02/09/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today. I'm Alpa Patel - Our top stories:

Flooding across South Asia is affecting more

Our correspondent has been to Bihar, one of the worst-hit

The water was above his head and came washing through here. You can

see that it is absolutely terrible, the mud left behind.

President Trump has made another visit the Houston Texans to talk to

some of the flood victims. The UN says nearly 60,000

Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar

in the past week - bringing So many people were killed. They set

fire to everything. I just ran. They were shooting at us. I got hit.

There were some people whose throat was slashed with knives.

A master class in the wet - as Lewis Hamilton becomes the record

Hello and welcome to World News Today.

Aid agencies say around 45 million people across South Asia are now

affected by catastrophic flooding. More than 1400 people

are known to have died is warning that the floodwaters

are becoming a breeding ground for deadly diseases -

including malaria. The aid agency says many remote

communities are completely cut off - are now sleeping on roadsides

and in makeshift shelters in India, The BBC's Justin Rowlatt,

sent this report from Bihar Where we're going can

only be reached by boat. The only dry place for miles around

is on top of this great embankment, but the embankment that now protects

the villagers is the reason the floods had such

a catastrophic impact. The torrential rains transformed

the normally placid river, So what happened, the embankment

holding back the river breached and the water came crashing in here,

sweeping away half the village, devastating their homes,

devastating their lives. TRANSLATION: It felt

like we were hit by an ocean of water, I just ran for my life,

taking my children with me. This man showed me what the floods

had done to his home. So, he said the whole place

was flooded with water. The water was above his head

and came washing through here. You can see, it's just left

absolutely terrible mud behind. So, he says for three

days they had no food at all and then some people

came, bringing food. He said there wasn't enough room

to stay on the embankment so he had to bring his family down here,

including his three-year-old child. It is Eid today, one

of the great festivals of Islam. Like most of the village,

this family is Muslim. For the first time since

the catastrophe they are having meat, but there was little

appetite for celebration. Tens of thousands of communities

across South Asia have similar stories of horror

and destruction to tell. The only good news here, is that

everyone in this village survived. Well Justin Forsyth is from Unicef -

he outlined the challenges Well, we have over 45 million people

affected by these floods, and 16 million children in dire need

of humanitarian aid. The biggest need is to make

sure that the waterborne But we also need to be aware that

many of the people in these areas, in remote areas of India and Nepal,

Bangladesh, our farmers and they've So we have to look at nutritional

needs as well, particularly for very I mean, this part of the world has

monsoons every year. These monsoons are the worst ones

that we have seen for decades It's going to get worse before it

gets better by the end of October. Already, 45 million people

are severely affected. In India, we know the Indian

military has a strong But Nepal, for example,

is still recovering after the earthquake,

in Bangladesh a third I've been out in some of these

remote areas in Bihar Communities are resilient,

but they've been knocked sideways This is about eight times the scale

of Harvey in America. We've seen the terrible shots

and pictures, I live here in the US and it has really moved all of us,

the scale of that. But this is much, much bigger,

with with weaker capabilities. So it is going to take a big effort

to make sure we meet the basic needs of millions andmillions of children

and their families. And on the subject of Harvey -

President Trump and his wife Melania It's their second visit

to Texas in a week. They have been spending the day

speaking to survivors and also meeting some of the emergency

workers helping with the rescue Here's a little of what

the President had to say Really, I think people

appreciate what's been done. It's been done very

efficiently, very well, We are very happy with the way

everything has gone. As tough as this was,

it's been a wonderful thing. I think even for the country to

watch, and for the world to watch. I'm going to be doing

a little help over here. Mr Trump mentioned he was about to

start helping. And here he is serving meals at a shelter. During

his first visit to Texas on Tuesday, this week come he came in for some

criticism when he only met officials. Our correspondent is in

Houston and gave us more details about the President's second visit.

When he came at the beginning of the week he didn't come

to Houston, he went to a different part of Texas, because then

Houston was underwater, in the midst of this great

emergency, he didn't want to disrupt that.

Now that the waters have receded, he is here to visit survivors,

He stopped at an evacuation or relief centre.

He visited parents and children in a play area.

He went to the food line, he handed out some food.

The response, you know, people welcomed him.

The whole tone of this trip, I think, is to show a real kind

of hands-on, personal presidential approach to the suffering that has

been caused from this storm come on the one hand.

-- been caused from this storm, on the one hand.

But also to reinforce the fact, what he has been saying all week

is that the Government will support the victims and will come

He has just come to Houston off the back of having asked Congress

for the first tranche of what is going to be billions

and billions of dollars to deal with the result of the hurricane.

