this is bbc news — i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 10: paying for road closures — new proposals to charge utility companies by the hour, for roadworks which cause disruption. more flooding feared in south asia. m00 people have been killed, and a0 million left homeless or displaced. floods have risen just from the small amounts of rain we've had this morning, and i think that gives you a sense ofjust how vulnerable these areas are. also in the next hour — the us counts the costs of tropical storm harvey. president trump tells congress he wants nearly $8 billion as a ‘down—payment‘, to tackle the flooding in texas and louisiana. a grammar school in orpington backs down, after trying to force out children who didn't get the top grades. and in half an hour, the travel show goes to the unspoilt island of providencia. .. and asks where all the tourists are. good morning, and

welcome to bbc news. utility companies could be charged by the hour for digging up busy roads when they work on improving their infrastructure. ministers hope the policy would force contractors in england to speed up repairs, or carry out work at night to reduce traffic delays caused by their projects. roadworks cost the economy £4 billion a year due to due to delayed deliveries and people being unable to get to work on time. the proposals follow successful trials in london and kent, which saw severe congestion fall by more than 50%. the charges, which could be up to £2,500 an hour, aim to encourage utility companies to avoid busy routes and times, and to work together to avoid repeatedly digging up the same piece of road, richard main reports.

mile after mile, hour after hour of delays caused by roadworks. it's thought one in every three of ourjourneys is held up like this. around 2.5 million roadworks are carried out every year in england, costing the economy an estimated £4 billion in lost working hours and delayed deliveries. utility companies aren't responsible for every excavated carriageway or set of temporary traffic lights, but it's hoped this new scheme may persuade them to carry out their work more quickly or at night, so as to cause less disruption. under the proposals, councils could charge utility companies up to £2500 per site to work on roads during the day. when trialled in london back in 2012, this led to a 42% drop in the levels of disruption caused by roadworks. we've been trialling it in london and kent and it's proved extremely successful, and we estimate that there's been about 600 less incursions into the highway surface than would have happened otherwise. so now we're consulting on extending

the scheme nationwide. the idea has been cautiously welcomed by the aa and the rac, but they've warned that these changes mustn't lead to the works being rushed or slapdash, simply to hand road as quickly as possible. the local government association has praised the success of the pilot schemes and called for other councils to be given the new powers as soon as possible. and we'll be speaking to the rac to see what they think of the proposals in an hour's time. it's now believed more than m00 people have died, after catastrophic flooding across several south asian countries following heavy monsoons. about 41 million people have been affected, in bangladesh, nepaland india. millions have been left homeless, and more than 950,000 homes have been destroyed. parts of india's financial centre, in mumbai, are under severalfeet of water; and in the eastern state

of bihar more than 500 people have been killed. 0ur south asia correspondent, justin rowlatt, is in bihar where the water is continuing to rise. it is still raining here. we took a walk outside of the compound that we are in at the moment, and we walked down the road and actually floods have risen just from the small amount of rain that we have had this morning. i think that gives you a sense of just how vulnerable these areas are. the ground is waterlogged. even small amounts of rain means floods rise once again. we are here in a city. imagine what it is like for a villager in a mud hut beside a river. imagine how vulnerable they are. that is how tens of millions of people still live in this part of india. 41 million people affected. 12 million peoplejust here in bihar are reckoned to have had to leave their homes, so their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged in the floods, they've had to move out. it's an absolutely huge kind of humanitarian issue. now, governments here have got better at dealing with floods, big floods do happen every now and then in this region.

in the past, deaths tended to be much higher. so we would see many thousands of dead, so the figure of 1400, whilst shocking and very high, is better than it has been in the past. i guess, in a way, that tells us governments are getting better. but, at the same time, what an extraordinary figure. clearly something is not going right here. partly it is the scale of what happened, partly it is the poverty of the people who've affected, partly it's the fact that emergency services are not well equipped or supported, don't have things like boats which are more readily available in places like america. and, of course, the hospitals, which now have to deal with all sorts of waterborne diseases, they are stretched at the best of times and they are pushed even harder when they have a huge influx of people as they are expecting, as they've already got, in fact. we were in a hospital earlier today, as they're already seeing in hospitals in india and across the region. let's head to mumbai, on india's west coast, where we can speak to ray kancharla.

