Transcripts For BBCNEWS Beyond 100 Days 20240714

A new brexit deal. And the Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, whose books examined the history of black life in america, has died at the age of 88. Hello and welcome im katty kay in washington and Christian Fraser is in london. The trade war is between china and america both sides showing they have financial weapons and are prepared to use them. But its now making the rest of the world nervous too. Global markets have had a run of bad days and the german finance minister today sounded the alarm bells warning beijing and washington to tone down the rhetoric and get back to negotiating. China gave its First Official response to the latest threats of us tariffs today, with the bank of china saying washington was totally wrong to label china a currency manipulator. President trump sounded defiant this morning. Massive amounts of money from china and other parts of the world is pouring into the United States for reasons of safety, investment, and Interest Rates we are in a very strong position. But there seem to be different messages coming from the administration with the white houses top economics advisor sounding more conciliatory. Wed like to negotiate. We are planning for the chinese to come here next month and if there is a good deal or Good Progress we may reconsider some things. So lets take a look at the markets across the world. They seem to have regained some ground after sharp falls on monday as investors worried about the escalation in trade tensions. Hong kongs hang seng is still in the red but has recouped of yesterdays losses. Were joined now by Scott Horsley chief economic corrrespondent for National Public radio. We saw sell offs continue around the world today but the us market seemed up a little bit. Whats going on globally . Its going pretty well generally in the us. Investors on wall street took a beating on monday before regaining a fraction of that ground today. The fear is the economic weapons, as you call them, that the us has trained on china, are coming back to hit people in this country. We have already seen a slowdown in the Manufacturing Sector in the us as a result of all the trade tensions and now there are signs the much Larger Service economy is slowing as well. Thats pa rt economy is slowing as well. Thats part of the editorial in the wall streetjournal today. Mr part of the editorial in the wall street journal today. Mr trump punishing china but also putting us growth in jeopardy by unleashing trade and currency risks that undermine the benefits of his tax reform and deregulation. Sometimes trade wars end badly for everyone. Thats the point, there are risks for both sides. This is a president who has said that trade wars are good and easy to win. Its proving harder than perhaps he anticipated. The president s own actions are having a perverse effect on financial markets. The white house is complaining china is devaluing its currency and President Trump has made no secret of the fact he wants to see a weaker dollar to help us exports but if anything, all the uncertainty has caused a stronger dollar as investors seek a flight to safety in us treasuries and chinas currency keeps getting beaten up every time the president announces a new round of tariffs. How much debate is there in the White House Administration about which direction to go . It looks from his tweets like President Trump is almost eager to escalate the situation and yet we have people like larry kudlow, who sound more like they are wanting to calm it down. Larry kudlow and Steven Mnuchin and the treasury secretary have always been seen as the more globalist wing among the president s advises, more skittish about a trade war. There was news last week that even the more hawkish elements were wary when the president announced more tariffs that would take effect in september. But only the president and his very hawkish trade adviser, peter navarro, were rumoured to have supported these latest rounds of tariffs, beyond his advisors, and the president has still decided to go forward with it and we are seeing the volatility surrounding that. You are saying he is using his own intuition ahead of advice he is getting from his advisers. He is acutely tuned into the fluctuations of the stock market. Is he likely to step back after seeing the sell off in the last few days . Its a good question. This president very much sees the stock markets rise, when it is on an upward trajectory, is a favourable scorecard for his own administration. Whether he will take the opposite message when we see a big sell off like we did yesterday remains to be seen. He has certainly boasted when the market rises on his watch. Will he reconsider his actions when the market takes a sell off like yesterday . We will see. So far there is no sign the president is giving ground and the Treasury Department calling china a currency manipulator, and now you have the formal apparatus of the administration backing up the president in this trade war. Thank you forjoining us, scott. Thats why other countries are worried because the president doesnt seem to be backing down. Joining me now is jao yin fung from bbc chinese. Thanks for coming in. We were talking there a little bit about the domestic and political pressures on donald trump and his reaction to them. Is the Chinese Government also facing domestic pressures in this trade dispute with america . People tend to forget there is also domestic political pressure within china. The Manufacturing Sector has been suffering, and since the currency depreciation, it directly shrinks every chinese consumers wallets and exports in china become more expensive. We see some domestic pressure in china. Of course, the media is heavily censored, so if you only read the state media, they accuse the us of being a bully but if you look at the Legal Definition of the currency manipulator, a country has to spend more than 2 of its gdp in manipulating its currency to be labelled as that. China is not at that level yet. It was manipulating its currency in 2001, 2006, but not today in 2019. Is Public Opinion in china broadly of the view that this is the us picking a fight, and the white house and donald trump picking a fight and china is having to respond . donald trump picking a fight and china is having to respond . I would say so. Ranging from