30/03/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Tim Willcox.

The headlines - making the treacherous journey

We have an exclusive report on the African migrants

who are making a desperate journey in search of a better life.

The chance to succeed as 20% and the chance to be killed is a deeper

sent. -- 80%. President Hollande drops plans

to strip French nationality from people convicted

of terrorism offences. And Myanmar swears

in a new president - the country's first civilian leader

in more than half a century. Hello and welcome

to World News Today. We begin with an exclusive report

on Europe's migrant crisis. The Italian coastguard says it has

rescued 1,400 people from the water Many more have drowned in the last

two years trying to cross from Libya, and its a perilous

journey of up to 6 days across the Sahara, in extreme

temperatures just to get there. The jumping-off point

for the desert trek is Agadez, in Niger - which it's thought

100,000 people passed Our West Africa correspondent

Thomas Fessy sent this report. This is where the long road through

the Sahara begins, in the desert of Niger. They have come from all over

the West and Central Africa with one goal, a better life in Europe. And

so off they go tonight, adrift in an ocean of stand, clinging to their

dreams. Some of them may not survive the extreme heat when the sun comes

up, others may be left behind by smugglers, but there will be no

rescue mission. A rear stop on this perilous journey. Most of the

migrants have left countries with few jobs and limited prospects. This

is the alternative. Young men but also teenage girls and children.

Some like Samuel have fled war. I have to take the risk, you know when

you want to achieve something you have to take risks, so that is why I

prefer to go to Europe. Willing to risk your life? It is God who has

been the last word. I must make it for my family. Migration is big

business in the Sahara, there will be officials and soldiers to brave

and militia today. For the smugglers, nothing is more

lucrative. We charge different prices depending on where they come

from but on average the ride to the border costs more than $200. We have

only been here for a couple of hours and have seen dozens of these

pick-up trucks, hundreds of migrants, and there will be hundreds

more tonight. Borders are being tightened in Europe but how do you

stop this? Just a few miles down the road more migrants are preparing to

set. The ancient trading Post, home to smugglers and traffickers for

centuries, a transit hub where migrants dreaming of a new life

crossed paths with those returning to their old lives. These migrants

have turned around defeated and destitute. They were starved or

during the journey or they are going home. They have failed. 28-year-old

James from Liberia wanted to study computing in Italy. He took great

risks to reach the coast. But the state of the boat used to cross the

Mediterranean terrified him. Very much afraid to get on the boat

because people tell you the boat is good, you go and within three hours,

they are all lies. The chance to succeed is 20%, the chance to be

killed is 80% and the chance to terrorise, 100%. Food each migrants

backtracking towards the home country, another pick-up truck

loaded with dozens more is already speeding through the desert. The

exodus continues. The United States military has

announced plans to station thousands of extra troops in eastern Europe,

in response to what it has labelled From early next year,

NATO forces in Eastern Europe The deployment is the most

significant US reinforcement of NATO since the tensions with Moscow

increased over the Ukraine crisis. A typical US armoured brigade has

four and a half thousand soldiers. The US European command says they'll

be conducting military exercises Is this a return to the cold war?

Three are amid a grades in Europe would have a hard job stopping

Russia if it was seriously intent in the rolling westwards. The crisis in

Ukraine sent a shock wave through needle especially those with a clear

memory of Soviet power. Ever since that crisis, the Americans and other

allies have been sending small numbers of official equipment to

Europe and mounting routine and almost permanent exercises, some

large but mostly small-scale in Poland and the Baltic republics.

