i'm sharanjit leyl, in singapore. the headlines: hurricane irma barrels through the caribbean, leaving a trail of destruction. it's now heading for haiti. an unfolding humanitarian disaster. families flee myanmar where buddhists are targeting rohingya muslim villages. more than 150,000 crossed into bangladesh in recent weeks. we've been told a refugee camp has a rock that in the field just over here. —— has erupted. apparently thousands of people have come here and made camp. i'm kasia madera, in london. also in the programme: paolo duterte, the son of the philippines president, denies involvement in a massive drug smuggling operation. holding tight onto dad's hand: prince george arrives for his first day at school. live from studios in singapore and

london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london, and 8pm on the island of barbuda, where almost all of the buildings have been destroyed by hurricane irma. it's one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the atlantic and right now it's sweeping across the eastern caribbean, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. at least ten people are known to have died across the region. puerto rico was also in the storm's path and it's from there that laura bicker reports. hurricane irma, a storm the size of france, has carved a destructive path through the caribbean. in puerto rico, three people were killed as winds battered the island. as daylight came and the clear—out began, most felt lucky to have survived such a terrifying storm.

i pray god don't come here no more! this family told me they felt blessed to be alive and that the only damage was a downed power line and fallen trees in their street. they've kept eight—month—old aaron safe. there is a collective sigh of relief in puerto rico. there is work to be done. up to 30ft waves threw up debris and downed trees. but when it comes to that catastrophic eye of the hurricane, that only skirted this island, unlike others in the caribbean. 0n the tiny island of barbuda, barely a building was left untouched. hundreds of families now find themselves homeless. my house, i lose my home. i lose my shop. also my vehicle. everything's damaged. and right now, i don't have nowhere to go to sleep. we had cars flying over our heads.

we had containers, 40ft containers, flying left and right, and the story that you are getting from most of the residents here is that the eye of the storm came just in time. persons were literally tying themselves to their roofs 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 would have suffered some level of damage. in neighbouring st martin, the full force of the hurricane‘s eye was caught on camera. winds of 185 mph hammered the island. more than 70,000 people live in this area, which is made of dutch and french territories.

shipping containers were tossed around like lego bricks. moored boats were smashed in the harbour and there are warnings that the death toll is likely to rise. france has sent three emergency teams to help with the clear—up and has already set up a reconstruction fund. in the british territory of anguilla, there was criticism from residents to the uk response to the hurricane. it was labelled "pathetic" and "disgraceful". a british task force is now on its way there, including the royal marines and army engineers, although it could take two weeks for them to get there. efforts are also under way to try to get supplies to the island of st ba rts. the french government say their priority is making sure people have food and drinking water. and the british virgin islands, a sought—after holiday destination, is the latest place to be pummelled. the water is going up. a tropical paradise, transformed.

it literally went up and then sat there. hurricane irma is not finished. she has maintained her wind speeds and is barrelling towards another british territory, the low—lying turks & caicos islands. the us sunshine state of florida will be next in her sights. they are nervous after watching others endure her wrath. laura bicker, bbc news, puerto rico. at least one person has been killed on the british overseas territory of anguilla. the chief minister of anguilla, victor banks, says the island is preparing for the next storm. the situation now, we are going in recovery mode, but at the same time hurricanejose recovery mode, but at the same time hurricane jose is taking recovery mode, but at the same time hurricanejose is taking the same path towards anguilla. irma did fast

destruction to our territory, including government and private sector. the hospital was severely damaged. the majority of the rooms. . . damaged. the majority of the rooms... the roof was off those rooms... the roof was off those rooms. the police station, the government building, the house of assembly, the offices of schools and assembly, the offices of schools and a number of government buildings we re a number of government buildings were damaged severely and it means that we will be set back for some time to recover. initially in the private sector, homes and residences have been damaged, roofs are torn off. very few houses haven't had damage of some sort or the other. the majority of houses are concrete, but some groups are made out of wood and galvanised shingles and that sort of stuff. —— sunroofs. 0ccasionally in a hurricane that there as well as the congress

