The highest possible level, and has in its path a string of caribbean islands, puerto rico, haiti, cuba, and then florida. The National Hurricane centre in miami is recording sustained winds of nearly 300 kilometres, more than 186 miles an hour. A state of emergency has been declared in florida, puerto rico and the us Virgin Islands. Sarah corker has the latest on preparations for the most powerful atlantic storm in a decade. Lets get more on the expected track of Hurricane Irma. Heres stav danaos from the bbc weather centre. The caribbean is bracing itself for one of the strongest hurricanes ever to develop in the atlantic. Hurricane urma became a powerful category five storm late on tuesday and its continuing itsjourney westwards during wednesday. Could be some devastation to the leeward islands, and it continues to move westards in towards haiti, Dominican Republic and eventually towards cuba by thursday and friday. This storm really means business, its an extremely dangerous storm that will maintain its strength for the next few days. Sustained wind speeds of 185mph, gusting over 200mph, some torrential rain and a significant storm surge that could lead to some severe coastal flooding so this storm really means business. Its an ongoing story and well keep you updated. This is the view of Hurricane Irma from space. Its expected to be one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the atlantic basin. Images released by nasa show its heading towards several caribbean islands, bringing with it 185 mph winds and torrential rain. Puerto rico will be one of the first to be hit. People there arent taking any chances, securing their homes and stocking up on essentials. Hurricane irma is on a collision course with popular holiday destinations like antigua and st martin. With storm surges up to 12 feet, flooding is a major concern. In the Dominican Republic, the rains have already arrived. The tourist island, like its neighbour, haiti, has issued hurricane warnings. And in florida, a state of emergency has been declared. The storm is massive and the storm surge predicted will go for miles and miles. Right now Hurricane Irma is travelling at around 15 mph and the track has it forecasted to move just south of the florida keys on a westerly path with a slight north turn. Its incredibly important that all floridians keep a close eye on this incredibly dangerous storm. Do not sit and wait to prepare, get prepared now. The storms track may change, but at the moment it looks set to head towards the British Virgin islands, puerto rico, cuba, and by the weekend, the florida keys. This monster hurricane comes on the heels of harvey, who, which struck texas and louisiana last month, but irma is a bigger storm and potentially more dangerous. In miami theyre preparing for the worst. Ive lived through hurricane andrew in miami, hurricane katrina, hurricane wilma and i have faith in god. These pictures show conditions inside the hurricane to help predict its root. Now millions of people across the caribbean are preparing for this potentially catastrophic storm. Sarah corker, bbc news. We can now speak to gemma handy, a journalist in antigua. Thank you for talking to us. I know you are broadcasting live even though the power is off across the island. What are people doing . Sitting with candles, a generator, waiting and worrying . We have been inundated with phone calls from the public. Everyone has been calling in and sharing light hearted stories of previous hurricanes. Some people are sitting in the dark and just want to talk to somebody. It is helping me stay calm and help other people stay calm. There is a sense of trepidation in the air. No one knows what is going to happen, obviously. We have been through storms before, several of them. There was a catastrophic 22 years ago, hurricane lewis, but that was only a four, this is a five. What kind of light hearted stories do they have . There was one who was in the hurricanes i mentioned. She got on her roof with two tablecloths and tried to parachute off of the roof. We told her not to do that this time. This is unusual in the caribbean, but people were bringing their pets and others pets as well inside. There are many roaming dogs. No one knows how many there are. Some said they would let them loose, others brought them inside. Normally they would find high ground. In storms like this, i dont know what is going to happen to them. We have heard the shelters are far more full than what was expected. People are taking this storm very seriously. Definitely. There are 43 on the island. 0ne definitely. There are 43 on the island. One on the sister island, 42 on antigua, and many are housing people tonight. It is unprecedented. Thank you so much, gemma, and all the best to all of you. Thank you. One of the places in irmas sights is cuba. The bbcs will grant joins us now from havana. How is this looking . There is still a little while to go before it reaches cuba. Already the government is issuing warnings for the east of the island which will be hit by irma first. We see regular warnings on state television, with advice as well on the radio. There has not been the mad dash yet, i would say, to the supermarkets to stock up on water, gas, fuel, but that is beginning as we get closer to the weekend. This afternoon i started to see tensions rising a bit, i think, as word is getting out this will be as word is getting out this will be a big one, and destructive. The most powerful in a decade, we are being told. Behind irma is Tropical Storm jose in the atlantic, also expected to become a hurricane in a day and a half. Obviously, it is hurricane season, but there is no break. Cuba is good at dealing with hurricanes. They obey instructions by and large. 