eu withdrawal bill is all about. secretary david davis. this lunchtime the man responsible for turning it into law told mps it was vital because...m does ensure on the day we leave businesses know where they stand, workers' rights are upheld and consumers remain protected. this bill is vital to ensuring as we leave we do so in an orderly manner. so begins the wrangling in there, in parliament, on delivering brexit. this planned new law intends to change everything by changing nothing, cutting and pasting vast swathes of eu law and turning it into uk law the day after brexit. it'll dominate proceedings here for months to come. sir keir starmer. labour say they will vote against the bill because of the powers it

gives the government to change the law with little scrutiny. so much for taking back control. there's no point the secretary of state or the prime minister saying we wouldn't use these powers, take our assurance. if you wouldn't use them, they are unnecessary. if they are unnecessary they shouldn't be put before this house for approval today. this is a debate generating international attention, the start of the biggest change in how we are governed for over 40 years. unprecedented, complicated and a source of many a row still to come. chris mason, bbc news, westminster. let's head to vicki young. she has more on this letter that has emerged in the last hour or so. explain what

we know. mps are here talking about the mechanics of how we leave the european union, there are others on the conservative side who are concerned a more gradual, softer brexit being put forward by some, including the labour party really amounts to staying in the eu by the back door. they think the government might be tempted water down proposals to leave the european union. they have drafted a letter that was due to be sent to a sunday newspaper. it's been seen by the bbc and it's a warning to theresa may and it's a warning to theresa may and some ministers in the government not to backslide on brexit. it is continued membership of the single market, even as part of a transitional arrangement would quite simply mean eu membership by another name and we cannot allow our country to be kept in the eu by stealth. it goes on to say... that is partly in response to labour

over the last couple of weeks saying they now believe doing a transition period, if there is to be won, after march 2019, maybe for two years, labour say they think it would be better to keep as many of the arrangements we have now, to keep them in place, to make sure everything goes smoothly. that will be looked at by the government and they'll not only help all those who wa nt to they'll not only help all those who want to remain in the eu, those on the tory side concerned about what's going on. they have the other side, those who campaigned hard to leave warning then this is no time to

backslide. what does the maths tell us backslide. what does the maths tell us at the moment in terms of looking ahead to the vote itself? the vote on this bill will happen on monday. mary is a debate today, the debate on monday, then there will be a vote. a lot of concern is being expressed in the house of commons from all sides the house. it is not about the leaving of the european union, it is the powers ministers are being granted as they bring over all of these eu regulations, david davis has said we need to have the flexibility, because there are so many of them, we need to change some of these things to make sure we can do things pretty quickly that might mean without a vote in the house of commons. without as much parliamentary scrutiny as you sometimes get. it's upsetting many mps who see it as a power grab. labour say they will vote against the bill come monday, so will the snp and liberal democrats. the

question is, what will conservatives do? conservatives like ken clarke we've heard from today. looks like the government will get its way on this and most conservatives are keeping their powder dry to force some changes later in the parliamentary process. thanks very much. more from vicki young later. following events in parliament. with the outside is one of those liberal democrats that vicki mentioned. thank you for being here. alistair carmichael. a variety of protesters are here at westminster today. vicki young was outlining the groups of people who will be voting against monday. i want to clarify you are in the group. absolutely, what we have here is not just the group. absolutely, what we have here is notjust a bill against brexit, it's a power grab by the government that gives extraordinary powers to the government to bypass parliament. in june last powers to the government to bypass parliament. injune last year, offered a brexit deal by those who

promoted the case to leave, we were told it was about taking back control. now we find control is not going to be given to british mps in the british parliament, it's going to be exercised by theresa may and a handful of other ministers in downing street. theresa may would say, there will be scrutiny. it will be without scrutiny. it is simply not physically possible for mps here to go through every single door and statute because it's a gargantuan task. the people who should make that decision should be the mps in parliament, not theresa may sitting surrounded by bureaucrats and civil serva nts surrounded by bureaucrats and civil servants in downing street. this is why we are opposed to it, the bill as it stands will give the power entirely to theresa may and the civil servants, the people who didn't win the general election in june. it really should rest with the mps in parliament behind us. june. it really should rest with the mps in parliament behind usm june. it really should rest with the mps in parliament behind us. if it doesn't go through on monday evening, what does it mean for the country's departure from the eu?

