and you're watching beyond one and hundred days. russia blinks, just a little, in syria, allowing a brief daily truce to get humanitarian aid in east ghouta. from tomorrow, for 5 hours, there will be a humanitarian pause — but today the bombing continued and more civilians were killed. the united nations pressured moscow to allow some relief after 500 people, including children, were killed in the area last week. brexit will mean brexit — says the government — but the opposition is less resolute — today the labour party laid out its vision with closer ties to the eu. also on the programme. from gun control reform to brexit — as politics becomes ever more polarised on both sides of the atlantic we go looking for the common ground. six months on from surviving for the common ground. hurricane harvey we meet the houston residents trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. get in touch with us using the hashtag ‘beyond—one—hundred—days‘. hello and welcome —

i'm katty kay in washington and christian fraser is in london. for five short hours tomorrow, the thousands of people trapped in east ghouta will be able to leave their underground shelters and seek relief. aid will go in, the wounded will get treatment and people will be allowed to leave. the pause will continue daily. this small reprieve comes because russia has given in to pressure from an international community horrified by the images of suffering we have seen in the rebel held enclave. it's an important concession given the ongoing bombardment of the rebel—held enclave. reports suggest more than 500 people were killed last week alone. for more on how things are playing out on the ground, we can speak to linda tom from the un's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. she joins us now from damascus. on. the reasonable conditions have

to be in place for aid workers to go on, do you think five hours is a big enough window? we welcome the un resolution for this sensation of facilities which should last at least 30 days. we are calling to see that resolution implemented now. it is critical we can reach people in need and our un and had —— humanitarian partners can get to people in need. we are ready to do that now in order to help people. you have the people who are ready to go in and you have the need? that is correct. we came here to syria along with our partners and we are working together in order to respond to the needs of people. but we need the access. the supplies are ready. the

teams are ready on the ground. as soon teams are ready on the ground. as soon as teams are ready on the ground. as soon as conditions allow, we are ready to provide aid. the last time aid got him was two weeks ago and the situation has deteriorated since then. his five hours enough to give people assistance? the needs in eastern ghouta are enormous. there are 400,000 people there. some of those areas have been besieged for many years. that means that people are not only deprived of humanity mean are not only deprived of humanity m ea n a ccess are not only deprived of humanity mean access but they cannot go in and out. it means that is a lack of food, nutrition supplies, lack of medicine. and the hospitals are working on a shoestring. some of their equipment is no longer functioning because of the lack of electricity or damaged by the

fighting. do you trust the syrian government to stick by this brief humanitarian window everyday? government to stick by this brief humanitarian window eve ryday7m course we are hopeful. the un team is here and our partners are here. we hope to deliver humanitarian assistance. in the last 48 hours, we have received reports of military operations, resulting in the death of at least 30 people which includes women and children. in the meantime, attacks on damascus from eastern ghouta have also continued. you said you welcome the security council decision, can i put you what the chairman of the medical cheer of relief said, i am embarrassed for the un security how do you react to that? we would

have to say this situation is horrendous. hospitals in eastern ghouta were impacted with the shelling. the hospitals have had to go out of service. we have not had access and the february 14. even then we were only able to bring in a small amount of aid, not enough for what was needed. prior to that it was over 70 days since we had been able to reach eastern ghouta. thank you very much forjoining us from damascus. joining me now is our north america correspondent, nick bryant. you were at the united nations last week when they were debating this resolution. this is a russian

dictator to humanitarian resolution we re dictator to humanitarian resolution were looking at? yes, this is not russia adhering to the ceasefire solution. the russian ambassador raised his hand in support of it on saturday but this is a russian initiative. the humanitarian resolution was a call for a 30 days of cessation of hostilities. the russians are calling for a five hours on tuesday. so a convoy contriving get some medical evacuation in place. this is not abiding by the resolution but this is the russians showing they are in charge. they are the most significant presence on the ground and we will decide what happens, not the un. we live in a darwinian universe. if our body continues to be dysfunctional, eventually

governments are going to look at the security council and see it is not effective? the french ambassador said that very starkly last week ahead of the vote. he said this is a moment of truth for the security council to show it has credibility. he even said if it failed to act, it could sound the death knell of the united nations itself. you have people like linda thom who are on the ground, un professional staff who are ready to go, just waiting for the green light from the un security council and that has been blocked repeatedly on syria by russia. now the green light but russia. now the green light but russia still says they cannot take action because we do not think the conditions are right for a ceasefire. we will decide if it happens or not. it does make the un but irrelevant but you feel sorry for un professional staffers who are ready to go in there and deliver aid

