this is bbc world news. i'm kasia madera. our top stories: trying to break the brexit deadlock. britain's teresa may strikes a conciliatory tone as she sets out her plans to move negotiations with the eu forward. it is up to leaders to set the tone and the tone i want to set is one of partnership and friendship. uncovering the horrors of mexico's earthquake. a family of 11 were killed when this church collapsed during a christening. the family was congregated here and the town came out to try and dig them out of the rubble, but all they recovered was bodies. puerto rico faces the aftermath of hurricane maria. tens of thousands are urged to evacuate as a major dam bursts. and the online minicab service uber, used by millions around the world, is banned in london. hello and welcome.

britain's prime minister has tried to inject new energy into the brexit talks, with a distinctly warmer tone in a key speech in italy. theresa may says she wants the uk to be the eu's strongest friend and partner and has called for a two—year transition deal after britain officially leaves the eu, saying the uk will pay its financial obligations. prominent figures elsewhere in the eu have praised her tone but asked for more detail. meanwhile, ratings agency moody's, has further downgraded britain's credit rating, saying the departure from the european union was creating economic uncertainty. theresa may choose to set out her plans in the city of florence, from where our

political editor laura keunssberg sent this report. waiting, waiting and waiting. it's months since the prime minister gave anything away on brexit. and if you're in a hurry to disentangle completely, you might just have to wait some more. she came to florence to confirm that for as long as two years after we're technically out, not that much might change. a period of implementation would be in our mutual interest and that is why i'm proposing that there should be such a period after the uk leaves the eu. clearly people, businesses and public services should only have to plan for one set of changes in the relationship between the uk and the eu. so during the implementation period, access to one another‘s markets should continue on current terms. and during that time we'll keep paying billions into the eu budget, but the transition won't be longer than two years under a so—called double—lock.

and at the heart of these arrangements there should be a clear double—lock. a guarantee that there will be a period of implementation, giving businesses and people alike the certainty that they will be able to prepare for the change and a guarantee that this implementation period will be time limited, giving everyone the certainty that this will not go on forever. but on the vital relationship between the eu and the uk after we leave, optimism but few more clues beyond ruling out copying someone else‘s deal. we can do so much better than this. let us not seek merely to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries, instead let us be creative as well as practical in designing an ambitious economic partnership which respects the freedoms and principles of the eu and the wishes of the british people. in this renaissance city,

theresa may has made no new blinding discoveries, instead she's admitted for some years much will stay the same. she's inching towards some of the compromises that brexit could require. but can the speech make any difference, unstick the eu talks? the eu chief negotiator used 140 characters to say — "thanks for the speech, but we shall see." but theresa may's political opponents claim it's still tory accounts that are really being settled here. this whole speech seemed to me the product of the internal negotiations of the tory party rather than negotiations with the eu. nor has her offer pleased those who cheered for brexit loudest of all. i would say it's been a good day for the political classes, a good day for westminster and two fingers up to 17.4 million people who voted brexit. no ifs, no buts.

and on the biggest question — how our histories will intertwine in the years and decades to come, relative silence, more doubts than clear answers. in a process so complex, so important, the prime minister seems to cast shadows wherever she stands. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, florence. three days after mexico's earthquake, and the death toll is now 286. nearly half of the deaths were in the capital, mexico city, but the epicentre was some 100 milometers to the south, in a rural part of the country. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool has travelled to the town of atzala, close to the epicentre, where eleven members of one family were killed during a christening. it is one of the most shocking stories of this national tragedy. a church less than four miles from the epicentre of the earthquake had been hosting the christening of a two—month—old baby girl. the ceremony was about to get under way, the family and intended godparents assembled,

when this house of god was violently shaken. lorenzo sanchez, assistant to the priest, had been beside the altar, paralysed when the ground was rocked. "the first movement happened, then it stopped", he says. "so we thought it was over, but then the rest came and i didn't "know what was falling from where. "i was totally surrounded by dust. "i didn't know what was happening". well, it is simply impossible to imagine the horrors of what happened in this church at the moment the earthquake struck and these massive chunks of the building came crashing to the ground. the family was congregated here, and the town came out to try and dig them out of the rubble, but all they recovered was bodies. this mobile phone footage was taken minutes after the earthquake, the church hall completely carpeted with a deep layer of rubble. it was filmed by a man who'd come to help, not realising that six members of his own family were buried.