the state media and also Public Opinion, you might see on the chinese internet, that people have seen the us recent moves, 10 tariffs and also labelling china as a currency manipulator, as provocative actions taken manipulator, as provocative actions ta ken by manipulator, as provocative actions taken by the us. Thanks for coming in. Interesting to see how far china goes on that, christian, manipulating currency is one thing, so how far will they push it because it puts pressure on the white house, which puts pressure on the fed to cut Interest Rates further to bring the dollar down so we start to get a currency war out of a trade war. Later in the programme we will look at the impact on farming with the Farm Ministry confirming they would stop buying Agricultural Products and that was the key concessions in trade talks, if they would keep purchasing items like soybeans and now they are not, going to an election year, it could be problematic for the president. And thatis problematic for the president. And that is why donald trump today is tweeting about Great American farmers and how they will be supported. Moving to uk politics. Brexit talks are back where they were three years ago. On monday, the european negotiators told diplomats in brussels there was currently no basis for meaningful discussions, and that a no deal brexit appeared to be the uk governments central scenario. The British Government has informed brussels the irish backstop must be removed from the withdrawal agreement. Three times the deal has been rejected by the british parliament. Today the Cabinet Office minister michael gove, who is in charge of no deal preparations, said the uk government stands ready to talk. We will put all our energy into making sure we can secure that good deal, but at the moment its the eu that seems to be saying, they are not interested stop they are not interested. They are simply saying no, we dont want to talk. I think thats wrong and sad and its not in europes interests. And heres what the the irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had to say. Our position is the withdrawal agreement, including the backstop, is closed, but there is always room for talks and negotiations. For example, weve said we can certainly make changes to the political declaration and we have demonstrated before that its possible to offer clarifications, as we did at the request of Prime Minister may in the past. Lets speak now to Matina Stevis gridneff, brussels correspondent for the new york times. Thank you for coming to join us. Thank you for coming tojoin us. In a sense, theres no reason from the European Unions point of view that they would make any concessions at all until the very last minute, but it doesnt necessarily mean they wont make a concessions. Thats right. Looking at things from their perspective. First of all they have no incentive to reward Boris Johnson. In a way, they see him responsible for a lot of brexit, and they dont feel they have any motivation right now to give an inch or anything more. What they probably wa nt or anything more. What they probably want to signal is that they are willing to give anything so they can eventually give something. The timing is also of the essence here. With most crises and most major problems, the European Union always acts under pressure at the last minute, and thats because, the clock ticking focuses on mines and usually creates agreements in the 11th hour. Thats to be remembered. We should take this intractability with a pinch of salt but i think right now what we are seeing play out is a reluctance to give any form of reward to Boris Johnson from brussels, as well as letting the clock tick away. There is no rush from the other side either, no rush to the european capitals. Foreign secretary dominic raab has gone to canada instead. Precisely. Thats significant. Thats why i think this theatre, because remember negotiations are always a theatre, and there is an art. There is theatre and a tango being played by both sides, i think, and the reason for that is that both sides have some time to spend on other things. For london, for example, perhaps that might be some political calculations on the part of the new Prime Minister in terms of what he wants to do in terms of a general election, solidifying his base and energising his party and support and thatis energising his party and support and that is not insignificant. The europeans in the meantime watching that. Do they want to become a tool in borisjohnsons political play at home . Maybe in borisjohnsons political play at home . Maybe not. In borisjohnsons political play at home . Maybe not. Maybe they are standing back to watch him play his own game at home. And we have just been talking about the chinese and us stand off and how it has rocked markets around the world. The germans weighing in today to say to tone down the rhetoric. They might wa nt to tone down the rhetoric. They might want to tone down the rhetoric between the uk and eu as well and when we get to the g7 at the end of august they might take stock and see where they are. They love using that phrase, lets take stock. The reality is, these people are in contact through one way or another, through public pronouncement, and phone calls and exchanges of information. I think stock taking is all fine and good, but there will come a time when they need to actually come together and work out some form of agreement. Or both sides may decide that a no deal brexit is more to their interest. Thats not to be ignored as a scenario either. For borisjohnson, the british side has made the case for why it might end up in a no deal brexit, but i think in brussels too there will be people considering what to say no deal brexit look like politically for them, and is it really such a terrible, terrible outcome . Thank you forjoining us. Interesting to see if brussels changes its mind on what a no deal brexit might actually mean for the European Union, and how bad it might be. But its notjust the eu the johnson government is gearing up for a showdown against. Back in the uk, the governments command of parliament is now hanging on by a thread. Before last thursdays by election the governments working majority was already slim. But now that the lib dems have won the seat back from the conservatives its been reduced to just one. Thats near impossible parliamentary