12/03/2018 BBC World News America

Pointing the finger at Moscow, the

Prime Minister says a nerve agent

was used to poison a former Russian

spy in the UK.

White House backs away from raising

the age limit for buying guns,

Democrats accuse the president of

caving in to the NRA. His clothes

were the stuff of movie magic and

fashion show fantasies, French

designer Givenchy has died at the

age of 91.

Welcome to our viewers on public

television here in the US and around

the globe. The UK Prime Minister

says it is highly likely that Russia

was behind the poisoning of a former

spy in Britain, speaking in

parliament, Theresa May said that

Sergei Skripal and his daughter were

attacked with a nerve agent,

irrelevant by the Soviet military.

Moscow denies any involvement. The

White House called the attack

reckless. The dramatic correspondent

James Landau has more.

Today, police continued to examines

all three home of Sergei Skripal,

more than one week after the former

Russian intelligence officer and his

daughter were attacked with a nerve

agent.

So, this morning

ministers gathered for a

meeting of the National Security

Council, looking for answers.

An update on the

investigation from the

police and intelligence services

that would allow them and the Prime

Minister to decide

what steps to take next.

For some days ministers have been

pushing Theresa May for

tougher response.

This afternoon she was clear

who she thought was

responsible, and

what they should do.

It is now clear that Mr Skripal

and his daughter were poisoned with

a military grade nerve agent

of a type developed by Russia.

It is part of a group of nerve

agents known as Novichok.

Based on the analysis

of world leading experts

at Porton Down,

our knowledge that Russia has

previously produced this agent

and would still be

capable of doing so,

the Government has concluded that it

is highly likely that Russia

was responsible for the act against

Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

She said the Foreign

Secretary had summoned

the Russian ambassador

and told him he had

until the end of tomorrow to

explain whether this was a direct

act by the Russian state or by

others who now control

the nerve agent.

Mr Speaker, this attempted murder

using a weapons grade nerve agent

in a British town was not just

a crime against the Skripals,

it was an indiscriminate

and reckless act against

the United Kingdom,

putting the lives of

innocent civilians at risk.

And we will not tolerate such

a brazen attempt to murder

in innocent civilians on our soil.

The Labour leader called

for tougher sanctions

on oligarchs living in London.

We need to continue seeking a robust

dialogue with Russia

on all the issues currently

dividing our country is,

both domestic and international.

Rather than simply cutting off

contact and letting the tensions

and divisions get worse.

and divisions get worse.

Earlier today, before the statement,

President Putin was visiting

an agricultural centre

in southern Russia

and dismissed a question

from the BBC's Steve Rosenberg.

President Putin, BBC News,

is Russia behind the poisoning

of Sergei Skripal?

TRANSLATION:

We are dealing

with agriculture here, as you see,

to create conditions for people's

lives, and you talk to me

about some tragedies.

First get to the bottom of it

there and then we will discuss this.

But now that Russia has

been blamed officially

for what happened in Salisbury,

it has 24 hours to

decide how to respond.

Earlier, Moscow correspondent Steve

Rosenberg explained why officials in

Moscow don't seem too concerned

about the Prime Minister's

accusation.

Biggest problem the

British government faces here is the

way it is perceived by the Kremlin,

it is perceived as pretty weak.

Britain is perceived as quite weak.

Here, politicians criticising

Russia, huffing and puffing, but the

politicians do not believe that

Britain will blow the house down and

take strong measures against Moscow

so the key question is, if, come

Wednesday, Britain and improve this

was an act of state-sponsored force

by Russia, what kind of measures

will Britain, together with our

allies, take against Moscow?

Steve

Rosenberg

reporting from Moscow.

Another twist in the debate over gun

regulation here in the US, with

President Trump putting off action

on raising the minimum age for

buying guns. This was an idea that

he championed after the school

shooting in Florida. Now the one

White House wants to fund programmes

to train school staff to use

firearms, encourage military

veterans and retired police to

become teachers and improved

background and mental health checks.

For more on this we spoke with a

national political correspondent for

the Hill.

The president seems to have backed

away from the idea of raising the

minimum age at which you can

purchase a gun, how does the White

House explain this evolving

position.

