hurricane irma continues to devastate the caribbean. we have been getting pictures in from all over. what you see here is the caribbean islands being battered by a category 5 hurricane. that's the highest possible level — which makes irma the most powerful atlantic storm in a decade. this is the island of saint martin — officials warn most of the area is all but destroyed. this is antigua, very severe, home to 80,000 — luckily the islanders escaped major damage to their homes, and there have been no fatalities. in puerto rico, more than half of the island's 3.5 million residents were without power amid heavy downpours and strong winds. look at the scene is facing them as irma swept through, heavy downpours and strong winds. and anguilla and the british virgin islands have also been hit by the extreme weather. the hurricane sustained wind speeds of 285km/h, reducing buildings to rubble and left at least ten people dead. barbuda has been the worst hit. the tiny island there, as you can see. you can see here the widespread devastation to people's homes and communities. the residents on the island have been speaking to us. my my whole house caved in, and there we re my whole house caved in, and there were lee mack are seven of us, and all we had to do was pray and call for help —— and their are seven of us. for help —— and their are seven of us. i didn't know what would happen to me. last night was the most devastating experience i have ever had in my life, and i am almost 60. me and my family of seven including an infant of two months, we had a shelter in the closet. here is the prime minister of barbuda speaking after visiting the island. this was absolutely devastating, heart—wrenching. some properties have lost roofs, part roofs, all roofs, some have been totally demolished. it is absolutely heart—wrenching, the extent of the destruction in barbuda, it is unprecedented. in fact i am of the view that as it stands now barbuda is barely habitable. irma is currently north of the dominican republic, and is on course for the low—lying turks and caicos islands. it is due to move onto the bahamas and cuba on saturday and then onto florida. here, they have declared a state of emergency and mobilised federal disaster relief efforts. the head of the us emergency agency says hurricane irma "will be truly devastating" when it hits the southern coastal areas of the country. but that's not all. two more storms are on their way. storm jose will revisit all these areas already hit by hurricane irma, and storm katia will thunder along the coast of the mexican state of veracruz. meanwhile on turks and caicos islands, emergency officials preparing to ride out the out the storm. drjohn freeman is the governor of the british territory. 0f of course everyone is nervous and anxious here, but we have made their preparations we should do. we've evacuated to islands, all the evacuation of two islands, our shelters are operating and people are going into them. we are messaging out as best we can to make sure people do that. our number one concern is safety. yesterday we spent a lot of time encouraging visiting tourists to get on flights out of turks and caicos islands, and we have reduced the number of people who don't live here and don't need to be here. so, yes, we are anxious and we will have to ride it out. this is a country that has been hit by hurricanes before. these are very low—lying islands. we are very vulnerable, and therefore, you know, a surge means more water coming here which means more flooding, which causes more problems in terms of utilities and the functioning of the islands. those are the most low—lying areas, the ones who also have vulnerable structures, and we have vulnerable structures, and we have been encouraging them to move into the structures which can take ca re of into the structures which can take care of them. as i say, they are moving into the shelters now. along with the surge you mentioned, it is the wind speed, we are waiting to see what the impact of that is, and i'm afraid we will not really know this until of course it has hit us, but already we can see it is very windy here. the sea is very choppy. we are already within her frame, irma, she is already touching us. so we have the hurricanes developing more or less in the same place, and it is not uncommon at this time of year, but rare to see them so powerful. our science editor david shukman explains. how do hurricanes become so destructive? the strongest form off the coast of west africa, warm waters cause the air to rise, triggering thunderstorms and that is when the winds can circulate and as this weather system crosses the atlantic it grows and becomes stronger. if the winds are moving in the same direction at all levels, as with irma, they reach devastating speeds. but closer to the caribbean, the hurricane gets another boost as it passes over yet more warm water. and ocean temperatures are unusually high this year, making the winds even more aggressive. on top of this, the low pressure inside the hurricane creates a storm surge, a huge wave that strikes the coast. as climate change is raising the level of the sea, the impact is all the greater. david shukman, bbc news. let's go back to a developing story we've been covering for some time now — the mass exodus of rohingya muslims from myanmar. on wednesday, bangladesh summoned myanmar‘s ambassador in dhaka to protest against the planting of landmines along this border between the two countries. this is the border that over 164,000 rohingya muslims have been fleeing across over the last few weeks. bangladesh says myanmar is planting mines to prevent the rohingya returning to their villages — myanmar denies this. at the moment, though, people are still flowing from myanmar to bangladesh. sanjoy majumder is there. more rohingya refugees have come today from bangladesh to myanmar and you can see how congested it has become, no space, all on the road. over here they have brought in bamboo, to construct new tents for the fresh arrivals. the camps themselves are in dreadful shape. extremely crowded, the conditions unhygienic. aid