28/08/2017 BBC News at Six

Thousands of people are told to leave their homes

as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to lash the US state of Texas.

People have been told to expect a year's rainfall in a week -

up to 30,000 may need to be housed in rescue centres.

We have a two-storey home and on the first

And all the furniture is just floating.

The 'catastrophic' flooding is only expected to get worse -

and there are now concerns for neighbouring Louisiana.

Another round of Brexit talks get underway in Brussels -

as Britain asks for flexibility and imagination.

A lorry driver charged over a crash on the M1 motorway which killed

eight people has been remanded in custody after appearing in court.

Jailed for 20 years for two rapes - the self-styled Indian

guru who claims millions of followers worldwide.

And sizzling sun and sensational sounds - it can only be

Good evening, and welcome to BBC News.

Thousands of people have had to be rescued in and around

the US city of Houston - as waters continue to rise

The area's expected to have received a year's rainfall within a week.

Helicopters have plucked victims from rooftops as roads have

And the flooding - already described as 'catastrophic' in Texas -

is not only expected to get worse, it's also expected to spread -

with concerns now for neighbouring Louisiana.

Our North America Correspondent James Cook reports.

Three days after Hurricane Harvey smashed into their state,

Texans are still struggling in its wake.

In this suburb of Houston, they called for help all night,

In the end, it wasn't police or fire fighters who came to the rescue,

They say they called 911 and there was no answer.

Well, we just happened to be here, and we had a boat

And that's what's happening all over Texas, isn't it?

Texans have formed their own armada, offering a helping hand to friends

You must be grateful to these guys here?

Grateful to actually the whole community,

seeing Houston coming together and helping each other out.

I was saying to my mom yesterday, I wish we had something

It was extremely scary, we didn't expect this to happen at all.

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

This neighbourhood really doesn't flood, so this was a first for us.

Well, there is frenetic activity here as boats buzz

This little vessel alone has rescued 30 people so far, and the situation

Even at 75 years old, this is something she has never

For a time, this picture seemed to sum up the desperation, it is a care

home and the owner 's daughter treated it to plead for help. She

said within 15 minutes, the water went from ankle height to waist

height. Immediately, they were under water. The National Guard saw the

photograph and everyone was led to safety. Many more are still waiting

to be rescued and in desperation all they can do is cling on and call for

help. We have a two story home and on the first floor, it is up to here

and all the furniture is just floating. Everything. Mattresses,

all of it. In Houston alone, more than 20 helicopters are flying

rescue missions but pulling people from the floods is delicate and it

is dangerous and the city's troubles may yet get worse. Parts of those

regions will continue to receive incredibly heavy rain, that will

lead to even more flooding and more danger for Texas. Texas is now

saturated and it is struggling, more than 2000 people have been rescued,

6000 have called for help, this is a disaster on an epic scale.

James, there seems to be no let up in the rain.

The rain is still coming down, not as intense, but there is still a

huge amount of water coming out of the sky and you can see the result

of that behind me. Vehicles coming out, bringing people out in the past

hour or so. Now the authorities I think here in Texas are frankly

stretched to breaking point at this stage. They had suggested that they

had rescued more than 2000 people and perhaps just a couple of hundred

remain to be taken from their homes, but I

must have seen 100 people being taken out here in this tiny slice of

the state in the last hour alone. Clearly, the crisis is on a much

bigger scale than that. There has not been significant loss of life

that we know of, but it is the scale of the flooding and the disruption

and what we are left with here, as President Trump prepares to visit is

a staple of refugees. James, thank you.

Formal Brexit negotiations have resumed in Brussels this afternoon,

with British officials calling on the European Union to show

Brexit Secretary David Davis wants to broaden

But the EU says there has to be progress on the issues

of citizens' rights, the Irish border and the "divorce

Our correspondent, Damian Grammaticas is in Brussels.

How high should expectations be for these talks? I think they should be

pretty low. When you listen and you see that beginning today, you see I

think that there is a gulf between the sides and there is a chilly this

as well. David Davis talking about flexibility and imagination, what he

means is that he hopes that the EU 's side can be persuaded to lean

toward some of the ideas that the UK has been putting on the table about

ways of dealing with the Irish border and the rights of citizens

and also to broaden the talks to talk about the future trading

relationship. Michel Barnier, his response, I think it was pretty

cutting. He said that he wanted detailed papers, and enter

ambiguity, he said if there could be any real progress in negotiations.

