this is bbc world news today. i'm james coomarasamy. our top stories: hurricane irma hits the northern coast of cuba, tearing through towns and villages and knocking out communications. it's now heading for havana. even the places that were supposed to serve as safe havens are now feeling the impact. 6.3 million people have been ordered to leave their homes. a day of national mourning in mexico after the deadliest earthquake in 80 years. also in the programme: what lies at the bottom of this tomb? we'll have more on a 3,000 year old discovery in egypt. hello and welcome to world news today. hurricane irma is battering the northern coast of cuba, lashing towns and villages in its path with strong

winds and heavy rain. many areas in the central region have lost power and flooding is expected as far west as the capital, havana. one million people, nearly a tenth of the population, have been evacuated. these pictures show the eye of the hurricane as seen from a plane flying over the storm. 0ur correspondent will grant is in havana with the latest on the situation. cu ba ns cubans had hoped they would avoid the worst of hurricane irma, but they had no such luck. with the full force of a category five storm, the hurricane tore through the ireland's northern shore. the storm surge almost completely engulfing several small fishing villages. electricity and communication links are right gci’oss and communication links are right across swathes of the country. but some communities are wrong the coast

are wondering how they would ever rebuild, others are bracing themselves for irma's impact. even in the big cities people are getting nervous. translation: i am really worried. my home is in a good state so i hope the couric and stays away and start moving out to sea. it is one of the bigger storms we have ever seen, so we have to get ready. as hurricane irma rumble stunned the coast of cuba, even those places that were supposed to serve as safe havens like the capital, havana, are now under hurricane warning, and for the many thousands who were evacuated here, they are just hoping they still have homes to go back to. cuba was in the middle of a tourism boom when the storm struck and thousands of tourists find themselves stuck. among them, british couple who were evacuated from their honeymoon. they blame theirjaw operator, thomas

cook, for not providing more information. the ones who were with thomas cook, the brits, were pretty much left in the dark until thursday morning on till i wrap appeared and said ever going to be evacuated by coach. we have been evacuated from once "the hurricane is going to strike into another one. in reply, thomas cook is defended their emergency response, saying they simply follow the instructions of the cu ban simply follow the instructions of the cuban government to move people to the resort. this event could also cut short cuba's efforts to rebuild its crippled economy. tourism has been the island's main economic motor recently, irma may have set that back for many months. there's widespread damage reported in the british virgin islands. laura, what have you been able to

see? well, five people died here in the british virgin islands and you can see the devastation wrought by hurricane irma. as we flew in we saw homes that that they had been blasted away either hurricane. they like tattered and in ruins and scattered across the island, has two boats. you can see the effect of the 20 foot storm surge. boats lie scattered all across the islands. they have crashed into each other and they are now in pieces. there is now a massive effort under way after criticism here of the british government's response to describe this. i have been speaking to the royal engineer who are here and they have been preparing this runway. they need to get temp two in and people out, so now they have repaired the runway they can try to

re—establish communications. when it comes to other problems in the island, there has been reports of looting, especially on the east side of the island. i spoke to the deputy governor and he said he will get things back under control, but there is an appeal for calm and law and order to prevail. very difficult conditions for people to with the aftermath of hurricane armour because they are also worried about hurricanejose, because they are also worried about hurricane jose, which is because they are also worried about hurricanejose, which is on its way. the latest for cash or that skirting the island and heading north rather than being a direct impact. that may bring some relief as they tried to continue their recovery efforts. you have been seeing quite a lot of the destruction of various islands. how does this compare to what you saw in her buda? the problem with barbuda is it is a smaller island, com pletely is it is a smaller island, completely flat, so when the

hurricane went across it flattened most of the island. here you see areas which have escaped the worst of the damage, but weather has been nabbed last of 185 mile an hour winds you can see where it has carved out the damage. that is the different here in the virgin islands. they both have the same issues, in that they are isolated, their report has been destroyed and their report has been destroyed and their runway has been difficult to get any aircraft to land. people are desperate to either get off or get aid in. the problem has been getting to the island and getting information. in this age of twitter it is unbelievable that has taken two or three days to get proper information. now that they have there is a realisation that there is a lot of work to be done. in the united states, southern parts of florida are already beginning to feel the effects of irma. the bbc‘s aleem maqbool is in miami and sent this report.

