this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.003m. paying for road closures, new proposals to charge utility companies by the hour for roadworks which cause disruption. more flooding feared in south asia. 1,400 people have been killed and a0 million left homeless or displaced. this flood water is absolutely disgusting. the first thing that happens is the drains back up and you get a toxic stew, a toxic stew of waste in the water. 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, jane hill takes a look back at the week's news in dateline. good morning and

welcome to bbc news. utility companies could be charged by the hourfor 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 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 £2,500 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 back 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. i'm joined now from our bristol studio by pete williams from the rac. let me ask you first of all about this scheme. it sounds like the kind of thing everybody would agree is a goodidea of thing everybody would agree is a good idea and i can rememberjeffrey archer when he was running for mayor of london briefly at the end of the end of the last century saying we should do this, we are nearly 20 yea rs should do this, we are nearly 20 years on, why hasn't it happened, do you think? well, i don't know. i

think most people would welcome this novel approach, clearly there's nothing more frustrating than being delayed by roadworks and then finally you get waved through, you can see very little work actually taking place. so the idea that lane rental will be introduced to encourage the utility companies to conduct their roadworks more efficiently is great news. we just wa nt to efficiently is great news. we just want to ensure that the quality of the work they take and do to our roads is sufficient and is not going to end up with the logoal authorities coming back and repairing thejob authorities coming back and repairing the job they've done, nothing more frustrating than seeing the road dug up twice to complete the road dug up twice to complete thejob. the road dug up twice to complete the job. is it clear to you why politicians have been reluctant to do this because presumably the rac as with other motoring organisations, has argued this case for a long time? i am not really sure. there's been good progress in terms of co—ordinating local roadworks and getting utility

companies to talk to each other and trying to plan ahead and think about the disruption they're going to cause to local road users and the public generally. i don't know. we can welcome now there's going to be greater co—ordination and power for local authorities to enforce the utility companies to speed up roadworks while maintaining the quality of the finish they complete on our roads. it is a consultation. it is still possible that this doesn't get rolled out nationally. that's possible. we have had a very successful trial. the results have been great. most importantly, the impact on congestion has been very good and again we also have to bear in mind we have some real air quality targets and congestion is a big cause of pollution, as well, so all of this seems to be a big win—win. all of this seems to be a big win-win. in terms of the overall problems for drivers on roads, how high do you rank this on the list of grievances? it's up there in the top

four concerns of motorists, problems with local roads, potholes, these are causing delay and damage to vehicles and it is a major source of frustration. maybe the funds raised from charging the utility companies can be spent on filling in some of the potholes. thank you for being with us this morning. it's now believed more than 1,400 people have died after catastrophic flooding across several south asian countries following heavy monsoons. about 41 million people have been affected in bangladesh, nepal and india. millions have been left homeless and more than 950,000 homes have been destroyed. parts of india's financial centre, mumbai, are under several feet of water and in the eastern state of bihar more than 500 people have been killed. 0ur south asia's correspondent justin rowlatt is in bihar. we have one hour of heavy rain about

an hourago and we have one hour of heavy rain about an hour ago and these floods rose up in what is a regional capital of india. that's how vulnerable even a city still is so flooding. let me tell you, this flood water is absolutely disgusting. the first thing that happens is the drains back up and you get a toxic stew, a toxic stew of waste in the water. imagine fora toxic stew of waste in the water. imagine for a moment what it's like, this is a city, imagine for a moment what it's like for a villager in a hut made of mud and straw, that's how millions of people still live here. for that villager sitting in a waterlogged field beside a river. rains come and the waters rise up again. this flood something not isolated to bihar, the state i am in at the moment, this flooding stretches across the entire region.

