the headlines at az30pm: spain is tightening security at busy tourist areas after the deadly vehicle attacks in barcelona and cambrils. a manhunt is still underway for younes abouyaaqoub, the man the police say may have driven the van into crowds on las ramblas. the prime minister of finland says the country has experienced it's first ever terror attack.the bbc understands that the briton hurt in the incident was injured four times as he tried to protect two women from a man wielding a knife. donald trump has thanked steve bannon for his service during his election campaign. he tweeted that having mr bannon on his campaign against hilary clinton had been great. mr bannon was sacked by the president as his chief strategist yesterday. aid officials say more than 16 million people have been affected by seasonal flooding across south asia. the floods in nepal, bangladesh and india are thought to have killed close to 600 people and are expected to worsen. now it's time for dateline.

hello, and welcome to dateline london. i'm jane hill. this week, we discuss the latest uk proposals for leaving the european union. we look at india, 70 years after independence. and we ask, is there really a crisis in donald trump's white house? my guests today are... the writer and political commentator adam raphael. stephanie baker, senior writer and chief global business correspondent at bloomberg news. london correspondent for le point and le soir, marc roche. and columnist for the national, and the arab weekly, rashmee roshan lall.

welcome to you all. we will talk shortly about those brexit proposals. let's start though this week with a word about the terrorist attacks in spain, which killed 1a people in two cities and injured many more. adam and marc, your response to yet another attack in europe. a similar modus operandi from the past. yes, what can i say? it is a second—generation, young men committing these things, obviously radicalised, alienated, not surprisingly it happened in barcelona. it was obviously going to be a key target. there are rumours of a cia warning to spain, we do not know if they are true or not but in a place like las ramblas, there is clearly a potential target there and it is a bit of a surprise that they were able to drive for 500

metres down las ramblas. another soft target, we see it time and again. yes, and after nice i said that that sort of thing should not have cars allowed because it was a similar situation. the promenade. basically there is very little to tell you other than that we have to count on the muslim community to pick up these guys in the mosques and tell the police and also, i think we have to do better work at integrating the young muslim men who seem to be forgotten about in a multicultural society. well, the hunt is continuing we believe for at least one more member, we will see what develops in the days ahead. before that, there was much focus, as we have reflected here many times, on brexit.

so, the next round of formal brexit talks begin later this month. to that end, the british government released its position paper this week about its ambitions for ireland and particularly the border. the prime minister theresa may was adamant about the need to maintain an open border between northern ireland and the republic when the uk leaves the customs union, allowing easy movement for both people and goods, much as it exists today. but the european commission swiftly retorted that frictionless trade wasn't possible outside the single market. in a moment we'll discuss whether the position paper has thrown up more questions than answers... what do you think, adam? i am afraid we are still in the delusional stage in this country, these two papers are at least some advance towards reality, but... for instance, the brexit secretary david davis said that the talks with europe were going incredibly well. they are not.

they are going incredibly badly. fundamental dishonesty amongst the politicians in this country exists, the cabinet is split three ways, they are in a bad hole. it is only going to be a question of time before this is revealed and the british public realise they have been sold a total pup. what happens then, goodness only knows but i think these two papers, at least there is a transitional deal acceptance, that is important, because the idea of marching off a cliff face would be a disaster for everyone in this country, not just for business but for ordinary working people as well. we are slowly moving towards reality but my goodness, the europeans are correct when they say we are still living in neverland. many business leaders have said that this paper gives us clarity and we know that business likes certainty, but it does not get to the heart about what we do with the customs union. trade is essential. there will be an agreement on the eu citizens, there will be an agreement on ireland.

the two main issues are the devolved bill, that will be the big issue, especially trade, because the british want to have everything, they want to negotiate trade deals before they have left the european union — that is impossible. the situation is that the european union is very strong and united, 27 strong, and the british are divided. so the clock is ticking. absolutely! and the clock is ticking and we have lost one year because of the political situation in britain and the british government is in a weak position because it is divided, and as adam said, political opinion and business opinion is also divided. stephanie. i think business is united comparatively speaking, certainly compared to the cabinet

and i think this week, finally, number ten has come up with policy proposals but they picked the two most difficult issues — customs and northern ireland. it is definitely a victory for the businesses saying we need a transition period, but it seems what they are proposing is notjust short on details but very unrealistic that the uk would be out of the single market and out of the customs union but we'd be able to negotiate a similar relationship that is close to resembling what we have at the moment. all the while not having any of the obligations of freedom of movement or paying into the eu budget. it sounds great, but why would the eu agree to any of that? the hint in this is that they will have some great new it system that will be a magical solution to solving these problems. i have spoken to consultants that have said that actually that is far off, it is very costly, many years to go before

