hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. tropical storm harvey has reached [and again. this time louisiana must feel its force — as houston continues to face severe flooding — we'll be live there. north korea says the firing of this missile overjapan on tuesday was only "the first step" of military operations in the pacific. and while the un security council condemned the test — already russia and china have criticised american actions in the region. we'll speak to bbc chinese. in venezuela, the new constituent assembly wants some opposition leaders put on trial for treason. this is the un on the health of democratic life there. i think it must be barely alive, is still alive, is the way i would look at it. if you want to get in touch — #bbc0s. tropical storm harvey has reached land again — in louisiana.

after devastating parts of houston, it's been in the gulf of mexico, but it's moving again. this is the projected path for the storm. heading in an north—easterly direction through the zorya, tennessee and kentucky. new orleans should miss the worst of it — and the storm will lose intensity as it moves inland. but it's still potent. the cities of beaumont and port arthur received more than 20 inches of rain overnight and while the storm moves on — the heart of the story remains in houston where severe flooding remains. here's what the texas governor said earlier. the rain that was received in the harris county area has set an all—time record. now that rain has moved to the beaumont region in south—east texas.

approximately 15 inches of rain have already fallen in that area, and there's more to come. the worst is not yet over for south—east texas as far as rain is concerned. there will be ongoing challenges in the time rain continues to fall, as well as for approximately four days to a week to come. specifically, flooding conditions that will continue to be a challenge for people in the area. here are some of the pictures that have come in. huge swathes are underwater. many, many rescues have occurred, around 3000 people have been picked up. this is one being conducted by helicopter, with a

mother and baby being picked up off a rooftop. the death toll so far with this storm is 20, but the authorities are saying that they expect this figure to rise. many thousands of people have been left homeless. these pictures from shelters and temporary accommodation. it's estimated that around 30,000 people are in need of this type of help. with many homes empty, there are concerns about looting and crime in general, so a cu rfew looting and crime in general, so a curfew has been introduced. here is houston's mayor explaining why. frankly, no one needs to be on the road or out from ten until five. there are too many people from across our cities who are out of their homes, and they are in shelters. i don't want them to have to worry about someone breaking into their home or looting, or anything of that nature, while they are away. the bbc‘s laura trevelyan

is in houston. she updated us on the situation a short time ago. what are the practicalities for people in this neighbourhood getting around? people in this neighbourhood getting around 7 the answer people in this neighbourhood getting around? the answer is right behind me. can you see that boat over my shoulder? there's been a flotilla of rescue boats all day. you can see the extent of the flooding in this neighbourhood, flooding that has been exacerbated by the fact they are doing a controlled release of reservoirs. the authorities are saying that is stopping the reservoirs from completely breaking their banks. the only way to get around is by boat, but the rescue workers are taking a specific position. they are only rescuing people, not taking them back to get their belongings. we've just seen a

baby being rescued, a baby coming out of this car seat covered in a blanket, because it is so hot here as well. there hasn't been very much good news in the past five days. more than 16,000 rescues have been carried out, and authorities saying it will take years to recover from this. i remember going to new 0 rlea ns this. i remember going to new 0rlea ns saints all years after hurricanes katrina and visiting neighbourhoods that were not even close to recovery. is the fear that things will not be recoverable here? people haven't got round to estimating. behind my shoulder is an airboat. it looks like a gigantic fan, powered by the air, which means they can go faster over shallow to rain, which is what we are experiencing here. as to the damage,

the clean—up, the cost, other than saying billions of dollars, no one really knows yet. right now, houston is still in emergency mode. national services warning that there could be catastrophic, life—threatening flooding still in louisiana, over the next few days. those rivers that have romcom their banks, the water begins to crest as it runs inland. we are still in a dynamic situation. there is a rescue happening right there behind me. a lady there in a green t—shirt, just getting off that airboat. 0ne green t—shirt, just getting off that airboat. one of the latest people to be rescued here in houston. more than 16,000 rescues have taken place in the last few days. that lady there just one of the latest to be rescued, looking very relieved indeed. i spoke to a man who had been rescued, who told me they had

