31/08/2017 Outside Source

source I'm Ross, I'm with source source. We begin with a chemical

plant in Texas, there are fears that there could be toxic fumes, as there

have been explosions. And Brexit.

We did not get any of the disciplines on any of the subjects.

I think it is fair to say we have seen concrete progress.

Over 300 new species have been found in the Amazon. Many in areas

threatened by human activity. BBC Brazil will cover this for us. To

get in touch across the hour as we bring the main global stories of the

day, the #is BBC OS. Well, there remains a possibility of

an explosion at the chemical plant in Texas. The immediate area has

been evacuated. This is happening north-east of Houston, which has

been badly damaged by tropical storm, Harvey. We have pictures of

the plant. You can see the fire and the smoke there that is rising. The

problem is that the plant lost power, so that means that refridge

raters keeping the chemicals coal are not working.

The question is whether or not we can get in to assess the full scale

of the impact from an environmental stand point to infrastructure stand

point so. That is ongoing. The bottom line is we do what is called

plume modelling. That is what we base the evacuations on. So by all

means, yes, the plume is incredibly dangerous.

This is a spokesperson for the company that runs the plant.

These materials have to be maintained cold.

If they start to warm up, they become unstable and they will

decompose. When they decompose they generate heat and when they generate

heat, there is the possibility of a fire and possible explosion. We do

have nine containers, the materials are stored in these box containers,

like you see over the road storage containers. One of those containers

have been involved and the product in the container started to degrade.

That happened this morning. We fully expect that the other eight

containers will do the same thing. Water is in our facility and

preventing us from accessing the facility. And in Texas, the

authorities are saying that at least 33 people have died. That figure is

certain to rise as the houses are searched. Trevor Nyakane has been

reporting in and close to Houston all week. Today she is in Richmond,

south-west of the city. -- Laura re-alien.

Trevalenne. Laura, tell us where you are today?

This is Richmond, Texas. An area that is expected to have further

problems with more rain to come. All of this area has been covered in

water after her her her. It is taken a while for the rivers to swell and

they are here going to experience the peak of the flooding. So people

here, I'm talking from a mobile home park, people who experienced

flooding last year, which was traumatic for them, they are now

going to get worse flooding. They are concerned about the debt for

them. What it will do to the homes to the walls, to the floors, they

cannot get possessions. So a very traumatic time as they wait for the

waters to rise. Are they relying on state or federal help, or is it

enable assistance that is helping the people to manage the situation?

It is a bit of both. People have had to leave their homes, they cannot

sleep. Some have gone to higher homes, to families, to friends, to

motels. There has been an official here earlier, a bilingual official,

she was speaking of the assistance that they could get but one man

spoke about the assistance from last year, after the flooding then, it

was short of what it was to cover the cost of his repairs to the

trailer, he went into debt then and is expecting to go into debt now.

Laura, in the area where you are now, are there people still stuck in

their homes, or is everyone out? Here, I don't think so. It is not

like Houston, so densely populated. This is a much smaller area, a

smaller mobile home park. Everybody seems accounted for. Everybody got

out. There was a mandatory evacuation order here. What is

extraordinary is that in other areas of the county where I am speaking

from, there was a mandatory evacuation order issued this

morning. So people who did not think that they would be in a situation

where they would have to evacuate their homes, this morning they were

having to. This is the danger from the river fall, the rivers are

swelling, they are bursting their banks. This will go on for a council

of days yet. I appreciate the update.

Let's switch from Laura in Texas, to Brussels. The third wound the Brexit

talks ended. Here is the assessment of the EU's chief Brexit negotiator.

We did not get decisive progress on the principle subjects. The

discussion about Ireland was fruitful, though.

The UK wants to take back control. Wants to adopt its on stand outs and

regulations but it also wants to have these standards recognised

automatically in the EU. That is what the UK papers are

asking for. This is simply impossible.

You cannot be outside the single market and shape its legal order.

One view, here is another. Here is the UK's Brexit secretary. I think

it is fair to say we have seen concreate progress. Our discussions

have exposed that the UK's approach is more flexible and pragmatic than

that of the EU. It avoids unnecessary disruption for the

businesses and consumers. We propose pragmatic solutions and we urge the

EU to be more flexily in their approach to the point.

One of the main differences is on sequencing, or in other words, which

negotiations happen when, the UK wishes to begin trade talks but the

EU says that will happen when details of the withdrawal are

agreed. There are different views on how this is going.

David Allen Green says. Or Tim Montgomerie, until recently a

columnist for the Times saying. And there he is referring to the

so-called divorce bill, the money that the EU wants in exchange for

the UK to be freed from the John going responsibilities. I've been

speaking with Chris Morris from the BBC's Reality Check about the

perspectives and which could be said to be right.

No-one said this would be easy. Sometimes we are involved in looking

at the detail of what happened today, yesterday, what is

negotiating. We are unpicking 40 years of history. When somebody

joins the EU, there is about 80,000 pages of rules and regulations to go

through before they can join. We are taking that and unpicking it. So the

idea it can happen in three rounds of negotiations is absurd. On the

other hand there is the Article 50 period, the two year period before

the UK is due to leave, the timetable is tight.