he's heading the humanitarian response to the floods in india for save the children. thank you for being with us on bbc news. can you give us a sense of how unprecedented the scale of the flooding is this time? the scale of flooding, as you were here a while ago, it has not been experienced in the last 30—110 years. the kind of numbers on the strength of its devastation is something that no one was prepared for, so everyone is overwhelmed. as you rightly said, about 41 or 42 million people. and in biharalone, about 41 or 42 million people. and in bihar alone, about 17—18,000,000 people. at save the children we work in all these places for the last ten yea rs. we have in all these places for the last ten years. we have seen, especially in situations with children, women,

they have seen their houses being blown away and they are left with nothing. so these critical needs need to be addressed rapidly. and the fact it is so overwhelming and eve ryo ne the fact it is so overwhelming and everyone is lost in where to do and what to start, the resources required a huge in this case and there are unmet needs, especially with women and children and so on. it's about protection... thousands of schools are closed for days and weeks now... more than 1.8 million children in northern india are out of school, and the more days they are close, the more they will lose interest in education and that will pose challenges around child protection and so on, where on a normal day there is a huge risk of

trafficking and children labour and abuse in these areas. so we are worried these will also be increasing in this disaster. looking at the immediate needs, in terms of trying to limit the effects and to trying to limit the effects and to try and start the process of rebuilding the infrastructure for people, so the supplies and so one can come in. presumably one of the problems is the scale of this is so huge, people don't quite know where to start. where are you and your collea g u es to start. where are you and your colleagues trying to start? yes, we actually start with an iconic single child friendly spaces, where we make sure children and women are safe in these places and look at food security. immediately we try to give them about 15—30 food baskets, and hygiene kits which last for a month at least. then there is a tarpaulin and shelter. very often these child friendly spaces become temporary learning centres for the

children, so that is also address. in the midst of such overwhelming needs, this is one way to make sure children are safe, vulnerable communities have a safe place to go and they have security. and we need to look at their livelihoods and the restoration of all the mechanisms that existed before the disaster. ina that existed before the disaster. in a country like the uk, where there is a big population of first, second and third—generation people whose families came from south asia, there is often a charitable volu nta ry there is often a charitable voluntary effort to raise money and send money back home, to try and help. we saw for example after the pakistan floods two or three years ago. presumably you are saying the scale of this is so big, that kind of amateur efforts, however well—meaning, are not enough. this will have to come from presumably other governments, in other countries? we always believe government is the

biggest organisation, the humanitarian organisation that should reach out. in the case that it is such an overwhelming disaster, it is such an overwhelming disaster, it is such an overwhelming disaster, it is important that government and private sector and philanthropy groups and societies need to come hand—in—hand and work together. there is no time to lose, actually. we believe, especially looking at vulnerable children, children cannot wait for too long with their education, protection and security. we need to come together and generate all the resources required and stands next to them and reach out to them. this will be my immediate appeal to the community at large. ray kancharla from save the children in mumbai, thank you for being with us on bbc news. president trump has asked congress for nearly $8 billion of emergency funding after the floods in texas and louisiana. he will visit texas again later today, to assess the flood damage caused by storm harvey. mr trump will fly to houston, accompanied by the first lady, where he'll meet survivors, and volunteers involved

in the relief effort. 0ur north america correspondent, barbara plett usher, has been out with the emergency services to assess the damage. the sheriffs of houston are still working 12—hour shifts, even though the floodwaters they battled earlier in the week are mostly gone. like nothing they have ever experienced before, a disaster on a scale rarely seen in the us. the water was over this bridge right here. they remember the ones they were not able to rescue. some of them weren't able to get out in time for them to get help, and they were basically stuck inside their house, you know. and they're crippled, where they can't even get outside of their residence, and they died. the sweep of the storm caught people by surprise. after sitting over houston for days, it continued east, keeping emergency crews busy right through the week. in harvey's wake, there is massive destruction. chemical blasts started fires at this flooded plant.

