3,000 people died as a result of hurricane maria — forty—six times more than official figures have suggested up to now. researchers from george washington university also found those from poorer backgrounds were at much higher risk of being killed. president trump has claimed that google, facebook and twitter prioritise what he calls fake news and left—wing sources — to portray him in a less positive light. he suggested the big tech companies had to be "very careful". google has strongly denied the claims. several countries are calling for myanmar‘s military leaders to be brought tojustice. they're responding to a un report detailing atrocities against the rohingya minority. the report also criticised the women who effectively leads myanmar, aung san suu kyi, for not intervening to stop attacks. now on bbc news, it's time for more from the money and power season which looks at how money, and its power, shapes and reshape our lives. this week's programme looks at an ambitious and controversial

plan to build private or gated cities in honduras. honduras, centralamerica. until recently, this tiny country had the world's highest murder rate. like other nations in the region, it faces daunting challenges of poverty and inequality. rampant corruption is part of life here and political instability is the norm. last year's elections were overshadowed by allegations of fraud, followed by violent clashes with protesters. despite being rich with natural resources, honduras can't seem to escape a cycle of poverty and violence. i grew up in latin america, i'm used to inequality, but it never stops to strike you. i mean, parts of san pedro, you can see there's real money here. it wouldn't be — perhaps some

buildings wouldn't be out of place in miami. butjust across the river and the street, you have a really nasty slum. it's tough here. now, the country is proposing a bold plan to lure investment and try to put the brakes on its downward spiral. but not everyone is on board. critics, from politicians to human rights activists, say it is a dangerous experiment from an illegitimate government. it's past midnight at the bus station in san pedro sula. it's here that you get a true sense

of how desperate the situation has become for most hondurans. tens of thousands of people risk their lives every year on a long and a gruelling journey to the united states. many will endanger their lives riding freight trains across mexico. others will be exploited, kidnapped, or even killed by criminal gangs. around a third will be caught and deported back to honduras. 24—year—old juan francisco knows all of this but for him, this is the only option left. a university graduate, he lost his job with a car company

soon after the election crisis last december. juan francisco is hoping to make it to houston, texas, to work with a friend in construction. two thirds of hondurans live in poverty, but for people of all social classes here, even the possibility of scraping by in the us is worth risking everything for. what can honduras do to turn things around?

american economists have proposed a radical experiment and the honduran government has jumped on board. the idea is to create special zones, new cities, with foreign laws and foreign judges. but how would that work, and what are the implications for the country? isn't that giving up a little bit of your sovereignty? the plan is inspired by the financial success of places like hong kong and macau, who tailored their financial rulebooks to foreign business interests. but what would that look like here? the honduran government would invite foreign investors in, giving them the leading role in managing these areas. schools, hospitals, malls — everything would likely be built from scratch. mark klugmann is an american who has lived in honduras for more than a decade.

a former speech writer for ronald reagan, he is a key advocate of the proposal and has been an adviser to the government on how to bring it to life. he invited me to the unconventional little school he runs with his wife in the capital, tegucigalpa. there's a contract. all the students here have all signed this contract. there's a concept of self—governance. uh-huh. 15 points on the contract. that's right, that's right. the students actually wrote this. it wasn't imposed on them. they had a — they had their own constitutional convention, as it — as it were. it all feels like a microcosm of how he sees the world, where the right rules can be the key to progress. mark has been developing his version of the private cities idea for years. he says using the anglo—saxon legal system, favoured and understood by investors, would reassure them and provide a key incentive that

would also work for hondurans. it's to create a place for hondurans, it's to give hondurans a place that provides hondurans with what they want by creating also a place where foreign investors and foreign capital are able to combine in an environment that they understand. imagine in miami, you have a street, and there are ten chinese restaurants in a row, and every single one of those ten restaurants, they have no forks, only chopsticks. they all serve exactly the same menu at the same prices. food is equally good. and then, one day, one of the restaurants says, "waita minute, we're in miami. there are lots of people who don't feel comfortable with chopsticks. we're going to offer a fork." instantly, the competitive advantage of that one restaurant compared with the other nine is overwhelming. he insists it wouldn't be incompatible with national sovereignty because the honduran constitution would underpin the plan every step of the way.