There has been a need felt by the Americans to bolster the resident

combat power. There are currently two US army brigades in Europe, one

is your board and sold relatively light and the other is a so-called

strike brigade. What the Americans are now proposing is to put in from

2017 and armoured Brigade saw tanks and heavy infantry, 500 or so

personnel. That's brigade will stay in Europe for some nine months and

come over what it's still fit modern equipment and when it is finished it

will return to the native states and be replaced by another brigade with

its own equipment. Not only will more sets of American troops get

experience operating in Europe but the equipment will be significantly

modernised. And the Russian response? The Russians clearly not

happy. They have pointed with a little justification saying that

Nato and Russia agreed to not build more permanent bases. And of course

that is semi-suspended in the wake of the crisis. It insists they are

not permanent bases because the troops and the armoured brigade will

be rotated, so they are not absolutely permanent, like setting

up a base with the same trips they have for extended periods. A lot of

people might argue that as an academic distinction but the

Americans want to reassure their allies and send a clear message to

Moscow that they Nato alliance is in business and willing to defend its

interests. They also want to push other allies to do more than one of

the interesting things is that a number of Nato countries are

spending that little bit more on defence so it is not a new world

war. It is not a return to the cold war as was, but it is an attempt by

needle to show Russia it means serious business and we shouldn't

perhaps try to think about encroaching into the Baltic

republics. President Francois Hollande says

he's dropping plans to strip French nationality from people convicted

of terrorism offences. The change to the constitution

was proposed in the wake of November's attacks in Paris,

but the plan has caused deep divisions within Mr

Hollande's Socialist party. He says it's now being set aside

in the face of opposition For more on this let's speak

to our correspondent in Pairs, All that supports for President

Hollande in the immediate aftermath seems to have the Lindo Wing? It has

completely dissipated and back then he called the Houses of Parliament

together this and made a big speech, National unity was the watchword,

and part of his response, Security response, was this measure, to make

it possible for by National is, people with two nationalities, to

have their French nationalities stepped away from them if they were

convicted of terrorist attacks. It was broadly supported and in the

heat of the moment everyone was for it can be left forgot that this was

a measure that actually the far right has been calling for four

years. The left remembered that in the weeks that followed and as time

went by, more people on the left of the Socialist party and for the left

began to see this as against our basic principles and by doing this

you are creating two types of French citizens, French citizenship and

people with French and something else and they will be treated

differently and that is not free and it is against our idea of

universality of right, and as the weeks went by, and it is a sign of

President Hollande's diminishing responsibility, that the left got

more and more willing to take him on. The Justice Minister resigned,

so President Hollande wrote back and change the vet and the Wright said,

we don't like this either, so the whole thing in the end meant he had

alienating the left and the right sort has all come to an ignominious

close. Thank you. Now a look at some of

the day's other news. It's emerged that the jihadists

who attacked Brussels last week had photographs and building plans

of the office and residence of the Belgian Prime

Minister, Charles Michel. They were found on a computer

belonging to one of the suicide bombers who blew himself

up inside the airport. A Portuguese branch of the Anonymous

hacking collective says it's shut down around two dozen Angolan

government websites. It is currently impossible to access

many of the sites listed In a statement on Facebook,

the hackers said it was because of the jailing of 17 Angolan youth

activists who were found guilty Less than four months

after his appointment, Gary Neville has been sacked

as manager of Spannish football team The former England and Manchester

United captain had overseen a string of disappointing results that left

the team 14th in La Liga. An Egyptian man accused of hijacking

an Egypt Air plane yesterday has Seif Eldin Mustafa forced the plane

to divert hundreds of miles by wearing what later turned out

to be a fake suicide belt. All 56 passengers and crew

were eventually freed. Just a glimpse of the man accused

of this bizarre hijacking before The hearing was brief and he didn't

speak but as he was driven away, The suspect presented today before

the court and he will stay Today we learned a bit more

about the personal motivations of Seif al-Din Mustafa as he caused

a domestic Egyptian flight to be He says he was desperate

to see his estranged Cypriot wife Emotions ran high at Cairo airport

as passengers and crew of Flight MS181 were reunited

with their friends and family. Others didn't feel

threatened by the hijacker. And he told only nothing

will happen, so... The suicide belt was found to be

fake but that wasn't clear when this On the right is Ben Innis from Leeds

who is now famous, This guy was so cool,

he's a British guy. He asked him to take a picture

and he took the picture. There are enquiries into how

the alleged hijacker got through airport checks,

apparently with fake explosives Controls at Egypt's airports

were heavily criticised after last year's deadly bombing of a Russian

plane, but Egyptian officials say they handled the latest

incident correctly. Yesterday's hijacking ended

dramatically, ultimately, with no one harmed but it

has left concerns about The Syrian army's recent successes

will help accelerate a political settlement, according

to President Assad. He told Russian media

that the conflict has cost his country more

than $200 billion - But there has also

been a human cost. After five years of civil war,

some parts of Syria are in ruins, and the biggest city,

Aleppo, has seen widescale Our International Correspondent Ian

Pannell has been covering the story from the beginning and caught up

with a doctor he first met in 2012. You may find some of the images

disturbing in his report. On a cold winter night in 2012 we

crossed into Syria and this is what we saw. A popular uprising that

would eventually turn to war. It was a movement built on the call for

democracy and dignity, fuelled by decades of Fiat and brutal

repression. The Assad regime responded with an iron fist and

protest as were attacked and killed. The bloodshed had begun. We

witnessed those who called for changes take up arms. Weapons were

smuggled in as a new rebel force emerged.

By the summer of 2012 the revolution had become a civil war. We saw

street battles rage as the death toll rose. Under fire and under

pressure, the regime unleashed ever greater firepower.