Great question, almost a

month since the mass shooting in

Parkland, Florida, president

initially talked about tough

measures he wanted to take to defy

the NRA, the White House today were

stepping back and saying, the

president has not given up on any of

those initiatives but he just wants

to study them.

Interesting, the

president himself a few weeks ago

was accusing politicians of running

scared from the NRA. He himself has

had several meetings with the NRA

recently, have they had an impact?

They definitely had an impact, the

president has met at least twice

with representatives of the NRA,

initially publicly was saying wanted

to be tough and take a leadership

role on guns, they talked with him

privately about the politics of

this, their own positions on this

and gun control, and Republicans on

Capitol Hill also were very

instrumental in discouraging the

president from thinking in a

mid-term election year that this

would be in any way profitable for

Republicans running for re-election.

The fact is now, we don't have a

discussion about restrictions on gun

ownership, it is all about mental

health and school safety.

And

hardening schools, hardening the

actual infrastructure of schools, as

you pointed out, by saying, that was

the lead item from the White House

today, the United States need to

make schools much more guarded and

at guns to the school setting, where

students are learning. We know that

is very controversial and yet the

president is very supportive and not

surprisingly the NRA is too.

Without

the Florida School shooting

survivors planning a huge march on

Washington next week, they have

called for gun restrictions, also

something that polling suggests

Americans back too, so this is going

to be a political issue in the

run-up to the mid-term.

Yes, but we

know there is some Democrats running

in states that President Trump won

in 2016 who are nervous about the

idea of being tough on guns, both

parties have hesitations about this.

The young people who have been very

affected and motivated by the mass

shooting in Florida are mobilising.

The other element that is

interesting, the White House is

referring to states. Borrowed acted

on legislation can signed by a

conservative Republican governor.

Background checks, how much stronger

with baby, would they cover gun

shows under what the White House is

proposing?

No, the legislation

talked about on Capitol Hill will be

voluntary on the state of -- part of

states, to add additional

information to the testing database,

does not come close to being

universal background checks.

Hank

you very much for joining us.

Thank

you.

Guns are not such a divisive issue

in western Pennsylvania, voters head

to the polls are a special election

on Tuesday, both candidates are in

favour of the second Amendment, and

wary of gun control. This should be

a safe Republican seat but polls

suggest Democrats may be rose

closing the gap late in the race.

It is not even close to November but

you would not know in this

Pennsylvania district, campaigning

in full swing. With President Trump

just the latest to add his power to

the race. -- stump power.

The world

is watching, they are all watching

because I won this district by 22

points, that's a lot. Look at all

those red hats. Look at all those.

Meanwhile, at this rally, for the

Democratic candidates...

Go out and

make sure he wins!

The former vice

president, and Pennsylvania native,

trying to rally his troops.

It was

awesome that he was here, and I

loved what he said, that is exactly

what everybody here feels.

Vice

President Joe Biden speaks to the

working class, he speaks to this

region, it is a blue-collar region

and he is a blue-collar guy.

In the

final days of the race, a toss-up,

between the Republican and the

33-year-old Democrat, in and of

itself, that is quite a surprise.

Donald

Donald Trump won this district by 20

points, it should be safe

Republican. What is really animated

these people, the single issue,

resident tram, if you were

dissatisfied with the course, the

direction that this government has

been taking the country, this is

your opportunity to stand up against

that.

Su means is a councilwoman in

the area, and a long-time supporter.

The eyes of the world are on this

race, the eyes of the nation,

because people do see this as a

referendum on Donald Trump.

Is he

doing a good job? I hope and pray

that the voters realise it is not

about one seat, it is about the

wave, for the whole mid-term

election. -- Sue Means. This is the

first congressional race since the

Parkland shooting, surprisingly, gun

control is not the driving factor.

Neither candidate supports measures

like banning assault rifles, and the

Democratic candidate played up his

programming David -- his

pro-government credentials.

Guns are

as American as apple pie.

He's also

a cop, and he teaches self defence.

People are afraid guns will be taken

away. My goodness, I have eczema of

money, I had better buy a gun before

the politicians take it away from

us. -- by amount of money.

Guns may

be a popular past time here, but

whoever wins, it is more about

money. Jobs and money.

