hello. this is breakfast with ben thompson and rachel burden. florida starts to the feel the force of hurricane irma. as the huge storm approaches, residents are urged to go to emergency shelters. millions of floridians will see major hurricane impacts, with deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge and life—threatening wind. in cuba there's been widespread damage but so far no reports of any fatalities. a million people had been evacuated. good morning. it's sunday 10th september. also ahead: manchester arena reopens amid tight security three months after the terror attack. it's the overriding emotion of hope just to show that the event's opening again, and what the terrorists did won't overcome us. in sport, captainjoe root calls on his england team to do something

special in the ashes this winter, after wrapping up a series win over west indies. and here in newcastle, final preparations are under way for the 36 great north run. around 57,000 people will be crossing the start line for the world's largest marathon in just line for the world's largest marathon injust a line for the world's largest marathon in just a few hours. and louise has the weather. good morning. in north— west, south— east split this sunday with heavy rain and strong winds in north west england gradually drifting south and east. but it should stay dry in daylight hours for most of south and eastern england. good morning. first, our main story. irma has intensified into a category four hurricane as it approaches southern florida. low lying islands in the area are already being battered by high winds and storm surges. florida's governor has warned irma will be deadly and has urged residents who haven't yet evacuated to head to emergency shelters.

there was widespread destruction in cuba, where a million people were evacuated. irma is expected to make landfall in florida in the next few hours. 0ur north america correspondent, jane 0'brien, reports from miami. the west coast was supposed to be the safer part of florida as the east prepared to bear the brunt of hurricane irma. but now cities like tampa and naples are in the path of a category four hurricane. tampa has not seen anything like this since 1921 and is ill—prepared for such a storm. at fort myers, thousands of people crowded into a sports stadium in a last—minute dash to find somewhere safe. i think we are going to be staying here for two nights, maybe three. they really don't know where the storm is going to go, so we have no way of knowing. we are waiting for it to start and end. irma could shift course again. hurricanes are notorious

for sudden wobbles. but the giant system is already too close to make much difference. this is a deadly, major storm and our state has never seen anything like it. millions of floridians will see major hurricane impacts with deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge. meanwhile, the low—lying keys were being menaced with a 15 foot storm surge as it moved relentlessly towards the mainland. tornado watchers were also in place. in miami there was a collective sigh of relief. the city looks likely to escape the deadly cone. but hurricane force winds are still expected through sunday. an estimated 75,000 people are now thought to be taking refuge in shelters. 0ver six million have been asked to leave their homes in the biggest evacuation in the history of florida. the entire state is expected to suffer. the only question now is how much. jane 0'brien, bbc news, miami.

the uk government is deploying extra troops to help the relief effort in the caribbean. engineers have now completed work on the airport runway in the british virgin islands to allow the first aid flight to land there. a command headquarters will also be set up. the defence secretary, michael fallon, says relief operations are now well under way. we have two to three flights going out each day bringing more troops and engineers, medical support, pallets of aid and additional civilian police and helicopters to make sure that the aid can be properly distributed around the island. the relief operation now is well under way. now the rest of this morning's main news. 111,000 people attended the re—opening of the manchester arena last night less than four months after 22 people were killed in a terrorist attack at the venue. noel gallagher, rick astley and peter kay were among the performers at the

we are manchester show. a bbc investigation has discovered that the bodies of more than 400 children could be buried in a mass grave close to an orphanage in lanarkshire. the children were residents of the smyllum care home which was run by catholic nuns until it closed in 1981. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. this is st mary's roman catholic cemetery in la narck. small and well—kept. but in the far corner, a mass grave. an investigation by the sunday post newspaper has found that at least 400 children are believed to be buried here. most died of natural causes like tb and pneumonia at a nearby care home run by catholic nuns. francis mccaw was staying at the home when he died in 1961. we are told by his brother

eddie that he is one of the children in the graves. 120,150... at least 120. smyllum care home closed in 1981. it had been open for 117 years. in 2004, the nuns who ran it acknowledged that some children who had died there had been buried at st mary's but say the records were too poor to say how many. those death records are key to finding out what happened. when we find out who died here, we can start asking where they have been buried. the more we ask this question, the more we are astonished to be told that there are virtually no burial records for any of the names on that list. the daughters of charity did not comment on our findings. they say the ongoing scottish child abuse enquiry was the most relevant forum in which to investigate the care home. rohingya muslim rebels in myanmar have declared a unilateral

one—month ceasefire, saying they want to ease the humanitarian crisis in the country. rebel attacks on security forces triggered a two—week military campaign, during which nearly 300,000 rohingyas fled to neighbouring bangladesh. soldiers have been accused of carrying out killings and burning villages. north korea's leader kimjong—un has attended a celebration to congratulate the scientists behind last week's powerful nuclear test. state television showed the leader greeting crowds and enjoying entertainment. the regime's nuclear activities have faced wide—spread condemnation. in egypt archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a royal goldsmith that they say is more than 3000 years old. it was found on the bank of the river nile in the city of luxor. among the items inside are the mummies of a woman and her two adult children, along with a statue. authorities say they hope the find will lead them to more ancient artefacts. were you watching last night?