Civilians in Syria have pleaded for foreign help for five years but

instead they got foreign meddling. There are countless villains in this

war. Terrible crimes against humanity. But there have also been

many heroes, those who have risked everything to help others. Above

all, the medics of Syria. We met this doctor in a front line hospital

in Aleppo, a young trauma surgeon who had been held and tortured by

the regime for doing his job but they didn't stop working round the

clock to help the growing influx of casualties. The hospital also became

home to his family. They played here but also witnessed the full horrors

of this war. This is where their childhood came to an end. For years

on. No safe, living in Germany, but far from well. The sounds and

screams of Aleppo haunt them all. The children talk of severed limbs

and death. Doesn't he was all you just surviving here rather than

leading? -- leading? The most important for me now, the

children. The children must learn, must be educated and must live far

from bombing, from fear. They need to live normal lives. But this isn't

normal. Like many refugees, he may be here but his heart isn't. This is

what is left of his home today. Aleppo five years after the

revolution began. Syria's largest city, whole districts abandoned.

Perhaps this ceasefire will hold but now one will forget what happened

here and many won't forget. -- forgive.

The BBC has obtained a draft bill that suggests that a special

position is, being created in the new Burmese government

for former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The bill would create the position of "Advisor to the State"

with a broad mandate similar to a Prime Minister.

The revelation comes as Myanmar's first civilian leader in more

than half a century has been sworn in.

Those waiting for change in Myanmar have had to be patient.

Five months after a historic election, and after decades

of military rule, this was the day that the Burmese army

For Aung San Suu Kyi, this is the culmination of a long

journey from house arrests and detention

she's about to be the leader of Myanmar's first civilian

The Constitution bars her from taking that job

because her sons are British, not Burmese.

So she shows a close friend, Htin Kyaw.

And watched on as he was sworn in as the country's first elected

civilian president in more than 50 years.

A short while later it was the turn of the ministers, including Miss Suu

She will control the energy, education and foreign affairs

portfolios as well as having a seat in the President's office.

Much now rests on whether she can work with an army that still wields

We are very happy, this is an auspicious day,

Someone who has been chosen by the people has been sworn in,

The end of 50 years of military rule.

It is going to be a challenging time ahead but it is remarkable we've got

Most people two or three years ago would not have imagined

At the outgoing President's house there was a ceremonial handover.

Myanmar is not yet a democracy and faces many serious challenges.

But when Thein Sein first took office five years ago,

Jonah Fisher, BBC News, in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

50 years ago, visitors to Longleat House in the west

of England were invited to drive their own cars among

In that moment the Safari Park was born.

Since then millions have come face to face with lions,

tigers and rhinos, John Maguire reports.

We are about to go and feed the lions and tigers but luckily this is

lying proof! Isn't it? Suddenly I feel like Daniel about to enter the

lions den but first it is Tiger sign. Twice a week we feed them and

they chased us. The chase is important because it is replicating

chasing the prey. Who ordered the romp? Fell at stake? When they first

come running up to the back of the vehicle they let the lips and fix

you with huge unblinking eyes. You wonder whether that is that meet or

this week they are more interested in. A fantastic site.

This all started when the aristocrat met the man from the big top.

Lord Bath had Longleat and Jimmy Chipperfield

What followed was the creation of the world's first safari park.

Next we are heading across the lake to meet one of the park's oldest and

most distinguished residents who enjoys watching television. It was

something people brought over for him when he had to do a quarantine

period and he had to stay in the house for six months. We had heard

some people had used it with chimpanzees and pacified them so we

tried it and it worked really well and never took it away! And his

favourite programme, wildlife documentaries. Among the history and

the splendour of the house, I meet validate whose husband was a local

vet back in 1966. He had never looked after an exotic and knew

virtually nothing but that was how he dealt with it because the inside

of a lion is only a larger version of a cat. Two of Longleat's longest

serving staff Shearer 70 years of experience and remember simpler

times. We are still working on fencing now. It is like the Forth

Road Bridge, it never stops. And that is how it was first place. The

lions were originally in an old railway shed but now they have

proper indoor shed. It is amazing, with technology, we need to use

things now. We used to have meters to read the ultraviolet and laser

thermometers that can do how warm the soil is and how these guys did

back then I have no idea but that is how it has progressed.

The original vision for Longleat was to bring Africa to England.

And for the vision past 50 years, this corner of Wiltshire

The most expensive pair of trainers have been been unveiled in New York.

Designed by luxury brand Bicion and Mache Customs,

they have gone on sale to raise money for charity Soles4Souls.

The shoes features several hundred carats of tailor made white diamond

pieces and blue sapphires set in gold.

They even come with a solid gold price tag.

just in case your children ask for a period of those, you can get in

touch with me and plenty more on the website. Goodbye.

Good evening. Not much change to the weather for tomorrow but today we

had quite a few showers and tomorrow one or two once again but it will