welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is tom donkin. these are our top stories: hurricane irma continues to cut a path of destruction across the caribbean — lives and homes now lie in ruins. the hurricane‘s now heading towards florida. the governor there warns that time is running out for millions of residents to move to safety. mexico's president, enrique pena nieto, declares a day of national mourning, after a powerful earthquake which has killed more than 60 people. and as the un warns of an unprecedented refugee crisis in myanmar, hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims continue to flee the country. and we will bring you the story of a 13—year—old british girl that helped transform the lives of eight people after her death. hello and thank you

for being with us. 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 is forecast to hit the united states on saturday night. and there's another hurricane named jose coming up behind irma. our correspondent laura bicker is the first foreign journalist to reach barbuda following the devastation wreaked by hurricane irma and has been speaking to residents there. 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's 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 in the bahamas. he's had a look 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, in the dutch part of this territory,

the streets are being patrolled by troops, who could be helping the relief operation. as for britain, it's stepped up its aid effort following criticism it's been slow to respond. raf planes carrying equipment are now on their way, and the government says it's planning for the longer—term. 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. including 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. mexico's president, enrique pena nieto, has declared a day of national mourning after a powerful earthquake which has killed more than 60 people. he was visiting oaxaca state, one of the worst hit. mr nieto said flags would fly at half mast, out of respect for the dead and bereaved. the quake struck late on thursday off the pacific coast, 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.

earlier, i spoke with poppy nicolas, an exchange student in mexico city. i asked what it was it like for her, the moment the earthquake struck. it was all really bizarre, very scary. to begin with, we weren't really sure what was happening. we were obviously — i've always lived in europe, so i've never experienced anything like this. yeah, it was really scary. i dread to think what it was like closer to the coast. but, yeah, everything was moving and wejust kind of — had to run out of the apartment and out onto the street and we were shaking quite a lot and everyone was quite nervous. ican imagine. yeah, few people have experienced anything like that, one of the worst to hit the country. have you been able to head back to your home, or are you sort of staying somewhere else for the moment?

no. we were really fortunate that none of the houses near us were damaged. we were also lucky enough to not experience any power cuts or anything. i have a lot of friends that said otherwise. but we were very lucky we could go back to our apartment quite quickly. and when the earthquake struck, what information were you told? was there much public announcements or anything like that? there was a siren that went off seconds before everything started shaking. and then shortly after the quaking stopped, then a police car drove past and kind of checked on everybody. but apart from that we were relying on the news to keep up with what was going on. the united nations is warning of an "unprecedented" refugee crisis in myanmar. it says more than a quarter of a million people have fled the country in recent days.

it's a dramatic increase on previous estimates. the refugees, from the country's muslim rohingya minority, are fleeing an army crackdown against insurgents in rakhine state. jonathan head reports from the north of rakhine province, where he's seen evidence of the operation to drive 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 mother land, my father land, 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 school books 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. after decades of armed conflict, the pope presides over a ceremony bringing colombia's victims together with formerfighters. 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! 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. but more on that. simon cross lives in the virgin islands. give us an idea of what irma has done to your community. total devastation, to be honest. i don't even quite know how to do it. the level of damage is unimaginable and our journey to do it. the level of damage is unimaginable and ourjourney back... we took a moment because we still can't believe what's happened. there

are more and more horrible stories as the hours pass. so, yeah, it's really turned the island from a beautiful paradise into a complete armageddon like state, to be honest. there are some small positives in that one of the main supermarkets is back open. so they are letting people in slowly in an organised fashion. so some control is coming back and people can get supplies, which is important, there seems to bea which is important, there seems to be a decent level of resources in the supermarket, which i was really worried about, the amount of water and everything, basic supplies that people would need, would have been running low. it has completely shaken the island into something you never thought possible, to be honest. just looking at some of the

scenes of destruction... are people still unaccounted for. i imagine there are still a huge number of people unaccounted for. the level of communication is very poor. there could be people stuck. i would be amazed if there weren't. i would imagine there would be a large number of people unaccounted for. but it is coming through in dribs and drabs, the information, as to the whereabouts of my friends and tha nkfully the whereabouts of my friends and thankfully i haven't heard any bad news to anyone i know immediately. but i've heard stories of people trying to hold on to their front doors and losing their lives in the process. u nfortu nately doors and losing their lives in the process. unfortunately i would be amazed if that's not quite common story throughout the island, but as i say given the limited communication i only know that much at this stage. so, yeah, that's where we are. but today has mainly

been about repairing the topography as much as we can and cleaning up. inaudible... things are returning to reasonable normality now. we are incredibly lucky. we are in an absolute minority of fight ascent of people whose property only sustained minor damage. the vast majority of properties have had significant damage to the roofs and walls and a lot of people are without roots altogether and homeless. —— without roofs. the good thing about this is eve ryo ne roofs. the good thing about this is everyone knows everyone and i would hope those people without homes shouldn't find it too difficult to find a friend orfamily member to stay with. but i don't know, i'm

just guessing, but i would hope that there is not completely without an option. yeah. we do have to leave it there, but our thoughts are with you as you deal with the cleanup from irma and as jose as you deal with the cleanup from irma and asjose is on its way we hope that's not as bad to your community. fingers crossed. that was simon cross, a resident on the british virgin islands. pope francis has presided over an emotional act of reconciliation between victims of colombia's armed conflict and former fighters. speaking in villavisencio, 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. our south america correspondent katy watson sent this report. villavicencio's cemetery tells the story of the country's conflict. of more than half a century of disappearances, murders and separation. when virginia was six,

her mother went to fight with the farc. she was made to, she says, and she's given up ever 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's 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 i could spend time. "i want him to be alive more than anything, but this at least "would be something." virginia's one of hundreds of victims meeting the pope. there's a lot of expectation that he can help heal the wounds here. the latin american pontiff is well loved on his home turf.

the crowds 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's seen as the epicentre of the violence the country's suffered for more than five decades. the younger generation doesn't know any different. people here want to rebuild and move forward, but the divisions are in how they do it. the pope warned that the peace process in colombia would fail if people didn't seek reconciliation. it came as the farc leader issued an open letter to the pope, asking for forgiveness. joanna thinks compassion is important. she runs a beauty salon now but until a few years ago she too was in the farc. when her 12—year—old sister signed up she said she had little choice but to join too to protect her. "they guerrillas killed my two sisters," she tells me, when i ask about the 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. 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. 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. that's all the time we have. you can get in touch with me and some of the tea m get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. from all of us here, or buyer. —— goodbye. 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. on 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, like i mentioned. 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, and these are 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. mexico's president has declared a day of national mourning after more than 60 people died in an earthquake. he was touring some the worst hit areas. the tremor struck off the pacific coast of mexico late on thursday and was felt hundreds of miles away in mexico city. the united nations is warning of an "unprecedented" refugee crisis in myanmar. it now says more than a quarter of a million rohingya muslims have

fled the country over the last fortnight. a un spokesperson said he feared as many as a thousand rohingya may have been killed by burmese forces. goes a the latest headlines on bbc news. time to take a look now at