the 15th series of strictly come dancing began last night, as the celebrity contestants were matched with their professional partners. new head judge shirley ballas also made her debut following len goodman's retirement. tributes were paid to the show‘s former host sir bruce forsyth who died in august at the age of 89. presenters tess daly and claudia winkleman said everyone missed him dearly. what a routine. he would have loved that. our thoughts are with his wife winnie, his children, grandchildren and great—grandchildren, and everyone, everyone here, we miss him. he was a legend to so many people but to us he was brucie and his hard work and dedication and professionalism helped to make the show what it is today. to put it in his own words, didn't he do well? as we were saying earlier, the

tributes that were paid to him and the work he did behind the scenes, that really revealed who he was and how generous as nature was. the sort of man we don't get to see normally. helping the professional dancers, the celebrities, the crew. he did his own warm—ups for the show so that people would see him dancing and singing. and it showed the old strictly from 15 years ago which looked like 30 years ago! didn't it date? the hairdos and the set and everything! but this is a defining pa rt everything! but this is a defining part of the year for you. yes, it is the start of autumn. but the heating is not on. that would be ridiculous. the hot water bottle has come out and the tides and the boots and the winter coat. no turning back now. thank you for being with us this morning. it is nine minutes past eight. we are going to return to our top story now. florida is bracing itself for the full force of irma, which has re—intensified

into a category four hurricane. it was category three. the storm has already hit cuba, where officials say it caused significant damage. 0ur correspondent, will grant, is in cuba's capital, havana. he's been assessing how the country has been coping. well, it has been an extraordinary experience being in cuba during hurricane irma and now it is reaching, it has reached havana. this is the bbc havana bureau and i'm speaking from inside because we simply can't go outside any longer. we're boarding in the building. miraculously we still have electricity but much of the rest of the building does not have that. as you can see behind me, the window is flexing with the winds that are buffeting the city and it is raining very, very hard out there. that, of course, is nothing in comparison to what cubans further east on the island have already experienced. these are just the last vestiges, really, of hurricane irma

as she moves out of cuban territory and into clear water between cuba and the united states before making landfall in florida. but we are still feeling the effects of the sheer magnitude of this storm. 0ut east along the northern coastal zone, whole villages were hit very hard by the storm. we understand that some were largely submerged under water. others have had roofs ripped off. scores of houses, and a lot of the roughly one million people who were evacuated from the area may have no homes to go to. for now, from here in bbc havana bureau, it feels really like the time to hunker down, batten down the hatches and wait out the remnants of this massive storm. reporting from havana in cuba where

the storm has now passed through. irma is one of the most powerful storms ever to be recorded caribbean islands. unicef says almost 20,000 children and young people have so far been affected. we can speak now to mike penrose who's the executive director of unicef uk. i know it is a busy time for you and you have been officially asked for help. how are you contributing? we have received a number of requests that we have emergency responders throughout the region and we have emergency stores in panama and barbados and we are mobilising them and putting people on the ground to help people as soon as possible. what kinds of things do you have any emergency stores? mainly water and sanitation equipment because that is normally the first thing you need in place after a hurricane. we also have emergency education kits to get

children back in school as soon as possible, and also child protection materials because there will be a lot of extremely vulnerable children and one of ourfirst lot of extremely vulnerable children and one of our first priorities is to identify them and get them to a place of safety and make sure they have got what they need. one thing we have been talking about over the last few days is the geographical nature of the bases hit by the hurricane. very often we are talking about tiny islands that can be quite inaccessible. absolutely. one of the most difficult things following a natural disaster, especially hurricanes, is getting access, because roads are normally cut. in island states the ports and airports are island states the ports and airports a re often island states the ports and airports are often devastated. we needed engineers in the british virgin islands to rebuild the runway to put the first planes in. are there some countries that are just better prepared for these events than others? yes, there are some but it is very difficult to prepare for a hurricane of this scale, as we saw with the cyclone in the philippines previously. when it starts getting

to 160 mph winds, it is very difficult to build buildings strong enough to resist everything. 0ne difficult to build buildings strong enough to resist everything. one of the most devastating bard is always the most devastating bard is always the storm surge. in florida they are talking about a 4.5 metre storm surge, and some of these will have hit very low lying islands. some are better prepared, but you always prepare is very difficult indeed. just looking at pictures of the british virgin islands and the destruction there. and in barbuda they think 95% of the buildings have been destroyed or partially destroyed and the island was effectively uninhabitable. this will ta ke yea rs effectively uninhabitable. this will take years to recover from, won't it? it will. it takes a very long time. that is why our first requirement is to find the vulnerable children and our second is to get them to places of safety and then to look at the medium—term requirements in terms of housing, and especially education, trying to get them back into school. experience shows us that recovering from something like this takes a