but are being hamstrung by their security council and mainly by russia. thank you very much. that is no guarantee that outside of the five hours that the attacks will not carry on. five hours does not give anyone a lot of time. there are no tariffs on goods or services that move between the united kingdom and the eu. the customs union that binds all eu member states, ensures frictionless trade across internal borders — and it also sets a common tarrif on imports that come into europe from non eu members. the quid pro quo is that brussels negotiates the external trade deals on behalf of its 28 members. post brexit, that may change, the british prime minister says the uk will be leaving the customs union and taking back control of its own trade deals. today the opposition labour party attempted to set a clear dividing line between their position — and the one theresa may will seek to establish on friday. mr corbyn's been speaking to our uk

political editor, laura kuenssberg. all of the noises from the european union on this have been that if we want to have a customs arrangement with them, they set the rules. there would be 27 countries against us, we wouldn't have a say. they have interests in this country, we have interests in europe. there is an interest all around in not sending this country off into a sort of donald trump style of transatlantic trade and investment partnership economy dominated by tax cuts and deregulation. we're not going to do that. chris morris from the bbc‘s reality check is with us. a lot of concern in britain at the moment because we do not know what the government plan is. how did it relate to business and the customs union? yes, it is a big issue for

many companies based in the uk because they have become used to having, as you described, this tariff free access for the whole of the european market. when she bought goods, you can move them across borders without any other payment of tariffs. a lot of companies rely on that with what they called just—in—time manufacturing. i have been looking in particular at the car industry. this is the bmw factory in oxford mentioned by mr corbyn where they make the mini. its components cross eu borders multiple times. a crankshaft cast in france crosses to a plant in warwickshire to be finished. and then goes back to austria to be built into an engine which then comes back to oxford to be put in a completed car. half the cars built in oxford are then exported back to the eu and it is all tariff free. the government argues the problem with a customs union is you cannot negotiate during trade deals around the world. a key part of taking back control. it is true you are constrained, you cannot alter tariffs on goods. you can still do goods and services.

and on harmonising regulations with other countries. labour says it still wants to be involved alongside the eu, negotiating any trade deal in the national interest. is it trying to have its cake and eat it? business leaders are still looking for more clarity. being in the customs union is a hassle—free solution. there are different types of customs union. what we heard jeremy corbyn saying, is not all of the details, we need to get more before business know. every time i think i understand brexit something happens and i confused again. just to clarify for me, what is the difference between labour's position that the government? the government is

talking about a customs arrangement which does not mean much, he can be anything. a customs union is a technical term in the world of trade talks. what the labour party is saying is that we will stay in a customs union, otherwise businesses will suffer. the government says you then cannot do deals around the world. that is not quite true because you can do some trade deals. what you cannot do is deal in goods because you cannot change that tariff rate which is set by being in the customs union. you can still do deals and services and with third countries which harmonise regulations so there are some things you can do but it makes it more difficult. thank you very much indeed. that is probably a majority in parliament in favour of a customs

union but for the government to be beaten on it and move towards labour's position that would have to be enough tory rebels to move towards jeremy corbyn's be enough tory rebels to move towardsjeremy corbyn's position which he set out today. the simple arithmetic is that unless the dup, if they move or if enough tory rebels move then that could happen but it is very unlikely. it is likely when it comes to vote that the government will set up as a confidence motion and will —— and the rebels will have cold feet. thank you very much for that explanation. i think we have done it for today until the next one. president trump today met governors at the white house to talk about the florida school shooting. over the weekend several us companies reduced their ties to the nra — america's powerful gun lobby group. in the long televised

meeting mr trump once again criticised law enforcement officers for the way they handled the shooting — and suggested he would have been braver than the armed guard who failed to confront the killer. i got to watch some deputy sheriffs performing this weekend. they were not exactly medal of honour winners. the way they performed was frankly disgusting. i really believe you don't know until you are tested. but i really believe i would run in there, even if i didn't have a weapon and i think most of the people in this room would have done that too. the gun debate has been ferocious this past week — with one side attacking the other ever since the parkland shooting. it has revealed the extent of tribal loyalty in the country on this divisive issue. president trump today stressed mental health concerns over gun control. the two issues have almost become shorthand for which side you are on in the us — and compromise seems further away than ever. according to a new book it is just one area of growing separation in the us. the author, amy chua, joins us now. thank you for coming in. is