that theresa may has to go back to the drawing board and has to start handling this for once through the prism of national interest, not the narrow conservative party self—interest, which is what is seen through this bill and has characterised her handling of the issue from day one. what does that mean in practical terms? are we on a deadline to 2019. theresa may has to be serious about working with other parties if we're going to meet that deadline. at the moment she saying give me the powers to ram wrote vista anyway i want. i'm not prepared to give her that power, i don't believe the british people believe she should have that power. there are politicians here, even some of those who think britain should stay within the eu, who still say some monday night it would be even worse for the country if we we re even worse for the country if we were thrown into chaos, and that's not going through, the bill not going through would cause chaos. we talk of cliff edges and that the

debate we know about. it'll be a difficult situation of the prime minister's own making, she's the one making unreasonable demands. we are saying parliament should be the people in charge of this. that's not the way our constitution has operated for hundreds of years. she has to make the case for change and she hasn't done that. good to have you here, thanks for bearing with everything. there are protesters on both sides of the argument. we've seen all sorts here today. quite a colourful day down here at westminster. let me remind you coming up after half past three we have another ask this session. if you have any questions about this process and what it means, just after half past three we'll go through as many questions as we can. i'll be talking to people who know

much more about the men are shy. that's one of the protesters we've had here today, this man walking up and down dressed as henry viii. more from here over the day, for now, over to you. it's nice and quiet in here, jane. we'll return to westminster later. you're watching bbc news. universities in england could face fines if they fail to justify paying their vice—chancellors more than the prime minister's salary the universities ministerjo johnson says he wants to see greater transparency and accountability. gillian hargreaves is at brunel university in west london for us. it's not just it's notjust the accountability, tell us what you're paying, it's also justified. absolutely, tell us what you're paying, it's alsojustified. absolutely, this tell us what you're paying, it's also justified. absolutely, this was the first time joe johnson has

also justified. absolutely, this was the first timejoejohnson has gone eye ball to the first timejoejohnson has gone eyeball to eyeball with vice chancellors. i have to confess i'm going to let you down now, because we'd hoped to interview a vice chancellor as the conference ends. only a few minutes ago. we've approached vice chancellor after vice chancellor, and they refuse to come onto television to talk about their pay and remuneration packages. they've told me privately they don't wa nt to they've told me privately they don't want to comment publicly, don't want to escalate the situation. but the announcement this morning that the government pays universities will be fined if they cannotjustify government pays universities will be fined if they cannot justify to ministers the pay packages of vice chancellors. basically, joe johnson feels too many vice chancellors in his words, every time he opens a newspaper he reads about generous pay offers, and he wants to make sure students facing increasing debts are getting value for money. all of this feels like it's waging war on universities, because also this morning he said too many

universities are awarding of the top tier of qualifications. first—class de gea ‘s and upper second—class degrees. the number of students receiving those qualifications has risen dramatically over the past ten yea rs. risen dramatically over the past ten years. but universities say that because students are working harder than ever at university so they can get a good job when they leave. the days of students lazing around and getting drunk and not working very ha rd have getting drunk and not working very hard have gone, not least because stu d e nts hard have gone, not least because students are paying £9,250 from this autumn every year for most degree courses. if you did speak to a vice chancellor they would say, we're in charge of huge institutions, have massive budget and responds abilities, that would be their defence. take for example the university of london, ucl. i spoke to the vice chancellor there the other day. the turnover alone in his

organisation is £1.5 billion. he employs something like 12,000 staff. he said if that was a commercial business it would be huge. his view is, you know, of course, vice chancellors are well paid, but they doa chancellors are well paid, but they do a great deal to bring money to the country. the expertise and technological inventions universities and gender are going back into the british economy. all helping the british economy. therefore he says if you see them as businesses there is no doubt they are doing well indeed. walk around campus like this, brunel in the 19705 campus like this, brunel in the 1970s was a brutalist1970s campus university. now there are sparkling buildings all over the place. everywhere i looked there are stu d e nts everywhere i looked there are students from overseas who want top—notch world education and have decided to come to a uk university to get that. there is a whole