from bangladesh in the east, through north india where i am now, through nepal, across the whole of the base and underneath the him allayias, across to mumbai and up to pakistan. 41 million people so far affected, 1400 killed. this tragedy continues to unfold across south asia. with me now is anbarasanethirajan, south asia editor for the bbc world service. it's good to have you here again. you have been monitoring this over the course of this week. this is an annual issue, the monsoons, it's something people are having to cope with all the time. what is it about this year that's contributed to the scale of this? the floods this year have been the worst in decades. it is not simply in india. it started with nepal, then in bihar and in eastern india and then the waters

flowed through to bangladesh in a downstream. we are talking about more than 1400 people killed in these floods. millions have been affected. properties have been destroyed. the monsoon was so severe the flooding happened. if you look at why it was so severe, the governments were ill—prepared. every year this happens, the disaster preparedness has been pretty weak. it isn't enough for them to say this scale is unprecedented, therefore we couldn't be expected to cope? for example, the flood protection embankments have been built in many areas but there is no water to go back. the flood waters go over the embankments, there is no drainage facility because they've built newtownships, new roads, many new colonies have come up in the areas where the water normally goes back. they've built on flood plains and areas that are always at risk of flooding? and also an earlier government report said most states

have not even identified which are the flood prone areas. there is a wea k the flood prone areas. there is a weak warning system. people should have been warned. two problems people are expecting. 0ne have been warned. two problems people are expecting. one is the water—borne diseases because water is stagnating and diseases can emerge. the most important thing it isa emerge. the most important thing it is a busy agricultural season. the time when people should be planting. so the farming community in rural areas of biharand so the farming community in rural areas of bihar and nepal have missed the opportunity so they're going to suffer, the government will have to step in to help them. even though it's an annual problem, the fingers a lwa ys it's an annual problem, the fingers always point at the government why the government is not prepared enough. thank you very much. president trump has asked congress for nearly eight billion dollars 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,

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. and, 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. scotland yard has paid compensation to the former head of the army, lord bramall, and the family of the late home secretary, lord brittan after they were falsely accused of sexually abusing children. the police have confirmed they've settled both cases, but won't reveal the amount paid — it's reported to be 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. earlier our news correspondent told me more. it's almost like a policy of post—selection which is on the surface is unlawful. it's an outstanding school founded in the 16th century, a long history of academic achievement. this year it got 96% of a* to b at a—level. there in appears to lie the problem, it was an open secret at the school that if in your first year of a—level study you didn't hit b grades in all your subjects, you would be asked to leave. this year it appears that happened to two pupils. talking about small numbers. very small numbers but clearly a policy of some years standing. what happened was that 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

can not post—select at a—level. you can not post—select at a—level. you can only be asked to leave a school for behavioural or other problems. in the face of this legal action the school has backed down and said those pupils can come back and also that policy will be abandoned. do we have any sense of whether this is entirely isolated, this one school doing it or whether other schools might also be saying to pupils in this situation, sorry, you haven't done well enough, off you go? that's the key question. but we simply don't know because even if you could get the numbers of pupils excluded in the lower 6th, in year 12, i doubt many schools would say excluded through lack of educational attainment. there are rumours, there are also reports elsewhere that this isa are also reports elsewhere that this is a wider problem. what's interesting is that the solicitor the families who brought the action released a statement saying that we would expect all other schools with similar policies to do the same. we know that there is something like

163 other voluntary aided grammars in england alone, we don't know how many of them practise the same policy t would be very interesting to find out. a former shadow cabinet minister has warned that a significant gap has appeared in attitudes in london and labour's northern heartlands. 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 she accuses her colleagues in the south of being afraid of speaking out on issues such as that forfear speaking out on issues such as that for fear of speaking out on issues such as that forfear of being speaking out on issues such as that for fear of being branded speaking out on issues such as that forfear of being branded racist. 0ur correspondent explained. forfear of being branded racist. our correspondent explained. she apologised for her poor choice of words in the article in the sun last month following a sex abuse scandal in newcastle in which she wrote, or it was said in the article, britain has a problem with british pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls. in today's times she gave her