arithmetic for any government. Not least for one thats promised to deliver brexit in just 86 days time. Lets speak now to sebastian payne, whitehall correspondent at the Financial Times who joins us from westminster. As we have shown, the odds are stacked against the government if it comes to a no confidence vote, which you would expect some time after the recess. The big question is, what happens then . If we have a no confidence vote, and all the signs are, as you said, that it would come soon after parliament returns on september three, there is only a week and a half window before mps disappear for their party conferences. The labour opposition will have to move quite quickly to get that vote out. But once they have the confidence vote, and if they lose it, and the numbers are quite tight, and it is touch and go whether the government could win that, but if it doesnt then we have a two week cooling off period and in that two week period an alternative government might emerge. Jeremy corbyn would try to form some kind of government, striking deals with the scottish nationalists or lib dems to try to stop brexit, but i cant see that going anywhere. Then there is a lot of talk in westminster among pro remain mps there is a lot of talk in westminster among pro remain mp5 of forming a caretaker government, a letter writing government, as some are calling it. The purpose of that would be to say to the eu, lets extend brexit and have a general election. But i think all of these schemes are quite far fetched because you would have to get every single opposition mp on board to form this letter writing government, and even then im not sure it could do what is necessary to request an extension to article 50. After that, its off to a general election. If you were in the business of gambling and you had to handicap the chances ofa and you had to handicap the chances of a general election, how would you put them and when would you put it happening . I would say a general election by the end of this year is pretty much inevitable. When you have a working majority of one you cant do anything, never mind something as complicated as brexit. Think of passing a budget or all the domestic policies Boris Johnson wants to do. The fact the election is coming sooner rather than later, numberten is coming sooner rather than later, number ten knows this and they are ramping up preparations, as our conservative hq and the labour party. It seems almost inevitable at this point. When it happens, i think its most likely to try and happen after october 31 because the timing ofan after october 31 because the timing of an election is really in the hands of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister gets to decide when polling day happens. Boris will want to push that as far after brexit as possible because if he has an election before october 31 and the conservatives could be in real trouble from Nigel Farages brexit party. Even if they get eight or 10 of the vote, it means no conservative majority. Ithink of the vote, it means no conservative majority. I think an election at some point in november seems pretty likely. All of which is being closely watched in brussels as well. Thank you forjoining us. President trump will travel to el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio on wednesday visiting the two sites of Mass Shootings over the weekend. But hes not getting much of a welcome. Officials in both towns have suggested they dont particularly want him to come. Perhaps one of the strongest critics is beto orourke the democratic president ial candidate is from el paso. He tweeted. This president , who helped create the hatred that made saturdays tragedy possible, should not come to el paso. We do not need more division. We need to heal. He has no place here. In el paso, the stories of the survivors experiences are emerging here are our north america correspondent Gary Odonoghue joins us from el paso. Plenty of stories from survivors and rescuers. When the president arrives tomorrow, what will the mood be . think it will be pretty mixed. You mentioned beto orourke, and his successor Veronica Escobar has said the same thing, that she doesnt think the president should come. Other lawmakers have said that as well. But the president s spokeswoman has said he is the president of all the people and wants to listen, to reach out and offer condolences. I think there will be a mixture. You mention some of the stories that have emerged. One that struck me particularly is one of the families of those who died has already come out to say they forgive the shooter for what he did. And here we are on tuesday, barely three days after the incident, and one of the families saying they forgive him for what he did. Quite an extraordinary act of bighearted generosity from a family that must still be hurting very much at this time. But there are some darker sides here as well, im afraid to say. The fbi have just warned the families here to be aware of some scams that are operating. People ringing up the families of those who have lost loved ones, offering Funeral Services and trying to take money off them. While this sort of thing can bring out the absolute best in people, it can also bring out the horrible worst at the same time. That is just bring out the horrible worst at the same time. That isjust awful, to hear some of those scam stories. We are hearing stories of cousins, sons, fathers and mothers, all of whom died in the walmart shooting. Yesterday we were strolling through some of the names and you cant help but notice how many names of people who died are hispanic. How is the Hispanic Community feeling today . Do they feel under threat, are they rallying together . How are they responding, to have one community so clearly targeted . Responding, to have one community so clearly targeted . Its 8096 responding, to have one community so clearly targeted . Its 80 latino responding, to have one community so clearly targeted . Its 8096 latino in this county. You will remember yesterday that the Mexican Government regards this as a terrorist attack on mexican citizens abroad. Thats how it is seen. Thats what people find chilling in this community. Its almost the distinction between a hate crime and an act of mystic terrorism. A hate crime is directed at someone for a specific reason, and that reason could be