gas suspends nine members of staff, after complaints about conduct at an immigration removal centre at gatwick airport. the private security firm responds to undercoverfilming by the bbc‘s panorama. it says there is no place in its company for poor behaviour. i'm absolutely disgusted by the alleged behaviour. it is totally unacceptable to me, to the organisation, to anyone else who would work in this kind of vocation. the company says it's begun an investigation — we'll have the latest. also this lunchtime. britain's trade secretary warns that the uk won't be blackmailed into paying a high price to leave the eu. it's clear that businesses, notjust in europe but investors in places like here injapan, are getting impatient and want to see what that final shape of that arrangement‘s going to be. president trump is to ask congress for £45 billion to help people affected by storm harvey in texas. the birmingham bin strike is back

on — some workers have received redundancy notices, and there are fears the rubbish will mount up again. at last, the lady can make light of the house work. and, customers are told to "suck it up", as the eu bans vacuum cleaners which are too noisy or powerful. and in the sport on bbc news... gordon strachan says it's not a must—win, but that's still how his scotland side will approach tonight's crucial world cup qualifier in lithuania. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the private security company gas has suspended nine employees, following claims of abuse and assaults on detainees

at an immigration centre. an undercover investigation by the bbc‘s panorama programme appears to show staff mocking, abusing and threatening violence against detainees at brook house, near gatwick airport. gas says there is "no place for the type of conduct described in the allegations", and that it has immediately begun an investigation. our social affairs correspondent alison holt has the details. just metres from the runway at gatwick airport is brook house, an immigration removal centre run by the global security firm gas. here, foreign national prisoners facing deportation at the end of their sentence are detained alongside asylum seekers, illegal migrants and those who have overstayed their visas. a secret world of drugs, violence and abuse... undercover filming as part of a panorama investigation to be broadcast this monday alleges that some staff at brook house, mock, abuse and even assault detainees.

it exposes a place awash with drugs, with self—harm commonplace amongst the men held there. the company says it's waiting to see the footage but has suspended nine staff and alerted the police. my initial reaction is absolutely disgusted by the alleged behaviour. it's totally unacceptable to me, to the organisation, to anyone else who would work in this kind of vocation. it is the home office that decides who is detained at centres like brook house, whilst their immigration case is decided. it says in a statement: we condemn any action that is put the safety or dignity of immigration removal centre detainees at risk. it also says that gas needs to ensure there is a thorough investigation into the allegations at the centre and that it expects appropriate action. and alison is with me now.

what sort of issues are likely to be thrown up by this investigation? we are going to know the detailed allegations on monday, when the programme is broadcast, and that is bound to raise issues about the culture within a place such as brook house. but there are wider, broader issues around immigration detention, for instance, in brook house, as with other detention sentence, they have a mix of ex—offenders who are being difficult —— deported from the country, along with asylum seekers, others who may not have had experience of a prison type environment before. the description of life inside brook house is of it being a toxic mix. so there are questions around that. but places like this were built to house people for 72 hours before they were removed for the country —— from the country. across the board we are seeing the length of stay in such places increasing. brook house, it's

a8 days is the average we are told by inspectors. some people have been there for more than two years. that in itself raises issues about the efficiency of the system and the impact that ben has on at times vulnerable individuals. alison holt, thank you. and you can see the panorama documentary undercover — britain's immigration secrets, on monday evening on bbc one at 9pm. the international trade secretary liam fox has accused the european union of trying to blackmail britain into accepting a brexit divorce bill. the eu insists issues arising from the uk's withdrawal must be dealt with before any talks can begin about future trade relations. our political correspondent iain watson reports. liam fox exchanging a memorandum of understanding with japan on trade, but he isn't as delighted with the eu commission. he accused them of

trying to exact a price for moving on from the first stage of brexit negotiations. we can't be blackmailed into paying a price on the first part. we think that we should begin discussions on the final settlement, because that's good for business. at issue is the divorce bill for leaving the eu. but hitachi press conference in brussels yesterday, the european commission's chief negotiator argued that wider trade talks could begin only after britain gave an indication of how much it was willing to pay. liam fox told the bbc that businesses were getting frustrated. what we need to do is to begin in parallel talk about what the final solution to the trading relationship is going to look like and it's very clear that businesses, not just and it's very clear that businesses, notjust in europe, but investors in places like here injapan, are getting impatient. liam fox gave a series of broadcast interviews in japan but only made the accusation of eu blackmail once. that suggests it wasn't a pre—scripted attack.