very long time. looking at aerial pictures barbuda now. we know that i learned is difficult to access. the infrastructure has almost been entirely destroyed. there has been a lot of talk about the frequency of these weather events, and how much climate change is a factor in all of that. one thing that is certain is that. one thing that is certain is that these islands seem to be particularly vulnerable. for the sake of the children that you are talking about protecting, does there need to be a wider and more long—term think about whether these communities can be and should be rebuilt given the risk they may be at? it is difficult to say whether they should be rebuilt. each island and each nation has its rights to self—determination. what we definitely need to do, especially in the face of increasing natural disasters and the increasing strength of natural disasters, is invest much more in disaster preparedness. at unicef we are putting much more money now into

preparing for these things because we know where they are going to happen, and we know which countries are vulnerable to this. does that mean more storm shelters and so on in these locations? it is storm shelters, preparedness information, letting people know what to do, training children how to behave in these situations, and also looking at coastal things that you can do in order to mitigate the effects of storm surges and major disasters. busy times for you and the unicef team. thank you for talking to us. we really appreciate it. now let's getan we really appreciate it. now let's get an update on how the storm is progressing. louise has the details. thank you. if you have been keeping a close eye on it, you will know that hurricane irma was downgraded to category three as she ravaged the north coast of cuba, but in the last few hours she has strengthened and we gained intensity to category four. still expected to arrive across the florida keys at around

midday our time. and then move its way steadily north. the real issues will be either that the store moves to the west coast of florida, and we have already seen the devastation of the damaging gusts of wind, but it is the storm surge, which will arrive after the storm clears through, when we start to see winds coming off shore and driving that wall of water across the very low lying areas. for the uk, it is an area of low pressure that is the story today. and you can see the winds around that low pressure around the north coast particularly. that is where we will see a rash of showers across scotland and northern ireland today. the misty start with patchy fog across is sangria and the south—east, but sunshine here. —— across east anglia. patchy rain across east anglia. patchy rain across wales and the north of england as well. for wales and northern ireland, the rain moves

through but you can see them piling m, through but you can see them piling in, the brighter colours denoting the intensity of the rain, and some of them could really mean business. for the great north run i think it will be cloudy with some patchy rain as we go through the latter stages of the morning. starting off fine and a decent field to things for running. frequent showers with squally winds up into scotland and northern ireland, some of them merging together with longer spells of rain and hail and thunder. england and wales, the rain will be light and patchy and will not get to east anglia and the south—east until after dark. behind it you might get some late afternoon brightness in south—west england and wales. disappointing in the rain, 12 to 14. up disappointing in the rain, 12 to 14. up to 18 or19 disappointing in the rain, 12 to 14. up to 18 or 19 further south. very windy in the bristol channel overnight with gales likely and a very unsettled start to the new working week. the low temperature sits up in the north and spiralling

around it, strong winds produce frequent showers and something quieterfrom frequent showers and something quieter from tuesday. thank you. less than four months on from the bomb attack that left 22 people dead, 14,000 people attended the reopening of the manchester arena last night. the we are manchester show included performances from the likes of noel gallagher, peter kay and rick astley. 0ur entertainment correspondent colin paterson was there. # so, sally can wait... manchester arena, united in song, headliner noel gallagher leading the 14,000 capacity crowd in don't look back in anger, which became an anthem of unity after the terror attack in may. crowd: don't look back in anger. don't look back in anger, i heard you say. earlier, outside the venue, it was all rather different. there was heightened security, with armed police and longer—than—usual searches on the way in.

that was not stopping those going from having fun, even if many were experiencing mixed emotions. obviously there is a little bit of scaredness but not as much as excitement. it's the overriding emotion of hope, just to show that the event's open again and what the terrorists did will not overcome us. this family had bought tickets for the show, despite having been in the foyer when the terrorist bomb went off. scary, nervous but we're here for the 22 people what died. we need to make memories. they can't make memories any more, can they? 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. megan, philip, wendy and elaine.

and then the poet tony walsh started proceedings. we should give something back. tonight, we will. always remember. never forget. the eclectic line—up also featured peter kay. and i was here on the opening night, 16th july 1995. i were working. for pounds 10p an hour. afterwards, the consensus was that it had been a very special night. buzzing. we came together... whata gig! i can't believe everyone's come together like this. absolutely incredible. theyjust made you proud to be mancunian. and as for the langridge family on their return to the arena? how was walking through the foyer? nerve—racking. it took your breath away a little bit. but we had to do it. we will be coming back with kids so we had to do it.

this is the first of many journeys back. this concert had two goals — to raise money for a permanent memorial for those who died, and also to show that manchester arena is open for business. both were achieved. colin patterson, bbc news, manchester. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. good morning. it is 22 minutes past eight. it's time now for a look at the newspapers. the producer steve levine is here to tell us what's caught his eye. we will look at the front pages first of all for you this morning. the daily star, with a story of brits who escaped from the hurricane in the caribbean. they were living on the island of toto le. and subject to the havoc and awful images coming out of the island as communication is re—established with parts of the caribbean, you really

