22/09/2016 World News Today

Syria's President Assad gives a rare interview.

He says he's not laying siege to Aleppo, not

using barrel bombs - and not responsible

I believe that the United States is not genuine regarding having

cessation of violence in Syria. in North Carolina leaves one person

critically injured and the city of Charlotte under

a state of emergency. Joy for the families of survivors,

but hundreds are thought to have died after a migrant boat sinks off

Egypt - four crew are arrested. The Syrian boy whose picture went

viral is offered a new home in the United States

by a six-year-old. Dear President Obama, remember the

boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please

go get him and bring him to our home?

40,000 people are arriving into a suburb of the Syrian

The first major delivery of aid in Syria this month comes

as fresh fighting breaks out across the country.

In an interview today, Syria's President Assad

was uncompromising - saying his enemies alone,

including the US, are to blame for the devastation

Around Aleppo last night there was anything but a ceasefire.

These unverified pictures show warplanes

dropping bombs in what is said to be rebel held territory.

At least 45 people were reported to have died.

And elsewhere in Syria, including the central provinces,

there seems little left of what truce there was.

In an interview with the Associated Press News Agency,

Denying he was besieging eastern Aleppo, and

denying he was using barrel bombs to kill civilians.

A bomb is a bomb, what is the difference between

When you use it, use it to defend the civilians, you kill terrorists

You do not have the moral incentive, we do

The war, he said, would drag on, whilst outside

And he blamed America for the breakdown of latest

I believe the United States is not genuine regarding the

As FOR the attack on Monday which destroyed a

humanitarian convoy and killed 28 workers, he denied any involvement.

Regarding the claim of the White House yesterday accusing

either the Syrian or the

Russians in that regard, I would say, what I can officially

say about the conflicts in Syria, they have no

credibility, whatever they say, it is just lies.

Today, his forces gained control of yet more

As more than 100 rebel fighters and their families were

evacuated from opposition health districts in Homs.

evacuated from opposition heald districts in Homs.

Elsewhere, a United Nations aid convoy did get

through to rebel holds about the Damascus.

But so far, none has been allowed into Aleppo, something the

Please, President Assad, do your bit to enable us to

get to eastern Aleppo and also the other besieged areas.

But aid will reach here only if there is a

And although there will be yet more talks in the UN this

evening, there are a few hopes that the fighting

My colleague Laura Trevelyan is at the United Nations.

Laura, James said there will be more talks at the United Nations, between

the US and Russia but it's a tense time, isn't it? It is. What is

happening this afternoon is the US and Russia will lead talks of an

international group of 20 countries who will come together on Syria. But

the principles are indeed the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and

his Russian counterpart, Bobby Lovgren. They were at loggerheads

yesterday, so the question is what can they do to revive the ceasefire

deal that came into effect last Monday and is now in tatters? Other

countries in the Syria group will tell you it is down to what the

Americans and Russia can agree. If they can revive the ceasefire

agreement and lead to a round of talks in Geneva, that would be

something. The Russians suggested that there could be a three-day

pause, that has been quoted. And meanwhile, the Americans suggested

that there should be a pause in military operations over key areas

of Syria where aid is being delivered. Is there wriggleroom?

We'll see what happens after the meeting due to start in the next

hour. Thank you very much. Charlotte's police chief says

he sees no reason to impose a curfew in North Carolina's largest city,

even after two nights of violent protests after the shooting

of a black man by a police officer. These were the scenes in Charlotte

overnight into Thursday, The rallies began after

Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead Officials say Mr Scott was armed -

his family say he wasn't. Mr Scott was the third black man

to be killed by US police in a week. One protester remains

in a critical condition Well, the Mayor of Charlotte,

Jennifer Roberts, is appealing for peaceful protests - we'll hear

from her in just a moment. The local Chief of Police Kerry

Putney has also been speaking - he says police video does not show

Mr Scott pointing a gun - but that the footage does back up

officers' version of events. This is how he responded when asked

if the video would be made public. . If there is compelling information

that I think helps, we'll sew it but again, I'm going to be very

intentional about protecting the integrity of the investigation and

in so doing I'm not going to release the video.

The video does not give me absolute definitive, visual evidence that

would confirm that a person is pointing a gun. I did not see that

in the videos that I reviewed. So what I can tell you though is

that when taking into total all of the other evidence it supports what

we have heard and the version of the truth that we gave about the

circumstance of what happened that led to the death of Mr Scott. The

safety and the security of our community and law enforcement

officers remains our top priority. Today our city is open for business

as usual. We let people know that come to our town, we are here

working, our buses are running, we are here to serve and the city is

open. Our correspondent Gary O'Donoghue is

in Charlotte for us. Gary two different accounts of what happened.