agencies are very concerned. they say apart from food there is an urgent need for medical support. medecins sans frontieres see many of the refugees have gunshot wound injuries, and therefore they need as much support as possible. they are all coming in from myanmar because they are fleeing violence. they say their villages are being attacked, set on fire. a bbc colleague has managed to get into rakhine state and he has witnessed a muslim village being set on fire by rakhine youths. our correspondentjonathan head was in rakhine state and tweeted this earlier... he's written a fuller account on our website — but an important line to pick out is this: and these pictures are what a cameraman travelling with him shot. you can see the burning. now bear in mind the myanmar government says that it's rohingya militants and the muslim villagers themselves causing destruction like this. but many in the international community aren't convinced. earlier the bbc spoke to andrea gittleman, from the centre for the prevention of genocide at the us holocaust memorial museum in washington. this is her view. what we are seeing is so sustained, it appears to be systematic. what it appears to be an mass atrocities committed by the state of myanmar against the rohingya minority community. genocide has a very specific definition, but we might not have enough evidence until investigators can access the areas where these crimes are taking place. that is something that the myanmar government has time and time again refused to allow. so with the information at hand we can see that it appears that crimes against humanity are happening against the rohingya population. all states have the responsibility to protect their people from crimes like this. so the myanmar government is failing to protect its own civilians. this called upon all countries, countries within asia, south east asia, europe, all over the world, to call upon leaders of the country to bring these atrocities to a halt. it should be known that the military seems to be the primary perpetrator of these atrocities and should be held to account for these crimes against humanity. that kind of effort and signalling from the international community would be necessary for those crimes to cease. stay with us on outside source — still to come: one of the sons of the philippine president denies involvement in a multi—million—dollar drug smuggling operation. more now on hurricane irma. earlier we spoke to baroness amos, who is the director of soas university of london and is a former un under—secretary—general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordination. she told us the uk‘s response to the disaster created by hurricane irma wasn't sufficient. from my perspective having dealt with many of these disasters around the world when i was at the united nations, it is always the people on the ground to respond first. and they are looking to their national governments, but they are also looking outside for as much help to come as quickly as possible. and certainly we are now a couple of daysin certainly we are now a couple of days in and i think people are feeling that britain did not respond quickly enough, given that we know that this is hurricane season, given that this is hurricane season, given that we know that sometimes these hurricanes can shift and hit islands that were not expected to be in the way, and of course there are concerns that there is another hurricane coming that could have even more devastating consequences. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. iam karin i am karin giannone. our lead story is: hurricane irma has left a trail of destruction across the caribbean — and it's still going strong as it heads towards turks and caicos, the bahamas and the us mainland. a vote on legalising same—sex marriage in australia will proceed after a court dismissed two legal challenges. the non—binding postal vote is due to begin next week. pope francis is in colombia — he's there to express support for the peace process. thousands of people lined the route the popemobile took through the streets of the capital, bogota. amongst our most read articles on the website — roald dahl‘s final children's book has been illustrated by his longtime collaborator sir quentin blake, 26 years after it was first published. it had been the only roald dahl book not to have been illustrated by sir quentin. the book is called billy and the minpins — it was originally published with illustrations by a different author. let's head to germany now because the country's general election is just under three weeks away. ros atkins is there. yes, the 24th of september is the date of the election, when angela merkel will sit to solidify her support, and i am speaking to you from cologne, germany's fourth—largest city, and you can see this here, the gothic cathedral of cologne. it sits on the river rhine and contributes a huge amount to the german economy, the fourth biggest city, but is also significant in terms of immigration. it is in the state of north rhine westphalia which has 20% of all the migrants in germany. we have angular merkel leading the cdu, the christian democrats, and we think they will be the biggest party —— angela merkel. she is up against martin schulze used to be president of the european parliament and the now read to the social democrats. he is having a difficult campaign, to be honest. the latest poll shows that christian catlike democrats and angela merkel have a significant lead, and it does look like martin schultz will have the second biggest party, but because all—german elections end in a coalition, the other parties who could get representation, we also need to take note of them. we have the free democrats, the fdp. we have the free democrats, the fdp. we have the greens, and we also have the party that came out of the communist party that came out of the communist party in east germany, die linke, and on the right you have the alternative for germany, the afd, with their anti—immigration and anti—islam policies, which i came to look at here earlier. we will have to see what effect