3,000 people died as a result of hurricane maria, 46 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 to justice — they're responding to a un report detailing atrocities against the rohingya minority. the report also criticised the woman who effectively leads myanmar, aung san suu kyi, for not intervening to stop attacks. it's just gone 4:30am in the morning. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi.

i am in washington where my guest in this exclusive interview is president uhuru kenyatta of kenya who has been holding talks here at the white house with donald trump about security, trade and investment. but how can president kenyatta invite investors to kenya when the country is so mired in corruption that pervades all walks of life and enriches the few at the expense of the many? that we also had to... these days you need to do things differently. it was traversing across in national parks. we had to take into account how to ensure that we do not destabilise... it could have been cheaper. i am using it as an example. but we needed to look at environmental aspects and ensure that the railway we build was not an impediment to what kenya is known for, so the environmental aspects were important. that is just one example because you will be attending the china—africa summit in the coming days in beijing and the point i make is that do you believe africa should better leverage its position with china and other investors like the united states?

this is the whole objective. we are saying that africa is not the africa of yesteryears. we are a much more open society. we are much more democratic and all these issues, as you are asking today, all of the numbers, all the facts are out there. and what we are saying is that we want to get the best deals. and make sure you get the best dealfor the africans. will that be the nature of what you discuss with theresa may, the british prime minister, when you meet this week? absolutely. what is your message to her? we wish to say that we are keen on investment to help us fill our infrastructure gap. we are keen on investment that will partner in accordance to what the kenyan social economic demands are for our development, keen on health, keen on housing and keen for food security and on manufacturing to create jobs for our people. we are keen on leveraging notjust in terms of investment but also

on our location, on the investment we have made in our young men and women who are ready to take on the world. so when you meet theresa may, the british prime minister this week in nairobi, do you feel that post—brexit there is a greater or lesser chance for britain to assert itself in the african continent? i think that is the wrong question. we are not looking for britain to assert herself on the african continent. trade wise. we are looking for britain, we are looking for western europe, we are looking for eastern europe, we are looking for china, for america. but britain specifically... to look at the advantages that kenya has to offer. now, britain of course has an edge given our historical relationship in the past. britain has an advantage of leveraging both her knowledge of kenya and africa, her understanding, the historical

and cultural ties that exist. but, also, leveraging on the commonwealth of which kenya is a member. to improve trade in and amongst member countries. so i think... so that is your message? the message we have is that all we are interested in are win—win proposals that enable all of us to take advantage of the opportunities that exist to create mutually beneficial prosperity. one issue i wish to raise is that it is the 20th anniversary of the august seventh bomb blast on the american embassies in tanzania and kenya. more than 220 people died, most of them kenyans,

5000 people were injured but this is what evanson gitu, from the bomb blast victims association of kenya has appealed to the us government to pay restitution to the victims. he says "the lives of the kenyan victims have been shattered due to a lack of medication, proper care and livelihood". did you raise their plight, which is still ongoing 20 years since that happened, with president trump? i did not mention that issue in particular but it is an issue that we know have affected the lives of many families. terrorism has affected the lives of many thousands notjust in kenya but across the world. and we sympathise with the victims of the bombings in the nairobi embassy... but they need compensation, not sympathy. just as much as we sympathise with the situation that happened in westgate and other areas. and we are keen to see how we can work, especially with the us government, to see that these people are adequately compensated. and that we can't return what they lost.

however i believe that we can and will continue to try to do more for families and for victims to ensure that we make their lives as easy as possible. this is an agenda that we are constantly putting across, going to the americans in the same manner that we are looking after the victims of other attacks that happened in the past. we would like to see the same happening for this group. in kenya you have outlined your big four agenda items — housing, health, infrastructure and food security. many people are concerned that you are not delivering on these objectives, largely because of the widespread rampant corruption that exists in your country at your own admission. people are quite sceptical in kenya that you are getting to the bottom of this. 0ne poll, ipsos, in august this year said that only 21% of people in kenya have confidence that