but would bringing in a set of anglo—saxon laws really be enough to pull more foreign companies to a country this troubled? the legal system definitely isn't working as it is. 95% of crimes go unpunished, and at the country's supreme court in tegucigalpa, there's a clear backlog. if you run a business here, it typically takes 920 days to resolve a contractual dispute. the result is endemic violence and little investment. everywhere we go, it's clear that anyone who can is already finding ways to shut themselves off from this reality. maybe it is inevitable that multinational companies would end up doing the same in private cities.

there's nowhere this division is more tangible than in the business capital of the country, san pedro sula. i grew up in latin america, i'm used to inequality, but it never stops to strike you. i mean, parts of san pedro, you can see there's real money here, it wouldn't be — perhaps some buildings wouldn't be out of place in miami. butjust across the river and the street, you have a really nasty slum. it's tough here. i'm heading to see what the future here might look like. altia smart city, a massive business park catering to multinationals and their employees. it's the closest thing to a private city in honduras right now. there are 6,000 people working here. you can shop, dine, even go to the doctor on campus. it's like you don't need to step outside. the park has been operating

for around eight years now. so we started construction about ten years ago. it was designed originally to attract the outsourcing industry. it's huge, yeah? it's big, yes. we have — this is our corporate offices right here, and then currently, we have three towers. what you see here is our recreational centre. a lot of this works kind of like a private city — the corporation taking over functions that would normally be done by the city government. do you think business in honduras needs this kind of system to work efficiently? definitely. i think this has been a very unique project and that's why it has been very successful, because we have integrated different parts into one same, secure community, so we definitely hope that altia is a model for the region and for honduras to do different and more of these projects,

so we can keep on growing and continuing to have more development in honduras. and it's notjust the stability and convenience that appeals to companies setting up here, there are generous tax breaks forforeign clients. most of the office space is filled with call centres for us companies. they are staffed by english—speaking hondurans. next door is a private university, unitec. it's a part of the same campus. these four international relations students tell me they are torn over whether private cities should be the way of the future. the government says that in a few years, a part of honduras will look like hong kong because of these cities. the cities can be very, very good for the country if they are applied in the right way.

this is like a bubble, you could say. we like to use that term here. and we need to know that we're living in that bubble. what do we need to do to expand that bubble so more people can fit inside that bubble of well—being? it is a threat for our national sovereignty. i think it is also a threat for our social cohesion. i don't think we need any more sort of distortions in our cohesion inside the country. isabel knows plenty about these "distortions", as she calls them. like many of the country's elite, she lives her life in a protective bubble. her neighbourhood, like many others, is firmly gated. herschool, home, even her gym, have armed guards. in fact, her dad roberto developed one of the city's most upscale gated communities. isabel and herfriend paola are part

of a generation living more and more of their lives this way. but the vast majority of hondurans don't have the luxury of living or working in safe spaces like these.

extortion, corruption and impossible bureaucracy are a daily challenge for most people. the scheme is very ambitious and promises a lot but honduras is a country with a long history of inequality and i wonder sometimes who would benefit and who would be excluded from this. the plan for model cities seems designed with large multinationals in mind but there's no clear guarantee the wealth would stay in honduras or trickle down. mirian lives and works in what used to be one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods on the planet. things have calmed down since then, but keeping her sewing business alive is still a constant struggle for her, her husband, and their three children.

she'd love to turn her workshop into something bigger but it seems an impossible challenge. mirian and her husband see no good future here. they dream of heading north to the us or canada. critics say inviting foreign investors into honduras smacks

of neocolonialism, exploiting honduras for foreign gain. despite the lack of clarity on exactly how this proposal would work, legislation was passed in 2013 to allow it to go ahead. though, with so much political instability, that might be subject to change. honduras is a very polarised society. lots of grievances and lots of protests. and i wonder if this initiative isn't going to make things worse. having your own laws and your ownjudges is a big part of having a country, it's a big part of nationhood, and i'm not surprised at all that it has become a politically sensitive issue, a politically hot issue. the loudest opposition voice is salvador nasralla, the tv star turned presidential candidate.