In terms of the divorce bill, some would say it is unfair that the EU

will say this is what you signed up for? That is emerging clearly, that

the two sides see the issue as the most difficult issue to resolve.

They come at it from very different angles. The EU is saying that there

is a seven year budget period, where we have made all sorts of financial

commitments, including on a credit card, which is a bill to be settled

before we leave it is a large amount. The UK is saying, hang on,

they have been going through this with the EU negotiators, and they

are saying you cannot have financial commitments stretching into the

distance, we make a budget, one we leave, we have left. So a big gap

between the two sides. And the idea of a transition period

is that being discussed in the talks, or is it just the idea

hovering in the background? It is hovering but it could hold the key

to several things, including a compromise on the financial

arrangements. There is a seven year budget period, if the EU leaves to

the beginning of 2019, there is a big hole in the budget. If during

the transition, the UK was willing to pay into the budget, it would

help the EU out of a hole and make the exit bill smaller. So a lot of

people are hoping that the transition is the key to unlocking

the puzzle but it is still explosive. And when talking about

tens of billions of pounds, politicians don't wish to be seen to

be backing down. Now, this statement came through a

couple of hours back from the US State Department. It was ordering

Russia to close firstly, this conlate in San Francisco and two an

exes in Washington and New York. The State Department said it was a

response to Russia reducing the US diplomatic mission there. Here is

the State Department saying that this is all in the spirit of parity.

It goes on to say that the US is prepared to take action as is

necessary and warranted but perhaps just wanting to be positive, it also

including a line that it tweeted out that America hopes to avoid further

retaliation and move forward with improved relations and co-operation

with Russia. Let's see if it comes to pass. Here is the BBC Russian

correspondent, on what we know about the latest decision by the

Americans. It is unclear at the moment, if the diplomatic staff will

be cut. The representative of the State Department said that they are

not insisting for diplomatic personnel to be cut. They are only

asking the Russians to close the consulate.

I can't Maginn the Russians are surprised this happened? Well, yes

and no. Russians claim that they only react, that they retaliate

because Americans were the first to cut the number of diplomatic

personnel in December a few days before the New Year. Then the

Russians decided to respond but to respond only later on this summer.

Now the Americans are responding to Russian response. But of course

probably the Russians were not expecting the consulate to be

closed. What is really sad in the story is that now both sides are

competing in who bites the other side in the most creative way. It is

not helping both sides at the moment when relations at their lowest since

the start of the Cold War. Often, there is a talk about the fact that

America and Russia do not agree, what is happening to drive the

escalation diplomatic tit-for-tat? The problem is that they keep

disagreeing. There was hope from both sides that the election of

Donald Trump could twist the situation some were afraid of it,

the Russians were looking forward to it. But nothing happened. The

American presidential camp is not taking steps as there is the

involvement of alleged ties between Donald Trump and the Russian

intelligence. So they cannot do much. The State Department is acting

on its own there. Are huge diplomatic disagreements but there

is news that there will be a meeting seen.

So there is some good news. Now, in a few minutes on Outside

Source, we are to hear of 300 new species discovered in the Amazon.

The monkeys are one of them. In the last two years they have been

discovered. BBC Brazil will help us with this.

From today, parents of three and four-year-olds in England are to

apply for 30 hours of free childcare a week. That doubles the current 15

hours allowance with parents eligible if they earn less than

?100,000 a year. The cost will be paid for by the

government but critics, including Labour say that the funding is not

enough. The ministers say that the schemes show it is able to work and

funding has been increased where necessary.

We have upped the funding there. Is ?1 billion a year going into it by

2020. And additional funding in response to the nurseries that said

it was not efficient. We have piloted and delivered 15,000 places,

bodes well for the 200,000 parents that have signed up to the scheme.

We have been warning the Government that the scheme is not properly

funded. There is the risk of the expectations of parents who will

worry that they cannot get the free childcare but also the quality. I'm

Ros Atkins with Outside Source we are live in the BBC Newsroom. There

are warnings that there could be an explosion at this chemical plant in

Texas. Problems caused by flooding that the tropical storm Harvey

brought to Texas. And from the BBC World Service, coverage in Iraq. The

Iraqi government says that the province it is in, has been fully

reclaimed from the Islamic State group. That is on BBC Arabic. 70,000

people to be evacuated from their homes on Sunday after an explosion

-- unexploded Second World War bomb was discovered in Frankfurt. It was

a British bomb nicknamed Block dp buster for its ability to wipe out

whole streets. And this video, is about a vet who goes into war zones

to save animals left behind. At least 21 people have died in

Mumbai after a residential build collapsed. Though has to are the

pictures of the aftermath. The building was six storeys high. About

40 peopled inside at the time it happened.

Our correspondent from the BBC was at the scene.

