16/02/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten:

Prosecutors in the United States

charge 13 Russians with interfering

in the 2016 Presidential election.

The indictments claim they spread

fake news about Mr Trump's rivals,

and even organised political rallies

posing as his supporters.

The indictment alleges

that the Russian

conspirators want to promote discord

in the US and undermine public

confidence in democracy,

we must not allow them to succeed.

These are the first charges

from the Department of Justice

in the long running investigation

into alleged election meddling.

Also tonight:

There'll be no new Oxfam bids

for government funding

until the charity meets higher

standards, as one former aid worker,

says she was sexually

assaulted by colleagues.

He literally just pinned me

up against the wall,

he was groping me, grabbing me,

kissing me, and I was just

trying to shove him off.

The FBI admits it mishandled the

warning last month about the Florida

gunmen after America's latest mass

shooting. A special report from

inside the Democratic Republic of

Congo where thousands are fleeing

renewed violence.

And Team GB wins it's first medal

at the Winter Olympics.

A bronze, in the men's skeleton.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, a spectacular goal inside two

minutes from Willian

sets Chelsea on course

for the sixth round of the FA Cup

against Championship strugglers

Hull City.

Good evening.

Senior US officials have

charged 13 Russians

with interfering in the American

presidential election in 2016.

They're the first charges

from the Department of Justice

in a long running investigation

alleging meddling in

favour of Donald Trump.

The indictment accuses the Russians

of setting up bogus social media

profiles to spread fake news

about Mr Trump's rivals

of organising political rallies,

and of trying to encourage minority

groups not to vote.

A Russian Foreign Ministry

spokeswoman called

the accusations "absurd".

Our North America Editor Jon

Sopel has the story.

There's probably not a person

anywhere in the world who doesn't

know who won the 2016

presidential election.

But how it was won

and who influenced

the result is still

the

subject of rancorous dispute.

Today in a dramatic

development, charges

were brought against a number of

Russians for their efforts to affect

the outcome.

The defendants allegedly

conducted what they called

information warfare

against the United States.

With the stated goal of spreading

distrust towards the

candidates and the political

system in general.

They used stolen or fictitious

American identities,

fraudulent bank accounts and false

identification documents.

The indictment says

they had a strategic

goal to sow discord in the US

political system, including the 2016

US presidential election.

It says operations

included supporting the

presidential campaign of

then-candidate Donald J Trump and

disparaging Hillary Clinton.

From that famous

night of his election

victory onwards, Donald Trump has

always sought to play

down Russia's role.

Very well have been Russia

but I think it could well have

been other countries.

Both on the effect they had

and on whether his campaign

colluded.

On those two points the deputy

Attorney General had helpful

words today.

There is no allegation in this

indictment that any American

is a knowing participant

in this illegal activity.

There is no allegation in the

indictment that the charge conduct

altered the outcome of the 2016

election.

And Donald Trump didn't

wait long to treat his reaction. --

tweet.

The Russia campaign was allegedly

under the direction of Yevgeny

Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir

Putin. Tonight he was scornful,

dismissing the Americans as being

very emotional. If they want to see

the devil, he said, let them. Donald

Trump let delete left Washington

this evening to fly to his home in

Florida. You'll be buoyed by the

indictment saying nothing about

collusion, but the Russia

investigation goes on. And that is a

source of theory to the president.

That's the point, isn't it, we have

indictment but does it mean the

investigation is nearing an end?

I

don't think it does, Clive, it's a

very interesting statement the White

House put out a short time ago

adding to the President's tweet in

which he is quoted as saying it's

more important than ever before to

come together as Americans, we can't

allow those seeking to sow

confusion, discord and rancour to be

successful. He takes aim at his

political opponents in the United

States and the Democratic party and

some Republicans, saying it's time

we stopped the land as partisan

attacks wild and forced allegations.

He means against him and the idea

there was Russian collusion. In

other words the president is putting

himself beyond reproach and saying,

my opponents are undermining

democracy. Donald Trump at various

times has considered the possibility

of sacking the special Counsel

Robert Mueller and possibly even

firing the deputy Attorney General

who we saw in that report. I think

the impact of today's charges, the

granular detail of how the Russians

intervened in the presidential

election, the allegations made, I

think it makes it more or less

impossible for the president to move

against the Russia investigation.

Will this be over any time soon? I

think on the part of the president

that might be wishful thinking.

Many

thanks. Jon Sopel live at the White

House.

Oxfam has agreed not to bid for any

new government funding,

until the Department

for International Development

is satisfied the charity can meet

the "high standards" expected.

It follows the controversy over

sexual misconduct allegations

concerning some of its aid workers.