more are expected, spreading anxiety about toxins. everywhere the water left its mark, waist high in this house. till the last minute, stuart lawrence thought he might escape the worst. the clean—up is daunting. i don't see this place getting put back together in six months. i guess you're fighting for contractors with how many...? tens of thousands of other people. so, in mucky, waterlogged neighbourhoods, now comes the sober reckoning. what can be salvaged, how much is lost, and who will pay the enormous bill? the trump administration got good marks for its early response to this disaster. now, it has to show the staying power needed to help recover and rebuild. this will be the big test. barbara plett usher, bbc news, houston. a grammar school which forced pupils to leave half way through their course because of their exam results, has reversed its decision. parents at st 0laves in south—east london began legal action, after students who did not get

at least a b grade at as—level were told they could not continue. the lawyer representing the families says the school has changed its mind. our news correspondent angus crawford joins me now. he has been delving into this story. first of all the background to this. this is to do with a—levels spread over two years and some particular pupils being told they couldn't stay and complete the course? almost like and complete the course? almost like a policy of post—election, which on the surface of it is unlawful. st 0laves is an outstanding school, founded in the 16th century. a long history of academic achievement. this year it got 96% at a start— be and therein appears to lie the problem. it was an open secret at the school that if in the first year you didn't hear b grades, you would be asked to leave. this year it appears it happened to two pupils.

so very small numbers? yes, but a policy of some years standing. what happened was the parents of these children began to take legal action. they threatened to sue the school, claiming that the department for education's rules are clear. you cannot post select at a—level, you cannot post select at a—level, you can only be asked to leave the school for behavioural or other problems. so in the face of this legal action, the school has backed down and said those pupils can come back and also that policy be abandoned. do we have any sense of whether this is entirely isolated, this one school doing it or if other schools might also be saying to pupils in this situation, sorry, you haven't done well enough, off you go? that is absolutely the key question but we simply don't know. evenif question but we simply don't know. even if you could get the numbers of pupils excluded in the lower sixth, in year12, i pupils excluded in the lower sixth, in year 12, i doubt many schools would say it excluded through lack of educational attainment. there are rumours, there are also reports

elsewhere that this is a wider problem. what is interesting is the solicitor of the families who brought the action released a statement saying, we would expect all other schools with similar policies to do the same. so we know there something like 163 other volu nta ry there something like 163 other voluntary aided grammar schools in england alone. we don't know how many of them practice the same policy. it would be very interesting to find out. thanks very much. three more us diplomatic staff in cuba have reported health problems, following what american officials suspect was a covert sonic attack. 19 people have now reported symptoms, including damaged hearing. the us believes a sonic device was placed in or near diplomats' homes. some of the victims suffered mild brain injuries and permanent hearing loss, according to the union representing us diplomatic staff. cuba has denied any involvement. the headlines on bbc news: paying for road closures, new proposals to charge utility companies by the hourfor

proposals to charge utility companies by the hour for roadworks which cause disruption. more flooding feared in south asia. 11100 people have been killed, more than 40 people have been killed, more than a0 million left homeless or displaced. a grammar school in 0rpington in south—east london backs down after trying to force out children who didn't get the top grades. it isa it is a saturday, so where else would we be heading other than the bbc sport centre. good morning mike. good morning everybody. results wise, it was a good night for all the home nations playing world cup qualifiers last night, especially for scotland, who breathed fresh life, into their world cup qualifying campaign, with a convincing 3—0 win away to lithuania. this was the pick of the goals from liverpool's andy robertson. the win moves gordon strachan's side ahead of slovenia into 3rd, who lost 1—0 away to slovakia, into third place in group f, on goal difference, a points off the second place spot, that gets you through

to the play—offs. that was robertson's second international goal after an eight million pound move to liverpool last month — and he's hoping scotland can replicate his new clubs record. everyone focuses on the celtic boys. we haven't been beaten this season, and ifi we haven't been beaten this season, and if i can bring that an ad to that and if people are competing at the ad of the championship and not getting beat, we have a winning mentality and that can any help this country. england came away from malta with a a—0 win, but perhaps the scoreline was a little flattering with three goals in the final six minutes. harry kane scored twice, with ryan bertrand and danny welbeck getting the others. england lead the group ahead of slovakia by two points — they meet at wembley on monday. we will recover well now. it's a short turnaround, the next couple of days we will be looking at their team, their strengths and weaknesses and seeing where we can exploit. at the end of the day we are england and we are expected to win these

games. we have to go out there and dominate right from the start. again, if it is 0—0 or 1—0 at half—time, when not going to panic. we are patient and composed and will wait for the right time and then be clinical. and northern ireland strengthened their grip on second place in their group, thanks to a 3—0 win in san marino. josh magennis scored twice, with southampton's steven davis adding another from the penalty spot. michael 0'neill‘s side are now seven points clear in second place, and one more point would be enough for those play offs. wales may have been surprise semi—finallists at the euros last year, but they're up against it, in their qualification group. they're four points behind the top two — serbia and the republic of ireland. chris coleman's side are are level on points, with austria who they face tonight in cardiff. i think it will be open and a draw really doesn't do any of us any good. so something will have to give you would imagine. but if it is a draw, we have to see what happens elsewhere of course with the other results.