they are black, hispanic, homosexual. But this is someone who wanted to scare a community witless, notjust here in el paso but around the country and everywhere. Thats when i think you get into the territory of domestic terrorism, and thats what the federal authorities are looking into and bringing charges in that area too. Gary odonoghue in el paso, thank you. And on that point of domestic terrorism, and what it means legally. I spoke with joshua geltzer, who served as the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security council. We have been hearing a lot about the phrase domestic terrorism. Is there more thanjust phrase domestic terrorism. Is there more than just a semantic difference between domestic and International Terrorism from a Law Enforcement point of view . From a Law Enforcement perspective there are two different categories but that phrase itself isnt helpful in categorising those categories. When americans talk about domestic terrorism, they mean terrorism not linked to International Groups like alqaeda and isis. Instead its terrorism driven by domestic agendas, or an individual is not connected to international terrorists. That matters for Law Enforcement because it changes whether the groups have been designated under a state enforcement rule. If you are a Law Enforcement official and you are trying to track domestic or combat domestic terrorism, is the stuff you can and cant do compared to tackling International Terrorism . Varies. International terrorism has at the co re International Terrorism has at the core proponent of the counterterrorism approach, the fto regime. If you have a group on that list you could cut off funds and support. You could investigate based on the right level of suspicion. If somebody is providing a level of support for stop that regime doesnt exist in the domestic context so you need other more specific legal concerns, concerns that someone is on the road to breaking the law in order to investigate. In a sense if you are trying to tackle white supremacy, for example, or a white supremacist terrorist, your hands are tied. You do not have the same full set of resources and authorities available to you. Thats not to say theres nothing to be done, and even at federal level there was a lot of effort, especially after 1995 and the awful Oklahoma City bombing in the United States, a dramatic act of domestic terrorism, to use the phrase, there we re terrorism, to use the phrase, there were a lot of resources put in by the feds to try to use the authorities they did have and still do have to get these groups and individuals who are going down the road towards criminal activity. State and local authorities have their own ability to act under their laws to try to identify criminal activity but its not the same as International Terrorism. We are seeing an uptick in white supremacist violence in this country. Do you think Law Enforcement agents will start to push for an expansion of their mandate . We have actually seen that today in a sense. Fbi Agents Association today indicated publicly their support for a number of things we have been advocating for a number of months, namely to take the existing federal law definition of terrorism and attach criminal penalties to it. It wouldnt exactly recreate the International Regime at domestic level, there are legal complications involved in trying to do so, but it would give new authorities to the feds to bring charges for an act of what we are all calling domestic terrorism. Thank you for explaining. After the jo cox murder, after thejo cox murder, mis took over the portfolio of tackling right wing extremism here, so it now sits in the same portfolio as islamist terrorism, and irish terrorism, they took it away from the police and they might do the same thing in the United States stop what they are calling for it, we will see if they do it. We were talking about gun sales going up after Mass Shootings will stop there is another commercial opportunity for Mass Shootings in schools. know where this is going, its bizarre. Bulletproof backpacks. The back to School Purchase that some pa rents a re back to School Purchase that some parents are making. They are quite expensive, 250 each. You can get some for 100. They are all by defence contracting firms. But there is actually no guarantee that any of these backpacks could protect you againstan these backpacks could protect you against an assault weapon being fired ina against an assault weapon being fired in a school. You have parents buying these, but do they actually help . What it suggests is an enormous level of fear about sending kids to school. It is one of those stop the world, i want to get off moments, kids with bullet proof backpacks. This is beyond 100 days from the bbc. Coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news its notjust the stock markets shuddering at the prospect of a us china trade war. Well be hearing from a soy farmer directly impacted by tariffs. We are looking at some very disturbed weather by the end of the week. Today has been a mixture of sunny spells and heavy showers with warm sunshine for some, but others have had frequent showers, bringing torrential rain, merging to bring longer spells of rain and also thunder and lightning, tied into this slow moving area of low pressure thats going nowhere fast. It will maintain a few showers across scotland this evening and overnight. They will start to lose some of their intensity. Still a scattering of showers across Northern Ireland, Northern England and some creeping down into wales and some creeping down into wales and the midlands, looking driest of the southern skies. Not a cold night, temperatures between 11 and 14 night, temperatures between 11 and 11; celsius for most. Tomorrow is a day of sunshine and showers. Fewer showers across england and wales compared to tuesday. Still on the sharper side where we get them. Scattering of showers still for Northern Ireland and the main concentration of heavy showers are still across scotland, merging to give longer spells of rain and still a risk of thunder and lightning here. Although its a breezy day we will lose those stronger gusts we saw across southern will lose those stronger gusts we saw across southern and welsh coasts. With more sunshine between the showers across england and wales, a pleasantly warm 21 24dc. Mid to high