welcome to bbc news — i'm reged ahmad. this is bbc news, the headlines: our top stories: the search for hundreds rescuers in the bahamas missing in the bahamas are searching the island after hurricane dorian — but relief efforts are delayed by severe flooding. revolutionary hero turned dictator: zimbabwe's robert mugabe dies, leaving a complex legacy. hello and welcome to bbc news. the number of people killed by hurricane dorian in the bahamas could be "staggering" according to officials there. at the moment, 30 people

are known to have died, but many areas remain cut off. in the last hours, dorian has made landfall over cape hatteras in north carolina in the us and has weakened to a categoryi storm. but the full force of the hurricane was felt in the abaco islands in the bahamas. these are the latest pictures from there. along with aid and equipment, officials are sending morticians and hundreds of body bags. our correspondent aleem maqbool has been aboard the british ship rfa mounts bay, and sent this report. heading out to try to find more survivors of the hurricane, this military helicopter is taking off from a royal fleet auxiliary ship that tracked right behind dorian as it smashed into the bahamas. last night, the helicopter discovered a group of people who'd been cut off, no communications for five days. we delivered aid first thing in the morning, this morning, to give them more food. so basically, we are sort of the emergency response, so to speak.

and the military here was helping some communities, even as others close by were still feeling the brunt of the storm. well, this british ship really has been at the forefront of the international emergency relief effort following hurricane dorian. right now, it is launching a vessel loaded with heavy lifting equipment and vehicles to try to get to an area that was badly affected by the hurricane, but hasn't yet been reached at all. and they have often been the first outsiders to get to the most devastated areas. but new affected communities are still being found, like one we headed to in the north of great abaco island. there, kirk sawyer had just left his house when dorian tore through. sheltering with a friend, debris flying around and huge waves coming in, he thought he wouldn't make it. i told my friend, i say, hey, we were friends for almost a0 years. we arrived together,

we're going to die together here. and not being able to tell his family outside he is alive has been tough. for them, he had a message. your uncle kirk here, he's alive, he made it through this. so i'll see you all soon. thank you all for being concerned about me. love you all. the reality is, many didn't survive. in marsh harbour, we saw more bodies being removed, and the signs are the recovery effort will go on for many days yet. i honestly believe abaco is finished. i think abaco will not recover until the next ten years, like, fully recover, because everything is gone. absolutely everything is gone. the uk is distributing shelter and ration packs across affected communities. but even those of them who have been doing this through powerful hurricanes of recent years told us they had never seen needs as great as this.

let's get some of the day's other news: a committee in the us house of representatives is investigating vice—president mike pence‘s visit to ireland. it's after he stayed at a trump—owned hotel 300km from dublin, where he was meeting officials. a spokesman for mr pence said they stayed at the hotel at the "suggestion" of president trump, something the president has denied. seven south american countries have signed a pact to protect the amazon river basin, the world's largest tropical forest, by coordinating their response to disasters. the summit in colombia was called amid global concern over the tens of thousands of fires burning there. the host, president ivan duque, said the establishment of a natural disaster network and a satellite monitoring network would help combat events like widespread fires. eight us states and the district of columbia have launched an anti—trust investigation into facebook. it's in a bid to determine

if the social media giant has stifled competition and put users at risk. the investigation wants to determine if facebook endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers‘ choices, or increased the price of advertising. the former president of zimbabwe, robert mugabe, has died at the age of 95. mr mugabe dominated his country for decades: he led the independence struggle against white minority rule and then himself ruled zimbabwe for 37 years. his early achievements in broadening access to health and education for the black majority were later marred by violence and economic collapse. shingai nyoka reports from the capital harare. he was once zimbabwe's liberator, leading a war against white minority rule. but by the end, the adulation president robert mugabe once enjoyed was gone. i, robert gabriel mugabe... he cemented his power winning

