>> you are watching live from paris, 6:00 a.m. in houston texas. we will bring you the top stories live over the next hour. france prepares for a shakeup in the world of work. the government is announcing new reforms that could transform the status quo for employers, employees, and the economy. floodwaters are receding slowly, but the worst could be yet to death toll set to

rise as tropical depression harvey moves into indiana. we get the latest from our correspondent on the ground. remembering the woman known as the people's princess 20 years after her death in paris. diana spencer still inspires tribute around the world. we will be looking at how much hurricane harvey might have crossed the u.s. southern state in what's being dubbed by some as the worst storm to hit the country in recent memory. ♪ >> you are watching france 24, i'm olivia sala's are. here in france, the government is getting back to work with a happy project. it is announcing sweeping labor reforms that hopes to tackle the country us unemployment problem.

employment law was a key campaign issue in the presidential election and emmanuel macron pledged to change things up. minister has been sketching out the planned reforms in a press conference today. let's hear from him. country of social rights. it will remain so. but we need to also be aware of the situation which is that of a country characterized by decades of massive unemployment. if we want to advance on the issue of unemployment, we will have to treat all the aspects and causes of unemployment together. olivia: for more on that we are joined by chris moore who is outside the premier's office in paris.

do you think he has what he wanted? heard from the prime minister there, the government's key argument was one which emmanuel macron mentioned multiple times. old codesses decades are not -- the government over the past few weeks has been involved in painstaking consultations with business representatives, but also with representatives of the major trade unions in france. off the back of the announcement we can say the government has gotten the majority of what it to makenamely a promise it easier for companies to negotiate terms and conditions on an individual, rather than industrywide basis.

plans to make it easier for multinationals to fire people. havehing small businesses been campaigning for, a reduction in the rules and regulations that would affect them. small businesses account for the majority of employment in france. meanwhile, the government promises to maintain the country's representation -- reputation of social rights. that will be maintained in the form of increased redundancy payments. others have failed before him, do you think he will be the exception? as philippe was saying, he believes the government has a strong mandate to put these reforms through. it was the forefront of macron's campaign.

he had an even more convincing win in terms of getting the vast majority in the parliament. also working in their favor is the fact that during the weeks of negotiations, a majority of unions on the side even though were somewhat reluctant. this kind of thing has proved problematic for french politicians to through labor reforms. took tohe major unions the streets as is the left -- the government is not out of the woods yet. olivia: thank you very much, chris. for another perspective on those thes i've been speaking to fostering growth foundation and i asked as a member of the business community if these forms -- reforms go far enough? >> it's the first time someone

has the guts to do something in france. difficult to reform these labor laws in negotiations, but for a first time we are doing something. in terms of communication, they will realize that somehow you can change the world without having one million people going down into the streets protesting , so it is good for everyone. in terms appear the business community, it does not go enough because it is not what we were expecting in a country where 99% of the companies are under 250 employees. we were expecting something designed for small and medium businesses and not the same law for the small 20, 50, 100 companies and the 150,000 companies. but it is a good first step. a small step for the business

communities. a large one for france. olivia: to contextualize the situation, what were the major obstacles in your opinion toward -- that negates progress in terms of employment law? unions.ou've got the they are all eating at the same table and they don't want things to change because they are getting so much money, power, privilege and so many things under the -- unions,g like 20,000 you don't even know what they are doing. it is just something they don't want to change. people, theythese are -- with the money from vocational training. they don't want to change that.

people see thee, business community through the eyes of large companies and they feel why do these people need a change when they are 200,000, 300,000 people, they have lawyers. changen't need any because they are destroying more jobs than they are creating. most of our companies are small and medium companies. people don't understand that. there has been this idea in france that you don't perform the labor law. so it is going from one government to the other. macron is saying yes we can. it is a first small step, but it is very important. olivia: france famous for its workers rights when it comes to employment. how do you think this will react internationally? of the first steps of

the president were welcome everywhere. the general feeling about the french is very good since he came into power. young, the feeling he will reform the country and will have the power to do so. i think this first step is very important because so many people will say there is something happening in france. .ome of them fear that some entrepreneurs are blocked by persistent. not everybody will be happy about the change in france, but it will take time. the way we are working and producing jobs, so again it is a

nice communication point, not very effective or efficient at change that you will see on the daily life of the french companies. u.s..: moving to the in houston, the water level may be dropping as hurricane harvey moves away from the city, but the inevitable is happening. 's twonear the city reservoirs flooded this wednesday, bringing high water into people's homes. these are affluent neighborhoods that have never seen flooding before. revisited them as the water began to stream in. here iny is no more houston, but the devastating storm left terrifying effect. some of which are now being seen now that the waters are receiving. this is something we knew was going to come, the death toll has gone up and it is inevitable

