of cuba. >> anthony: this is the cuba i grew up with. >> narrator: mankind teeters precariously on the brink of a thermal nuclear war. >> anthony: the missile crisis. duck and cover. hide under your desk, kids, cover yourselves with wet newspaper, because we're all going to die. >> narrator: the flames of crisis burn far stronger, fed and fanned by the bitter tirades of fidel castro. >> anthony: and this guy, always in the fatigues, underlining with every appearance that we were two nations in a never-ending state of war. >> president obama: today, the united states of america is changing its relationship with the people of cuba. we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la la sha la la la la la la ♪ ♪ >> anthony: cuba has been sitting here 55 years now, half an hour away, basically giving the biggest superpower in the

much indeed. when the united states government has ordered sixty percent of its staff in cuba to leave its embassy it's said to be because of specific attacks on quote on u.s. diplomats after embassy employees reported mysterious health problems u.s. president donald trump says some very bad things have happened in cuba but have honest says the decisions been made too quickly. we consider the decision announced today by the u.s. government through the state department is hasty and will affect bilateral relations especially cooperation in the matters of interest between both countries and the diverse exchange that takes place between cuba and the united states i say all right i want to reiterate the willingness of cuba to continue active cooperation between officials from both countries to clarify these acts completely and for that it is essential to have the participation and involvement of u.s. authorities or the embassy in havana is now expected to stop processing visas and issue a new travel warning for u.s. citizens from particle haim what happened here the beginning of an in

at how cuba has responded to t the sto. evenen though renee: was a categogory 5 and when he hit cu, the govevernment reports just 10 people have died. we will look at why many nations study cuba's hurricane preparedness. according to one study, a person is 15 times as likely to be killed by hurricane in the united states as in cuba. and even though they were hard doctorsa spent over 750 and health professionals throughout the caribbean during the storm. then to a storm of silencece. >> catastrophicc flooding. >> the monumental floodingng a humanitarian disaster cocontinu. >> houstonians are still under siege in the city still under water. publicgot a new study by citizen looks at how much of the corporate media failed to mention climate change during its coverage of hurricane harvey. then we go to houston to look at mutual aid and rescue efforts after harvey. >> we have to distribute the goods, but we also have to go and distribute the care. .eople are still being ignored because they have handed them something, they've decided all of their problems are fixed. underer,ot possible l

to cuba by the end of the 1920s and beyond those questions of sovereign debt there was the question of on one level commercial banking, financing and trade, but also what we might call personal banking. in movement in the 20s especially by citibank to set up branch of bank in the caribbean which would service middle-class customers, so just the opening up interest deposits was the new and revolutionary thing in the caribbean and something the bankers were surprised to find was profitable to them. caribbean people wanted to save and put their money in banks and get the small amount of interest on that moneyget the and that became very important kind of marketing practice on the parts of wall street. kind of monopoly of interest on the part of wall street. host: so, what was the impact generally on some of these nations, haiti, nicaragua, cubai guest: again, really differs from country to country. if you look at the-- at haiti and nicaragua for instance, these are two countries seen in the worst possible sense, exemplars of the failure of dollar diplomacy that kind of role of us banke

a team of reporters across florida and across the caribbean. we're going to start in cuba which is getting the worst of hurricane irma right now. patrick is there live and it's been pretty rough for you for a couple of hours now. how are the conditions now? >> reporter: we've been getting battered all night and now all morning by irma. you think the worst is past and then it picked up. roofs being torn off. you'll get a sense of the force of this incredible storm. this used to be the sea front here. it is now the sea. i'm watching waves go by where there were people walking yesterday. it is completely underwater. we ourselves are only able to continue to reporting here because we're on a second floor story of a building but the water continues to come up. we've got about 4 more feet to go before we need to get to higher ground so it is a very dangerous situation, particularly for the people, most of this town who only have a one story house. people yesterday who did not want to evacuate. they were going to stay in their homes. i can't imagine how they are doing now. it is a terrify

and the u.s. is relations with cuba from struggles have emerged u.s. ordering more than half of its personnel and its cuban embassy to leave the island following what it calls a series of attacks targeting diplomats now some embassy workers have reported injuries including concussions and hearing loss and authorities say they're working now to establish exactly how these injuries occurred and who could be behind them. for more i'm joined now by jason marks act he's the director of latin american center at the atlantic council jason thanks for being with us this is such a mysterious story what else can you tell us about these alleged attacks. well thanks for having me i think that you know these attacks date back to about a year ago when they were first reported first didn't get much public attention that's come to greater light these are these are attacks not only against u.s. diplomatic personnel but also canadian personnel the secretary tellers and i met with the cuban foreign secretary with bruna rodriguez earlier this week the u.s. had been away a number of options and and the s

