this is bbc news. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: irma's impact is already being felt in florida. over six million have been ordered to leave their homes. millions of floridians will see major hurricane impacts with deadly, deadly storm surge and life—threatening wins. the death toll rises to 65 in mexico as emergency workers continue to hunt for survivors after thursday's earthquake destroyed thousands of homes. and an emotional night as manchester arena re—opens with a benefit concert for victims of the terrorist attack which claimed 22 lives. hello and welcome to bbc news.

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 maximum alert to more provinces, as well as havana. fierce winds from hurricane irma have ripped off rooftops, uprooted trees and torn down power lines. one million people, nearly a tenth of cuba's population, have been evacuated. our correspondent will grant is in havana with the latest on the situation. cubans had hoped they might avoid the worst of the hurricane. they had no such luck. with the full force of a category 5 storm, the hurricane tore

through the island's northern shore. the storm surge almost completely engulfing several small fishing villages. electricity and communication links are out across swathes of the country. some communities along the coast are wondering how they will ever rebuild, others are bracing themselves for irma's impact. even in the big cities, people are getting nervous. translation: i'm really worried. my home is not in a good state so i hope the hurricane stays away and moves out to sea. translation: it is one of the bigger storms we have ever seen so we have to get ready. as hurricane irma rumbles along 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 are evacuated here, they're just hoping they still have homes to return to. cuba was in the middle of a tourism boom when the storm struck

and thousands of holidaymakers found themselves suddenly trapped in the biggest hurricane to hit cuba in 80 years. beyond those who've had the holidays ruined, this could also cut short cuba's efforts to rebuild its crippled economy. tourism has been the main economic motor of the island recently, this could set them back for many months. on the line is dave oakley, who's on holiday in the coastal resort varadero in cuba. thanks forjoining us, you're on holiday from the uk, what can you see of the outside, what you know to be going on outside? at the moment i can't see anything, it is pitch black night, it is absolutely howling gales outside. before it went dark we saw palm trees snapped in half, we saw tiles ripped off the

ceiling of the hotel that we are in. we've currently got a family on the other side of the corridor because the wind is that bad because the winds are shaking and they feel the windows are going to smash in. we've been told people have been told to sleep in the corridor of the hotel, because it is safer in the corridor than in the bedrooms. at the moment it is horrendous. you paint a very worrying picture. you have been relocated once already, is that right? we went to the island of katoatau, a low—lying area to the east of cuba and on thursday we were moved from kate coco to varadero,

where we spent eight hours on the coach being told we were going to be safe. we were told we were going out of the area of the storm. eight hours further up north. what have you been told about what your arrangements are over the next day or two? basically we had a meeting at 10am or two? basically we had a meeting atioam ourtime, or two? basically we had a meeting at 10am our time, saying the hotel is currently locked down. we are to go to our rooms and stay in them until we hear otherwise from the hotel representatives or the thomas cook representatives. in that time... it is absolutely worrying the extent of the wind and rain and

everything that we are experiencing at the moment. we've got a statement from thomas cook, which i will read at the end, but how worried are you for your safety and those people around you 7 for your safety and those people around you? we are very worried. we spoke to our commerce cook representative on tuesday when we realised what was happening and the fa ct we realised what was happening and the fact we were going to get hit, stating we wanted to repatriate back to the uk as a matter of urgency —— thomas cook. for our safety and for eve ryo ne thomas cook. for our safety and for everyone else's. we were told by our local representative that thomas cook wouldn't be flying us back to the uk, they've never done it before and wouldn't be doing it now. thomas cook really don't care about the customers. the only statement we are getting from them is they are following the advice they were given. that would have been the same