groups. so we've had some damage to buildings but for the most part buildings but for the most part buildings with concrete roofs have made it. we've had issues with windows blown out and things of that nature. thankfully many lives have been saved. 0ne life has been lost asa been saved. 0ne life has been lost as a result of the hurricane. as i said before, one life lost is too many, but we are grateful for the fa ct many, but we are grateful for the fact that life has been spared. one life is of course too many. residents have been complaining about the response of the british authorities. anguilla is a british territory. it is taking too long. would you agree? the countries in a state of despair were impatient about getting assistance. they are looking for the british government to respond. the truth is the

hurricane ended sometime towards the mid—afternoon yesterday and the british government came here by midday today with supplies, equipment, personnel. the foreign secretary spoke to me personally yesterday afternoon and he pledged his support and he is also the one who has directed the action taken by the royal raf. the royalfrigate is here and taking part in the needs of the island. that was the chief minister of anguilla speaking to me earlier. we will get more on hurricane irma later. also making news today: paolo duterte, the son of the philippine

president rodrigo duterte, has denied involvement in a multi—million—dollar drug smuggling operation. it comes after president duterte launched a violent campaign against drug crime last year and has promised to resign if any family members are involved in the trade. paolo duterte refused to answer the questions that were put to him by a senate hearing, but did read a prepared statement. iam i am formally appealing today's receding. 0nce i am formally appealing today's receding. once and for all, i now have the time to deny any and all res plus allegations towards me. every dog has his day. the law of karma will operate especially to those with evil intent. the american credit ratings agency equus fax says its computer systems have been hacked, potentially

affecting 140 million people across the us —— equifax. they say it took place between may and july this year, as stealing data including names, and social security numbers. the internet retail giant amazon has announced plans to build a second headquarter in north america, kicking off a competition among cities to attract the investment. amazon said it was seeking a city of over a million people with an international airport, a good education system and mass transit. the person in the middle is the chinese director and producer vivian qu, who has presented her new film, angels wear white, at the venice film festival. qu is the only female director competing for the coveted golden lion award this year. angels wear white is one of 21 international films vying for the golden lion that will be awarded in the italian city on saturday. china says it will support

further measures by the un against north korea, following pyongyang's nuclear test on sunday. but it's unclear whether beijing will go as far as to block oil shipments to the country, which is what the us is demanding. lieutenant colonel daniel davis is a military expert and senior fellow at the defence priorities thinktank. i asked him whether he believed the current thaad missile defence system put in place by the us and south korea, was enough of a deterrent. the thaad system has a radar to detect incoming missiles and it can attack and destroy it. it has a good track record for short range and intermediate range ballistic exiles. it can go out to about 200 kilometres is the range on that. the problem is, when it is fully operational there are only six launchers with a total of 48

missiles, so when you look at the missiles, so when you look at the missiles and artillery and rocket artillery that north korea has it really is rather inconsequential in terms of overall deterrence. so i don't think that will be a big deterrent. there are other things we can do but that's not a big one. but would you say it's been overplayed, the fact that china has been lodging serious protest against south korea because the us has deployed its thaad system? because the us has deployed its thaad system 7 there because the us has deployed its thaad system? there have been violent clashes over the issue as well. there has. in south korea itself there's quite a bit of animosity. they just itself there's quite a bit of animosity. theyjust don't want it. a lot of the local people don't want it there. they think it might be a magnet to draw an attack on their direction. what china has a different situation and different complaint because the radar system that comes... while the range of the missile is 200 kilometres, the radar

can see out to about 1500 kilometres and china believes rightly or wrongly that this is like an initial pa rt wrongly that this is like an initial part of a unified missile defence system, which can someday target them. so they believe this is something bigger thanjust them. so they believe this is something bigger than just north korea. all this week we've been reporting from bangladesh where an estimated 164,000 rohingya muslims have fled violence over the last few weeks alone in the mainly buddhist country of myanmar. the exodus was sparked by a crackdown by burmese security forces, after rohingya militants attacked police posts. 0ur correspondent justin rowlatt has been to a refugee camp in teknaf near the border. they arrive barefoot, their shoes lost in the mud on the long journey here. this is an exodus on a truly massive scale. rohingya muslims have been pouring into bangladesh from myanmar.

