this is bbc world news. i'm kasia madera. our top stories: hurricane irma is lashing caribbean islands as it continues its path of destruction. in barbuda, a mass evacuation is under way before the next storm arrives as despair sets in. we're not coping. we are definitely not coping. everybody will tell you the same, they're not coping. everyone is in the same situation. the hurricane is heading towards florida, where officials are warning this could be the most catastrophic storm the state has ever seen. and the strongest earthquake in a century strikes off the southern coast of mexico. at least 58 people have been killed and the damage is widespread. as the un warns of an unprecedented refugee crisis in myanmar, our correspondent has found evidence in rakhine state of the operation to

drive out rohingya muslims. what we've seen here tells us a very different story, a story of ethnic cleansing, of driving muslims out of this part of myanmar. and we bring you the story of the 13—year—old british girl who helped to transform the lives of eight people after her death. hello and welcome to bbc world news. hurricane irma has cut a devastating path across the caribbean, leaving death and destruction in its wake. at least 20 people are known to have died and more than a million people have been affected. the massive storm, one of the most powerful atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, is forecast to hit the united states on saturday night. and there's another hurricane coming up behind irma in the atlantic. jose has strengthened to a category 4, with driving winds of 200kph, that's125mph.

and forecasters warn it could strengthen still further. our correspondent laura bicker is the first foreign journalist to reach barbuda, already devastated by irma. islanders there are racing to evacuate to neighbouring antigua beforejose makes landfall. this is her report. the island of barbuda was once a caribbean paradise. now, it is lost. hurricane irma has reduced it to rubble. homes are unrecognisable. the ruins lie scattered, torn and ripped apart. having survived the worst storm in living memory, and knowing another is on the way, people are exhausted, hungry, and just desperate to leave. i don't know. i'm just waiting to get evacuated from here, and then i'm going to come back and try and salvage something, and help...

i don't know. my whole life is here, so... we're not coping, we're definitely not coping. everybody will tell you the same, they're not coping. everyone is in the same situation and nobody can help one another. the core of the hurricane carved a cruel and deadly path through these streets. a two—year—old died, drowned as her mother tried to move her to safer ground. but, incredibly, the rest of the people on this island survived the storm's wrath. don't worry, we're going to get you off the island, and we're going to get you to safety, and you'll be taken care of. the prime minister has travelled from neighbouring antigua to provide some reassurance. be patient, we're going to get you all off. he knows this is a race against time before hurricanejose arrives, in just a few hours. we heard him haggling for every boat, helicopter or plane, to help with the evacuation. can it land here, though? but fear starts to spread that not everyone will get out in time. don't worry.

this woman has just been told she doesn't have a place on the next boat. the sheer, horrifying scale of the devastation here means that barely a building is salvageable. that means that the whole island will have to be rebuilt, and the government has already admitted it simply doesn't have the money. the hope is that the funds will come from somewhere. we're hoping that, you know, friendly governments and international partners will step up to the plate and assist us. they should not see this as a form of, let's say, the prime minister and the people of antigua and barbuda coming with a begging bowl, cap in hand. this is a disaster, a national disaster. the fragments of people's lives now lie in ruins. they can only hope that one day they will once again call this island home. but for now they must leave by any means possible, including this towed barge, and they don't know when they will return. laura bicker, bbc news, barbuda. there's been criticism, both

here in the uk and in the caribbean, of the british government's response to the hurricane compared to france and the netherlands. irma is now lashing cuba and the southern bahamas as it heads towards florida. nick bryant is in nassau, the bahamian capital, as he looks at the impact on the region. the turks & caicos, where the palm trees that usually attract people to these islands reeled under the violent onslaught of hurricane irma. a storm people here had been tracking through satellite images, a monster hurricane that's looked terrifying from space. now a horrifying on—the—ground reality. picture—postcard holiday destinations, like the british virgin islands, pummelled by 160mph winds. this uk territory has now declared a state of emergency. the bahamas are starting to be blasted, the only sightseeing this morning from the relative

safety of the balcony, watching the approaching storm. old imperial buildings that have stood for centuries in this former british colony are braced, shuttered, prepared for the worst. elton smith had onlyjust finished rebuilding his business from the last hurricane that caused such devastation less than a year ago. this is one of the worst storms in living memory. so, you know, you've got to get as much together as you can, and plan for the worst, hope for the best. there are five low—lying islands in this archipelago which the authorities are particularly concerned about, which is why the government here has ordered the biggest evacuation in the history of the bahamas. but there are fears already for people who have stayed behind, people who have defied those evacuation orders, people who believe they can ride out this storm. in hurricane—hit st martin, this natural disaster has been exacerbated by the man—made problem of looting, which is why, and the government says