when we were removing the rubble, you could see hands. when you found a hand, you tried to take everything off. but if she was dead, you just move her aside and you keep trying to look for the people who were alive. and you could still hear people? you could still hear people, trying to move, trying to speak. some of these people were your cousins? no, my family died right away. they got the big impact, but everybody else, there was still some hope. among the dead was the baby being christened, and her mother. this beautiful church can be rebuilt, but across this part of mexico are the struggles of those who have lost what is irreplaceable. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the republican senator for arizona john mccain has said he will vote against the latest attempt to repeal the affordable care act, popularly known as 0bamacare. mr mccain is the second

republican senator to come out against the bill. with the democrats united against it, the bill will fail to pass ifjust three republicans oppose it. scientists have expressed alarm at the rapid spread in south—east asia of a strain of malaria that is resistant to standard treatment. researchers say that so—called super—malaria can't be neutralised by anti—malaria drugs. it emerged in cambodia but has since spread through parts of thailand, laos and most recently to southern vietnam. a saudi cleric has been suspended from all religious activity over a quip he made about women drivers which sparked outrage on social media. saad al—hijri said women should not drive because their brains shrink to a quarter the size of a man's when they go shopping. hurricane maria and the heavy rain that followed it is continuing to wreak havoc in puerto rico. the authorities there have mobilised

the national guard to help evacuate people in areas downstream of a dam which has failed after days of heavy rain. potentially, 70,000 people are under threat. the dam, located at the northern end of the guajataca lake, is causing downstream flash floods. authorities say it's an "extremely dangerous situation" and evacuations are taking place urgently. andrew plant now reports on the destruction caused by hurricane maria, the strongest storm the island has seen in living memory. is everybody 0k in that house? they are calling it the worst storm here in100 are calling it the worst storm here in 100 years. many broke underwater, with cars submerged. those who stayed in their homes are sheltering on the upper floors from the deluge and damage down below. does everyone have food and water? translation:

there is a lot of damage, a lot of flooded areas. we need to work together. yes, there is a lot of devastation. with homes destroyed and power supplies down, puerto rico is suffering the effects of hurricane maria, the second devastating storm to tear through the caribbean this season, with homes and streets underwater and families forced to evacuate to higher ground. the main priority is water, food, blankets, tarpaulins. there's great damage all around the whole island. filmed from a rescue helicopter in winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour, these people we re kilometres per hour, these people were rescued from the surrounding seas stranded on a capsized boat, adrift in 20 foot waves. the us coastguard, helped by the british royal navy, winched them to safety but already the death toll is in double figures and expected to rise. now a double figures and expected to rise. nowa dam double figures and expected to rise. now a dam has failed in the north of the island, causing flash flooding

and evacuations of populated areas. donald trump has said the us territory has been totally obliterated and has made federal emergency aid available. the governor of puerto rico said damage to the island's electricity grid was so severe to the island's electricity grid was so severe it could take engineers many months to fully restore power to the island. it's the service that has become a verb and millions of people around the globe are now addicted to uber. but the company which allows you to book and pay for car rides online lost its license to operate in london. authorities questioned uber‘s approach to driver background checks and reporting criminal offences. simon jack has more. uber has revolutionised the taxi industry. you can hail a ride, track the car on its way to you and automatically pay, all from an app on your phone. thomas? yes. ok, thanks very much. 3.5 million passengers, and 40,000 drivers, use it to get around in london alone,

but its future, and that of its drivers, was thrown into doubt today. iam worry... a lot of worry in me because it's my livelihood. i'm doing driving work for 15 years now. if uber, if they close uber down, i have no idea where i can go. london's transport chiefs said concerns over driver background checks and failures to report sexual harassment allegations meant it would be stripped of its licence, and city hall backed the move. tfl doesn't reach these decisions lightly, but they've got to act like a judge and look at the evidence and they've looked at the evidence and concluded that uber aren't playing by the rules. if users of uber and drivers are angry, they should be angry at uber. the company refutes these charges and says it will appeal. we're absolutely astounded and we're going to fight this to support those

drivers that will be be put out of work by this decision and we believe that consumer choice is a fundamental positive thing that londoners should have. some passengers say the reason they use uber is cost, yes, but also safety. i use uberfor when i need to get home safely, on time, that kind of thing. it's quite nice to be able to know, that i know that i can track literally where they were. it's going to be a pain in the backside, then i would be taking these black taxis, and they're super expensive. thank you. thank you very much, cheers. bye— bye. now that process is really baked into the lives of millions of people and tens of thousands of drivers, but its staggering popularity has made it unpopular in other quarters. black cab drivers have been campaigning for this for years, and welcomed today's decision. what did you make of it? in my opinion, it's five years too late. they should never have been licenced in the first place. why not? we've got the finest taxi service in the world,

they‘ re undercutting people and they can't compete with us on a level playing field. other cities are not affected by this ruling, but it will be closely watched by transport chiefs facing similar issues. uber is the poster child for using technology to disrupt traditional industries. it won't give up without a fight and the appeal could take many months. so don't delete the app just yet. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we hear from survivors of wednesday's shipwreck off libya's coast, in which 50 migrants are feared to have drowned. ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police.