the chase. chase became the largest lender to cuba by the end of the 1920s. beyond those questions of sovereign debt, there was also simply the question on one level commercial banking, the financing of trade but also what we might call personal banking. there was a movement in the 20s, especially by citibank to set up branch banks in thench ba caribbean which would serve as middle-class customers. suggest the opening of compoundd interest deposits was a new and revolutionary thing in the caribbean, and something that the bankers were quite surprised to find was very profitable for them, that caribbean people wanted to save, put the money io bank someone to get the small amount of interest on that money and that became a very, very important kind of marketing practice on the part of wall street. it's a monopoly of interest on the part of wall street. >> host: what was the impact generally on some of these nations, haiti, nicaragua, cuba? >> guest: again, it really differs from country to country. if you look at haiti and nicaragua for instance, these are two countries that are seen

lot of times they can sell it to other countries. >> when we were about to invade iraq, cuba was communicating intelligence information because of their proximity of us to the regime of saddam hussein. >> they're very aggressive and they're very good. >> the record suggests that cubans have been particularly successful in getting american citizens to supply them with information. ♪ >> there are a number of reasons for that but the one that strikes thus most is ideological reasons. they did not do it for money. americans who grew up in the united states in the mid to late 60s, a lot of these men and women saw the vietnam war going on and at the bay of pigs, we showed the eval side of america. and a number of them said what do i do to help people who are beinged aversely effected by the united states? >> the cubans have a long history of successfully penetrating different aspelcts f the united states government. montez is probably one of the most well known cases. >> she did not do it for money. >> ms. montes now faces 25 years imprisonment to be followed by supervised release. >

the vote violates the constitution and won't go ahead. the us cuts its diplomats in cuba by more than half and warns its citizens to stay away. it says mystery attacks have injured several embassy staff. and at the eu summit in estonia, the head of the european commission says brexit talks "need a miracle" to keep them on track. hello and welcome to bbc world news, i'm tom donkin. president trump has accepted the resignation of his health secretary, tom price, who had come under pressure after it emerged he had been using expensive private jets while travelling on government business. mr trump had said he was disappointed in mr price. he's the latest on a growing list of administration officials to resign or be sacked. the bbc‘s laura bicker has the latest from washington. donald trump pledged to his supporters that he would come to washington to drain the swamp, to end politics as usual. and here we are, his own health secretary is seen swanning around on private planes when the official government business should always be done on commercial planes. so when it comes to how he

new warning for anybody thinking about a trip to cuba. americans getting sick in a series of bizarre attacks. the feds say they still don't know who is targeting americans. that's ahead this hour on "shepard smith reporting." i'm trace gallagher. president trump praising the new tax plan and praising the biggest tax cuts in history. he also promised to make the tax codes simple, easy and fair and he says the u.s. needs to encourage companies to stay in america. >> one team, one people and one great american family. this can be remembered as the moment we took control of our destiny and chose a future of american patriotism, prosperity and pride. >> the white house and republican leaders have released a frame work for overhauling the tax code but still missing a few details. it calls for doubling the amount that isn't taxed for $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples. he would reduce the number of tax brackets to three, 12%, 25% and 35%. still no word on what income levels fall under each bracket. the plan would get rid of the estate tax, which critics call the death t

bahamas and cuba as it takes aim at florida florida. at a category five hurricane. the state is bracing for the worst as the storm looms closer. >> right now as we look at the latest radar pictures you have on screen. you can see how irma remains to be giant. and now a deadly category five storm again. the first band of the storm the size of texas. or twice the size of florida. whichever you want to call it it's big. bringing wind gusts of 50 miles per hour. anyone remaining in the keys told to evacuate immediately. the storm veered west ward earlier tonight. and charting a path that could take it through naples, fort myers and potentially tampa on sunday. but every count in florida is expected to be hit hard. the question is how hard. the storm is pummelling cuba. land fall could weaken irma. packing 160 miles per hour winds. storm surges in florida could reach 12 feet. earlier we were saying ten. causing big concern here. 23 lives have been claimed by hurricane irma as it destroyed parts of caribbean. the scenes from st. martin where the storm left much of the island in ruins and flat