And Barbara, will they be able to free up that money,

given the debt ceiling is an issue here?

Well, yes, the problem with that is that the Government

runs out of the ability to borrow money at the end of September,

That has to be raised, and that is often quite

If it's not raised, even the money that is allocated

Alongside the request to Congress for the money,

the nearly $8 billion, the White House did say we want

that debt ceiling raised and we want this bill,

this legislation passed as quickly as possible.

Don't link them together in any sort of political battle.

There is quite a responsive attitude in Congress in terms of allocating

this initial amount of money at the very least.

I think we will see a vote on that next week.

We can stay in Houston. There you can see President Trump. He is just

about to board Air Force One. He'll be travelling from Houston to

Louisiana, another area affected by Harvey. We shall see in the coming

hours what he has to say there. Let's get more on this. We can speak

to Peter Daly, a flood risk expert in the US, who joins us now from

California. Thank you for joining us. Flooding, undoubtedly the

biggest challenge here. How do you assess and calculate the damage?

What we do is to provide estimates of potential economic and insured

losses for major events such as Harvey. The way we go about that is

the first assess the hazard, which would be the level of flooding you

would expect in the Houston area. As well as the winds and the storm

surges that we got along the coastline. Combined with our

knowledge of the relationship between the floodwaters and the

amount of damage that will cause. INAUDIBLE

We will have calculations for all of the properties across Texas. We

developed an estimate of the total insured damage. We start with the

economic damage. Which would be the amount of property lost and the

amount of money it would take to reconstruct those properties. We're

having some trouble with your line. We will stick with it for the

moment. It estimated 80% of people affected by these floods don't have

insurance. Could you tell us why? In the US the private flood insurance

INAUDIBLE Most people in the US purchase their

flood insurance from the National programme, which is offered by the

government. Part of the reason for the low

take-up rate, which would be the amount of insurance purchased by

homeowners and business owners, which would be as a result of the

recognition of the risk. Unless you live in a high risk zone, and in

some places you are required by the bank to purchase flood insurance for

your mortgage, a lot of people don't recognise the amount of flood risk

they have. They are not living on the coastline or near a river, so

they don't recognise that a storm like Harvey can cause significant

damage from a flood. What will happen to the people in this

scenario who don't have insurance? That is a concern. As was mentioned

by your earlier interview. The programme is up for reauthorisation

at the end of this month. For the people who don't have flood

insurance, they will have other areas they can resort to. For

example, a small business not covered by flood insurance may have

the ability to take out a low interest loan with a small business

Administration. There will be other forms of help. But the fact the

flood insurance take-up is relatively low means the recovery

rate could be slow, given the fact they won't be ready to make the

repairs straight from the proceeds of flood insurance. Experts are

saying we are likely to see more and more of these intense storms hitting

parts of the US. Given what you are saying do you think people should be

made to have flood insurance? This will be a debate that will be in

Congress this month as they re-evaluate the programme. From a

scientific point of view, what we are really interested in is

understanding the best way to get the word out to insurance companies

of what that is. You will see more private flood insurance offered in

states like Florida and Texas where the risk is high. Consumers and

homeowners will have the ability to purchase flood insurance more

readily from the open market. They will have more options in terms of

insurance products. With a storm like Harvey it brings to the

forefront of the real issue of flood risk. What we would expect is for

the take-up rates to increase. And so hopefully when the next major

flood occurs there will be a more direct transfer of risk to the

insurance market. And more of a return to the insured. So that will

allow for the recovery to move a little bit more quickly. I am glad

the line improved us that interview went on. Thank you very much for

being with the BBC. Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news. Some militants have died during an

attack at a power station. The assault began in the early hours

when armed men wearing explosives entered the plant and took workers

captive. Several civilians also died. The group which calls itself

Islamic State is believed to be behind the attack.

The Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, says

he wants to continue talks with the United States

But he says he will not accept any proposal that goes against Mexico's

It was his first state of the union address

since President Trump came to power, who promised to build a wall along

the southern US border and to make Mexico pay for it.

The authorities in the German city of Frankfurt have been evacuating

patients from two hospitals and head of the planned disposal of a huge

Second World War bomb. Several thousands of people will have to

evacuate their homes after it was discovered on a building site.

The United Nations says nearly 60,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled

from Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape spiralling violence.

It's after Rohingya militants attacked police

According to the campaign group, Human Rights Watch,

new satellite imagery shows more than seven hundred homes have been

Sanjoy Majumder sent us this report from a refugee camp -

Exhausted and traumatised after escaping death.

Many of these Rohingyas have walked for hours

across hills, and wading through paddy fields

to avoid border patrols before making it here.