teens across scotland and Northern Ireland particularly where we see frequent showers. Showers keep on going through scotla nd showers keep on going through scotland through the evening and they will fade elsewhere. Its setting us up for a much drier day on thursday for stop a quieter day because we are in between low pressure systems, keeping a close eye on this low pressure area in the atla ntic eye on this low pressure area in the atlantic thats heading our way through friday and saturday. For many on thursday it is mainly dry with warm spells of sunshine. Showers across northern scotland, still quite windy. A couple of showers clipping the eastern coast but many staying dry and temperatures between 19 and 24. Cloud and rain starting to gather in the south west. All tied into this area of low pressure, unusually deep for august, pushing its way across the uk on friday bringing heavy rain for a time. The wind strengthening behind it, a squeeze in the isobars. Heavy rain for much of the uk on friday and the potential for gales across england and wales on saturday. This is beyond 100 days with me, katty kay, in washington. Christian fraser is in london. Our top stories. Global stock markets react nervously to the ongoing trade tensions between United States and china. President trump dismisses concerns claiming america is in a strong position. The British Government rejects claims it is unwilling to negotiate with the European Union and claims its in fact the eu, that doesnt want to play ball. Coming up in the next half hour. The family of one of the victims of saturdays shooting in el paso tells the bbc they dont believe it was a racist attack. Kashmir remains in lock down as pakistan warns it will go to any extent to protect people in the territory. And the one who got away. Wayne rooney leaves Football Team dc United Trading the sunny pitches of the us for derby county. Barack obama has been very careful not to publicly criticise Donald Trump Holding back even when democrats urged him to speak out. Last night he weighed in on the Mass Shootings in El Paso Texas and dayton ohio and while he didnt name mr trump, it was pretty clear who he was talking about. We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments. The family of one of the victims of saturdays shooting in el paso have told the bbc they dont believe it was a racist attack. Andre anchondo, a mexican american, was one of the 22 victims of the shooting at a Shopping Centre he died while trying to save his wife and baby son. But his family say they dont agree that President Trumps anti immigration language has fuelled violence. Sophie long has been speaking to them. Is that your first grandchild . The same face. We think he will have blue eyes. Gilbert anchondo shows me a picture of him holding his grandson for the first time. That was just two months ago. Now the baby in his arms is an orphan. His son, andre, and his wife, jordan, were both shot dead in the mall. I had the feeling as a father, something was telling me he was no longer with those. When i had confirmation, that officially he was pronounced dead, it was devastating. I felt robbed of part of me. They had been shopping at walmart for their House Warming Party that night. It was also their first anniversary, and their daughters sixth birthday. They had so much to celebrate. But now this family home stands empty. He saw what was happening. The guy must have pointed the gun atjordan, and he lunged at the guy. I heard that he got his hands on the gun, but that he got shot. I dont know if he died instantly or not. My brother died trying to be a hero, and trying to protect his wife. Unfortunately, he didnt save her life, but they were able to save the little ba bys life. This family has now lost three people to gun crime. Gilbert tells me andres grandfather was shot dead by an armed robber. And yet he says he can forgive, and that reports his son was killed in a targeted, racist attack make no difference to his familys pain. In my opinion, there is no connection of what happened here with us being mexicans, or trump. He just wants to remember his son and all that he achieved. Now he is no longer with us, but he is in a better place. Sophie long, bbc news, el paso. Im joined now by our north america editor, jon sopel. And if youre heading down to el paso. What can President Trump say down there that will help Hispanic Community that was deliberately targeted by this shooter or at least thatis targeted by this shooter or at least that is how the fbi are treating this . I think he needs to do Something Different from what he said yesterday morning which added to the sense of insensitivity when he said republicans and democrats must get together and we need desperately needed Immigration Reform. Guns and Immigration Reform area reform. Guns and Immigration Reform are a problem but by coupling them that could be used by some to say maybe, if only we could sort. The maybe, if only we could sort out the immigration problem we would not have white nationalists opening fire on people of hispanic backgrounds. I think people in the community were upset by that but donald trump will go down and we are told he will try to go toa go down and we are told he will try to go to a number of locations and lay a wreath in memory of those people who died. The words that the president spoke yesterday the white house i thought went further than we have heard and go before and i suspect that he will try to do more of that when he meets the community and meets the First Responders and the doctors treating some of those who are injured. But then today he tweeted, almost comparing league ta bles tweeted, almost comparing League Tables on who had the worst number of Mass Shootings during their presidency. Ron christie said today im rarely at a loss for words but this is one of them, the president is there to inspire, to convert and to lead in times like these and this is none of the above. That refers to what barack is none of the above. That refers to what ba rack obama is none of the above. That refers to what barack obama had said what you really did not need to be a genius to figure out who the former president was talking about in it. I think one of the striking things about donald trump generally is the sense in which i have felt his presidency has certainly in the first year it was a man going