even so many miles out to sea, irma is making her presence felt. there's little left for people to do in florida but to get somewhere safe and wait. this hurricane shelter, like so many more across the city, is packed to capacity. wejust decided, we were going to leave. we got up and saw on the tv all the traffic backed up, to atlanta. we said, we have waited too late to leave. so we stayed. i mean, we left everything, you know. 0ur furniture. 0ur appartment. but like i would say, material things, we can build them again. i think the most important is the family, you know? after days of talking, after all the warnings, it is now starting to feel real for the people of florida. the skies have darkened, the winds have picked up, and in the coming hours,

people here expect to be in the firm grip of hurricane irma. nasa's recorded this spectacular footage of the eye of irma, and its massive cloud mass all on a projected course for florida. millions of people from florida votes major hurricane impacts with deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge and life—threatening wins. in spite of the huge evacuation of the state, there are many in florida, like vince, who want to stay in their homes with their belongings right through the hurricane. what's out of your hands, out of mother nature's hands, you can't control. what you can control is boarding up, protecting it, having water and generators, having gas.

making sure there are no big trees right next to your house. you think you're going to be ok? i think so, yes. i'm not scared. i know what is going to happen. why do you have to be scared? don't be scared. but thousands don't want to risk gambling with nature. they‘ re anxious, though, about the city they will emerge out into once irma has passed. we can speak now to the british ex pats we can speak now to the british expats who has lived on the british virgin islands for 27 years.|j expats who has lived on the british virgin islands for 27 years. i have been out on the road is the last couple of days. the immediate impact after the hurricane, you couldn't go very far. all the roads were blocked with debris. 0ver very far. all the roads were blocked with debris. over the last day most

of the major roads, including the road to the airport had been cleared but you can get by. one of my tasks yesterday was helping the community where i live up in the hills to clear road so that people could come and go, try to get supplies, try and get fuel. we heard there from laura bicker at the airport were the royal engineers are trying to make sure that planes can get in. i guess you're that planes can get in. i guess you' re pretty that planes can get in. i guess you're pretty dependent on that air traffic. we are. we have the ability to come in by boat but that takes a lot longer. for the majority of people who need to evacuate, air travel is really the only option. i took my own daughter to the airport this morning and managed to get a ride, but there are a lot of people who need to get out with small children who at the moment are unable to organise flights. you have

been living there for some time. how does this compare to what you have seenin does this compare to what you have seen in the past? had never seen anything like this. talking to people in the aftermath, in some hurricanes in the past may be won two people will have lost their roof, now you are lucky to meet someone who still has the roof. it is just the sheer destruction that came from this particular hurricane. there were some people on the flight safety, i think it is an american group that was at the airport this morning, and they do a lot of relief flights around the region and the response was that the bdi at the moment was similar to haiti when they had the earthquake. edwards childs, thank you forjoining us here on the bbc. the most powerful earthquake to hit mexico in almost a century has killed at least 61 people. more than half of the victims were in the southern state of wahaca. i spoke to pressia arifin—cabo,

deputy representative of unicef mexico about the immediate challenges they are facing. the biggest challenges so far here is not really the destruction, but in particularfor the is not really the destruction, but in particular for the children and women it is the trauma and the fear that the earthquake will come back and that they don't feel safe in their homes. just here we have visited some shelters and you could see from the children that they are really stressed. the space is cramped, it is hot. there are no play areas for them. the municipality has requested from unicef that we can help with social support for these children and also some school materials because they would like the children to come back to school on monday. they need

drinking water, blankets, mosquito nets in these areas where dengue fever is quite prevalent. there are schools and hospitals that were badly affected. some homes were destroyed, but the communities are still going back to their homes, but they go back to the shelter at night because of the fear. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. manchester united stays at the top of the premier league despite being held to a draw at stoke. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: hurricane anna mayes pummelling the northern coast of cuba, lashing towns and villages in its path with strong winds and heavy rain. the hurricane is also beginning to

batter florida. the governor there says the south—east is already experiencing tropical storm cindy swings —— tropical storm cindy is winds. jamie, it is looking pretty ominous here in naples, florida. we are in naples, have very quiet highway behind me, just a few cars, probably the last cars to get of nipples. it certainly does look like people have heeded the warnings. the governor said that staying here would be almost like suicide because of the storm surge which is predicted to be maybe 15 feet high, and we are only standing two or three feet above sea level. 0ver there you can see it is still looking fairly bright. that is away from hurricane armour, but we