. the u.s. is getting staff in cuba by more than half and warning americans not to visit after it says an attack injured embassy staff. and hopping a rocket ship for your commute. big ideas, but what are their chances of becoming a reality -- elon musk has big ideas, but what are their chances of becoming a reality? ♪ anchor: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. mike, a member of donald trump's cabinet has resigned. the secretary of health and human services has quit after his use of private charter flights created a firestorm of controversy. the president made his displeasure known and then we got news that mr. price was out today. another one bites the dust. why did he have to go? reporter: if you get elected on a slogan of draining the swamp, having your health secretary take $1 million worth of private jet flights, some two dozen since may, is hardly going along with that kind of ethos. i think he was in an impossible position. the moment i realized he was in serious trouble was when donald trump came out this afternoon, spoke to repor

, hurricane force winds, that is a real threat. overnight cuba has been battered — there's been significant damage as winds of up to 150 miles per hour hit the country's north coast. at least 25 people have died across the caribbean, including five on the british virgin islands, where a major relief effort is getting under way. in mexico at least 90 people are now known to have been killed in thursday's earthquake. also in the next hour: rohingya muslim rebels in myanmar declare a one—month unilateral ceasefire. they say their aim is to ease the humanitarian crisis — but there's desperate need for food and water for around 300,000 rohingya refugees. the stars of strictly pay an emotional tribute to the show‘s former host sir bruce forsyth who died in august at the age of 89. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. after battering its way through the caribbean, hurricane irma — currently a category 4 storm — has slammed into the lower florida keys. the storm made landfall in cuba late on friday, causing widespread damage and leaving whole communities homeless. the ire o

example of ethnic cleansing. amy: and we go to havana, cuba, where the officials have slammed trump's attack on cuba during his address to the u.n. general assembly, saying trump's comments are disrespectful, unacceptable, and meddling. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in mexico, a massive 7.1-magnitude quake struck 100 miles southeast of mexico city tuesday, collapsing dozens of buildings around the capital city, trapping school children, workers, and residents beneath the rubble. the government said this morning at least people are dead, but 217 that number is expected to rise as rescuers with sniffer dogs work to cut through collapsed structures. among the dead are least 21 students at a primary school in southern mexico city and 15 worshipers who died during a catholic mass when the earthquake triggered an eruption at a volcano southeast of the city. the disaster struck just hours after an earthquake preparedness drill held to mark the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that killed 5000 people.

millions desperate for help. >>> cuba travel alert. americans warned not to visit cuba. embassy staff ordered out after mystery attacks on diplomats. >>> another violent collapse in yosemite's el capitan. why are climbers not being kept away? >>> and hidden hotel fees. if you're off for a weekend getaway, what you need to watch for. hidden extra charges on your bill. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> from los angeles tonight, good evening to our viewers here in the west. apologies and reimbursements were not enough to save president trump's embattled health and human services secretary who a short time ago resigned over his high-flying travel ways at taxpayers' expense. we'll get to those breaking details shortly, but we want to start with the incredibly emotional plea today from the mayor of san juan, puerto rico. a cry for help. we are dying, she said, as she angrily demanded washington untangle the bottleneck that has prevented aid from reaching so many puerto ricans suffering in the aftermath of hurricane maria. the dark picture

. cuba was battered overnight. there's been "significa nt damage" and the recovery process is now beginning. in other news: officials in mexico say at least 90 people are now known to have died in thursday's earthquake. tony blair calls for tougher immigration rules numbers without the need for brexit. sir mo farah becomes the first athlete to win the great north run four times in a row. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. after battering its way through the caribbean, hurricane irma — currently a category four storm — has slammed into the lower florida keys, lashing the island chain with winds up to 130 mph. the hurricane made landfall in cuba late on friday. it engulfed villages, causing widespread damage and leaving whole communities homeless. the eye of the storm has now reached the florida keys, bringing extreme winds that are expected to last for the next few hours. all residents had been ordered to leave amid fears that a storm surge reaching 15 feet could hit the islands, most of which are only a few feet above sea level. one person has been confirmed dead in the f