get a sense of the damage, destruction and chaos caused by hurricane irma. it is now approaching the us state of florida. the front page of the observer, hurricane pictures, but the lead story is poorer families struggling because they say austerity measures are continuing to bite. an organisation has done a study, which suggests that of the 7 million low income households in britain, over 2 million will be more than £50 a week worse off by the end of the decade. they do say that some families will be better off but the group as a whole will be worse off because of benefit and tax changes, wages, housing costs and inflation. the front of the sunday telegraph, the plot to slash student loan rates. theresa may looking at cutting the interest rate on student loans and forcing universities into lowering tuition fees. that is in an effort

to win back young voters. we know in the general election, the labour policy to cut tuition fees entirely won over a lot of young voters but the tories suggesting they may look at how those universities are funded. and the times, tony blair talking about immigration. the man who the finger is pointed out for opening our borders particularly in the 19905 to workers from eastern europe. now saying it is time to get tougher on immigration and increase the rules surrounding people coming into the country. good morning. this story that you have picked out from the mail on sunday. parent5 glued to their mobile phones inviting children to self harm. we have spoken po5itively children to self harm. we have spoken positively about phone5 children to self harm. we have spoken positively about phones but this is negative. i notice it with younger parents in particular, the child is in the body trying to get attention and the parent is on the

phone. children go to school with poor communication skills because pa re nts a re poor communication skills because parents are stuck on the phone, looking at facebook whatever, and ignoring children and this is a 5hame. ignoring children and this is a shame. how do they make that connection with self harm? those are extreme cases of not getting attention. i saw a little boy in eu5ton ju5t attention. i saw a little boy in eu5ton just last week where the mother was on the phone and he was so angry mother was on the phone and he was so angry and try to get attention and went 5he so angry and try to get attention and went she eventually put the phone down, he pushed it across the floor and it broke. that is an extreme example. they are just craving attention. i think there is al5o craving attention. i think there is also a fascination with these things. i am guilty of this. they 5ee things. i am guilty of this. they see us things. i am guilty of this. they see us using our phones a lot. i have an 18—month—old and he co nsta ntly wa nts it have an 18—month—old and he constantly wants it because what is this thing that i have got all the time? they think that is the conduit to getting the attention and love of their parents. i think it is concerning when on the first day of school many children are not able to speak properly. and make eye contact. that isjust speak properly. and make eye contact. that is just terrible. speak properly. and make eye contact. that isjust terrible. and there is a connection to the story in the observer. a warning that

children should find their own way. they use the extra headline that if someone they use the extra headline that if someone is learning the beatles song, the moment they mastered that, we expect them to be concert pianists in one moment. what it 5ay5, pianists in one moment. what it says, which i completely endorse, some of the greatest creative moments, whether it is writing, music, inventions, they happen by accident. you have got to allow children the freedom to be them5elve5 children the freedom to be themselves and develop on their own. of course they need education and certain rules, but allowing them to think differently will get better re5ults. think differently will get better results. it is like the idea of allowing them to be bored. we co nsta ntly occu py our allowing them to be bored. we constantly occupy our children at home and at after—school activitie5, but actually they need to be just hanging around, which is kind of annoying as a parent. zoning out is very, very good. it is not a bad thing to go through that. and if you do think differently, further next

generation, that allows people... there are so many great stories. she i5a there are so many great stories. she is a children's author. so many great stories come from a normal everyday situation and looking at it from a great angle. i have long been afan of from a great angle. i have long been a fan of martin parr, who takes p i ctu res a fan of martin parr, who takes pictu res of a fan of martin parr, who takes pictures of the everyday and the normal. some people may know that he al5o normal. some people may know that he also did the new bbc ident5, which run before each programme. the cyclist5 run before each programme. the cyclists and the divers, that sort of thing. and he is giving away his photo book collection. it is fantastic because it is going to the tate. it will allow another generation to have access. some of the5e generation to have access. some of these photographs, and i will use this word, are very iconic. it is the opportunity. we are used to taking pictures with our phone that we are not that selective. some of the5e we are not that selective. some of these pictures, some from the 605, are catching a moment in time. it

5ay5 are catching a moment in time. it says they also go back to the beginning of photography in the 19805. -- beginning of photography in the 19805. —— the beginning of photography in the 19805. -- the 18805. beginning of photography in the 19805. —— the 18805. they look at time ina 19805. —— the 18805. they look at time in a different way. look at mickjagger here, time in a different way. look at mick jagger here, fashion time in a different way. look at mickjagger here, fashion statement, looking so young. and to have a huge collection acro55 looking so young. and to have a huge collection across many different photographers, it is their workbook. perhaps voters that we have never seen or many very famous perhaps voters that we have never seen or many very famous picture5. my seen or many very famous picture5. my brother is a photographer and i have seen some of the famous p i ctu res have seen some of the famous picture5 he has taken. you see one that you know. but when you look at the camera raw and you see the three before, that is fantastic. they are the most telling ones. martin had that strange i too find the everyday and at the time they are not very interesting. the thing about the tape is they look at ordinary things. there was one about holiday—makers, and you see the people in the picture and then you 5ee people in the picture and then you see the things behind them. vintage bu5e5, the cups that they are

drinking tea out. it makes you reminiscent your childhood! thank you very much. and by the way i love your shirt! good choice for sunday morning. i didn't know what to wear because of the colour of the sofa. you don't want to wear red. it is a lwa y5 you don't want to wear red. it is always an issue. and i know that you can't have straight lines! i have my daughters to thank because they sort out my fashion. they have done well. we could do with them. can i pull off that shirt? with a tie? maybe not. stay with us on breakfast. the headlines are up next. hello, this is breakfast with ben thompson and rachel burden. coming up before nine louise will have the weather. and we will also have the latest on the hurricane. but first, a summary of this morning's main news. irma has intensified into a category four hurricane as it approaches southern florida.