All eyes on that special election

tomorrow. In other news, in Nepal,

at least 49 people have been killed

a plane crash in the capital,

Kathmandu, the aircraft belonging to

a private Bangladeshi carrier

careered off the runway at the

International Airport and burst into

flames, the airline has blamed air

traffic control but the airport says

the plane approached from the wrong

direction. 71 people on board, 20

were rescued.

Meghan Markle has made her first

official appearance alongside Queen

Elizabeth, Prince Harry joined other

members of the Royal family

including the monitor at the

Commonwealth Day service

held at Westminster Abbey. The

former US ambassador to Panama

decided to step down from his post

over the Charlottesville riots last

August because of the President's

failure to speak out against

neo-Nazis, now he has written a

piece for the Washington post

saying, why I can no longer serve as

president. He says the unilateral

and isolationist path is making

America less welkin in the world,

you joined me earlier from Miami. --

less

welcome in the world. You say you

resign because traditional values

have been warped and betrayed, how

so?

It is clear to see in the

rhetoric of the campaign, that the

president ran, and in the reality of

trying to build a wall which is more

of a metaphysical wall, to keep

people out, than to actually work on

border security. The language that

demonises the Latin migrants is the

same kind of language that was used

over 100 years ago to demonise the

Italians and the Irish, and the

Russians and the jury is -- and the

Jewish who came to the United

States, I felt we had overcome that

and established a post-world order

with allies like Great Britain that

focused on human rights, tolerance,

inclusion. I'm an old Marine, I

believe that we are strongest when

we are compassionate, I didn't see

any of that coming out after about a

year with this administration.

On

immigration, you write that the

President's policies are foolish,

delusional, anti-American, apart

from building the wall, where else

do you feel that to be evident?

Well, I think in the way in which

the administration has treated

traditional allies. Look, the world

is a dangerous place, and nobody

wants to go at it alone. Going it

alone in today's world when you are

talking about security, talking

about commerce, means making

yourself weaker, that unfortunately

is what we have done. We have not

continue to build the relationships

that got us to the very good

position we were in.

What impact

would you say as a career diplomat,

all these resignations from the

State Department and the vacancies

are having on the important work of

diplomacy, preparing for a summit

with the North leader, for example.

Absolutely, the effect has been

quite frankly very difficult, I left

because I felt a line was crushed,

my colleagues stay because they

still want to serve. One of the

things I think a lot of people don't

realise is just how patriotically

most diplomats are, from any

country, you voluntarily

circumscribe your own first

Amendment rights, you work

independently of partisan conflict,

and what you do is you dedicate

yourself to learning a region,

learning and issue. Right now, as we

possibly get ready for North Korea,

or looking at Nafta discussions, you

have people who are experts in Nafta

for over 25 years, and we had the

President's son-in-law leading

discussions with the Mexican Foreign

Minister... I just felt, and many

feel like I do, that we are walking

off the field of competence, and

into a realm where we sort of how to

decipher the tweets to figure out

what policy will be! That does not

make America safe.

Thank you very

much for joining us.

Coming up: anticipating a trade war,

the UN Ambassador to Washington

tells us Europe is ready to respond

to President Trump's steel tariffs.

The world-famous dog show Crufts has

been disrupted by animal rights

protesters, the climax of this years

event was temporarily halted, after

demonstrators stormed the venue from

a group that has condemned the event

for in courage in some types of dog

breeding.

This year's winner was a two and a

half year old with Pitt, called

Tease but as she headed to the

podium, this happen, two protest is

emerged from the audience at the

national exhibition Centre in

Birmingham, very quickly they were

chased down and subdued by security

staff, no animals or owners were

harmed. It's believed they were

demonstrating on behalf of the

animal rights group, Peta, which

condemns Crufts for what it called

extreme dog breeding. A statement

said:

Crufts issued a statement:

the response on social media was

almost instantaneous, CJ joiner

tweeting:

as for Tease, she seemed entirely

unfazed by the whole thing, best and

calmest in show.

Earlier we were talking about Donald

Trump's trip to western Pennsylvania

where he talked up his tariffs on

imported steel and aluminium, in

response, the EU has pushed back,

reckoning tariffs of their own on

American product. Katty Kay has been

speaking with David O'Sullivan, for

her programme beyond 100 days. The

ambassador has said that the

European Union will stand up to

trade the bullies, is the Trump

administration becoming a trade

bully? -- stand up to trade bullies.