it will go up further still because there are large parts of houston still completely inundated. harvey is still a force of nature, now though in the east of texas and louisiana. the storm is bringing with it floods, but also those long days of rain. five of which we had in houston in a row. there are now 230 shelters altogether in the state of texas. those shelters for those many people who had to evacuate their homes. there are abandoned houses throughout the city and throughout the south of the state of texas. it is because of those abandoned houses the curfew has been imposed for a second night in a row from midnight until 5:00 a.m. the reason for the curfew imposed by the mayor is the fear of looters, people who might take advantage of abandoned houses and take valuables. i went to one neighborhood in which i had spent a few days

earlier. a neighborhood to which the neighbors are now slowly but surely returning. they are afraid of there being theyrs and they believe may have seen one or two suspicious people around already. it is difficult to prove they been up to anything mischievous. it shows there is a fear now in houston, that fear of people taking advantage of other people's suffering. olivia: monsoon rains in southeast asia have devastated parts of india, nepal, , and bangladedesh. the u.n. has called it the worst flooding in a decade and some 40 million people have been affected by the downpour. with damage or flooding in 18,000 schools, it's fear that millions could slip out of the education system. more on the humanitarian situation on the ground. >> humanitarian efforts are

being led by the government in all three hot -- countries supported by local agencies and organizations like the red cross. despite the best intentions, it ,s different to the situation to the disaster preparedness of texas in the aftermath of harvey. there is a huge difference in infrastructure and resources. it is harder for aid to get to people right now because there are areas that been cut off because bridges have been damaged, roads have been damaged. monetary compensation is something the government is providing. the prime minister pledged 65 million euros in a flood damage . per family toro victims of those who died. more definitely needs to be done, the infrastructure as i

mentioned in india, shelters will mean you have people intense -- in tents. it is a very different situation than in taxes. -- in texas. olivia: diane was dubbed the people's princess. memoryades later, her remains alive in many people around the globe. flowers were laid in her honor at kensington palace and at the tunnel in paris where she died in a car crash. now ofive you an update the top stories making headlines. france is set for a shakeup in the world of work. the government announcing new reforms that could transform the station for employers, employees

and the economy. flood waters are receding slowly, but the worst could be yet to calm with the death toll set to rise as tropical harvey heads to louisiana. it is time for a business update. government has just unveiled its ambitious tax reform plan. are we seeing reaction? >> reaction from the labor market has been mixed so far with some calling the proposal a disappointment and saying the government miss the opportunity. shares are trading in the green not so much because of the labor reform, but driven by manufacturing data coming out of china. olivia: the labor reforms are the president's biggest project. but that's not the only thing on his list of ambitious plans. yuka: he moved on beyond labor

informed -- labor reform to see how long -- bringing deficit down by next year. ar example, michelle takes look at what's in store for the french government in the coming months. president moved into the palace with an ambitious goal to reform the country. business leaders say he needs to move fast in order to be successful. >> you have to do it in the beginning of your days. then you see the results of it, two years or three years later and -- later. severaluel macron has bold economic teams up his sleeve. he wants to cut public spending, saving the country 60 billion euros over five years. he is also set to overhaul the pension system by reevaluating payouts.

the pro-business leader wants to gradually reduce corporate tax year33% to 25% by the 2022. it is no secret he will want to stay in the eurozone. he wants a dedicated eurozone finance minister. the french president is trying to push these through parliament in the coming months. despite his popularity plummeting since he came to power in may. olivia: m more of the business headlines for you now. the french supermarket tumbled after a fall in income in the first half of the year. the stock price fell 12%. sinceggest monday drop the 2008 financial crisis for the company. they say the disappointing results are due to poor performance in france and argentina. the french department store

announced it will buy a leading online fashion and home where store. it will have a 51% share in the company. the goal is owning 100% in the future. the chairman says the aim is to make it a leading retailer in the physical and digital world. toshiba has named three potential buyers for its memory chip business. apple has reportedly jumped into the race. toshiba would sign a deal with -- earlier this week, but that plan was abandoned due to disagreements. moving back to the -- ed states, texas picking through the damage is not done yet. it is still early to estimate the scale of the damage left behind by the storms. will cost up to