Dismissing some of those papers that have been produced and the EU side

will stick to that particularly on the one issue that the UK has not

addressed, money, how much will be paid. Damien, thank you.

A lorry driver has appeared in court following a crash on the M1 motorway

Two lorries and a minibus were involved in the collision

Our correspondent Andy Moore reports.

Twelve people were in the minibus, heading down towards London in

The driver was a man from Nottingham, his passengers

were a group of people from India, about to start a tour of Europe.

Lorry driver Ryszard Masierak, who lives in Worcestershire,

but comes from Poland, blinked back tears and was given

a tissue as a total of 20 charges were put to him

Court proceedings lasted about half an hour.

He will appear before a Crown Court in Aylesbury next month.

Afterwards, Thames Valley Police gave a short statement.

We've had full cooperation from the two freight companies

involved and they are fully supporting us with our enquiries.

Our thoughts remain very much with those affected by this tragedy.

Mr Masierak was the driver of this lorry.

He has been charged with 12 counts of causing death or serious injury

by dangerous driving and eight counts of causing death

It was alleged he was about one and a half times

Of the four people seriously injured, three of them are said

to be fighting for their lives, one is a five-year-old girl.

The driver of this lorry, David Wagstaff, who is 53

and from Stoke-on-Trent, has been bailed to appear before

He is charged with 12 counts of causing death or serious injury

A controversial guru in India has been jailed for 20 years

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction last week triggered large-scale

riots by his devotees, in which 38 people were killed.

Thousands of police have been deployed to the region

where his movement is based, amid fears of further unrest.

The town where the controversial self-styled guru is being held

The normally flamboyant God Man was subdued as the 20-year

The victims said that was too light and they will appeal.

After the explosion of violence that followed his conviction,

the Indian authorities say they are taking no chances.

16,000 paramilitary police and troops have been deployed.

This town is the focus of concern today.

The is where the vast temple complex that serves as the guru's

Are your troops ready to besiege the temple complex, if necessary?

We are fully equipped, fully ready and fully trained.

Whatever directions are given, we'll implement it.

Guru Ram Rahim is a charasmatic and controversial figure,

who stars in his own movies and has millions of followers.

Many devotees say, despite the rape convictions, they have not lost

faith in the man they regard as a living saint.

Tonight, the guru's temple complex is effectively under siege,

surrounded by heavily armed police and troops.

Inside, there are reckoned to be 15,000 hard-core disciples.

The fear is, what happens when the authorities

Experts are still trying to work out what caused 150 people to be treated

in hospital after being affected by a chemical haze that drifted off the

sea on the south coast yesterday. This report is from Birling Gap near

Beachy head in East Sussex, the worst affected area.

Everyone, you know, anxiety was high, and we were all

shaking and getting really nervous and everything.

Like, just didn't really know what to do.

We had itchy eyes, sore throat, throbbing head, and nausea.

They come to the beach for a bank holiday day out by the sea.

But around 5pm, they were engulfed by a chemical cloud

which led to hundreds of people being evacuated.

The toxic fumes even affected lifeboat crews sent out to help

We actually went straight into this cloud, which we weren't

And we could feel our eyes burning straightaway.

So we advised the coastguards, and we were told to stay

inside the lifeboat, close all the doors,

But it hasn't stopped people coming back to the beach today.

As soon as we heard that it was fine and that the beach

We'd looked at other beaches that hadn't been affected,

As to what caused the haze, well, the coastguard say

that the English Channel was particularly busy

with shipping at the time, and they are currently looking

into all the vessels that were in the area yesterday.

While investigations continue, though, people on the beach today

didn't want to let anything stop them getting their dose

German prosecutors say a nurse who is serving a life sentence

for murdering two patients may have killed as many as 90 people.

Niels Hoegel was convicted and jailed two years ago

for giving lethal drug injections to intensive care patients.