made it since friday. they didn't think they would need rescuing this morning, that because some areas have received more than 50 inches of rain, the flooding kept happening. can you tell me more about what is happening behind you? who would be co—ordinated in these rescue efforts ? co—ordinated in these rescue efforts? we have seen national guard boats this morning and texas police boats. we have seen a lot of volunteer boats, but an airboat is something very specific. i would think that the boat behind me is a contractor that's been hired by the government, but i don't actually know because i haven't spoken to any of the airboat operators yet. this road has been flooded, but it's been turned into a slipway, into a marina. maybe 50 or 60 boats we have seen here this morning, because as

the west point to get entrance into this hugely flooded neighbourhood behind me. laura, fascinating to see the work going on there in houston as laura is talking to us. gives you an idea of the days and weeks of work to come, because it is still a little while since the storm hit houston, but still those problems continue, and the rescues. if you're wondering what the us position on north korea is, you can take your pick. in response to the north koreans firing a ballistic missile overjapan on tuesday, donald trump tweeted one ‘the us has been talking to north korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years' and ‘talking is not the answer!‘. not long after that, the us defence secretary spoke after meeting south korean officials.

we are never out of diplomatic solutions. we continue to work together, and we share responsibilities to protect our nations and our interests. that is what we are going to discuss today. the un security council meeting has condemned north korea's actions — that includes china. but more is being asked of china. this is the uk's prime minister theresa may is injapan. i want to work with our partners to stop these illegal tests. there will be discussions in the un security council, and i'm pleased there was a united condemnation of north korea

from the un security council, but we wa nt to from the un security council, but we want to work with international powers to see what further pressure can be brought on north korea, and particularly what china can do. there has been united condemnation, but that doesn't mean all the main countries agree on how to respond to north korea. here is vincent lee of bbc chinese, explaining how china would like to see this dealt with. china's reaction has always been very standard. china wants a diplomatic rather than military solution, or tightening the sanction on north korea. china is seemingly not very keen on imposing further sanctions against north korea, because there is a real danger that the regime is going to collapse. china is not very keen on military action against north korea, and china has been very worried by the

recent fire and fury blasted by the us president would really cause military action against north korea. give us a more detailed idea of what the chinese approach would look like if they were in charge? many years ago there was a six party talks which involved china, russia, the us, north korea, south korea and japan. china is keen to call for the resumption of six party talks, because china thinks only through diplomacy can this issue be solved. north korea is posing a really big problem for china domestically as well. also relevant to this is the close relationship between america andjapan. close relationship between america and japan. donald trump and shinzo abe spoke earlier on the phone about

north korea, and lots of people are monitoring this situation, and particularly japan's reaction to what north korea are doing. there is some speculation that prime minister are they could use this recent test asa are they could use this recent test as a platform to increased japan's military influence. i want to put the idea to vincent from bbc chinese, and how china would view japan flexing its military muscles. china has always been very wary of japanese military expansion. a few yea rs japanese military expansion. a few years ago, shinzo abe wanted to expand japan's role of self defence, provoking fury from beijing. last year, on donald trump ‘s campaign trail is, he said he would allow south korea and japan to go nuclear, so china is very wary of this. don't

forget, being more aggressive on the military front is a hugely contentious issue withinjapan. you mentioned this issue has been basically settled since the end of the second world war. injapan, there is a real sense that this military expansion in japan there is a real sense that this military expansion injapan is coming back. a lot of people are not happy with that. in a few minutes, we will hear from bbc arabic, updating us on the iraqi military‘s effo rts updating us on the iraqi military‘s efforts taking on the islamic state group ina efforts taking on the islamic state group in a key stronghold of ivf in the north of iraq. the scottish labour party is looking for its fourth leader in less than three years, after kezia dugdale announced her resignation. they will meet in ten days' time to consider the process of selecting her successor. the lothians msp says the party is in a much better state than when she came to office — and insists she wasn't pushed out

of the job because of past comments aboutjeremy corbyn's leadership. what i'm trying to do is something that politicians rarely do, which is to leave with my head held high without any sort of crisis. i have beenin without any sort of crisis. i have been in this leadership role in a very difficult time in my party's history. a lot has happened in 2.5 yea rs, history. a lot has happened in 2.5 years, but there four years until the next election, so i want to give the next election, so i want to give the next election, so i want to give the next person space and time to do the next person space and time to do the right thing by the party. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is: tropical storm harvey