powerful storm to hit cuba in more than 80 years is moving slowly along the island's north coast, causing floods and widespread damage. the government has extended its maximum alert to more provinces, as well as havana. fierce winds from hurricane irma have ripped off rooftops, uprooted trees and torn down power lines. one million people, nearly a tenth of cuba's population, have been evacuated. our correspondent will grant is in havana with the latest on the situation. cubans had hoped they might avoid the worst of the hurricane. they had no such luck. with the full force of a category 5 storm, the hurricane tore through the island's northern shore. the storm surge almost completely engulfing several small fishing villages. electricity and communication links are out across swathes of the country. some communities along the coast are wondering how they will ever rebuild, others are bracing themselves for irma's impact. even in the big cities, people are getting nervous. translation: i'm really worried. my home is not in a good state so i hope the hurricane stays away and moves out to sea

good afternoon. hurricane irma is causing widespread damage in cuba after devastating several caribbean islands. more thani million cubans have been forced to leave their homes as winds of up to 160 miles per hour were recorded. meanwhile, in florida a quarter of its population have been told to move as the storm approaches. at least 20 people are known to have died so far across the caribbean. richard galpin reports. four days after hurricane irma first hit the caribbean, cuba is now feeling the full force of its deadly winds. gusts of more than 150 miles an hour blasting these desolate streets in the north. the destruction is going to be terrible and the economic situation is very bad so great international assistance is needed. many houses here are old and unstable but so far it's not clear how much damage it has caused. what is clear is the category four hurricane will track along much of cuba's northern coast before shifting north to the united states. already, thousands of people have moved away from the cuban coast including british tourists. some of them save their hol

where it's expected? >> yes, the storm is just leaving the coast of cuba. and cuba did take some stuffening out of the storm. bad news for cuba, but good news that the storm has weakened right now. i don't believe that the 5:00 advisory is out right now they're still tweaking it a little bit. this happens when they make changes. there are airplanes flying through it. they are, really, truly looking at what's going on here. this is the storm as it comes off the california coast -- okay. i got it. the storm now is a 155 category 4, as i expected, the storm will and continue to move slightly offshore. as we zoom in, this storm is going to get into the waters of the florida straits, and the florida straits, because this area is so very warm, we could still see this come back. but right now, i don't see as much color in the satellite. that's good news. that means that the storm's eye has been torn up just a little bit. now, this is the latest, i still see a 5 and then 4. here we go. that is the jump as we get to 150 right now. the hurricane center is updating this constantly. that's w

to evacuate the coast as the hurricane is now pounding cuba with winds up to 155 miles per hour. welcome back, everybody, to msnbc world headquarters. as this hour, the storm is now at category 4 and poised to make landfall in the next 24 hours. over 5 million floridans are under mandatory evacuation as we've been talking about. bonnie, for those people that have been just getting up in the morning, everybody has had their eye owes hurricane irma understanding the fact that florida is in the eye of the storm. the entire state. you can't outrun this thing. no, you're right. and waking up to a completely different story today in terms of where the impacts might be. the storm is working its way further off to the coast of cuba. this is where it's been pounding much of cuba right now. boy, that torrential rain just continues to bring a lot of rain to the region and strong wind, as well. we're seeing the rain bands work towards the florida keys and it's relentless for cuba, though. 245 miles south-southeast of miami, florida. winds 155 miles per hour. this is a category 4 hurricane.

. that is terrible news for cuba. that is terrible news for the keys. that area there really got torn up overnight. now this thing is down significantly. the highest wind gusts i can find is about 135 but the hurricane center still hanging with 150. we're down to red, but the water here where it's going is again, very warm. i suspect that purple will come back in the forecast for landfall category 4, 150-mile-per-hour storm very close right over key west, get a map if you don't know where the places are. they're beautiful and they may not be so beautiful tomorrow afternoon. >> i will tell you every single florida key, here is the storm on radar right now. we are getting weather into key biscayne all the way into the keys. almost to about that ocean reef right there. that's key largo and if you're driving out of the keys, it's still time to get out of the keys. the watches have extended all the way into georgia and it's shifted to the west. this is the european model running right over to the west of tampa and right up into the fort myers. there are so many elderly people that may not