overwhelmingly at elections in 1980. as leader of a new nation, he set about creating a better country than the one he inherited. he spent massively on education and infrastructural development, building a thriving black middle class and one of the most literate populations on the continent. but there was a vicious, ruthless side to the statesman. between 1983 and 1987, mugabe deployed a military unit trained by the north koreans to deal with his political opponents in the south of the country. but, as the 1990s ended, the economy was in trouble. facing new political opposition, mugabe made a fateful step. he gave the go—ahead for the seizure of white—owned farms. white farmers fled. the western world took note, breaking diplomatic ties and imposing economic sanctions. in 2008, in the midst of a billion percent inflation and widespread unemployment, mr mugabe

suffered his first electoral defeat. it only led to more violence in the second round of voting. tonight, president emmerson mnangagwa paid this tribute. comrade mugabe bequeaths a rich and indelible legacy of tenacious adherence to principle on the collective rights of africa and africans. but the truth of his last years in power was that his country was collapsing around him. he could no longer hide his frailty, and lea nt increasingly on his younger wife, grace. she had ambitions of her own, but the rising discontent in the party he dominated for over a0 years led to them both being outmanoeuvred by his right—hand man, emmerson mnangagwa. there are reminders of robert mugabe everywhere, but here on the streets, there are no visible signs of mourning. that is because he lived out his last years cut off from public and political life, in an opulent mansion far removed from the struggles

of many zimbabweans. many will remember him as a gifted orator and visionary, who liberated zimbabwe, but who turned his back on the high ideals he had originally believed in. india's attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon appears to have failed. scientists lost contact with the vikram lander during the descent to the lunar surface. as bill hayton reports, the country's prime minister urged the scientists not to give up hope. glum faces at ground control. india was attempting to become the fourth country to make it to the moon, but it was not to be. everything appeared to be going well until the last few minutes. the vikram lander was as planned and normal performance was observed up until one kilometre. up until altitude of 2.1 one kilometre. subsequently, the communications from the lander to ground

station was lost. data is being analysed. the intention was to land near the moon's south pole, where no mission has gone before. it was going to be a complex mission, but if it landed successfully, it would have added to humanity's understanding of the lunar surface, the presence of water, and so on and so forth, in that part of the lunar surface. the country's prime minister was on hand to celebrate success, but ended up commiserating with the scientists. translation: i was watching and i saw that all of your faces looked disappointed. what you have achieved is not a small feat. the country is proud of you, and has learnt a lot from this hard work. despite this setback, the other part of the mission, the lunar orbiter, remains in operation, and will continue to study the moon for about a a year. in just a few years‘ time, india's rockets are set to send

a person into space for the first time. the air force has announced the first stage of selection is complete, but it is clear the country's space programme still has some way to go. another long week in british politics is coming to an end. it's been dominated by the next steps in brexit, and attempts by the prime minister borisjohnson to call an early election. so far, those attempts have failed. 0pposition parties are united in insisting an election cannot happen until after an eu summit in mid—october. and a bill preventing the uk from leaving the eu without a deal will become law on monday — despite the prime minister pressing lawmakers to reject it. here's our deputy uk political editorjohn pienaar. much easier, this, than leading the country. borisjohnson is trying to call an election before brexit to stick to his plan — leave on time, deal or no deal. but he has lost control,

and he wants it back. we must get brexit done, and that's my message to my colleagues. let's come together, get this thing over the line, and unite our country, and then get on with defeating the labour 0pposition, you know, when they finally have the guts to have an election. you can almost smell the election coming, but he is having to wait, a spectator, as his opponents try to force him to give up on a no—deal brexit, break his promise, maybe his premiership. reporter: you keep mentioning 31 october. you've made it abundantly clear that's your line in the sand. if you can't deliver that, you're going to have to resign, aren't you? that is not a hypothesis i'm willing to contemplate. i want us to get this thing done. today in the lords, the legislation banning no—deal was sent to become law, decreeing there would be no election until brexit is delayed. as many of that opinion will say, "content".