this was always going to be a tight group. atight campaign. the teams are very, very similar. there is three or four teams that are very strong. i have said before i think it will go to the wire. alex scott has retired from international football. it has alex scott has retired from internationalfootball. it has been announced the 32—year—old end her career after 1a0 caps and having played at three world cups and four european championships, including the most recent euro 2017. football has been my life. it's given me so much. and i always said that the day that i don't feel i can give it 100% animal, that's the day i have to walk away. there's no way i could commit to another two years. i think i'd sacrificed so much, i've missed so much time with my family andi missed so much time with my family and i think it'sjust important missed so much time with my family and i think it's just important for me that i need to give it back to them now and itjust feels right.

maria sharapova's made it through to the ath round, in herfirst grand slam event since returning to the game, following a 15—month drugs ban. the 2006 champion, beat teenage american, sofia kenin, on the main show court — arthur ashe court — where she's plyed all three of her matches, in the tournament so far. and afterwards she hit back at caroline wozniacki's complaints, that sharapova gets favourable treatment, when it comes to the show courts. with regards to scheduling, as you know, i don't make the schedule and you know i'm a pretty big competitor and if you put me out in the parking lot of queen's in new york city, i'm happy to play there. that's not what matters to me. all that matters to me is i'm in the fourth round and i'm not sure where she is. the final practice for tomorrow's grand prix at monza has been delayed indefinitely. they should be

speeding around right now but the race director has ruled the conditions are not safe. mercedes' va ltteri bottas conditions are not safe. mercedes' valtteri bottas was quickest yesterday in practice. qualifying sta rts yesterday in practice. qualifying starts at 1pm this afternoon. you can starts at 1pm this afternoon. you ca n follow starts at 1pm this afternoon. you can follow the action on the bbc sport website and radio five live. that is it for now fostered you can keep up—to—date with all the stories on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you in the next hour. great, look forward to it, thank you, mike. a former shadow cabinet minister has warned that a significant gap has appeared between attitudes in london and labour's northern heartlands. rotheram mp sarah champion resigned as shadow women and equalities minister last month, over comments she made about the grooming scandal in her constituency. in an interview in the times today, she accuses her colleagues in the south of being afraid of speaking out on issues such as that, for fear of being branded racist. 0ur political correspondent mark lobel is here. the background to this case is very

important, remind us of it. sarah champion apologised for her poor choice of words in her article in the sun last month following a child abuse scandal in newcastle, in which she wrote, or it was said, " britain has a problem with british pakistani men exploiting and raping white girls." today at the time she gave her first interview since resigning and said since then e—mail inbox has been going nuts with messages of support from police officers, health professionals and social workers, thanking herfor professionals and social workers, thanking her for raising this professionals and social workers, thanking herfor raising this issue. and the essence of this is this concern that there may be, as she has identified, a group of men who perhaps for cultural reasons have somehow developed an attitude towards white girls that is basically misogynistic. that is something she talked about again in this interview. she has gone to the times and set out another and she

doesn't really resign from anything even though she resigned. she goes further and describes what she means by this crime model. she talks about the sex gangs, which she says our friends and extended family members, trafficking girls to other friends and family members and reiterates her view that it is mostly pakistani men. she says it is a fact, that is what the figures show. she writes... it's one thing to recognise the crime model. understanding why it has planted such deep root is a different challenge altogether. she has a political dig at the left for not doing that. she says they are too afraid of being accused of being racist rather than attacking this issue face on. she said she would rather be called racist than turner blind eye to this issue. she also has a go at labour politicians and members who live in london saying they haven't been challenged by reality that is different in other parts of the country. she is quite

explicit. saying in rotherham, she says, these cities that are still segregated. in other words, they don't have the sort of blending of communities which is more common in a like london. jeremy corbyn effectively said he didn't think she was right and was wrong to stigmatise whole communities. that is right. she doesn't attackjeremy corbyn directly but a lot of this kind of refers to him. you could read between the lines, if you like. he has been very clear and said that action needs to be taken against child abuse, but he has reiterated on his spokesman reiterated this morning they cannot stigmatise entire community. well, it's a problem for the left if she continues to talk like this. one bit of analysis on twitter from the right, harriet sergeant from the centre of studies, said it is not a fear of racism but the loss of male muslim votes. many labour mps or all