their policies have on a coalition, but we do know that immigration is a significant issue. you might think that is as maybe but what should i care when the polls suggest angela merkel will get a fourth term and we know that she will stay in power. there are a few reasons. she is a hugely significant player in terms of the world's responds to a number of major issues. on climate change, outside source was at the g20 watching angela merkel shape the world's response to that while donald trump went his own way. on the future of the european union you could argue there is no more significant figure. and for those of you watch on the bbc news channel we also need to take note of brexit, because nothing the eu does in those negotiations happens, certainly not of significance, without angela merkel agreeing to it. she is very important in terms of the form that brexit will take. 18 months ago on outside source we met a man from the federation of islamic organisations in europe. good to see you again, how are you doing? we were just chatting when you arrived, and you said to me the big tv debate on sunday between martin schultz and angela merkel was a disaster. can you tell us via? it was a disaster from the point of view that people have seen that there is no real choice —— can you tell us why? have seen that there is no real choice -- can you tell us why? no real choice between the first and second party so no real alternative with political content, because angela merkel as well as martin schultz have a lot of the same standpoint and views on a lot of issues, so whoever got the biggest benefit of that, most probably the afd, the right—wing parties. benefit of that, most probably the afd, the right-wing parties. despite the fact that when we last met on outside source afd was doing much better in the polls. now it is around 9% but when we met before it was 15—16%. around 9% but when we met before it was 15-16%. anyhow it depends... when you look into the circumstances. when we met before, the refugee issue was much more releva nt the refugee issue was much more relevant to the people now when the elections come closer, it is obvious that people start to look at things ina different that people start to look at things in a different manner. but anyhow afd is gaining a lot of ground. when you look at about 3—4 months ago they even had about 6—7%. you look at about 3—4 months ago they even had about 6-7%. it already has representation in the majority of state parliaments but it looks like it could have representation in the bundestag for the first time and i guess symbolically that is a big moment for germany. absolutely, the first time a right wing extremist party will take the floor on the german bundestag, the german parliament, and this is something that will change the political landscape in germany in general. what would you like martin schultz and angela merkel, the two most high profile politicians in this campaign, what would you like them to be saying to take on the afd?|j think the situation is really complicated and it is also not too easy for them to have a clear position, but i think that they need to be completely clear about what they stand for and what they don't, and it is pitifully, that the afd has already achieved a lot of its goals by putting a lot of it is contact into the mainstream. its sister party in bavaria has taken a lot of the content that afd was campaigning for, so it looks like the right—wing agenda already found its place in mainstream politics. good to speak to you, ibrahim, and as ibrahim was giving me his last a nswer as ibrahim was giving me his last answer there, i thought, as ibrahim was giving me his last answerthere, ithought, if as ibrahim was giving me his last answer there, i thought, if afd has influenced german politics despite the fact that the polls do not suggest that there are some comparisons with ukip in the uk, the uk independence party, in the way it has failed to translate its support in two places in parliament but it undoubtedly had a huge influence on the calling of the brexit referendum and the result of that referendum. and nigel farage, the former leader of ukip, has today been here in germany, speaking at a rally for the afd. thank you very much. ros will be back from germany a little later. let's turn to business... the retail giant amazon has announced plans to build a second headquarters in north america, kicking off a competition among cities to attract investment. the 5,000,000,000-dollar among cities to attract investment. the 5,000,000,000—dollar project could create up to 50,000 jobs. chicago, dallas, and toronto have immediately expressed an interest. samira hussainjoins immediately expressed an interest. samira hussain joins us immediately expressed an interest. samira hussainjoins us from new york. how significant is this second amazon hq? this is massive. as you pointed out we are talking about 50,000 jobs, and as amazon have said, the average income from these jobs will be around $100,000. of course there are all kinds of cities coming out of the woodwork saying, we will make a bid for amazon to come and have their headquarters in oui’ come and have their headquarters in our particular city. what is really interesting is that amazon has said not the united states but north america, so really opening it up to canada or even to mexico, since they said they are open to opening a new headquarters in north america. why is that so important? remember, the president of the united states donald trump said he is absolutely a jobs maker, so imagine if your president of the united states and you have this monstrous conglomerate that says we will open up a new headquarters, but it is not going to be in the united states. that would be in the united states. that would be really bad. however, the relationship between donald trump and the head of amazon, well, it is not really very good. given that relationship, samira, being notoriously not a good one, i wonder if there will be a political element to all of this? yes, if you are donald trump and you sort of put yourself up as the job