are starting to see more and more of these ominous clouds coming through. we have experienced some heavy showers and the building breeze. it is still some time before the eye, according to the hurricane centre, will quite literally slam into this pa rt will quite literally slam into this part of the coastline. that is not for another 12 or 18 hours, and we will be hanging around here for a very long because it is dangerous. we have seen a lot of police about. we have seen a lot of police about. we spoke to a police officer who is worried about this region being inundated. he is concerned about his own property. you are on the west side, miami on the other side of the state. how certain can people be where the storm will hit? there has been a bit of a trend shift for the eye to impact the west coast of

florida, so from naples after fort myers and into tampa. just a couple of days ago it looked like pi was going to make landfall right in the heart of the everglades, right at the southern tip of the coastline. hours before that it looked more like miami. because the storm is very wide, the effects will be felt right across the state. however, it is the eye and immediately round the eye we re we is the eye and immediately round the eye were we have the worst of the weather. at this stage it looked as if naples is in the firing line. take care. we will get some more reaction now. major richard rand is from the north miami beach police department and hejoins me live via webcam. what is the latest to our hearing? we arejust

what is the latest to our hearing? we are just starting to get hit with some of the outer bands. we do have some of the outer bands. we do have some power outages now and we are very busy handling calls from the community. as far as that community is concerned, how many of them have stayed put? i would say probably about 80% of our community here in north miami beach, we are a city five miles wide with 50,000 people, but a lot of people have evacuated. so, as to try to work out what the storm is going to do, what are your priorities? what does the planning consist of at this point? we need help with the community. they need to stay hunkered down in their homes. 0nce to stay hunkered down in their homes. once the winds are sustained

at 40 homes. once the winds are sustained at a0 miles and are, they have to seek cover. we will get out and survey the damage is as we can possibly get out there. and we take the steps accordingly. what sort of equipment do you have at your disposalfor equipment do you have at your disposal for that stage of the process ? disposal for that stage of the process? we work closely with other police department in our area and we share a large resource of equipment, front loaders, trucks to remove large to breed. we also have a military vehicle used to go into flooded areas, areas that are underwater, to check for people that are stuck somewhere. how does this compare to previous taunt you have experienced? in may 21 years i have gone through two other storms. this is pretty bad. but you are prepared. we are 100% prepared. we have been preparing for a couple of days prior

to the storm. 0ur emergency operations centre is manned 2a hours a day throughout the whole storm. we have a logistics team, traffic team, security team. we have multiple officers on the road when the weather permits and we have a plan for what happens after the storm passes. the best of luck. thank you for joining passes. the best of luck. thank you forjoining us. jess creighton has all the sport. we start with football — manchester united remain top of the english premier league despite a drawing 2—2 at stoke city. united went one nil down through a goal by stoke's eric maxim choupo—moting. goals from marcus rashford and romelu lukaku put united 2—1 up. butjose mourinho's men were unable to hold onto the lead and choupo—moting scored his second. iam not i am not satisfied with the point because i think we were the team that tried to win, the team that was

closer to winning, the team that tried in the last 20 minutes to win the match. but i have to say that it isa the match. but i have to say that it is a result that i accept. 0ne team tried to win, one team tried to get the point. manchester city thrashed 10—man liverpool 5—0 at the etihad. the turning point in this match came in the first half. sadio mane sent off for a high footed challenge which caught the face of city keeper ederson, who went off on a stretcher. pep guardiola's men took full advantage. germany's leroy sane scored two when he came on for brazil's gabriel jesus — who had also scored two. sergio aguero had opened the scoring. managerjurgen klopp really wasn't happy with that mane red card. he did not see the goalkeeper for one second. the ball was i, he was running, he tried to catch the ball. that was it. unlucky. for me it was

an accident, nothing else. it is not whatever you wanted to say about it. the main information... would ever we say it will not change it. it had a big influence on the football. here are the rest of today's premier league results. there were big wins for the north london clubs arsenal and tottenham. champions chelsea won at leicester. in spain's la liga barcalona are currently 3—0 up against city rivals espanyol. barca's lionel messi is wrecking havoc, he's got his hattrick. into the final quarter of an hour of this match. 0nto cricket and england have won the series against west indies, beating them convincingly in the third and final test at lord's in london. the day after claiming his 500th test wicket, james anderson followed it with career—best figures of 7 for a2, as the tourists were bowled out for 177. england then needed 107 to win, which they got with nine wickets to spare, to win the series 2—1.