around with a screwdriver and any black that had barack obama written on it he wanted to take it down. He wants to have the maximum separation between himself and barack obama and i would imagine that he saw the coded or not so coded attack on him and he was furious. And we know that when the president gets furious he reacts and he does not turn the other cheek. And he is not going to. Thank you very much. It is difficult to get any news out of indian administered kashmir at the moment. The internet has been shut down, the phone lines are down, and politicians are under house arrest. The Indian Government has just revoked the special status the state had held for decades, which gave significant autonomy to the muslim majority. The provision known as article 370 allows the state its own constitution, a separate flag and independence over all matters except foreign affairs, defence and communications. But the biggest advantage for permanent residents is that only they have the right to own and, therefore, buy, property in the state. Since indian administered kashmir part of the disputed Mountain Region on the Pakistani Border is the only muslim majority state in india, many kashmiris suspect this is the first step in encouraging hindus to migrate there. Joining us now to discuss this is political commentator ashis ray and alyssa ayres a senior fellow for india, pakistan, and south asia at the council on Foreign Relations in washington. Why are they doing this now . Difficult to say, there could be any of three reasons and these have been sighted in the indian media in the past couple of days. One being that a few days ago President Donald Trump said in a press conference where the Prime Minister of pakistan was present that the indian Prime Minister had suggested that trump should mediate between india and pakistan on the issue of kashmir. This really raised hackles in india, the president cannot deny it because he does not want to get into a spat with donald trump and so that could be one reaction to that, donald trump putting him on the mat is that where for the second reason is that there are state elections coming up soon there are state elections coming up soon and this would give him brownie points with the hindu vote and therefore he might do better than expected. And last but not least the Indian Economy seems to be sagging at the moment and so possibly he wa nts to at the moment and so possibly he wants to divert attention from his travels on the economic front and therefore this action rather swiftly and suddenly. So maybe theres other short term triggers behind this particular move but the Bigger Picture is that Narendra Modi feels that the spring elections gave him a mandate to do this and he has moved swiftly to satisfy his nationalist voters . Swiftly to satisfy his nationalist voters . I think that is absolutely right. There is no secret of the desire to abrogate this article 370. This has been a long standing part of the political platform so it was not a surprise in the sense of it came out of nowhere, it was a surprise in the sense of the precise timing. And the Indian Government should this legislative process through very quickly after putting more troops into the region presumably to prevent rioting or crowd control issues getting out of control. Again the actual issue has beena control. Again the actual issue has been a long standing part of their political platform. The reason i say this is necessary is because historically from all the way back to the 1950s this provision they say it has created this mindset of separatism within indian kashmir. The area is separated into three separate villages parts of kashmir which they say they want to bring together. They are saying that this will create a greater opportunity for Economic Development and will allow for more investment to come into the state. I would also like to note that there are two additional parts of the state which are now administered by pakistan, sometimes thatis administered by pakistan, sometimes that is forgotten about. So it is a much larger region actually than we are talking about but the parts that india has been administering out those ones that you referred to. there any question about the legality of the move . There are three points to what happened yesterday. Article 378 was done away with with a president ial order and one would have expected if at all it needed to be removed for it to go through parliament and for two thirds of mps to vote in favour in both houses of parliament and indeed the assembly in the state of kashmir to be consulted and their approval obtained before it such a step was taken but obtained before it such a step was ta ken but it obtained before it such a step was taken but it was just a president ial order and i dare say it could be challenged in court. The second aspect was of course the bifurcations of the state so instead of the state of jaman kashmir you have them together and another separated. And the third is contentious where the status of the area which had full statehood under the indian union has been downgraded and therefore effectively what has happened is both regions have been converted into what is called human territories and what that means is they are now effectively going to be mainly administered by the central government. So this seems to be mostly a domestic move on the part of the renter modi but we should talk about pakistan, what do you expect in terms of reaction from pakistan . We had reaction earlier today from pakistan Prime Minister imran khan made a statement, quite a lengthy statement to be precise where he talked about this as a challenge and that pakistan would be focused on this but more concerning the he talked about the fact that he predicted more such terror attacks such as had taken place earlier in the year. Referring to the terrorist attack back in february. So i worry about that, was that a threat, did he say this purely analytically, this type of statement coming from the head of government i think is quite concerning. Thank you very much forjoining us. This is beyond one hundred days. Still to come. We look back at the life of novelist Toni Morrison, the first black woman to wina Toni Morrison, the first black woman to win a nobel prize for literature six days after they were rushed from their homes in whaley bridge, dozens of residents have been told they can finally go home. 1500 people were told to leave last thursday when the dam at toddbrook reservoir was badly damaged after torrential rain. The reservoirs levels have now dropped far enough for experts to make the structure stable. Some delighted residents this evening been told they can return home now. Theyve been out of their homes for six days and the Emergency Services are giving them specific routes to take. We also hear a decision could be taken at midday tomorrow after a meeting with the Environment Agency on whether the rest of the 1500 residents who have been evacuated can also return to their homes. They have to make sure and be 100 certain that the area is safe and that is why further meetings are still have to take place. Theyre able to say this now because of all the hard work that has been happening here at the reservoir. 