0ther they obey instructions by and large. Other parts of the caribbean, sometimes they ignore advice, and dont want to leave homes. But in cuba, they generally do what they are told because there are consequences if they do not. Even though they have had poor relations over the years with the United States, the actual Work Together very well. It looks like they will continue to try to do that this time around. We know the region well. Is there a contrast with cuba and say florida . Considering what we have seen on television, there are people reacting early in florida. That is perhaps because of what happened in texas and louisiana. I think when we get closer to the weekend, we will see a quicker and more broad reaction in cuba too. But things are hard. You cannot just reaction in cuba too. But things are hard. You cannotjust go down to the local store and get hardware. They still have economic embargoes. That makes preparations difficult. But when push eventually comes to shove, when push eventually comes to shove, when it makes landfall, we will see a similar response, evacuation orders, advice, and if need be, the authorities turning out to give a hand. Thank you so much. Take care. Will grant hand. Thank you so much. Take care. Willgrant in hand. Thank you so much. Take care. Will grant in havana. And you can get all the latest updates on Hurricane Irma including a map showing when its predicted to make landfall and where on our website. Just go to bbc. Com news. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. The russian president has dismissed the idea of imposing new sanctions on north korea because of its recent nuclear test. Vladimir putin also warned that what he called the military hysteria over north korea could lead to global catastrophe and heavy loss of life. The North Koreans remain defiant. Syrian Government Forces have broken a long running siege of deir al zour by so called islamic state. The city and its surrounding province is the last major territory in syria still mostly controlled by the militants. An estimated 93,000 civilians have been trapped in the area since 2015. They have depended on military relief flights and un air drops. Researchers in the United States have found that the zika virus, which causes birth defects in babies, could be used to fight the most common form of brain cancer in adults. Early studies on mice show that the virus targets brain cancer stem cells, preventing tumours from recurring. The virus does not appear to affect healthy adult brain cells. The Trump Administration is ending Legal Protection for immigrant children brought into the us unlawfully by their parents. Barack 0bamas daca policy gave legal status to almost 800,000 young people, often known as dreamers. Today he called President Trumps decision cruel and wrong. Aleem maqbool reports. Anger at whats seen as the white house once again being anti immigrant. Its decision affects those brought to this country illegally as children, who under president 0bama were offered an amnesty. The us attorney general announced its been scrapped. The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things, contributed to a surge of minors at the southern border which yielded terrible humanitarian consequences. It also denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs. Ximena is one of the hundreds of thousands affected, now fearful shell lose her job and ultimately be deported. Its tough. Its tough to think that as a young adult youve given a lot to a country and that you love a country so much and you feel like youve earned something and they take that away from you. And jesus, a paramedic whos been working to help the victims of the flooding in houston, is another who has had his life turned upside down by this decision. Entire lives are here. Theres nothing thats back in our countries. I havent been back to mexico since i was six, so to be sent back to mexico, i wouldnt know what to do, i wouldnt know where to go. I will terminate this a legal order on immigration from barack 0bama. I have a great heart for the folks were talking about, a great love for them. I love these kids, i love kids. In the end, after mr trump dithered, those on the right forced his hand, to the disappointment of those now protesting. This is an excuse by the donald Trump Presidency to attack immigrants. He is playing to the right wing base. People here may be outraged, but they wont be surprised. This after all was one of President Trumps election promises and there will be millions of his supporters who are today celebrating and others who even feel he needs to go much further. The president s Given Congress six months to come up with an arrangement that could soften the blow. But for so many whove been contributing to American Society for years, theres already a sense theyve been cast out. Aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come we meet the british endurance runner aiming to become the fastest woman to run across america. She received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor and dying in indias slums. The head of the Catholic Church said Mother Teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. We have to identify the bodies, then arrange the coffins and take them back home. Parents are waiting and wives are waiting. Hostages appeared, some carried, some running, trying to escape the nightmare behind them. Britain lost a princess today, described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable. An Early Morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion. This is bbc news. The latest headlines caribbean islands are making final preparations before the record breaking Hurricane Irma makes landfall. Growing protests as President Trump scraps a scheme protecting undocumented Child Migrants from deportation. Aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian crisis in