iam i am thusly disappointed to be beaten at lord's. but overall i really proud of the guys. we copped a lot of criticism after edgbaston and to rally back, put up a good finale in this last test match at lord's was commendable. i have seen a lot of positives from this group. i have seen a lot of fight that we haven't seen in west indies cricket for a long time. hopefully we can keep digging in good performances. fantastic week. the lads at the back showing great composure to get across the line as they did, they played with the great temple. britain's chris froome is on the verge of being crowned the champion of a second grand tour this year. he leads the vuelta a espana going into sunday's largely processional final stage.

barring any major accidents froome, who won the tour de france injuly, will win the overall race when it ends in madrid on sunday. that will make him only third man to win the vuelta and the tour in the same year. the women's final at the us open just about to get underway. it's an all american affair with madison keys taking on sloane stephens. elsewhere, the top seeded pair ofjamie murray and martina hingis have won the mixed doubles title. they beat the pairing of chan hao—ching and michael venus to win the championship at flushing meadow. we are in the opening stages of that women's final, it is currently going with surf, it is 1—1. that's all sport for now. archaeologists in egypt say they have discovered the tomb of a goldsmith that's more than 3,000 years old. 0ur middle east editor, alan johnston, has more. staring out of the past, remains from the world of ancient egypt. they lay here in the darkness, deep beneath the banks of the river nile for

well over 3,000 years. now, they are emerging from their grave. every detail of their surroundings is being examined. and slowly, the story of this burial place and it's dead is becoming clearer. it's believed that this was the tomb of a goldsmith, and we even find an image of this man captured in the sculpture. he sits beside his wife, who is closed in traditional headwear, and dress. that brings us to the end of the programme. thanks for watching us here on bbc news. thanks forjoining me. it has been a day of mixed weather fortunes, and i

don't mean across the british isles, imean in don't mean across the british isles, i mean in any one location. whilst that low pressure has been the dominant driving feature of weather, we have quite out of shower activity surged along by an noticeable 0a north—westerly winds across the british isles. lurking in the wings is sunday's. a lot of showers, and some thunderstorms which were really quite heavy. they are drifting towards the south and east. a little build—up of pressure in the first pa rt build—up of pressure in the first part of the night will kill off some of those showers. underneath the clearing skies, in some of the eastern parts, they may end up having a cool night, especially in the countryside. in east anglia we could get down to four or 5 degrees. the temperatures will start to rise as this area of cloud and rain makes itself known across scotland and northern ireland. in the opposite corner of the british isles it will

bea corner of the british isles it will be a bright and upstart, a bit cool, but a lot of dry weather arrived. comment further west —— coming further west, the cloud will start to fill in. this is a set of weather fronts bringing the continuous rain as that whole bite of weather boosts its way towards the east, it will be replaced by a raft of showers rattling their way in on an noticeable winds across northern ireland is an increasingly across mainland scotland. further cited as the tail end of the weather front which from the north midlands site which from the north midlands site which really want to have an awful lot about it. there will be a spell of wet weather, but it will take time until it gets into the south—east, later on in the afternoon, but once that gets through low—pressure the main feature with a lot of isobars here. gusts around 60 miles an hour.

monday is going to be a blustery, showery sort of day in all parts of the british isles, with something a bit quieter as we get into tuesday, with more cloud and rain later in the west. feature, this is bbc world news, the headlines: the most powerful storm to hit cuba in more than 80 years is moving slowly along the island's north coast, causing floods and widespread damage. the government has extended its alert to more provinces, including the capital havana. the hurricane is also beginning to batter the us state of florida. the governor there says the southeast is already experiencing tropical storm force winds. 6.3 million people have been ordered to leave their homes. a storm surge as high as some houses is now expected along sections of the coast. mexico has declared a day of national mourning after the most deadly earthquake its experienced in 80 years kills more in 80 years kills more than 60 people. the search for survivors trapped in the rubble is continuing. as thousands of rohingya muslims

continue to flee myanmar, amnesty international says it has evidence that landmines have been planted along the border with bangladesh.