And london, this is bbc world news its newsday. Good morning. Its 7am in singapore, midnight in london, and seven pm in the Eastern Caribbean, where several islands are reeling from the effects of one of the most powerful atlantic storms on record. Hurricane irma, a force five storm system, brings with it gusts of up to 320 kilometres per hour thats 200 miles per hour. The hurricane has already battered several of the leeward islands. The Prime Minister of antigua and barbuda, said 90 percent of buildings on barbyuda have been demolished after the centre of irma smashed into the island. At least two people have died on saint martin and neighbouring french territory of st barts. The eye of the hurricane has passed over the British Virgin islands. President trump has declared a state of emergency on the Us Virgin Islands and puerto rico as the storm approaches. Our correspondent laura bicker reports from the capital, san juan. This is what it sounds like to be at the heart of one of the strongest storms recorded in the atlantic. The winds, like a jet engine, roared through the Eastern Caribbean. The category 5 hurricane ripped roofs off homes and devastated parts of the french territories of st barts and st martin. Two people have lost their lives. Translation i want, firstly, to say a few words to express our profound compassion and solidarity to our fellow citizens who today were affected by Hurricane Irma on st martin and in st barts. These pilots flew into the eye of the storm, a unique view of the sheer scale of this hurricane and, at its core, are those catastrophic 185 mile an hour winds, and that is what they fear on the island of puerto rico. The aim is to try to save as much as possible. Neighbours are handing out wood boarding and supplies. This shop owner describes them as angels. Were a strong island. You know, weve been through this before, so. You know, its a lot of emotions going on, you know. The governor has been inspecting one of the shelters set up for the thousands who are expected to evacuate low lying areas. We are hopeful that itll skid off somewhere north east of puerto rico, but were prepared for the worst as well. We cant leave anything to chance, and our priority right now is to make sure that the people of puerto rico are safe. These families hope they will be safe here. The full force of Hurricane Irma is still several hours away and already you can see and feel its effect. The preparations have been made over the last few days and the governor says that could be the difference between lives lost and lives saved. In florida theyre taking no chances, evacuations are already under way. The storm could hit the Sunshine State this weekend. President trump has declared a state of emergency, freeing up relief funding for florida and puerto rico. We have a lot to discuss, including the fact that theres a new and, seems to be, record breaking hurricane heading ight toward florida and puerto rico, and other places. Well see what happens. Well know in a very short period of time, but it looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good. Hurricane irma has proved to be a terrifying, unstoppable force. All those in her path can do is hunker down and hope. Laura bicker, bbc news, puerto rico. Well laura joined us a short time ago and gave us this update from puerto rico. It has to be said we have chosen a sheltered place to forecast because a round the corner you can hardly stand up. 130 mph winds. We are seeing roof and debris flying, the trees are bending and we are seeing the effects of this beginning to ta ke the effects of this beginning to take hold of port puerto rico. People should stay at away, the Hurricane Matthew away from the coast but it still leaves 150 mph winds which could later the coastline over the next few hours. The preparations have we made, there are shelters set up for a many people. They have seen the effect of this Hurricane Harvey had on parts of the Eastern Caribbean when two lives have been lost. As you say, you pointed out two lives have been lost. The reason a significant risk to life here . Very really is. It just isnt soap to be outside. It is unknown exactly what the effects are going to be because we have not seen anything like it since the 1920s. When you see some of the hurricane is developing, and some of the pictures we have seen, it shows its sheer scale and size and when it comes to an event like this, the governor said the preparations are utterly key and that is what they have been trying to do here. Now a look at todays other news. Un human rights investigators say the Syrian Air Force did carry out a chemical weapons attack on a rebel held town in april. At least 83 people died when a bomb filled with the nerve agent sarin was dropped on Khan Sheikhoun in idlib a report says. The Syrian Regime insists the incident was faked and denies using chemical weapons. Pope francis is in the colombian capital, bogota, on the first papal visit to the country in three decades. His five day trip is a plea for lasting peace after the signing of an accord ended half a century of conflict between the government and fa rc rebels. During the flight, pope francis also appealed for an end to the political and economic crisis in neighbouring venezuela. A court in moscow has ruled that a policy used by the Russian Airline aeroflot to link flight attendants pay to their dress size, is illegal. Two stewardesses brought the case, after their wages fell because they were deemed too big. Aeroflot had argued that limited space on planes meant larger staff were not suitable. In korea, this volcano, standing 6000 metres in the Andes Mountains has been erupting. Its name means tongue of power. The volcano has been erupting for more than 500 yea rs. The government in myanmar has rejected accusations that the armed forces are conducting a campaign of indiscriminate violence against Rohingya Muslims. So far more than 140,000 rohingyas have fled into neighbouring bangladesh. Bangladesh has accussed myanmar of laying landmines along their border to stop people returning to their villages an allegation denied by officials in mee anmar. The United Nations says it expects the number of Rohingya Refugees seeking safety in bangladesh to more than double. 