The news comes as a woman

employed by Oxfam in Haiti,

after the 2010 earthquake,

told the BBC she was physically

abused and sexually assaulted

by a more senior male colleague.

She also claims she was the victim

of another sexual assault

by an Oxfam worker, after a party

in South Sudan a few months later.

Our Diplomatic Correspondent James

Landale has the full story.

His report contains some

distressing details.

Haiti in 2010.

And the chaotic aftermath

of an earthquake.

A country heaving with humanitarian

workers, some of them there to help,

like this young woman working

for Oxfam for the first time.

I really studied Oxfam in university

in England and learned about them.

They are the leader, after Unicef,

in a lot of humanitarian response.

I always dreamed

of working for them.

But her dream turned sour as a more

senior colleague became

over-friendly and then

not so friendly.

You'll understand why we've

protected her identity.

He literally pinned me

against the wall, he was groping me

and grabbing me, kissing me,

and I was just trying

to shove him off.

I got him off eventually and he got

mad and through his glass at me

and it shattered on the floor.

And later on we got

in the car to go home.

He just threw me out of my seat

and then pinned me to the ground.

One of my colleagues, a woman,

reached back and tried

to grab me and pick me out.

I was hitting him, kicking him.

And then in South Sudan

she was assaulted by another Oxfam

colleague after a New Year party.

I went to my room and I was starting

to undress and go to sleep

and he just walked in,

shoved me on the bed,

tried to rip my clothes...

I mean, he did rip some

of my clothes off, he got

naked, forced himself...

I was shoving him, kicking him

and screaming for anyone.

I know that the man next door heard

because the next morning he even

said something like,

"Hey, are you all right,

after what happened last might?".

But nobody came to help.

I just pushed him and kicked him

and kicked him, and eventually

he got up and walked outside

for a bit and I ran

to the door and shut it.

And I stood at the door

with all my might, keeping it pushed

shut as he was pushing

from the other end.

It felt like, for so, so long.

I was exhausted.

I don't know, I was just crying.

I didn't know what to do.

I was screaming for help.

I thought someone

would come help me.

But nobody came.

Tonight the government said that

Oxfam would no longer

bid for public funding.

At least not until the Department

for International Development

was satisfied the charity had

raised its standards.

Oxfam is promising

to set up a commission

to investigate new allegations.

There will be tougher

checks on staff references

and more money spent

on internal safeguarding procedures.

But...

Can you guarantee there

are no sexual predators

working for Oxfam today?

We have cases that we are

investigating today,

and I am determined that we deliver

justice in those cases.

Thousands and thousands of Oxfam

staff, doing the right thing

in the most dangerous places

in the world.

Protecting people, saving lives,

that work must go on.

You cannot give that guarantee

that there are no sexual predators

working for your organisation?

How would I be able to guarantee

that there is no one

who is going to offend?

What I can guarantee

is that we will build a new culture

that doesn't tolerate bad behaviour.

But Oxfam's UK chief executive

Mark Goldring struck a defiant tone.

Saying some of the criticism

against his organisation

was out of proportion.

What went on in Haiti has cost Oxfam

donations and public trust.

So it's promising justice

and changing its rules.

But its future depends on changing

a culture that seemed

to tolerate sexual misconduct.

James Landale, BBC News.

The FBI has admitted it

failed to act on warnings,

about the teenager charged

with the mass shooting

in Florida on Wednesday,

that left 17 people dead.

Nikolas Cruz is accused

of the killings at a high

school in Parkland.

More funerals have been taking place

today, as our North America

correspondent Aleem Maqbool reports.

They are coming to mourn a girl shot

dead inside her school,

one of the 17 victims of America's

latest mass shooting.

Alyssa Alhadeff had been passionate

about playing football and had been

a popular and talented pupil.

Earlier, thousands had gathered

to remember all of those who died,

in many cases friends that only

a few days ago they had

shared classrooms with.

They included 14-year-old

Jaime Guttenberg, who family members

say stood up for those

who were bullied.

Her father spoke at the vigil.

I sent her to school yesterday.

She was supposed to be safe.

Among the others who died,

Meadow Pollack, who was heading

to university next year.

Joaquin Oliver, a basketball player

who loved writing poetry.

And 14-year-old Cara Loughran,

who her family says was a great

student who loved being

at the beach.

All lives that were cut

short by Nikolas Cruz,

who the FBI admitted today it had

received a call about to its hotline

number at the beginning of January.

And that huge mistake has now

allowed gun advocates to divert

attention from the other big

concern, how easily the attacker

was able to arm themselves.

This is where Nikolas Cruz

bought his weapon.

All he had to do was produce

his driving licence,

give the most basic of personal

details and then answer a question

to say that he was not mentally ill.