medical centre and school that will open. technical and science innovations are plenty. replicate that across the country and they'll say we contribute greatly to the uk economy and if vice chancellors get paid well, that's for the universities to decide. privately they say this feels a little like government interference perhaps to divert away from the brexit headlines of today. they feel that somehow they are being made scapegoats because what ministers are saying is on the one hand you have record numbers of student debt, undergraduates, when they finished their degree course, go into the world of work with a debt of something like £40,000. but it's unfairto something like £40,000. but it's unfair to equate that to vice chancellors pay. because morphing to thoughts together isn't as far as they are concerned a particularly fair process. what i suspect will happen is there will be a lot of hand—wringing behind closed doors

but in end whether many universities will be fined, if they pay the vice chancellors more than £150,000, i'd be very surprised. king and let's have a look at the all—important king and let's have a look at the all—importa nt weather forecast. king and let's have a look at the all-important weather forecast. he is chris. hurricane irma, having brought catastrophic damage to barbuda and sam —— saint martin is going to bring catastrophic damage here as well. across the uk, through the afternoon we have a band of rain across scotland and northern ireland, pushing into northern england, turning heavy at times, damp weather in wales and the south—west. drier in the east, but patches of rain, feeling cool in the winds. overnight tonight, that area of rain pushes southwards, whether turning increasingly wet and windy across the southern counties, blustery showers following through the night across the north—west.

friday, and unsettled day, at times across southern counties, some of it could be heavy, still quite windy, particularly in the south—west. blustery across most areas, a high chance of catching a downpour. a bit cooler in london, highs of 18. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: at least ten people have died as a result of hurricane irma in the caribbean, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. my whole house caved in. there was seven of us. all we had to do was pray and call for help. the firemen came to our rescue as soon as they could have come. i have to thank god for life. mps are debating plans to transfer thousands of european union laws and regulations into uk law. brexit secretary david davis encouraged all members to support the bill the bill provides certainty

as to how the law applies after we leave the european union, and it ensures individuals and businesses can continue to find redress when problems arise. aid workers in bangladesh say the number of rohingya muslims pouring across the border to escape violence in myanmar continues to rise. and the duke of cambridge has dropped prince george off for his first day at school in south london. his mother, the duchess, was too ill to go with them this morning. let's get the sport. we start with james anderson, who is now just one wicket away from becoming the first englishman to ta ke becoming the first englishman to take 500 in test cricket. he took the wickets of kraigg brathwaite and i —— kyle hope. a short time ago, the west indies were 74—2. news

justin timberla ke few the west indies were 74—2. news justin timberlake few moments, english premier league clubs have voted in favour of unilaterally amending the summer transfer window. starting next season and every season and they're after, premier league clubs will only be able to buy and sell players from june until 5pm and all the thursday before the start of the season. this will set the premier league apart from other leagues in europe, who will still be able to operate in the transfer market and by end of august. birmingham has won the race to become the english candidate to host the 2022 commonwealth games. they we re the 2022 commonwealth games. they were in competition with liverpool, but the goverment‘s department, digital, culture, media and sport, has backed it in the west midlands. paul blanchard, great to have you with us. i'm going to start by asking you, what makes birmingham the right and wish that you do host the right and wish that you do host the event? good afternoon. the birmingham bid was really exciting and potentially inspirational. they had to meet a range of criteria,

including the sports programme, the infrastructure, the venues that the game would take place, by athletes experience and a range of other aspects, which they met absolutely perfectly. they also presented some really exciting proposals on how the game would benefit notjust the city and the region of the west midlands, but also the uk as a whole. it would showcase the commonwealth movement ina very showcase the commonwealth movement in a very positive light. all those things together made this a really, really strong and exciting bit. fabulous. what's the process now that you have to go through if you're going to take on other cities involved in this bidding process? the process now is that the government will assess the budget to make sure that it represents value for money. if that approval comes from the government, we in association with the government will then present the bid to the commonwealth games federation at the end of the month. at that point, we have international competition against the likes of malaysia and australia. but we would expect a