0ur correspondent Sanjoy Majumder sent this report from the border. These are myanmars boat people dazed, confused after an exhausting trip over the choppy bay of bengal. Stepping on shore with their possessions, whatever they could grab in a hasty escape. This boat carrying Rohingya Refugees has just arrived on the south eastern coast of bangladesh. You can see what a dangerous voyage it has been for them, the boat is lifting dangerously on its side. But its the only way they could have made their way here. Theyve been frightened, running for their lives. 0n the beach they collapse in a heap, many of them severely dehydrated and sea sick after an eight hour voyage. Some can scarcely believe theyre alive, others let their loved ones know they made it. A brother and sister united after days, separated after their village was attacked, unsure if they would ever seen each again. But some, like dilbar, continue to relive the horror of a village being attacked . Translation it has taken us 20 days to come here. 0ur village was attacked by the army and buddhist mobs. They burned our house and my aunt was killed. Her grandson was shot, his injured arm now encased in homemade splint. Translation we hit in the mountains for 12 days from where we could hear the sound of bombing, of rockets being fired. People were being slaughtered by the army and buddhist mobs. Its hard to independently verifying whats happening inside myannmar, access is severely restricted. But this unverified video, shot by one of the escaping rohingyas, appears to show thousands of others waiting to leave, fleeing what they allege are targeted killings. And many of those who do make it across to bangladesh bare the scars of violence. This teenager shows us what he says are gunshot wounds. When my village was attacked i tried to run, he says. The soldiers fired indiscriminately. Many people died. They are sometimes described as the worlds most persecuted minority, driven from their homes, the rohingyas now have to find a way to rebuild their lives. Sanjoy majumder, bbc news, bangladesh. The latest on the tensions between north korea and the United States now and President Trump says that military action is not his first choice in dealing with the increasing threat posed by pyongyang. The us is calling for the un to impose crippling sanctions on north korea, including an oil embargo, a freeze on kimjong un and other officials assets and a ban on textile exports from the country. I spoke to Anthony Ruggiero from the washington based thinktank, foundation for defense of democracies who told me sanctions can only be effective if all countries respect them. The problem here, frankly, is that russia and china are violating the sanctions. Whether they are un all us sanctions. President putin says sanctions do not work and they do not work because Russian Companies and individuals are selling goods to north korean proliferation companies and they are also doing us dollar transactions for energy sales with north korea in violation of us law. The chinese of one of the key supplies of crude oil, one of the things the Un Security Council is looking to try to bring into place to stop exports to north korea of crude oil. Assuming that these Security Council members come into line, will it be truly that simple, will these changes actually lead to a change of behaviour in north korea . The issue here is the un resolutions are not self enforcing. What we have learnt in 11 years is that when china and russia and, frankly, other countries weather in africa or europe or Southeast Asia continued to do business with north korea in violation of these sanctions, there is no way it will change north korean behaviour and thatis change north korean behaviour and that is where the us comes in. Using the iran sanctions as an example, they can force of these countries to abide by the un and us sanctions and that eventually will change north korean behaviour. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come. Memory master ya njaa wintersoul is here in the studio with me. And well be putting her powers of recollection to the test live on the programme. Freedom itself was attacked this morning and freedom will be protected. 100,000 anglicans. Black and white. We say to you today, in a loud and clear voice, enough of blood and tears. Enough the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. It is an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. Iam free this is newsday on the bbc. Im Sharanjit Leyl in singapore. Im alpa patel in london. Our top stories. Hurricane irma kills at least two people on its path through the caribbean. There has been widespread damage. It is now threatening the us territory of puerto rico. Bangladesh accuses myanmar of planting landmines along the border, as thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee across it. Myanmar denies the accusation. And now look at these pictures which are proving quite a hit on the bbc news website. They show a rather unusual attempt by an irish man to catch a bat which has flown into his kitchen. It was filmed in the home of Derry Fleming in county kerry by his son, tadge. You can see derry chasing the bat around with a small towel, rather unsuccessfully at first. He then switches to a bigger towel, though that doesnt seem to help much either. But youll be pleased to know the bat was eventually captured, and released back into the wild, unharmed. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world brexit leaks are the big story in the guardian paper here in the uk it says the eu will risk increasing tensions with britain by toughening its position on issues like the irish border. The paper says the eu will also demand continued protection for special foods like parma ham and spanish caviar. Lets move onto the china daily heres the front page which says the countrys Aviation Industry is to buy more than 7,000 new planes over the next twenty years that is well above the global average, the paper says helped by chinas growing middle class and relaxed visa policies around the world. And finally the New York Times features one man and a house sounds run of the mill. But the man restored the house of late American Civil Rights activist rosa parks. Ryan mendoza took the house to berlin to preserve it hes now offering it to museums across the us. And lets take a look at a story thats sparking discussions online. This video is trending right now. Its of an alleged shoplifter staging a daring escape after being arrested. The woman had been handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. But she managed to release her seatbelt and then get out of her handcuffs and climb into the front seat and steal the vehicle. A high speed chase followed, before the woman was eventually re captured. You can see more of that story on bbc. Com news. In pakistan, over 20 million children are not in education. Many are forced to work by their families who are often desperately poor. But as Secunder Kermani has been finding out, a series of schools in the countrys biggest city, karachi, are aiming to change that. By bringing lessons quite literally onto the streets. In the middle of four lanes of busy traffic, a school for some of pakistans most vulnerable children. Many of the pupils here are barely in their teens. But practically all of them used to work for a living. 11 year old mahar used to be made. Now she hopes one day to be a doctor. Translation now she hopes one day to be a doctor. Translationzlj now she hopes one day to be a doctor. Translation i used to have to sweep, mop and dust other people s houses. My father died so my mother said i needed to work. And how do you feel coming to school now . I like it a lot. There are said to be hundreds of thousands of Street Children in the city of karachi. Many live and work in the shadow of this religious shrine where local charities and devote his distribute free food. That is where one local businesswoman decided to start a school. 0pposite one local businesswoman decided to start a school. Opposite the shrine, underneath a flyover. Translation we are here because we do not have enough funding for a proper building and because this is an area were a lot of Child Exploitation gangs operate. Both the children lived nearby, so it is easy for them to attend. At times, the noise from the traffic can be deafening. You can see how close the cars are on the other side of the fence. But the school is hugely popular. 600 children are registered here alone, and there are two other schools just like this elsewhere in the city. They say they would like to open more, but they do not have enough funds. The school runs entirely on volu nta ry funds. The school runs entirely on voluntary donations but manages to provide free lunches and school uniforms. They also pay each child the equivalent of around 30p a day to make up for the money they would have been earning. That helps persuade their parents to allow them to attend. Translation at first my mum would not let me come. I said i wa nted mum would not let me come. I said i wanted to study but she said no, i need to work. Since i have learnt to read and write my mum is really happy. Lessons take place under the watch of armed dad s. There have been threats from criminal gangs to try and recruit youngsters in the area. But the schools founder says she is determined every child should getan she is determined every child should get an education, wherever it is. I dont know if you ever forget where you left your keys, or struggle to recall the names of people youve known for years, but our memories can have a habit of playing tricks on us. One person who never has such problems is yanjaa wintersoul. Shes a world memory champion and were going to put her powers of recall to the test. Yanjaa, were going to give you a0 seconds to memorise this image. 0ur viewers can see the same image in the screen behind her. In the meantime, im going to tell you a little about yanjaa. Yanjaas 23 and has lived in stockholm, mongolia, tokyo and kenya. Shes recently been a star of the show swedens got talent, and her amazing memory feats include learning all 328 pages and more than 4,800 items in an ikea catalogue. Two years ago she broke the world record for recalling names and faces by memorizing an astounding 187 names in just 15 minutes at the hong kong 0pen memory championship. She has about five more seconds to look at the photo. Back to me. Thank you very much. After looking at the photo, of the duke and duchess of cambridge arriving in poland in july. Tell us some of the details of the photograph. They have a colour scheme of blue and red going on so the father has a nice red tie, the daughter has a red shoes, sandals with white socks sticking out. And a red dotted pattern and cute dress. The sun has the same colour scheme as his father with the cute shirt and blue pants and blue shorts. And then there are a row of guards in then there are a row of guards in the background. Do the right there are also people in the background