What are the chances of this video footage from the police body cameras

and the dash cam actually being made public? Small, to be honest. The

police chief made that quite clear this morning. He believes that would

interfere with the investigation that he is conducting. He say there

is is another complication, that the state bureau investigation may take

over some parts of the investigation, therefore it would be

up to them do decide whether or not to release the video. So he is

adamant that at the moment it will not be made public. He does say

however that he will show it to the family at their request. I think

that they are hoping that this will, it could persuade the family enough

that the police' account of what happened is closer to the truth than

theirs. It may be a high bar to get over for the family but that must be

part of the hope. Given what he said in the clip you heard there about it

not being clear that a gun was being pointed in that video, I suspect

that the family will want to see what else he has that convinces him

that actually Mr Scot was a threat to his officer. So there is a lot of

ground between the two sides on this already. In the meantime, of course,

we are into late afternoon, and people are starting to cast their

minds forward to this evening and whether or not there will be a

repeat of the last two nights, something that everyone is hoping

will not happen. Gary, briefly, there will not be a

curfew as of now but what is the mood there at the moment, ahead of

another night? Well, walking the streets here you would not know that

anything had happened. There are a few boarded up windows here and

there on East Trade Street. A bit of broken glass. They have done a good

job of cleaning up. But people are waiting to see what information the

police will release. We were promised other information from them

other than the video. Then to see what the family's reaction will be

to seeing that video. Getting sight of the body cam video. That will be

crucial, I think.m people are still appealing for calm. The National

Guard will be on the streets protecting buildings but I that I

that people are wary about tonight. There is a mood amongst some of the

protesters to punish the police for what they perceive as crimes against

black people. Thank you very much, Gary O'Donoghue. We will be with you

throughout the day watching the developments in Charlotte.

It's one of the worst disasters of the Mediterranean migrant crisis

hundreds of people are feared dead, after a boat which set sail

Survivors told the BBC there were around 550 people onboard

The disaster happened 19 kilometres from the shore,

near the town of Rosetta where four crew members

From there our correspondent Orla Guerin reports.

Reclaimed from the sea, survivors of the latest tragedy in the

Mediterranean. Saved by the Egyptian military but taken into police

custody. Some, overwhelmed by exhaustion,

after up to eight hours' treading water. Staring death in the face.

Most were young Egyptians from poor communities who told us they wanted

to reach Italy to find work. They said more than 550 people were

crammed tonne the boat. TRANSLATION: It was very small. Said

this man who is 17. It only had room for 200. We were at sea for days,

they kept bringing more people before we capsized and then half the

crew got away. Mohammed survived but without his

cousin, Amir, who was just 14. TRANSLATION: May God have mercy on

them and all the young men who died. I was going to die but God helped

meet. We resited the prayers, not once but

10 or 15 times, we said God help us, God save us.

Outside the police station, anguish and anger. Some relatives

complaining that the authorities took hours to respond to distress

signals from the sinking boat. But then, what they had all been waiting

for... Well the survivors are emerging now. They've spent the

night in custody. They are being reunited with their families. Many

of the relatives maintaining a vigil through the night hoping to get news

from their loved ones, hoping that they were not among the dead.

The BBC's Orla Guerin reporting there from

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

Iraqi government forces say they've fought their way into the centre

of the strategically important town of Al-Shirqat,

which has been in the hands of Islamic State militants since 2014.

The army's effort to capture the town is part of an attempt

to secure supply routes ahead for what's expected to be a very

much bigger battle for the city of Mosul, which lies

Around 3.5 million people in Puerto Rico

are without electricity for the second day running.

The black-out began on Wednesday after a fire at a power plant set

off a broader outage across the island's utility gird.

off a broader outage across the island's utility grid.

People were forced to spend the night in darkness

and without air conditioning in the tropical heat,

and businesses have been forced to close.

Officials say it could be 24 hours before power is restored.

A Chinese lawyer whose clients included the dissident artist

Ai Weiwei has been sentenced to twelve years in prison

Xia Lin's supporters and his wife strongly rejected the charges,

saying he was being persecuted for challenging the government.

He is the latest of several human rights lawyers and activists to be

The Afghan government has signed a draft peace

agreement with the country's second-biggest militant group.

A representative of militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar signed

He'll be granted immunity from prosecution in return

for his support for the constitution and a promise to abandon violence.

Mr Hekmatyar was briefly prime minister of Afghanistan in the early

1990s and is still listed as a designated terrorist by the US.

News of the agreement sparked protests in the Afghan capital,

Human rights groups say he is responsible for the deaths

of possibly thousands of people during the 1990s civil war.

They're tiny, so how dangerous can button batteries,

which are often found in toys and watches be?

Well, doctors are warning about the potentially

lethal risk they pose to children and babies.

Surgeons at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital say they've seen

a rise in the number of children suffering severe injuries -

sometimes even dying - after swallowing them.

Our Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.

Ready? Yeah.

All it took was a tiny watch battery to devastate this

After she swallowed the button battery it burned through her

This is the latest of many operations at London's Great

Ormond Street Hospital to try to repair the damage.

For the past year the three-year-old has been fed through a tube

into her stomach and has a bag to collect her saliva.

Her mother who's Russian says it has turned their lives upside down.

She hopes Valeria will eventually recover.

Essentially this battery starts working in the oesophagus.

Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital are seeing one child

a month with caustic soda burns caused by button batteries.

The most important thing is to be aware that these are extremely

dangerous and should be treated essentially like a poison

and should be kept out of the reach of children.