He was 18 at the time,

too young to buy alcohol

here but old enough to walk out

of this shop with an AR-15 rifle.

Young survivors here are insisting

on better gun control but feel many

adults are letting them down.

The fact that I have to say this

is absolutely horrifying but I feel

I need to because this is the blood

of children that is on the floor

of the school now.

These are 17 children that are dead.

The politicians, again,

are promising change.

You call this a talking point,

but why would this be any different

to all the atrocities that

have gone before?

What makes you feel

this will be different?

I have never seen students speak out

as boldly as they have.

Maybe this is the turning point.

Close to the school,

students demonstrated to demand

a solution to stop this type

of tragedy happening again.

In truth, America remains a long

way off finding a way

to end its problems with guns.

As we heard earlier in the

programme, Donald Trump is on his

way to Florida from Washington.

While he is in the state, we think

he will meet with some of those

affected in this attack, and it will

be interesting to see what kind of

reception he received, as someone

who now says he stands alongside the

families of those children who were

killed, and to this day has been

vehemently against any kind of gun

control measures.

South Africa's new president,

Cyril Ramaphosa, has been

delivering his first state

of the nation address,

a day after being sworn into office.

He said the country was continuing

the "long walk" begun

by Nelson Mandela, to build

a society in which all would be

equal before the law,

and in which all would share

in the country's wealth

and have a better life.

Our Africa Editor

Fergal Keane has more.

To those who remember the birth

of this democracy nearly

a quarter of a century ago, the day

had echoes of past greatness.

He helped forge the

historic compromise that

delivered this nation.

Now he has risen to lead it.

Across this most diverse

of nations they have waited,

through years of corruption,

but with the patience which has

always forestalled catastrophe here.

# Give me hope, Cyril Ramaphosa...#

And tonight he tried to do that,

in a speech that blended lofty

rhetoric with a blunt warning.

We are determined to build a society

defined by decency and integrity,

that does not tolerate the plunder

of public resources,

nor the theft by corporate criminals

of the hard earned savings

of ordinary people.

Specifics, there weren't many.

Next week's budget and

the composition of his new cabinet,

due in days, will tell a lot.

He finished with an appeal

to basic patriotism.

This is now the time

where we should honour

the memory of Nelson Mandela,

to build a new, better

South Africa for all our people.

Now is the time.

Thank you very much.

Even the ANC's strongest opposition

critics joined the standing ovation,

something that would have been

unthinkable in the Jacob Zuma years.

I've just come out of the parliament

chamber, and the goodwill

there was quite extraordinary,

even from the opposition.

And that exists across this country.

Above all, an overwhelming

desire for change.

Cyril Ramaphosa now has a short time

to capitalise on that.

With such support,

President Ramaphosa is now

in an unprecedented position to take

on those who captured

the state through corruption.

After the joy will come the battle.

Expect him to be ruthless.

Fergal Keane, BBC News, Cape Town.

On 13 February in a report

about new software designed to help

prevent extremist material

circulating on the internet,

we interviewed Dr Shiraz Maher,

an academic at King's College London

specialising in terrorism

and radicalisation.

In our report we wrongly introduced

Dr Maher as a "former jihadist".

Dr Maher has asked us to make clear

that he is not a former jihadist.

We apologise to Dr Maher

for this inaccuracy.

Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel,

says she's "not frustrated"

by the Brexit process,

but is "curious" to know more

about the UK's aims,

after meeting Theresa May

in Berlin today.

The Prime Minister reiterated her

desire to maintain the closest

possible economic ties with Germany

and the EU, but said there

would have to be a "new balance

of rights and obligations".

Our political correspondent

Vicki Young reports.

Political survival against the odds.

Something these two

leaders know all about.

Both have been weakened by poor

election results, but when it

comes to Brexit negotiations,

not much will happen without Angela

Merkel's approval.

So Theresa May came here keen

to stress what binds

Germany and Britain together.

The UK and Germany's

shared history, values

and culture, I think,

makes us vital partners and strong

allies both bilaterally

and through Nato, the

G7 and the G20.

And we'll continue to work

together to strengthen these

ties for years and decades to come.

The German Chancellor

admitted there had been

a candid exchange of views.

TRANSLATION:

We basically have not

changed our stance on Britain

leaving the European Union.

We deplore it.

So was she frustrated the UK

hadn't set out concrete

proposals?

TRANSLATION:

I'm not frustrated

at all, I'm just curious

how Britain envisages

this future partnership.

In the end, the outcome

needs to be a fair

balance that deviates

from the single market and not

as close a partnership as we've had.

But I think one can find that.