decision from the federation by the end of the year. and we feel that we are going forward with a really, really strong bid, so we're pretty optimistic, at this stage the white ball, we look forward to seeing how it all pans out ——. ball, we look forward to seeing how it all pans out --. roger federer says he is looking forward to a rest after being knocked out in the quarterfinals of the us open. he lost to one mike dean delpodio of argentina. he said although he had been suffering from back pain, that was not to blame, and he said he just did not play well enough. finally, in the last few minutes, the everton manager ronald koeman says he is very disappointed at wayne rooney's drink—driving charge, and the player will be dealt with internally at the appropriate time. he also confirmed that rooney will play for everton against tottenham on sunday. that is all for sport, i will have plenty more in the next hour. thank you. let's return to our main story this morning. hurricane irma is continuing its path of destruction across the caribbean,

with ten people dead so far. it's one of the most powerful hurricanes in recorded history, and has almost totally destroyed the islands of st martin and barbuda. joining me now is dr chris holloway, an expert in tropical storms at the university of reading. the pictures that are beginning to come out tell the story, it is as strong as you and others were predicting. it is indeed. it is one of the strongest ever recorded in the atlantic. and it is also tied as the atlantic. and it is also tied as the third strongest at the time of landfall, when it went over barbuda and saint martin and other islands. what happens to it now? is it gaining strength? there are others waiting in the bar and worried to see what happens to them?m waiting in the bar and worried to see what happens to them? it is still a category five storm. it has lost a little bit of strength, top winds at 180 mph, down from 185. but this is still an extremely dangerous storm, and it is likely to maintain category four or five strength for

the next four or five days or so. is that path clear, or is there a chanceit that path clear, or is there a chance it could go somewhere we are not expecting it to? well, over the next 2—3 days, they aren't quite close agreement of tracking it towards the west north—west. —— they are in quite close agreement. north of the island of cuba, through the turks and caicos islands and the southern bahamas. after that, all of the models are showing that it will turn fairly sharply towards the law. but the uncertainty there is where exactly but the uncertainty there is where exa ctly a nd but the uncertainty there is where exactly and when that turn happen —— towards the north. there is a range of solutions from some storms dragging up the west coast of florida, some of the east coast, and then some slightly east of that through the bahamas. it is early on in the hurricane season. we have already seen harvey, we have now seen irma, there isjoe is a waiting to be next. is the pattern that

these things are just going to get stronger and stronger? well, with climate change, one thing we do know is that the risks of any particular storm have increased, mainly because the level is rising, and so the risk of storm surge from the ocean being pushed back to the land has increased because the sea level is higher. also, the rainfall from any particular storm is likely to be higher because the air is warm and there's more water vapour. as far as there's more water vapour. as far as the risk of any severe storm occurring in the first place, the science is less certain. it does seem to be pointing toward some increased likelihood of the very strongest storms, but that's a little bit less certain. it's obviously a personal decision, but if you live in one of these islands and you see a hurricane like this by the state everything in its path, a lot of people are going to wonder if there is any future to be had living in places like this? —— devastating

everything in its path. risk assessment has to take into effect, are these places are still good places to have buildings or not? there are things to be done on bermuda, where they have built very strong buildings that can survive a very extreme wind. i think it's a combination of learning, you know, to adapt to which places might be better suited for habitat as well as building stronger storms, and also trying to mitigate climate change at the same time. doctor chris holloway, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. thank you. let's return now to the news that mps have begun scrutinising the eu withdrawal bill, which will convert existing eu laws into domestic ones. jane hill is in westminster. weigl thanks, simon, welcome back to westminster. there is a delay because i am still reeling from you saying my friend, you can imagine

what that has done to the team down here at westminster. lovely to be with you, the sun has come out and the debate is continuing. this is the debate is continuing. this is the first of two days, and the vote will be on monday evening. so there is quite some way to go. but today is quite some way to go. but today is significant, it is the first day of this debate, and we have been reflecting all day, haven't we, about a sizeable number of people, politicians who say they will not be voting in favour of this bill come monday evening. and there are many, many concerns for lots of people. one of the concerns is around what it all means to the devolved assemblies, to the devolved governments. there is concern about that. let's talk now to hywel williams, who has joined that. let's talk now to hywel williams, who hasjoined me down here at westminster from plaid cymru. a very one welcome, good to talk to you. i hope we can manage to get through our conversation without the noise of the testers, which has been our talent for the day. billboards about the tone of the debate? have you heard anything that reassures you?