first interview since resigning and said since then her 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. 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 misgoynistic. she describes what she means by this crime model, she talks about the sex gangs which she says are friends and extended family members, trafficking girls to other friends and extended family members and reiterates her view, her view that it's mostly pakistani men. she says it's a fact. those are what the figures show. she

writes, it's one thing to recognise a crime model, understanding why it has planted such deep roots is a different challenge altogether. she has a political dig at the left for not doing that. she says they're too afraid of being accused of being racist than tackling this issue head—on and perhaps unshackled now she's saying she would rather be called racist than turn a blind eye to this issue. she also a go at labour politicians and members who live in london saying that they haven't been challenged by reality that's different in other parts of the country. this is quite explicit in saying for example in rotherham in her constituency and other places, she puts it, these are cities that are still segregated. in other words, they don't have the sort of blending of communities that is more common in a city like london. i suppose the most famous london. i suppose the most famous london labour politician is one jeremy corbyn. it'sjeremy corbyn who effectively said he didn't think she was right and it was wrong to stigmatise whole communities. that's right. she doesn't attackjeremy

corbyn directly but a lot of this 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 rerated that they can not stigmatise entire communities. it's a problem for the left if she continues to talk like this. one bit of analysis on twitter, if you like, from the right, it's not a fear of racism that drives labour's attitude to child sex but the loss of male muslim votes. many labour mps or all labour mps muslim votes. many labour mps or all labourmpsi muslim votes. many labour mps or all labourmps i am muslim votes. many labour mps or all labour mps i am sure would deny that's the case but that's the kind of thing that can cause problems for jeremy corbyn's party. to kenya now where the country's deputy president, william ruto, has called on the electoral commission to set a date for fresh presidential elections. it comes after the supreme court overturned last month's vote. mr ruto says the governing jubilee party would win by an increased margin next time.

new polls are now due within two months. let's head to the capital nairobi and our correspondent who has been following these developments. there was a lot of astonishment at the judgment from the supreme court yesterday. complaints by president kenyatta that this was the chief justice and his cronies trying to get him out of office but he said he will respect the result. has the response from supporters of the president been as calm and as muted? yes, i think it has been. from what we have seen there's been a general shock on both sides of the political divide that the kenyan supreme court could come up with such a decision. it's clear even in the president's reaction, he has lashed out at the judges, he says these six people have gone against the will of the public. but i think there's also been the view on both sides of the

divide again, i think people are rather impressed by the courts and they see it as a sense that kenya's courts are having some kind of independence from the government and any other authorities. we are still waiting for the detail of the judgment, that will be sometime to come. from what we know, and what we have been told, is it likely that a rerun election without presumably this element of fraud would come up with a different result because my memory was that the president's lead was a substantial one? it's a difficult one. both sides seem to have almost, at least going into the last election, most people thought their support on both sides would be even and maybe one person would just edge slightly forward. i think it's probably going to be the same thing and the opposition will feel that based on the supreme court's ruling that the president did not quite get the kind of support that the results

showed. now i guess going into fresh campaigns the opposition will be, i guess they will struggle to get funding to be able to sustain a campaign, maybe the government will have, because it has larger pockets, the ruling party rather, will be able to sustain a campaign, but the opposition will probably target the swing votes to be able to see if they can edge forward in the next elections. thank you. sport now and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. 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. gordon strachan hailed scotland's 3—0 win over lithuania as the most impressive of his four—year reign. the national team boss has found himself under pressure during a testing world cup qualifying campaign but his side responded in fine fashion