bangladesh after a dramatic increase in the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing neighbouring myanmar. Fighting in the state of rakhine has left hundreds dead. 123,000 people have sought refuge in the last 11 days. 0ur correspondent Sanjoy Majumder is on the myanmar Bangladesh Border and has this report from coxs bazaar. Desperation is what is driving the rohingya refugees, and bangladesh, which has taken them in, is being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that are surging in. So a trucks just backed up now to take all of these refugees to the nearest relief camp, and you can just see the chaos as theyre all desperate to get on board. Its a chance for them to get somewhere where theyll be safe, where they can rest. Were getting a sense now that things are slowly spinning out of control. Soldiers try to bring in a sense of order, but the refugees are weak, dehydrated and disorientated after days on the road. The rohingyas are often described as the worlds most persecuted minority. Ethnic muslims and buddhist majority myanmar have been denied citizenship, despite living there for centuries. Now theyve been driven out. Their villages have been burnt, hundreds killed in a wave of religious violence. Translation people are either being shot or burnt alive in their homes. We had to flee for our lives. Theyre making sure there are no muslims left there. So they fled, carrying with them whatever they could salvage from their wrecked homes. Local volunteers meet them as they arrive, handing out packets of cooked rice and meat, their first proper meal in days. But with so many refugees coming in, space is running out. Existing camps are stretched beyond capacity. New ones are being built by the hour, open fields and hilltops have now become vast settlements. But the conditions are basic. This pit, filled with rain, serving as the camps water supply. Bangladesh is one of the worlds most densely populated nations, now it has to somehow find space for all the rohingyas who are pouring in. Sanjoy majumder, bbc news, coxs bazar. Five men, including four serving british soldiers, have been arrested as part of an investigation into a neo nazi group. National action was banned by the government last december for promoting violence and acts of terrorism in the wake of the murder ofjo cox, the mp who was killed by a white supremacist. Tom symonds has more. Three of the men are members of the royal anglian regiment, which recruits in norfolk, suffolk, essex and cambridgeshire. Four were arrested in the uk, one in cyprus. An Army Spokesman said. That group is national action, which described itself last year in the language of hitlers fascism, as a National Socialist youth movement. Its members marched the streets. The focus was as much on spreading neo nazi ideas online. But experts say the far right is not well supported. But when the labour mpjo cox was murdered by a loner influenced by similar far right propaganda, the government acted, proscribing or banning national action. They are vile, they promote violence and terrorism and they have no place in this country. Legally, the group should not now exist but police in birmingham are questioning five suspected members under counterterrorism laws, while searches of properties are carried out. A french magazine has been ordered to pay almost 120,000 in damages for publishing topless photographs of the duchess of cambridge. The pictures were taken with a long lens during a private holiday in provence, almost five years ago. 0ur paris correspondent, lucy williamson, was in court. On one side of the channel today there was barely a front page without her, the duchess of cambridge expecting her third child. Her private life a cause for media interest, national comment, public celebration, but when does interest become intrusion . In the paris suburbs today, judges ruled french celebrity magazine closer did invade her privacy by publishing topless photos of the duchess while on holiday. The Magazine Editor and chief executive were each fined 16,000 euros, the maximum penalty said the royals lawyer. Is that unusual . Yes, absolutely. The royal couple were also awarded 100,000 euros in damages, a high figure for france but far smaller than the 1. 5 Million Euros requested by the couple. The lawyer for closer described the amount requested as extravagant and said the private lives of the royal family were a matter of Public Interest. Translation the photos showed a couple in love and ill remind you that in the case of the dukes parents, we were led to believe they adored each other by being given official photographs, and it wasnt the reality. Here at least the photos arent offensive and show that they love each other. Its in the Public Interest to know that. The duke of cambridge said the clandestinely the photographs the duke of cambridge said the clandestine way the photographs had been taken had been particularly shocking and all the more painful given the way his mother, diana, had died in paris, pursued by paparazzi. In a statement after todays ruling, Kensington Palace described the photographs as last week, william went to view tributes laid to Princess Diana on the 20th anniversary of her death. Having watched the media make both hero and hostage of his mother, the duke of cambridge seems determined to stop the same thing happening to his wife. Lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. Mimi anderson began running in her late 30s to help her overcome anorexia and since then shes gone on to become one of the top endurance runners in the world breaking records wherever she goes. Now shes preparing for her biggest challenge so far, to become the fastest woman to run across america. Sophie raworth went to meet her. For the next 7. 