not from what i've heard, it has been very much as expected, really. there are a lot of legal points which are very interesting indeed. it felt more like a committee stage speech, of course. but there is a great deal of detail to look at. while we have several days ahead of us, we can look at this. have you already decided how you would vote? well, we will be voting against, you know, it is fairly clear to us that this is a power grab by westminster. some of the powers held in brussels will be stopping here in london rather than being passed on to cardiff. for things that cardiff have a responsibility for, such as agriculture. that really is a very bad move on the part of the government. they are hanging onto the powers, but we think they should go directly to the double government. but they would say that is about practicalities. we are talking about an enormous body, as we have been reflecting on all day. it will take time, whether we call

ita it will take time, whether we call it a transition period or whatever, to filter some of that out to devolved assembly. do you just take no reassurance for that at all? very little indeed. it is a good story to doa little indeed. it is a good story to do a power little indeed. it is a good story to doa powergrab, little indeed. it is a good story to do a power grab, but actually, you know, the responsibilities for the economy in wales, for the culture of education, higher education, all of those sorts of things, with the assembly. whatever comes from brussels should go directly to the assembly itself. assuming you do vote against it, what happens then, though? we are on a deadline to 2019 asa though? we are on a deadline to 2019 as a nation. what was the impact of that? the easy answer is that i would have started here from the first place. it is a government imposed deadline for two years. we decided to fire the starting gun a few years ago. we voted against that, by the way, as well. it is a huge task, and there should be more considered. you are saying you wouldn't have started from this position, and people watching will

hear that. the fact is, we are where we are. if this bill bill fails, what happens? the government will have to come back with better proposals than they have at the moment. this is not about whether we leave or not, it is about how we leave, and the way that we are living under this bill is entirely unacceptable living under this bill is entirely u na cce pta ble to living under this bill is entirely unacceptable to us, not only the power grab as far as cardiff is concerned, but the huge powers that are being granted to ministers to do essentially as they please. that seems to us to be a very bad step as well. we've had some experience of that in wales, by the way, and it didn't turn out well. white to that point, though, theresa may would stress that there will be scrutiny, thatis stress that there will be scrutiny, that is the word that she uses over and over. well, she cannot deny that the power is being put in the hands of ministers, and there will be a certain amount of scrutiny. whether that would satisfy anyone who is really in favour of proper parliamentary scrutiny is another question, i tend to doubt, considering the volume of such that

we have to be deal with coming unsurprisingly there is going to be a non—existence or done very badly. by a non—existence or done very badly. by the way, this is something that other people have raised. what happens to all of this that we used to do here? has that gone by the board as well? if we are rushing to examine the 8002000 bits of legislation over the next two years or three years or whatever, for yea rs, or three years or whatever, for years, five years, the usual business of government should be going on as well, but i'm not sure what's happening there. interesting point that we will discuss later in the afternoon. and in an hour's time we'll have two experts to answer your questions on the eu bill. professor catherine barnard is a specialist in eu law and ruth fox is director of the hansard society. if you would like to put a question to our experts, you can text us on 61124, use the hashtag #bbcaskthis on social media.

simon, back to you. thank you, jane. aid workers in bangladesh say the number of rohingya muslims pouring across the border from myanmar continues to rise. so far, more than 140,000 rohingyas, most of them women and children, have fled violence in myanmar‘s rakhine state. earlier today the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, spoke to the bbc, calling on aung san suu kyi to demonstrate her commitment to human rights in her treatment of the rohingyas. we admired and supported you, all those years you were under house arrest. we marched in your support, and we recognise your commitment to human rights. please show that same commitment to the human rights of the rohingya people at the present time. jeremy corbyn speaking to the bbc there. our correspondent sanjoy majumder is in bangladesh. a short time ago, he sent this update. more rohingya refugees have come into bangladesh today from myanmar. and you can just see how congested it has become.