These are fresh arrivals, Rohingyas who have just arrived after

crossing the border, and with every passing hour, there are

There is absolutely no space left any more,

so they are just living on any piece of open ground

they can find, and many of them have the most disturbing

I meet a man who is nursing a bullet wound in his foot.

He tells me that his village, just across

the border, was attacked, allegedly by the Myanmar military and

TRANSLATION: So many people were killed.

They were shooting at us and I got hit.

There were people whose throats were slashed with knives.

From inside the state, the scars of violence.

This is where the Myanmar military has been carrying out a

Following an attack last week and dozens of

The situation seems to be one where it is rapidly sliding towards a

Significant areas of the state are on fire.

As for those who have managed to flee the fighting, they

are building temporary shelters and trying to make a home for

Bangladesh, after initially trying to stop them, is

For the survivors, this represents freedom.

It has come at a cost, and they are still uncertain

Stay with us on BBC World News, still to come...

Grand slam motherhood, the tennis world congratulates Serena Williams

as she gives birth to her daughter. This is BBC World News Today -

The latest headlines: Flooding in South Asia has left 1400

people dead and 45 million displaced or homeless.

President Trump pays another visit to Texas, this time calling on

Congress to approve nearly $8 billion in aid. Kenya's deputy

president has called on the Electoral Commission to set a date

for fresh presidential elections after the Supreme Court overturned

last month's vote. It's the first time a legal challenge to a

presidential vote has been successful anywhere in Africa.

President Kenyatta also lashed out at the court's decision, calling the

judges Crooks, and said the country has a problem with its judiciary.

Our correspondent is following developments from Nairobi and gave

this assessment of President Kenyatta's reaction.

That news has not gone down well. He has called the judges Crooks. He

even said after the elections are done he will come back and deal with

these judges. It isn't clear what that means. But he isn't happy. The

Supreme Court judges have gone against the will of the people, he

said. He said the people voted for him and the supreme judges have

stood in the way. Looking at the way the previous elections were

organised, there was a lot of strain and scrutiny when it came to the

Electoral Commission. They have two months to put these collections

together. I think they will feel like even those two months will not

be enough for them. They will try to maximise on that little time to be

able to put it together. Looking at the system, is it going to be a

repeat of the electronics system which has been blamed for what we

have just seen, or will the electoral system revert to a manual

system, or even a mix of the two, it remains to be seen how that will go.

Lewis Hamilton has set a new pole position record in reaching his 69th

career pole. Breaking the previous landmark set by Michael Schumacher

in treacherous conditions. He was more than a second quicker than his

nearest rival. He will be hoping to take over Sebastian Vettel's in the

championship. Back in June, before the Azerbaijan

Grand Prix, he said he could easily continue in the sport. Possibly

until the age of 40. He is now 32. He said he wants to hunt down more

records, including Michael Schumacher's, who has seven titles.

If he went on for another eight years he would pretty much have to

win the world title every other season to beat Michael Schumacher.

There are not any big records a good imminently break. The other one of

interest is race wins, held by Michael Schumacher, who has a 33

more than Lewis Hamilton. If he got ten a year it would take another

three years. He is expected to sign a new contract with Mercedes. He

could achieve the title of getting the most race wins, but I'm not sure

he will get to those seven. Because you have other drivers like

Sebastian Vettel who has four world titles. He could get more because he

is staying at Ferrari for three years. It would be very difficult

for the Lewis Hamilton to break the other records of Michael Schumacher.

Shane Duffy opened the scoring for Ireland early on, but things were

level not long after. Ben Woodburn has just scored from a strike from

the edge of the area. The match between Croatia and Kosovo

was abandoned because of bad weather. Riyad Mahrez was missing

from played today. He was released by Algeria early in the week to try

to serve out his possible transfer, but he wasn't even on the bench as

Zambia move into second place. At the US Open in New York Rafael

Nadal and Roger Federer are due to play their third round matches

later. Top seed Rafael Nadal will play Maya. Action is well underway.

The world number eight will next face either Roberta and Mr Battut or

Juan Martin Del Potro. The 23 time grand slam champion,

Serena Williams, has given birth to a baby girl at a clinic in Florida.

Sports stars and celebrities have sent their congratulations. No name

yet. She says she plans to return to tennis for the Australian Open. What

are the odds on her winning that? Back to you.

Thanks very much. Don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some of the team on Twitter -

I'm @AlpaPatel. That is it from me and the team.

Goodbye for now. A lovely start to the weekend with

the exception of some sharp showers in East Anglia. Most places dry with

sunshine. Sunshine will be harder to come by tomorrow.