"france 24," a different take on the news. >> this is "france 24." these are today's top stories. more rain and flooding in texas as tropical storm harvey makes landfall a second time, touching down in the louisiana one day after donald trump surveys the region for damage. the un security council sends a unanimous statement slamming what they call the outrageous latest missile launch from north korea.

additional sanctions were announced. meanwhile, the un's secretary-general is on day three of his trip to the middle east, renewing his commitment to a two state solution there and helps to kickstart the long stalled peace process. coming up in this hour, business leaders and paris are urging the president there to keep his promises as the french government pairs to unveil labor reforms. and the biggest food fight in the world in's ain't. more of that on the way, but first our top stories, live from paris. ♪ >> tropical storm harvey is back on land, touching down again this wednesday just west of cameron, louisiana, coming five days after the monster storm houstont texas, leaving

still underwater today. at least 18 are now confirmed dead and close to 10,000 are in emergency shelters. we have been following the one rescue team -- one of the rescue teams on the ground. >> with floods like these, ,obody should be in the streets or rather rivers, of houston. to make sure.s fire chief jackie metcalf takes me out in his neighborhood and passed his very own house. >> we are out here taking a secondary look, trying to see of there is anybody with a last chance. the scenes across the city are dramatic. the fire chief carries the tools needed for a more dramatic rescue. surely, nobody would stay behind with waters rising like this.

>> up again. >> last chance. >> write your social security number on your arm with a sharpie pen so that we will be able to identify you. you, it's coming up. this is your last chance. we are leaving. i can get you to safe ground, food, and shelter. just get in our boat and let's go. >> the family of five refuses to leave. department cannot force them. >> we are not coming back. >> got you. >> others notice the gravity of the situation. >> don't rock the boat.

>> i guess it was never thinking that it would ever get this ad. >> it just almost doesn't seem real. i don't think the reality of it will settle in for a few days. i used to live in that house. they are the last to be evacuated from this particular neighborhood. the next stop for these evacuees, one of houston's shelters, where the refuge from harm. -- people could seek refuge from harm. the fire chief said that bodies could be found right here once the floodwaters reseed. >> meanwhile, houston is under an overnight curfew to try to keep the looting that has already been reported at bay. that comes after donald trump toured the disaster zone on tuesday. praising the work of both state and federal officials in

response to the worst storm to hit texas in 50 years. here is more of what the president had to say. >> we love you. you are special. want to thank you for coming out. we will get you back and operating immediately area this has been a total cooperative effort. we will see you soon. this is historic. it's epic, what happened. what you know what? texas and texas can handle anything. thank you all, folks. thank you. --south asia has been hurt hit with its worst monsoon season in years. millions have been affected nepal, india,esh, 1200 dead so far. heavy rains flooded the financial capital of mumbai, causing chaos and forcing's and

offices to close. but things are far worse here, as luke reports. landscape,bove the the prime minister surveys the damage across the nation's monsoon struck state with some of the worst flooding in years. >> the number of affected districts is 29 and in them there are 180 seven blocks, 2371 village councils, and a population of 17.1 million have been affected. than 500 have died in the flooding so far, forcing people to leave. this year's flooding is the worst in years. the local agriculture had all but collapsed and they had released a relief package worth $78 million with disaster relief struggling to cope.

u.n. -- >> the un security council has lashed out at the latest north korean missile launch. without imposing immediate new sanctions? to talk more about this, brett, tell us a bit more about that statement from the u.n. and why there are no sanctions attached. >> thank you for having me. i think the u.n. council is pleased with their ability to release this statement. within a day they were able to get together and announce the latest north korean test. because you have russia and china with veto power. and unless there is a long-range missile launch or nuclear test, as we have seen in the past, there is little hope that they will get on board with sanctions

. on top of that, we had a resolution that was passed earlier this month in which new sanctions were imposed, so those are going to take time to take effect. china has been saying that it is going to put more sanctions into effect, banning new north korean businesses from being formed in china. they also said they were going to fall through a hole as well. there are some sanctions in play, needing to take more time. as i mentioned, the reason they had no sanctions attached, russia and china would not be on board. >> what kind of reaction has a been from north korea? >> think they're paying very little attention, they spent their day glorifying the missile launch. i feel like at the state run media outlet they released a

bunch of photos of a jubilant kim jong un smiling as the rocket left the launch pad he was apparently guiding the process, telling the details ahead of time, giving the final order to launch the missile. feeling very emboldened by this the fact that it was successful, and intermediate range ballistic missile, they were able to control the touchdown in the pacific ocean or its entry into that part of the water without any casualty or military response from enemies in the region, i think they are very pleased. with no new sanctions attached, you won't hear from north korea regarding the latest statement. >> all right, thank you for that. now, one of the last islamic state strongholds in a rack over