has reached louisiana — as texas continues to battle severe flooding. some of the main stories from bbc world service. a brazilian court has suspended a government decree that would have opened up a vast natural reserve in the amazon to commercial mining. police in rwanda have denied reports that they have arrested a prominent opposition leader, diane shima rwigara, and her mother. reports say that unknown armed men dressed in civilian clothes spent a night outside her home before storming in on wednesday morning. her family say that they don't know where she and her mother are now. and i hard drive containing unfinished works by terry pratchett have been crushed by a steam roller. this was requested by terry pratchett himself, who didn't want anyone to continue works he had started. as promised, an update on

the iraqi government offensive against the islamic state group. they have recaptured an area around the city of tal afar. there has also been fighting in a smaller town, where some is fighters had fled to. when iraqi government forces say this is worse than mosul, we know it is serious. it is. but the importance of tal afar, especially because most of the fighters of islamic state skipped the fighting in talafarand islamic state skipped the fighting in tal afar and went to al—ayadiya, it means that most of the leaders who were formed after the 2003 dismantling of the iraqi army, were actually formed in tal afar. that is

because they were the ex—officers of the iraqi army. they were hiding in tal afar after 2003, and this was ca ptu red tal afar after 2003, and this was captured by al-qaeda briefly between 2004 and 2006, and then again in 2014 by the so—called islamic state. most of those elements were running from tal afar in the week that the fighting was going on. they went to this small village of al—ayadiya, and all the fighting is now going on in that small village, which is why the iraqi army is running a very intense battle there. is there any way out for the islamic state fighters who are there, or is this a fighters who are there, or is this a fight to the death? experts watching al—ayadiya say there are two or three tunnels between al—ayadiya and fracker, but the iraqi army tried to prevent them from using them. the

syrian regime and the american forces running the umbrella batter over there, they are waiting for them over there. if the battle for al—ayadiya, mosul and the other battle in iraq, if the three battles are closed for the islamic state in iraq, that might mean the end of ivf in iraq. does it get extensive coverage in iraq, or do people become slightly immune to the fighting that continues week after week? after those three battles in iraq, east mosul, west mosul and al—ayadiya, people are feeling for the turkmen, because they form 90% of that local population. these people are more or less immune to to

the battles. the iraqi government say they are going to form safe passages for them. fears are coming out from kurdistan because they are saying that... the iraqi government are saying that they are not going to repeat the fears that came out of the mosul battles. all we can take is the iraqi government's guarantees. thank you very much indeed. if you speak arabic, you can get coverage of this story on bbc arabic online. now for a story being covered by bbc india. the delhi high court is considering a petition to criminalise marital rape. the government's against the idea.

it given a statement to the court which argues that doing this "may destabilise the institution of marriage apart from being an easy "tool for harassing the husbands." "what may appear to be marital rape to an individual wife, "may not appear so to others." you might have thought a woman is the bestjudge of whether she's been raped — but that is the government's position. and adding to the outcry — the husband of the foreign minister — a former governor himself — tweeted this: "there is nothing like marital rape. "0ur homes should not become police stations." iasked neha bhatnagarfrom bbc hindi if the government had offered any further justification for its stance. the government has gone on to say that they will look at trying to increase moral and social awareness about this topic, but they have said

that india is unlike any other country. the whole institution of marriage is considered very sacred, and this kind of move could com pletely and this kind of move could completely destabilise the institution of marriage, say the government, and that some wives could use it as a tool of harassment to victimise men. but of course, people are talking about it quite a lot, saying this is not the right kind of approach or attitude. some well—known people have gone on to tweet that even our neighbours in nepal and bhutan have criminalised marital rape, but why is india not doing that? if it is criminalised in a country like britain, why not in india? it is the delhi high court considering this, not the government. not at this stage. several positions are at the high