low lying islands in the area are already being battered by high winds and storm 5urge5. more than six million people have been told to evacuate and water levels are rising at the coast. florida's governor has warned that it will be ‘deadly‘ and president trump has urged people to seek shelter. this is a storm of enormous destructive power, and we ask everyone in the storm path to heed all instructions, get out of its way. government officials, i know you're working so hard, you never worked like this, and i appreciate your bravery. property is replaceable, but lives are not. safety has to come first. don't worry about it, just get out of its way. meanwhile cuba is counting the cost after the storm battered its north coast. the government says it caused significant damage and cut off power to large areas. more than a million cubans were evacuated and there are reports of villages being engulfed by storm 5urge5, with whole communities left homele55. 14,000 people attended the re—opening of the manchester arena last night —

less than four months after 22 people were killed in a terrorist attack at the venue. noel gallagher, rick a5tley and peter kay were among the performers at the "we are manchester" 5how. a bbc investigation has found more than 400 children could be buried in a mass grave, close to an orphanage in lanarkshire. the children — who mostly died from disease such a5 tb and pneumonia — had all been residents at the smyllum care home. it was run by catholic nun5 until it closed in 1981. it was previously thought closer to 150 children were buried at the site. north korea's leader kimjong—un has attended a celebration to congratulate the scientists behind last week's powerful nuclear test. state television showed the leader greeting crowds and enjoying the entertainment. the regime's nuclear activities have faced wide—spread condemnation. egyptian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a royal

gold5mith that they say is more than 3,000 years old. it was found on the bank of the river nile in the city of luxor. among the items inside are the mummie5 of a woman and her two adult children, along with a statue. authorities say they hope the find will lead them to more ancient artefact5. all of the sport now. we will start with cricket. england have wrapped up another series win, their second of the summer. good for them so far. joe root wa5 their second of the summer. good for them so far. joe root was happy yesterday but now he is turning his focu5 towards the ashes. theirform focu5 towards the ashes. their form was erratic, but australia's form has been erratic, so australia's form has been erratic, so it could be an interesting a5he5 test. i think it could go all the way to a fifth and deciding te5t i think it could go all the way to a fifth and deciding test match. you could say england have more of the quality at the moment, but away from

home, on australian wickets, they bowl pretty fast. joe root and alastair cook will be important. the rest of the batting line—up we are not sure about so it'll be very intriguing. good morning. england captainjoe root says his players have the opportunity to do something special in the ashes this winter after they wrapped up a 2—1series win over the west indies. james anderson completed an impressive summer with seven wicket5 in the windie5 second innings. it left england with a total of 107 to chase to win the third test, losing just one wicket in the process and whilst some questions remain over part5 of the batting line up — the result does give root optimism ahead of the tour to australia. we have plenty of time now to start planning and thinking even more than we have done before about the challenges that lie ahead. it is a great opportunity for this group of players to go do something special. if we continue to take the same approach and attitude that we have across the summer, we will have a really good chance. barring mishap, misfortune or a miracle, chris froome will win cycling's vuelta a espana, this afternoon and become only the third rider to win that

and the tour de france in the same year. the team sky rider extended his lead on the penultimate stage with his rivals struggling on the final climb. today's stage is largely a procession into madrid. it'll be the first time froome has won the vuelta and the first time any rider has done the rare double since the spanish tour was placed after the french one in the calendar in 1995. manchester city have drawn level on points with manchester united at the top of the premier league. city thrashed ten—man liverpool 5—0 while united dropped points at stoke city. patrick gearey rounds up yesterday's premier league action. seasons change fast. just ask meteorologist, mancunians, or managers. for all of the costs around their attacking, there are still groaned at the back. it looked

easy for sergio aguero to roll in the opening goal. the turning point was also the talking point. mane's challenge on the goalkeeper was seen to be reckless. the goalkeeper was patched up, liverpool were not. quite some scoreline and quite some statement for manchester city. there had been signs of promise for manchester united. it all seemed to be going to plan until romelu lukaku put them 2—1 up against stoke. not long later, the second time in the match, they forgot about this guy. the perfect start is over. n'golo kante a nose this pitch well, he covered most of it in the season he covered most of it in the season he won the league with them. he won a match on it yesterday with his new team. harry kane is an autumn bloomer. he has not scored for tottenham in august. that was his 100th for spurs. he later added 101 in an