the last few days, iraqi forces backed by the u.s. have almost completely taken back the town. many isis fighters are entrenched in the neighboring town. say that the fighting is multiple times worse than the final battle for the old city. that i isis stronghold fell in june, but only after eight months of difficult fighting in the streets. secretary-general is wrapping up his first official trip to the middle east today. he is hoping to restart the stalled peace process between the israelis and palestinians, once again saying that they back a two state solution. for more on this, let's go live to our jerusalem correspondent. on this first official visit, today he went to gaza. what kind of a welcome did he get? >> initially, hamas was not happy with the u.n.

secretary-general because he had expressed, when he was in israel, support for israeli hostages held in gaza without expressing support for palestinian prisoners and they said he was unwelcome. however, today he wasn't addressing the hamas and he issued a list of demands, calling for an end to the blockade on the egyptian and israeli side. that was their list of demands. see u.n. schools, controversial, as you know, during the war, and he went to see other projects in the gaza strip and when he was standing at one of them, he said that this is one of the worst humanitarian crises he has seen and he did call on both sides to do something about sanctions, to lift the blockade, also calling

on the palestinians and the west bank to help the gaza strip. that makes they humanitarian crisis for the people worse. guterres is giving a speech today and we haven't heard much from him over the three days of this trip. what do you think you will say today? >> he just completed speaking, i did not manage to hear it all your -- here at all. it has the keynotes of a short soundbite. it is warm to both sides, which i think is important for israel. he is amazed at israel's achievements and technological success and of the same time he spoke about the need for peace, how committed he is to the united nations, and he certainly committed to these. and that once is here, it will

increase security for israel, their main concern. it will increase prosperity for the palestinians. theas really talking up western liberal view that we are not hearing from washington at the moment, for example. he ended by saying that when he was taken to the gaza's rip to see the tunnel's the he had dug underneath, he met people who were very open, despite everything they had suffered, asking him to intervene on behalf of the people of gaza, and he said that his spirit he hopes to bring peace here. the spirit of extending your hand even to an enemy. now, scientists in brazil -- >> thank you. now, scientists in brazil have released a new weapon against

deadly viruses, a mosquito carrying bacteria that should stop them from spreading illnesses. >> scientists hope this will be a new phase in the battle against mosquito borne illnesses. researchers have received the first of millions of mosquitoes infected with the bacteria, which should infect them from transmitting viruses. -- the bacteria, harmless to humans, should make the bacteria -- mosquitoes immune to denge. is that they will become dominant, wiping out insects carrying the virus. >> the months after we carried out tests, we have seen 100% of the mosquitoes back here. i think it will take between three years and five years bc -- before we see a drop in cases as a direct result of the project.

no vaccine or effective treatment for the potentially deadly fever, but the number of cases in brazil have been falling and they say there has been a reduction of 90% in the reduction -- in the number of reported cases of the virus so far this year. >> the transmission is an epidemic that the country has been suffering from for 30 years. >> researchers eventually plan to release 3 million of the specially modified mosquitoes each week and it is hoped that there will be other viruses eliminated along with denge, helping scientists to prevent malaria, which is spread by a different type of mosquito. >> time for our business update. we are just one day away from the big reveal of the new labor

arm. centerpiece is to bring new life to the french economy and the announcement coincides the french employer confederation. they have high at dictations for the new president, who has been deemed pro-business. french association of business owners gathered for their end of summer conference this year, one issue dominated discussions. emmanuel macron's labor reform. waiting forll been these changes for years. we have tried implementing reforms under the previous ministers, but to no avail. macron was elected to push through labor reforms. now is the time to do it. >> the 50-year-old ran a small business and she wants the reforms to inject more flexibility into the hiring process.