$65 billion and the total damage could take $75 billion. katrina funding was well over $100 billion. and so, if we go on a parallel standard, it should be far in excess of that amount. donald trump has relaunched his campaign to reform the tax code. the plan to overhaul the tax system is expected to benefit corporate america. in a speech he made a populist to bring backg main street by reducing the tax burden on middle-class americans while insisting he wants to bring the corporate tax rate down to 15%. >> our self-destructive tax code

cost americans millions and millions of jobs, trillions of dollars and billions of hours spent on compliance and paperwork. ideally, i say this for the secretary of treasury, we would like to bring our business tax 15%, which would make our tax rate lower than most countries. but by no means the lowest unfortunately in the world. olivia: thank you for joining us in that business update. it's time for our international press review. by alison sargent for a quick spin through the french headlines. it is a big day for the pratt -- french president. emmanuel macron has given a 23 page interview to the french weekly. alison: he media abstinence is over. he has often been compared to

jupiter, the roman god for his distance from the press. he is descending from mount olympus over the difficult summer that is seen his approval rate drop. he refuses to be judged on his first 100 days. took the opportunity to defend his reform of the labor code. olivia: protest already planned for the month of september. in those protests there is division. alison: all these french papers came out before we knew the details of what was in the plan. one of france's biggest unions has been planning on not partaking in the protest being organized by another of france's biggest unions. they said it's because they feel the government has actually made a real effort to consult with them before drafting these are theyand not only opting out, but this protest is also going to see somewhat of a rival protest organized by far

left leaders. he says he wants to be the leader of the revolution and we can see him wearing the outfit of a revolutionary in a drawing. man sayingright-hand to him some people compare you to robespierre, he was an iconic figure of the french revolution. you can see he is sweating a little bit because robespierre rounded up getting guillotined along with dozens of his followers. olivia: let's move onto the international press with some readers saying there has not been enough coverage of the flood in southeast asia. alison: the coverage of the flooding in houston has overshadowed any coverage of the flooding in south asia. the guardian has posted several letter they received from readers saying as much. many they say don't understand this including -- especially with the difference in the death

toll. the implicit message being that those in bangladesh are less important than a pet in houston. wantriter says i don't houston reduced, but take notice of the rest of the world. olivia: some people are suggesting poor management to be at the root of the flooding in places like mumbai. alison: there was an interesting paperlisted in the indian , the times of india. they asked the government to stop blaming flooding on climate change. they say it is the government's job to better plan for climate change impact. many cities have seen floods and see them every month. they are also the ones in the most danger of drought when it's not the rainy season. researchers say the government could use one problem to solve another and floodwater should be better stored to use it during the non-rainy season. alison: moving -- olivia: moving

, but it seems some pilgrims from the ivory coast had to cancel their trip at the last minute. alison: it appears certain travel agencies take advantage of hajj pilgrims. this talks about 300 pilgrims from the ivory coast who plant their trip through a travel agency and found out the organization never got them travel documents so they were not able to go. this is a widespread problem, especially countries like ivory coast where many people are not experienced travelers. this may be the one trip they take in their lives. you can see the cartoon is a bit heartbreaking. one man is asking another, did you walk around the kaabah? the other says i just walked around the travel agency. where: we are in the u.k. the papers are marking the 20th anniversary of the death of princess diana. alison: her sons pay tribute to

her yesterday. we could see her picture in many british papers today. there they are in the daily telegraph. i'm looking at the tribute left to their mom outside her former home. the headline comes from prince harry who said all of us lost somebody that day. sun said theid the death created a sentiment of collective grief in the u.k. see they have that same picture on the front page, but they also to the left of it have another one that looks almost just like it of a photo of the princes 20 years ago in the days right after her death. , usa todayatlantic has a strong -- interesting piece about whether diana's death change the tactics of paparazzi. they were heavily blame for her

death, but investigators found it was because the driver was drunk and she was not wearing a seatbelt. usa today says princess diana's death made it less tasteful overall to cover royalty and celebrities. what's more changed is the effect of social media. olivia: thank you very much, alison sargent. you can catch up with our daily -- on our website as well as catching up with our shows and international breaking news. , stay tuned to france 24. more news coming up in a moment. ♪ .> i'm here in fiji people in the pacific are first

in the line of fire for climate change. with temperatures rising, that means low-lying villages could flow up in the ocean. there are more storms in the coral isis dying off.

sami: weelcome to pararanambuco, bbrazil. brazil, the land of samba, football, and beautiful people. but there's more to this place than the carnival in rio or the rainforests. i'm traveling to a lesser known region, at least from the western point of view--the northeast state of paranambuco. the last time i was here was in 2008. i got me a bunch of albums, local stuff. on the plane, after reaching cruising altitude, i ordered cachaca on the rocks and slammed in the earbuds. the music had me flying even higher. it was a traditional paranambuco sound fused with rock, funk, hip hop, and reggae. it was something cocompletely open-minded and unashamed, music that didn't