It was a routine warning for the residents in south Mumbai. At the

time they heard a loud crash. It is a congested area, when they came

out, this is what they saw, rubble and remnants of what was runs a

residential building. About 40 people were inside the building at

the time of the collapse. Right now, the rescue operations are under way.

Three teams from the national disaster response force have been

deployed. The locals are helping in the effort. This is the third

building collapsed in one month in Mumbai alone. It is the monsoon

season as well. On Tuesday several parts of Mumbai were flooded with

water. It is in this time that old buildings are vulnerable. The

challenge for the rescue efforts now is the congested areas. All of the

buildings are stacked against one another and over narrow lanes. They

are hoping that there will be no more showers and that they can

rescue more people from here. That's from Mumbai on the west coast

of India. Also millions of people in south Asia are affected by flooding.

The worst monsoon season in decades. The region of 1200 people in India,

Nepal and Bangladesh have lost their lives.

Weeks after the worst flooding in decades, a third of Bangladesh is

under water. Villages in the northern part of the country are

still cut off. Aid agencies are trying to reach those affected. It

is a similar situation Nahki over large parts of south Asia. The

eastern India state of Bihar has been hit the hardest. Heavy rain and

overflowing rifrts have hit large areas that are under water. More

than 500 people have been killed here. Tens of thousands of people

have lost their homes and are now staying in temporary camps.

There is a lot of damage. A lot of people are out of their homes.

People are surviving and getting on with things as they can. But there

has been a lot of damage. India's financial capital, Mumbai, a city of

more than 20 million, was brought to a stand still after the rain hit the

city on Wednesday. It left the commuters stranded, transport

services ground to a halt, forcing many to simply wade home.

We are in the middle of the monsoon season, it has been raining

intensely, that is in India but also Nepal and it has caused the worst

flooding in decades. It has led to a massive humanitarian situation.

South Asia is used to floods especially at this time of the year

but the scale of the disaster this time around has meant that the

authorities are struggling to cope. For the first story in OS business

we are looking at the Indian economy. The level of growth was not

expected. Predictions were 6.6%. And the reality is that the economy is

growing at 5.7%. A lot of reasons, and a huge crackdown on money

laundering could be one. 90% of banknotes were taken from

circulation, that has had consequences.

The latest economic growth figure clearly suggests that the economy is

still to recover from the cash ban decision introduced last year. The

government banned 90% of the cash in circulation, almost overnight. Since

then, expansion plans have been affected, sleaze investments and

small and medium-sized businesses have been affected.

However, there are small sectors and some of the economic output that are

not taken into account, so that means that the slowdown could be

slower than the figures suggest. On Wednesday, it was said that 99% of

the banknotes banned have already returned to the system. That makes

the cash ban a failure. The exercise was aimed to weed out unaccounted

wealth or black money. But the worst of the Indian economy could not be

over after the tax that came into effect in July. It was supposed to

overhaul the way that businesses pay tax. Small businesses are finding it

difficult to adapt. This will delay expansion plans. The World Bank and

the IMF has said that India's economy could grow up to 7%. But

this target looks difficult to achieve.

888.com, a British online gambling firm had to pay a record penalty of

$10, as it failed to protect customers. 7,000 of them voluntarily

banned themselves from the site but they could still access it and

gamble. This is the chief executive of the UK's Gambling Commission.

7,000 customers, sought to bar themselves from 888.com but that did

not work as it should have done. As a result some were able to continue

to gamble. On a second count an individual was gambling with the

company over a long period of time. She was getting into debt and stole

from her employer in order to fund the gambling, again, on both counts,

the company did not spot the issues and the errors quickly enough.

To the Amazon and a two-year stud Cambria from the World Wildlife Fund

has found over 300 new species. They include these fire tail monkeys, no

surprises for guessing where the name came from and a first new

species of river dolphin to be discovered since the end of the

First World War. And this puff fish, a new species of bird that was

found. People are surprised about the

amount of biodiversity that they can find in the Amazon. The 381 species

of plants and animals were discovered only in the space of two

years. But the scientists are saying as there are so many species we

still don't know, there is a danger we only find out, sorry, or that we

never find out about them or only when they have been made extinct or

near extinction. There will be a few viewers thinking

is this a coincidence we found out about the study now as there have

been a over a few days the row over the mining decree, which was

quashed? This study has been conducted for some time now. But

obviously this announcement came at a very important time. Because at

least four of those species found, four of the species of fish,

according to the scientists are in areas in the national reserve that

the government has just tried to open up for mining so. What the

scientists say that the spreesis are in danger if the area is open to

mining, then they could be in further danger. The government says

that the conservation areas inside that space will be protected but

obviously scientists say it is very hard to do this kind of protection

over there. I guess that the question that all

are asking is will there be another study to see what other species are

there that we have yet to discover? Definitely. They are ongoing.

If those over 300 species were discovered in only two years, over

the past 16 years, ten years or so, they have discovered over 2,000. So

those studies are ongoing. Scientists are rushing to find more

about the Amazon before human activity over there can endanger

even more species. I'm live with you here from the BBC

News room in a couple of minute's time.

It's