>> it's easier to get married when you know you can get divorced, or in this case hire someone as necessary. for others it's about the quality of the recruitment will. he says he finds it difficult to >> i needtent staff. to hire machine operators and two operators and i can't find any. today there is a complete disconnect between the unemployed and the type of training they get and the industrial abilities we are looking for. for me, developing apprenticeships is primordial. >> they will have to wait until thursday, when emmanuel macron presents parliamentary changes, creating puce -- fierce opposition by unions and left-wing parties. for more on that, let's check in with carol.

with men.een speaking what is his expectation? >> above all, he says freedom for company owners. areas, negotiating directly with staff members rather than referring directly to national agreements on things like working conditions. particularly he says for small where there is constrained as to how much can be done on the company level and the maximum amount that labor forces can award workers. there is expected to be a cap in the ordinances. that is something that he says he wants to see, giving certainteed to businesses, that if they have to wind up in the labor force they will know how much in advance of cost as there

is only no sealing in place for that ticket or type of layoff. those are the important issues is watching out for. he believes that he will be able to get these changes passed, making a difference and important for altering the image of france and how it is and these reforms will change that. >> later on he is expected to talk about the next big reform the government has planned in texas. right, we will be getting the first details of what will be in this year's budget. business leaders wanted on taxes and i'm operation tax, the french government is expected to reduce the rate of corporation tax from 33% to 28% for next year by smaller distances or

businesses with smaller profits, 25%ging the figure down to by 2022. at least that's the idea. as far as a person's investing in property, that will be great here as well. they did say that this was going to be the next big reform for the government after the labor accept the big issue for >> thank you very much, stephen carroll, outside paris. new figures shows that economic confidence has reached the highest level since 2007. the london ftse was up a short

time ago after hitting a 16 week low yesterday. the dax is up half of 1%, in the green. still, some lingering concern over a strong euro. business news the i have for you today. >> thanks so much. let's will be back with another edition. >> now, time for the press review. on "france 24." here with me on the set, we will take a look at what's going on in the headlines. let's start in the united states, with hurricane harvey and that massive flooding in houston. >> as you can imagine. taking a look at "the houston chronicle," focusing on the houston heroes, something a lot of have been focusing on. everyday people who stepped in to help. you can see one man helping

another into a boat and the man in the boat says -- this is a heckuva way to get people to care for one another. >> yesterday donald trump came in to survey the relief. >> he commented once again on the unprecedented nature of the storm. many people are wondering whether or not it will change his views on climate change. a climate skeptic, you can see this cartoon here with the dutch cartoonist showing donald trump the flooding with waters, saying that climate change is a hoax. many people say that this is linked to climate change and they are hoping that this will be kind of a wake-up call to the effects of climate change. let's get a look at the cartoon in "the new york times," focusing on this, it's a reversal of roles. you can see the oil tycoon here,

people in the oil business are often climate skip ask. the oil field is being flooded. the climate change debate is of course raging on in the written press as well, but some are saying it is too early. they are lashing out at a climate change movement, for blaming harvey on global warming . saying that essentially, before harvey, it had been a record 12 years since a hurricane made significant landfall in the united states. a lot of people are saying it too early to say that this is linked to global warming. "the washington post" says it's too early to make that conclusion, however anyone watching in houston who fails to worry about how humans are

intensifying the natural risks of flooding are ignoring the warning signs and hunt of them. that is what "the washington post" says in its editorial and that they are paying the price for the ignorance of public officials. another interesting part that has been picked up, it talks about how houston experienced what they call wild west growth and that may have contributed to flooding, essentially by replacing the prairie lands with concrete it rendered the land less and less capable of absorbing water. only city was not the underwater. >> on the front page of "the hindu today," they are talking wouldn't bein that experienced 2005. its massive flooding that killed over 1000 people.

scientists are blaming massive, rapid urbanization leading to this endemic flooding. all of this has clogged up the water evacuation system. there seems to be a parallel between the systems. emmanuel macron gave a speech in paris to outline his upcoming foreign policy. out his vision and what to expect for the next five years. conservative paper applauded him for the fact that he was very clear on one point, which is that he declared islamist terrorism as france's number one enemy. something that his predecessors had done enough, he had the courage essentially to call a spade a spade. saying that despite identical that fighting the enemy, we must

identify it. >> he's eager to show that he is paving a new way on the diplomatic front, but critics saying there is nothing new about that? >> they call it the same old same old, nothing new under the sun. essentially what he did under the speech was followed in his predecessor's what's that. they are essentially saying that diplomacy rants is at the service of the economy. >> wrapping up now, for the word of the formal -- former republican rebel group, they held their first official party conference in bogota. >> this is a symbolic move for them, part of the transition from the insurgent group into a political party. you can read all about it here in the columbia paper here. what is interesting is that people at this conference are

calling for a new name, a rebranding of it in general. revolutionary armed forces of colombia, it has dark connotations. some

narrator: yet anotother hurricae pounds cuba. waves as tall as five story buildings. streets flooded. many forced from their homes. in an era of climate change, ather around the world is becoming more extreme. hurricanes are getting worse. if this is the future for our coastal cities, how will they survive the storm?