content! to the contrary, "not content". the contents have it. 0pponents had co—ordinated their plans. we've agreed that we're not going to give the prime minister the general election he is so desperate for until an extension is secured and the risk of no—deal is completely eliminated. the prime minister is on the run. boris is broken. we have an opportunity to bring down boris, to break boris, and to bring down brexit, and we must take that. i want an election, the snp wants an election, but we will do that when we've made sure that the security of our citizens is determined. and you want to weaken borisjohnson ahead of that election by making him break his word? well, he has gone out with ridiculous promises of leaving the european union on 31 october. borisjohnson, that's not going to happen. no sight ofjeremy corbyn, though he gathered 0pposition leaders by phone. labour's brexit policy is still a work in progress. but the party has joined the alliance that has cornered borisjohnson.

and in downing street, they're searching for a plan, any plan, that will somehow help the pm regain some kind of control. he has sworn he will never seek an extension to brexit, but now a new law could force him to do just that. he won't break his word, he can't break the law. mrjohnson needs to find a way to force an election or salvage his plan to deliver brexit, maybe without reaching an eu deal first. and in there, there is no sign they have found one. reporter: are you asking for an extension, mr frost? what chance of a last—minute deal? britain's brexit negotiator, david frost, has been in brussels today. but the finnish pm, who is chairing the eu, suggested a no—deal exit could be close. it seems very obvious that we are not getting brexit with agreement. on with the whites and off to peterhead market. campaigning keeps you busy. haggling is part of the job.

£50 perfish. good god, that's an expensive fish! borisjohnson is famously upbeat, but his premiership could still end badly. the high court has rejected a legal challenge to borisjohnson‘s decision to suspend parliament. the case was brought by the businesswoman gina miller, who argued the move was "an unlawful abuse of power". she has been allowed to appeal — that case is expected to be heard at the supreme court on 17 september. a similar legal challenge was rejected at edinburgh's court of session earlier this week, which is also being appealed. the chief constable of west yorkshire police says he's "disappointed" that his officers were used as a backdrop to a political speech by boris johnson on brexit yesterday. john robins said it was the understanding of the force that any involvement of their officers was solely about the government's police recruitment drive — and that they'd had no prior knowledge the speech would be

broadened to other issues. this is bbc news, the headlines: rescue teams in the bahamas, are continuing to search the island of great abaco for the bodies of people killed by hurricane dorian. the prime minister's demand for an early general election looks set to be rejected, after opposition parties agreed to block it when it's put to mps on monday. let's return to the news that india has lost contact with a lunar explorerjust as it was going to land on the surface of the moon. the chandrayaan—2 mission was just over 2km above the moon when transmission ceased. the descent is a complex operation and success would have made india only the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first to touchdown on the most southerly part, where no one country has been before. tariq malik is managing editor of space.com and hejoins us

from new york. ——jersey. was this mission a failure? well, the attempted landing, we don't really know yet. the big question is what happens to this slander. i did lose co nta ct what happens to this slander. i did lose contact with at about two kilometres above the lunar surface. —— evaded. it was programmes, if it did not like its first landing spot, to at least go to a backup landing spot. but indian mission control lost the signal from the spacecraft. nasa's deep space network also lost the signal. that does not bode well for this phase of the mission. the orbiter of this mission, chandrayaan—2, is still in space and still doing well. so that half of the mission is still doing well. just this really ambitious first—ever south pole landing may have crushed. we are waiting to find out. what is so important about an attempt to land on the south pole of

the moon? well, any moon landing is just intensely difficult, not only do you have to perfect all the technologies to reach the rocket launch, the navigation, the spacecraft, you need to be able to adjust its attitude and its aspect in space in order to go around the moon, you need to descend to the lunar surface and make sure you descend enough to touch down. that is extremely difficult, as we found out today. the south pole is a really intriguing place. of most of all of the landings to date on the moon have been around the equatorial regions. china has landed on the far side of the moon, but was another first but had —— that happened earlier this year. the south pole is an enigma, scientists think if there is water ice on the surface, and permanently shuttered craters, they may be resources future astronauts could use, making it a tantalising target sto p could use, making it a tantalising target stop and as you mentioned, it isa target stop and as you mentioned, it is a place nobody has seen before. ifa is a place nobody has seen before. if a ladder at some point manages to