it becomes a reality. so what they are proposing, i think it's unrealistic and on top of that, i would tell you that actually, the customs union is only part of the problem. people forget that the british economy, 80% of it is involved in services, that is not affected by this. the big prize at the end of the day is if they can get a deal on services to protect the british economy. i woke up the other day listening to the brexit secretary, david davis, speaking about how ambiguity is deliberate, the lack of clarity is a good thing, and i felt... i was not around in 1947 when britain was leaving india, but my grandparents, my payments' generation, would probably have recognised the brexit chaos. at that time there was a much shorter turnaround of time,

there was a great lack of information provided. in fact, lord mountbatten, the last viceroy to india, he did not allow the new borders of india and pakistan to be announced until after independence day. at that time you could say that perhaps that is ok because at least the british had to worry or not worry about all of those natives, millions of indians and the new country of pakistan. but the confusion that has been created here and the polarisation that is allowed because of the lack of information, you wonder why britain would want to do that to themselves, it is their own future they are playing with. because 52% of the population voted for it and plenty watching this programme will believe that things are not going terribly, things are going as they should, this is what they voted for, this is what they want. the lack of clarity, information... so one day you read that 759 international trade agreements and deals have to be negotiated

by britain right after brexit. the other day you read that there is no reason to have any import tariffs at all, let us go off and buy oranges cheaper from south africa and buy wine from tunisia because the eu levies very heavy import tariffs on them. it will be fine. perhaps there is a bit of this and that, but it could lower the temperature if the government used some of the information it is getting and provided it to people to allow them to test the limits of politics as decent and responsive citizens. the government has fundamentally disagreed. you mentioned 52% voted, they did, but the latest ipsos mori poll published by the economists suggest that three quarters of the people believe that britain is on the incorrect path. that does not mean that they want to get out, that is by no means clear and i'm not suggesting that if there was a referendum tomorrow that people would change their minds

and choose to stay back. public opinion is extremely fluid and very, very uncertain and the divisions in the cabinet, to some extent, reflect that. no one really knows where they are. the politicians, frankly... i do not make a great case forjournalists, but we can rightly or wrongly speak honestly. many of the politicians cannot speak honestly because they do not want to do that because they are too frightened because they do not know which way it is all going. we are left in the hands of these characters, liam fox, david davis... borisjohnson as well. i personally have very little confidence in them as a trio to negotiate our way in this difficult task. partly at a time when the european union is doing extremely well, the euro is high, germany and france are relaunching their politics. it looks like on the one hand you have britain which cannot get

a position and the european union which goes forward with or without britain. adam, you said earlier, it is not going well, it is going badly. actually, to what extent do any of us know that? does anyone go into a negotiation...? you do not put all of your cards on the table, do you? that is a process. they are behind schedule, now it looks like the trade talks in october could be delayed until december. they are behind schedule. yes, in terms of the timetable perhaps. 0n social media and the bad tempers and everyone telling us that they want brexit reversed or not reversed, i think a lot of this has been created because people do not know. there will be trade—offs. for some people who want to leave the european union, it is fine, there will be trade—offs. some people will be worse off in some ways but better off in other ways.

but at least let the people know. the uk government is going to be trusted enough to be not thought of as giving alternative facts. for the europeans, brexit will take place at the end of the day. i love the idea that marc says that all 27 are wonderful and united. it is for the birds, you wait, the divisions are not good. that is the typical british idea. we are united to resist the british proposal. you might be right on that. to return to the specific point of ireland which is what the position paper was about. stephanie is correct to say that this is one of the trickiest areas in the negotiations, isn't it? and it ties in with the problem of britain wanting to bring down immigration but if you do not have a hard border it could be risky in terms of people smuggling, all important issues.

yes, for europe, there could be the problem that we will have a frontier that is fluid and not well policed because you will have smugglers, terrorists, traffickers of humans who will be able to go into the... the irish effectively have a veto. frankly, if the proposals put forward by the british government or whatever, unless they are acceptable to the irish government, it will be difficult for the eu to agree to them. i personally believe the money is not a huge thing, we will be paying billions anyway. in the divorce bill. but the trade and ireland, those are the key issues and frankly, we remain in a delusional phase in this country. especially having a government where the defence of the union is for survival and the union has an agenda in ireland which is different from dublin.