creator, the one who will bring companies back to the united states, well, to have this go to a city like vancouver, toronto or even mexico city, that would really be pretty bad. how much of this really is just about irking the president in some way by saying, we are opening it up to north america, or how true is it that they are actually considering other cities? that remains to be seen, but certainly some very interesting language being used by the head of amazon. thank you, samira hussain in new york. let's stay in the usa... the country's opioid crisis is causing a lot of concern. addiction rates are soaring — and every day around 100 people die from an overdose. much of the addiction starts with legally prescribed medications. now a canadian drug firm is developing what it says is a safer alternative based on cannabis. the boss spoke to michelle fleury. somewhere between 10—15% of the population experiences chronic pain at some point in their life. to the extent that cannabinoids go on to be recognised in more effective dosage forms, then they could compete, if you like, for a significant share of that market. and that in the united states is a multi—billion dollar market. the purity and the potency of cannabis varies, so how difficult is it to get the dosing right, to know what doses to apply? when someone in heels a cigarette or a vaporiser, the amount they take —— when someone inhales a cigarette. the amount could be tenfold depending on how deeply they inhale, how long they hold their breath and other factors as well. that is certainly very inconsistent with the way that we look at medications for the treatment of virtually all other conditions, where we are pretty precise in our initial dosage recommendations. what are the risks associated with medicinal cannabis? some more serious potential side—effects are that in certain cases it has been shown that cannabinoids can induce more severe disorders in patients with pre—existing central nervous system psychiatric conditions, so that is something that most prescribers are quite aware of and would proceed cautiously with, if at all, in dealing with their patients. is there an irony, that you used to run a maker of one of the leading opioid drugs, and now here you are talking about creating a market for a product that might displace, or replace, some of those?|j product that might displace, or replace, some of those? i don't think the cannabinoids will ever totally replace the opioids. there are places where opioids will work, andi are places where opioids will work, and i don't see evidence that cannabinoids will, but they may in fa ct cannabinoids will, but they may in fact as you see wind up displacing some of those prescriptions. one of the sons of the philippine president has denied involvement in a multi—million—dollar drug smuggling operation. here he is appearing alongside the president's son—in—law, paolo duterte. he read a prepared statement to insist that the allegations against him were baseless. ican i can now deny all baseless allegations made of me. every dog has its day. in a few minutes' time here on outside source we will be live to miami because florida is making preparations for the arrival of hurricane irma, still a category numeric 5 at the minute. stay with first night. good evening. turning into a very active but also very dangerous hurricane season. only one place to start. we have the hurricanes on the scene at the minute because hurricane katia has formed in the gulf of mexico, not as powerful but it will bring heavy rain into mexico in the next few days. let's head back out to the atlantic and this area of cloud is now hurricanejose, following hard on the heels of our big story, a major hurricane, irma, which has been causing all the damage over the last few days. it is now battering the turks and caicos islands, not just with now battering the turks and caicos islands, notjust with the strength winds, but with a storm surge inundating those low—lying islands. it will run over the warm waters staying just to the north of cuba over the coming days, then by the time we get to sunday, it is starting to head up to florida. by then, still a major category 4 hurricane, when is still sustained at 150 mph, and of course this ongoing dangerous storm surge as well. by sunday, we look back at jose which may have run very close to barbuda and antigua as it strengthens. another story across south asia with ongoing flooding, the monsoon, the worst flooding in decades, millions of homes destroyed and millions of people affected, and those areas that have seen some of the heaviest rain are the last weeks will get more. this is the more obvious area of cloud with the stronger winds coming into sri lanka, heavier rain here. more rain along the west coast and the hills, from mumbai southwards, but in the north—east we are starting to see those showers developing again from myanmar into bangladesh and the north—eastern states and it is these areas that have had a lot of rain already of course. it is not raining everywhere. much of pakistan, the northwest of india, delhi for example, staying dry. and also down in goa, but those north states have heavy rain. we have some showers further south over here across the central mediterranean into italy and those could be quite heavy, drifting across to the balkans perhaps over the adriatic. iberia is sunny, the eastern mediterranean, mostly sunny, but north—western europe is wet and windy. at home it is not looking a lot better. lots of showers, not seeing the sunshine. the winds are strengthening. how long will that last? hello, i'm karin giannone, welcome to outside source. we begin in the caribbean. at least 10 people are dead after hurricane irma wreaked widespread destruction. the extent of the destruction in barbuda is unprecedented. i am of the view that barbuda is barely habitable. irma is still a category 5 hurricane — and next it's heading for the turks and caicos islands. and the uk parliament begins debating a bill that will transfer eu laws into british law after brexit.

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