advice british airways were given and the same advice burgeoning land we re and the same advice burgeoning land were given and that would have been to stay and sit it out and watch because it was a hurricane watch at that point, but both british airways and virgin rescued their clients and took them back to the safety of the uk. thomas cook wanted to leave us out here because it wouldn't have been cost—effective to fly us back. they flew a plane through of holidaymakers onto an island on wednesday afternoon knowing they would have to move them to safety on thursday morning. -- plane full of. dave oakley, on holiday in cuba, thanks forjoining us. in a statement, thomas cook says while the region is on lockdown, all customers have now been moved to hotels that were built to withstand hurricane strength winds and rain. the company also says there'll be an additional 21 members of their special assistance team flying to cuba over the next 2a

hours to offer further support. they've asked customers to bear with them as they do all that they can to keep customers safe, comfortable and as well—informed as possible. there's also been widespread damage in the british virgin islands. laura bicker is in tortola. well, it's five people died here in the british virgin islands and you can see the devastation brought by hurricane irma. as we flew in we saw homes that looked like they've been blasted away by the hurricane. they liked tattered and in ruins and scattered across the island, as do boats —— they lie. you can see the effect of a 20 foot storm surge. there's boats scattered all across the island and when they've been moored together they've obviously crashed into one another and they're

now in pieces. there is a massive effort now under way after criticism here of the british government's response to this crisis. i've been speaking to the royal engineers, who are here. they've been repairing this runway, that's been theirfirst priority. and the reason for that is they need to get aid in and people out. so now that they've done that they say they can try to re—establish communications. when it comes to other problems on the island, there have been reports of looting, especially in the east side of the island. now, i spoke to the deputy governor, he said he'd get things back under control but there is an appeal for calm and law and order to prevail. very difficult conditions for people to really deal with the aftermath of hurricane irma because they're all so worried about hurricane jose, which is because they're all so worried about hurricanejose, which is on its way. the latest forecasts say that is skirting the island and heading north rather than being a direct

impact, so that may bring some relief as they try to continue the recovery efforts. in the united states, southern parts of florida are already beginning to feel the effects of irma. governor rick scott said the southeast was already experiencing tropical storm force winds and that thousands of people were without electricity. the bbc‘s aleem maqbool is in miami and sent this report. even so many miles out to sea, hurricane irma is now making her presence felt on the american mainland. 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, they say it's backed up to atlanta.

we said, we have waited too late to leave. so we stayed. i mean, we left everything, you know. our furniture. our apartment. 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 the hurricane and its massive cloud mass, all on a projected course for florida. this is a deadly storm and our state has never seen this is a deadly storm and our state has never seen any this is a deadly storm and our state has never seen any anything like it. may ina has never seen any anything like it. may in a florida evans will see major impacts with deadly, deadly storm surge and life—threatening winds. —— floridians. in spite of the ominous warnings,

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. down the road, christina, who says she is staying put. i don't care. i know what's going to happen will happen, why do you have to 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. aleem maqbool, bbc news, miami, florida. on the line is barbie wilson, at guy gertie near key west. she's decided to stay put and go against the evacuation advice. are things

getting worse at the moment? right now it has picked up in the last hour. it is probably 60 to 70 with gusts to 90 so there have been tornados reported between us and the seven mile bridge, which is 50 miles up seven mile bridge, which is 50 miles up the road. the trees are starting to go down. the wind is coming from the north so key west is going to get flooded first so we will keep an eye on that from where we are. we've got three generators. the governor

has said to get out, why have you decided to stay? we decided to stay for several reasons and i wish the decision was easy but it really wasn't. we are in a new house that wasn't. we are in a new house that was built after hurricane andrew. it was built after hurricane andrew. it was built after hurricane andrew. it was built to withstand 175 mph winds. was built to withstand175 mph winds. it is ten feet up in the air. we have three generators, £2000 of ice for the fishing business —— 2000 lb. and three freezers full of food so we thought we would be well prepared in the house, we felt we could have been ready safe. at the beginning we were in the mid of the cone and we thought that would change, we would wait. the logjam started with the evacuation and when they evacuated miami and fort fort

