19/07/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with Geeta Guru Murthy.

The International Olympic Committee is taking legal advice

on whether it can ban the entire Russia team from the Rio Games.

Will the Russian flag be flying at the Games after a damning report

into widespread state-sponsored doping by Moscow?

Sounds familiar - claims that Donald Trump's wife

Melania lifted passages from Michelle Obama's

To know that your achievements with the Hyatt of your dreams and your

willingness to work hard from them. Also coming up, the German

train axe attack - the so-called Islamic State group

releases a video showing the teenager who carried out an axe

attack aboard a train in Germany. American actress and Ghostbusters

star Leslie Jones leaves Twitter after being flooded with racist

abuse. With just three weeks to go

until the Olympics in Rio, the International Olympic Committee

is seeking urgent legal advice on the possibility of banning

all Russian athletes from the games. It follows an independent report

detailing a comprehensive state-run doping programme at the Winter

olympics in Russia back in 2014. The IOC has ruled that all Russian

athletes who competed in Sochi must now have their samples

re-tested for doping. Russia's track and field athletes

are already barred Our Moscow correspondent

Steve Rosenberg has more. With little more than two

weeks to go until Rio, we still don't know if there will be

a Russian team at the Olympic Games. The world anti-doping agency says

Russia should be kept away for systematically cheating

in world sport through Today, the International

Olympic Committee met The IOC says it will now explore

legal options for a possible ban Not everyone outside

Russia supports the idea. I think what primarily has to happen

is we ought to look at those individual athletes who have been

caught, ban those athletes, redistribute the medals,

reorganise the medals table, but an outright ban of Russia,

I don't think is the most Here in Russia, people we spoke

to suspect foul play by the West. TRANSLATION: This is

a plot by the Americans. There are no facts in

the report, Tatiana says. Just trying to put pressure

on Russia. They are on their marks

and all set for Rio. But will any of these Russian

swimmers be allowed This event outside Moscow

was supposed to be a final run But right now, Rio was feeling

a long way off. We train hard and put in the effort

that the decision on whether we go to the Olympics

does not depend on us. It is interesting that

all around the swimming pool It is interesting that all around

the swimming pool are these This one says only you bear

responsibility for doping getting into your body and here it says

don't drink from unchecked sources, don't accept a glass of water,

even from one of your team members, and down at the bottom,

don't listen to all the advice, The decision to ban the entire

Russian Olympic team would be a personal blow to President Putin

who likes to be seen as the most sports-friendly leader

Russia has ever had. The Kremlin leader has brought major

international sporting events to Russia and achieving sporting

success has been a priority. Russia has been called a cheat

and risks being excluded from the biggest sporting

event in the world. It should all have been about him -

but it was Donald Trump's wife who took centre stage on the first

day of the Republican Mr Trump says he's "very proud"

of the speech given by his wife Melania,

despite claims the aspiring First Lady plagiarised whole

passages from one by Michelle Obama. Our North American Editor Jon Sopel

reports. The entrance of Donald Trump

was like something out of a sci-fi movie but by the end of the evening,

it had become a horror show. The next first lady

of the United States. Mr John's only role

was to introduced his Slovenian born But some of it, well,

had a bit of a familiar ring to a speech Michelle Obama gave

when she was hoping to be First Your word is your bond and you do

what you say and keep your promise. That you will treat

people with respect. That your word is your bond,

that you do what you say you are going to do,

that you treat people The only limit to your achievements

is the strength of your dreams and your willingness

to work for them. The only limit to the height

of your achievements as they reach of your dreams and your willingness

to work hard for them. Last night's convention

hall triumph is today's public With Melania Trump the butt of

Walsall 's of jokes on social media. You know the sort of thing,

I'd like to thank my speech But this isn't about Melania Trump,

it is about the perception of a Trump campaign

that is chaotic and dysfunctional. And as a result, the

recriminations are flying. A question I put to Dr Ben Carson,

former presidential hopeful and now If they were verbatim,

then the speech Not kicked but perhaps

re-educated. First of all, you have

to prove they were verbatim. But let's end with a bit more

Melania Trump that definitely wasn't plagiarised, but now is seems

strangely prophetic. It would not be a Trump contest

without excitement and drama. But it was drama the Republican

party was hoping to do Britain's new Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has said it would take him too long to apologise