court in india about this issue. the high court had asked the government to respond on this issue, and this is what the government has said. but the high court is considering many angles. men have said that there have been many cases of misuse of gender equality laws in india, and some man have sent they have felt quite harassed. the high court has said they will look at the other side of this argument as well and see what lies ahead in india. this isa see what lies ahead in india. this is a very big issue in india. anything to do with sexual abuse or exploit meant is a big issue. everyone is aware of the extent of this issue in india. 0nly everyone is aware of the extent of this issue in india. only 0.6% of cases of sexual abuse by their husbands are reported. some feel

that it husbands are reported. some feel thatitis husbands are reported. some feel that it is brushed aside, and perhaps criminalising it will bring it more to the forefront, and if a woman does feel abused in a marriage, she will then speak up, not just marriage, she will then speak up, notjust in a civil court of law, but ina notjust in a civil court of law, but in a criminal way. if it was to be done, it would have a bigger impact. when the delhi high court releases its judgment, we impact. when the delhi high court releases itsjudgment, we will update you. texasis update you. texas is dealing with tropical storm harvey. president trump is unveiling plans to change the tax system, and slash corporate tax from 25% to 15%. michelle, a number of questions on this. we knew he had planned to do this, didn't we? we are seeing donald trump launching his big push, the legislative push, to try to get tax reform done. stephen nugent has

said he hopes to get it done by the end of the year. we heard in the past that he hopes to get it done by the summer. now there is a real possibility that congress is just too busy to get it done on that time frame. you mention the cutting of the corporate tax rate, and broadly speaking, that was just one of the areas he gave details. he wants it to be simple and easy to understand, he wants the tax code to be more competitive, he wants tax relief for middle—class families, and he wants to bring back offshore profits,. the details on how to get this dump will be left to congress. this is a tough one politically. lots of his critics

one politically. lots of his critics on twitter are saying that this speech should have been delayed at the very least. he started his speech talking about texas. there had been criticism ahead of this, saying that when donald trump spoke yesterday, he wasn't empathetic enough with the victims of the flood. today you saw him trying to address that when he began speaking. then he had to make an awkward hand brake switch back to the topic of the day, which was tax reform. for some, clearly, that is a difficult switch to swallow. michelle, thank you very much. i will be back with you very much. i will be back with you ina you very much. i will be back with you in a couple of minutes with more of the main stories from around the world. good evening. harvey dominates our

world headlines at the moment. southeast texas, cedar bayview is the wettest spot. that is a years worth of rain in two or three days and catastrophic flooding. it is worth 2.5 years of london rainfall, so you can understand the problems they are having. but conditions are improving in texas and houston with the rest of the week looking dry. just getting rid of this rainfall they had earlier in the day in south—east texas. clusters of thunderstorms to the east, still flash flooding across parts of louisiana, alabama and the florida panhandle. it is starting to shift away from texas now. the korrita of wet weather extends from louisiana to western tennessee. we are

starting to lose the wind strength there, but still some gusty winds attached to any storm we see. kentucky could see some flash flooding, and there could be some isolated storms pushing towards our this week. we saw almost a month ‘s worth of rainfall in the space of a day in mumbai. the rain should be easing off now, but if anything, they have got slightly worse. the monsoon clouds are starting to cluster together. that prolongs and intensifies the rain. that has been pushing across parts of gujarat and other areas, and will push its way into southeast pakistani wednesday night and thursday morning. it is here we could see some flash flooding, or example in karachi. in

the north—east of india, things set to deteriorate, the same in buttin, and nepal and bangladesh. to deteriorate, the same in buttin, and nepaland bangladesh. feeding the monsoon rain clouds even more. this is in areas where rivers are already at record flood levels. more rain certainly unwelcome. in europe, a line of storms from eastern spain, east france towards germany. to the south and east of that, sunshine and heat. to the north—west, things drying out but starting to feel much cooler. temperatures lower than what we've seen in the last few days. that is the case in the uk. more details on that coming up in half an hour. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. we start in the united states again. huston continues to face flooding,

and the storm has made landfall in louisiana. never is more rain to come. north korea says the firing of this missile overjapan was only the first step. in venezuela, the new constituent assembly has unanimously voted to put opposition leaders on trial for treason. in response, this is what the u.n. high commissionerfor human rights had to say about democratic life in the country. i think it must be barely alive, if still alive, is the way i would look at it. it's less than a month to go until the german election — will angela merkel win a fourth term?