nonetheless it could be a sign of frustration that the government was mac strategy, to put more pressure on the european commission to deliver trade talks this autumn, so far hasn't succeeded. and some in brussels are blaming britain for any delay. i'd like to remind mr fox that the referendum happened injune 2016. it took nine months for the british government to trickle article 50, so nine months to shape its positions and now it's been six months and we've yet to make any serious progress. and some opposition politicians here are claimed —— claiming that liam fox's talk of blackmail will simply make matters worse. his language is intensely unhelpful. this is sabre rattling from the trade secretary who is twiddling his thumbs, because he cannot do anything until the trade position of the uk has been resolved with the eu. there's been a lot of talk about what businesses wa nt lot of talk about what businesses want from brexit. well, they say less of a slanging match and more

substance, please. this is politics so there will always be a bit of bluster and gameplaying by both sides. i think businesses would like to see both sides maybe tone it down a little bit and get back to focusing on those issues which matter so much to both sides. this week the government focused on its trading relationship with japan. but it's our future trade link across the channel that is proving harder to negotiate. iain watson, bbc news. our correspondent gary o'donoghue is in washington. in the next few minutes you will listen to a speech from david davis? hotfooting after the bruising encounter with michel barnier, david davis will think he's more among friends. he's promised a speech that is optimistic, that sets out what he sees as a potential deepening of the relationship between britain and the united states post—brexit. it's worth remembering that the amount of

foreign investment in britain, from america and vice versa, really dwa rfs america and vice versa, really dwarfs that from most other countries, most other individual countries. so there's quite a lot at sta ke. countries. so there's quite a lot at stake. donald trump said in the last few weeks that there are discussions ongoing, when he was asked that directly. he says there would be a major deal with britain after brexit, but it's worth noting that at the moment what actually is occupying the american government is discussions over the north of north american free trade agreement, nafta, renegotiating that, and big rows with china on trade. whether britain will get as good looking quite so soon i think is up for debate. gary o'donoghue, thank you, in washington. chris morris from bbc reality check has been looking at where the negotiations go from here, at the end of the third round of talks. there's a lot of frustration about because the uk cosmo mail —— main goal in the brexit negotiations is to move on as quickly as possible

from talking about past obligations to talking about a future partnership with the eu. but there's a long road ahead and it's going to get bumpy. the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier said yesterday there had been no decisive progress on any of the main issues. in other words, for the moment, it's no go. so a quick reminder about the issues on which the eu says progress has to be made before it will talk more about the futur first, the status of eu citizens in the uk and uk citizens elsewhere in europe. there was some progress this week — confirmation that after brexit these citizens will still be able to use their ehic health insurance cards. there's no agreement on that, though, for the rest of us. and here's the overall sticking point — who would have legal authority over any deal on citizens' rights. the eu wants it to be the ecj. the uk says that's not acceptable after brexit. the second major focus at the moment is the border between northern ireland and the irish republic. the uk says it wants to maintain an "invisible border" after brexit, with no physical infrastructure, and there were, we're told, "good discussions" on ireland this week.

but while the eu understands the sensitivities on the border, it says frictionless trade is impossible once the uk leaves the single market and the customs union. the toughest issue of all, money. what are the uk's financial obligations to the eu when it leaves. the eu could be looking for a net amount after some money comes back to the uk of as much as 60 billion euros is, that is based largely on commitments the uk has already made. but the uk questioned the legal basis of these calculations and it went through them line by line this week. it is not prepared to pay nearly as much. so to get to whether uk wants to be, talking about this future trade relationship, a lot of progress will have to be made in the next few weeks before the leaders of the other 27 eu countries meet for a summit in brussels. that will take place on the 19th and 20th of october, when they'll make a decision one way or another. if they