london at a location on the moon and finds water, does that mean we could see a moon base in the future? —— lander. the south pole of the moon is one of the prime targets for nasa's own lunar plans as well, and those of many countries, because of the potential to find that ice in these permanent craters, to maybe even separated from the lunar regolith, the dirt itself, to make things like oxygen and fuel and supplies, for other astronauts to come 01’ even supplies, for other astronauts to come or even to support further exploration of the solar system. so this was kind of an initial small step for that larger process, and i doubt that india would stop if this mission had indeed crashed, i would expect them to send a follow—up. traiq malik, editor of space.com, thank you so much for your time. —— tariq. a series of mass shootings in the us over the last year has put pressure on president trump and congress to change the country's gun laws.

but for many communities, gun violence is a daily reality. this week the us hit the grim milestone of 10,000 people shot dead so far this year. of those killed or injured by gun fire, 2,500 of them were children. from washington, chris buckler reports. the cordons and closed off streets have become too familiar. they mark the spot of the latest drive—by shooting that has left a man and woman in hospital. it happened on people's doorsteps and was just one of half a dozen shootings in washington, dc on this single evening. this is one of the cities that symbolizes this country's problem with guns. a very huge problem that america has with guns and something does need to be done about it, because we are going to continue to keep losing people. some mass shootings here in the united states attract a huge amount of attention. but the more regular, almost routine gun violence goes ignored. this is just another night in america. the police in dc are desperate to get illegally—held weapons off the street.

they have had to deal with a summer of shootings. and they know guns are being used to terrorise neighbourhoods. among the victims of the last few months of violence was karon brown, an 11—year—old who loved american football. he was apparently murdered in a territorial dispute over selling water and cookies. karon was loving, funny, everybody loves him. he was the joy of our lives. the new football season is just beginning, but it's notjust a player missing from this team — an assistant coach of the woodland tigers was killed just days after karon, murdered in a drive—by shooting. you know one day, a player, and then the next day the coach. so it is like, just heartbreaking. every parent shares a struggle.

away from the pads and helmets of the football field, how do they protect their child? our children aren't able to be children. they should be able to be free, and learn from their surroundings. but the things that's being taught out right now in the streets is not safe for them. it is really... it is reallyjust messed up... it's ok. does it make you worried? yes. like america's debate about guns, little of this is new for the woodland tigers. 0f 19 boys who played here in 2001, 11 are dead. that's the majority of a team who would not even be close to a0 years of age. and as each evening comes, the sirens and searches are a regular reminder of the presence of guns. chris buckler, bbc news, washington.

the parents of a severely brain—damaged 5—year—old girl are going to the high court on monday to try to persuade judges to allow them to take their daughter abroad. tafida raqeeb is on a life—support machine at the royal london hospital. doctors there will argue that further treatment is futile. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. tafida was a bright and lively girl until february, when she suffered a ruptured blood vessel due to a rare condition. now, she is kept alive on a ventilator and fed through a tube. barts nhs trust says she has very serious, permanent and irreversible brain damage, and there is no further treatment to help her. but tafida's mother believes video taken in intensive care shows that she is responsive, and simply needs more time to recover. she and her husband want

permission to transfer tafida to an italian hospital. it is my main argument that she continues to improve. why would you want end a child's life when she shows signs that she wants to live? she wants to continue with life. at the high court, barts nhs trust will ask permission to remove life support. a judge will have to decide what is in tafida's best interests. some will question how the courts can ever rule that it is in a child's best interests to die. surely that contradicts the sanctity of life. butjudges here must also consider potential pain and suffering, and whether simply prolonging a sick child's life will bring them any benefits. this case echoes those of charlie gard and alfie evans, which involved lengthy legal battles between parents and hospitals. in each of those cases, the courts backed doctors and life

support was withdrawn. this is the fifth high—profile case to come to court in as many years, and they're desperately sad and difficult cases. the problem is that, whilejudges have been recommending mediation, if there is no common ground between the parents and the doctors, then it has to be up to the courts to decide. once again, the courts are having to intervene between parents and doctors, and a judge decide whether a child should live or die. fergus walsh, bbc news. a woman in her early 70s has given birth to twin girls in the indian state of andhra pradesh. mangayamma yaramati had undergone in—vitro fertilisation, or ivf. she and her husband had first tried to have a baby nearly 60 years ago. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story.