Investigators have since exhumed more than 100 bodies

of patients who died in clinics where he worked.

From Berlin, Damien McGuinness reports.

This man could turn out to be the deadliest serial killer post-war

In 2015, former nurse Niels Hogel was sent to jail

But police now say they've found evidence that he murdered

around 90 other patients, and that there are dozens

of other suspected murders that can't be proven.

TRANSLATION: If the clues had been duly investigated at the time,

even in Delmenhorst Hospital, then the deaths of many

patients, in our opinion, could have been prevented.

The nurse injected patients at this hospital with drugs

His aim was to then resuscitate them and win recognition from colleagues.

There are now allegations that some in the hospital

TRANSLATION: The current circumstances lead to the conclusion

that the former management was aware that Niels H had an awful

That means that German authorities are asking questions

about whether hospital staff turned a blind eye, and about why

it took so long for the murders to be uncovered.

A year ago today BHS closed its doors for the last time

12 months on - only 25 of the company's 159

Including the likes of Primark and Morleys -

as our Business correspondent Emma Simpson has been finding out.

BHS, one of the best-known names on the high street.

It had its heyday, but this time last year, nearly 90 years

And the question, who would fill this gap?

At Bexleyheath's shopping centre, a shiny new department store.

And new jobs for these two former BHS workers.

We couldn't get people in to fix anything for BHS.

But now we've got brand-new fixtures, brand-new walls,

It is like moving out of a house, having it refurbished

So whatever was going on in this building,

we'd clearly be interested in, and the fact that we

It's a good outcome here, but what has happened to the other

More than half are still sitting empty.

35 properties have deals or plans in place.

Only 25 of the former BHS stores have so far been reoccupied.

I am not surprised to see that a vast majority of these

stores are unoccupied, because many of them are very large

And secondly, they are in quite marginal towns where there is a lot

of out of town competition from other locations.

Therefore those retailers who would normally have

been there in the past have moved elsewhere.

I have lived in Stockport all my life.

I remember being dragged, I might use that word,

dragged around Stockport on a Saturday morning with my mum.

It would never be complete a visit without coming to BHS.

So yes, I do remember what it was like.

The council is spending millions on improving Stockport town centre.

Its leader is convinced a solution can be found.

What makes it a real shame, because this is actually

We feel there is a lot of potential interest in this building.

I think there is an incredible opportunity here.

I genuinely believe it can be relatively easy let.

But he and the owners may need to come up with something more

The same goes for many of the other former BHS stores

and England's Moeen Ali scored a crucial half-century

on the afternoon of the fourth day of the second Test against

He was caught for 84, as England recovered from losing

early wickets to extend their lead over the tourists.

England have declared for 490-8, setting the West Indies

Well, it's been the hottest August late Bank Holiday for 50 years

in parts of the UK, which means hundreds of thousands

of revellers have been enjoying the sunshine

Year-on-year, this carnival has grown. It's now generates ?97

million for the economy, but putting on a party of this size isn't easy.

It's a labour of love for the organisers. So far this weekend,

ambulance crews and attended 500 people and there have been 150

arrests, but bearing in mind that this event 1 million people per day

let's look at the highlights of the Notting Hill Carnival.

Everyone can be a king or queen at carnival.

It's flamboyant, eccentric, extravagant.

The heroes of the sound system, playing to crowds

There was fierce competition amongst the DJs.

This sound system, we're giving a message, yeah?

A message of love and unity for everybody.

But, as I hear the music, and that baseline resonates

through my body, like I say, it's a spirit that wakes up,

and it's just higher, higher, higher, until you just go, oh!

Carnival is the Caribbean, with its culture and music.

A celebration born out of the struggle of the West Indian

immigrants living in London in the 1960s.

They refused to be beaten, and so, with colour and pride,

they marched proudly through the streets of Notting Hill.

Today, it's the biggest street party in Europe.

In terms of visitor numbers, Notting Hill is ten times

There are 70 performing stages, and 40 sound systems.

But, yeah, I really enjoy Carnival here.

We've been doing it for 24 years now, it's part of our life.

Once this is done, we start planning next year.

And so, as the sun sets on another Notting Hill Carnival,

Now on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.