would deny that is the case, but thatis would deny that is the case, but that is the kind of thing that can cause problems forjeremy corbyn's party. thanks very much. the us and south korea have agreed to strengthen seoul's missile programme following military tests by north korea last month. the agreement was reached during a phone conversation between american president donald trump and his south korean counterpart moonjae—in on friday. president trump also approved the sale of billions of dollars worth of military equipment to south korea. in an interview with japanese broadcaster nhk, theresa may said she supported further sanctions against north korea. but what is clear is that we need to work together i think for a new resolution. we need to ensure that we perhaps increase the pace of the implementation of sanctions and, as i have said before, the uk will injoin in with others in encouraging china to exercise that leverage on north korea. theresa may talking to japanese

television and little earlier. the investigation into the chemical cloud which affected parts of east sussex last sunday is looking into the possibility that it may have been caused by emissions from known shipwrecks in the channel. the beach at birling gap, near eastbourne, was closed until the haze disappeared. the maritime and coastguard agency is now investigating, as adina campbell reports. a mysterious mist which engulfed holidaymakers in east sussex. it led to birling gap beach, near beachy head, being evacuated, after people reported having irritated eyes, sore throats, and vomiting. i had a bit of a dry chest. and then, as we came off the beach, then it really kind of hit, and we were all kind of coughing a little bit. and my children were really, really upset, because their eyes were really painful. coastguard rescue teams raced to help clear the area, but by the end of sunday evening, around 150 people had to be treated, with others reporting discomfort. sussex police said those who required treatment experienced

mostly minor effects. monitoring equipment was used at the time to try and identify the cause, but the readings were inconclusive. the maritime and coastguard agency now think the gas may have come from one of the many shipwrecks in the english channel. it is also investigating discharges from passing ships or lost cargo as a possible cause. the yellow pages phone directory will be printed for the last time in 2019. i don't suppose you have a copy of the book byjr hartley. it is byjr hartley. the book byjr hartley. it is by jr hartley. that is perhaps the best—known advertising campaign, fictional authorjr hartley looking

foran fictional authorjr hartley looking for an out of print book and using the yellow pages to track it down. the yellow pages has been in production for more than half a century. it's owner, yell, says it will continue online. the last of the books will be delivered in brighton, the same place the first edition was distributed in 1966. ican i can still remember those telephone directories that used to be in the phone boxes, and you had to swing them out they were so large. and now them out they were so large. and now the yellow pages will be history as well. at least you can use it to swat flies with! free solar panels are to be installed on hundreds of thousands of homes across england and wales over the next five years. the project is expected to lower household bills and create more than 1000 newjobs. vishala sri—pathma reports. energy prices have been rising in the past year, with british gas being the latest provider to announce further hikes, a 12.5% increase to come into effect this month. the big suppliers and government have squabbled over the reasons

behind higher prices. the government are exploring other options to provide value for money for the most vulnerable of households. it is hoping that the british sunshine might help out. solar has become one of the cheapest sources of energy, and that is why the government thinks that panels like these are the solution to our rising energy bills. these houses in acton, in west london, are some of the first beneficiaries of a new scheme that will see 100,000 social housing properties have solar panels installed in the next 18 months. the company behind the scheme, solarplicity, say they have found that their tenants save an average of £2a0 a year on their energy bills. these residents in acton are hoping they are right. i think it's a good idea, and especially going to save on the bills in the long run. in the long—term, we're

going to save a bit, i think. so i think it's a very good idea. ealing borough council say that they had planned on covering more homes, but cuts to tariffs and subsidies has meant they simply cannot afford to do so. but the government insists that the falling price of solar now means that the industry does not require help. what we want to see is, and this is actually a good scheme, showing how you don't need to subsidise solar power as much, but still make it highly effective. you know, we're talking here about the potential of 800,000 homes across the country, in the next five years, with a combination of fantastic uk companies, and investment coming in from abroad, and cheaper deals. cheaper and greener energy, that's our objective. expansion of solar is now largely reliant on the business case for it, with councils and households increasingly looking to private investors for encouragement, rather than the government.