5 weeks, Mimi Anderson will be running at least 55 miles every single day as she makes her way from la to new york. Its taken years of planning and a lot of training. My run will start from los angeles and it will go all the way through colorado. Shell pass through 12 states in all as she tries to break the womens coast to coast record set in 1979. 2,850 miles in total, thats a long way. Here are all your medals, what a haul. I have to say im quite proud of them actually. But mimi is used to cover challenges. She took up running in her mid 30s and since then has conquered some of the hardest endurance races in the world. This one here, the marathon des sables, which is 250 kilometres over six days in the Sahara Desert was my very first race in 2001, nearly died doing it but i loved it, that was fantastic. The arctic race is called 6633 extreme ultra marathon, 350 miles non stop over eight days in temperatures as low as 40 and i actually won that race overall, male and female. And i came i think in 2a hours ahead of the only other person who finished. But running across america is her toughest challenge yet. What drives you to do this . I love the challenge, i love the thought of me physically and mentally, because that plays a big part, of actually being able to run the distances that i do. To power her to a new world record shes relying on a lot of coffee, ten pairs of Running Shoes and a support crew, including her husband, friends and a physio. Shes already dreaming of the finish line. When i get to the steps of New York City Hall ill crawl up those steps. Those steps, im just going to love them and ill get down on my knees and ill kiss them if necessary. That was Mimi Anderson talking to sophie raworth, and the greatjourney across america starts on thursday. A reminder of our top story. 0fficials across the caribbean have ordered people to prepare for one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the atlantic. Hurricane irma is now an extremely dangerous category 5 storm, with winds of nearly 300kph. Its currently heading for the Virgin Islands and puerto rico. Thanks for watching. Good morning. Hot on the heels of Hurricane Harvey comes irma, and this has the potential to be a catastrophic hurricane. Already a category 5, we have sustained winds of 185mph, potentially gusting to 220mph. You can see quite clearly the eye of the storm here on the satellite picture. Its notjust the strength of the winds and the volume of the rain, its also a significant storm surge thats heading towards the leeward isles. The storm surge is where, underneath this area of low pressure, it literally lifts the surface of the sea by as much as 9 11 feet, descending across these caribbean islands. So certainly well need to keep you updated on developments of that storm. Back closer to home, things are a little quieter. We have got more of a westerly direction to the source of our air now, that means slightly fresher and it does mean that first thing in a morning we could actually see temperatures into single figures in more rural spots. So it will be a chilly start but potentially a dry one, with some sunshine coming through. There will be a scattering of showers into the far north west with more of a significant breeze here. But the best of the sheltered south eastern areas should see some sunshine and, as a consequence, we should get some warmth as well. Highest values possibly up to 20 degrees, as opposed to 1a to 17 further north and west. Now, as we move out of wednesday, into thursday, the winds will strengthen again, and we will see more significant rain. An area of low pressure will move in from the atlantic. Its going to bring heavy rain to scotland and northern ireland, eventually moving through the borders into the north of england and north wales. Further south of that, its a drier story, but it does mean a pretty disappointing day on thursday afternoon in scotland. Underneath the cloud, with wind and the rain, 13 15 degrees at the very best. Some of the rain quite heavy close to the lake district, and stretching over the Higher Ground of wales. Sheltered eastern areas should cling on to some sunshine and, if this happens, we could see 19 20 degrees perhaps across the southeast through london. Then further west, with more of a fresher westerly breeze, a little more cloud and a slightly fresher feel. With that low pressure, with its front, sweeps south and east, during thursday night, into friday. It takes a spell of significant rain with it as well. Wrapped around that low, there will be some squally showers. So some rain to come for england and wales, for a time. Some of the showers heavy, with some hail and some thunder into the far north west. And temperatures, again, pretty disappointing. I can offer you something a little better as we move into the start of the weekend. Drier through england and wales with a scattering of showers into the far north west. Take care. This is bbc news. The headlines 0fficials across the caribbean have ordered people to prepare for one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the atlantic. Hurricane irma is now an extremely dangerous category five storm, with winds of nearly 300 kilometres an hour. Its currently heading for the Virgin Islands and puerto rico. There have been protests in Many American cities at President Trumps scrapping of the scheme protecting undocumented Child Migrants from deportation. He says hes hopeful congress will find a long term solution. Barack 0bama, who brought in the scheme, has called the decision cruel and wrong. The un is warning of a humanitarian crisis in bangladesh because of a dramatic increase in Rohingya Muslims fleeing neighbouring myanmar. Fighting in Rakhine State has left hundreds dead. At least 35,000 refugees fled in a single day. Now on bbc news, hardtalk
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.