don't think sufficient progress is being made, they won't meet again untiljust being made, they won't meet again until just before christmas. being made, they won't meet again untiljust before christmas. that would make substantive talks on trade not beginning until well into the new year come with time ticking away. chris morris, thank you. president trump is expected to ask congress for the equivalent of £a.5 billion, to help people affected by storm harvey in texas. the total cost of repairing the damage, and compensating residents whose homes have been flooded, is estimated at more than £100 billion. jon donnison reports. in houston, texas, and beyond, there is little sign of the misery coming to an end. after more than four feet of rain in less than a week, it could be days before the water levels fully recede. thousands of people have now been rescued from their homes, grabbing what they can carry and getting out. everything is gone. we lost everything in the house. overnight, the storm moved

on to tennessee, bringing more heavy rain and flooding. i was walking in the grass and i was walking, and i stepped down, and something just swept me up under. my head was hit, i seen light up under there, and i came out and i tried to grab a tree, and it's swept me under again. and i grabbed onto another tree, and i asked the lord to help me, and ijust started pulling myself up out of there. the vice—president, mike pence, flew into texas to see the damage first—hand. this is a key moment for the embattled and historically unpopular trump presidency. it can't be seen to get it wrong. the american people are with you. we are here today, we will be here tomorrow, and we will be here every day, until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before. but this level of devastation

is going to take vast amounts of money to fix. later today, the white house is expected to ask congress for an initial $5.9 billion in emergency funding. but the authorities in texas alone say the state might eventually need more than 20 times that amount. people here are vulnerable and in need. recovery and rebuilding is going to take months, if not years. jon donnison, bbc news. aid agencies are describing flooding across south asia as one of the worst regional crises in recent years. more than 1200 people have died in india, bangladesh and nepal, and millions have been affected. many people are sleeping on roadsides and in makeshift shelters. angus crawford reports. once a main street. the only traffic now, makeshift canoes and boats. look at the pole he's using.

it almost disappears under the waters. across bangladesh, almost a third of the country has been affected. heavy monsoon rains making this the worst flooding in decades. the whole region has been hit, with more than 1200 dead, and more than a0 million forced to leave their homes, affecting india, nepal, bangladesh, and now pakistan. the level of devastation is horrible and it's massive. millions of children have been affected, and as we know, throughout the region there's a0 million people overall, in all of south asia. so right now the rains have subsided and people are starting to clean up the debris. in mumbai, on india's west coast, 33 people were killed when this building collapsed under the weight of heavy rain. the youngest victim a 20—month—old baby. 500 miles away, pakistan's

biggest city, karachi, was brought to a standstill, streets submerged, more than 20 people dead. in bangladesh, millions made homeless have gone to higher ground. vulnerable to disease, they count the cost and hope to rebuild. angus crawford, bbc news. our top story this lunchtime. the private security firm gas suspends nine members of staff, after complaints about conduct at an immigration centre at gatwick airport. coming up: a summer of spending — we look at the players and money changing hands, as the football transfer window closes. coming up in sport. there's a good start to the italian grand prix weekend for mercedes driver lewis hamilton. fastest in the first practice session, over a second quicker

than his title rival, sebastian vettel. the long—running strike affecting bin collections in birmingham has resumed this morning after redundancy notices were issued to some workers. the industrial action was suspended last month after seven weeks, during which time rubbish piled up on many of the city's streets. our midlands correspondent sima kotecha reports. it looks bad and it smells even worse. a bin strike that's been going on for weeks and people here have had enough. itjust smells like a tip. i mean, there's bags dumped everywhere. bags which have opened up and just scattered all across the road and we have to walk through it every single day. it's not on. i don't know what they need to do. they need to sort something out between themselves and move on.