it seems like everyone wants the same thing which is no hard border, but how do you get there? it seems like an external border to the eu, there will have to be checks on goods going to and from, whether that is a virtual border or not. people might be the easiest part of it but you already have french farmers talking about concerns about that being a back door route into the eu for agricultural produce. chlorinated chicken from the united states! there is something to look forward to! we can agree that the ireland issue is very difficult regarding brexit. well, the british government talks confidently about doing trade with nations outside the eu — india being one of the key markets — and this week, of course, saw india mark its 70th year of independence. rashmee, how are relations between london and delhi at the moment? polite.

i know that sounds curiously bloodless and without passion, but perhaps that is not a bad thing. because, you know, there has been over the passage of time for both countries, the relationship has the equation to evolve into a steady relationship, of mutual respect and all of that. that sounds quite diplomatic. bear in mind we're talking about the 70th anniversary, 70 as a birthday is not particularly momentous, it is not life—changing, it is not like a 21st or a 50th or a 75th, or 100th, so you have to look at the passage of time more closely and see where they are. i think i would describe the relationship as currently made up of the smirkers and the scoffers. the day after the brexit referendum occurred in june 2016, there were the smirkers who said,

"watch britain partition itself, let it feel the same pain of division that it had brought to the subcontinent, let us see what happens to it." so there was a bit of delight that was being taken at the predicament of britain. the scoffers will say that britain is this distant connection, a cousin seven times removed or whatever. it's only cultural relevance now is cricket and tea and the fact that there is a fading fondness for pg woodhouse, his writing and all of that. i do not think that is where we are, i think we should let the events of the past be in the history books but let them be in the history books. in other words, let britain teach that history, contextualise it. as for trade, i do not think that is happening any time soon and the reason is that indians, just like other members of the commonwealth — new zealand, australia,

canada and so on — they want to have mobility of people just as much as the mobility of cash and goods and investment and britain has shown itself to be rather unwilling on that front. unwelcoming, is that what you think? yes, for example, for an indian to buy a two—year visa to come to britain, that costs four times what it costs someone from china. indian students cannot work here after they finish studying. they are not allowed to come in easily. workers are not allowed. 30,000 indians were told that their work permits would not be renewed. they were told in april. there are issues and indian officials feel that quite strongly. if we're going to do well after brexit, do we need to be more welcoming as a nation, is this a key stumbling block in terms of trade? i think that india is a key test case as to whether britain can negotiate trade deals

with other countries. india is not a major trading partner of the uk. it has a huge trade deficit with india, so doing a free—trade agreement with india is more of an advantage to britain than it is to india. the biggest trading partners of india include the us, china, and germany is in the top ten. we saw angela merkel this week saying that she wants to restart the eu's talks with india on its own trade and investment agreement. and so, from the indian perspective, what is more important, a trade deal with the uk or the eu? i think that is self—explanatory. let us turn our attentions to the united states now. white house chief strategist steve bannon is the latest member of the trump administration to be fired at the end of a week

in which the president's new chief of staff, john kelly, was photographed shaking his head and staring at the floor during a particularly chaotic news conference which centred on the violence in charlottesville, virginia. several commentators have described this week as a turning point. stephanie, do you think it is? no, i think it is a sort of reality tv show. i do not know what the ending is but it is extraordinary, there has never been a presidency like it, i would rather doubt whether there will ever be a presidency like it again. it is an extraordinary phenomena, the white house is in chaos, but you can fire any number of people like steve bannon and what have you, and they have fired five people now, the likes of flynn and anthony scaramucci and whoever, but in the end, it is the president who is the problem and he is tweeting at four o'clock in the morning. he is a very odd character and you could say that he is a reality show tv man,

which is what i normally say, or you could say that he is a property speculator that got lucky or not lucky. he is also a demigod of a politician but he has shown himself to be particularly inept politically with some of the statements that he has been making — he obviously has no idea of how to manage men and women at all. so i have no idea what the outcome will be but i think the congressional elections which come mid term will be pretty horrific and the real issue to me is, will republicans, at what stage will senior republicans say enough is enough? but that is the key point, isn't it? stephanie, what is your estimation? notjust the steve bannon thing, it is charlottesville, the violence, the murder of a young woman and that was the point at which quite a few strategists i spoke to over the course of the week said charlottesville