latest on hurricane irma. our special coverage of this category-5 storm for you. it's roaring past cuba. the latest visuals, of course, the radar showing it moving through the northern sides. here it is again. this as all of florida braces for what lies ahead the next 48 hours. survivors in the caribbean survey the damage left behind. okay, at this hour, hurricane irma pounding cuba as a cat-5 storm with ferocious 160 mile-per-hour winds. the storm on track to go and go north toward florida, pummelling the keys there tonight and into sunday, before charting a path through western florida where it is expected to hit naples, orlando, ft. myers, potentially tampa. the threat in those areas is higher than initially thought at least by the latest information that we got two hours ago from the national hurricane center. this after the storm does take a turn westward. a little bit tacking farther to the left of your screen. rest of florida is still expected to be battered by the storm the size of texas. twice the size of florida, huge. with hurricane-force winds wide enough, strong enough to r

out. cuba embassy staff off to what it describes as specific attacks on its diplomats. with. no i'm watching al jazeera live from london also coming up iraqi. protesters baghdad international flights into the region in retaliation for monday's. support for sunday's vote on it secession from spain and turning science fiction into science fact aerospace companies unveiled their futuristic plans to colonize mom. with. the united states government has ordered sixty percent of its staff in cuba to leave its embassy and havana it's said to be because of quote specific attacks on u.s. diplomats some of which have taken place in cuban hotels also used by american tourists the embassy is now expected to stop processing visas and issues and issue a new travel warning so let's get more on this now for us state department correspondent patty call hainan washington d.c. what will do we know about these attacks. well you know this is really just a bizarre international mystery so here we have twenty one diplomats they say they were attacked by what's been leaked to be a sonic weapon of sorts now

naples, florida, as the storm arrives. in cuba, the recovery is now beginning. havana's streets cuba, the recovery is now beginning. hava na's streets resemble cuba, the recovery is now beginning. havana's streets resemble a river. officials in mexico say that 90 people are now known to have died on thursday's earthquake. a bbc investigation discovered that the bodies of more than 400 children could be buried in a mass grave close to an orphanage in lanarkshire. chris froome wins the prestigious lab welter cycling race, and becomes only the third man to win that and the tour de france in the same year. —— la vuelta. the governor of florida is warning that the entire west coast of the state is at risk of major storm surges as it is battered by hurricane irma. overi million homes and businesses in southern florida are without power and thousands of an storm shelters. irma moved in after causing widespread damage in cuba. it slipped through coastal resorts and tourist resorts, flooding many areas. extreme winds and storm surges continued as the hurricane travelled on, hitting the fl

this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 2pm. hurricane irma pounds cuba with winds of more than 150mph. the cu ban authorities the cuban authorities did try to move large numbers of people out of harm's way, but still many have been left, particularly in the central province. we understand there are many thousands ever people there without power at the moment. as the storm approaches florida, nearly six million people have been told to leave their homes. can you go to your family, friends, go to those shelters. we don't want people on the road, when this storm sta rts people on the road, when this storm starts to hit. other caribbean islands, such as barbuda, already devastated by irma, are now bracing for the expected arrival of another hurricane, jose, over the weekend. a day of national mourning in mexico, after the country's deadliest earthquake in 80 years kills more than 60 people. the un warns of an unprecedented refugee crisis, after nearly 300,000 rohingya muslims flee from myanmar to bangladesh. and the manchester arena re—opens tonight with a benefit co

department pulls over half of their staff out of cuba after a string of attacks against nearly two dozen americans. it's friday september twenty ninth four pm in washington d.c. i'm manila chan you're watching our team america. twitter has a new report on how it says it battled alleged russian meddling in the twenty six thousand presidential election and this network r.t. came up in that report and twitter revealed to congress that r.t.e. promote itself through tweets and social media posts to the united states just like any other news outlet go figure r.t. and daniel hawkins have that story just when you thought the russian presidential election hacking saugor was coming to a finish a new chapter emerges and this time it's what about social media twitter have released a report to the senate which was investigating those russian on the day sions in the document they talk about troll accounts blogs accounts that were described as malicious much money that accounts and spam now they found out of the hundreds of millions accounts that do exist in the twitter sphere they've identified severa

this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 3pm. hurricane irma pounds cuba with winds of more than 150mph. the cuban authorities did try to move large numbers of people out of harm's way, but still many have been left, particularly in the central province. we understand there are many thousands ever people there without power at the moment. as the storm approaches florida, nearly six million people have been told to leave their homes. if you've been ordered to evacuate. you need to leave now. do not wait. evacuate. not tonight, not in an hour, you need to go right now. other caribbean islands, such as barbuda, already devastated by irma, are now bracing for the expected arrival of another hurricane, jose, over the weekend. the un warns of an unprecedented refugee crisis, after nearly 300,000 rohingya muslims flee from myanmar to bangladesh. and the manchester arena re—opens tonight with a benefit concert, more than three months after the terrorist attack which killed 22 people. england's cricketers look set to wrap up the series against the west indies. they're chasi