impressive 3—0 victory over everton. danny welbeck scored a couple for arsenal. that is more than the cherries have managed in the league all season. it has all been slower to get going on the south coast. at this from pascal gross was bright‘s first premier league goal and it set up their first premier league goal and it set up theirfirst premier premier league goal and it set up their first premier league win. west brom on the wrong side of that bitter victory. patrick geary, brom on the wrong side of that bittervictory. patrick geary, bbc news. so confirmation of those results, elsewhere watford beat southampton 2—0 to go fourth in the table. later today burnley play crystal palace and swansea are at home to newcastle. aberdeen missed the chance to go top of the scottish premiership, as they were held to a goalless draw by hearts. hearts actually had the better of the chances at murrayfield but found the dons goalkeeper joe lewis and crossbar against them. aberdeen move level on points with celtic but behind them on goal difference. elsewhere motherwell beat kilmarnock for their third league win in a row. rangers were comfortable winners over dundee. and there were draws between ross county and partick thistle and stjohnstone

and hibernian. with serena williams out having just given birth to her first child, american tennis has found a new star after sloane stephens won the us open for her first grand slam title. the world number 83 thrashed fellow american madison keys in straight sets at flushing meadows. the win is all the more impressive give that stephens only recently returned from nearly a year out injured earlier this summer. test match special fans will be familiar with the name and unique voice and style of henry blow felt. —— of henry bloefeld. the commentator has called his final ball after 45 years with test match special. this is the moment he said goodbye for one last time. thank you all for listening. it's been wonderful to talk to you. you have all told me you will miss me, but i will miss you something

dreadful. i must try not to fall over as i hand over to the next commentator, who is ed smith. how lovely. applause applause a fantastic day for him. england captainjoe root said it would be strange listening to the radio without him and after soaking up the adulation from his colleagues, he was given a standing ovation on a special lap of honour of lords. he was even invited into the england dressing room afterwards as well. a very happy retirement to henry bloefeld. lovely story. great camouflage that outfit. what a brilliant career. incredible stuff, thanks very much. the world's biggest half—marathon gets underway in the north—east of england later this morning. 57,000 people are expected to take part in this years' great north run. 0ur reporter, alison freeman, is in newcastle this morning. what's it like there this morning? how our preparations coming along?

you can probably see around me, contrast to an hour ago. it is heaving. people is what this run is all about. people with their personal stories. let's have a quick chat to some people. i will start first with these three. you are sikhs in the city. we have done this run so many sikhs in the city. we have done this run so many times. this is my 33rd. this is my aunt's 34. and my uncle's 37. why do you keep coming back? -- this is my aunt's 34th and my uncle 37th. this is a fantastic race. my running career started here. god willing it will end here. thank you so willing it will end here. thank you so much, guys. good luck. why are you doing this and possibly one of the warmest costumes? for a bit of fun. who are you raising money for?

children with cancer. dogs trust. best of luck. what are you guys doing? we are raising money for cat rescue. we're here for good fun and great times with lovely people. have you done this before by any chance? we have, this is year number seven. we have, this is year number seven. we like to be unassuming. we've been cows, penguins, meerkats, but it is all about raising money for the issue. how long do you think you will be? we could be a while. we like to have a dance, hang out with the kids, it is all about having fun and having a great experience. the kids, it is all about having fun and having a great experiencelj slightly and having a great experience.” slightly more quietly dressed. a familiar sight to the north—east. tell me about why you do it every year. we lost somebody to breast cancer. i promised i would do this

until there is a cure. 0r cancer. i promised i would do this until there is a cure. or i cannot do any more. breast cancer research means a lot to me. every single one of these has a rose on with somebody‘s memory. it is very heavy, so somebody‘s memory. it is very heavy, soi somebody‘s memory. it is very heavy, so i might be quite slow today. what sort of time are you looking at because this is really heavy? probably around three and a half hours. it is very heavy. if you see me, cheer me on, please. chuckles what do you love about this race? i've done races all over the country. this is without doubt the greatest atmosphere you will ever get. a great run, an amazing event, the crowds in the north—east are absolutely brilliant. i must be honest, i've got to thank my wife for putting up with this. catherine, i love you loads. chuckles you know this course very well. you know there is a killer hill at the end. what is that like? it's not

normally that bad because you know there is not much left. you get around the corner, you think it is a little bit, but it is, like, a mile and a half and it takes ages to get to the end. but it is amazing because the crowds keep you going. pleasure to see you here again. hopefully everybody will be cheering you on. things will kick off in the next few hours, but as you can see everybody is arriving here for the world's biggest half marathon. things you do not see very often. good luck to everybody and everybody who is supporting because support is magnificent along the route. you can watch all the action at the great north run on bbc one from 9:30 this morning. pa rents a re parents are being forced to give up work in order to ensure their children can get to school. that's according to research from the disability charity, connect, which blames council budget cuts for poor transport for disabled children in some areas. the education secretary, justine greening, has told five live investigates there will be a review into the situation. the programme's presenter,