as they grabbed a much needed victory in vilnius to breathe new life into their hopes of reaching russia. the pick of the goals came from andy robertson. the win moves scotland ahead of slovenia into third place in group f on goal difference. still four points off the second place play—off spot. that was robertson's second international goal after an eight million move to liverpool last month and he's hoping scotland can replicate his new clubs recent form. everyone focuses on the celtic boys, with their winning mentality and with not really losing any games, and, you know, so far that's happened to us. we haven't been beaten this season, and if i can bring that and add an extra player to that, and if people are up, competing at the top of the championship and they're not getting beat, then we've got a winning mentality coming up to the national team and that can only help this country. england came away from malta with a 4—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'll recover well now. it's a short turnaround, so then the next couple of days we'll be looking at their team, and kind of their strengths and weaknesses and seeing where we can exploit. but, at the end of the day, we are england and we're expected to win these games, you know. we have to go out there, we're at home, and dominate right from the start. again, if it is 0—0 or 1—0 behind at half—time, we're not going to panic. we're patient and composed and we'll wait for the right time and then be clinical. 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 semifinalists at the euro 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 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 then 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, a tight campaign. the teams are very, very similar. there are three or four teams that are very strong. i have said before, i think it will go to the wire. arsenal and england defender alex scott has retired from international football. the 32—year—old ends her career after 140 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% any more, 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 and i think it's just important for me that i need to give it back to them now and itjust feels right. felipe massa has topped the time sheets in the final practice for tomorrow's italian grand prix at monza. the williams driver was two 10ths of a second quicker than his teammate lance stroll in a session that lasted 16 minutes due to heavy rain. qualifying starts at 1.00 later this afternoon and you can follow the action on the bbc sport website and radio five live. that's all the sport for now. we saw it raining in monza. what about here? let's get the weather now. a lot of fine weather out there

right now but the weather is not going to hold through the weekend. if you can enjoy today's sunny weather. tomorrow it will be a different story. thick cloud and outbreaks of rain. this is the window of opportunity that we have right now. the clearer skies. but look at that cloud rolling off the atlantic. that will be across the uk tomorrow and there will be rain around, as well. in the short—term, lots of sunny spells around. probably not a sunny day completely, there will will be cloud building and a chance of a couple of showers maybe developing across the extreme south—east, but the vast majority of the country today, a fine day. temperatures there in the lowlands 18, not far off that in belfast. 0n the edge of the forecast area there lots of rain nudging into the far west of northern ireland later on saturday afternoon. for england and wales it stays dry, almost com pletely wales it stays dry, almost completely dry, because here kent,

sussex, maybe suffolk and norfolk a chance of showers developing into the afternoon. that rain marches in then. most of the rain shouldn't be too heavy, it may be heavy across some of the hills of wales perhaps. for a time some of the hills of wales perhaps. fora time in some of the hills of wales perhaps. for a time in some of the towns and cities early in the morning across the west. what's going to happen this weather front will be moving slowly eastwards and also as it does so some of that rain will rain itself out, so the weather front will start falling apart. we will be left with a big area of cloud with dribs and drabs of rain on and off through the afternoon so rather than calling it a very wet soaking afternoon, it's going to be for many of us damp with rain on and off. eastern areas may stay dry through the day but it will be clouding over. also becoming cooler tomorrow. through sunday evening you can see how slow this area of cloud and patchy rain moves towards the east and even western areas may dry out

towards the second half of sunday and into sunday evening. into next week, still looking cloudy, looking on the unsettled side with some rain on the unsettled side with some rain on and off. here is the weekend summary. today is the best bet. tomorrow a chance of using those brollies. bye. hello and welcome to dateline london. i'm jane hill. this week we discuss whether theresa may can go on and on as prime minister, look at the latest round of brexit talks, and ask what can be done to defuse the north korea crisis? my guests this week are the politicaljournalist and commentator alex deane the north american journalist and broadcaster jeffrey kofman and the writer broadcaster mihir bose. welcome to you all. the british prime minister theresa may ended up having a ratherfrank conversation with journalists on her flight to japan this week — she insisted she would like to lead her conservative party into the next

general election, in five years time. for politics—watchers of a certain age, there were echoes of margaret thatcher's stated determination to go on and on. alex, what did you make of her comments? i think as soon as any political leader gives the deadline as to when they are going to go, speculation becomes rampant about who will replace them. it's healthy for a leader to want to fight whatever the next contest is that their party faces. it was the right thing for the prime minister to say.