looking more than a little bemused by all the attention, the proud father shows off his newborn children. sitarama rajarao is 82 years old, quite an age to be a first—time dad. his wife, the proud mother, is only a few years younger. she is still in hospital after undergoing a cesarean section. the couple had never been able to have children naturally, and had to use a donor egg to conceive. the first attempt she was pregnant, and that was really amazing for us. and from that time, we formed into teams, we formed three teams, one to look after her pregnancy, and one team to look after her nutritional needs, and another team to look after her general health. the new mother also means, in this case, a new grandmother as well. translation: i am very happy, and tense too. my daughter at last became a mother.

we will look after the children, no problem with that. i always wanted a granddaughter, now i have two, i am very happy. india has become a destination for so—called fertility tourism, as ivf here is relatively cheap. there are hundreds of mostly unregulated clinics that provide help, and age is really an obstacle. authorities say new laws are being considered. but highlighting the potential risks for the children of much older parents — only a day after becoming a father, sitarama rajarao suffered a stroke and is now in hospital. when asked who would look after his children, he said it was in the hands of god. former south africa rugby union international and 1995 world cup winner chester williams has died at the age of a9. the former wing was the only black player in the world cup—winning team

in 1995, a year after the end of apartheid. mark alexander, the president of south africa rugby says williams was "a true pioneer." hello there. for many of us the weekend is fair, it will be mostly dry with some sunshine but there will also be a few showers. we have one or two around at the moment, north scotland, northern ireland, north wales and north—west england. if you are heading outside here, might be worth taking an umbrella with you. showers will be fleeting in nature so they won't last very long in any one place. for some of us then it will be a chilly start to the weekend, particularly across north—eastern areas, but it is a mostly dry prospect, those showers will continue for a time, northern ireland, north wales, north—west england, perhaps sneaking into the midlands. we may well see a few light showers pop up later in the day across east anglia and south—east england. but still for the vast majority it is a dry day with sunny spells — that said we have a cool northerly wind so temperatures just 13 degrees in aberdeen, the highest temperatures towards the south—west,

where 19 in cardiff and plymouth should feel pretty pleasant throughout the afternoon. saturday night is going to turn to be quite a cold night, with clear skies, light winds, temperatures will get down to about 3 celsius or so in newcastle, perhaps a few patches of frost in eastern scotland and north—east england, in the very coldest areas. so sunday does promise to be a cold start for this time of year. for most of us a lovely start today, plenty of sunshine, a bit of cloud will bubble up, but across the north—west wuite a change here for northern ireland and west scotland as a warm front moves in, that cloud will bring the threat of a bit of light, patchy drizzle for a time, quite misty around some of our western hills and coasts. temperatures coming up a bit across north—east england, so not quite as chilly but the highest temperatures further south. monday's weather dominated by this area of low pressure, the low pressure itself is forming really across england and wales, so there is quite a degree of uncertainty exactly where the heaviest rain will be

and how far east it gets. the forecast could change but the general idea is that monday is going to be quite an unsettled day for many of us, rain at times and temperatures not too impressive, highs of 1a—16 degrees. that's our weather, but take a quick look now at hurricane dorian, this is the last port of call, dorian is going to make another landfall, this time in canada's nova scotia. gusts about 100mph. that's the last you'll hear of dorian, it will spin up to iceland where it will be an area of low pressure, it is not coming to the uk — but this might. this is expected to be hurricane dorian. it will turn into a normal area of low pressure, 00:29:35,812 --> 2147483051:51:32,620 but later in the week that 2147483051:51:32,620 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 could effect our weather.