they say the military and local buddhists are destroying their villages, after rohingya militants attacked police posts two weeks ago. the current estimate is that 164,000 have crossed over, but the truth is no—one knows for certain how many have come. so we've justjoined this kind of river of humanity, because we've been told a refugee camp has sort of erupted in the field here, and thousands and thousands of people have made camp there. a un official was told there were 15,000 people here. this is what she found. she told the bbc she couldn't say how many refugees have sought shelter here. perhaps as many as 100,000. everyone needs food, everyone needs water. and everyone has a horrific story to tell. translation: my three

sons were taken. i don't know where they are. i have nothing to eat. please give me something. there are horrific images too. villages burning, allegedly torched by soldiers from the myanmar army. translation: lots, lots, lots of people died. this is my village. first they set it on fire, and then they shot us from helicopters and from the ground. mr shafiq saw some appalling scenes on his long trek. bodies floating in the river, rohingya refugees drowned in their search for safety, he says. and then the final hurdle — the barbed wire fence that marks the border with bangladesh. the bbc cannot verify any of this footage, but the stories the refugees tell are remarkably similar. and still they keep on coming. they have been driven

from their homes into this, into what is a rapidly escalating humanitarian disaster. justin rowlatt, bbc news, teknaf. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: with hurricane irma now one of the strongest storms ever recorded, we'll be asking if these super—storms are becoming more frequent. freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans, here — of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites, in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears — enough!

the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it is an exodus of up to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: hurricane irma hits and leaves a trail of devastation. the eastern caribbean islands were first in line for a battering. at least ten people are dead.

it's estimated more than 150,000 rohingya muslims fleeing violence in myanmar have crossed into bangladesh in the last few weeks. chinese social media users are reacting with shock after a heavily pregnant woman killed herself, reportedly after her family refused to let her have a caesarean section. the 26—year—old woman jumped from a hospital window in northern shaanxi province. you can read more about the debate that story has sparked on social media across china on bbc.com. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we start with the china daily. its main headline reviews a tv documentary series on the government's anti—corruption measures, which began airing on thursday evening. but a little lower down is a report on the chinese government's call for south korea to remove the thaad missile system which the us has provided, following a series

of north korean missile tests. the japan times also concentrates on events on the korean peninsula. it says south korean and japanese leaders agreed to push for stronger sanctions on north korea, at a meeting in vladivostok in russia. and the philippine daily inquirer leads on the testimony given at a senate hearing by one of the sons of president duterte. it says paolo duterte, who's denied being involved in drug trafficking, refused to co—operate when asked to show tattoos, or sign a waiver on access to his bank accounts. now, kasia, what stories are sparking discussions online? take a look at this footage.

stills and video comparing images of st martins before and after hurricane irma have attracted huge interest online. officials say the island is almost completely destroyed after the deadly storm hit. you can see that full video on our website, bbc.com/news. truly devastating pictures. let's stay with hurricane irma — now the longest lasting category five super—storm ever recorded, surpassing the record set by typhoon haiyan, which hit the philippines in 2013. so why has it gathered so much energy? and are these types of storm becoming more frequent? 0ur science editor david shukman explains. so how do hurricane has become so destructive? like irma, all mortars cause the air to rise, triggering thunderstorms, and that is in the wind can start to circulate. as this

weather system crosses the atlantic it grows and becomes stronger. and if the winds are moving in the same direction at all levels, as with irma, they reached devastating speed. then closer to the caribbean hurricane gets another boost as it passes over yet more warm water. and ocean temperatures are unusually high this year, making the wins even more aggressive. and on top of all this, the low pressure inside hurricane creates a storm surge, a huge wave that strikes the coast. and because climate change is raising the level of the sea, the impact is all the greater. earlier, i spoke to professor kevin walsh of the school of earth sciences at the university of melbourne and asked him whether his research pointed to any link between this season's hurricanes and climate change. as far as we can determine, the main effect of climate change so far has been to raise the sea surface temperature somewhat and, indeed, the locations in the gulf of mexico it is clear that a warming climate has had an effect on increased temperatures in the gulf of mexico.