gun—control symbolic of what you call political tribalism gone right in the us? it is a perfect example. human beings are all tribal but the problem is that tribalism has taken over the american political system. when you are tribal, you see everything through the lens of your tribe and facts don't matter. logic does not matter. you take the position of whatever your tribe says and this prevents us from having important discussions and gun—control is this. people in the country divided into two camps, hurling horrible freezes at each other. literally, in this political

tribalism, the other side is immoral, the enemy. a motive language. you want children to die. it is not just language. you want children to die. it is notjust gun—control but every issue in the united states, immigration, climate change. has the internet exacerbated this? definitely, internet, social media. there are studies i described that people actually get physical pleasure from seeing the other side suffer. this is terrible. it takes effort to get a lot of clicks, if you start annoying the other people and scapegoating the other side. even in countries like iraq, it is the same dynamic, you can whip up a

lot of sentiment by tapping into these primal instincts. in colonial times, britain used this idea to its advantage. it used to pick out the smaller tribes in particular countries and put them in power and of course they stayed loyal because they were fearful of the bigger tribes. how does that relate to foreign policy today? does the united states understand the tribal conflict —— condition of every country on the planet? absolutely. i specifically compare the united states to britain, great britain was a master of divide and rule. they know about the different tribes and religions for us strategic ends. the us, because of our unusual history of successful assimilation has been the opposite. we tend to be blind to

the opposite. we tend to be blind to the group identities that matter most to people on the ground. you have germans, hungarians, japanese, they all become americans in one generation. we think that democracy is the panacea. we think if we bring elections, that will smooth out problems but in fact, democracy has exacerbated the conflict over and over. if you look at women, white woman in america, the majority of them voted for donald trump ahead of hillary clinton and yet there are plenty of white women across america who hate donald trump.|j plenty of white women across america who hate donald trump. i think there are sound bites out there which are confusing what is happening in america. while of course that is a lot of coding, trump is coming back

and saying let us go back to the america we used to know. but there is another piece of those which is white on white resentment. it is mostly educational difference which has split the white majority in america. the rhetoric and resentment between the coastal elite, whites in the cosmopolitan cities, well educated and whites in the heartland, men and women, you will see it is like two americas. so fascinating. we could talk about this for a long time but we have to leave it there. come back and join us leave it there. come back and join us again. thank you so much for having me. six months ago we watched as a massive storm hit houston, texas. it took a couple of days for the full scale of the devastation to emerge. hurricane harvey killed 68 people.

40,000 more had to flee from their homes as the water poured in. the devastating floods sparked questions about the city's preparedness — it is not, after all, the first time houston, which sits on the gulf of mexico, has suffered a disaster like this. laura trevelyan reported the story for us in august and has returned for this report. houston underwater. this was the catastrophic flooding caused by hurricane harvey. as record rainfall saturated the city, deluging neighbourhoods and turning lives upside down. you know you're home? yeah, we're home, baby. it's an emotional moment for gloria, clutching snoopy as she shows us where she was rescued from while the floodwaters rose. it was devastating. ijust couldn't believe it. i am still looking at it and it's still hard. gloria's home of nearly 20 years was uninhabitable and she did not have flood insurance, like thousands of others in houston. now gloria is living in a hotel paid for by the federal emergency management agency. but she does not feel safe.

the other night i have to barricade myself in here every night because that is so much going on out there. prostitution every night. guys are driving by one night, they shot about eight times towards this hotel and i had to get on the floor. volunteers from a houston charity are helping rebuild gloria's home. hopefully she can return in march. federal officials are trying to help the 4500 houston families like gloria's's get back home. people do expect someone to fix it. fema's role is not that, we want to help everybody, every way we can as quickly as we can. but in doing that we also have to be mindful of the taxpayer dollars that we are spending. here is how this well—to—do suburb west of houston looked when i was here in august. the neighbourhood was deliberately submerged as officials let water out of the nearby reservoir to stop it overflowing. dan and virginia reid did not have

flood insurance and they are still trying to rebuild. six months on, we are still not home yet. we vacillate between wondering do we want to be in this house or do we just want to start over somewhere else? as houston recovers from the impact of harvey, the next hurricane season is only four months away. this is a sprawling coastal city with bayous like this which are vulnerable to flooding. so is anything being done to defend houston against future hurricanes? it's important for the city to take steps to mitigate the risk of flooding, which means if they are living close to a bayou, the bayou needs to be expanded. or there needs to be more detention basins put in place. hurricane harvey destroyed homes and lives. though houston is rebounding, the road to recovery is a long one. of course there are questions about