is something different and in terms of the reaction of donald trump to this, this is a turning point, do you see it like that? many people have said that, based on the things he has said previously, and it has not turned out like that. i do think this is different. it took some time but you finally had two dozen republicans come out and criticise donald trump by name for his equivocal response to charlottesville. so i think that is significant. including business leaders. he has presided over an unprecedented rift between corporate america and the white house after having built himself up as the business president and welcoming them into the white house. they have now all abandoned him and you even had last night the billionaire carl icahn, who had been supportive of him, stepping down as his advisor on regulatory affairs. so i think this is a turning point and the challenge here is the legislative agenda is packed for the autumn

and it is notjust on, you know, ambitious proposals that donald trump put forward for tax reform or infrastructure spending. i think those are very unrealistic now, given the political climate and how he has squandered his political capital. but things like getting a budget passed, raising the debt—ceiling, these are making sure there is not a government shutdown, these are big issues and the question is, will congress be able to get its act together to pass those things to avert a shutdown of government, given the lack of leadership in the white house? some people are worried that the departure of steve bannon means that there is no longer any points person for relations with congress and now with steve bannon out it is unclear how that will play out. he has made a big story out of the fact that he will wage war on anyone who gets in the way of the trump administration and that means house speaker paul ryan

is in the line of fire and certainly the more moderate forces in the white house, the likes of the economic adviser and the treasury secretary. steve bannon in some ways was also fighting, he said, the intense lobbying of government and himself being a former government banker. the goldman sachs lobby in the white house has now come to power and what is good for them is not necessarily good for the us as we know from the financial crisis. i think that every wwek is supposed to be the very worst week for the donald trump presidency, every week he is opposed done something that is so outrageous, this is the moment where everything will fall. i am not sure that that is actually true because he has still got an amazing amount of support in his base and that based,

as adam will know from having covered the nixon presidency, even at the time that richard nixon was being investigated and things were really bad for him, he had equal level of about 25 or 27% support. so i think if there is that, i do not know whether cowardlyd the congressmen are going to really be willing to do very much to the president, unless people discernibly split from him. had a new centre are being created by getting rid of a right—wing agenda? i do not know, we are seeing that in india, it is happening in hungary... do we reach a point where some republicans say this is damaging to the brand and the republican party, does it have to come down to that practical point? we are afraid of... the popularfeeling has been... how do you fight the populist like donald trump or...?

it is notjust enough to be appalled by donald trump, you must have a positive agenda, another option. some good points have been made that the war base remains and would probably vote for him. the question is, does that road, frankly he will not be able to deliver onjobs in the rust belt, he cannot deliver on jobs and tax reform, at what stage is that we start to erode? i do not have a clue but personally, i am not as concerned by his statements of charlottesville, it is typically inept from him, but any sense, for the politically correct, it has really matter and that has really divided america and it has focused attention on his lack of political skills. in the end, so long as that core base remains, he probably will survive.

you have of course the recession which with barack 0bama ——race issue. we were told that was no longer present but it has come back to the fore again with charlottesville and black people having to face the kkk. you almost feel like america is going back to a dark past. let us see what the coming days and weeks bring on those stories. we're out of time. do watch next week, same time, same place. thanks for being with us, and goodbye. hello. it's been one of those days.

0ne hello. it's been one of those days. one moment glorious sunshine, the next the cloud has built up and we are seeing showers. some she was across northern england, scotland and northern ireland. strong and blustery winds. summer she was receiving but they fade and the country becomes largely dry overnight except for a few showers. clearer skies as well. temperatures holding up between ten and 13 celsius. it could dip down to five 01’ celsius. it could dip down to five or six celsius. it could dip down to five orsix in celsius. it could dip down to five or six in the countryside. a chilly start to the day. cloudier as this frontal system pushes towards the uk, increasing cloud through the morning with outbreaks of rain. the rain will extend its way toward southern parts of wales by lunchtime. eventually at them too

much of wales, and northern ireland by the afternoon. for much of the country, for much of the day, largely dry with spells of sunshine and light winds. this is bbc news. the headlines at 5pm... spanish authorities say the jihadist cell behind the two deadly attacks in catalonia has been broken up. however, a major manhunt is still underway to find younes abouyaaqoub — the man believed to have driven a van into crowds in barcelona, killing 13. a british man is among those hurt in yesterday's finland terror attack — he tried to protect two women from a man wielding a knife. president trump has thanked steve bannon for doing a greatjob, despite firing him as his chief strategist less than 2a hours ago. also in the next hour, we'll get the latest on the growing death toll cased by major floods sweeping across south asia.