23 months working around the clock, emergency teams from the royal air force. But chinook helicopter has been dropping tonnes of aggregate onto the damaged part of aggregate onto the damaged part of the will and we have fire crews from ten regions across the country here and private contractors all making sure that the water level is low enough for engineers to get to the dam wall and make that assessment on both sides of the war. To give you an idea of the scale of this, the amount of people involved, we re this, the amount of people involved, were told and involves more than a thousand workers and we are also hearing the water level is 9. 5, almost 9. 5 metres below the normal amount. See get a sense of how fast the people here on the ground have been working. From beloved to the bluest eye Toni Morrisons works were read by millions around the world and today fans and colleagues are mourning her death at the age of 88. The author was the first African American woman to win the nobel prize for literature, just one of many honours she received for her work. David sillito looks back on an extraordinary life. I dont mean that there were no narratives that slave women told. And there was no information about it. I mean, it wasnt the narrative in literature. My effort in beloved to do that, to talk about a woman who had to make some choices. Toni morrison and beloved, a story of slavery and grief, the sort of book that Toni Morrison wanted to read, but had to write herself. 30 years on, its success is more about than just sales or being part of the school syllabus, it is what it has done to tell the untold. She had the ability and the genius to create a world that had not existed before. Not only that, a quintessentially american world. She is an american writer, she is an African American writer. There is my house. Toni morrison had grown up in lorain, ohio and made it to cornell university. Her grandparents had been sharecroppers in the deep south. You could go to jail or be fined if you were white and taught a black person. That says it all about reading. So my family, we took it very seriously, it was like a revolutionary act. She began writing in the 60s. Herfirst novel, the bluest eye, was a story of childhood, black childhood in a white world. Each night without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year, she prayed. 23 years later, she was awarded the nobel prize for literature. Just one of a mantelpiece full of awards. There was, she said, a vacuum in literature. Summed up by that little girl in the bluest eye. It took five years to write that very small book. To Pay Attention, Pay Attention to this child. Maybe she is in difficulty. Shes obviously hurt. She is abused and misused. But take her seriously. Please. Toni morrison who died at the age of 88 and her family said she was a consummate writer who treasured the written word and was most at home when writing. Her passing represents a tremendous loss, the wrote today, but we are grateful she had a long and well lived life. Interesting when were talking about language and if words matter in the political sphere that you have a woman who recognised the power of language. I looked back at her speech when she accepted the nobel prize for literature in 1993 and she wrote this on her words could be misused, she said it is common amongst the infantile heads of state whose evacuated language leaves them with no a ccess evacuated language leaves them with no access to what is left of their human instincts for them to speak only to those who obey or in order to force obedience. Quite prophetic. In light of what happened this week. While the United States is raising tariffs on china the chinese governement has told its state owned enterprises to stop buying us Agricultural Products. This move hits us farmers. Heres soy bean exports to china for the first half of the year 2017 to 2019 as you can see the numbers dropping dramatically. Its enough for the American Farm Bureau Federation to issue this statement chinas announcement that it will not buy any Agricultural Products from the United States is a body blow to thousands of farmers and ranchers who are already struggling to get by. Us farmerjohn boyd jr says he is feeling the pain. Since last harvest President Trump announced his tariffs against china. Soybeans were around 11 a bushel. The price immediately plummeted to around 8 a bushel. This is the first year im actually farming without a farm operating loan. These are beautiful, these are beautiful. This is how you walk through soybeans. A farmer never steps on his crop. He passes right through, steps over, and he doesnt harm his client. Because when you harm your plant, you are harming your money. The banks are basically saying that they cannot extend credit based on the 8 a bushel for soybeans. We are paying for seeds and lime and fertiliser as we can. The administration has attempted to ease their pain with a 12 billion aid programme. We will ensure that our farmers get the relief they need and very, very quickly. Its a good time to be a farmer. Weve got to make sure of that. Farmers are going to get these payments, theyll get them in a few days, every day they say its going to be all right. Its not true. This administration has treated the farmers badly, just step on the mend kick them around and treat them bad. Ive got 6,000 and itjust doesnt bring you to the break even point. I dont want to stand in my local county office and fill out some paperwork. I would