with cuba. essentially, when that core of a hurricane comes over land, you cut off that heat source of the warm ocean, so there was some gradual weakening, not a case to let your guard down because the eye is working its way off the coast of cuba now, starting that turn, and now it's a little more than 100 miles away from key west and there's a lot of very warm ocean out ahead of it. we also have rain bands well in advance of the center of the storm in florida. latest, still a category 3 hurricane. that is a major hurricane and a very dangerous one at that. it's moving west-northwest at nine and will move west-northwesterly as we head into the overnight hours. a little shift to the west compared to boston, and that's maybe some good news for miami but it's very bad news for the west coast of florida. there is more time over the warm water, which is in the 80s, and we expect landfall near the fort myers area, and that will bring wind gusts of 90 miles per hour. those strong winds extend well inland, even places like orlando. it will bring down trees and cause a lot of power outages and

of a new sanctions. plus u.s. relations with cuba hit a ball no after a brief trawl the u.s. is pulling out half of its embassy staff and warning travelers to avoid the island that's after mysterious attacks that have left some diplomats deaf. and i'm sarah harman welcome to the show it's good to have you with us tensions in spain are rising ahead of attempts by catalonia to hold a referendum on independence on sunday madrid says that's illegal and has sent thousands of police to the region but kut want to thore say everything is in place for this vote to go ahead. these are the ballot boxes that the leaders of self-governing catalonia say its citizens will use to vote in the planned referendum from spain on sunday and i was drive from the catalan capital barcelona where thirty's in the town of vic insist residents will be able to vote despite the ban from madrid. mayor says for her the issue is personal but. for me the worst punishment would be to go out into the streets and not be able to give my citizens the opportunity to express their opinion and decide. i am not afraid of

cuba and pulled half the staff from its embassy in havana after a series of sonic attacks. more than 20 people have suffered symptoms, including deafness, dizziness and brain trauma. the cause remains a mystery. preparations are underway for the start of an agreed ceasefire in colombia between government forces and the national liberation army, or the eln. the commander of the rebel group, known as gabino, issued an order to his fighters to trigger the ceasefire on sunday, to run until mid—january. both sides have been in peace talks in ecuador since february. the united nations is to send war crimes investigators to yemen, after a compromise agreement overcame objections from saudi arabia. the un human rights council unanimously adopted a resolution that will establish, what is described as, a group of eminent regional and international experts to examine all violations committed by all parties in the conflict. ryanair says it's agreed to implement measures ordered by the uk's airline regulator, the caa, to ensure all passengers affected by flight cancellations are aware of their

the course of the search we found a number of items related to cuba. a cuban sailing guide, nautical charts related to cuba. a book titled "on becoming cuban." >> and to those in the intelligence community, we would call that a clue. >> in and of themselves none of these things were evidence that they were spies, but additionally we found a short wave radio. they actually still had the means to receive short wave radio broadcasts. we found a diary that recounted his 1978 trip to cuba and conveyed a very positive image of cuba, a very negative image of the united states. >> it was a glowing report about the cuban revolution, how the people are doing well. castro's a great leader. >> it essentially conveyed kendall's infatuation with cuba. >> kendall's diary was critical. the next piece of evidence was stunning. >> in a filing cabinet in their closet, there was a record that indicated gwen had a tumor on her shoulder in late 1996 that was a matrix point that we were looking for. we knew that one of the cuban agents had a tumor on their shoulder. i had had chills up my spine when i saw

satellite picture and here's why. look at the eye as it ducks into the coast of cuba. that is great. that will weaken the storm. we'll see how long it rides this coast before it makes the turn back into open waters. that's a little piece of good news. we'll zoom in a bit. that's bad news for cuba. they're getting hammered now with incredible winds up to 140 miles an hour even south of the storm, but as of 11:00 winds are back up to 160. so now it is back up to a category 5 which blowing my mind because it's kind of sitting over land right now. it will continue to move to the west right along the north coast of cuba overnight and eventually start to make its turn. by sunday morning winds are still 150 miles per hour. that is a high end 4 and remember even though that's where it's going to be almost over key west sunday morning, remember key west and southern florida will experience tropical storm force winds as early as tomorrow night and then it takes its turn essentially to the west now along the west coast of florida just inside of tampa and by monday at 11:00 still a category 4 well we