there is absolutely no space. they are all on the road. now, over here, they have brought in bamboo. this is to construct new tents for the fresh arrivals. the existing camp itself is in dreadful shape. extremely crowded, conditions unhygienic. now, aid agencies are very concerned. they say, apart from food, there is an urgent need for medical support. msf, the humanitarian agency, says many of the new refugees have gunshot wounds, injuries, and therefore, they need as much support as possible. they are all coming in from yamaha because they are fleeing violence. they say their villages have been attacked, set on fire —— reeling miami. a bbc colleague has witnessed a muslim village being set on fire by youths. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour, but first,

the headlines on bbc news... hurricane irma has caused widespread devastation across the caribbean, leaving at least ten people dead. the small island of barbuda is said to be "barely habitable", and officials warn that saint martin is almost destroyed. mps have begun their scrutiny of the government's main brexit brexit bill, which aims to transfer eu laws and rules into into uk legislation, ahead of a vote on monday. the crisis in myanmar goes on, as tens of thousands of muslim rohingya refugees continue fleeing the country after nearly two weeks of violence. in the business news... the european central bank has kept eurozone interest rates and its bond buying stimulus programme unchanged following its latest meeting. the ecb is currently buying 60 billion euros of bonds a month as part of its quantitative easing programme. but analysts expect this to be scaled back given the eurozone's recovery. uk insurers have won a major victory by persuading the government to change the system used to work

out compensation payments to accident victims. the changes to the so—called ogden rate will affect payments worth billions of pounds. they're likely to cut the amount that victims will receive in compensation payments, but could also result in lower insurance premiums for drivers. more on this injust a moment. as house—builder bovis reports a profits fall of 31%, it says it will have fixed the problems with its faulty homes by the end of this year. some bovis customers had complained about homes being sold unfinished, and had reported faults in new properties. the firm, which has already set aside more than £10 million for the problem, saw house completions down on the same time last year. hello. donald trump has agreed to a plan to lift the debt limit for three months, which will fund the government until mid—december and rush aid to hurricane harvey victims. congress however still needs to approve the deal. the us debt limit is similar to other credit limits —

it's currently standing at $19.9 trillion. michell fleury is at the new york stock exchange why is this debt limit a problem? well, i think if you look at a household that perhaps sort of runs a lwa ys household that perhaps sort of runs always with a slight credit card debt, that's essentially the situation you have here, except we are talking about the government, and substantially bigger numbers, tens of trillions of dollars. the limit that the lewis government can borrow is set by congress. it needs to be raised —— the us government. if not, the treasury has warned that they will have problems paying their debts, essentially raising the risk that america could default on its loa ns, that america could default on its loans, that would have ramifications around the world in terms of credit ratings, the us dollar. there would bea ratings, the us dollar. there would be a cascading effect. that's why

certainly investors follow this closely. now we've got this surprise deal, that essentially raises the debt limit up and told to give it enough funds until december, when theissue enough funds until december, when the issue will be revisited again. the thing that really surprised many people, though, is not so much this decision, it's the fact that donald trump side it with the democrats to do this deal, which also includes the spending bill, the budget to avoid a government shutdown and aid to hurricane harvey. it appears that donald trump is no other option but to go with this democrat plan. what is his overall solution and strategy for this debt? well, look, i think he had a couple of choices. there was a republican plan that had been floating away, there were signs that perhaps it had been running into trouble because it you had the fiscal conservatives, the conservative end of the republican party worrying about what this would do for government that. they are keen to see them lowered and spending reduced. —— government

debt. donald trump clearly felt this was not in his best interest, and he did what he felt he has threatened to do before, and he has done so, decide with the democrats against his own party. it caught many by surprise in washington. there has been talk about whether it was part ofa been talk about whether it was part of a broader game plan to get tax reform done, because he will need democrats as well as republicans to get that through. it will be interesting to see how congress reacts. thanks, michelle. in other business news.... uk houses rose at their fastest pace this year in august, according to the halifax. according to the halifax, a subsidiary of lloyds banking group house prices increased 1.1% from july, the biggest one—month rise since december and building on july's 0.7% increase. bmw has joined rivals in announcing a big push into electrified vehicles. the german luxury car—maker said that by 2025 it plans 12 all—electric models, and 13 hybrid versions. jlr said every vehicle line launched from 2020