Let's mimic what can happen when a button battery gets lodged

The ham represents the delicate lining

of the oesophagus, and water, saliva.

I'll cover this side but put another battery here so we can see

We've left this for just two hours, and already a huge amount

If I lift the button battery you can see all this black marked area.

Eventually this would have burnt its way right through the ham.

When she swallowed a button battery last year doctors warned

her mum there could be life changing injuries.

They said that her vocal cords could be damaged then

and there and she would never develop a voice.

And again, they said that if she did pull through she may never eat again

because her oesophagus may have been too badly damaged.

Fortunately the two-year-old has made a complete recovery.

But it's a warning to parents to keep toddlers away

In a few days time - the US election campaign

will ramp up a notch - as the first presidential debate

It'll be must see viewing, as Hillary Clinton and Donald

Trump go head to head, on a range of issues.

It's a crucial moment for both campaigns -

so how do you prepare for such a big event.

My colleague Katty Kay has been finding out.

The presidential debates give American voters the only chance they

have to come pair the candidates side by side. The stakes are

enormous. And in this election, the biggest

challenge Forsythe Hillary Clinton is how to debate someone like Donald

Trump? There has never been a candidate or debater like him.

Let moo me talk. Quiet! Donald Trump does not do traditional debate with

policy briefings and analysis. He prefers off the cuff remarks, and

almost child like insults. Lion Ted. He holds the Bible down

and then he lies. Todd Harris was the Senior Advisor

for Marco de-Rubio. Our strategy for the campaign was to

ignore Donald Trump's insult but the challenge was that the media was not

ignoring them. The best thing for handicap in terms of debating Trump,

would be for her not to show up at all. The best way to engage with

Trump is to let Trump hang himself with his own words and

inconsistencies. Rubio discovered the cost of a bad

debate in New Hampshire. Under attack, he Pre-Budget Reported

himself four times. Barack Obama knows what he is doing.

The notion that he doesn't know what he is doing, he knows exactly what

he is doing. There it is... Within hours, the internet was buzzing with

jokes about Rubio. His campaign ended that night.

Handicap has briefing books and she talks about debate strategy with

campaign veterans, she will do mock debates with someone standing in for

Trump, I don't belief who is standing in for Trump, that will be

interesting a role for someone to play. Donald Trump, got the first

word and the last word... Donald Trump does not debate the way that

anyone does debate. He does his Donald Trump way. He pro Seths

strength, and uses moves he does as a result star. But moves so

differently from anyone on a debate stage.

President Obama learned that election debates can hurt a

candidate as much as they can help them. On October the 3rd, 2012,

Obama met Mitt Romney for their first debate. It was a disaster.

Are we going to double down from the top down or embrace a new

economicate rim. Obama was tetchy and distracted.

Giving the impression he did not want to be there.

Testify any Cutter was the campaign manager.

It was clear we were losing not just on TV but for social media. Twitter

was a factor on how the debate was covered. So we knew what we were

dealing with. We have started to make changes before that ebait even

ended. Obama recovered but those around him

suggested that he underestimated his opponent.

Political scientists don't agree how much the debates help you win the

White House, the polls are inconclusive. What they do know is

that this will be box office must-see television and don't expect

the candidates to play it safe, whoing the voters in the middle.

Instead, they will be trying to scare the living day lights out of

their supporters at the very prospect of the other person on the

stage occupying the Oval Office. That will mean a lot of sharp

attacks, not necessariliedifying but certainly entertaining.

A political event like no other, that debate is on Monday night.

When a six-year-old American boy wrote a letter to Barack Obama,

he probably didn't expect the President himself to read it

Alex, from New York, penned a note to the president

offering a Syrian refugee a place to stay with his family.

It was after he saw the photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the little boy

seen dazed and bloodied in the back of an ambulance.

The letter went viral - Mr Obama read some of the letter

at this week's UN summit on refugees.

Dear President Obama, remember the boy who was picked up by the

ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to our

home? Park in the driveway or on the streets and we'll be waiting for you

guys with flags, flowers and balloons. We will give him a family

and he will be our brother. Katherine, my little sister will be

collecting butterflies and fire flies for him. In my school I have a

friend from Syria, Omar. I swill introduce him to Omar and we can all

play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach

us another language. Since he won't bring toys and

doesn't have toy, Katherine will share her big blew stripy white

bunny and I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. ... I

will teach him addition and subtraction. Those are the words of

a six-year-old boy. He teaches us a lot.

The humanity that a young child can display, who hasn't learned to be

cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they

are fro, or how they look or pray, we can all learn from Alex.

Alex, six years old. The power of the pen! That's the

Britain's Prince William has told a conference that he fears

the African elephant will have disappeared from the wild

by the time his daughter Princess Charlotte turns 25.

He said action needs to be taken now to stop poaching and it's time

to send an "unambiguous message" that it is no longer acceptable

to recognise the BBC teams who won an Emmy last night

for their continuing coverage of the European migrant crisis.

We've been privileged to bring you their reports

Hi there. We have showers to come at first overnight in parts of