much rather have a good market price from a commodity. And we get the other side of that farming debate tomorrow. We are two days from the football transfer deadline, business is hotting up, but perhaps today we have had the most sensational signing of the summer. Wayne rooney is no longer one of kattys neighbours. He has left his club in washington, dc united, to take up a player coach role at derby county, where his former england team mate Frank Lampard began his managerial career last season. He has only been here for little over a year. But quite a hit in the mls almost single handedly dragging dc united into the playoffs last season. When he joined they were languishing near the foot of the eastern conference with just two wins in 14 matches. Earlier today derby county held a press Conference Following the announcement. I had a decision to make. And the opportunity to come back to england and play, but also to take up a coaching role with the club, and work under philip, was too great for me to turn down. So im delighted to be back here. Lets speak to the football commentator rob palmer. He played in goalfor derby county as a teenager and then went over to conneticut to play his football in the United States. This is devastating for katty kay can he even managed to get her to a game at dc united and now he has gone well he was putting his house on the market earlier. He is going to see the season out first however. He will honour some of his contracts. He spills at home in cheshire and he will see out built on yea rs cheshire and he will see out built on years of his career in the championship and who knows maybe in the premiership next year. He is leaving his contract early but i think that he has been a big success here and has done well for dc united and they really appreciated his leadership in the team. From the footballing side of things the team we re footballing side of things the team were bottom of the eastern conference and woeful at the start of last season. When we came over and has an immediate impact, he started scoring goals, they made him captain after three or four games with the permission of the existing captain. He ended up this season in the mls all stars and almost has been reborn. He played at a pace that suited him and we have seen those goals but he has been scoring. He has almost been reborn so for football he has sold out stadiums and he has been a big sign up for them. 100 grand a week in the autumn of his career, not bad them. 100 grand a week in the autumn of his career, not bad i think what has passed for me and the leaves are falling i would has passed for me and the leaves are falling iwould happily has passed for me and the leaves are falling i would happily do a swap one senior players in derby said he would happily take his remaining time on the contract when he comes to derbyshire if you have ever seen rubbish at the side of the road illegally dumped then you will like this story. This happened in spain. This was posted on social media and he was hit by a steep fine and also he was hit by a steep fine and also he and his accomplice were forced them to go down the slope and carry them to go down the slope and carry the fridge back up before disposing of it properly i should think so that is what you call an example of cold justice steep fine and steep on the way back up as well we will see you back here tomorrow. We are looking at some very disturbed weather by the end of the week. Today has been a mixture of sunny spells and heavy showers with warm sunshine for some, but others have had frequent showers, bringing torrential rain, merging to bring longer spells of rain and also thunder and lightning, tied into this slow moving area of low pressure thats going nowhere fast. It will maintain a few showers across scotland this evening and overnight. They will start to lose some of their intensity. Still a scattering of showers across Northern Ireland, Northern England and some creeping down into wales and the midlands, looking driest of the southern skies. Not a cold night, temperatures between 11 and 14 celsius for most. Tomorrow is a day of sunshine and showers. Fewer showers across england and wales compared to tuesday. Still on the sharper side where we get them. Scattering of showers still for Northern Ireland and the main concentration of heavy showers are still across scotland, merging to give longer spells of rain and still a risk of thunder and lightning here. Although its a breezy day we will lose those stronger gusts we saw across southern and welsh coasts. With more sunshine between the showers across england and wales, a pleasantly warm 21 24dc. Mid to high teens across scotland and Northern Ireland particularly where we see frequent showers. Showers keep on going through scotland through the evening and they will fade elsewhere. Its setting us up for a much drier day on thursday a quieter day because we are in between low pressure systems, keeping a close eye on this low pressure area in the atlantic thats heading our way through friday and saturday. For many on thursday it is mainly dry with warm spells of sunshine. Showers across northern scotland, still quite windy. A couple of showers clipping the eastern coast but many staying dry and temperatures between 19 and 24. Cloud and rain starting to gather in the south west. All tied into this area of low pressure, unusually deep for august, pushing its way across the uk on friday bringing heavy rain for a time. The wind strengthening behind it, a squeeze in the isobars. Heavy rain for much of the uk on friday and the potential for gales across england and wales on saturday. This is bbc news im ben brown. The headlines at eight. Borisjohnson welcomes his first eu leader to downing street as ministers accuse brussels of refusing to engage in fresh talks on brexit. The old deal that was negotiated has failed to pass the house of commons three times now so we do need a new approach. And whatever happens we remain ready and willing to negotiate, the eu must appreciate we are leaving on october 31, deal or no deal. Chelsea Football Club apologises unreservedly after their chief scout for a decade, eddie heath, is revealed as a dangerous and prolific paedophile. Everyone wanted to play football at a young age as they do now no one asked for this to happen our dreams, our lives, our livelihoods has