whether or not enough is being done in huston but when you compare what is happening in puerto rico where they still do not have electricity and access to basic services, the devastation was far worse. there are a lot of people there are saying what about us? we have been forgotten because we are less politically important to the white house. you can actuallyjuxtapose these, florida, huston, puerto rico. who got the most help? yes. shall we move on. let us talk about the most important issue of the day. now it's only 4 weeks to go until easter. there's a warning today that the traditional hot cross bun may be in short supply — or at the very least not contain as many raisin and sultanas this year.

it's all down to world shortages. the wholesale price of dried fruit has been pushed up this year by the wildfires we reported on in california in october and november. which means we are more reliant here in the uk on the sultanas from turkey. and when there is a shortage of supply of course, prices go up. 40 per cent since september. in the unintended consequences of globalisation, when we reported on those fires, we never projected forward and thought this would have an impact on hot cross buns. yes, these are supposed to be eaten on good friday. for those who do not know, it is a spicy barn and they are traditionally eaten on good friday. in our household, the air in

the bread then all the time. the stock food for our children. they we re stock food for our children. they were invented in the 14th century by a monk, how did that monk get his reasons? not from california ism. a monk, how did that monk get his reasons? not from california ismi think i might have a ransom. do you know the difference between reasons, sultanas know the difference between reasons, sulta nas and currents? know the difference between reasons, sultanas and currents? you are such an know it all. sultanas are dried white grapes. reasons are dried black rapes. i would presume the monks grew their own grapes. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — when you're the president's senior advisor and daughter, where do you draw the line between family and business? very cold weather and it has been

well talked about, now it is here. already some of us have had snow showers or snow flurries. bitterly cold day from siberia running across much of europe and the uk. this pressure from the south will come into the cold air and make it more widespread. the first part of the night, snow showers to the east. two things to notice, this line inside east anglia and this area is now running north—east up to yorkshire and into the midlands and into at least in scotland as well. these areas most likely to see disruptive snow going into the morning. the met office hazzard snow going into the morning. the met office hazza rd amber warning snow going into the morning. the met office hazzard amber warning in forss versus looks, and the london

area. another amber warning for parts of yorkshire, north—east england's, perhaps ten centimetres of snow, wet snow as well so accumulating rather than blowing around like powdery snow. disruption as possible in some spots. some snow in parts of wales. further snow showers on tuesday. some sunny spells around, some in the west. the showers will stay dry. it will feel colder than the temperatures suggest. ahead to wednesday, this area of concern is moving north. into eastern england and northern shortland, # northern scotland. you can see the showers moving in as we go through wednesday. some spread all the way from east to west across the uk, reaching parts of northern

ireland. feeling cold and in these temperatures suggest when you factor in the winter. it feels well below freezing and the wind gets even stronger. this area of low pressure is coming into the cold air from the size. there is a risk of heavy disruptive snow spreading north, making blizzards as well. this is beyond 100 days, with me katty kay in washington — christian fraser's in london. our top stories. vladimir putin, a key ally of the syrian regime orders a daily humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow civilians to leave. nigeria deploys extra troops and planes to search for 110 schoolgirls believed to have been abducted by boko haram last week. coming up in the next half hour. the uk's labour leaderjeremy corbyn sets out key details of his party's brexit policy — he wants the uk to negotiate a new customs union with the eu.

braving the beast from the east — europe shivers as the siberian blast hits — how long will it last? let us know your thoughts by using the hashtag beyond 100 days. the nigerian airforce is scouring the north east of the country looking for 110 girls who were kidnapped from a school last monday. four years after boko haram took more than 270 girls in chibok — this latest kidnapping got very little global attention. and yet the same islamist militant group is thought to be responsible. so let's remind you what boko haram is. it's been around since 2002. they follow a strict interpretation of the koran, opposing western style education. the military operations began in 2009, and they've been focused on the north—eastern part of the country. the us has listed it as a terrorist organisation. of the 276 schoolgirls the group

took from chibok in 2014, 100 of them are still missing. that same year, copying the tactics of the islamic state, they set up their own caliphate in areas under boko haram's control. a regional coalition — made up of troops from nigeria, cameroon, chad and niger — has recaptured most of the besieged region. but boko haram militants continue to operate