you are tackling this. as i have said we have made it very clear that this is an animal that we intend to slay. this dragon, this beast called corruption is an animal we intend to slay. we have been working quietly over the last few years to strengthen our agencies that are involved in this particularfight. we have tried to go through and assess where the weakness is. we have worked in conjunction with various governments across the globe. they have given us the necessary technical support, they have given us the necessary training that we required to bring cases to conclusion. as a government, as an individual, i am committed to this fight. as you have seen over the last few months as we have gotten these new regenerated agencies working, cases are now being finalised a lot faster, being presented before court, and we are now looking forward to our courts

to do their part to ensure that people in kenya and across the world realise that the age of impunity is over, to ensure that we are able to achieve. how soon do you think you can meet your objectives in tackling corruption? as far as i am concerned, and if you have been following media reports alone, the number of cases that are now before the courts of law in kenya are very many. many of them are people who nobody expected would ever appear before a court of law. what we are now looking forward to... no high—profile convictions though. that is what i am saying. what we are now looking forward to is our courts of law will also now do their part and expeditiously process these cases and convict

in the shortest time possible. so we will hear about some of the big fish? you have already heard about them being presented before courts of law. that is what i am saying. what remains now is for our independent judiciary to do their work and bring justice for and on behalf of the people. you have 18 months from now until the next election campaigning starts and you can no longer run because you have had your two terms. you do not have that long. when do you think we might really see results? six months time? we are already seeing results. you are already seeing these people arraigned before court and what we are saying is that we are ready to support ourjudicial review in whatever manner that they desire as an independent institution to ensure that these cases are prosecuted as quickly as possible and justice is not only,

seen to be done. we are talking about millions and millions of dollars, for example from women's charities, from the national youth service which is a government agency dedicated to tackling youth employment. in one recent scandal over toxic sugar that has been imported into kenya and it is the alleged that mps had been taking bribes to stop a report in parliament to stop the importation of toxic sugar. 0ne mp has said that this is, geoffrey godfrey 0sotsi says that the institution of parliament that is supposed to protect the public has turned against them. this is the kind of thing that's going on. and this is what we're saying. we are going to tackle, and we have begun tackling, regardless of who you are, and as i said, regardless of who you are...

so even mps who might be taking bribes? even if you're my own family member, zeinab. i have said and i've made it very clear that agencies are free, and you have seen already a number, even of members of parliament who have been arrested by the eacc, which is our anticorruption commission, on charges that they, right, have abused their office or they've ta ken advantage of their office for personal gain. all right, you said... this is happening. these are things that are happening as we speak, zeinab. all right, you've said even members of your own family. yes, absolutely. i have to put it to you that in 2011, mr president, forbes magazine said that the kenyatta family are worth about $0.5 billion... mm—hm. and own a lot of land... mm—hm. and we know that figures, for example, tell us that 8500 people of kenya's 49 million citizens own two thirds of the country's wealth,

and yourfamily is part of that 8500. how does that sit with your fight against corruption? as i have always stated, what we own, what we have is open to the public. as a public servant, i am supposed to make my wealth known, and we declare every year, and i have always said if there is an instance where somebody can say that what we have done or obtained has not been legitimate, say so. we are ready to face any court. furthermore, i have gone a stage further and said that going forward, we are in the process now of putting in place measures where every public servant's assets must be declared publicly, so that people can question and ask, "what is legitimate? " and if you can't explain yourself, including myself, then

i have a case to answer. that's the lifestyle audit that you launched in june. yes. so that everyone in government... absolutely. all public servants will be asked to explain the source of their wealth. absolutely, including myself. including yourself, and all those who've plundered public office will be put to task to explain themselves. absolutely. but i put it to you that one mp, 0scar sudi, has said that he wants the lifestyle audit to include an inspection of the wealth acquired by your late father... perfect. kenya's founding president, jomo kenyatta. we can, we can even go back... would you do that? we can even go back to my grandfather, great—grandfather. .. so will you do that? no problem. because according to kenya's truth and reconciliation commission report in 2008 — it said this, and i quote — "jomo kenyatta himself appears to have benefited immensely from irregular allocations of land. by 1965, kenyatta is reported to have used his position as president to buy numerous settler farms". so you have said no sacred cows... the key word there is buy. but will you allow this lifestyle

audit to investigate his historic acquisition... 100%. of wealth? perfectly welcome. you're going to do that? perfectly welcome. and you think that you will emerge... very confidently. very confident from that? absolutely. so no sacred cows? none. and have you, have you declared all this? i mean, you've done... we're waiting for the processes to be done, we have started with especially procurement officers, and we're going to until we get to my level. and is everything going to be made public? absolutely. so we know that — who has been put through this audit? absolutely. and is it underpinned by legislation? this is what we're hoping to work together with parliament to establish because already, that is done. but what we're saying is that at least for the executive, we will insist that if you want to continue serving, you must make it public. period. so it's notjust windowdressing?