Tomorrow Mrs May will

urge EU leaders not to

let Brexit get in the way of

continued cooperation on security or

trade.

It isn't just a one-way street.

I think that's what's important.

Actually, I want a future economic

partnership that is good

for the European Union,

it's good for Germany,

it's good for the other members,

remaining members of the

European Union, and is good

for the United Kingdom.

Ahead of this visit Theresa May

was being warned that

time is running out.

She had to be much

clearer about how she saw

Britain's future

relationship with the EU.

Downing Street will have been

cheered by the tone struck by

Angela Merkel as she talked about a

fair and balanced approach for both

sides.

But no amount of warm words here can

disguise the complicated

issues that still

need to be resolved.

Vicki Young, BBC News, Berlin.

The United Nations says tens

of thousands of children are fleeing

an upsurge in violence

in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The central African nation has

suffered years of conflict

and desperate poverty,

and the government stands accused

along with foreign corporations,

of plundering its rich natural

resources, while millions go hungry.

Well, the latest violence has flared

up in the eastern province of Ituri,

where mass hunger has intensified

rivalry over land.

Catherine Byaruhanga has travelled

there with UN peacekeepers,

and sent us this report.

Village after village,

destroyed by fighting

between rival communities.

Gangs of armed young men terrorised

this remote province of Ituri.

We've just arrived in this town,

and from what we understand

from the UN peacekeepers here,

this has been a flashpoint

in the fighting.

There are several villages that have

been destroyed and people have fled,

leaving many of them empty.

The dead here have been

buried in a hurry.

We find homes razed to the ground.

The few who remain are now

under UN protection,

but many of the local Hema people

are gone, driven out,

in a country facing starvation,

by ethnic rivalry over land.

Marie tells me her

family lost everything.

Gunmen attacked their

home in the morning.

They ran for their lives.

Jacques tells me he hid

in the bushes while his mother

was hacked to death along with five

members of his family.

TRANSLATION:

As all our houses

were burned and all our family

is killed by these people,

how can we talk about love

or cooperation again

between us and these people?

This hospital in the city of Bunia

has become an emergency

shelter for thousands.

Stop, stop!

It's a battle for survival.

There is little to go around.

Across this country,

nearly 5 million people have fled

violence and hunger.

The government is weak and corrupt.

Disease is rife, and the aid

agencies are struggling to cope.

There is no one dealing

with the other dimensions

of the crisis, like providing food

to people, providing water.

We find ourselves to be

dealing with all of this.

That's why really there is an urgent

need for other actors to step

in to scale up the level

of the response.

There's help here for a few,

but the suffering we witnessed

is vast, in a country that's

falling to pieces.

Catherine Byaruhanga,

BBC News, Bunia.

At the Winter Olympics

in South Korea, Dom Parsons has

secured Team GB's first

medal of the Games.

The 30-year-old took

bronze in the skeleton,

after the hot favourite messed

up his final run.

From Pyeongchang, here's Andy Swiss.

From 100-1 outsider

to Olympic medallist.

In this sport of eventful journeys,

Dom Parsons takes some beating.

His final run was an emotional

roller-coaster, beginning

in bronze position.

His supporters, including

parents, Judith and David,

were starting to dream.

To guarantee a medal,

all he had to do was beat

Nikita Tregubov's time.

But...

Slower by a mere two

hundredths of a second.

Can you believe it?

Well, it will be an agonising wait

now for Dom Parsons,

in second place but with two more

athletes still to go.

Has he done enough

for an Olympic medal?

Well, it seemed unlikely.

Next ago, Martins Dukurs,

the world champion.

That was a mistake.

But against the odds,

he faltered and Parsons was gifted

a glorious reprieve.

Dom Parsons, unbelievably,

has his medal!

From despair to delight,

in the blink of an eye.

I thought I'd lost it

and made a couple too many

mistakes on that run.

But Martins made some more mistakes,

and he's the last person

I thought would make those mistakes.

For his parents, meanwhile,

the relief and the pride

were overwhelming.

Gosh, he has earned it.

The last 11 years, he's

dedicated his life to skeleton.

And as his mum, how proud

are you feeling right now?

Couldn't be prouder.

And here's the proof.

The sweetest of family reunions.

For Dom Parsons, the perfect ending

to a day of emotion and elation.

Well, it is now Saturday morning

here in Pyeongchang, and a bumper

day for British medal hopes. In the

women's skeleton, Lizzy Yarnold is

third at the halfway stage and her

team-mate is fourth. In the ski

slopestyle, watch out for

19-year-old Izzy Atkin. After

tumbling on Tuesday, Elise Christie

has another chance in the speed

skating. Team GB will be hoping it

could be another super Saturday.

That's it.

Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.