i!’ i; “eb-35:5." 5:5:— qh; !;~.-.;-;——q;—-.—g 7 ~— .. .. . what will be the reconstruction needs for these islands in the future? what support will they need, and what can we give? and we remain committed to ensure that that long—term work is done, and that reconstruction work is done, and we provide the support necessary. so far, it's small caribbean islands like st martin that are being hit by winds with the power to hurl containers through the air. but all the time irma is barrelling towards the american mainland, threatening destruction on a much larger scale. nick bryant, bbc news, the bahamas. we'll have more later on those areas preparing for irma and there's much more coverage of the hurricane on our website.

is we'll have a look at how dangerous irma is compared to other super storms which have caused havoc in the region in previous decades. just log on to bbc.com/news. and as if the destruction in the caribbean wasn't bad enough, mexico has been hit by its most powerful earthquake in a century. at least 58 people have been killed and that figure is set to rise still further. it struck off the pacific coast to the south of the country with a magnitude of 8.1. it was felt as far north as mexico city, some 800 kilometres from the epicentre. the tremor is reported to have lasted about a minute, as sophie long reports. daylight revealed the destruction the most powerful quake to hit mexico in decades had delivered. in less than a minute, yucatan‘s town hall was reduced to rubble. at least 17 of its citizens were killed. translation: it was all horrific.

everything collapsed, everything. the truth — i have no words to explain what happened. look at my home, everything is destroyed. this is the moment it hit a bowling alley in chiapas, the closest state to the quake‘s epicentre. 600 miles away, the tremors rocked mexico city. as people pick through the remnants of their lives, there are fears that there could be more strong aftershocks to come. translation: so far, there have been 65 aftershocks. the strongest was magnitude 6.1. however, it's possible that, over the next 2a hours, we could see a shock that's as strong as the earthquake. this is a country used to earthquakes, but not of this magnitude. it has left families devastated, and infrastructure destroyed. sophie long, bbc news. the united nations is warning

of an unprecedented refugee crisis in myanmar. it now says more than a 250,000 people have fled the country in recent days. the refugees from the country's muslim rohingya minority are fleeing an army crackdown against insurgents in rakhine state. 0ur correspondentjonathan head reports from the north of rakhine province, where he's seen evidence of the violence that's driven rohingya muslims from their homes. this is northern rakhine state, two weeks after attacks by rohingya militants provoked a ferocious backlash from the army and local buddhists. muslim villages are still being razed to the ground, their inhabitants driven in vast numbers over into bangladesh. these are scenes i was not supposed to see. i'd been invited on a government—run tour of the troubled area for journalists. we could only see places

the government approved of. even so, the devastation we witnessed was staggering. village after village, destroyed or deserted. entire communities reduced to ashes. the military officer in charge of border security told us that it is the muslim terrorists, as he calls the rohingya militants, who are burning down the villages to force the people away and to block the security forces. of all the villages that have been burnt down, have they all been burnt down by muslim militants? is that what we are saying, all of them, 100%? but why, then, is this town still smouldering, two weeks after it was first attacked and days after its muslim inhabitants had left? why could we see more smoke rising ominously in the distance? we were taken to a rakhine buddhist village. hatred and fear of muslims

is intense here, all the more so since some took up arms. like the government, they don't accept that rohingyas, bengalis, they call them, belong in myanmar. we don't like, never liked bengali people. they say rohingya. it's not rohingya. they lie. bengali, they lie. this is my motherland, my fatherland, not bengali land. this is the result of that hatred. by chance, we spotted a fire close to the road, which had just been started. it was a muslim village called goduthaya. the roof of the madrassa had just been set alight. islamic schoolbooks were strewn across the path. this happened within walking distance of a large police barracks. we've just arrived at this village, and, as you can see from these

fires, they've onlyjust been lit. in fact, we bumped into the people who almost certainly lit them, carrying machetes, not wanting to talk. but one did admit, yes, they set these buildings alight with the help of the police. they are ethnic rakhine. this was a muslim village. the government has claimed that all of the village destruction is at the hands of muslim militants and rohingya inhabitants. what we've seen here tells us a very different story, a story of ethnic cleansing, of driving muslims out of this part of myanmar. we still don't know the fate of the people who once lived here, who left many of their possessions behind. they may be in bangladesh, or still trapped in a country that doesn't want them. it seems certain, though, that they are never coming home. jonathan head, bbc news, northern rakhine state. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: an act of reconciliation.