that smell, it's so awful that you would rather do this to yourself than smell it, really. the council and the refuse workers are arguing about shift patterns, pay and conditions and job losses. this strike started at the end ofjune. the council claims that it's been costing them around £a0,000 per day to hire agency staff to clean up all this rubbish. then the industrial action was suspended in the middle of august as the two sides held talks to figure out what to do next. then at 7.30am this morning the strike was back on. and that's because the council confirmed last night it would be cutting jobs. the unite union says they won't let that happen and will carry on striking for three hours every day. this is not about money. this is about ideology. paid officers of the council want to make cuts and they want to damage trade unionism within the council and they've taken a decision to sabotage an honourable settlement that was reached at acas to do so. the row‘s got worse because the

council's leader had said in principle there would be no redundancies but he's come under pressure from his cabinet to change his stance because some of them say nojob his stance because some of them say no job losses are unaffordable. redundancy notices have been issued but everyone still has a job. who has been given those redundancy notices. they can either have a job at exactly the same level, somewhere else in the council, or they still have a job on the bins. so the posts have a job on the bins. so the posts have gone, but actually the actual employees are still there. nobody is losing theirjob. birmingham city council is the largest local authority in europe and it's under pressure to make savings. but the longer this strike goes on, the more expensive it gets for them and for those on strike. the supreme court in kenya has overturned the result of the country's presidential election because of irregularities in the way the vote was conducted. the ruling is being seen as a victory for the opposition leader and veteran politician raila odinga, who called

this an historic day for the people of africa. let's talk to our correspondent anne soy in nairobi. what happens now? well, the electoral commission is back to the drawing board. they have to organise another election within 60 days, that's the amount of time provided by the constitution. but already the opposition says that it does not have faith in the current commission and therefore it will be interesting to see what they demand next. important to note that this commission was put in place after weeks of protests, sometimes daily protests. the judges told to look at the entire electoral process, it's not just what happened the entire electoral process, it's notjust what happened on voting day and the count. they concluded the electoral commission did not follow the law in conducting the election

from the voter registration throughout for the voting. so it is a very interesting precedent that's been set and a very high threshold they have set for the conduct of elections. thank you very much. nearly half of young, low paid parents are struggling to juggle childcare with work, according to a survey for the tuc. researchers found that irregular hours were to blame, with many working parents feeling at the mercy of employers. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. hi, boys! hi! it's the end of the day. kiera'sjust got back from work, and all her kids are finally home, too. show me! ah, what does it do?! a precious few minutes before they are off to bed. kiera is self—employed and works in it. she and her partner, from hertfordshire, earn between them less than £28,000 per year. juggling childcare and work is a daily battle. i can be at home with my children, enjoying my life with them. when instead, i'm planning it around

trains, hoping and praying that my train isn't late or delayed or cancelled. and then you look at your bank balance and you think, what did i do today? what have i really earned? kiera's experience isn't unique, judging by today's survey, conducted on behalf of the tuc. nearly half of low—paid young parents are struggling to manage work and childcare. a2% felt penalised at work when they asked for flexibility. some were given fewer hours, or even lost theirjobs as a result. nearly a third had resorted to taking annual leave to cover their child being sick. achieving a good work—life balance can be hard for any parent. this survey highlights just how difficult it is for families on lower incomes, many of whom don't even know what their parental rights are. so, could and should employers do more? employers can certainly do more to communicate the rights that people do have.

i think government also has a role to play, to do more in that area as well. i think the broad issue around flexibility, in that quite a lot of flexibility can be quite exclusive. for example, home—working quite often applies only to senior managers, for example. so employers really need to review their flexible working practices, be a bit more innovative about how they apply them. up you go. kiera's shift pattern is regular, although she is still often working after the kids go to bed. the tuc wants everyone at work to get the same parental rights from day one. and to be made aware of them. emma simpson, bbc news, hertfordshire. last night, football's summer spending spree came to an end. the most expensive football transfer window ever closed, with premier league clubs parting with an eyewatering £1.a billion. our sports correspondent david ornstein has been

looking at the numbers. the culmination of a summer of unprecedented spending. although tra nsfer unprecedented spending. although transfer deadline day may largely be remembered for huge deals that didn't quite happen, there was still plenty of significant bits of business done. the most high profile look alex oxlade chamberlain to liverpool for £35 million. the same figure was spent by chelsea to sign danny drinkwaterfrom figure was spent by chelsea to sign danny drinkwater from the previous champions leicester. finally confirmed two—and—a—half hours after the 11pm deadline. it was a mixed night for chelsea. they were beaten to the signing of swansea's fernando llrrente. according to figures released by deloitte, clubs spent