having the time of their lives laughing at something. How about kates necklace . Oh, details. Im not a jewellery person, sorry. Kates necklace . Oh, details. Im not a jewellery person, sorrym has the red theme going as well. This is amazing. You had a few seconds to look at and it is, you did give us a detailed explanation. Tell us how you did it. What are some of the tricks for boosting your memory. I tried to make it personal, imagine that i am part of this family and imagine that if i am part of the family i am helping them to choose their outfits and as long as you make factual knowledge about the world personal, it is easy to remember. So what do you tell people who want to improve their memory . Some people wake up and not even know what they are the weak it is. What sort of advice . Sleep a lot. Sleeping consolidate short term memory into long term memory. A rich social life is important. Some studies show that being isolated is more dangerous to your brain health than other types of dangerous substances. Eating well and moving. Not even exercising, you canjust go moving. Not even exercising, you can just go walking for half an hour a week. At what point did you decide to bea a week. At what point did you decide to be a memory champion . a week. At what point did you decide to be a memory champion . I dont think it was a conscious choice. It was more that i wanted to do my bachelor degree in two years, half the time it normally takes, and i discovered a book about memory technique. By studying that i realised that using that gave me a lot of free time and with that free timei lot of free time and with that free time i decided to use this and become a champion as well. You suggested tips such as sleeping and try not to be isolated. There is another tip, you also have Sherlock Holmes, many viewers may watch this, he uses a mind palace. Do you do something similar . I do. Every champion uses a memory palace. And what they show on the Sherlock Holmes season is ok, but the truth is that it is dynamic than that. |j is that it is dynamic than that. would love to hear more of your tips but we have run out of time. Thank you very much for coming on the programme and speaking with us. Good morning. There is wind and rain in the forecast for the British Isles over the next few days but nothing like the wet and windy weather that is being wrought in the caribbean by Hurricane Irma. During the day ahead the storm will move away from porto ricco, just clipping the north of the Dominican Republic and haiti and moving towards the eastern side of cuba late in the day. Back home we have our own area of low pressure, a far less potent one, obviously. Isobars beginning to squeeze together, showing that the wind will be picking up as the day goes on. We will also see some outbreaks of rain. Central and eastern areas particularly it could bea eastern areas particularly it could be a fairly dry and bright start but further north and west cloud will thicken and outbreaks of rain slide across northern ireland, scotland and Northern England with increasingly blustery winds. At four oclock in the afternoon, a lot of cloud for the likes of belfast, temperatures around 16 degrees. The rain turning heavier Cross Western areas of scotland that even outbreaks across eastern scotland and temperatures in aberdeen just 13 degrees. That rain stretching across Northern England from newcastle to manchester and down into the midlands. We will see cloud and showers into the afternoon. Similar weather for wales, cloudy weather was showery rain at times. 17 degrees in cardiff. A grey afternoon prospects of the south west of england. Again, with showers coming and going times and the moon creasing with strong wind building here. Bike is holding an down into the south east but even here cloud thickens up with a couple of showers into the afternoon. As we go on through the night we will see bands of rain progressing a radically southwards and eastwards, getting stuck across southern areas by the end of the night. Temperatures dropped to 10 degrees in aberdeen and 15 in plymouth. During friday this band of rain will get stuck across southern this band of rain will get stuck across southern areas this band of rain will get stuck across southern areas and some rain could be quite heavy. There will be blustery wind is frowned as well but the further north and west you are, the further north and west you are, the better the chance of seeing some sunshine albeit with some every thundery downpours mixed in. As we go into the weekend, things look decidedly unsettled and dare i say autumnal. Cool windy weather with some rain at times. The rain on saturday coming in the former showers. Some of these could be heavy, fairly breezy, the wind not coming from a warm direction at all so the temperature just 16 18 degrees. A bright start on sunday towards the south east, heavy rain pushing and was north west and late in the day Western Areas particularly will very windy indeed. This is bbc world news. Our top story one of the atlantics biggest ever storms, Hurricane Irma is battering the islands of the caribbean, leaving at least two people dead on st martin and st barts. Its now headed for puerto rico. With winds reaching up to almost 300 kilometres per hour, Hurricane Irma has caused flooding and inflicted Severe Damage to buildings and power supplies. Myanmars government rejects accusations that its armed forces are targeting Rohingya Muslims. And this video is trending on bbc. Com the social media site, facebook, says it has discovered a russian funded campaign to promote divisive social and political messages during last years us president ial election campaign. Thats all from me now. Stay with bbc world news. Now on bbc news its time for hardtalk