lauderdale, the logjam got worse and there were horror stories and we have five pets we would have to take with them, three dogs and two cats. that's not something we wanted to do and we felt we could stay here and possibly still be safe. if you look up possibly still be safe. if you look up and down the street, how many people would you say have stayed put? i spoke to the mail yesterday, he said 25% of the us population actually stayed —— i spoke to the mayor. today they open some of the schools locally to use as shelter for those who can get out or still needed a safe place to go —— they opened. barbie wilson near key west, we very much appreciate your input this evening. stay safe. the authorities in mexico said people have been killed in the

earthquake. it flattened thousands of houses and buildings in some of the country's poorest states. the search is focused where most of the dead were found —— found. 24 2a hours after the earthquake, the rescue operations are still under way because one person is still missing here in yu—chi—tan. this was the most affected place by the most powerful earthquake to hit the country in almost a century. it was also the biggest experience anywhere this year. a few seconds were enough to leave behind a trail of destruction and reduced parts of the city to rubble. this is a tragedy in

one of the poorest parts of mexico and many people here are not only grieving over the death of their relatives of air friends, their neighbours, but they are also deeply distressed by the destruction of their hometown and concern about their hometown and concern about their immediate future. they simply do not know where they will live. still to come this hour, as thousands of rohingya muslims continue to flee myanmar, amnesty international says it has evidence that landmines have been planted a longer border with bangladesh. —— along the border. 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 latest headlines: hurricane irma is 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 the us state of florida. the governor there says the southeast is already experiencing tropical storm force winds. rohingya insurgents in myanmar have declared a month—long ceasefire — from sunday — so that aid groups can help to ease a growing humanitarian crisis. large numbers of rohingya muslims have fled to neighbouring bangladesh because of fighting between the militants and police in myanmar. that ongoing violence has left hundreds of thousands of people hungry and traumatised. justin rowlatt reports on their continuing plight — from teknaf — close to the border. they fled persecution and now they are desperate, fighting just for a bag of rice. many refugees arrive with nothing. well—meaning bangladeshis arrive in trucks to hand out food but the refugees need much more than this. yesterday, we met rashida. she is nine months pregnant.

her baby is due any day. like most of the refugees, she says she escaped myanmar after the radical buddhists attacked her village. translation: they came at 2am. they set fire to our houses and started shooting. that's when we fled. i walked for seven days to get here. it has been so hard but we had to escape. guards moved her and herfamily onto some land but there isn't room for everyone. tempers were high. today we tried to find her to get some help. but there was no sign of rashida and herfamily. after we left, the owner

of this area told them, "if you want to stay here, you have to give money otherwise you have to go away." but how do you find someone in amongst all this chaos? as night falls, it begins to rain. beside the road is a family who crossed the border today. their baby girl is nine days old. she was born in the jungle on the way here. they too have nowhere to stay. if there is one thing, there is no shortage of here, it is misery. this mother and her baby are on their way to hospital. they will get some care tonight. rahida and tens of thousands of others will not be so lucky. thousands of people have been attending a benefit concert

at manchester arena here in england. it's the venue's first event since a suicide bomber killed 22 people in the foyer in may. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson reports. manchester arena, back, open for business. there is heightened security with armed police and after the show, a cordon will be in place around the arena. but that wasn't stopping those going in from having fun. even if many were experiencing mixed emotions. obviously there is, like, a little bit of scaredness but not as much as excitement. it's the over—riding emotion of hope, just to show that the event's open again and what the terrorist did won't overcome us. we just want to come back to the opening and show that nothing's going to stop people from coming here. we're manchester and we're proud. and it's going to be a challenging evening for this family who bought tickets for tonight despite having been in the foyer when the terrorist bomb went off.