adrian goldberg, joins us now, along with christine anderson and her 15—year—old son, christopher, who has spina bifida. good morning. adrien, can we start with you? you've been looking into this. how widespread is the problem? the charity contact was getting such a volume of calls through its helpline from parents. they decided to commission a survey. more than 2500 to commission a survey. more than 250 0 pa re nts to commission a survey. more than 2500 parents got in touch. we are talking about a comprehensive survey. of that sample 48% said they either had to give up work altogether or reduce their hours just to get their kid and education, ta ke just to get their kid and education, take them to school. there is a significant issue here. anecdotally, pa rents of significant issue here. anecdotally, parents of many disabled children across the country say school

transport, which at one point was provided, was either being taken away from them altogether or it was being reassessed. so it was much less child friendly or less parent friendly in the way it was going to be delivered. this is what was happening with you, wasn't it? what was the situation a couple of years ago? his school is in morecambe, 35 miles from home. he had his own taxi which came. it was an accessible vehicle. he had that for two and a half years. it worked brilliantly. it was the success to being at school so far away. last september, they arrived the first day of term, 12 months ago, they arrived at the same escort, saying we haven't informed you but we will be collecting another child en route. you have not been told about this beforehand. how did that affect you

and your preparation for the day? and your confidence going into school? it was only when they came. we have not been forewarned. there wasn't much preparation we could do. we said we would give it a go and if we don't think it works we will do something about it later. you gave ita something about it later. you gave it a go. you did not feel it worked for you? it was the extra journey, the extra pressure to get up on time. it added extra stress, christine, i guess? hugely stressful. we have a difficult condition to manage. getting up in the morning is difficult anyway. the stress and pressure to get out to pick up other children, but the length of the journey, it was taking an hourand a length of the journey, it was taking an hour and a half. each way. just to get to school. ijust want asked

adrien how widespread this is. clearly this is a case of how it makes a huge difference. and it affects the school day as far as christopher is concerned. is this widespread? the evidence from contact suggests it is. many parents have had to reduce their hours or give work altogether as christine has, it shows you. one in four pa rents has, it shows you. one in four parents saying the journey, even when the transport is provided, is often so stressful for their child that it affects their education, their ability to learn, which is the purpose of going to school altogether. local authorities are under huge pressures. some people would say that it isn't unreasonable to make the taxi for two children. for your situation you felt it was too much. the crux of it is it is a small vehicle. 0n too much. the crux of it is it is a small vehicle. on paper it was a

nine seater vehicle. but in reality, with the wheelchair and equipment, it isa with the wheelchair and equipment, it is a very small area. we held a meeting and it came out that they had not risk assessed the vehicles they were not aware of the contained space. and then you took the drastic and major decision to give up work. it's difficult to work anyway. we are talking about medical appointments, many trips, we were planning for major surgery in november. work is difficult but i need that. i was only zero hours contract. —— iwas need that. i was only zero hours contract. —— i was on a zero hours contract. —— i was on a zero hours contract. giving up work wasn't an easy option because it was working for us. i knew two weeks in he had already been very poorly. the medical impact on him as well as stress was major. and i knew it was going to break down at school if i didn't do something. how do you feel about your mum taking you to school every day? i feel sorry it has had

to come to this when she could be enjoying herself at work. but in reality, from how it was, with the longer journeys, reality, from how it was, with the longerjourneys, i feel it is better having the shorterjourney and being on my own. any response from the local authority? one of the disturbing pieces of evidence was that more than half of councils were publishing misleading guidance about eligibility for transport. the department for education say they will now review the statutory guidance local councils issue so people are not confused about what is and what isn't eligible in terms of school transport for disabled children. his school going ok now? yes. are you enjoying it? yes. thank you all so much for coming in and talking to us. louise is now going to take a look

at the latest on hurricane irma. irma it is still a major, significant story. this is now a category —— category four hurricane again after weakening. it will push further north. damage again devastating gusts of wind. heavy rain. and a significant storm surge with the wind is coming off the shore. closer to home, with the wind is coming off the shore. closerto home, low with the wind is coming off the shore. closer to home, low pressure is the story across the uk. it'll be wet and windy into the far north—west in particular. some of the rain is quite significant here. further east, not a bad start. some mist and fog earlier, which has now lifted, and now sunshine in east anglia. it is likely to stay dry for much of the day in the south—east corner. cloud thickening this morning with showery outbreaks of

rain starting to push into the south west of england, wales, and into the north of england. for scotland, once the front clears, there will be a rash of showers, same for northern ireland, accompanied by blustery winds. it could be dry with the great north run to start with, but there is the potential for bits and pieces of rain as we move through the latter stages of the morning. this weather front will continue to push in, weakening all the time as it moves across south west england and wales. but the squally showers will be the real issue as we go through the rest of the afternoon. some heavy with hale, thunder, and blustery, gusty winds. trying to the south—east corner. the highest values will be 19 degrees. elsewhere, particularly in the showers, it will feel cool for the time of year. that's how we continue into monday. a spell of gales across the bristol channel during the early hours, then it will stay unsettled