aafter decades of armed conflict, the pope presides over a ceremony bringing colombia's victims together with formerfighters. her and to freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom 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! translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000

people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc news. the top story this hour — at least 20 people have been killed by hurricane irma — with one organisation claiming that more than a million people have been affected by the storm damage. the governor of florida has warned that time is running out for residents to move to safety as hurricane irma makes its way to the us mainland. about a million of florida's twenty million inhabitants have already been ordered to leave their homes, and the highways out of the state are clogged with cars. 0ur correspondent, aleem maqbool reports from miami. they are now calling this one of the biggest mass evacuations in american history.

the roads heading out of southern florida are clogged, fuel in short supply. today is the day to do the right thing for yourfamily, and get inland for safety. this storm is wider than our entire state, and is expected to cause major and life—threatening impacts from coast to coast. at miami's airport, people scramble for the last chance to get out by air. in one corner, we find a couple from liverpool. luke decided to bring megan here as a surprise. now, they are preparing to weather the storm of a lifetime. we spent two days trying to get out of here, so we've just sort of given up on the idea of getting out of here. our plan is to just wait in the airport until sunday, ‘cause they‘ re adamant that our flight‘s leaving on sunday. but ijust can't really see that happening. but i think it's more the inconvenience of being here and not knowing when you're going home, what's happening. i feel like the airport's quite a safe building to be in. the area they had been staying in, normally packed with tourists,

is in the evacuation zone, and has been all but abandoned. well, just extraordinary to see miami's iconic south beach as deserted as this. but it is an indication ofjust how seriously people here are taking the warnings, particularly having seen the type of destruction that has been wrought by this hurricane already. if they are coming here, it is to fill pillowcases with sand, to barricade their homes before irma hits. donald trump himself will be affected. his florida resort, mar—a—lago, has been forced to close, and is in the projected path of the storm. the national guard has been deployed here. they are stockpiling commodities that could become scarce in the coming days, like drinking water. but they are also preparing for what is likely to be a massive rescue operation. right across this state, there is a sense that time is running out to protect property and lives.

pope francis has presided over an emotional act of reconciliation between victims of colombia's armed conflict and former fighters. speaking in villavicencio, one of the places worst affected by the five—decade conflict between government forces and the farc, the pope called for truth and justice for victims. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson sent this report. the epicentre of the cemetery tells the story of the country's conflict. more than 50 years of disappearances, murders and separation. when virginia was six, her mother went to fight with the farc. she says she was made to and she has given up seeing her again, but not her dad, who disappeared 13 years later. in among the tombs are unnamed graves, victims of the conflict. but even this would bring closure to virginia. she is optimistic about a peace process, she might find out what happened to her father.

"i would love to come here with a flower", she says. "to have a plaque with his name on, a place "where i could spend time. "i want him to be alive more than anything, but this at least "would be something." virginia is one of hundreds of victims meeting the pope. there is a lot of expectation that he can help heal wounds here. the latin american pontiff is well loved on his home turf. the crowd is excited about welcoming a pope to colombia for the first time in more than 30 years. the pope decided to come to villavicencio because it is seen as the epicentre of the violence the country suffered for more than five decades. the younger generation doesn't know any different. people here want to rebuild and move forward. the pope warned that the peace process in colombia would fail

if people didn't seek reconciliation. this came as the farc leader wrote an open letter to the pope, asking for forgiveness. joanne runs a beauty business now and a few years ago she too was part of the farc. when her 12—year—old sister signed up she said she had little choice but to join too to protect her. "they killed my two sisters", she tells me when i ask about divisions in the country. "i'm a victim but also a perpetrator. "i'm in both camps." she says she wants the pope to bring a message of peace, so there's less judgement and more understanding about people who used to be guerrillas or paramilitaries. the pope's words resonate with the millions of colombians tied

to the conflict, but once he's gone it is action that is needed. it will be a long road to lasting peace here. here in the uk, it's emerged that a teenage girl who died from a brain aneurysm has helped a record number of people through organ donation. jemima layzell died in 2012, but officials have been able to transplant her organs into eight other people. her parents say she would have been very proud of her legacy. jon kay reports. dear mum, happy birthday. it was just before her mum's birthday party five years ago that jemima suddenly collapsed. # the girl who has everything.# she had an aneurysm that had never been diagnosed, and doctors told her parents nothing could be done. we'd seen the scans and there was such a huge shadow on the left side of the brain that she could never, ever recover. by chance, jemima had spoken to her parents about organ donation

just a few days before she collapsed. when she died, they felt they had to follow the schoolgirl‘s wishes. she did specifically say that she wanted to be an organ donor. how did that help you make the decision, when you knew that she wasn't going to survive? it made that decision so much easier. it's like an automatic thing, "yes, absolutely, because that's what her wishes were". five years on, jemima's family have now been told that her organs, including her heart, lungs and kidneys, have helped more people than any other single donor. freddie is one of those jemima saved. he'd been given just weeks to live before he received her liver in a transplant. this week, he started secondary school. his family's message... thank you, but that just doesn't seem enough. you're grateful that they actually stuck to jemima's wishes and let her donate her organs, which allowed our child to live.