all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. and so the british government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: britain's prime minister has set out her vision for brexit — including a two—year transition period to smooth the process of divorce from europe. the app—based taxi service uber says

it will appeal against a decision by transport authorities in london not to renew its licence. in a dramatic new raising of the stakes, north korea has threatened to detonate a hydrogen bomb over the pacific. it comes after an exchange of insults between donald trump and the north korean leader kim jung—un who called the us president "mentally deranged." rupert wingfield—hayes reports from the south korean capital, seoul. for the first time ever today, north korea's dictator, kim jong un, stared into a camera and addressed the us president directly. he called donald trump mentally deranged and said the president would pay dearly for his threat to destroy north korea. it didn't take long for mr trump to tweet his response. he said: hours earlier in new york, north korea's foreign minister made hours earlier in new york,

north korea's foreign minister made another extraordinary threat, to drop a hydrogen bomb into the pacific. 0ur chairman of the state affairs commission has the decision to conduct strongest ever hydrogen bomb test in the pacific ocean. here in seoul this afternoon, there were no signs anyone is particularly worried by all this. this city has lived under the threat from north korea for so long that even when there's really terrifying rhetoric coming from over the mountains up there, like there is today, people in seoul tend to shrug their shoulders and carry on, and today they are doing so again. but if you talk to people whose job it is to worry about north korea, then you hear a different story. david straub used to run the north korea desk at the state department. as far as i know, this is the first time ever that an american president and a north korean leader have

engaged in a name—calling match directly at one another. i don't think he has any sense of how damaging that kind of rhetoric coming from an american president is, how counter—productive it is, when you are talking about the korea problem. retired general shin won—sik shows me the names of the 178,000 south korean and un soldiers who died the last time they went to war here. translation: i don't think america will attack now but if all options to pressure north korea fail, if he refuses to give up his weapons, in the end, the us will consider military action. if that did happen, a second korean war could be just as deadly as the first. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in seoul. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the french president has signed into

law sweeping changes to france's labour code. the changes are designed to make it easierfor companies to hire and fire workers. they are opposed by one of the major unions in france, leading to demonstrations and strikes earlier this month. the brazilian army is being deployed in one of the largest slums in rio after six days of clashes between rival drug gangs. is a major highway running past the sha nty a major highway running past the s ha nty town a major highway running past the shanty town was closed because of a gun battle between police and criminals. the governor said that helicopters and special forces will be present to deter criminals. polls have opened in new zealand in the country's general election. the incumbent prime minister bill english is fighting a stiff challenge from jacinda ardern, who only took charge of the centre—left labour party last month. neither party is expected to win an overall majority, so it's likely there will be coalition government.

dozens of migrants are missing, feared dead, after a boat capsized off the coast of libya's western city of zuwara. it happened on wednesday but pictures have emerged for the first time today of the aftermath. libya's western coastline is a popular transit route used by economic migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from mostly sub—sa ha ran african countries. 0ur north africa correspondent rana jawad reports. these are the remains of a flimsy vessel that packed the hopes of over 100 men, women and children who thought they could start a new life if they risked the illegaljourney through the waters of libya. instead, most of them died. local officials told the bbc that 35 migrants were rescued in the early hours of wednesday. these men survived being adrift for five days along the western coastline. with no

fuel, an overcrowded boat huddling treacherous waves and a failed attempt to go back to shore, the vessel capsized. translation: we came with 137 people. we went to the middle of the sea and the waves began to came. at first, three people died. then another wave came and three more people died. that was night—time. at that moment there we re night—time. at that moment there were too many ways. —— waves. we did not know where to go. most probably did not know they would end up here. as human traffickers continued to exploit the desperation that drives so many to do this riskyjourney. today, their hopes are buried, alongside those of many before them. he made his name by painting the american flag in his own unique style. and more than 60 years later jasperjohns is considered one