he's clearly got a lot of support and represents a big part of the country, who question the viability of these model cities. according to the world bank, honduras is already the most unequal country in latin america. many people here just see politicians as corrupt businessmen. i want the government to talk to me and have the opportunity to address these concerns. but days go by, and interview after interview is cancelled. i really don't understand. i mean, this is a very big dealfor honduras. they're saying it's a big deal, it's supposed to be one of the big initiatives that's going to help honduras develop and still, people are really nervous to talk about it. finally, on our last night, the minister for economic development agrees to meet with me.

he promises it will be up to local communities to decide if they want to set up these special zones in their territory. so i head to the far south of the country to speak with someone wrestling with this very question. this is amapala, a tiny island that was once a bustling port and the country's capital. but its glory days are long gone. its 14,000 residents scrape by eking a wage from fishing. the plan is to turn all of this into a cutting—edge city and megaport. mayor alberto cruz has been courted by the honduran government

and south korean investors. he was flown out to south korea to be dazzled with what could be. he would be happy tojump on board with the plan if he knew locals would truly benefit, but the uncertainty worries him. amapala may not be rich but it is amazingly peaceful compared to the rest of the country. i wonder how much of that would be lost if the plans were to go ahead here. would the people living here benefit, or be pushed out? so, is this going to be the next hong kong? it's hard to believe it, but parts of the world have experienced dramatic transformations, so who knows? it is clear it will take a lot more

than honduran leaders have shown so far to convince people that allowing foreign investors to build and run these new cities is the key to saving their nation, or that it is a safer bet than taking a bus to the us in search of a better life. hello. wednesday starts with a bit of umbrella weather across some parts of the uk, but it should turn drier and sunnier for many of us

as the day goes on. two weather systems to talk about early on. this one clipping parts of south—east england and east anglia, with either showers or some rain, could be some heavier bursts. and this one moving out of scotland and northern ireland, taking some increasingly light and patchy rain further south through england and wales. starting temperatures — double figures for england and wales, but something fresher for scotland and northern ireland. it is less humid behind this weather front, and there will be some sunshine around. a few showers pushing into north—west scotland, maybe along to the west of northern ireland. rain clears east anglia and the south—east lunchtime at the very latest, and then our weakening weather front takes a few late—day showers towards this part of the world. sunny spells develop elsewhere in england and wales. here's a look at things at ii:00pm in the afternoon, and on the breeze, a feed of a few showers into north—west scotland. but most other parts here in scotland, and indeed in northern ireland, will be dry. you mayjust catch the odd shower in the west. good sunny spells, sunny spells developing across northern england, wales, the midlands, and into the south—west. but a weakening weather front,

with still maybe the odd shower associated with it, moves into east anglia and the south—east towards the end of the day. but hardly any rain left, really, and then it clears away and then we've got clearing skies. and there mayjust be the odd patch of mist and fog as we go into thursday morning, but overnight into thursday, our weather systems have cleared away — clearing skies, and temperatures dip away. a much cooler night to come going into thursday morning, mid to low single figures in some spots. nonetheless, clearing skies, we have an area of high pressure starting to build into the uk, which means although it's chilly first thing on thursday, there will be plenty of sunshine to come first thing. it may not last all day. you'll see the land here showing that we've got clear skies. as we go deeper into thursday, you can see some cloud starting to build. it may produce the odd shower, maybe more so into western scotland. most will be dry, just expect a bit more cloud to come, but still some sunny spells, and temperatures high teens,

to a few into the low 20s. so once we get past that chance of umbrella weather in the day ahead, for the rest of the week, it is looking mainly dry. but do note, again, that the nights will be chillier. and then, as we go into the weekend, we'll see a theme of cloud coming into western parts of the uk. that may produce a bit of patchy rain. the emphasis is on the plenty of dry weather. as the weekend goes on, it will start to warm up a little bit too. that's your latest forecast. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a dramatic rise in the death toll from hurricane maria. puerto rico says nearly 3,000 people lost their lives last year, up from just 64. google strongly denies claims by president trump that it skews search results to portray him

in a less positive light. several countries call for myanmar‘s military leaders to be brought to justice for atrocities against the rohingya minority, detailed in a un report. innocent human beings were raped, murdered and burned alive for no other reason than their religious and ethnic identity. the whole world is watching what we will do next and if we will act. #r, e,s, p, e,c, t.