will have an all—electric or hybrid version, the first of which would be the jaguar i—pace, to go on sale in 2018. facebook says it has discovered a russian—funded campaign to promote divisive social and political messages on its network. the company said $100,000 was spent on about 3,000 ads over a two—year period, and posted on topics including immigration, race and equal rights. let's have a look at the markets before we go. the ftse 100 index was up 39.81 points in early trade at 7,393.94. helped by tobacco companies. imperial tobacco doing well. shares in imperial brands rose 3% after it sold down some of its stake in spanish logistics firm logista. rival cigarette firm bat rose 1.9%. insurer direct line was boosted by a change to the formula for calculating personal injury payments. that's all the business news. i will be back in an hour. thanks, michelle. it's a big day for prince george —

this morning was his first day at school. he was taken there by prince william. his mother, the duchess of cambridge, couldn't attend, as she's pregnant with her third child and suffering acute morning sickness. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. it is a daunting day for any four—year—old, no matter who you are, and george arrived looking, well, understandably a little nervous for his first day at the new school in south london his parents have chosen for him. dad was there to take his hand and carry his schoolbag, but not mum. she had to remain at kensington palace, suffering from acute pregnancy sickness. each day at thomas's school in battersea starts with a handshake with the headteacher. george knew what was required, as did his father. and then it was time for those shiny new school shoes to head for the classroom to find the peg for george cambridge, and to meet the 20 other four—year—olds, boys and girls, who will be in the reception class with him. for william, it may have prompted memories of the day 30 years ago when he was taken by his mother for his first day at school.

back then, it was all rather more formal. a boys—only school, complete with a school cap. fast forward 30 years, and george's school offers a broad curriculum with a strong emphasis on sport and human values. it's a choice of school which represents a bit of a break with royal tradition. nothing too radical, of course — it is still private and fee—paying, but it is coeducational, and the school has a strong emphasis on kindness. george will find that ‘be kind' is one of the guiding principles for pupils here, together with courtesy and humility. all useful qualities for a future king. nicholas witchell, bbc news, battersea. let's have a look at the weather. chris fawkes has the latest. hi there. we have seen catastrophic damage caused to barbuda along with st martin's, where hurricane irma

made direct impact. it was the british virgin islands which took a direct hit last time. this satellite picture shows rain bands affecting poor to rico and the dominican republic, but the eye is offshore. this storm is heading to the turks and caicos islands. there is a small island in this group cold provincial, it looks like it will be working in here about midnight hour time. this has wind gusts of 220 mph. from the turks and caicos islands it will work towards the bahamas, and reach florida towards the latter part of the weekend. it is the second strongest atlantic hurricane ever, catastrophic damage will happen to the turks and caicos islands, along with the bahamas, where that i wore comes onshore. the storms dirge, a wall of water coming from the ocean, could reach 20 foot high -- from the ocean, could reach 20 foot high —— the storm surge. we have fairly quiet conditions caused england and wales, cloudy skies further north. here, a band of rain

will continue southwards with heavy burst this afternoon, getting cross northern england, staying down across wales and the south—west. there will be patches of rain across east anglia and south—east england, a lot of cloud but occasional brighter spells are possible, feeling cool in the wind across the north—west, highs of 15 degrees in glasgow. overnight tonight, ourarea of low pressure is still with us, a band of rain becomes quite slow moving across southern england, with the wind is picking up here. it will bea mild the wind is picking up here. it will be a mild —ish night, with temperatures 11—15d. friday, the band of rain still with us, uncertain how far north or south it will be. either way, to the north of this we will see a mixture of sunshine and showers. the showers will be blustery driven in by a cool and strong wind across the west of scotland. feeling autumnal. getting cooler in the rain towards the london area, with highs of 18

degrees. the weekend sees this area of low pressure stay with us. widespread showers, often cloudy, occasional sunny spells, it will become increasingly windy as the weather this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 3pm. hurricane irma causes widespread destruction across the caribbean, leaving at least ten people dead. this is the moment irma hit saint martin, cutting cables and destroying the airport. the extent of the destruction in barbuda is unprecedented. i'm of the view that as it stands now, it's barely habitable. mps have begun their scrutiny of the government's main brexit bill, which aims to transfer thousands of pieces of eu regulations into uk law. this bill simply brings european union law into uk law, ensuring where possible the rules of law are the same after exit as before.

that we are leaving is settled. how we leave is not. this bill invites us to surrender all power and