of the greatest living artists. now a major retrospective of his work is opening at the royal academy in london. we spoke with the show‘s curator roberta bernstein who explained why johns' work had such an impact on the art world. jasperjohns is, without doubt, one of the most important contemporary artists. early in his career, in the 19505, artists. early in his career, in the 1950s, he did a series of work including the flag that you see here, flags, targets, numbers, maps, that really shook up the artworld. and he found this image that was

perfect for him and perfect to move art ina perfect for him and perfect to move art in a new direction. so once you showed these early works he was insta ntly showed these early works he was instantly recognised as an artist who was doing something new. jasperjohns has always said that he did not choose the flag because of the patriotic symbol. it wasn't chosen for anything but the fact that it was familiar and something that it was familiar and something that he said was something so familiar it was overwhelmed. he thought, by presenting it as a

painting, people would have to look at it in painting, people would have to look at itina painting, people would have to look at it in a new way. nowjones is not really that interested in pop art subject matter and popular culture or commercial imagery although, it appears in his work. it is not the central element of it like it is for pop art. he influenced a whole range of artists and even into the present he remains and even into the present he remains a very vital influence on younger generations around us. that retrospective will be at the

royal academy here in london. the fallout in the american state of florida is continuing almost two weeks after hurricane irma made landfall. hundreds of cows have been rescued from this ranch north of miami which became flooded after the extreme rain storm surges. local media says the ranch was inundated after a nearby embankment broke. the ranch‘s owner says sadly many cows had drowned, but thankfully neighbouring ranches were pitching in, to get these cows to safety. if you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news, you can do so on social media. i'm @bbckasiamadera on twitter. you can also find us on facebook. the autumn equinox may be behind us

now but the weather is feeling reasonably summery. for some of us over the weekend. this was the scene on friday afternoon. as we had through the course of the weekend, many of us will have largely dry conditions, particularly on saturday. by sunday there will be rain heading into the west of the uk and temperatures will be on the rise as well. as low pressure sets out towards the north—west with tight isobars here but at the moment high—pressure is dominating the south—east. as we start saturday morning, there will be a little cloud and drizzly rain across southern parts of the country. some low cloud, mist and murk first thing. it should brighten up during the day. if we have a look at saturday morning, nine o'clock, after a chilly stuff of scotland and northern ireland it should be dry and reasonably bright with a little sunshine into northern england and a little more cloud and drizzle and hills fog across the southern half of england and south wales. waking

up of england and south wales. waking up to of england and south wales. waking uptoa of england and south wales. waking y of england and south wales. waking up to a grey morning here but certainly mild, fairweather as it brightened up during the day. a fresh start for northern parts of the country, mother towards the south. through the course of the morning this cloud and drizzly spots of rain willjust ease towards the east. for many of us it will brighten, particularly along the south later in the day. a little more cloud pushing into northern england and scotland and the breeze picking up across northern ireland. all in all, a decent date with temperatures for most of us around 17 to 19 degrees. it should feel quite pleasant. into saturday evening. most places and the day on a dry note. ever sat on a saturday night and into sunday you will notice a band of rain working towards the west. that is a weather front in the breeze picks well. across much of england and wales you should begin the day on a dry note once again. it will be mild, certainly frustrate the meat free.

through the day on sunday, the weather front tries to move in from the west, bumps into high pressure in the east so it will tend to fizzle out somewhat during the course of the morning. there will be some rain for northern ireland, scotla nd some rain for northern ireland, scotland perhaps the western fringes of wales in england. later in the day, a chance of a few heavy bursts working in but further east across much of england and wales remains dry and bright and pretty warm. 22, 20 three degrees in the sunshine. just a little cooler in the north—west. we still have a weather front lingering around on monday that will fizzle out during the day. the east should stay warm and dry with temperatures 19 or 20 degrees. this is bbc news. the headlines: the british prime minister, theresa may, has offered concessions in an attempt to break the deadlock in talks over britain's exit from the eu. other member states welcomed her tone, but insisted there had to be greater clarity. the ride hailing app uber has lost its license to operate in london. the city's transport authority says

it's not a fit and proper private car hire operator. uber says it will appeal the decision. the us national weather service has warned of an extremely dangerous situation in the north—western part of puerto rico, where intense rains and flash floods after hurricane maria have caused a dam to fail. scientists have expressed alarm at the rapid spread in south—east asia of a strain of malaria that is resistant to standard treatment. researchers say that so—called ‘super—malaria' can't be neutralised by anti—malaria drugs. now on bbc news, it's time for inside out. hello. taking matters into their own hands — the south‘s controversial