so this will lead to increased evaporation, which would then lead to increased rainfall. the main difficulty is pulling that signal out of some very noisy observed data. so, it all sounds incredibly technical to try to discover this correlation, but what do you think makes this year's hurricane season different from others? can we expect much of the same or potentially worth? well, yeah, that is a very interesting question. i mean, as you know, we have had more severe hurricane seasons in the atlantic in the past. there has been a number of seasons in which there have been a total number of storms that have been greater. now, having said that, we haven't quite reached, actually,

the pick of the hurricane season yet. there has been a lot of activity and a lot of intense storms currently. there could be more to come, so thejury is currently. there could be more to come, so the jury is a currently. there could be more to come, so thejury is a bit currently. there could be more to come, so the jury is a bit out on that. however, as your correspondent correctly noted, the seasurface temperatures in the regions where tropical cyclones intensified are quite high this year. so that can certainly be a factor. kevin walsh there. for india's transgender community, going to a regular hospital can be daunting. patients often face discrimination, and are deterred by the various departments they need to visit. but one government hospital in the southern state of kerala is trying to help. it's offering a free clinic for transgender people that runs once a month. there is a lot of hesitancy to treat people of transgender. they don't specifically know who to go to for each problem. so, when you have this multi— speciality gathering of people here, we can streamline it and direct it. they require hormone treatment and

psychiatric evaluation and transitioning for them to eventually get to a point where they can have the surgery. and when we tell them it is delayed, one of them told me, 0k, we waited 20 years for this, i think i can wait another couple of yea rs. think i can wait another couple of years. that is a fascinating insight into india's transgender community. lots more on our website. hello. we are keeping our eye on three hurricanes in the caribbean. hurricanejose hot on the heels of hurricane irma, not quite as strong but still the potential for damaging winds off the northern leeward islands. hurricane irma is heading turks and caicos, heading towards cuba, eventually florida by the weekend and hurricane katia in the gulf of mexico is making rain with a lot of damaging wind. somewhat quieter over here at home

but still an unsettled end to the week thanks to this area of low pressure driving the weather. there will be strong winds at times particularly across southern coastal counties and the north—west of scotland and northern ireland as well. here there will be some showers from the word go. not quite so many showers here first thing tomorrow across the eastern side of scotland, maybe sunshine coming through but always a lot of cloud. showers never too far away across northern england. there'll be some spells of sunshine coming through across the northern parts of wales, but again there will be showers here through the day. and the showers are getting going across south—west england and across the southern coastal counties of england. they will start to become more frequent and the rain more persistent. showers merging, really, to give a longer spell of rain. so it's quite an unsettled feel to the end of the week. for many northern parts of england, parts of scotland and northern ireland, it's a day really of sunshine and for wales, southern

and central parts of england, those showers becoming more frequent and merging together for a longer spell of rain. you could catch a rumble of thunder during the afternoon. temperature no great shakes, somewhere between 16 and 19 celsius for most. heavy showers and longer spells of rain around tomorrow evening. slowly we start to lose the energy but there will be more showers around overnight so nowhere reliably dry. there should be some lengthy clear spells in between the showers. a slightly fresher overnight low of 11 or 12 celsius but for most still in double figures. an unsettled weekend with sunshine and showers i think should just about cover it on saturday. the emphasis more on dry weather and not as many showers. again, nowhere reliably dry and the temperatures still not much higher than 18 or 19 celsius. and we do it all again on sunday. many places should get off to a dry start, then in the north—west — something unsettled is happening here with strengthening winds and spells of rain, light to very heavy, sweeping across the country. the weekend will be wet at times,

rather cool and quiet, windy as well. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: hurricane irma has left a swathe of destruction as it sweeps across the eastern caribbean. it's already lashed barbuda, where almost all of the buildings have been destroyed. it's now on its way to haiti and the turks and caicos islands. storm surges, flooding and high winds are expected. 0ver150,000 rohingya muslims have now fled violence in myanmar. the exodus was sparked by a crackdown by burmese security forces, after rohingya militants attacked police posts. and this story is trending on bbc.com. prince george has officially started school. the four year old was dropped off by his father prince william. the duchess of cambridge missed the occasion due to severe morning sickness from her third pregnancy. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk:

the house of commons has begun debating the bill which will reverse the european communities act of 1972