£1. a billion on players this summer, including a record £210 million on deadline day alone. the tra nsfer million on deadline day alone. the transfer spending has grown well in line with revenues the clubs have at disposal. in any given year they spend between a fifth and a third of their revenue on transfers. among those whose moves failed to materialise were sanchez from arsenal to manchester city, and ross barkley from everton to chelsea. but fear not, they'll soon have another chance to resolve their futures because the transfer window reopens on 1st january. a man's been convicted of trying to rob the england and west ham footballer, andy carroll. basildon crown court heard that convicted burglar, jack o'brien, who's 22 and from romford, pulled up alongside the striker as he drove home from training, and demanded he hand over his watch, worth £22,000. england's men are in world cup qualifying action tonight against malta.

manager gareth southgate has confirmed joe hart will start in goal. scotland and northern ireland are also playing this evening. our sports correspondent natalie pirks is in the maltese capital valetta. well it might be smaller than the isle of wight but 17,000 people will pack into the stadium tonight, it's a sellout, more than 3,000 are travelling england fans. it will feel louder for travelling england fans. it will feel louderfor england travelling england fans. it will feel louder for england such is their popularity here. one player who won't be playing for england tonight is wayne rooney. he announced hisser in retirement but is still making headlines. he was arrested near his cheshire home last night for drink driving. he has been charged, released on bail and will appear in court later this month. more on that when we have it. gareth southgate made it clear last night he is in no rush to try to appoint a permanent replacement as captain for wayne rooney. he has tried five

different players as captain in his time in charge. he wants to make it clear that he wants all players to step up, shoulder the responsibility of perhaps being captain and be leaders. if fans were hoping to see new faces tonight they might be disappointed. as you said, he has confirmed thatjoe disappointed. as you said, he has confirmed that joe hart disappointed. as you said, he has confirmed thatjoe hart will continue as england's goalkeeper. he feels he is the best player in that position despite conceding ten goals in his first three games for west ham. elsewhere in the group, scotla nd ham. elsewhere in the group, scotland are away to lithuania in a must—win game. they have a chance or hope of making that play—off spot. northern ireland are looking to strengthen their hand in group c with a win away against san marino. gareth southgate started his england career with a 2—0 win over malta. he is hoping that will continue but there will be strong questions coming his way. now the humble vacuum cleaner is causing something of a stir. sales of the noisiest and most powerful devices are, from today,

restricted under eu rules. machines using more than 900 watts of power and emitting more than 80 decibels will be banned from sale when the existing stocks run out. our environment analyst roger harrabin explains. what used to happen to carpets. until london's hoover factory in 193a applied technology to cleaning. voiceover: and at last, the lady can make light of her housework... even men used them, sometimes. a lifetime later, and we have other worries. we're trying to cut emissions from electricity, and keep bills down. so, new eu rules are forcing the most energy—hungry of these machines off the market. cleaners like this sebo automatic gobble 1100 watts. that's too high to meet new european standards, so this model is on its way out. anti—eu campaigners say europe should have no say in the sort

of vacuum cleaner that you buy. but experts say households can save a small fortune on electricity bills if only the least efficient machines can be driven off the market. eu efficiency standards have improved most of the machines in your kitchen. already, the rules have contributed to a 17% drop in our use of energy. our energy bills are £290 lower than they would be without efficiency improvements. now vacuum cleaners must play their part. people think that if it's a very high wattage than it's going to be a super—duper cleaner, but that's not necessarily the case. manufacturers have known for a long time that this has been coming, so they will have been working very hard on design and technology to make sure that the new generation of vacuum cleaners will come up to the mark. on the streets of leeds, opinions are divided.

i think it's required, anything that uses less energy is good, obviously. it's ridiculous, i don't believe it. i'll believe it when i see it, anyway. no, i think it'll be a good idea, you know, to make it... you know, if it's making it better for people, yeah. and this issue's political. before the brexit referendum, the eu postponed new standards on toasters. the government says it supports energy efficiency, but it won't say if eu rules will still apply after brexit. we'll have to see what pops up. roger harrabin, bbc news. time for a look at the weather prospects. nick miller has joined me. hi, you may have noticed a chill in the air