I think we have a disagreement over

the issue of steel and aluminium

tariffs, we think the proposed

imposition of the tariffs on

European companies is unfair, and

unjustified, and if the tariffs are

eventually imposed, we will react as

we feel appropriate. We hope this

will not happen, possibility of an

exemption for certain countries and

that is the channel we are going to

work in the immediate future.

The

European Union has not been

mentioned in those, the president on

Saturday and again this morning

tweeted in ways that made it sound

like he was not happy with the

European Union, he says the European

Union has large tariffs and barriers

against the United States, if you

don't get an exemption, will be you

retaliate against American products?

If the proposed steel and aluminium

tariffs are imposed on European

exports, then yes, we will use our

rights under the World Trade

Organisation to impose rebalancing

tariffs on American exports. We hope

that will not be the case, I know

that the president has made some

critical remarks about the European

Union, we don't share that

perspective. I don't think it is

fair to characterise the European

Union as protectionist or posing

barriers to exports, we are one of

the largest trading economies in the

world and one of the most open and

we trade enormously with the United

States, but if that is a

conversation the president wants to

have, he should hold it with his

European Intel occurred tos, and we

can continue his conversation but on

the immediate issue of tariffs, we

are looking down the avenue of

intervention. Failing which, we will

preserve rights under the WTO. --

interlocutors.

Measures against

European steel and aluminium exports

to America, would that have a

material impact on European

producers, Germany is only 3% of the

total import of steel.

We are

actually the largest exporter of

steel to the United States,

second-largest by volume and the

largest by value, so total European

Union exports of steel are quite

important, the total value of those

exports is around $8 billion, and

that is the value of the European

export which will be affected by

these tariffs if they are imposed.

So it would have an impact on

European companies?

Very much, and

we of course feel obliged to protect

their interests.

Going through the

list of things that the EU has

talked about in terms of retaliatory

measures, bourbon from Kentucky,

Harley-Davidsons from Wisconsin,

orange juice from Florida, all very

important states in American

politics, is this a political

gesture that the EU is proposing?

The commission has proposed an

indicative list, this has been

discussed with member states, in

choosing the products you always

look at those which will have a

maximum impact, in terms of the

effect desired.

Impact politically,

you mean.

Also economically, because

the desire is to is to send a

message that the damage inflicted on

European exports will be

reciprocated in terms of having an

impact on American exports. I want

to emphasise, this is not where we

want to be and we hope we will not

take this forward.

If there is going

to be a trade war, to be clear, the

European Union will fight back?

I

really don't think it would be right

to characterise this as a trade war,

we sincerely hope that it is

possible to have a dialogue and come

out of this situation without

tariffs being imposed on either

side, that is the objective, if

tariffs are imposed, then indeed, we

will have to protect the interests

of our industry in the where we best

see fit.

Thank you very much for

joining us.

You are very welcome.

One of the great names in French

fashion, the designer Givenchy, has

died, he was 91, among his clients,

first Lady Jackie Kennedy and film

star, Audrey Hepburn.

It is one of the most famous dresses

in cinema history, designed by

Hubert de Givenchy four Audrey

Hepburn, to show off what he said

was her very good shoulders and long

neck and to hide her skinny

collarbone. Givenchy was fated

throughout his career for mixing

innovation with timeless simplicity,

is fashion house founded in the

1950s showcased the concept of

separates, skirts and blouses,

designed to give women more freedom

in the way they dressed.

TRANSLATION:

The dresses must be

well on a woman's body, too many

decorations onto a garment will

contradict the piece itself. The

material has a life of its own, one

should never contradict it if you

want the fabric to speak.

His

creations were worn by the Duchess

of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, and the

former American first Lady, Jackie

Kennedy, something that had to be

kept secret from the American press,

to preserve a sense of national

loyalty. He sold his fashion house

to the luxury French brand 30 years

ago but his views on haute couture

were sought right up until his

death, at an exhibition to celebrate

his work last year he told one

interviewer, the perfect dress can

make many things happen in a woman's

life, it can bring happiness.

A fashion legend there are, and

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