. >> we're running out of time. this storm's going to hit. >> overnight, the storm hammering cuba and the bahamas as the death toll rises in the akron. and another huge storm, hurricane jose, follows right behind. islands devastated already right in its path. now, the focus is on irma as it takes aim at florida with landfall expected in less than 24 hours. today, saturday, september 9th, 2017. >> from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today: hurricane irma." with sheinelle jones, craig melvin, and dylan dreyer. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> good morning. welcome back to "today" on this saturday morning. i'm craig melvin. a look there at some of the images that are starting to come in. >> you can feel it already. i'm sheinelle jones. all eyes are on hurricane irma this morning. check out the category-4 storm. it is massive. wider than the state of florida, and bringing top winds of 130 miles per hour. >> here's the very latest on the storm. overnight the path shifted slightly, putting florida's west coast in peril. of course, storm surge from the east to the west coast

see with the bahamas as well as cuba. but the thing to note, it's in its prime spot. it's in open water here. this is a necessary ingredient for a lot of these hurricanes to be able to either maintain strength or actually intensify. and that's what we expect it to do, intensify, up to a category 5 storm just before it crosses over the florida keys. then as it goes into the florida pan handle, and the main peninsula region, it will likely make land fall as a category 4. but over the florida keys, if it ends up making land fall there as a category 5, it would be only the fourth category 5 storm to ever hit the united states in modern times. so, again, just to show you how rare of a thing this would actually be, we talk about some of the big concerns. obviously being winds, but storm surge is going to be another huge impact here. from west palm beach stretching down towards key west, we are looking at storm surge of 5 to 10 feet. north of that cape canaveral could be looking at 3 to 6 feet. on the southwestern side, naples down to key west, this is where we could actually see some of

-northwesterly at 12 miles per hour, and i was really watching that because, unfortunately for cuba, boy, i mean, the torrential downpours and the hurricane force winds have been relentless for cuba. particularly on the north part of the island. now we're getting some of those feeder bands. the very outer feeder bands coming into the keys right now. winds are picking up. current winds as far north assist west palm up to 25 miles per hour. the winds are stronger in key west, and they're going to go up from there. >> if you are just joining us now, and you haven't -- most of the computer models have really concentrated this track on the west coast to florida. that means potentially we could see two landfalls with this system. one around the florida keys sometime on sunday morning, and then a second one, sunday into monday, on the west coast of florida. also, even just looking at this now, the first thing i'm thinking of, hey, i thought we thought this was going to happen on saturday. well, because the storm took more of a westerly track longer, kind of slowed that turn down, so everything is

constitution and won't ahead. the us cuts its staff in cuba by more than half and warns americans not to visit. it says mystery attacks injured several embassy staff. and at the eu summit in estonia, the head of the european commission says brexit talks need a miracle to keep them on track. hello and welcome to bbc world news. the us health secretary tom price has been forced to resign after dragging the white house into another scandal, this time over the use of private jets. mr price promised to repay more than $50,000 after it was revealed he took private charter flights instead of going commercial. the bbc‘s laura bicker is in washington and she gave me the details. donald trump pledged his supporters that he would come to washington to drain the swamp, to end politics as usual. here we are, his own health secretary is seen swanning around on private planes when the official government business should always be done on commercial planes. so when it comes to how he's going to persuade his supporters that he's the man in charge, that he is going to continue to rail against the elite

american diplomats in cuba reporting, quote, incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. oh, incidents. a variety of symptoms, do you say? that was all the information we got in that initial report. cbs radio definitely had the scoop but raised a lot more questions than it did even worries. it wasn't clear what the injuries were and our government, the state department, was the opposite of forthcoming on this matter. we have since learned and not from the state department that the mysterious attacks have injured more than 20 americans and the effects serious, ranging from permanent hearing loss to mild traumatic brain injury. we have no ideas how these injuries were inflicted and some of the attack occurred at diplomats' residences and cuban hotels. and we know that the cuban government are adamant they're not behind the attacks and they've offered to let the fbi come to cuba and investigate. cuban government is not in that habit. we know the fbi has been down to cuba to investigate and reportedly visit the home of diplomats and reviewed security footage but apparently, didn

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. let's get more on the expected track of hurricane irma. here's 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 it's 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, it's 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