scary, nervous, but we're going to enjoy it. we are here for the 22 people what died, we've got to make memories. they can't make memories any more, can they? no. inside, the first people to sit in these seats since the bomb exploded in may. before the concert, greater manchester's mayor read the names of the 22 victims. saffie rose, of megan, of courtney and philip, of wendy. and then the poet tony walsh started proceedings. always remember, never forget. to make sure that happens, the proceeds from tonight will go towards a permanent memorial for those who died. tennis — and america's sloane stephens has won the us open in new york. she beat madison keys in straight sets — to pick up herfirst grand slam title. the bbc tim allman has more. there are comebacks and then there

are comebacks. six weeks ago, sloane stephens was 957 from the world rankings. she had a year out a foot injury. now she is the us open champion and grandslam winnerfor the first time. but in truth, it wasn't all that much of a competition. her opponent, fellow american madison keys, never really got started. a series of unforced errors of helping sloane stephens to an early lead. the nerves were perhaps understandable. neither player had reached a final before. their combined ranking the lowest in the us open final since rankings we re the us open final since rankings were introduced. either way, the us open final since rankings were introduced. eitherway, sloane stephens took the first set 6—3. she did occasionally have to work for

it, reducing the flashes of brilliance her opponent had no a nswer brilliance her opponent had no answer for. brilliance her opponent had no answerfor. and brilliance her opponent had no answer for. and to brilliance her opponent had no answerfor. and to be fair, madison keys did also set show some of the form of that got her to this final but all the unforced errors meant it was too little, too late. applause the second set was a was a walkover. sloane stephens winning in 6—1. she is the first american woman who isn't a member of the williams family to win a major title in 15 yea rs. family to win a major title in 15 years. now she has won one, who knows. we will be back shortly with the headlines. hello once again.

thanks forjoining me. it has been a day of mixed weather fortunes and i don't mean across the british isles, i mean in any one location. while the low pressure has been the dominant driving feature and we have had a bit of shower activity urged along by a noticeable north—north—westerly wind across the british isles. lurking in the wings, that is sunday's weather. a lot of showers and thunderstorms, quite heavy, drifting their way towards the south and east. a little build of pressure just in the first part of the night will tend to kill off some of the showers. some eastern parts were i think skies will stay clearest for the longest may have cool night. we will be back up to 12 degrees and a glorious start of a new day. further west, close to the weather

front, more in the way of cloud. maybe the odd showery burst ahead of them main event, trailing its way down across the irish sea. ahead of it, a bit of cloud and rain across the greater part of scotland. the front will have got through northern ireland in the first part of the day and it is heading further east. he was a bit of advice. many, many thousands do, both crack on. because the rain will eventually catch up with you. if you linger on the course too long, here it comes. eventually getting across the pennines, the early part of the afternoon. further south, pennines, the early part of the afternoon. furthersouth, it stays dry but increasingly cloudy across the greater part of east anglia and the greater part of east anglia and the south—east. following on behind the south—east. following on behind the weather front, brightness coming into wales and the south—west but a great raft of showers for the greater part of scotland, northern ireland. wherever you're watching your premier league football for the afternoon on sunday, be prepared for afternoon on sunday, be prepared for a little bit of rain at the very

least falling from the skies. eventually the weather front push is on its way over towards the north sea. following on behind some very tight isobars here. especially through south wales, the west country and the south—west for a time. the first part of monday, 80— 60 mph gusts on what will be a blustery day. if you stay dry, you will have done very well indeed. does it last? thankfully not. the low pressure filled in and incomes and other rich of high pressure. i think we will see new fronts coming in from the atlantic on wednesday. make the best of tuesday. this is bbc news, the headlines: the most powerful storm to hit cuba in more than 80 years is moving slowly away from the island after causing floods and widespread damage. it's likely to be several more hours

until storm force winds subside on the western end of the island. more than a million people have been moved to safety. the hurricane is heading to the us state of florida. the governor there says the southeast is already experiencing tropical storm force winds. water levels have already begun to rise, forecasters estimate a storm surge of five to eight feet. more than six million people have been ordered to leave their homes. in mexico, recovery teams say at least 65 people were killed in thursday‘s powerful earthquake. one rescue team co—ordinator said it was unlikely that any more survivors would be found. the 8.1—magnitude quake flattened thousands of buildings archeologists in egypt say they've discovered the tomb of a goldsmith