no, this is something i'm committed to, and it's something i am determined to leave as my legacy in this country. is that what you want your legacy to be? yes. the fight against corruption, and transparency and to ensure that the nation's resources are used in the best interests of the people of the republic. and talking about your legacy, we see what's happening in neighbouring uganda, where president museveni has changed the constitution. are there any circumstances in which you can foresee that you might stay on for another term or submit yourself to election for another term, because you have a two year term only? we work on the basis of our constitution. my predecessors all have functioned on that basis and i intend to follow suit. no circumstances whatsoever? even if the people demanded it in a referendum or something like that? there is, there is no provision in our constitution, yeah, for that. and we cannot on the one side say we're fighting impunity, and then we become, on the other

hand, part and parcel of the same impunity that you've committed yourself to fighting. 0ne trend in kenyan politics that many observers have said is a blight on democracy in your country is the fact that people tend to vote along ethnic groups, and we saw what has happened in the last two elections — in 2008. when there was the terrible violence but also the contested election last year, when the opposition leader raila 0dinga went through the mock inauguration ceremony in february and then in march, there was this famous handshake between the two of you. what did that handshake denote? was just between two men or did it show that the two ethnic communities have come together? the handshake had nothing to do with the ethnic communities, because i myself got support from more than my community. the kikuyu.

0dinga got more votes also from more than his ethnic community. the handshake denoted that what we as political leaders are saying that regardless of our ethnic backgrounds, we do not want to allow and we will work together to ensure that going forward, political differences will never result in ethnic or religious animosity and we will go around the country and preach ideas are going to override personal interest. we are going to work together to fight the ills that face and challenge our society, such as corruption. it does not make a difference whatever your political or party affiliation is, corruption works against the entire country and it takes all of us to work against that. when it comes to unity, we want people to understand that they can make political choices, without fear of political

ramifications because i decided to go one way or another. will you create a new government position for him? is that possible? why should we create a new position? there are no new positions in our government. we work according to our constitution. that does not mean we cannot partner in the development and in the unification of our people. as well as the president of kenya, you're also a leader of a very important country in east africa, and i put it to you that one issue that is in the news very much is the fate of the ugandan opposition mp, bobi wine, and i would like to know whether you have raised his plight with president museveni. he has now been released on bail on charges of treason. kenya is not a country that seeks to really interfere with other people's or other country's issues.

even when he has just been beaten up? let me finish, zeinab. we are a country that encourage democratic processes, but we also understand that every country has their own challenge. what we would say is that what kenya would love to see is where political competition is allowed without intimidation, and we preach that message, but we say that where there are differences, please let us ensure that those differences do not result in violence. exactly what i said about raile 0dinga. so in short, ours is to encourage democracy and a peaceful solution to whatever differences may exist, but kenya does not interfere, just like we also are not keen on other people interfering in our own domestic issues, and what we encourage is internal resolution to internal problems. but the kenyan lawyers — national lawyers association has said it wants to bring bobi wine‘s case to the east african court

because he was beaten up in detention. as you know, we allow our institutions and our organisation the freedom to push whatever agenda they have, and as to how they are going to pursue that, i would encourage you to ask them. this is how we intend to prosecute this case. president uhuru kenyatta, thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. thank you very much for having us. thank you very much indeed. 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 the odd one 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, it will be dry. you mayjust catch the odd shower in the west. good sunny spells, sunny speels 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. much cooler night to come going into thursday morning, mid—to—low single figures in some spots. under those clearing skies, the reason for that — we've got 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 band 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 will see a feed 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, but as the weekend goes on, it will start to warm up a little bit too. that's your latest forecast. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: 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. french and british boats clash in the english channel

in a vicious scrap over scallops. and a final farewell to the queen of soul. fans in detroit pay their last respects to the legendary aretha franklin.