individually to every person he insulted before he took

up the post last week. At a joint press conference

with his US counterpart, John Kerry, aimed to hold a joint

face of diplomacy. Have you ever come across anybody

quite like Boris Johnson? Our ambassador to the EU in Brussels

who I just spent the evening with the other night had

the privilege of going to Oxford And, in fact, Boris Johnson got him

to come in to the Oxford union of which Boris was president

and talk to me about that they had together

there and he told me that this man That is the Boris Johnson I intend

to work with and we intend to make But the questions about Mt Johnson's

past undiplomatic comments on world leaders kept on coming,

particularly from American journalists regarding his past

comments on President Obama. You have accused the current US

President of harbouring a part Kenyan's ancestral dislike for the

British Empire. While claiming untruthfully at the time that he did

not want a Churchill bust in the White House. He described a possible

future US president Hillary Clinton, like a sadistic nurse in a mental

hospital. You have also likened her to Lady Macbeth. Do you take these

comments back? Thank you for giving me an opportunity to repeat a point

I made earlier on. I am afraid that there is such a rich thesaurus of

things I have said that have been one way or another through what

alchemy I do not know... The journalist and author Quentin

Letts is in Westminster now. It was extraordinary to watch. What

was it like to be there? For those of us who have been to lots of Boris

events, it was that extraordinary because that is the way he is. Epic

the world will have some fun getting to know them. -- know him. In

Britain he is regarded as not necessarily the most sombre at all

serious politician, he is a bit of a comedian and that is why it has been

rather electrifying that he has been given the job of Foreign Secretary

in charge of our diplomacy. A rude man in charge of diplomacy! Betting

it will work and this is why. Today, standing alongside John Kerry, Boris

Festival looked reasonably at home, but also be heeded the near

impossible and he made Mr Kerry look farm. Mr Kerry came to life in

Boris's company. He is not normally a man to be very exciting. Yet the

two of them had a certain chemistry and this is the answer with Boris,

he does at the certain of human outreach all of his own making. As a

result the press conference was quite interesting in a way you don't

often get in high diplomacy. He was also accused of telling lies. Do we

really want a Foreign Office minister very high office of State

at a time of mass global crisis who is seen as a joke? Don't be so

pompous. A politician who tells lies? This is no do happen! It is

not necessarily the first time a politician may have told a few

porkies, let's be honest. Boris is able to brush off these things in a

way perhaps other politicians cannot. That was true possibly when

he was mayor, when he frag did not have much power. But Foreign

Secretary at a time when we have Iraq, Syria, the Middle East, China

and Russia as potential rising powers, went other countries be

utterly baffled when they look at this and think what kind of message

is Theresa May is sending to the rest of the world? That she'd just

not take Britain's foreign policy positions seriously? I think you can

approach this with a surfeit of seriousness. These are jolly serious

issues but as Boris Johnson was able to stay when he was asked about

these things by reporters, he was able to say, look, I've said a few

things in the past but there are more serious things to talk about.