but obviously for our child to live, their child had to die. it's really tough, but we can never be thankful enough. this month the two families will meet for the first time at a charity ball organised injemima's memory. her parents know that not everyone would make the decision they did, but with more than 6000 people waiting for transplants, they are now campaigning for more of us to register as donors. jon kay, bbc news, somerset. saturday sees the seventieth anniversary of ferrari. the italian racing team unveiled its first car in 19117. since then the company has seen extraordinary success on the track — and has become a byword for style and wealth. the bbc‘s tim allman looks back on seven decades of the prancing horse.

when it comes to cars, is there any name more glamorous than for ryrie? —— ferrari? that deep crimson red, sleek lines and the music of the engine. it is magic. almost from the beginning, ferrari enjoyed success. here winning the british grand prix in 1956. then nicki louder. jodie schechter. michael schumacher.

legendary names, legendary cars. and what would the founder, enzo ferrari make of it all? i think he is pleased to see a company that, of course, is different from his own but looking ahead was able to maintain the characteristics, the culture of ferrari. this is important. these days, ferrari is a multibillion—dollar operation. high—tech designs, some of the most advanced cars in the world. events will take part to mark the anniversary, culminating in an exclusive party in maranello where the cars have been built since the second world war. so, happy birthday. arguably, italy's greatest ever export. hello, there.

the weather is set to remain in a pretty unsettled theme through this weekend, all thanks to low pressure nearby. this is the picture as we start the weekend. an area of low pressure across the north sea. fairly tightly packed isobars across western parts of the uk, meaning quite windy here, even throughout the night and first thing saturday morning. most showers will affect western coastal areas. further east, lengthier dry interludes. 0n the cool side, 10—11 in towns. a little bit lower than that in rural areas. we start saturday on a fine note for some, with sunshine. plenty of showers in northern and western scotland and towards northern ireland. those showers affecting the north—west of england, northern and western wales and the south—west of england. i think the midlands eastwards tending to start dry, with sunshine. temperatures around 12—13 degrees at 9am. but it won't be long before showers across western areas begin to migrate eastwards through the day. across central, southern and eastern

areas, some could be heavy, with hail and thunder mixed in. slow moving as well here. further west, the showers are blown through quickly on a strong breeze. if anything conditions settle down in scotland, especially through the central belt. temperature wise, 16—19. nothing that special, but not bad in the sunshine. through saturday night the high pressure builds in. it turns drier, with lengthy clear spells, but it will be chilly. another system makes inroads across scotland, northern ireland initially, with strengthening winds. central, southern and eastern areas starting chilly, a little bit of mist and fog around, especially eastern england. that will clear away. then an increasing breeze, outbreaks of wind, begins to push eastwards. it doesn't really reached the far south—east until after dark. so a day where

conditions go downhill. 14—19 — temperatures nothing that great. this weekend it really will feel quite cool for the time of year. windy too and there will be some rain or showers, some of them heavy. beyond the weekend, it stays unsettled. this is the area of low pressure which will move through. it will still be with us on monday. very tightly packed isobars means it will be gale force winds, even severe gales across the south—west. plenty of showers rattling through. there will be sunshine in between, though it will still remain on the cool side. this is bbc news, the headlines: hurricane irma is continuing to cause devastation across the caribbean, with some islands bracing themselves for another powerful storm, hurricane jose. irma is now heading towards florida where the state's governor has warned that all 20 million inhabitants should be prepared to evacuate. at least 58 people have died after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake

struck off the pacific coast of mexico. the tremor was felt hundreds of miles away in mexico city. president pena nieto said a little under half of the country's population had felt the quake. the united nations is warning of an unprecedented refugee crisis in myanmar. it now says more than a 250,000 rohingya muslims have fled the country over the last fortnight. a un spokesperson said he feared as many as 1,000 rohingya may have been killed by burmese forces. tom donkin at 2am, but now on bbc news, it's time for click.