for the start of our new working week with showers or longer spells of rain. plenty of showers around on monday. a glimmer of something quieterfor monday. a glimmer of something quieter for tuesday. thanks very much we will stay across the latest on irma on bbc news. it's been described by nasa as one of the most successful space missions of all time. for more than a decade, the cassini probe has beamed back some of the most detailed pictures of saturn ever seen. it's a mission that will change space exploration of the future. but later this week, cassini faces a dramatic and violent end when it's deliberately crashed into the planet. we'll discuss this in more detail in a moment, but first let's take a look at cassini in action. and liftoff of the cassini. it was

launched in 1997, a joint mission between nasa and the european space agency. it has spent the last 13 yea rs agency. it has spent the last 13 years exploring the saturn's system. from the atmosphere to the strange behaviour of its rings. now it is out of fuel. it is programmed to plunge into the planet, burning up as it dives... joining us now is presenter of the sky at night, maggie aderin—poccock — who's voice you just heard there. and the scientist leigh fletcher, who worked on the cassini mission. good morning. a pretty dramatic end. take us back a little bit. let's talk about the beginning. ground—breaking. talk about the beginning. ground-breaking. absolutely. this spacecraft has been in space for nearly 20 years. it has been humankind's first detailed exploration of the saturn system. we

are lucky to be part of the generation that has been the first to witness some of these incredible places. we are looking at pictures now. the technology involved with cassini is pretty basic compared to what we have now. it's quite old. it's been in space for 20 years. and there was at least ten years of development before that. yet it has done a fantastic things. it's really changed our understanding of the universe and everything.” changed our understanding of the universe and everything. i get caught up in the logistics of things like this. how is it still going? where does the power come from?m is testament to the engineers and mission planners who have helped us get this far. there have been teething problems. always the case. but the nuclear power could continue powering the spacecraft for a long time, but it is the fuel which is running out. we can't allow this big dirty spacecraft the effect the

moons of saturn. why can't it crashed into one of those? contamination. it was made on earth, it has flowing through space, and the fascinating thing about the moons is that there could be lifelong aqua. that has come from this cassini dummigan mission. we have been finding chemicals. —— there cassini mission. we don't want a ruined their pristine conditions. saturn is huge. 55 times the size in volume of the earth. it will burn up in the atmosphere? that's right. it brings a tear to my eye every time we see this. it is really sad. cassini's achievements. its original

mission was much more limited but it has gone on and on. explain some of the highlights it has found. we have discovered evidence for standing bodies of liquid, methane and methane lakes, actual sees you could put a lander into which could bob around on the titanium series. we have seen liquid spewing out of the planet. and saturn has been characterised by incredible storm systems and seasonal changes, just like on earth. we are in the last few days of it. we can see the spacecraft breaking up on screen. the spacecraft has done everything it was asked to do. and it will be fighting to send data back to earth as it is incinerating in the atmosphere of saturn. what next? is there a replacement? there is no replacement for cassini. it had 12

different instruments on board. most of the instrumentation there is now, i built instruments which go on spacecraft, and most of them we do now are leaner and meaner. we have a simple question in mind and we built it to look at that question. we have juno up there at the moment, giving us juno up there at the moment, giving us different kinds of information. we have rove rs us different kinds of information. we have rovers on mars. we will land an autonomous rover on mars, it will work out its own to rain. there are lots of exciting things happening. -- it will lots of exciting things happening. —— it will work out its own terrain, it won't be powered from earth. making these discoveries about life on other planets is amazing. we did not expect to get such findings from cassini. that has changed the game

plan. we are always looking for life, it is the holy grail, but we are now looking for life beyond our solar system. we have found moons like titan. it means we can have a whole new chemistry, from a planet like this. we're also looking at the potential of life alt there. it is giving usa potential of life alt there. it is giving us a broader spectrum of where new life is, which is exciting. what next? where should we be looking? cassini was one of its kind in terms of the scope of the mission. although this particular chapter is about to close, what if we had a mission like cassini that could orbit around neptune? i think thatis could orbit around neptune? i think that is the next big thing the space agency should be pushing towards, try and get a mission out of those

locations. we've been working on these missions for so long. i'm nervous about next weekend wear for the first time i won't be able to go to my computer and download data. that chapter of my life is over. we will be using this data for years to come. it'll be a treasure trove for future scientists to explore. for most of us we are looking towards the future and we are building on the future and we are building on the discoveries cassini has given us. the discoveries cassini has given us. your enthusiasm is amazing. thank you so much for coming in. the sky at night is on bbc four, tonight at 10pm. that's it from us today. dan and louise will be back tomorrow from six. when among other things, they'll be joined by the grandson of mahatma gandhi and the comedian, david baddiel. have a lovely weekend. goodbye. irma strengthens and is expected to make landfall in the next few hours. 0ver make landfall in the next few hours. over 6 million people have been forced to leave their homes. safety

has to come first. don't worry, just get out of its way. in cuba, there's been significant damage as winds of up to 150mph battered the country's north coast. this is the bbc havana bureau and i am speaking from inside because we simply cannot go outside any more. at least 25 people have died across the caribbean including five on the british virgin islands, where a major relief effort is under way. in mexico at least 90 people are now known to have been killed