Syria, Yemen, and tonight he is having meetings with ministers from

the UEA and Saudi Arabia. He was able to play that more serious thing

you are trying to do, but do not discount the importance in diplomacy

and politics of the public in whatever country it is actually

plugging in an being interested by the person who is talking. Boris has

got away with a lot in the past because he is able to use is very

particular brand of humour. But we are at such a difficult time now. He

went straight into his job with the turkey Q and the Nice attacks. He

has to be able to carry very senior diplomats, carry messages that

governments will trust and we're doing deals. Is he really the man

for the job? Is Theresa May giving him enough rope and hoping he will

hang? And think that is a rather trite misreading of it. If you look

at how he responded to that terrible attack in Nice. I thought he respond

with dignity. The words he used words sufficiently interesting to

make his comments sound genuine. There is a danger with politicians

that they trot out the old cliches and people switch off and say, yeah,

we've heard it all before. But Boris is able to use words in an

interesting way and he does it with sufficient novelty that people look

at it and may connect their bit. This is rather radical, this is a

new approach to international diplomacy. Which other foreign

leaders may be interesting to see him alongside in the coming months

and what are your thoughts about tomorrow's meeting after Reza may

and Angela Merkel? Theresa May. Both very serious women. I was thinking

what would happen when Boris goes to the Vatican to meet the Pope. That

will be a whole new scenario and will be joyous to behold!

The so-called Islamic State group has released a video that shows

the teenager who carried out an axe attack in Germany yesterday.

The 17 year old Afghan immigrant who carried it out was shot dead

Four people were injured, three seriously.

This is where the 17-year-old decided to strike, there were around

30 passengers on board the train when he pulled out

The scene was so gruesome that one passenger likened the inside of

Among the injured, four members of the same family from Hong Kong.

The emergency services spent hours at the scene, many passengers

The attacker ran from the train when it stopped.

He was still using his weapons when the police shot him.

TRANSLATION: We were lucky that by chance we had some special police

forces in the area who then chased the perpetrator.

He was stopped and then he attacked a policeman.

There was no other option but to shoot.

After recovering his body, officials described him as an Afghan

asylum seeker who came to Germany two years ago.

He was living with a foster family nearby.

Police say they found a hand-painted of flag of the so-called

TRANSLATION: Naturally, given the background

of what the attacker said yesterday on the train and when getting off

the carriage, calling 'Allahu Akbar', this is the first

suggestion that it could be a politically motivated deed.

The prosecutor said the attack could have been prompted

TRANSLATION: On Saturday before the attack, he received the news

that a friend of his had been killed in Afghanistan.

IS has released a video in which it names the man as Mohammed Riyadh.

Brandishing a knife, he describes himself

as an IS soldier preparing for a suicide mission.

Last year, Germany welcomed more than 1 million migrants,

The fact the attack in Bavaria was carried out by a young

unaccompanied refugee has triggered further

debate on how best to deal with the migrant crisis.

As his home is searched, the police are trying to find out

more information that would help explain what shaped

How to keep people safe is the big challenge because it is hard to stop

one person who is hell bent on causing bloodshed.

Now a look at some of the days other news.

Here in the UK, Angela Eagle has pulled out of the Labour

She has stepped aside in favour of the only other candidate standing

against the current leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Owen Smith is Labour's former work and pensions secretary and now hopes

A Brazilian judge has ordered wireless phone carriers to block

access to WhatsApp indefinitely, starting on Tuesday.

It's the third such incident against the popular phone messaging

The reason for the order was is not known due to legal secrecy

The International Monetary Fund says the British referendum vote to leave

the European Union has depressed the world economic outlook.

In a new report, the IMF has downgraded its forecast for global

growth to three point one per cent this year and three

point four in 2017 - a slight reduction -

but admits it's still early to be certain.

Well the repercussions of Brexit are being felt in other areas.

It appears the vote to leave is already having a negative

Scientists have told the BBC they are now being excluded

from research projects paid for by the EU and are having to cut

Our Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh takes a closer look.

British science was one of the biggest winners from member

ownership of the European Union - receiving ?850 million a year.

Now within weeks of the referendum, there is evidence that the money

Nick Wright had planned to work alongside other European scientists

on a number of projects to discover how stars form.

Now, they don't want to include him because they think

they won't get European funding if a British academic is involved.

We are going to start to be frozen out of big projects,

We will find that our collaborative in Europe are looking elsewhere

for people to collaborate with them that might mean we're not

at the table when big discoveries are made.

This small engineering company depends on European Union money.

Their latest project is to improve rocket thrusters for

The firm has received grants from the European Union

scientific research fund, called Horizon 2020, for decades.

But following the referendum, they will have to cut two jobs.

There is no more money in the pipeline.

Interest from partners, European partners, for involving us

Well, scientific research creates hundreds of thousands of jobs,

but what is more important is that highly skilled workforce attracts

some of the biggest and best companies in the world

and they employ millions of people all across the country.

The European Research Council which funds projects throughout

And that until then European law still applied, meaning British

The message today from all seven of the UK's national scientific,

engineering and medical academies is that Brexit is already

I think there is a danger that the scientific enterprise here

will suffer and if that does happen, then it will affect our future

The government says it will do all it can to ensure that grant

applications are considered fairly, but until there is a clear post

Brexit plan, British scientists are likely to lose out.

The crackdown against supposed opponents of the Turkish president

has now engulfed the education establishment in Turkey.

Thousands of soldiers, police and judiciary have

Today the purge moved to the education sector,

with 21 thousand teachers suspended and 15 hundred university

TV and radio stations reported to have connections

with the movement founded by the US-based preacher,

Fethullah Gulen have also had their licenses revoked.

The BBC's Selin Girit says the scale of the crackdown has raised

One, whether the coup attempt had actually

bureaucracy, within the police force, the army, than initially

Secondly, if these people are all supporting Gulenist

movement, as the government suggests, how in the first place

they were able to infiltrate in such numbers into such significant

positions within the state bureaucracy and police force, and

the army, and thirdly, the question is whether Mr Erdogan and the

government is using this oppression of the coup attempt as an

opportunity to further enhance their powers.

American actress Leslie Jones, says she is leaving Twitter

with 'tears and a sad heart' after being flooded

The star of the new Ghostbusters film has shared some of the abusive

tweets she's been sent, following the release of the film.

She's accused Twitter of not doing enough to deal with online trolls.

With me now is our entertainment reporter Steve Holden

What is this a film? She is in a remake of Ghostbusters that was made

in the 80s. The difference is that it is an all female cast. In the

run-up to the film being released there was already some hate towards

the film because the rules have been filled by women. She has outlined

the scale of racist and misogynistic abuse she has received since

appearing in the film. What tweets has she received? She has been

compared to a gorilla, abusive tweets left right and centre and she

is very personally explained how she is feeling talking about her

personal hell, how she has tears in her eyes, how Twitter is not doing

enough to report and block these people that are sending her the

abuse. I'm astonished this is happening now in this day and age.

It is absolutely incredible. The scale of it is amazing. It really

is. Abuse on Twitter has been going on for years but she seems to have

taken it to another level and so much so that the CEO of twitter sent

her a message personally saying can you direct message me? And Twitter

put out a statement saying they have taken down some of the accounts that

had abused Leslie Jones, but ultimately, Twitter is a service

that relies on a community. They urged people to report accounts that

put forward this abuse because they can't monitor however many million

accounts every day. There is a call, and urgency, for Twitter to do more.

It says it is investing in more to prevent abuse from happening in the

first place. Leslie Jones has really kicked the starting gun to escalate

this and make twitter sit up and take notice and do something very

soon. Have other actors and actresses face similar problems? She

has come off twitter, she says. Yes, gay actors, female actors, black

actors, any kind of famous person gets abuse on twitter because the

person who is abusing does not have to reveal their name or face and it

is all very secretive. Lena Dunn, the star of a TV show called Girls

has highlighted the abuse she received in the past. With Leslie

Jones, it has been taken up a notch because it is horrific. Anyone who

has any kind of abusive message, it can be very upsetting, but can the

social media agencies do more? Because it seems like so many of our

countries are becoming ungovernable, never mind all this abuse simply

because of social media. I know it is a massive question! I think that

is the million dollar question. You can text off twitter but then they

get a new e-mail address and set up a new account and the abuse

continues. Is very difficult. Anti-social media, as my

ten-year-old Dub said. I am on twitter, but send me

Today has easily been the hottest day of